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worried about pit's depressed moods...help!!!

Discussion in 'Dogs - Pit bull breeds specific' started by Holly Bergloff, Feb 21, 2005.

  1. Holly Bergloff

    Holly Bergloff New Member

    My boyfriend and I have a 5 month old female pit. Her personality is that of unconditional love and devotion to us and we have never had any problems with her, AT ALL. Taking that into consideration, one would ask..."why are you complaining???" Well, I am posting this message because over the holidays, I spent a few weeks away from her and she stayed with my boyfriend. Ever since we were reunited about 3 weeks ago, she seems to get depressed easily. For example, on the weekends she gets used to me being home from work and is delighted to sleep in, play, go for walks, etc. When Monday morning rolls around and my alarm goes off for work, she cries, hugs me, kisses me and follows me around all morning while getting ready for work. She even goes as far as to try and take off my scarf and hat and lay in front of the door to prevent me from leaving. She finally reaches a point where she gives up, literally stands on her hind legs, wraps her front legs around my neck and gives me a hug. She is never alone because my boyfriend is and always has been home with her all day. He said since they got back from the holidays, she whimpers after I leave then she sleeps well into the afternoon without eating breakfast or going potty outside. (She never behaves this way on the weekend). She also gets upset if the two of us are holding a conversation and not paying 100% attention to her. Her reaction to these events is to go off by herself, lay on her bed, whimper for a while, then go to sleep. Many times she won't look at us, she won't face us, she purposefully turns away from us until we pick her up and shower her with hugs and kisses. Afterwards, she seems to be fine. She whimpers and mopes on her bed A LOT so I'm concerned this isn't healthy for her and perhaps she's depressed. Is this normal? I just want her to be happy all of the time so if anyone can offer any advice, I would be most appreciative. Thanks!
     
  2. DeLaUK

    DeLaUK New Member

    pits getting a bit depressed

    Well this is interesting. This is just my opinion, I think there may be a combination of things going on and cant really narrow it down without a bit more info. You say this has been going on for about 3 weeks after you were away over the holidays so you were gone for maybe a month?? which would have put her at about 3 months old when you left? How old was she when you got her? I think theres some seperation anxiety/depression/abandonment going on (a lot of people dont believe that dogs get depressed, I do) but I think also some interuppted routines which may be a bit confusing for her. To be completely honest I think this would be better solved by having a behaviour specialist come into your house and watch exactly whats going on as it does seem a little extreme to still be going on after 3 weeks. I have a couple of suggestions though that might help, maybe in the mornings before you get ready to go to work, get up a little earlier, take her for a walk, not just a quick trip outside to pee but 20-30 minutes, when you come back in spend a few minutes with her, nothing excitable just petting her, talking to her, then get ready for work, at this time withdraw all your attention from her, same as when you come home from work, ignore her for the first 15 minutes or so then give her some attention, try and keep the attention low key and avoid over excitement. As for the feeding, I would have your boyfriend be the only one who feeds for the time being (Im assuming you live together?). What do you do when your boyfriend and you are talking? You said she goes off and whimpers...do you then go and make a big fuss of her?? if you do you should stop, you've taught her to an easy way to get attention. And I hate to say this but if there is any argueing, fights etc between you then this could be a whole different ball game, sorry about that but like I said the behaviour is a little extreme, again just my opinion. Keep us updated, it would be interesting to see how she is doing.
     
  3. Piper's Mom

    Piper's Mom New Member

    Piper is 10 months old. On the occasion that we have left her overnight or for a weekend, she usually ignores me for a couple hours - turning her head the other way and acting as if I do not exist. She has never acted like this for more than a couple of hours and once she is over it, she's completely over it. I have to agree with DeLaUK, this sounds extreme and you should probably have someone with experience evaluate her in person.
     
  4. DeLaUK

    DeLaUK New Member

    not nice being ignored!

    :lol: Pipers mom, that reminded me of my sisters cats, every time she went on vacation the cats would bury themselves in the suitcase, then when she returned they would completely avoid her for about 5 or 6 days.
     
  5. Betty's Daddy

    Betty's Daddy New Member

    Re: pits getting a bit depressed

    Thanks for your input, Holly and I appreciate it :D we left for the states for 5 weeks of which Betty Lou and Holly were seperated for 3 weeks. We got her at 2 days under 7 weeks....so she was 3 months old when we left as you correctly surmised.

    Could you explain the reason behind the feeding?? Thanks....and to clarify Betty does typically eat breakfast and does go potty in the morning but she has on a few occassions in the past few weeks skipped both activities. Obvious signs of depression or separation anxiety to us at that point we just weren't sure. After reading your replies and others in this pit bull forum area, I think we can safely say that she is afraid that Mommy isn't coming back for a LONG time when Mommy gets dressed every am for work. Last but not least, Holly and I can talk about anything and Betty will sometimes interfere with barking, but we never argue or yell at each other which would cause her to legitmately freak out.

    So that's my take and thanks again for your input....we'll take your advice and practice it and we'll get back to you soon.
     
  6. DeLaUK

    DeLaUK New Member

    pit depressed when mom leaves

    The reason I mentioned the feeding is Holly had said that Betty wont eat in the mornings and wont go for a walk, from that it seemed like the she would wait till Holly was home from work, all it does is takes the 'focus' off Holly and puts some of it onto you which might help ease the seperation anxiety.
    As for if there were raised voices, some dogs are over-sensitive to it, I have a friend who's dog that he has had since a small puppy who hides under the bed if the conversation gets a little loud so I didnt mean to offend you in any way, like I said the behaviour does seem a little extreme. If you dont want to get a specialist then the best way to go would be to try and take some of the focus off Holly if possible, you take care of the feeding, the walks, the bulk of the 'playtime', not meaning that Holly shouldnt interact with Betty but for a little while not so much, maybe try this for about 2 weeks and see how things are. If, like I said, Betty goes off when she is not getting attention from you both its okay but dogs are really smart when it comes to 'how many ways can I get attention' and it only takes one time to give in to her and she's got you wrapped around her...'paws' :wink:
    Good luck, she sounds like a really sweet affectionate dog with a lot more love than most dogs get.
     
  7. Betty's Daddy

    Betty's Daddy New Member

    Betty Lou's separation anxiety

    OK, and yes Holly and I do live together and our usual routine is for me to feed Betty breakfast and lunch and when Holly gets home at nite she feeds her dinner.

    No offense taken, when Betty was a wee little pup however she would run and squeeze under our couch whenever the neighbor's dog below us (who is probably close to 100 lbs) would bark...so much for that tenacious reputation pits have :D

    Well realistically finding a specialist in LIthuania is basically next to impossible! Betty, in fact, does seem to be doing better already. Perhaps just with every day that Holly comes home at her usual time I believe Betty is trusting that Mommy isn't going anywhere like she did in December.

    Fortunately, at this point in time I am able to be spend most weekdays at home with Betty (which is the main reason we got her when we did) so we do believe that she is the LUCKIEST dog in the world. She is the sweetest dog we have ever known and also the first pit bull either of us has raised. I grew up with a pair of labs and Holly with a poodle and we are both amazed at how incredibly smart and also sensitive Betty is. Its early to say but both Holly and I think it will be extremely difficult in the future to settle on another breed other than a pit. Betty is definitely our first child and in the next few days we will be sure to get some pictures of her on here.

    This site is an excellent resource so thanks again for your advice and time.
     

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