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Strange Behavior, Don't Know What To Do.


Guest jvandover

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Guest jvandover

Chad has been acting really odd for a week, or maybe a week and a half. He has been trying to get us to let him out back immediately after returning from a walk. He will stand by the back door, which is odd in itself, because he usually hates (and won't) stand still on hard floor (back door is in the hardwood dining room). If we let him out back, he wanders aimlessly for awhile, sometimes he pees, but not usually, and then sometimes he comes in on his own, other times he comes in when called, and more often he won't come in unless I go out and carry him in, or bring him in with a leash. He paces around panting sometimes (he is standing next to me panting as I type) but other times he lays quietly with no issue. The other odd thing, is he has always since we got him understood "Go up to bed!" and I point at the stairs and he runs up into my bedroom. Now, he has to be coaxed up (again, usually, last night he went up fine). He is eating fine, pooping fine, he will run if you let him, and he will still play with toys if you get him excited, and he still gets excited for cookies.

 

All that said, I have taken him to the vet. He had a physical, and he looks great other then needing a teeth cleaning (and possibly one removed?) and one of his ears was a bit dirty. No pain when manipulated, or with a deep stomach massage. Temperature normal, I had his pee looked at (someone somewhere else suggested a UTI was possible) but no UTI. The vet said there were a few crystals in his urine, but not enough to make him think he has stones, although we could get an x-ray done to be sure. I left a fecal sample with the vet, but haven't heard back yet.

 

Any possible ideas, suggestions, anything? I don't know what else to do, and when he walks around panting I feel bad for him.

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Humm, this could be just about anything. Greyhounds are so sensitive, and I don't know Chad's age. Here are some questions just for thought...

 

Could this behavior be related to storm "Sandy" (if your area was hit by heavy winds, etc.) or a rare earthquake?

 

Did anything recently scare him while he was upstairs (especially), or inside? (Could have been loud noises from outside while he was inside, or extra loud movie/TV volume.)

 

Could the house temperature possibly be too warm for him?

 

Is he peeing and pooping normally during walks? You'd probably already know this if you've had Chad a while, but sometimes they hold a reserve in their tank for "marking" during walks; he might need to fully release urine in his own yard after arriving home (especially if he thinks humans might leave soon or retire to sleep).

 

Sounds like you know panting can sometimes be related to pain, but sounds like your vet has ruled out a medical reason for this sudden change in behavior. Panting can be a sign of stress/anxiety too.

 

Any other recent changes in the home with family members, schedule, or physical furniture changes?

 

Did he hunt a critter in the back yard recently? (Though that may include serious whining in excitement at door, and focused hunting behavior once in yard.)

 

No need to answer all these questions here (unless you want to) just might spark an idea.

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Guest jvandover

Chad is 6. We live in MD, so Sandy came through, but wasn't too bad. Chad isn't usually over sensitive (he doesn't "spook") although he is afraid of various things (including thunder, power outages) I don't think anything has changed except we moved where his food dish is, but that was several weeks ago and we moved it to a place it used to be. I have noticed that he looks nervously up at ceiling fans sometimes, but we have fans in almost every room. He does poop and pee during walks like normal, and he isn't much for marking (Lovie is my marker, and boy, does she mark). When he goes out back, he doesn't always pee, part of why I am confused. I checked the backyard (my yard is small) for critters he may be interested in, but didn't find any, he just wanders. The temperature isn't it, if anything it is colder now.

 

I too was wondering if it might have been environment change of some sort, but I can't seem to pin anything down. Hmm gonna brainstorm with the wife see if we can come up with anything that changed.

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Hey there! Sorry Chad seems to be off! He seemed fine at playgroup the other week. Maybe the weather changes? Hot, cold, rainy, cold? Brady has been panting some, too. I figured out that he runs warmer than the other dogs and he seems to be more sensitive to temperature changes. I don't have any suggestions, but want to let you know that I am thinking about you guys and please keep us posted!

 

Cindy

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Cindy with Miss Fancypants, Paris Bueller, Zeke, and Angus 
Dante (Dg's Boyd), Zoe (In a While), Brady (Devilish Effect), Goose (BG Shotgun), Maverick (BG ShoMe), Maggie (All Trades Jax), Sherman (LNB Herman Bad) and Indy (BYB whippet) forever in my heart
The flame that burns the brightest, burns the fastest and leaves the biggest shadow

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Given the possible crystals, I would consider changing food. How does your grass look? Are there brown patches from pee stains? That would indicate the pH could be off. I would think, though, that he'd be having pee problems on walks too if this was the issue.

Donna
Molly the Border Collie & Poquita the American-born Podenga

Bridge Babies: Daisy (Positive Delta) 8/7/2000 - 4/6/2115, Agnes--angel Sage's baby (Regall Rosario) 11/12/01 - 12/18/13, Lucky the mix (Found, w 10 puppies 8/96-Bridge 7/28/11, app. age 16) & CoCo (Cosmo Comet) 12/28/89-5/4/04

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Guest jvandover

Sounds to me as if there is something in the house that is frightening him.

 

This may sound silly, but do you have a functioning carbon monoxide detector?

 

So funny you bring this up, I had the same thought the other day. I will look into this.

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Guest BlueCrab

Susan brings up an interesting point that made me think: is there perhaps some alarm of some sort that's beeping and bothering him? Something as subtle as a watch alarm in a drawer or something you may not have heard or noticed? My phone low-battery alarm makes Leyland NUTS but that's loud and we can't miss it. And even if we did, Leyland would make sure we knew.

 

Other thoughts, how long have you had him? If he's fairly new to you, is this just his natural progression of settling in where his behavior and habits are changing?

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Guest jvandover

Susan brings up an interesting point that made me think: is there perhaps some alarm of some sort that's beeping and bothering him? Something as subtle as a watch alarm in a drawer or something you may not have heard or noticed? My phone low-battery alarm makes Leyland NUTS but that's loud and we can't miss it. And even if we did, Leyland would make sure we knew.

 

Other thoughts, how long have you had him? If he's fairly new to you, is this just his natural progression of settling in where his behavior and habits are changing?

 

We have had him several years, so it is new behavior. He seems to be a little better/more relaxed the past 2 days, I will continue to keep an eye on him.

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