Basically noise sensivity but with extras.

[Cooper and Stanley]

Hi Everyone

I'm posting this here in the hopes that someone might have similar experiences or found some research and ideas that might help?

This may get a bit ramble ish as I'm still trying to unravel my thoughts and the "evidence" as such,

It's a bit of a two fold pondering aswell,

So Cooper is noise sensitive, he has been to the vets to check for illness and pain and apparently there isn't anything they can identify, (I took him after we were attacked and he became reactive towards other dog's and he goes quite regularly just to see if he's ok when we go with our other dogs, our vets are great and let me go when no one else is there and let him wander around the whole practice so they can see natural movement when he's comfortable and do tests aswell when he's happy, he's nosey so he likes wandering around lol) he is a bit of a licky boy (mostly when he's tired) and does have colour dilute alpocia,

So part one is, we've made massive progress with his noise sensitivity when he's awake! He's really so so much better but when he's asleep if he hears something he gets very upset and his reaction is more intense and much more scared/fearful - I have heard that when dog's are asleep senses are diverted so hearing for example is prioritised for "survival" purposes, so if that's true I can understand the difference in his reactions but how on earth do I work on that when he's asleep and when the noises are random and unpredictable? (I already play sound recordings at various volumes at all times to help, and work on his noise issues pretty much every day but I'm trying to find a way I can help more with the asleep issue) any insights, experiences, research would be so helpful!

So part two which is connected to part one but also separate, so this is the part that might get ramble ish, I noticed last year a difference in Cooper when it was nice weather and when it wasn't, yes ok whippets tend to be naff in colder weather and it doesn't have to nose dive much for them to try to hibernate, lol if any of you came to spend a cool day with me you'd probably laugh your heads off at their behaviour it's cute but funny and seriously not an example of robust dog's lol! Anyway the best way to explain Coopers reactions in warm weather verses cool weather is in warm weather he's happy, content everything he has issues with are easier for him to cope with, he bounces back more quickly, in cool weather he struggles, noise sensitivity and reactiveness increases, his sleep noise sensitivity really increases, he doesn't bounce back so quickly, so last year I wondered if it was similar to SAD in people, lack of sunshine vitamin D etc, so I introduced extra warmth for him, sunlight bulbs everywhere, extra training on cooler days, it didn't seem to make any progress just help the syptoms if you know what I mean, this year I've wondered if it isn't the lack of sunshine as it's cooler but the sun is out, so I've researched behaviour changes relating to climate change and a few things have come up relating to air pressure changes (which yes I've been geekily researching air pressure to see if there's a pattern) and behaviour changes in humans and animals, which is useful if it's accurate but leaves me pondering, is there more research I could find helpful? Is the weather change because the whippets aren't keen a "cue" as such or an "aversive" so has an impact on Coopers behaviours? Do I need to do more training when it's cooler to help him feel happier as in I've unconsciously done more when they're more energetic when it's nice but I've made cooler weather less appealing because they want to do less? Is there really something air pressure/lack of sunshine or something I haven't considered that can have such a effect? And if that's the case how on earth do you train to help him feel better? It's such an obvious contrast between "good weather and bad weather" I can see the cause as such although not nail it down but not the solutions, there is alot more pondering I've been doing but I won't bore you with the rest lol as I feel I've rambled enough, but this is where I am and I'm stumped!

 

[snowbunny]

I know I should know this already, but before I start rambling on, is Cooper on any meds?

 

[snowbunny]

OK, I'm going to start rambling while I have this thought in my head about his sleepy nervousness.
To me, that sounds like he's generally on edge and, because he's vulnerable when he's asleep, he stays on alert. That could very well make him trigger-sensitive - imagine how lightly you sleep if you are in an unfamiliar place, maybe a creaky old building where you're nor entirely comfortable. You'd be springing u p at every slight knocking of the pipes, I guess. This could also mean he doesn't really ever sleep deeply, which will be having a knock-on effect with his nervousness during the day, and he's in a spiral of never truly de-stressing (having an "empty bucket" in aD terms).

So I'm wondering if there's any short-term meds you could give him to perform a "reboot" - giving him a few good nights of deep sleep might make him more able to relax even further during the day which will put him in a better frame of mind for sleeping at night even once he comes off them.

Shadow is what I call a "fast twitch" dog; if you open a door near him, he will spring up and skitter out the way. Compared to Squidge who you can open a door into and push her across the floor, and she still won't wake up

With Shadow, we've worked on proximity while he's relaxing. He is a complete sucker for a chest rub, so while he's relaxing on the floor, we'd go up to him and rub his chest. If we ever need to step over him, we'll make it into a chest rubbing session. He's gone from jumping up in a startle response when we approach in a way that we might be going to open a door, drawer or step over him, and now he rolls onto his back when he thinks we're going to do one of those. So he's more relaxed about the whole picture, meaning he is less likely to startle if we do it when he's asleep.

Maybe you could use the same principle with Cooper. The desensitisation you're doing is good, but in order to counter-condition, you're going to have to go further and associate the triggers with something he likes - preferably something relaxing and soothing. So if he likes chest rubs, or ear scritches, or massage, or maybe licking something sticky like PB or cream cheese from your fingers.


As for the air pressure thing, it's absolutely true that they can be sensitive to this. Willow is, very much so. She can feel pressure changes before storms and reacts to those, even if the storm is miles away - even if it never gets to us. She doesn't like the rain, I think because she associates it with storms. And the answer is, yes you can use conditioning to work on this. Make lots of happy associations with the changes in air pressure. Work on being silly together - Amy Cook calls it "laughing" when your dog is smiling at you with that silly relaxed face and you're just being goofy together, without any pressure. You're just sat on the floor or sofa together, maybe grabbing his legs if he likes that, or wiggling your fingers at him, or making little funny noises. You're not trying to ramp him up, you're just finding out what he finds fun and building a conversation around that. If he walks off, don't try to encourage him back, just wait and see if he comes back to you then re-engage. It's something that you can practice, like everything else, so play with it when the weather is good and he's in his relaxed place, and work out what he likes. The more you practice it, the more it'll be something you can initiate and then you can slowly start initiating it in difference scenarios.

 

[Cooper and Stanley]

OK, I'm going to start rambling while I have this thought in my head about his sleepy nervousness.
To me, that sounds like he's generally on edge and, because he's vulnerable when he's asleep, he stays on alert. That could very well make him trigger-sensitive - imagine how lightly you sleep if you are in an unfamiliar place, maybe a creaky old building where you're nor entirely comfortable. You'd be springing u p at every slight knocking of the pipes, I guess. This could also mean he doesn't really ever sleep deeply, which will be having a knock-on effect with his nervousness during the day, and he's in a spiral of never truly de-stressing (having an "empty bucket" in aD terms).

So I'm wondering if there's any short-term meds you could give him to perform a "reboot" - giving him a few good nights of deep sleep might make him more able to relax even further during the day which will put him in a better frame of mind for sleeping at night even once he comes off them.

Shadow is what I call a "fast twitch" dog; if you open a door near him, he will spring up and skitter out the way. Compared to Squidge who you can open a door into and push her across the floor, and she still won't wake up

With Shadow, we've worked on proximity while he's relaxing. He is a complete sucker for a chest rub, so while he's relaxing on the floor, we'd go up to him and rub his chest. If we ever need to step over him, we'll make it into a chest rubbing session. He's gone from jumping up in a startle response when we approach in a way that we might be going to open a door, drawer or step over him, and now he rolls onto his back when he thinks we're going to do one of those. So he's more relaxed about the whole picture, meaning he is less likely to startle if we do it when he's asleep.

Maybe you could use the same principle with Cooper. The desensitisation you're doing is good, but in order to counter-condition, you're going to have to go further and associate the triggers with something he likes - preferably something relaxing and soothing. So if he likes chest rubs, or ear scritches, or massage, or maybe licking something sticky like PB or cream cheese from your fingers.


As for the air pressure thing, it's absolutely true that they can be sensitive to this. Willow is, very much so. She can feel pressure changes before storms and reacts to those, even if the storm is miles away - even if it never gets to us. She doesn't like the rain, I think because she associates it with storms. And the answer is, yes you can use conditioning to work on this. Make lots of happy associations with the changes in air pressure. Work on being silly together - Amy Cook calls it "laughing" when your dog is smiling at you with that silly relaxed face and you're just being goofy together, without any pressure. You're just sat on the floor or sofa together, maybe grabbing his legs if he likes that, or wiggling your fingers at him, or making little funny noises. You're not trying to ramp him up, you're just finding out what he finds fun and building a conversation around that. If he walks off, don't try to encourage him back, just wait and see if he comes back to you then re-engage. It's something that you can practice, like everything else, so play with it when the weather is good and he's in his relaxed place, and work out what he likes. The more you practice it, the more it'll be something you can initiate and then you can slowly start initiating it in difference scenarios.

Thanks Fiona,

For taking the time to reply but also for some great suggestions, this is one of those things that's just goes round and round in my mind as you can imagine as he's always been like it, you try to figure the trigger so you can solve the issue as such or at least have ideas on where to start, Cooper isn't on medication for anything, regarding his sleep reactions and their intensity and it being more so when the weather changes because he displays such a startled response I'd always thought it's because he's in a deep deep sleep and therefore more startled by it/takes longer to process it/isn't consciously thinking because he was asleep so is truly reacting rather than figuring out how he feels as such but you may well have a very valid point about him not actually being properly asleep, when the weather changes my lot sleep and chill out more but if they do is it that true relaxing deep sleep after all and could that be contributing to his more startled response as you'd suggested, so I think there are definitely things we can work on if that's the case, I should have specified aswell the triggers are noises outside and more often when it's dark, he doesn't react to noises and movement in the house (much more confident in the house but not of things outside), but your suggestions of doing things and building up to doing them at these times still holds true, things that are relaxing that can be paired eventually with the noises,

Although Cooper isn't on prescribed meds of any sort I did yesterday give him some valarian drops which I have for fireworks and storms and he was much more settled last night and did manage undesturbed sleep so I think a few days of that will help him sleep and hopefully truly relax and bring his overall arousal and anxiety level down,

Squidge is just like Gracie lol,

There's lots of go to relaxing things I can do with Cooper at night so hopefully we can help change his feelings gradually,

With the weather change the pressure and even the acoustics could really throw Cooper off because of a lot of uncomfortable associations, so generally unhappier because it's a predictor of many things he's not keen on, I like the idea of just being goofy with them we do this anyway just because I like being goofy with mine lol, but developing it into a thing to help on the "off days" sounds like a good plan! Yesterday you could see Cooper was "off" as I even brought out his squeaky ball and he was very reserved which isn't what "happy" Cooper does, so working in general no pressure fun and happy Cooper will be the plan for winter! Thankyou again

 

[snowbunny]

Sometimes it's just good to bounce things off a sounding board, glad you have some thoughts on how to proceed

 

[Cooper and Stanley]

Sometimes it's just good to bounce things off a sounding board, glad you have some thoughts on how to proceed

Yes it is, I think I've been struggling to get past the two main points of a) he's asleep so how do you work on something when he's asleep and b) how do you start to work on something you can't see or feel but obviously he can with regards to the climate side of things as he's already "reacting or upset" by the time I realise it's one of those days, looking at it like you would other challenging behaviours and emotions and putting the building blocks in place apart from the actual events makes so much sense when you stop looking directly at the problem! He's had a few blips today but not so many and we've done some nice "Cooper likes" things he has been generally more relaxed,