[nagdu] Stress Issues

[Lora]

Hello List
Yes my dog is shedding a lot but he has bald spots where his harness
sits around right behind his front legs and bald sopts where he lays
back part of knee I think. He has lots of nylabones I think like 6 and
tug of war toys along with a soft snake. I try to play with him in a
fenced yard and he doesn't seem to be interested. He loves playing
with my  mom's dog and seems unstressed that way, but at this time I
can't have a pet dog. I will try relaxing walks and more massage
therapy along with having him snuggle between my legs. I'm planning on
buying a nylon harness from pawpower to see if that helps the harness
issue. I hope I answered everyone's questions. Sometimes I wonder if
it is me the handler since I've gone through 3 dogs in 3 years sigh.

On 9/5/11, Tami Kinney <tamara.8024 at comcast.net> wrote:
> Lora,
>
> Well, it's impossible to say for sure, but the shedding at this time
> could be due to the time of year and/or heat. Are you still in the
> Pacific Northwest near the same university? I haven't been paying huge
> amounts of attention to the weather that far to the east of us, but into
> eastern Oregon, at least, it's been a pretty unusually cool and damp
> summer. So a lot of people here nearer the coast are complaining that
> their dogs are shedding like it's spring now that we're getting actual
> summer temperatures. For this time of year, they're pleasantly cool, but
> compared to what we were having, it's pretty dramatically hot. So I
> don't know if that is affecting your dog's shedding.
>
> As you say, stress can also be a cause of excessive shedding.  Is he
> showing behaviors that might indicate he is feeling more stressed than
> usual?
>
> Since letting him run off leash is out of the question and he doesn't
> run on the flexi-lead, that does limit your options for giving him
> exercise beyond the in-house tug of war and those types of play. Um...Is
> it possible for you to take him on long leash walks using your cane so
> that he can just hang out with you and stop and smell the flowers or,
> well, what other dogs have left on them? Mitzi and I do this sometimes,
> just to go out to spend some us time enjoying each other's company.
> There's not as much opportunity for walks that I find satisfying, but we
> do manage to have a brief enjoy together. /smile/ When we lived where we
> had more access to different routes and places and environments, then we
> could go out for a walk and even maybe grab a cup of coffee and hang out
> in outdoor seating area to see our friends go by. Or have coffee with
> them, too, since everybody in the neighborhood, practically, had a dog
> and stopped by the same pet shop for food and the same toys, then
> grabbed coffee at the same little shop and then wen to the park with
> their dog in the same place... In the morning. Evenings or afternoons,
> you could all see each other in passing (and dogs, too!) at various
> places all around. Loved it! Couldn't afford it, with the medical I
> needed to pay out of pocket, but I loved it. Anyway, When we are going
> around up at the corner market area here while DD is shopping, or in
> various shopping centers or malls, one can see people just hanging with
> their dogs enjoying each others' company. /smile/ I'm generally working
> Mitzi in harness, but once in awhile we hop up to the corner store
> without it just to hang around outside while DD runs his errands. Mitzi
> seems to get a lot out of it, actually.
>
> Don't know if your dog would find anything like that satisfying or
> relaxing, but it's a thought. In the winter, we do sing/dance/play,
> mostly for Daisy's benefit, since she is not the kind of dog you take
> out in public to hang around with. She does love riding in the truck,
> but DD goes crazy because the silly hound gets so excited about getting
> to go that she doesn't so much shed as throw hair into the air in
> globs. /lol/ I keep telling him that since he's not working for another
> month or so, at least, he should just leave it be and stop worrying
> about it. If we want to dress up to go somewhere, we can always put
> towels over the seat to keep the hound hair off our good clothes, can't
> we? I'm serious, but he is not amused. So when we take Daisy on a road
> trip, he spends the whole time complaining about how long it's going
> take him to vacuum every last hound hair out of the truck when we get
> home... She gets so happy that he's talking to her while she's riding
> with him in the truck that she bounces around to get herself more
> excited and shakes as hard as she can, sending clouds of white and black
> and tan hair everywhere. Mitzi and I just look out the passenger side
> window and laugh our heads off, agreeing that they are both nuts.
>
> But I digress. I'm not sure that traveling with Daisy reduces Mitzi's
> stress, but it doesn't seem to bother as much as I had thought it would,
> either. Well, loner road trips get trying for everybody, especially on
> the way home because Daisy can't contain herself and neither can anybody
> else, including tranquilizers, so Mitzi just has to stay out of the way
> wile DD drives and I keep Daisy from being a safety hazard. She gets a
> little grim after awhile but she deals somehow. /smile/
>
> Some people recommend doggy puzzle toys, although they can be spendy.
> The idea is that they keep the dog's mind busy figuring out how to solve
> the puzzle to get the reward. Fun for your dog for hours! Well, maybe
> your dog or somebody else's dog. /lol/ Mine got the most complicated
> puzzle I could find out of my hand while I was still fiddling with the
> box, trying to figure it out and had the puzzle solved before I had
> noticed what happened. Then I was entertained for awhile trying to come
> up with ways to make the puzzle entertaining for my dog... Which did
> keep her entertained. After awhile, I had to have the neighbor's kid
> come over to help me make the puzzle entertaining for the poodle, and
> they had a lot of fun together while I gave up ever getting anything
> useful done again in my life. /lol/ When we moved in here, I put the
> puzzle back together, showed it to Daisy, and she took it to shred it
> thoroughly without bothering to solve it. I did manage to save a piece
> or two that fell out of it for her to shred over the next week or so
> along with all of Mitzi's other shreddable toys. Mitzi seemed a little
> sad about it all, but every time I would pull out a stuffed toy of hers
> I'd managed to preserve, she would give it to Daisy to shred, so I gave
> up.
>
> Would your dog like a nice coonhound to play with? /lol/ I don't know if
> it would help his stress, but it would give me a little peace and quiet
> with my poodle. /smile/
>
> Beyond that, I'm afraid I've got nothing. I've used some calming touch
> for Mitzi's youthful high excitement and Daisy's high anxiety... Come to
> think of it, I work some of the bits and pieces that have worked on
> Daisy still in our daily routine. Mostly, I put both hands on her jaws
> just under her ears and massage lightly in a circular motion, the rub
> her throat an massage her neck a little. I also give her an ear pull,
> which she likes, but that's not calming touch, I don't think. Rubbing
> the ends of the ears between your thumbs and forefingers is, and our two
> dogs both seem to find gently stroking of the ears relaxing. Along with
> cuddles and other forms of spoiling. I think Julie has learned quite
> abit about Tellington touch. I've just taken bits and pieces that work
> with Daisy, along with a lot of guesswork style physical therapy because
> I'm pretty sure she has a lot of phantom leg pain, and that seems to
> help. Also, I rub her jaws and give her other massages in some areas
> because of old injuries. I just stuck with what worked with her. Same
> with Mitzi now. I just do what she enjoys. She's grown up enough in her
> work, somehow, that she's just pretty easy going about things, if in a
> poodley way. Also, I think that I observe and feel for signs of stress
> build up I've learned during my time with her since she was a pup, so I
> don't even notice what I do anymore. A lot of it is something you
> develop over time according to what works for your dog and you.
>
> Best in getting it figured out and your doggy back to normal.
>
> Tami
>
> On Mon, 2011-09-05 at 09:08 -0600, Lora wrote:
>> Hello List:
>> I know we've probably had this discussion before but I would
>> appreciate it if we could have it again. My dog is loosing a lot of
>> hair and I think it is due to stress since he is on a good diet. I
>> can't trust him off leash since he doesn't listen at all. I have tried
>> letting him play on a flexilead but he won't run around. I play with
>> him tug of war and other games like that but I don't think he's
>> getting enough stress out of his life. Do you have any suggestions?
>> Thank You.
>>
>
>
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-- 
Lora