Could a dog have SA when their canine companion is at the vet?

[TexasRanger]

Abby,who has always been hyper, has gotten stranger since we took Zane to the vet to get stitched up. Background: Sunday Zane and Deputy got into a "lets kill each other" fight that I didn't see. My parents couldn't get them to stop with Citronella/kicking/sticks/water/rocks/yelling, my dad ended up separating them with a broom. Zane's eyes were kind of weird looking, my dad said they looked "crazy" (my dad was an army dog handler for 20+ years, said he had never seen a dog's eyes do that and has never seen a dog as intense as Zane during a fight. He has worked with GSDs, pits and Dobes). Deputy only had a cut on his nose and front leg, and Zane's wound that caused the abscess opened up again. We took him to the vet and am having him boarded till Friday, so we could figure out what to do. Abby has been acting differently since we took Zane to the vet. Last night when I was getting ready for bed, she calmly walked into my room, jumped on the bed and commenced to squat and pee. She is completely house trained, has never done anything like this before. Could she have SA from not being with Zane, she has also been acting more velcroish since he left, she is normally very aloof. She has been with Zane since she was 8 weeks old.

 

[mwood322]

I have one dog that goes to pieces without the other. If there's a human around he is manageable, but leave him completely alone and get ready for some howling and desperate behavior. The other dog likes him, but isn't anywhere near as needy about it.

--Mia

 

[theresa92841]

I'm not sure if it is Separation Anxiety, but from Abby's perspective her pack has been disrupted. She doesn't know that Zane is just gone temporarily and coming back. So she may just be trying to figure things out and is acting up in the meantime. And if one pack member left, she doesn't understand why and may be fearful that others will leave.

If that makes sense. I think any disruption in the members of the household (animal or human) can cause behavioral changes in pets as they try to figure out the new dynamics and their place in them.

 

[colliewog]

Considering there was turmoil before he left, she may just be very confused right now.

 

[lizzybeth727]

Could she have SA from not being with Zane, she has also been acting more velcroish since he left, she is normally very aloof. She has been with Zane since she was 8 weeks old.

I don't think it's SA; if it was, she'd be fighting trying to get to Zane, destructive at doorways and stuff. So no, IMO, not SA.

BUT, I do think it sounds like she's stressed that her good buddy is gone. This is one problem with raising a puppy with another dog.... I don't know if that's what you did, but IMO puppies should be with their people much more than they should be with other dogs. Of course they should be socialized with other dogs; but so many owners get their dog a puppy and put them together to "train" each other and "exercise" each other, and the problem arises when the puppy bonds way too strongly to the adult dog. The other dog becomes the most important thing in the puppy's life, when it should be the owner instead. I'm just pointing this out for any lurkers who have young puppies and adult dogs.

 

[smkie]

I wonder if it was seizure or another brain issue that was happening. I have seen a dog look like that one time. I have worked with a lot of dogs.

AS to the changed behavior of the dog at home, i think a dog can display a wide range of different behaviors when grieving. Mary sunk to the floor when Bronki died. THe same would have been for being gone. THey were always together. SHe woudln't eat, she wouldn't look at anything, all her zest was gone. IT is a horrible thing to see your dog go through this and you feel so helpless to know what to do.

 

[Ratboy]

King shows no real affection for Molly most of the time, but a couple weeks ago, she got a horrible ear infection (Always over a weekend!), and I somehow got out the door without King coming with us. About 30 seconds after we went out the door, I heard King start whining and crying. We were gone for about a half hour, and when we came back, he was howling. When he saw her, he was very happy to see her, for about a minute, then he was back to only paying attention to her when he thinks she's getting food that he should be getting, or when she chokes, coughs, or vomits, then he's almost panicky with worry. She's the same way with him. It's odd they would be so cold with each other, since they've been together every day of their lives, except for a total of three days.

When my old Pit mix Gus would get attacked, like he did about a dozen times, due to all the dogs running loose around here, his eyes would go from the usual "Lab" looking eyes to where they looked like a lot of Pit's eyes do, kind of squinty, and "dead" inside.
We called it "Getting out his can of spinach", or "hulking out". I almost named him "Popeye", as he had short, very thick legs.

It would take about a minute for the "change" to happen, and for him to retaliate. He always took a lot of abuse before he would do anything but sit there and take it, so I always would do anything I could to get them apart before then. About half the time, I did, but half the time, since I was usually alone, I couldn't, as the other dog went after me. Once he went off, he didn't stop until the other dog was in no mood to fight anymore. All you could hear was him huffing and puffing, his silence was kind of spooky. And the other dog would be yelping, of course. He never wanted to hurt anyone, but even he had his limits. Little dogs, like the Jack Russell that attacked him once, got a much longer time before he would do anything, enough time to get them apart before Gus reached the point of retaliation. The giant German Shepherd that attacked him got about 15 seconds of chewing in before he got slammed up against the truck he jumped out of, and then he got chewed up very badly, and had to have a lot of stitches.

 

[milos_mommy]

A dog can absolutely have SA when another dog leaves, however in this case I think she may be a little bit confused and upset about the fight (I imagine your parents did A LOT of yelling at that time) and what's going on, more than actually anxious about being without Zane.

 

[Doberluv]

A dog can absolutely have SA when another dog leaves, however in this case I think she may be a little bit confused and upset about the fight (I imagine your parents did A LOT of yelling at that time) and what's going on, more than actually anxious about being without Zane.

I tend to agree with most of this. All the changes and the upset probably caused her a lot of stress. And I've found that dogs do show signs of stress or anxiety when another of their house mates are absent for any significant period of time. I don't think it has anything to do with re-establishing their "position" or rank. I tend to believe it's more like the emotions we would experience a family member mysteriously disappearing for days and days, albeit probably not with all the logical thought processes we'd go through...but the emotion...the lack of continuity. My own current dogs seem to do all right with that sort of thing. But any big change, including another dog they're use to having around going MIA is enough to cause signs of stress in many dogs.

 

[TexasRanger]

She has calmed down now, but every once in awhile she and Deputy will look for Zane.

 

[Amanda885]

sounds like she is just stressed out. it should pass. hang in there..just let her know its not ok to behave like that and see how she continues to behave...good luck!