Weird About Treats

[schultzlc]

I apologize if this is wordy, I'll try to be concise. When I get home from work in the mid-afternoon, my hounds get a customary potty break and a treat. Most days it's just a cookie, but a couple of times per week, they get some kind of chewy to work on. They usually love this, and will scamper off with their prize to gnaw away. The past couple of times, Nova has been weird about her chew treat. She has decided that she will no longer take it from my hand, though she'll still take small things, like Cheerios, from me. No big deal, I started just putting it on the floor in front of her so she can pick it up on her own. The last two times, she will no longer pick something up either. She kind of paces around it, looking nervous to approach it, but still looking longingly at her chew, and back and forth from the treat, to me.

 

Today, for example, both she and Luna were given a Z-bone. Luna, per usual, grabbed hers and ran off to her crate in the back bedroom. Nova just stared at hers, and has been pacing in circles around it for about 45 minutes. She'll sometimes take a break to come nose me, and I offer her a quick ear rub and tell her it's okay. She has never been scolded about anything food-related (or really anything at all, to be honest, she's a pretty "easy" dog), nor has she gotten in a scuffle with Luna over something, since Lu always runs off with her chew. I'm kind of at a loss for what is going on with her when it comes time for chew treats. While it would be easy to just ignore it, and no longer offer these types of things to her, I really do want to encourage chewing, since it does wonders for her teeth and gums. Nova is not a confident dog, in spite of her love for meeting and leaning on strangers, and she is skittish about random things, but it's weird that she used to be just fine with it.

 

Has anyone had similar experiences or does anyone have ideas for me?

 

Thanks in advance.

[spottydog]

Could she have a sore tooth?

[schultzlc]

I thought about that. Since I brush their teeth every night, I feel like I would notice a tooth issue. Her gums haven't been bleeding, nor does she have any teeth that look rotten. She also hasn't tried to jerk away, yipped, or looked particularly uncomfortable while I'm brushing away.

[Guest Scouts_mom]

If she doesn't have a sore tooth, I wonder if she bit her tongue while chewing her treat and now she is scared it will happen again?

[greysmom]

I would think something happened between her and that specific chew treat - either she bit her tongue, or a loud noise scared her when she was chewing - something you might not have noticed at the time.

 

I would either switch to a different chew treat fora while, or try giving it to her differently. Maybe have her lay down on her bed and then give it to her; or toss it towards her bed, or toss it to her.

[Riverhound]

Cover it in peanut butter and hold it for her to lick?

 

Not the same, but Brees randomly went "off" her crate for a couple weeks this summer. She's also a little timid. Not exactly spooky, but gets freaked by strange things. Our dogs are weird!

[schultzlc]

Okay, so I'm thinking that I spoke too soon, and yesterday was just "weird" for her in general. Maybe it had nothing to do with her chew. When I tried to give her the Z-bone, it was just the first time that I noticed she was being an odd-ball. She spent the entire evening creeping around behind me and peering at me from around corners. When she got tired of standing and lurking, she stretched her front legs down on the floor, resting her face sideways on the carpet, with her rump in the air. Then, last night, she decided to move her dog bed across my bedroom and wedge it between my bed and the wall. I checked her over to see if she had any bumps or scrapes, but there was nothing. She also had textbook output last night and this morning, so it seemed she was feeling alright. Nothing had changed in our routine yesterday, but who knows, maybe there was some sort of loud noise while I was away for a couple of hours at work. This morning she seemed basically back to normal. I don't think I'll ever figure out this one! I'm with Riverhound, our dogs are weird!