Does your dog tell you when something's wrong?

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Yesterday after a long run in high grass, Sugarfoot seemed restless. She was very busy cleaning up her "parts," tummy and inside her back legs. I didn't think too much of it as she is a good "housekeeper." But later I was standing in the kitchen staring off into the middle distance, in contemplation of what I would have for supper. Sugar came in and leaned her right side against my knees and looked up at me. I thought she was just being sociable, so I ruffled her ears and said hi. She continued to lean, and look up, and when I stopped petting her and resumed my ruminations she lifted her left thigh as if she were "cocking a leg."

I thought this a wee bit odd, but as I wasn't sure what to make of it, I did nothing and she put her foot back on the floor. Then she did it again, alternately looking up at me and "pointing" with her nose under her thigh. So then the thick human began to suspect the dog was trying to tell her something.

I called her over to the bed and had her hop up and roll over on her back. And there was a little tick, stuck in the tender skin of her inner thigh. I removed it - it was a really tenacious one - and dabbed a smear of Neosporin on the spot. I checked the calendar. Yup. Time to reapply Frontline. Sugar gave the tick-site a perfunctory sniff (she loves Neosporin) and resumed her usual demeanor. No more restlessness or washing.

 

It reminded me of one time when I was moving house. I was in the back of a pickup with a refrigerator, a chest of drawers, two large, heavy toolboxes and my two Rough Collies. We were moving at about 60 mph on the highway when my male Collie, Treve, started looking over the side and whining. He was usually a very quiet rider, so I thought maybe the excitement of the move had stirred up his guts and that maybe he had to go. I had to work my way up through the load and bang on the cab to get my friend to pull over so I could let Treve get down to go.

The truck started to decelerate and we were moving at about 10 or 15 mph when all the tread of the right rear tire tore lose and went flying. The truck swerved a little and then stopped. As soon as we stopped, Treve flumpped back down on the blanket that was there for him to lie on and showed no further inclination to disembark.

 

Treve had been hanging his head over the side directly over the tire that blew. And his blanket was back against the tailgate. He had to squeeze past me to look over the side there. I don't know for sure what he was upset about, but I'm sure glad that tire didn't blow at 60 mph with an overloaded truck, three adults, a baby and two dogs. I always felt he knew there was a problem - and he let me know the best way he could.

[OurBoys]

None of our dogs will tell us they are hurt. In fact, they seem to work at keeping it from us if they are.

 

When Jake sees a snake, he'll stand there and bark at it.

 

My 82 yr old mom lives with DH & me. I think she's starting to 'losing it'. A couple of days ago Josie started barking like she's never done before. When DH went to investigate what Josie was barking at it turned out my mom had removed something from the toaster oven using just a napkin. Unfortunately, the heating element on the bottom was still red hot and the napkin caught on fire. I don't know how she managed not to get burned.

[JohnLloydJones]

None of our dogs will tell us they are hurt. In fact, they seem to work at keeping it from us if they are.

When we go for a walk around the fields or on a trail, there's always the odd thorn or cactus spine. Senneca will stop and hold her paw up and look at me to tell me that she would like a little assistance. Interestingly enough, now Rhys bach has also picked up the habit.

[Lewie'sMom]

Lewie will usually tell me when the old man cat has jumped up onto the kitchen counter, which I don't allow.

 

Tattle tale. Good dawg!

[mbc1963]

My microwave and stove both beep once when the timer gets to "0," and then beep intermittently again until you open the microwave door or turn off the stove timer. Buddy will NOT let me rest if either of them has beeped to let me know food is done - nor if the toaster oven has dinged. He's trained himself to be a "service dog" for items that make noise.

 

Once, my cell phone was in a drawer, making the "battery low" sound, and Buddy would not let me sleep until I got up to see what the problem was.

 

Another time, I set my bread machine and went to sleep. Buddy started whining, to the point where I got up to check on things, but all was well. Not. The bread machine was set unevenly on the counter, and was very, very slowly "walking" its way to the edge - from which it took a nosedive and entered the hereafter. I wish I had listened to Buddy that time!

 

And when Buddy's hurt, it's most obvious: he demands to be in physical contact with me: leaning against me, if need be. He once impaled himself on a stick in the woods (chest wound, no blood at all!). I couldn't find his injury, but knew something was wrong because he would not leave me be.

 

Mary

[bc4ever]

When I'm running the sweeper and the phone rings, I don't always hear it. Noisiest (and heaviest!) darn vacuum I've ever owned! Scooter will come and let me know that it's ringing. I know that's what it is because he's totally unconcerned about the vacuum any other time.

 

A few mornings ago, I was still in bed, kind of half asleep, thinking I was really cold, but not awake enough to do anything about it. Suddenly Scooter was at the bedroom door. One sharp bark. Well, nothing wakes me up faster than that sound. When I got up, I checked the thermostat and the furnace had gone out again! It was already down to 55 degrees and rapidly going lower. Yes, we're still having problems with the stupid thing. Turns out the builder put a three year old furnace in our new home 10 years ago. There's a 20 year guarantee on it, minus the three now of course. The joys of home ownership! We have someone else coming out this week.

[WyoBC]

Mine always tell me when they're hurt. If Black Jack gets a sticker or cuts his paw he will hold it up and wimper until I check it out for him. If he pulls or twists something wrong he'll get really close to me or lay on me until I figure it out. He isn't good at pointing with his nose (or finding stuff with his nose for that matter) so he's not really much help. It's normally his back or hips anyway.

 

It's a good thing he noticed the tire going flat or it could have been a horrible day for you guys. It's always amazing to read stories of what these guys do. You are braver than me though, I wouldn't want to ride in the back of a truck going 60mph!

[geonni banner]

I just remembered another one of Treve's Lassie tricks. I had recently taken on a job in a veterinary clinic on Cahuenga Blvd. in Hollywood. Besides Treve I had a foster/rescue Doberman bitch with amazingly pigeon-toed forefeet. Her name was Rosie. Treve had been to the clinic once. I used to walk to work. It was about a 15 block walk, and much of it was down the busy street, Santa Monica Blvd. Rosie had never been there.

 

I lived in a house just below Sunset Blvd. with a big back yard and the dogs had free access to the yard at all times.

 

One day I was leaving work at the end of my shift and who did I find waiting on the steps, but my Collie Treve, and behind him, Rosie. Rosie was holding up a bloody forepaw. I brought them inside and examined Rosie's foot. It needed a couple of stitches in the web between two of her toes, but with a bandage she was able to walk on it. We walked home, backtracking Rosie's bloody footprints. The dogs had not deviated from my usual route - crossing streets at the same places I did, and when I arrived home, bloody paw prints on my bedroom carpet and windowsill, which was at the front of the house, explained how they had gotten out. The screen lay on the grass below the window.

 

A quick perusal of the back yard yielded a broken drinking glass, which Rosie had apparently cut her foot on.

 

Though I wasn't very happy at the thought of my two dogs navigating 15 blocks of busy city streets, I was rather charmed at Treve, who brought his hurt roomie to the vet's all by himself.

 

We got a new, more secure screen for the window.

[geonni banner]

Mine always tell me when they're hurt. If Black Jack gets a sticker or cuts his paw he will hold it up and wimper until I check it out for him. If he pulls or twists something wrong he'll get really close to me or lay on me until I figure it out. He isn't good at pointing with his nose (or finding stuff with his nose for that matter) so he's not really much help. It's normally his back or hips anyway.

 

It's a good thing he noticed the tire going flat or it could have been a horrible day for you guys. It's always amazing to read stories of what these guys do. You are braver than me though, I wouldn't want to ride in the back of a truck going 60mph!

 

Yeah, well, there wasn't room in the cab. We were like that from L.A. to Denver...

[IPSY]

My girl Nem alerts me to Yogi's "I gotta go now MOM" moments if Im in a different part of the house. She will bark her head off till I come to the rescue. She does it in the nik of time too. LOL..Its pretty cute to see , I can imagine whats going thru Yogi's mind when Nem alerts me that he's got to go. Does he say to her something like " Get Mom , quick ! " LOL..

 

Yogi has taken up the responsibility of telling me the tea kettle is boiling. When the whistle starts , he comes running and jumps on my lap. He hasnt used his bark to tell me anything yet , he just has these very serious looks on his face or he just throws himself at me.

 

Nem will let me know if she has something caught in her paw or a burr caught in her fur. She comes over to me and just either stands very awkwardly or holds paw up.

Same thing with the beagle who comes running to mama when anything happens...LOL..

My shortbus young man who needs a crash helmut when he goes out hasnt had any problem other then a burr stuck in his paw and he just holds it up like he's waving at me...

 

Dogs , they are amazing , arent they ?

[Liz P]

I brought home a patient for the night about 2 months ago. He was in a crate in the kitchen so I could keep an eye on him (den is open to the kitchen). Frankie and Sage got really upset all of a sudden; whining, pacing and running back and forth between me and the crate. They are generally excellent about ignoring any animals that spend the night and giving their crate a wide berth. A few minutes after they started to act out my patient had a seizure. They let me know at least 5 minutes in advance of each of his seizures. Frankie and Sage are littermate brothers and both are very intuitive, sensitive dogs. I wonder if that plays a role in predicting seizures?

 

The first week in December I developed pneumonia. I already have asthma, so it was a scary combination. I was sick enough that I had to go to an urgent care center several times and nearly called for help in the middle of the night. Frankie didn't leave my side for even a moment. He woke me up numerous times when I was struggling to breath by licking my face. He was extremely concerned about me and spent most of that week with his head resting against my chest.

 

Frankie reminds me so much of my first BC, Duncan. He was a very sensitive dog when it came to emotions. Duncan was an amazing therapy dog, but also watched over me like a hawk. I felt like I had a 4 legged guardian angel when I was with him. I swear he could read my mind. Frankie gives me that same feeling. I am really enjoying working him on stock and using that handler focus to become a close team.

[IPSY]

Wow , thats amazing. Some dogs are just intune with us and our emotions its really just mindblowing sometimes..

[ejano]

Ladybug is our little nursemaid...she never goes near my mother-in-law, just has a thing about older women, especially. But when she fell and broke her arm, Ladybug went right up to her and we literally needed to pick her up and carry her away. When my husband had pneumonia, she laid right beside him, watching him breathe, and last winter, even before I was aware that I had cancer, she just wouldn't leave me alone. Every time I sat down she was right on top of me. When the nodule was found the Dr noted that in 75% of cases that type of nodule is benign but I told my husband it was likely going to be cancer, because of how Ladybug was acting with me. After the knee surgery my back was "all cranked around" as my mother would say and I would lay on the living room carpet to try to get some relief from the sciatica. I'd fall asleep and wake up to find her on one side and Scotty on the other, just keeping me warm. I missed him so much when he died. I never felt so cold.

 

Ladybug also did two pretty interesting things with the pups today. Bear in mind they're now ten months old and weigh 48 and 45 pounds respectively. They're a good three inches taller than her as well (she's a petite little Ladybug). Last week I had taken Robin up to show him that the frog pond was covered in ice to prevent him from trying to cannonball in like he did last summer. Ladybug wasn't there, but the next time we all went for a walk, I let him loose and he went tearing up toward the pond. She took off after him and stuck right beside him, shoulder to shoulder pushing him away from the pond. He finally stopped and she let him walk up to the pond to see the ice, then turned away with "My job is done" expression.

 

We've been trying to get Brodie to understand that he has a right to touch any toy he wants -- and to get him to fetch the ball. Yesterday, Ladybug went to the toy basket and picked out a toy and tossed it over to Brodie. I had previously trained her and Scotty to play ball together as they could both toss a ball up in the air, but this was the first time I'd seen her do this with Brodie and I had never thought to ask her. I don't know who was more surprised - Brodie or me.

 

Scotty was empathic as well. He guarded baby bunnies in the garden from Miss Ladybug who thought them lunch and when we had kittens in the sun-room, he lay by the sliding door watching them. When they disappeared behind the hot tub, he came belting toward me with that "Timmy's in the well" look on his face. He was also incredibly sensitive to moods was eager to comfort anyone who needed a friend.

 

The saddest thing I witnessed was when we lost our dear Lucky girl (BC mix) and Willie ( a terrier) -- both aged. Lucky was dying from lymphoma and we needed to take her to the vet to end her suffering, but my husband just couldn't make himself do it. The morning we decided it was time, he went outside to get himself together and as I watched poor Lucky in her bed, Willie, blind and deaf, curled himself up around her. They were such a sweet, fragile old couple. He only lived a few months after she died. He just couldn't cope in the world without her to lead him around.

[sixx]

Seek will let me know when she's hurt. She will cuddle as close as she can to me, and bury her head in my arms.

 

Seek always barks to let me know when Yum Yum (Seeks kitty) wants to come inside.

 

Whenever we get near a park, Seek will raise her paw in the air... "excuse me mom, we are near a park, STOP THE CAR!!"

[bc4ever]

Scooter was only four months old when my husband had emergency surgery for an abdominal aortic aneurysm and was hospitalized for quite a while. One late night after returning from the hospital, exhausted, updating my sister on the phone, I heard a loud thump. Scooter reacted and we both looked at each other with the "Did you hear that?" look. I hung up and said, "Go see what it is!"

 

He'd never been upstairs, much less in any of the rooms, but he raced up the steps, with me following closely behind, and methodically checked out all the rooms, sniffing and looking around--definitely on a mission. When he was done, he took himself back downstairs! It was like he knew exactly what he was supposed to do even at that young age. The rest is happy history!

[border_collie_crazy]

nope, my BCs dont even notice when something is wronge. Happy slammed her foot in the padal of a flyball box once, her fot was caught between the pdal and the plate with all her weight on it while she was turning..its yanked her nail mostly out and twisted it upside down..she completed the coarse huge grin on her face, when to set her up again only to look down and see a pool of blood around her foot..she could not figer out why the heck everyone suddenly ran over, flipped her on her side and started grabbing at her paw, she did not even so much as flinch when the nail had to be extracted with plyers. she had another flyball accident when in a tourny se was racing down to the box and another dog crossed into her lane, trying to avoid the dog she tried to skid to a halt, but by then the dog had moved and she hip checked a solid wood jump, shattering it..she hardly even slowed down, hit the box got the ball, and raced back simpley skipping around the broken jump, after checking her over the judge had me test run her, and she ran like nothing had ever happened..in fact she continued to race in that tourny..she bruised her hip, but never paid any attention to it, not even a limp.

 

Misty broke her tooth off and continued to chew aggressivly for hours on end and for several days apperntly..I only noticed the tooth was broken at all by chance! by the time I saw it, it was all gross and infected..not once did she stop aggressivly using the broken tooth lol .

 

I really wish my girls WOULD tell me when something's wronge!

[IPSY]

I guess their threshold for pain is super big compared to some. BC are like that. Their drive overides their pain.

I can understand your frustration though.

[Chi-Ann's Mom]

First off I want to just introduce myself. My name is Audrey and I am proudly owned by my Border Collie Chi-Ann. We are currently in Agility training and loving every moment of it. I have been trying for weeks to get registered on this board, and finally it happened. I have been reading posts on here the entire time and chomping at the bit to put in my two cents! So here goes!

My girl has a chair by our front window and loves to look out to see what is happening in the front yard. If she sees something that isn't right to her, she will run into the kitchen or family room, wherever I happen to be and whine and run and return until I say, "what's wrong?". She will coax me to follow her until I look out the window to see if there is something to be concerned about. Usually it is just a child or someone passing by, and I tell her "it's ok" then she just calms down and returns to her watch!

Aren't they just the bomb! Love these BC's!

[eclare]

I really wish my girls WOULD tell me when something's wronge!

 

Ugh...yes. Daisy is a BC/pit mix, and she does her best to hide pain from me. I rushed her to the emergency clinic for paw pad injury that wouldn't stop bleeding. I would never have even notice if there weren't bloody paw prints all over the kitchen! Of course, when the vet takes her back to examine her it's all "woe is me, it hurts so much, just let me die!"

[MicheleS.]

One of my shepherds started to act restless and seemed very uncomfortable and pacing. I examined him further, noticed a bulging belly and immediately contacted the vet. While my husband was sitting on his recliner waiting for me to get everything ready for the vet trip my shepherd actually crawled onto my husband's lap while he was in the chair! This was an 80+ pound dog that would never otherwise do such a thing. He was definitely trying to get our attention to tell us something was wrong. (He torsioned his spleen, ran into a pole while playing.... it was horrible but he pulled through and recovered and lived a normal spleenless life.)

The other shepherd I had wasn't the best physical specimen and seemed to always twist one leg or the other wrong. He was very dramatic and would flop on his side and hold up the leg that hurt until I came to rub it and he would then get up and act like nothing was wrong. This dog would also go pacing around the house if something was burning in the oven, I always wondered whether he was really trying to alert us or he didn't like the smell.

The aussie, very dramatic! If she gets anything stuck between her paws she stands there refusing to move with the leg lifted until I can get over to examine her and fix what's wrong.

Chase the BC, is not as dramatic but I know something is wrong and need to examine if he spends time obsessing on a certain area of his body.