How do you tell...

[Kristi]

How do you tell when your Cairn's not feeling him/herself - when something's wrong? How do you know when they are in pain? Berkeley is 5 months old and usually I can't get him to calm down! This morning he slept on the floor while I got ready for work - I'm usually trying to get him out of my way! That's a first, so I don't want to overreact, but he also wouldn't eat his breakfast. No changes in stools. I'm worried something's wrong. What are your Cairn's signals?

[Guest]

How do you tell when your Cairn's not feeling him/herself - when something's wrong?  How do you know when they are in pain?  Berkeley is 5 months old and usually I can't get him to calm down!  This morning he slept on the floor while I got ready for work - I'm usually trying to get him out of my way!  That's a first, so I don't want to overreact, but he also wouldn't eat his breakfast.  No changes in stools.  I'm worried something's wrong.  What are your Cairn's signals?

i wouldn't panic yet. as nutty as my cairn is, when i start getting ready for work, he lays on the floor and mellows out. eventually as your dog gets older they are going to know that your getting ready to leave them. they are very smart in that aspect. so your dog might be a little depressed. even my dog, a lot of times, will not touch his food till i come back home. when i'm away on a vacation and i have someone watch him, he eats very, very little. my dog has gotten to the point when he can sense that someone is on their way over to my house. don't ask me how. maybe its something i say on the phone or something i do but if a friend is on his way over to my house, a lot of times my dog will go near the door, with his ears way up, looking around with increased intensity. it's amazing! my dog can tell a lot of what i'm going to do before i do it. they are very observant. another example is my dog likes to bark at my radiators when i put the heat up. as soon as he sees me going toward the thermostat to put it on, he charges into one of my rooms, to the radiator and gets ready to bark. before i do anything. so this could be just a case that your dog knows your leaving him for awhile and he might be a little sad.

[Kristi]

Thanks so much for the feedback! I'm pretty much a hypochondriac myself, so I'm just nervous 'cause the little guy can't tell me what's wrong! But after spending the weekend with him, I've decided its his teething. Why didn't I think of it before?? He ate very little yesterday, and chewed on chewies all day, and there was a little whining associated with that. Then he spit out 2 teeth last night. Poor guy's mouth hurts!

I am noticing much of his actions/reactions revolve around my schedule and activities, just like yours. I'm getting better at reading him too!