Extreme Nerves - Revisited!

[Deja]

Holy cow! I can't believe I just responded to a post about a nervous Golden Retriever - and it just started storming like the devil!! Dark, dark dark clouds - lightening and booming thunder! Wicked storm!

OK - so we have established that Jack gets VERY "nervous" during storms. I have never seen him like he is right now though! He is shaking to the point of his teeth chattering! I can hear his teeth chattering! It started right before the first loud clap of thunder. Max and Remy simultaneously let out a "yelp", ran to Jack and started licking his face! I have never seen that happen and it scared me!

I called Jack over to me - hugged on him while he shook and panted so hard I thought he was going to collapse! My vet told me when he acts extreme ( and believe me this is the most extreme I have ever seen him!) 1mg of Ativan should calm him. I usually hesitate and use Valarian Root instead but I don't have any!

I ran to the lockbox and got an Ativan and shoved it down his throat. That was about 15 minutes ago. Now he is just kind of pacing around the house like a nervous nellie. Holy cow!

I have never seen Max and especially Remy react to him like that! It was as if they formed a pack to protect the elder or something!

I gave them all a biscuit hoping it would at least distract Jack for the 2 nanoseconds it takes him to scarf one down...

Oh! Jack is now laying down with his nose almost touching the stereo speaker next to the TV.... omg - Max and Remy left him alone to play bite on each other... Wow .. very creepy.

I'm worried about my old Jack! I hope the Ativan calms him down.... ugh - we're in for a horrid night of very bad thunderstorms. Hellloooo summertime!

Why would his reaction be so much more severe and intense than it usually is? It's puzzling me and worrying me

[Jade]

You all have had a LOT going on lately - maybe he's reacting to that combined with the storm? I'm not entirely certain, Linda.

Give him some cuddles for me! I hope it passes soon and he can relax.

[dappledoxie]

I too hope it passes quickly and that he can get back to normal.

[kittygurl823]

Ohhh no! Poor Jack! And I bet you were so scared! I hope his nervousness passes quickly. How is he right now, after his medicine? Give him a head scratch from me!

[Deja]

Thanks Jade and Jackie and Brandy Me too! You are probably right - coupled with the fact that he is getting old, old. old

It only got worse ...
No one uses my Foyer (or comes to my front door) so for now I have Remy's "potty pads" in there... well I walked through to turn some lights on in the living room and dining room because it got so dark, so quickly....

ACK! Jack actually peed on one of Remy's potty pads! ON the pad!! A HUGE Jack pee, it was unmistakably Jack's. Jack was neutered at 4 months old and has never lifted his leg - he squats. Max is intact and does the full-on leg lift-spray-it as high and wide as it will go! Remy's pee spots are smaller than my hand, even absorbed and spread out through the pad.

I picked up and changed the pad - 5 minutes later Lisa came down the stairs and announced, "Large dog poop in the foyer".
EEEW! Yup, he pooped. Thank goodness for small favors - my house has tile or wood floors downstairs except for the den (where the random acts of cat barf and other assorted nasties typically occur! )

Gads I feel so bad for my poor old dog buddy.

He IS feeling better now though - he's currently playing "tug" with a Booda Rope, with Max. sheesh

It's so, so sad to watch my dog get old.

[kittygurl823]

Awwwww Bless his heart! Poor Jack!

About storms...Have you heard of dogs doing this? A friend of Brad's has a black lab. He is always terrified of storms, rubs his nose raw on the floor, runs and hides and they have to shut the closet door, b/c if not, he will go in and knock the vaccum and all the stuff out, poor guy! He is on medicine, too for this. Penny does the same thing with her little nose! Brad said about 2 weeks ago, her nose was a little raw on top and it still is. I think she is scared of the storms, too She will not go outside to go potty at even the tiniest bit of thunder. When I think back, her nose was like that last summer (summer time storms) and the vet said to put some neosporin on it and it all healed up.

[Chrisanne]

awww Deja.. BIG HUGS!!

I sooo know how you feel. My poor Gazoo is getting old before my eyes and doing strange things. I think his age has a lot to do with his extreme reaction. That coupled with what's going on in your life and his already nervousness in storms.

Give him lots of hugs from us, and vent all you need. We're here for you.

[Deja]

Jackie - yes I have heard of it - often in Goldens and Labs! For some reason the tendency runs through both breeds. Jack is not a well-bred Golden. We found him through a newspaper ad in Charlotte - the product of a Backyard Breeder. He's an awesome, awesome dog and we couldn't love him more - he's had the "storm anxiety" since we got him when he was 8 weeks old.


Wow... Penny has it too? Poor baby She rubs her nose raw! Oh my gosh... I suppose Jack gets off easy! He doesn't look to hide or scratch or claw - he just shakes violently and acts scared and terrified. He goes belly-up when approached in this state, so of course we love on him and give him lots of belly-rubs.

Yanno... I know our intentions have been out of love and caring but we did encourage the behavior by coddling and babying him - instead of just acting normal and totally ignoring it from day one. How could I have ignored a scared puppy though? It was so easy to pick him up and hold him in my arms and totally encourage it by babying him!

Now that he is almost 9 years old and huge... well - we still baby him. We invite him up on the couch and hug and love on him... and medicate him out of it

Thank goodness the Ativan works- and pretty quickly. I was afraid it wouldn't this time because his reaction was SO acute.

Poor Penny and her little nose

I really think some dogs and some breeds more than others are just born with the natural fear response to storms. I have read that it can be discouraged just like any other behavior if you start at the very first reaction. Ignoring it and acting upbeat and natural as if all is well with the world...

ugh I didn't do that at all! I really have to ask my vet or look into that Rescue Remedy mentioned in another post. I would rather give him something natural if it was effective.

What do you do when Penny has an anxiety attack?

[Jodi]

Oh, bless his heart. Poor Jack!

I've never dealt with extreme anxiety in doggies so I don't have a drop of advice, Linda. Just wanted to give ya a hug and tell ya to give Jack a big ol wet kiss!

[kittygurl823]

Linda- It's not too bad, just a tiny little raw spot on the top of her nose. I think she only does this in her crate, b/c I have never seen her do it and she seems fine around us. Brad said he saw her do it once while I wasn't here, and it had been storming. Last week, I was quickly taking them out to go potty (I saw it was getting dark outside), and she ran away from the door and flipped over and peed a little bit. She wouldn't go anywhere near the back door until the thunder had totally stopped later on. Storms come so quickly in the FL summer, yanno? So sometimes you don't know they are here until you look out and the sky turns black!

[Deja]

You guys are so awesome

Jackie - I used to spend a lot of time during the summer in Florida! I know what you mean! I have even been at a red light, the sun shining and across the intersection there is a dark cloud overhead and a wall of water coming down! It's so bizzzarrro!

Poor Penny and her poor little nose

Jack refuses to go outside when it's storming too - except tonight I suppose he really had to go - and used my front entryway

I still can't believe he peed on Remy's potty pad!! Now that I think about it and he's fine it's cracking me up

[Formula86]

haha! that's soo funny about the potty pad! my friend used to have a golden mix and he peed in my bathroom once...the entire, ENTIRE floor was covered in pee! it looked like it flooded in there! i can't imagine that much pee on ONE little puppy pad!

i'm sorry jack gets so scared. poor thing. good thing he has you, though.

[Wisdom]

jade my shepard is so scared of storms she won't go outside unless she really has too. and my lil snook well he barks back at thunder but he hasn't had to go out in rain yet so we'll see, but hes not scared of water i know that.
love,
shannon

[RSbunny]

Linda my mums dog is terrified of thunderstorms!!! We babied her with them when she first started getting scared at about 4 years cause we didn't know better and even though we don't baby her now it gets worse all the time!! She pants, she shakes, she drools, her teeth chatter and she goes into the toilet or shower for comfort I don't know what's so great about those places but something must be. We give her rescue remedy and it calms her down to the point where we don't have to worry about her having a heart attack!!!
She's so bad now that as soon as the clouds roll in she starts shaking....we might not even get a storm!! Just a sunny day turning into a dak afternoon scares her!!
The worst part is if no-one is home and is she outside. She gets so scared she jumps the fence and runs at full pelt around her usual walk which includes going out to the highway!!! So in Summer if they predict storms for the day she is inside all day...we don't risk it anymore!!! It takes her days to recover with her arthritis!

[Deja]

aww Carmen I know what you mean about it taking days to recover because of the arthritis. Jack had Lyme disease and was cured but left with some stiffness in his hips - plus, as he grows older I can see him becoming stiffer and more painful as time goes on. My Vet told me to give him 1 buffered aspirin every 4 hours when needed for pain and stiffness and I only give it to him when he's obviously stiff.

Today is a brutal, hot, humid, humid, (oh did I say humid?) day Right now the temp is 91 out on my deck This morning when I got up I jumped right into the shower then came downstairs to let the dogs out. Jim lets them out before he leaves for work too so that gives me some time to get myself moving. Anyway- I noticed when I let Max out of his crate he had his "collar" (invisible fence collar) on and Jack didn't.

I called Jim and asked if he'd let them out before he left for work. He told me that Jack refused to go out this morning. Hrrrm, ok...

He hesitated a little when I told him to go outside, but he did and stayed out for a while. I think he was a little hesitant to go out because of last night!

He seems to be panting a little hard today and I am thinking that maybe a Vet visit is in order. He's laying on the couch next to me and had no trouble getting up here but he's just panting so hard it's got me worried. I am so, so afraid that this time I am going to hear what I have been dreading - something is really wrong with him It's making me cry! I'm sitting here petting him in tears. Gads I am such a weenie.

Ugh- I'm rambling again I didn't know that humans can use the Rescue Remedy too - I really need to look into getting some of that stuff!

Wow, a lot of us have dogs that have this "storm anxiety" thing going .... at least we're not alone!