Quote: Will Grzybowski

I do not have any experience with marker training, but will research and see if I can utilize this to ease his pacing.

I am not recommending marker training as a means to ease the pacing, rather as an easy to learn how to train him any behavior! It is mentally stimulating and teaches the dog how to learn and to think things through instead of just sitting because someone's hand pushes the hips down.

There is a free ebook on Leerburg and several great DVD's which explain it further. They are all good DVDs, but Michael Ellis' are especially good.

 Quote: will grzybowski

He'll "walk the walls" from corner to corner, looking up, looking at the wall, looking sideways, whatever. He'll be pacing, tongue out, drooling, whining, etc. He will literally do this until he wears himself out which could be hours (I'm not joking). It's almost like he's chasing light or shadows but even when the lights are off he'll do this.

This type of continual anxiety is not normal. It’s an unnatural state. And while I do agree that it sounds like this dog could use a lot more exercise, lack of it generally manifests itself in different ways. Chewing on furniture, ripping up toys and bouncing off the walls, not staring at them.

I’m no expert but this does sound like an anxious/fear based reaction.

 Quote: will grzybowski

It's been a bad Winter here in Chicago… I should also point out that this doesn't just happen in the cold months where he's indoors mostly, this is a year round habit.

Does he only act this way in the house?

I’m gonna go out on a limb here but I’ve seen this type of behavior before. It turned out the dog was reacting to the wind. After eliminating a lengthy list of anxiety triggers, it was simply a matter of trimming a branch that was scraping on the house and sealing some cracks that the wind was “whistling” through – which were causing the uncomfortable reaction in dog.

Is there a chance that you have a drafty door that needs weatherproofing or perhaps something loose flapping against the side of your house, wind chimes, etc.

At first, this too, appeared unexplainable. The invisible, windy noises, which increased in volume at night when it was otherwise quiet, also caused the dog to stare and pace uncontrollably. It’s amazing what these guys will pick up on; things that we don’t give a second thought to.

Just a thought.

 Quote: cj barrett

 Quote: will grzybowski

He'll "walk the walls" from corner to corner, looking up, looking at the wall, looking sideways, whatever. He'll be pacing, tongue out, drooling, whining, etc. He will literally do this until he wears himself out which could be hours (I'm not joking). It's almost like he's chasing light or shadows but even when the lights are off he'll do this.

This type of continual anxiety is not normal. It’s an unnatural state. And while I do agree that it sounds like this dog could use a lot more exercise, lack of it generally manifests itself in different ways. Chewing on furniture, ripping up toys and bouncing off the walls, not staring at them.

I’m no expert but this does sound like an anxious/fear based reaction.

I am no expert either but I can tell you that his pacing is the same exact behavior that my male does when he hears our Aero bed being inflated when we have guests over at our house.

He has been afraid of that noise and is also a bit afraid of our vacuum too, although with the vacuum he just keeps his distance and doesn't pace when I use it, like he does when he hears the bed being inflated.

During this time and after he is not content and will do the same pacing. It wasn't until we put it away that he calmed back down.

I am very much interested in hearing what others recommend for this kind of situation too.
While my dog is not afraid of storms, this reaction seems just like how a dog would react if it were afraid of storms.

 Quote:

It’s amazing what these guys will pick up on; things that we don’t give a second thought to.

This is for sure true here.

I would try to investigate around the house and see what things might be going on that could be making him anxious.

A while ago, a fellow forum member had posted about their computer making noises and their dog was becoming anxious from it. It is likely something like that, that your dog might be reacting to.

Hi guys,

Thank you for your responses.

In regards to some type of trigger, like wind or a computer or anything like that, I can't say that anything really gets him going. He is pretty much content with any noise, aside from the vacuum cleaner, but with that he just barks at it, he doesn't pace.

One thing that does seem strange to me is that it appears that he only does this if me and my wife are in the same room with him. He does this primarily in our TV room. If it's just him and I, he either doesn't do the neurotic pacing, or if he does, I can correct him verbally and he will stop 9 times out of 10. However, when I'm with my wife, I can almost guarantee he will be doing this behavior before the night ends.

Could it be some kind of jealousy thing? Maybe a way to get attention? It's not like I ignore him though, so it still doesn't make any sense to me.

Personally, I really feel it's a combination of lack of exercise and not enough mental stimulation. I just wonder why it manifests into this strange pacing/whining/drooling thing.

 Quote: Will Grzybowski

One thing that does seem strange to me is that it appears that he only does this if me and my wife are in the same room with him. He does this primarily in our TV room. If it's just him and I, he either doesn't do the neurotic pacing, or if he does, I can correct him verbally and he will stop 9 times out of 10. However, when I'm with my wife, I can almost guarantee he will be doing this behavior before the night ends.

Any chance that it is the TV?

Leslie McDevitt has a great exercise for teaching dogs to maintain a relaxed state of mind in the face of anxiety provoking situations. She trains the dog to associate being in Place (a mat) with Good Things (click, treats). You start the dog in a situation where there are no distractions (she calls them criteria), and get the dog to put all four feet on the mat (click treat). Gradually you increase the criteria (ie. all four feet on the mat, then sit on the mat (and absence of anxiety) click treat. Next all four feet on the mat, sit on the mat, and down on the mat (and calm) JACKPOT many treats. Once the dog has figured it out - laying down calmly on the mat means many treats, you can start to increase the environmental criteria (ie. distractions).

The dog associates a calm, relaxed state of mind with being on the mat. Now you can increase distractions around the mat (nothing that sends the dog into anxiety, always pressing the dog's tolerance but not sending the dog over the edge into anxiety (use Turid Rugaas' analysis to understand this better). Once the dog is handling a variety of distractions in the first environment, you can now move the mat and get the dog in the habit of finding the mat and resting on it, no matter where he is.

This method has worked wonders with Jethro. He now has a mat under the kitchen table. When he is getting to sensitive to noises from the street, I put him in his place under the kitchen table, where he knows he is going to get tasty morsels if he lays there quietly.

Next, I put a mat on the front porch, where Jethro has trouble with people and dogs passing by. Once again, quiet and relaxed on the mat gets treats, no matter who, or what is passing by.

The whole process is not about clicker training for obedience, it is clicker training for a calm state of mind. It's pretty amazing.

Skipper, my fox terrier is generally wound pretty tight. I did mat exercises with him and now he actually offers sits and lays down (he used to only stand). And after these exercises he sleeps like a log.

If your dog is this anxious in this situation, my guess is that it is actually anxious in other situations, too, and would benefit from learning relaxation exercises.

Jenny, thank you so much for this info. I am going to look into both Leslie McDevitt and Turid Raagas for more information on help with anxiety!
I need to have a solution for the times that my Kodi gets into one of his anxiety filled moments and I think this will help tremendously! Thank you again!