[readinglady]

My shih tzu is 9 years old. She has taken to having anxiety at night. She pants and is restless all night long. I am exhausted. I have tried giving her resuce remedy, placing her in bed, no help. She seems to be worse on nights it rains and/or is windy. I don't know what else to try. Any suggestions. She has been to the vet for a checkup and there is nothing wrong.

Laura

[labman]

Likely something has changed. When she had her check up, did you mention the problem to the vet? Did he check her hearing and vision? Are there other things going on in your life that could result in your stress flowing to her?

Try to identify what may have changed. Do whatever you can to lessen the effects on her.

[readinglady]

Thank you for your response. She was fully checked in June as she was in he hospital. We did all kinds of blood work, etc. She actually had a bone stuck in her esphagus. In any event, this recent behavior is not related to that. I brought her to the vet for her checkup last month but she was sleeping OK at that point so I did not discuss it. She started this behavior in the past 2 weeks and it seems to be getting worse.

I guess I could go back to the vet. The last time we spoke about separation anxiety and that was when he said to try the rescue remedy drops. She doesn't like when I leave the house.

I read some stuff on CCD in older dogs but I don't think that is the issue. She only has the one sympton of restless nights.

Is this common as dogs age to be restless at night? She is sleeping now and I wish I could just go back to bed myself, but that's not an option LOL.

Thanks for your time.

Laura

[labman]

Good leadership never hurts. The key to most behavior problems is approaching things using the dog's natural instincts. Dogs see all the people and dogs in the household as a pack with each having their own rank in the pack and a top dog. Life is much easier if the 2 legged pack members outrank the 4 legged ones. You can learn to play the role of top dog by reading some books or going to a good obedience class. A good obedience class or book is about you being top dog, not about rewarding standard commands with a treat. Start at Raising Your Dog with the Monks of New Skete For more on being top dog, see Establishing and Keeping Alpha Position, Letting your dog know you are the boss If she has been top dog for 9 years, it may be tough to displace her now.

I am not sure but what being restless at night is more normal for dogs than sleeping the night through. They mostly adapt themselves to the strange pack they are living with. People are very weird dogs.

[The Dog Whisperer]

I expect that you are quite stressed and expecting this to happen every night in your subconscious even before it does? It is amazing how dogs or any animal for that fact will pick up on your anxiety which will probably exaggerate the issue by worry making things worse.. She could be going through a biological change. Does she still come into season?

[readinglady]

No. She is spayed.

I am not really stressed when I first go to bed, but when she starts panting I do begin to stress and think - not again.