Expert: Lee Charles Kelley - 1/21/2008

Question
Our 1 yr old Pekingese 'teddy" has been acting like for lack of a better word SAD, He was attached to our daughter, he slept with her every nite since he got here when he was 12 weeks old, would go crazy when she came in from work, he was great with the rest of us but clearly she was his Fav. OK now the problem, she has moved out and he had to stay, he has been shaking and laying around, he watched us clean out her room and paint it, she stops by every couple of days, and he sleeps with us now, do Dogs know someone has left them? and what is the shaking about? what can we do?do we need a Vet?and what should we expect?

Answer
Hey, John,

Dogs DO miss people who disappear from their lives. They also like to have a fairly predictable structural dynamic, and if they're not trained through their prey drive (i.e., by playing games that involve their hunting instincts), they tend to be more thrown off by changes in the household.

The trembling is a symptom of fear or panic. I have no doubt, from your description, that this change in Teddie's home environment has hit the little dog hard. However, I don't think letting him sleep in the bed with you is the best solution. It sends him the signal that you'll take care of his emotions for him, that he doesn't have to learn how to do it on his own. I think you need to teach him that he IS capable of handling changes on his own, that he has a lot more emotional flexibility than he "thinks" he does. Those are the things that will help him move past not only this change in his life, but any other changes that may come up.

The first thing I'd recommend is hand feeding him outdoors every day, using the pushing exercise described here: http://tinyurl.com/3balu6 The article doesn't mention this specifically, but the pushing exercise increases a dog's confidence, makes him feel that he can handle sudden changes.

Another thing that's vitally important to his overall happiness, as well as his ability to adjust to changing circumstances, is lots and lots of play time, especially tug-of-war, where he gets to bite down hard on a tug rag, and where you always let him win and praise him vocally for winning. Here's another link: http://www.tiny.cc/tug

If he won't play tug just yet, do the pushing exercise for a few weeks, then try getting him to play tug again, he should be more open to it. If not, here's another link: http://www.tiny.cc/jumpstart

I hope this helps,

LCK