[nagdu] stress, how much is too much?

[Tracy Carcione]

Sometimes, if we're away at a festival or convention, and Ben has worked
from morning to night for a couple days, I can tell that he's wants a
break.  If we're out late, he starts looking toward the door, or turning
forcefully towards our room.
During class at TSE, on the weekend before the third week, he just shut
down.  He wouldn't get up when I called him.  He tried to crawl under the
bed and hide when I picked up his leash.  It was very upsetting.  But I
learned then that his reaction to stress is to sleep.  If I let him rest,
leave him in peace for a while, he's back to his usual self.
Tracy
> I'm wondering how your dog's show that they are stressed and how much is
> too much?
>
> a bit of background...a few months ago I went to an all day meeting out
> of town.  This involved about 8 hours of car travel there, an overnight
> hotel stay, the all day meeting, another hotel stay and the car ride
> home.  Monty has done all of these sorts of things before and since.
> Before this weekend he showed few signs of stress and they were minor.
> However for some reason still unknown to me Monty had a tough time this
> particular weekend.  His signs of stress included: looking at everything
> incessantly, startling at noises, lip licking, difficulty relaxing  at
> relief breaks, shaking and pulling like a crazed maniac in harness.
>
> For me his signs of stress were pretty high.  If he had continued at
> that level I would have stopped working him.  We have struggled off and
> on for the past few months with smaller episodes of stress/anxiety.
> Overall things have improved dramatically.  Occasionally he will do the
> lip licking and the looking at everything, but he's not at a level that
> I feel is risky to his or my health or  safety.
>
> Recent messages to the list and my own situation caused me to think
> about and ask the questions: How much is too much?  What would cause you
> to quit working a dog completely? What would cause you to quit working a
> dog in a particular situation?
>
> Julie
>
>
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