Quote: Jennifer Lee

... Seizures also crossed my mind ...

Me too.

she is going to be 11 in april, but she is a big dog at 120 lbs and she has had allergies and skin problems her whole life.

She has quite honestly aged better than I thought she would.

here is another possibly unrelated story, but I have a feeling it might be all connected.

The other day the dogs were outside and I had to tinkle so I ran inside quickly and watched them out the bathroom window the whole time.
When I was finished I went to call them back in, she was already inside the backdoor in our backroom.
I could see her as I was standing at the door to that room, and when I called her she ran outside instead of the 5 feet to me.

I don't know if that was a hearing problem or a cognitive problem or if she just wasn't paying attention. I remember finding it odd but not thinking much of it.

You might have her hearing and eyes checked. It's possible that one or both are going. At 120lbs depending on the breed or breed mix she might be hitting the age extreme. I know the swiss breeds, newfs, and other large breeds are lucky to make it to double digits.

She is a lab, black and tan coonhound mix, and we have always suspected she might have a bit of dane in her as she is just so big, and something about her just reminds me of a Dane.

She has always been a big girl at about 95-105 lbs, but despite my best efforts she has put on weight these last few years as she has slowed down..

I do know she has a harder time spotting her ball once it stops moving.

I'll make another appt for her this coming week just to make sure there isn't anything obvious I am missing.

I have had her since I was 18 and she has been the perfect dog since she was a pup, she was the most well behaved pup I have ever known, and always happy and ready to go no matter how bad she felt.

She even managed to compete in DockDogs for a couple of years.

She really is my baby, and my good girl, she has been such a constant in my life through so much drama and so many major changes, from college, to a baby, to a messy divorce and then finally a good marriage... basically from teenage to adulthood...

she and my sweet Fluff kitty have been there through all of it.

I don't know what I will do without either one of them

ok,it may sound stupid but when you mentioned "playstation" I have to ask.
why kind of game was your son playing?

war type with shooting and bomb sounds, any unfamiliar sounds at all?

Some dogs will respond to unfamiliar sounds that way once they are "scared" of a sound even similiar to it.

Tucker hates fireworks, and I noticed that any game my BF plays that have any type of gun action or bomb action he re-acts to. he doesn't go and hide, but he does startle himself out of resting and look around trying to pinpoint if it's coming from outside.

just a thought, he might be re-acting to the noise from the game.

also, if her hearing is starting to go, she may be re-acting to something she thinks "might" be fireworks, storms etc. If her hearing isn't what it used to be, she mightn ot be able to differentiate between and normal sound and the sounds that scare her. (make sense???)
I can't see where you live, but she could even be re-acting to something as little as the furnace kicking in.

Edited by Wendy Lefebvre (12/01/2008 09:13 AM)
Edit reason: thought of something else

He was playing lego star wars...and he has been playing it for weeks now, as much as I will let him so its nothing new. the noises are more of a pinging laser sound then any real booms or blasts.

She will hide when there are big noisy trucks or jackhammers out doing work, but this was 4 separate times yesterday, and then again this morning while we were eating.

I'm going to keep a close eye on her for the next few days and see if it resolves itself.

Maybe she is afraid she is going to get in trouble for begging even though she isn't doing it.

I read something recently about a dog displaying similar symptoms and it turned out to be something the dog had eaten (mushrooms as it turns out).

So don't discount that either, there is always another explanation for weird stuff :-)

John

where they "special" mushrooms LOL

how odd that food would cause the sort of symptom!!

I thought I would add too that while she is doing this if I reach down and pet her the shaking does not get worse as it does during thunderstorm or fireworks.

Generally when she is hiding and shaking I ignore her as I feel like coddling and soothing would actually be reinforcing the behavior.

And also because any attention during her fear seems to make it worse, the shaking will go from shaking to nearly convulsions if you talk to her or pet her during storms.

Her fear of storms and fireworks is so bad we have had to get a prescription sedative for her to have on hand during the spring storm season, which in intense in oklahoma!!



Edited by Jennifer Lee (12/01/2008 10:56 AM)
Edit reason: remembered something

What does she do immediately prior to the shaking, salivating, and trying to hide? I mean, have you seen her behavior immediately before the "incidences", or is it only after it begins that you notice? (Please understand, this isn't meant as a critism by any means).

I only ask because Daisy would slink, swallowing compulsively, drooling, and search frantically for a small space to crawl into just before her seizures...she was a small one, so there were numerous places to hide. And, it was usually only a few seconds to a couple of minutes before her seizures, so it was a few weeks before we caught on to these signs and could be proactive with her.

(I am sure the vet is going to ask the same question, so you might keep a diary of her behavior, prior, during, and after and log anything you think might be important. Its hard for the vet to argue with written documentation.)

I need to keep a close eye on her and have my husband and son do the same. Up until now I havent noticed anthing odd about her behavior until I realize she hiding and shaking. She is such a quiet lazy thing at this point it can be easy to overlook her.

I just finished eating a sandwich and sure enough she is hiding under the desk where I am sitting.

At this point I know for sure it is somehow related to us eating, but I can't fathom why that is scaring her so much.