We have been on a mood roller coaster with Topaz since Saturday.
Topaz spent all day Saturday in what I call a "terrible two" mood. Not that she was doing anything terrible, she just had the moodiness of a two year old when they decide they are not going to do a single thing you tell them to do. She has been trained to sit before we throw toys for her. It was a battle of wills all day Saturday to get her to sit. My normally toy motivated and somewhat food motivated dog was not having any of it. Not even for highly favored treats. I even broke down and tried the highly prized, no-no because she is allergic treats.
Sunday was going fine until Ken had to leave for an emergency job. As soon as she left, she curled up on the bed and pouted. Not something totally atypical for her. She had pouted for about 15 or 30 mins the previous weekend when he left out.
However, on Sunday her pouting reached the worse it has ever gotten. 5 hours of moving from place to place and just moping. I could not motivate her to do a single thing. She then began vomiting and having diarrhea. I checked for other symptoms thinking something more serious may be going on and the lethargy was just a symptom. However, there was no fever present and she was hydrated and able to keep fluids in just fine. So I am made the assumption that with no other symptoms she was ill because she was so stressed. I began resuming trying to find things to distract her. Due to the heat, I did not want to take her for a walk because the heat could further stress her systems. So I was stuck trying to come up with an indoor activity that was fun enough to get her motivated. Finally, I got her to play with a ball. So long as I stayed with her and played with her she was fine until bedtime.
Monday morning I had to work. The normal routine is that I get up at o'dark thirty and she remains in bed grumbling about the lights being on at the indecency of the hour. However, it was not like all the other days that I get up early and get ready for work. She followed throughout getting ready for work. The closer to being ready to go the more visibly stressed she became. She attempted to get me to stay by bringing me toys to play with and attempting to get me to take a bath. When she realized that I was still going to leave she just hung her head and pouted in her kennel.
I came home from work and things were back to normal. She was slightly more submissive and careful when I let her out of her kennel. She normal has zoomies all over the house, accidently running over my feet at least once or twice. Due to her milder nature, I sat on the floor and played with her until she was ready to head outside to potty. We resumed our normal after mommy gets home from work routine and things were back to normal.
Tuesday, I got up and did the normal get ready for work schedule. Topaz resumed her normal schedule of griping. When we went out for our morning potty time the herd was outside so we sat and watched the herd for a few moments. She went into her kennel without any fuss about the fact that I was going to leave. When I returned home things seem back to normal. She was again a little more milder in her play right when I let her out, nothing to out of the ordinary. We proceeded with our after work routine. I sat down to do some budgeting and she laid down near me and fell asleep. She slept late so we missed our normal potty time at dusk. It was well after dark when she finally awoke and needed to go out. I got her leashed and all ready to go out and the second I opened the door she backed away nervously. I opened the door fully and turned on the outside light. I could not see anything out of norm. I opened the screen door while talk soothingly to her to try to show her nothing was wrong. She pancaked to the floor. Seeing that attempting to get her to go outside and got potty was going to be a futile and stressful. I shut the door and gave up and just put her to bed in her kennel. She will not potty in her kennel, however, she will in my floors.
I got up this morning and took her out. Things have not been normal this morning. Topaz is usually confident and independent. Since I choose to have a lazy Sunday, I have a mess of a house to clean today. I got my morning coffee and started on my work. Topaz normally supervises from the bed unless of course I am cooking. Then she is supervising underfoot. Today, her and all her toys have been supervising on the rug in front of the stove.
I am not sure where my independent, confident girl has gone too...but I hope this mood passes quickly. I don't mind her wanting to be near me and spend time with me, but I strongly dislike that she is unhappy and stressed out. For now, we are just taking the extra TLC route.
I have been closely watching her to make sure that there is indeed not something physically wrong. However, she has not been ill again and no other symptoms have developed so I am still of the opinion that the physical symptoms were due to stress.
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