In the beginning…
Any dog going through what Poppy went through is bound to be anxious. Leaving home, losing her previous human, a long drive and ending up somewhere unfamiliar so anxiety was something I was really careful to look out for.
At first I missed the signs. She is such a calm dog and being such a social little thing that she seemed to be happy.
But as the weeks went on I got better at noticing signs. I can now look back and realise she was probably more scared and anxious than I thought.
There were signs…
After a while I started to see signs of something wrong and had to make sure I was mindful.
I work from home and she would sit under my desk. Every now and then she’d get up and walk out the room and start pacing around the top floor of my house going from room to room and eventually come back in and look at me and get under the desk and lay down again.
I don’t know why I thought this would help but it did. I moved her bed so if she woke up, straight away she’d see my face. You see under my desk, although cosy, when she woke she’d see the underside of my desk.
It seems simple but the image on the left she’s under my desk, and can’t see my face. If she woke up she’d get up and come out from under the desk.
But on the image on the right I’ve put the bed next to my chair, so if she woke up she’d just look up, see my face and know I was still there. And she’d lay back down.
Under the Desk
Sleeping under the desk
Next to Chair
Sleeping next to the chair is better
It doesn’t sound like much but it sure did make a difference. And over time you’ll notice little things do make a difference.
Another thing that occured to me, is if I left her sleeping up stairs during the day, eventually if I heard her, she’d be pacing around nervously. I realised if I had music or the radio playing I might not hear her so that stopped. When she’s asleep I’m quiet down stairs. All I needed to do was once I heard her get out of bed I’d go to he bottom of the stairs and…
The long term effect of this is now she goes straight to top of the stairs. No more nervous pacing around. And even if I don’t hear her because I’m out back, she’ll just come downstairs herself.
It’s an ongoing learning experience. If you’ve got any tips, tricks or stories you’d like to share please get in touch with the link below.
Thanks for reading.
Scott this is amazing. Please keep it going. From another Spaniel lover! Best wishes – Pete