Pacing behaviour - advice needed
We now have our rescue OES Ollie. We have had him only 2-3days so I appreciate that it is very early days esp for a dog that has had a bad start. He is about 18 months to 2 years and from what we have been told spent most of that time in a small concrete yard with no shelter and not enough food. He has been with foster carer since he was rescued in all about 6 weeks. He is a very loving dog eager to please and already showing that he can be trained. We have the 'sit' off good now. Has shown no aggression with us at all. We are lucky - hei s house trained. He is getting lots of exercise/walks ( poor husband is on knees) The big problem we have is that he paces/runs continually from window to window which I expect is what he did when left in a small yard. He is very fixated on movement in the trees etc. I need advice - do we let him continue to pace and hope it lessens or do we try and break the cycle. We have toys - KOng etc and are using those to try and distract him but it doesnt last long and he ends up pacing with them in his mouth. Eventually he gets tired and lies down but it takes a while. Initially we had to draw the curtains so he coudldnt see out but that isnt so good in the long term. Anyone had any experience of this problem or anyone can suggest how we deal with it ? ~ need to add that he has been neutered, there are no children at home here and that we are home all day ~ |
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| Congrats on your new dog and thank you for rescuing. As for your question:
It could be that there is so much new stuff that this poor dog has never been around and he is just really excited to see and learn just as a teenager would be. For instance take a teenager who was never allowed to do anything except under strict supervision. When this kid hits college he goes wild, trust me. This poor dog has lived the past 18-24 months seeing life through a cage. Did he do this pacing when he was with the foster family? I would get him into some kind of obedience training as well as get him out to see the world people, dogs places etc. You can also try opening the curtains if he starts the pacing close them and tell him no (or whatever command you chose). Get him doing something else. Then open the curtains again a 5-10 minutes later. Pacing starts, close and repeat. I honestly believe he is just really curious, I know I would be if all I knew was looking at life out of a cage. |
| I know of someone who's dog does this (not oes) He is 8 and never has stopped over everything. runs from the front window to back window. They baby gated from living room in day time evening curtains pulled they are considering shutters. back door is french doors they cover those. |
| In some dogs (some Border Collies come to mind), it could be a sign of compulsive behaviour and I think it some times takes meds to control/perhaps break the cycle. But since you've only had him a few days and considering what his past was like, it may just be that he'll take a little while longer to settle down.
I know it's unsettling though. If it continues and he paces himself into exhaustion, a veterinary behaviorlist consultation may be in order. But I notice with rescue dogs that I foster that it usually takes them more than 2-3 days to settle down. Most often the anxiety I see manifests itself as separation anxiety (not generally destructive even, they just can't stand to not see me/have any barrier between me & them), but most do start to settle even though it usually takes at least a week to start to see any improvement. And in some cases longer than that. I hope he starts to relax for you. Kristine |
| Manks to those who offered advice and support. Thankfully things have improved a great deal today. Ollie really is a super dog and Im sure he will soon be more secure. I was told by our rescue that it takes 3 days before there is any sign of settling with dogs who have had a bad time and that does seem to be the case here. Much calmer behaviour.
We have a DAP collar on him which seems to have helped too. Another suggestion was a doggy comfort soft toy for him to carry when he feels stressed so Im off to the stores to see what I can find. 
Many thanks everyone - just needed someone to listen I guess |
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