My beloved Shih Tzu has just returned from a two week stay in kennels. I am questioning the 'returned' part as i am now starting to think that my husband has brought back another dog. He seems to have had a personality transplant and gone from Oscar Wilde esq to more Phil Mitchell from Eastenders.

He isn't responding to any of my commands and rather than being bullied by our toddler as usual he is now standing up for himself. It is almost as if a stint 'inside' has toughened him up big time.

When i was late with his dinner, instead of patiently waiting by his bowl with a hungry look on his face he gave me a 'feed me now or regret it later' look and barked for me to hurry up. He gets out of bed when he wants to not when i want him to. And he has started helping himself to the toddler's toys (previously a strict no no, always adhered to).

He has only been home for 4 hours...

Give him a couple of days. It is possible and probably that your little hairy friend is giving you an attitude for putting him away of the family for two weeks.

It will pass. He has feelings and he is expressing them so that you understant that it was not cool, mom!

How dare you put me in kennels!!! My dog was the same and the funny thing was that she would sulk and not look at me and even if I called her she would ignore me.
However, a couple of days later, I was forgiven and peace and harmony resumed in the Smackerjack house.

Your best friend is making you suffer but will soon get over it

It was his second time in kennels. The first time he apparently loved it. So much so when my husband dropped him off the second time he ran straight in and never looked back to say good bye.

Perhaps he has been mixing with the wrong sort of dog inside and picked up a few bad habits.

That's just teenage rebellion. Your baby is growing up.

Get his chip checked and cross-matched against your documents ?

Ok i have solved it.

I was just about to respond to the last post to say it is definately the right dog as he has a terrible haircut which we gave him just before he went into kennels. And then i realised that the terrible haircut which we gave him (bad parents) has probably meant he was bullied in kennels. Which is why he is such a tough guy now.

I'll take him to the toilettage (or whatever they call it) and i am sure he will return a new (old) man.

Give him lots of love, hugs and his favorite treat. He'll get back to his old habits very fast!

haaahaa - your posts made me chuckle.

My dog takes a day or two to get back to his old self after returning from the sitters too. He usually sleeps the entire day and doesnt bug me for walks upon return simply because the sitter has a huge backyard and he goes amok playing in there the entire day. The first couple of times, I got a bit worried and wondered if he was sick but he was soon back to normal.

He lives in the house with them and they are really dog-mad and spoil him like crazy so he tends to pick up naughty habits like jumping onto the sofa without being invited. That takes a couple of days to correct - dogs are highly adaptable animals but just be sure to nip any unwanted behaviour in the bud, that you didnt allow before he went when they try it on with you and all will be well again!

__________________
Remember when someone annoys you, it takes 42 muscles to frown, BUT it only takes 4 muscles to extend your arm and b****-slap the mother-f***er upside the head.

Think yourself lucky,

My dogs learnt how to BARK non-stop upon their return.

They had never done this before, and it took a while before they stopped.



(They were mostly just happy to be back home)

Dear Nil,

I'm a dog breeder and very experienced with dogs (I worked as a dog behaviorist). Also works as pet sitter/walker in Lausanne.
This behavior is veru strange, because even if your dog is not happy with what happened in the kennel we would not ignore you and your family because of it. Dogs have a very light sense of time, and the hapiness of meeting his "pack" again and come back to his territory would be all for him. He recognizes his name when you call? How long have he been at home now?
I hope I'm wrong, but there's a big chance of being another dog.
Please, let me know... I do love dogs and can feel your worries.

Best Regards,
Roberta

Another thing to consider is that kennels can be overwhelming for many dogs - the noise/unfamiliar environment/ unfamiliar routine/ unfamiliar staff causes stress. Some dogs react by becoming unusually quiet, timid, tentative. A few days back in their normal routine is usually enough to reassure them.

However, in serious cases kennel stress can cause a dog to shut down. This is where a dog more or less retreats into himself, exhibits 'learned helplessness', prefering inaction to the uncertainty of what response action on his part might bring. In short, an extreme personality change.

We see this behavior with some regularity in shelters, especially with breeds that tend to be sensitive.

Hopefully your dog will snap back to his usual self - give him time, be patient, keep to his usual routine.

However... sometimes this behavior is a sign that something not so nice may have happened. If you have any thoughts of that, do investigate further.


All the best to the little guy.

Poor little guy! Unless he is back to his old self, I would go and have his chip checked. I know that my two definitely act a bit weird when I collect them when they are dropped off, but as soon as I get them inside to out flat, and give them their baths, they are licking my face off and running around like wild dogs! I have my little sensitive one that gets a muscle flare up (from stress) sometimes that happens after he gets home the next day or so. However they are always themselves, and of course after the initial lick fest, they will ignore me for an hour or so, punishing me for their stay away. But then they go back to there clinging selves! GL!