Miss Collie has had a setback

[Karran]

I can't work out what has happened. She's lost all recall, is taking after chasing people walking past again, tried to assault a malamute walking past on our lunchtime walk today, she's gone back to airsnapping at me if I try to handle her collar or darting and hiding from us. Her and Miss Spaniel got into a fight at the weekend. She freezes if I stroke any other part of her and worse of all has gone back to messing in the house. She doesn't want to play ball or tug any more and generally looks worried at life.

I'm absolutely heart broken. I've worked bloody hard since picking her up to stop all this or at least reduce it to manageable levels and now we seem to have suddenly jumped back to where we were this time last year.

People have suggested that she's been handled roughly in her past home which caused the headshyness and reactivity (which I don't want to believe) and something's happened to trigger a memory. We're together nearly 24 hours a day cos of lockdown so I'm sure i'd know if anything had happened though.

Could it also be a hormonal thing? She's 2 in January and hasn't yet had a season.

I've gone back to taking precautions around her, like keeping her on the long line and we've gone back to basics, trying to encourage coming close for treats and playing with a tuggy again, that kinda stuff. I'm considering a vet check to be on safe side but i'm utterly convinced something's given her a fright and set her back, I just don't know what.

 

[Roxylola]

Could be hormonal. Or age. Fireworks? either way you've done the right thing

 

[Bellasophia]

Excercise..mine are definitely getting less during this lockdown year..for a collie I bet it’s definitely contributing to her regression.
Is there a safe place you can take her to train and run her heart out.?

 

[Karran]

No, there's been no fireworks for the last two weeks. She was completely unfazed by them last year and this year as well.

I'm wondering about trying her on some yucalm?

 

[Karran]

Excercise..mine are definitely getting less during this lockdown year..for a collie I bet it’s definitely contributing to her regression.
Is there a safe place you can take her to train and run her heart out.?

Not sure - I'm at home so she has a longer morning walk, I take them out at lunchtime which they never had before (Mrs Spaniel refuses to leave the house with a stranger and I never wanted to risk the collie with a dogwalker before) and they have their evening walk. She's possibly doing a little bit more mentally than normal as I can now do little bits of agility and flyball training daily which she wasn't doing much before March due to her issues. She'd only just started them really in one to-one sessions in June and then it stopped again.

 

[Clodagh]

If she is coming into season that could well explain it. Ffee messes in the house when she is starting and gets neurotic. She is also more likely to scrap with Pen.
Such a shame though, when she was doing so well.

 

[skinnydipper]

Not sure - I'm at home so she has a longer morning walk, I take them out at lunchtime which they never had before (Mrs Spaniel refuses to leave the house with a stranger and I never wanted to risk the collie with a dogwalker before) and they have their evening walk. She's possibly doing a little bit more mentally than normal as I can now do little bits of agility and flyball training daily which she wasn't doing much before March due to her issues. She'd only just started them really in one to-one sessions in June and then it stopped again.

It sounds as if she is getting more exercise and stimulation than normal, this could be taking her over the threshold of what she can cope with.

Could you try easing off, giving her more down time, time to relax and destress? Train her to go to a mat or bed and reward her for relax and settle. Have a look online for relaxation protocols.

Is she getting enough sleep? Dogs need about 16 to 18 hours a day.

Many dogs are not happy being petted on the head. Let her come to you if she wants affection, don't put your hand over her head, try the chest and under her chin, if she is enjoying that then possibly move up behind the ears. Watch her to see what she enjoys and look for signs of avoidance (turning head away, lip lick or tongue flick, yawning, blinking, shake off, etc).

 

[Karran]

But why is it suddenly happening? I was furloughed at the March, back to work in June and since then our routine hasn’t changed. We do an hour walk in the morning. Home by 8.30. I start work at 9. If it’s very quiet work wise I may do 10 mins mid morning or afternoon with them. But I expect them to leave me alone until 12/1 when we go for a quick 20 min walk and then 20 mins (shared between the two) of agility/flyball in the garden. I then go back to work until 5.30 when we either go for an hours walk in the evening or they come to the yard. Once it gets to 8, they’re done for the day and it’s tv/sofa time and we go to bed at 10. Only real change in that has been the starting and stopping of our classes. I’d agree with you if she had been this way since June but it’s literally in last two weeks.
in between this she was very cuddly, pushing her head into my hand. Flopping over for chest scratches, now it’s snapping if I try to clip lead on or off, or hiding if I call her. I expect my dogs to be happy to have their collar fiddled with and face/ears touched in case of vet/stranger etc so it was something I worked hard on to have her comfortable with this happening.

 

[Karran]

Incidentally we just got back from our evening walk and the un-neutered very pushy male Pom was very interested in Mrs Spaniel but ignored Miss Collie! I’d have thought if he was interested in her, that would be a big clue!!!

 

[BBP]

I’m not a dog person, I’m a horse person. If this was a horse I’d be thinking it was in pain and that the pain made it anxious and fearful. Could she have a hidden injury? Hurt her back or something? Or internal pain?

 

[Karran]

Lol! Yes that’s crossed my mind too. I’m torn as vets now would mean muzzle and more stress from being handled. I have some leftover metacam I could possibly trial her on for a day or two.
Here she is sitting on the stairs while Mrs Spaniel and I watch TV.

 

[CorvusCorax]

Age/hormones/pain response? With an instinctively/genetically fearful dog, it's always a case of management and lapses will happen.
She's still young and you've had her a relatively short time in the grand scheme of things so try not to be too disheartened.

 

[Karran]

I do feel a bit disheartened but mostly I feel sorry for her. I feel like it’s something I’ve done inadvertently that’s caused this. I just don’t know what.
Just before lockdown she went to her first physio assessment (I like my dogs to go quarterly to make sure there’s no tweaks) and I was blown away by how good she was.
she was in the park just before this and we met a friend and I asked my friend to see if Miss Collie would do her distance down and weave between her legs for her and she was happy to do so. So it makes this set back hard!

I have enough metacam for three days. That should be enough to see a change if there is one??
If it shows a change I’ll book her in for next week. I probably sound neglectful but it would stress her out so much to be muzzled and around strangers that I really want to eliminate as many possibilities myself beforehand.

 

[Clodagh]

Don't blame yourself, its never going to be plain sailing from A to B with a sensitive dog.

 

[CorvusCorax]

If the top trainers in the world could completely 'cure' these dogs, they would, but they can't. You're doing the best that you can, plenty of people wouldn't even have tried. It could be the most imperceptible of things.

 

[Mynstrel]

Google stress buckets, sometimes it can be a lot of small things happening (good and bad) that collectively tip them over the edge. Our rescue had what I can only describe as a breakdown in July and that turned out to be lots of little events happening close together that turned into an explosion. Definitely look into what's been said earlier about enough rest and downtime/calm times.

 

[Karran]

Yes to stress buckets! I like the analogy of having holes in bottom to empty them. I always make sure Mrs Spaniel has a very quiet day after competing to help her chill out. She got super over excited at the first training session in the summer and then was an out of control zoomy mess at the stables as she had overwhelmed herself. She did not help my mucking out that day where as she would have been fine before when world was normal!

we’ve worked on our collie bucket and focus and still a long way to go but it’s deffo bigger than last year or pre-lockdown!

 

[Clodagh]

I had a very nervous kelpie who, in the house, lived upstairs under the bed. Happy on walks but avoided all strangers. I just let her live like that , although I do wonder if I should have tried harder.
She was happy on her own world. She used to chase and nip cyclists, joggers and anyone that rang her bell.
She sounds similar to Ms C but I had her from a pup. She was the puppy hiding behind the sofa screaming mind you!

 

[Karran]

I don’t mind if she doesn’t become my next sport dog, although that was the main reason for looking for another dog. I just want a happy secure one - bonus if I can get to the point of not doing evasive tactics every time we come across something moving slightly faster than us! ??

 

[SusieT]

Pain is a strong possibility, or hormones. I'd do a pain relief trial

 

[Errin Paddywack]

I would guess hormones, she feels different, doesn't know why so is freaking out.

 

[Lots of Gift Bags]

I would have thought it was highly unusual for her not to have had a season yet, so I'd definitely be thinking towards some sort of hormone imbalance, plus the fact it's come on so quickly with no apparent triggers. That, or some sort of pain. So sorry I know how hard you've worked and it was only the other week you were saying how pleased you were with her. I hope you can get to the bottom of it and it's something quite simple.

 

[Karran]

I thought the same about her season!
I know it’s one of those “how long is a piece of string” questions but I’d have thought as a not particularly large breed it should have happened by now?
Mrs Spaniel had to visit the vets mid October after slicing a pad and I asked them then about it.
Their attitude was “if she’s not had it by 2 and a half, then we’ll do tests but it’s nothing to worry about yet.”

Anyway. We started our metacam trial this morning and we will see how that goes over the weekend

 

[Karran]

The metacam trial ended Saturday and has made no difference so I can eliminate pain?
Next guess is hormones but we went to a very busy country park on Saturday and no male was interested other than a sniff and I’d have thought that to be a giveaway?
We had two clean days in the house since I posted last but messed this morning and Friday.
It’s now three weeks of funny behaviour and she remains on the long line while we carry on with back to basics training.
Going to start her on a calmer to see if that helps settle her back down a little.
Bloody thing!!