Tojo's acting funny
Tojo's been acting funny today and yesterday. Tojo's been going around with his tail uncurled and his ears back and he's been trying to sit on me all day. He even tried to sit in my face to wake me up this morning. I hope he's alright.
We were all at the in-laws for Canada Day and frankly, we're all a little under the weather! I wonder if there was something about the water out there. Blech.
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That is EXACTLY how Maui behaves when he is scared - like during thunder storms. Do they do a lot of fireworks on Canada Day [like they do here on the 4th of July]? If so, I bet that was the issue, he may have been hearing the fireworks and it freaked him out a bit.
You think that could be it? Has ever shown fear of things like that?
I think he's scared, too, because I noticed after a while that he is shaking. There are fireworks on Canada Day, although he really didn't seem to mind them. We took him to a fireworks show on Monday and he just laid down beside me and did nothing. If there was a really bright one, he'd look up and then ignore it. He was actually acting the most scared when we got home. The only thing I can think of is that when we got home, there was a fly buzzing around and he got bitten by a horsefly once and started screaming bloody murder while he was out on the balcony... maybe he's scared of the fly. I'm not sure though... when he wasn't trying to sit on me, he was trying to catch the fly so I don't know how scared of it he could be.
He seems fine, today though...
Sounds like that could be it - I have found that our Shibas are the KING [and queen] of association. Maui will associate negative things with the most random events, and he will chain the events. For example, he is afraid of Kaia being hurt, so if she cries he gets like that [scared w/ his tail down and all] - now that we have Hilo, he does the same when Hilo cries. Ok odd right??? this is where the chaining gets crazy [when you realize these dogs are smarter than average (and maybe a bit crazy)] - Hilo now barks and cries at Ahi after he slurps down all his food - Ahi takes her time eating - so now Maui starts w/ the tail down, jumping on us, and shaking when we FEED them. All it takes is us getting the food out and he freaks. Ridiculous huh?
Also, Maui is not afraid of storms or fireworks when he is outside, but he freaks out when he is inside. Maybe Tojo could hear the fireworks outside or something... Just a thought. Goes back to what ShikokuSpirit said about flight or fight, they are trapped inside and that makes them more scared - they can't run away, it's not the thunder or fireworks as much as the lack of control. That's my hypothesis anyway.
yea, they remember anything and everything - it's crazy. They are really smart little dogs.
The only thing I can recommend to anyone that experiences there Shiba showing some fear is DO NOT coddle, pet, praise, or get mad at the Shiba. The very best thing you can do is COMPLETELY IGNORE the way your dog is behaving - if you have to go as far as looking at the ceiling to avoid eye contact. I am 100% sure that Jen and my reaction to Maui's fear - when it was first developing and before we knew better - was what caused it to escalate to the level it's at now.
Maui was a pet store pup tho - so poor genetics, I'm sure, has a LOT to do with how extreme it is with him - but the lessons we have learned still apply.