[crazyfarm]

Jiki= great Pyrenees
Celsus= St Bernard who died last August. Celsus was kind of the leader of the dogs under me.
We had our viszla die of old age a month before Celsus died of cancer.

Jiki has become fearful. I'm worried about him. He was with us when we buried Celsus and he tried to dig him back up. He seemed pretty ---- upset to have lost his best bud. We were all pretty upset. It was a lot of upheaval in a small amount of time. It's drastically changed the dynamic in our house as well. Since Celsus has died Jiki has become fearful of outsiders. Since we got him we've been taking him to the inlaws. The inlaws always feed the dogs when we are away. He knows them rather well I would think. However, we have to put him away now when ANYONE comes to the house. He cannot be trusted. He's never bitten but I can read his body language pretty well and it's enough to make me uncomfortable having him out. He's 5 going on 6. So what do you think is going on? Is it us? What can I do for him? Of course he gets horribly car sick so we never take him anywhere. It's not like we have a lot of people drive out to our house either. Anyway, I'm just unsure here. It's fine to keep him up when we have people over. However, we went away for 3 nights and my inlaws just threw the food over the fence because Jiki was too threatening for them to consider opening the door.

 

[crazyfarm]

crap I keep mistyping. Ugh!

 

[Maura]

There are products that help to calm. I have used Stress Control from Natural Pet. You might also try Rescue Remedy. He probably went into grief, and his body’s chemical balance changed because of it. He is not able to get his body chemistry back in order. He may need a mineral or vitamin supplement to help him, but I don’t know what. For people, potassium.

 

[motdaugrnds]

It sounds like grief to me too; and apparently he never got to find out for sure his friend actually died...thus he kept trying to dig him up.

(I'm rather out on a limb here; but if that dog were mine and your situation were mine, I'd go dig up his friend so he can find out for sure he isn't returning.)

 

[kalmara]

Get him another companion.
He's missing his mate & backup, he will feel very lost.

 

[crazyfarm]

It sounds like grief to me too; and apparently he never got to find out for sure his friend actually died...thus he kept trying to dig him up.

(I'm rather out on a limb here; but if that dog were mine and your situation were mine, I'd go dig up his friend so he can find out for sure he isn't returning.)

Celsus has been buried almost a year. I can't imagine digging him up would be pretty. We did let him come to the grave so that he could see Celsus was dead. He was in the hole with the body and every time my DH would throw dirt on, Jiki would try to dig it off. It was pretty darn upsetting.

 

[crazyfarm]

Get him another companion.
He's missing his mate & backup, he will feel very lost.

We still have 3 dogs. We had 5 but 2 died. So still have 3. Celsus was just special. He was special to all of us and he died very young of cancer, he was only 4. So we all feel the void!

 

[motdaugrnds]

Crazyfarm, this may sound harsh; and I don't mean it to.....Sometimes we have a "sensitive" dog that is so tuned into our feelings that it gets stuck if we do. I'm wondering if your dog is like this; and if so, doing something to help yourself move past grief may be helpful to your dog.

 

[crazyfarm]

Crazyfarm, this may sound harsh; and I don't mean it to.....Sometimes we have a "sensitive" dog that is so tuned into our feelings that it gets stuck if we do. I'm wondering if your dog is like this; and if so, doing something to help yourself move past grief may be helpful to your dog.

Well I'm about to sound heartless now. I've experienced a lot of death starting at a young age. Lots of people and animals, etc. At this point when people die I don't really cry. Celsus was a big part of my heart and I did cry over him but I can't lay a large claim to grief. It took me maybe a week to stop thinking about him and move on. My husband has been more mired in grief so perhaps I should check in with him. He changed all of his backgrounds on his phone and computers to pics of Celsus and he was certainly more upset than I was.

Jiki is closer to my husband but I am in the undisputed leader and always have been so I don't know. Maybe. I don't know. I think it's safe to say Jiki is anxious now and life has been a bit crazy. We bought Sparta while I was pregnant, then I had our 2nd child, then Louie died and then Celsus. It's just taken us awhile to be normal again. Jiki seems to be getting worse though. I was hoping he'd settle down but he's not.

 

[JasoninMN]

Not all dogs are born to be leaders, infact most aren't otherwise that would make pack lifestyle difficult. Dogs also don't dwell on past events like people do. Its been over a year, he is not still thinking about your other dog dieing. Its possible you or your husband may have unknowing taught him this behavior but my guess is that your Saint Bernard leadership made him feel secure. Now he is trying to be the boss because the other dogs didn't step up to the plate to take the position and he is not confident enough to be one. You need to start finding ways to building his confidence and become his leader. Don't praise and coddle him out of pity, when he is acting like a fool or scared remain calm. Google becoming a pack leader and once he feels secure and that someone else is in charge I bet he starts acting like his old self.

 

[crazyfarm]

I agree that our other 2 dogs are not leader material.
I have always considered myself to be the leader. Perhaps I need to reevaluate. I will admit that having 2 toddlers and trying to really start homesteading on top of working a full time job has had me a bit occupied with other matters.

Not all dogs are born to be leaders, infact most aren't otherwise that would make pack lifestyle difficult. Dogs also don't dwell on past events like people do. Its been over a year, he is not still thinking about your other dog dieing. Its possible you or your husband may have unknowing taught him this behavior but my guess is that your Saint Bernard leadership made him feel secure. Now he is trying to be the boss because the other dogs didn't step up to the plate to take the position and he is not confident enough to be one. You need to start finding ways to building his confidence and become his leader. Don't praise and coddle him out of pity, when he is acting like a fool or scared remain calm. Google becoming a pack leader and once he feels secure and that someone else is in charge I bet he starts acting like his old self.

 

[Maura]

If you feel he needs a ‘leader’ try taking him to an obedience class. This often helps to solidify the relationship, even if he doesn’t really need training.

 

[motdaugrnds]

A training class may be exactly what that particular dog needs. It would give the dog something positive to focus on and help him feel confident...........