It was hard to take a photo of Tiny because he never remained still for long enough in the entire three hours I was there today.
The little Jack Russell is one of the most stressed little dogs I have seen.
Tail-chasing ritual
Tiny has a tail-chasing ritual that is more or less continuous over long periods of time.
They can only distract him with other obsessive things like ball-chasing.
He pants and he barks.
You can see from his picture the tension on his face and around his eyes, and his panting tongue. If he were a human in this state, he would be getting help.
Tiny now is getting help.
He is a well loved little dog who lives with another terrier but unfortunately his manic behaviour has an effect on her too.
The two dogs are seldom walked, due to both Tiny’s anxiety and the other little dog’s fear and aggression towards other dogs. A lovely park just nearby is impossible because of the number of off-lead dogs that run up to them.
Now they will work towards the two dogs going for very short walks again – in a way that is kept within their comfort zones.
Little Tiny will be learning how to calm down.
His owners will be doing all they can to help him avoid obvious triggers for stress. They will take as much pressure off him as possible by giving him the calm type of support that he needs.
