Dog tail-tucked and often spooked

Hello. I've got a male neutered Airedale, 9 years old, on a home
cooked diet. About 2 years ago he started looking to the sky like it
was going to fall or something...maybe it was birds or whatever, but
often just got spooked outside. We have military jets flying everyday,
but those never bothered him, nor now.

Flash-forward to today. I was divorced a year ago (she got the female
Airedale) and roughly 5 months afterwards the dog started the tail
tucking inside the house I'm renting. It's like a poltergeist has come
into the house and he's sniffing EVERYTHING with his tail tucked. And
he's begun drooling.

Now, when I bring him to the park or the ocean, many times he tucks
his tail, sniffs vehimently, and appears very nervous. He does have a
thickening of a heart valve that showed up on an ECHO last month, but
the vet said the dog would have no knowledge or pain from it.

Does anyone know about tail-tucking and getting spooked? I can't think
of anything out of the ordinary that happened 2 years ago. He does get
spooked around trees because sometimes in high winds, palm leaves
fall to the ground where we used to live, but I can't imagine that
that's it. I've had him since 8 weeks old and he's happy around
people, doesn't snap or bite, eats just fine.

I've tried to change his 'attitude' when he tucks his tail, by running
or getting his mind on something else, but no luck.

HELP!!!!

It could be a vision change. Dogs usually adjust to this so well that
you don't ever realize they have vision problems. But, when you
change their environment at the same time their vision is going, it
can cause them to get spooked. The way to deal with it is to keep him
leashed in all new environments and absolutely never comfort him when
he is acting spooked. Just ignore him and give him time to adjust.

It could also be a symptom of a thyroid problem. You should have him
tested for hypothyroidism if you haven't already. This is something
that we are finding more and more in Airedales. It is underdiagnosed
because the regular vets say the dog is "low normal" and that is
fine. We have often seen situations where the dog is treated for a
sequence of problems with marginal success, when the underlying
problem is hypothyroidism. Just a small, inexpensive boost in the
thyroid can have amazing results.

Do not waste your time and money on the T4 test that vets do in their
office. The only test of true diagnostic value is the full thyroid
panel done at large labs. It will probably run around $100. As long
as your vet sends the blood to Antech, you can have him do it and then
you can fax the results to Dr. Dodds for analysis (she doesn't charge
for this). If you want to go to the trouble of packing and shipping
the blood properly, it is less expensive to have it done through Dr.
Dodds.

Here is a website to read about that:

http://www.itsfortheanimals.com/HEMOPET.HTM

I hope some of that helps. Good luck.



On Jul 2, 3:10 pm, Gary wrote:
Hello. I've got a male neuteredAiredale, 9 years old, on a home
cooked diet. About 2 years ago he started looking to the sky like it
was going to fall or something...maybe it was birds or whatever, but
often just got spooked outside. We have military jets flying everyday,
but those never bothered him, nor now.

Flash-forward to today. I was divorced a year ago (she got the femaleAiredale) and roughly 5 months afterwards the dog started the tail
tucking inside the house I'm renting. It's like a poltergeist has come
into the house and he's sniffing EVERYTHING with his tail tucked. And
he's begun drooling.

Now, when I bring him to the park or the ocean, many times he tucks
his tail, sniffs vehimently, and appears very nervous. He does have a
thickening of a heart valve that showed up on an ECHO last month, but
the vet said the dog would have no knowledge or pain from it.

Does anyone know about tail-tucking and getting spooked? I can't think
of anything out of the ordinary that happened 2 years ago. He does get
spooked around trees because sometimes in high winds, palm leaves
fall to the ground where we used to live, but I can't imagine that
that's it. I've had him since 8 weeks old and he's happy around
people, doesn't snap or bite, eats just fine.

I've tried to change his 'attitude' when he tucks his tail, by running
or getting his mind on something else, but no luck.

HELP!!!!