Today I visited Molly, an eight year old Springer Spaniel. It is strange that I have recently been to two or three dogs that seem to be going through an unusually withdrawn and ‘worried’ phase.
Here is the story of another dog who used to have such enthusiasm for life, but this has slowly changed over the past few months. He’s lost his mojo and he seems depressed.
There has been upheaval in Molly’s life. There has been bereavement in the family which has meant Molly has been completely out of routine.
Disrupted routine
She has been left with friends for days at a time. The comfortable daily pattern of accompanying her lady owner on her gardening work has been disrupted. She will be picking up on the grief around her and, to top it off, at the start of it all in January she was spayed.
The problem with owners being unhappy is that they like to take comfort from their dogs. Because this comfort may be a bit extreme from the dog’s point of view by way of cuddling and so on, their negative emotions can transfer.
Sudden loud noises
Molly never did like sudden loud noises, but now she goes and hides if the TV goes loud. She doesn’t like raised or high voices nor the bustle of lots of people. If the gentleman shouts at his football team she beats a retreat behind the sofa. She is doing a lot of hiding.
She has lost her former joy in walks and after a few yards simply lies down and refuses to budge.
Since January she has developed various behaviours that she didn’t do before, and existing ones have become more extreme.
Supporting Molly
This again is a sort of ‘parenting’ issue. She now needs strong owners to behave like her ‘rock’ and not to over-fuss her. We all know that if we are feeling depressed or nervous, lots of fussing isn’t what we need. We want support and people to be there for us, but we also like to be left alone.
In nearly every aspect of Molly’s life she is making the choices, whether it’s where she sleeps, when she eats. when she comes in, where and whether they walk and so on, and this could be a big pressure upon a child let alone a nervous dog in a human’s environment.
Molly’s humans are going to consider life from Molly’s perspective as a dog and make a few personal sacrifices. They will just be there for her, giving her the sort of support she needs to get her old mojo back.
Buster, also was a dog whose enthusiasm for life was missing.
If you have a do who seems depressed and missing his or her mojo, I can help you.
