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We had a serious setback with Luna at the end of last week. She spotted the meter reader passing the closed patio doors (ouside) and freaked completely. Spent the next 2 days hiding and trembling behind furniture, only going out on a lead and then fearfully. We were very upset to see her like this and I spent 2 evenings surfing the net looking for help for a very nervous dog. I found on Boards.ie Animal & Pet Issues: Very fearful dog collapsing Post No 27 by ISDW the following entry: "Good call from Sweeper, the thundershirt could be an option, a friend of mine had a setter that would get sick every time he went in the van, one day they put his harness on before they went, and he wasn’t sick. Different to Harley I know, but it might work. However, before you spend out on a thundershirt – Moy Vets in Ballina by the way are selling them cheaper than anywhere else than I’ve seen put a t-shirt on him and see if it has any effect, it needs to be small enough that it feels tight on him, but not too tight obviously that he can’t breathe or move properly. Again, a friend of mine has a husky that has severe stress problems, a couple of weeks ago she posted on FB that he was totally freaked out, in a really bad way because of building work next door, she put a t-shirt on and he calmed down straight away and went to sleep, they had tried behaviourists, medication from the vets, rescue remedy everything. Nothing worked, she couldn’t believe what happened with the t-shirt."
Sorry this is such a long posting but I feel the information may be of help to others. The outcome for us is that having gone to the charity shops and bought 5 baby grow type suits without long legs for 1 Eur0 each I tried the first one on Luna and Glory Be……a changed dog, walked confidently around the middle of the room straight away. "Talked" and interacted with us and settled down happily without trembling in her bed. It seems that the t shirt or thundershirt work like swaddling a new born baby. Can’t tell you how marvellous it is to see her chilled again. Today we had someone doing some work in the garden and she is wearing her tea shirt and when he came in for a refreshment break she went to him for petting!!!Irene so pleased you have seen my updates. Glad you think Luna has filled out a bit, she certainly likes her food and is now confident enough with us to steal food if she can reach it! We have had to adjust to having a ‘taller’ dog than our previous two staffies who couldn’t reach food on kitchen tops. We were due to come to Dublin this weekend for a first Communion but came to the conclusion that Luna would be set back in her progress if we left her with anyone just yet. We even thought of asking you as her foster mum to have her back for two nights but in the end thought it a bit cheeky and even that might have been unsettling for Luna. Though I am fairly sure she would have loved to see her foster family again. I will keep updating from time to time. Mary
It is still in small steps but Luna is getting more confident all the time. At night she is very good and only if there is unexpected noise, like me dropping my book, does she come upstairs but happily goes back down to her bed.
She is having trouble adjusting to our rural life with busy farmers and their noisy equipment. Recently the countryside has been a hive of activity with the good weather. Tractors, rotavators etc. working all hours are bothering Luna when in the garden and she cannot get into the house fast enough.
Walks on the lead, watching sheep and horses, are great fun. Quiet pub gardens are quite exciting too especially if there is a chance of getting at Daddy’s pint!
We can now leave her for about two and a half hours if we give her her filled Kong toy and sneak out the back door. They are a wonderful toy for dogs like Luna who are very anxious at being left alone.
sk.jpgHere are some photos of Luna (if I can upload them) on her visit to friends where she had a doggy playdate with two big girls, Honey 1 year old Rottie and Molly the hairy GSD. Luna loved playing with them and chased around happily and has been invited back. She is progressing very well at home and is now off lead in the garden which is three quarters of an acre and comes and goes as she pleases. She is exploring all the smells especially the bunnies that don’t seem to visit any more!! Luna found a perfect bed recently, on top of the grass cuttings heap in full sunshine, so she was getting warmth from the sun and from the fermenting grass heap.
lu.jpgLuna (nee Sky nee Blondie) is now pretty confident in the house unless there is a strange noise which still spooks her. She was quite unsettled at night, guess she is missing her friend Ruby, coming upstairs several times when we go to bed. She would come straight down when told ‘no’ but would cry for a while and periodically during the night. However for the last 2 nights she has come upstairs once and then stayed downstairs the whole night without crying. Guess she is learning our routine and that we will be there in the morning when she gets up. She had 3 visitors (one adult & 2 children) all the way from Dublin especially to meet her on Saturday and she certainly enjoyed having them. She was sociable and happy with them and the children took her for a walk on her harness on Sunday morning which they all loved.
We went to the beach at Duncannon this afternoon but it was very windy and cold with noisy waves which Luna didn’t like much. It will be better on a nicer day. She had a run in our garden today off the lead and it was lovely to see her run for the first time, she must have some whippet in her I think.
She demonstrated some real dog intelligence today: Having put her food down for her I then went to prepare a salad for ourselves which involved opening a tin of Tuna fish. Luna put her front paws on the kitchen top and was sniffing the air with great interest and none in her own food. After a while I remembered that her foster Mum, Irene, said they gave their dogs a tin of mackerel for the fish oil and omega 3. So I opened a tin of sardines and gave her half over her food and it was magic the way the food disappeared. She must have associated the tuna fish smell with her Irene treats…………how clever they are. Just hope she will eat her food tomorrow without the sardines!!
We are so happy to have her and lucky too, in just under a week she has totally gotten under out skin.
Will take some photos to post on here soon.Thanks Irene. Yes she had not chewed my slipper either so she saw it as a connection with me. She is now settled on the rug beside me totally relaxed and doesn’t move anymore when one of us moves. Tomorrow will be another day for new learning and adventures for her and for us. Enjoy your break and will keep you updated.
Thank you Indiana and Paul for your good wishes. Luna has had her first Wexford walks and was good on the lead. We left her at home on her own for 1 hour after she had had her walk and lunch (thinking was she would be tired and would sleep). When we returned she was crying and had been sick and needed lots of reassurance. She had taken one of my slippers onto the sofa. presumably for comfort and had been biting the patio door handles. Think we will need to wait some days before we leave her alone again especially as she would always have had Ruby with her at her foster home. Alternative is to take her with us, she was fine in the car yesterday. Anyway hopefully this is only another sign of her insecurity which with patience will surely improve.
Update on Sky (Blondie): collected her from her lovely foster parents yesterday and went to my friend’s house (Helen my Dublin sat navigator!) and then on home to Wexford. She was so good on the nearly 3 hour car journey home, slept most of the way but also watched the other cars. She was a bit spooked on getting out of car to find herself in a large open space so with encouragement we got her in the house where she was much happier. My husband fell in love with her too and we decided she would be known as Luna from now on. She did a little exploring but generally just wanted to ‘tall’ sit near us and even though she was closing her eyes and nearly nodding off she would not sit down fully for about 45 minutes and then sleep & tiredness finally overcame her. Well she had had an eventful day. Think she was missing her friend Ruby and without her to take the lead from she was a bit lost having to make all these decisions for herself.
Within 2 hours she had found her way onto the sofa next to my husband who had said some days previously that we would not let our new dog go on the sofas!! I thought that was very funny as I have always been blamed for allowing our dogs on the sofa. This girl certainly has a way of getting into your heart.
At bedtime she made 3 attempts to go upstairs but firm ‘no’ and ‘stay’ did the trick and we didn’t hear a peep from her all night.
We are so delighted with her and can’t thank enough the people who have volunteered their time and devotion to caring for her up until now and especially Ruby for her guidance for her foster friend. Thank you Irene, Brendan and Kathy especially.
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