Friday, January 04, 2008

Noise phobias

I don't know what to make of Moxie lately. Her noise phobias are just spiraling out of control. Today at work, she absolutley FREAKED out when the someone used the electric stapler, she ran to the reception area and hid under a chair for half an hour (I didn't try to coax her out because I didn't want to reinforce the fear, that and I was busy at the time) She did go back in the office when I made her, but she hid under the desk and shook. When I pulled her out from under the desk she would just circle and look for a corner to sit in and shiver.

She is increasingly anxious when I bring her to work, to the point that I don't want to bring her anymore because I think she's miserable. She won't settle down and go to sleep. She's jumpy, on edge, she whines, she's clingly. She's not a happy puppy. All of this is recent, though. I've been bringing her to work for 8 years and she's never been phased by anything at work.

Tonight at the therapy visit, some of the kids started playing with basketballs and again, Moxie got all weirded out. She used to be bombproof about stuff like that. I don't know whats going on with her lately. I'm completely at a loss. Any advice would be much appreciated. I don't know where my confident happy dog went? She had a full checkup today, with physical exam and bloodwork and there isn't a thing one wrong with her physically. Should I call in a puppy psychologist?

6 comments:

Debra Kay said...

My Mom's dog developed a late in life fear of thunderstorms.

Anonymous said...

I wonder what could be wrong with our beautiful Moxie Girl! I hope she gets over her fearfulness soon...

xxHUGSxx

Anonymous said...

How strange... especially after 8 years of taking her to work.

I hope you get it sorted :(

Emily said...

Poor Moxie, no advice I'm afraid but give ger a hug from me

Anonymous said...

I experienced something similar as my border collie became older.
I attribute it to hearing loss. As a younger dog, his range of hearing was larger, and he could discern what was making the noise, and therefore could ignore it.
As his hearing lessened, the concussive noises could be heard most aptly, and they were the sudden, startling noises. Noises that used to be familiar now seemed to sound different to him.
I don't know a solution, but I would leave the TV on for 'white noise' at a low level, and he seemed to be better able to cope with a constant drone of low background noise. He always hated fireworks :)

Tatum Tot said...

It's so frustrating when we can't tell you humans peoples what is wrong with us. We try, we really do!