I apologize in advance if this is long, you've been warned!
Sako has always been a bit of a sensitive/soft dog, but nothing that wasn't manageable or that really concerned me. I just had to change my usual training methods to suit him better and all was fine.
About a year ago he went through a phase when he decided that he was "afraid" of turkey necks. When I say "afraid", it's because whenever I offered them to him, he would immediately walk around with his tail low/tucked, head and ears down, classic signs of stress, etc. So I said whatever, and just stopped feeding them to him (he would eat everything else). I think maybe a month went by and I offered him a neck again and he ate it.. okay cool. All was fine and dandy (in the eating category) til the beginning of May this year.
He started again with the turkey necks, so I figured it was another phase and would continue to offer them to him, but he wouldn't touch them. Same behavior as last time also. Then that phased into him not wanting to eat his boneless meals, even when the meat was ground. Then it just turned into him not eating period. I decided to get some kibble for him just to see if he was sick of raw, thought it would solve the problem. Nope. Same reaction.
I've been videoing him when I remember to, so I'll post some here. FYI, I usually don't talk to him this much, I just tend to talk when I'm recording for some reason.
This one shows his response to one of the ceramic bowls being dropped onto the rug. It didn't make that loud of a noise, but it was enough to upset him. He acts like he's in trouble for whatever reason:
[YOUTUBE]KDKofV5o6uo[/YOUTUBE]
This was the second time I offered him kibble:
[YOUTUBE]W6cC3CO_M2Y[/YOUTUBE]
Another morning, this was a particularly bad day for him, you can see he worked himself up to the point of panting:
[YOUTUBE]YBSLrfH1rDw[/YOUTUBE]
In this one I had tried to put the kibble in his favorite green ball. It actually worked pretty well the night before, he ate maybe 1/2 cup from the ball but then it was like something clicked and he realized he WAS eating and shut down again. I tried again the next morning and he pushed all the food out of the ball but wouldn't eat:
[YOUTUBE]ZiCUygamcFg[/YOUTUBE]
And this one I took this afternoon. He hadn't eaten anything since Friday night (so going on 2 full days):
[YOUTUBE]PpdowCVJh1w[/YOUTUBE]
He DID eat tonight when I offered him food later.
So those are all the videos I have. He seems to be worse in the mornings by far, but like I said, he didn't eat at all Saturday, no breakfast this morning, but did eat dinner tonight. He also seems to eat better when he's outside for some reason.
If I walk away when feeding him, or feed him in a crate, he will.not.eat. At all. He does seem to do better if I stand 5-10' away and "coach" him a bit. He seems to get "stuck" and I have to.. unstick him. Like tonight he was acting like he didn't want to eat again and just stood over his bowl so I called him to me and said "go eat!" (happy voice) and he did go eat.
I have tried having him do some tricks when he seems "stuck" with his food. He will do them, but it doesn't get him to eat. When he's in that frame of mind he won't take ANY type of food.
He just had blood work and a checkup and everything came back completely normal.
He also has some SA going on. It's not bad, per say, but for example, he almost got us kicked out of our hotel a few months ago because all he did was howl when we left. I can still leave him in his crate when I leave the house but often times when I get home he is noticeably upset, but he doesn't try to break out or anything.
I took him to my friends farm recently while I did a photo shoot. He could see me the entire time but wasn't right next to me and was extremely upset and stressed. My mom (who he knows well) sat with him in her house at one point and said all he did was pace and howl til I returned.
If we raise our voice (even if it's in a playful way), 95% of the time he immediately lays down and/or acts like he's in trouble. Like if I correct Piper, he acts like I'm correcting him. Takes things VERY personal.
His breeder is aware of all of this, and is trying her best to help me from 10hrs. away. We have decided to get him neutered, so that will be done on the 17th. Figure it can't hurt him.
He is 100% fine with all people, has never met a stranger. No aggression toward any other animals either, FWIW.
That's all I can think of right now. I'm really at a loss here, have never dealt with a dog like this. 90% of the time he's fairly normal, but that other 10% is just.. bad. Food is definitely the big issue right now, but in general he is much more anxious than usual.
I've shown the videos to a few of my friends who are trainers and they're all pretty stumped. One said it looks like he's had a traumatic experience while eating and is now afraid of it. He has NEVER been left with anyone, he always comes with me if we travel and I'm always the one that has fed him. So, nothing bad has ever happened. I'm not one to immediately jump to medicating a dog but quite a few people have suggested it for him based on what I've told them. I just have zero experience with anxiety meds for dogs so I feel like a newbie here.
Anyone have any suggestions/thoughts/questions?
Sako has always been a bit of a sensitive/soft dog, but nothing that wasn't manageable or that really concerned me. I just had to change my usual training methods to suit him better and all was fine.
About a year ago he went through a phase when he decided that he was "afraid" of turkey necks. When I say "afraid", it's because whenever I offered them to him, he would immediately walk around with his tail low/tucked, head and ears down, classic signs of stress, etc. So I said whatever, and just stopped feeding them to him (he would eat everything else). I think maybe a month went by and I offered him a neck again and he ate it.. okay cool. All was fine and dandy (in the eating category) til the beginning of May this year.
He started again with the turkey necks, so I figured it was another phase and would continue to offer them to him, but he wouldn't touch them. Same behavior as last time also. Then that phased into him not wanting to eat his boneless meals, even when the meat was ground. Then it just turned into him not eating period. I decided to get some kibble for him just to see if he was sick of raw, thought it would solve the problem. Nope. Same reaction.
I've been videoing him when I remember to, so I'll post some here. FYI, I usually don't talk to him this much, I just tend to talk when I'm recording for some reason.
This one shows his response to one of the ceramic bowls being dropped onto the rug. It didn't make that loud of a noise, but it was enough to upset him. He acts like he's in trouble for whatever reason:
[YOUTUBE]KDKofV5o6uo[/YOUTUBE]
This was the second time I offered him kibble:
[YOUTUBE]W6cC3CO_M2Y[/YOUTUBE]
Another morning, this was a particularly bad day for him, you can see he worked himself up to the point of panting:
[YOUTUBE]YBSLrfH1rDw[/YOUTUBE]
In this one I had tried to put the kibble in his favorite green ball. It actually worked pretty well the night before, he ate maybe 1/2 cup from the ball but then it was like something clicked and he realized he WAS eating and shut down again. I tried again the next morning and he pushed all the food out of the ball but wouldn't eat:
[YOUTUBE]ZiCUygamcFg[/YOUTUBE]
And this one I took this afternoon. He hadn't eaten anything since Friday night (so going on 2 full days):
[YOUTUBE]PpdowCVJh1w[/YOUTUBE]
He DID eat tonight when I offered him food later.
So those are all the videos I have. He seems to be worse in the mornings by far, but like I said, he didn't eat at all Saturday, no breakfast this morning, but did eat dinner tonight. He also seems to eat better when he's outside for some reason.
If I walk away when feeding him, or feed him in a crate, he will.not.eat. At all. He does seem to do better if I stand 5-10' away and "coach" him a bit. He seems to get "stuck" and I have to.. unstick him. Like tonight he was acting like he didn't want to eat again and just stood over his bowl so I called him to me and said "go eat!" (happy voice) and he did go eat.
I have tried having him do some tricks when he seems "stuck" with his food. He will do them, but it doesn't get him to eat. When he's in that frame of mind he won't take ANY type of food.
He just had blood work and a checkup and everything came back completely normal.
He also has some SA going on. It's not bad, per say, but for example, he almost got us kicked out of our hotel a few months ago because all he did was howl when we left. I can still leave him in his crate when I leave the house but often times when I get home he is noticeably upset, but he doesn't try to break out or anything.
I took him to my friends farm recently while I did a photo shoot. He could see me the entire time but wasn't right next to me and was extremely upset and stressed. My mom (who he knows well) sat with him in her house at one point and said all he did was pace and howl til I returned.
If we raise our voice (even if it's in a playful way), 95% of the time he immediately lays down and/or acts like he's in trouble. Like if I correct Piper, he acts like I'm correcting him. Takes things VERY personal.
His breeder is aware of all of this, and is trying her best to help me from 10hrs. away. We have decided to get him neutered, so that will be done on the 17th. Figure it can't hurt him.
He is 100% fine with all people, has never met a stranger. No aggression toward any other animals either, FWIW.
That's all I can think of right now. I'm really at a loss here, have never dealt with a dog like this. 90% of the time he's fairly normal, but that other 10% is just.. bad. Food is definitely the big issue right now, but in general he is much more anxious than usual.
I've shown the videos to a few of my friends who are trainers and they're all pretty stumped. One said it looks like he's had a traumatic experience while eating and is now afraid of it. He has NEVER been left with anyone, he always comes with me if we travel and I'm always the one that has fed him. So, nothing bad has ever happened. I'm not one to immediately jump to medicating a dog but quite a few people have suggested it for him based on what I've told them. I just have zero experience with anxiety meds for dogs so I feel like a newbie here.
Anyone have any suggestions/thoughts/questions?
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