Hi all, Been a while, but our Kai is now almost 6 months old (next week!). See attached pics Over the past 3 weeks or so, there have been some changes to his behaviour that I was hoping to get people's opinion on - we have already had him checked by the vet, and was given the all clear. I also want to get it out of the way before assumptions are made, that we do not abuse our dog in any way and do not raise our voices at him. Basically what happened is, about 3 weeks ago we came home from a short 3 day trip. Kai had come with us on this trip, we stayed on a farm which he thoroughly enjoyed, running around in the open paddocks and teasing the cows and alpacas lol. His behaviour there was completely normal. Once we got home, he eventually fell asleep and then woke up later that night acting really withdrawn - at one stage he went and sat in the dark hallway in the corner, staring at the wall for around 10minutes. He wouldn't come when called, instead just putting his head close to the ground and not looking at either of us. He then did not touch his food, and when we would try and encourage him to eat, he would just run to his crate and sit in there. His ears were back and when we approached, he would avoid eye contact and put his head down. Since then, every morning when we go downstairs and open his crate, his ears will usually be fluttering to the side and his head slightly down. Some days he will run outside and go toilet, but then quickly return to his crate and sit there, other days he won't even go out to toilet unless we leave the room. On these mornings, he also tends to not eat unless we leave the room or he won't eat at all . IF he does eat, his mood seems to go back to normal. Other days, once he goes toilet, he will run back in as normal and eat and will be completely normal, jumping around, wanting to play. He also seems to get back to normal as soon as he is out for a walk. I have been racking my brain trying to figure out what has caused this change. His routine has been the same (apart from our small trip) in terms of feeding, walks etc. He wakes up in this strange mood, usually snaps out of it and goes to bed fine, but then wakes up in this mood again. I know that at the 6month point, pups can go through some behavioural changes, but I was wondering if anyone had experienced a change like this? If anything, I was expecting him to be a bit more destructive and energetic. Sorry for the long post!!! This withdrawn behaviour tends to only be in the morning, and over the past week or so he has snapped out of it pretty quick and returned to his normal self, however it does come and go and today its lasted at least half a day so far so I thought I would post. Appreciate any advice
I have never experienced anything like this with any of my Akitas. While on vacation did he sleep in a crate? Might he have had a bad interaction with someone on the farm that you didn’t witness. Akitas are very sensitive to abrasive treatment. My only suggestion comes from your post, if he seems to get back to normal as soon as he is out for a walk, take him for a walk first thing in the morning. My other thought (trying to get into a dogs head...) is he had many new things to explore on the farm, and life back home is not that exciting... he was chasing large animals around and had new many things to smell and listen to and see. I’m probably grasping at straws here.. Hopefully someone else will come along with some more insight
thanks who owns who The farm was vacant while we were staying, apart from the animals. I also thought he might just be comparing but really not too sure at this point. Will try out some early morning walks and see if that makes a difference.
What a puzzle. Kai is very beautiful. I hope this is just a phase and he returns to being a happy boy soon.
I can’t see it’s got anything to do with the holiday, especially for this length of time, mine settle back into 'normal' life as soon as we come back with them, though it seems strange it could be a phase he’s going through. What did the vet say?
Everything seems to point to medical. Did the vet do any tests or ask you to keep a diary of his behaviour? That would be my first thing to do, keep a diary and log his mood, any foods he's had etc. That might just give a little clue to what's going on with him. One other thing, I know you said he won't come when called while he's having one of these episodes, but have you checked to make sure he's aware of you while he's staring at the wall etc? In other words, can you get his attention if you go to him?
Hi all, sorry for the late reply getting back to you! The vet said that his health was fine, but when we went he was in a normal mood and friendly with everyone, enjoying himself. She did say to just keep an eye on him and see how he goes. The vet didn't ask to keep a diary - just to watch his behaviour for a week or so and then go back if it continues. If we go up to him, he does acknowledge us but it is mainly by putting his head down to the ground. His ears also turn to us when we call him, he would just ignore. In saying all this, over the past week and a half, his mood has pretty much got back to normal. In the mornings when we go to open the crate, his ears are still wiggling on the side like Yoda though not as extreme as it was when I first posted. I have found that when he steps out of the crate, if we straight away give him a cuddle he goes back to normal and is all happy again for the rest of the day, so we have resorted to that as a solution Since we got him, about one day a week he just has chosen not to eat or eat a small amount, but he has always remained a healthy weight and looks health so I wasn't really too concerned. The frequency of this eating habit has increased though since this whole change in mood thing started - some days he will barely touch his food, while other days he will scoff it down. He hasn't lost any weight, and still looks and feels to be a healthy weight, but I think we will probably take him to the vet in the coming days to maybe get some tests done just to make sure nothing is wrong. Thank you all for your responses
Thank you for coming back with an update and it is good to hear that Kai's mood has improved. But it would still concern me that his eating habits sound as if they have not. I would still keep a diary of what and when Kai eats - in fact noting everything, not just food. There are many free online diaries - I keep two in case one goes down, and started when my beloved Pereg [the girl in my avatar] first developed epilepsy. And I still keep them just to jot down anything out of the usual. Not just for Tikva, my little dog, but also for me. Anything and everything that is out of the ordinary. Because whether it is information for my vet about my dog, or information for my doctor about me, I can just open up the diary to see what happened and when.
