When I left for work I realized that I had left my cell phone in the house and had to turn the car around. I had been gone for less than five minutes and came home to hear her yelping and barking so loud I could hear her from my car in the street. Not only is this bad behavior embarrassing, but my adjacent neighbor has a five month old baby that I do not want to risk waking.
This evening, Luna made her dinner time very difficult. Sometimes she gets so worked up about her dinner that she starts to circle, whine and when she really freaks out she will bark. I call this "panic mode". Tonight was full panic mode. You would have thought this dog was starving and hadn't seen a meal in weeks based on the way she was carrying on. Every night I make her work for her dinner and when she goes into panic mode I remove the food and sit down while I wait for her to calm down. I do not like to reward her for obsessing over meal time. Most nights she gets the message in one sitting. Tonight, it took over a half hour to feed her.
She completed the evening with constant begging at the dinner table which Mike and I had to scold her for as well as a terrible training session. It was very obvious she had her own opinions regarding what we should do and what she should be rewarded for. No new lesson plans tonight thank you very much. I finally declared "game over" and stopped training before we both got any more frustrated.
Let's hope she got all this bad behavior out of her system and she will be much better the rest of the week. If she's good (and maybe if she isn't) Mike and I are planning to take her to see a lure coursing event this weekend. I'd love to see her reaction to the lure. Maybe a good run will get this crazy behavior out of her system.
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5 comments:
Oh dear, poor Luna.
If it does continue for a few days, you may want to consider having her visit a vet to rule out any medical problems. Unfortunately, we see a fair number of dogs that appear to be having behavioral problems, when really they have an underlying medical issue that is driving them nuts! I do hope that she was just having an off day though. Good job being a good mommy and making her wait to calm down :).
I agree, there could be some sort of medical issue under the surface. Then again, it's also a full moon.
I know you've had a Greyhound in your life before, but in case you've never been to a lure coursing event before, you tend to see a side of your hound that you've never seen before when you go. Mine went ballistic the first time I took them to one. You can end up with some wicked injuries on your hound at one, too. I'm not saying don't go, but I am saying be sure you have the collar on very tight or a harness!
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Yes, I hope Luna was just having an off day too and she's back to normal now.
Beryl had a go at lure coursing a year ago. As Houndstooth said, be prepared for some craziness! It took Beryl about 6 hours to come back down to earth. Then she realised the little cut that she'd got on a back foot when she somersaulted over the machinery that works the lure (!) hurt. I had a close look at it and saw that it was deeper than I'd thought earlier and took her to the after hours vet. She'd almost sliced a tendon. So I don't think she'll be lure coursing again. Too scary for me and too dangerous for her! But have fun if you do go, I'm sure Luna will:)
I appreciate the reminders to stay safe when visiting a lure coursing event. The first time I took Eris I was surprised to see my calm dog just about lose her mind at the sight of the bags "running". I expect Luna to be very reactive since she has shown a high level of interest in RC cars. We'll definitly take it slow and remove her if things get too intense.
Thanks for also pointing out to consider medical reasons for her behavior. I'm sure this was just temporary, but Mike and I will be sure to keep an eye on her.
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