Hello all you dog lovers out there! I am one of you, having loved dogs since the day I was born (I think? I don’t really remember that day exactly per se). But when I was 4-years-old we got a beagle pup named Belle and she was the best addition to the family (besides me, of course 🤓)! She was playful, sassy, sniffy (I said she was a beagle hound right?), opinionated, and so, so cute! I don’t remember her having anxiety except for a memory of when she tried to get under a hutch as my mom, brother, and I were lying in the hallway of a small house watching the walls bow in and out during Hurricane Andrew. That was quite a scary night for all of us!
Fast forward to that innocent, adorable middle schooler (me 😏) who’s now a grown man with two beagles of his (my) own. Piper and Asia. I could write many a’blog posts about the antics of Piper the beagle but she doesn’t have a lick of anxiety, at least when it comes to storms. When it thunders, she simply rolls her brown eyes as if to say, “That’s all ya got?”
Asia, on the other hand, even though she’s playful like a tomboy and pretty adventurous, gets really frightened by loud noises.
So you can imagine how it goes during 4th of July fireworks. Not good, that’s all I’ll say.
This past celebration she did pretty good, though. She panted a lot and walked around, unsettled but she didn’t seem to be completely freaked out. I felt like that was a win for her. However, the very next day she was left alone as we went out for a family reunion dinner and, because it’s Florida and this is what happens in Florida, a perfectly sunny day turned into a monsoon of rain, lightning, thunder, and wind as we were in the restaurant. Mostly all I could think about was, “Is the storm anywhere close enough for Asia to hear the thunder?” Well, clearly it was because when I got back to her, she had done a number on the door frame trim casing.
Poor little thing! All she can think of in those moments is getting out. Even if she were to somehow chew her way out of the room, which was closed off with a door, of course, she would just be wandering around the house and I’m not sure if she would move on to chewing up a door that leads to outside or not. One crazy part about this is that she hasn’t always had this anxiety. In fact, I used to work a job with typical working hours (9am to 6pm) and storms would come and go, no damage from any anxiety whatsoever. It’s only been in the last 5 to 7 years that she’s exhibited this type of behavior. I’ve heard a change like that can happen as a dog ages, I feel bad for her because in those moments she has no idea that she’s just as safe as when the loud noises aren’t happening.
Do you have experience with dog anxiety like this with any of your dogs? Have you tried anything that helped sooth them when they normally get worked up? Share in the comments and I’ll be sure to research any advice you have!
-Out of the Wilderness
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Out of the Wilderness 