A Puzzle

Kansas is lashing out at the other two dogs over random stuff, to the point that they both cower when she's around, don't want to be around her, and their reactions are now what's setting her off.

I'm sure it's mostly the colder temperatures- aggravating her arthritis- and the fact that we spent last weekend at Mom & Dad's with 3 other dogs. She doesn't stop. She doesn't sit still. She get out there and runs, chases and plays with the younger dogs, while her saner brother, Jax, and pack elder, Mollie, and wise-beyond-his years Leo sit back and watch. I guess I should admire her zest for her life and her willingness to do the thing she loves, with joy, despite the fact that she is going to suffer for it later. But I worry. And it frustrates me. Thus, I'm sure she's still recovering from all that, and is sore, stiff, aggravated and imflamed more than usual. Not to mention the long car ride both ways. However, we got home Saturday afternoon and this stuff started happening on Tuesday. She snapped at Leo when I was petting her and he approached me. Wednesday she snapped at Airlie for no reason I could discern. Thursday I was eating a muffin at the computer (I always eat breakfast at the computer) and she went after Leo when he bent down to sniff, like I'd dropped a crumb and she thought she was entitled to it, though I hadn't dropped anything. Wednesday she had squabbles with both Airlie and Leo and it seemed to be regarding who was sleeping on what pillow. Thursday she just went after Airlie once. Friday was the worst, with three squabbles, from what seemed to be everything from protecting the slightly thicker dog pillow to keeping everyone away from me when I was at the computer (Leo and Airlie both had taken to trying to hide under the keyboard and beneath my feet by that point, though I wasn't allowing them to. The final incident being that night because Airlie and Leo were cowering in the kitchen, ears back, heads low, whites of their eyes showing, which has become the norm after the uncertainty of the past few days. (Wouldn't you?)

Inever know what's going to set her off. She's fine when they are all playing outside together. She's fine when we're all on a walk. They all sleep in the living room just fine during the day, on whichever pillows they chose, though yesterday I did wash all of the dog pillows, double two up inside their case and haul out Kansas' old dog bed (very thick) in an attempt to make sure everybody had plenty of thick pillows since they apparently like this in cold weather, but prefer flatter, less cozy pillows the rest of the year. Nobody paid any mind to any of the pillows that night, however, and Kansas ended up standing at the closed bedroom door, asking to go into her crate at 6pm, instead of the usual 7pm bedtime, which is really an 8pm bedtime during Daylight Savings.

Immediately following the afternoon meal Leo and Airlie start hiding out in the kitchen, refusing to go anywhere near Kansas. She seems to feed on that. I've had to start watching her constantly and heading her off. Yesterday she had Leo cornered for no apparent reason, actually got up from the pillow she'd been lying on for an hour or so, to go over and stop him from laying down on the pillow that really is "his" and the one he always lays on (this was before I washed and padded everything) and then lunged for him when he tried to walk past her and get away. Leo doesn't fight or flee. He simple freezes and tries to wait it out. I mostly watched, to see what would happen, then wished I'd intervened sooner.

She went after Leo or Airlie a total of three times, at which point I was getting pretty fed up. I don't know what to think. I've been giving her her pain meds nightly for the past week. Today I doubled up on them, giving them to her twice a day. Most of today passed without incident, with a good walk, and more good playtime in the yard. Everybody napped on various pillows for two hours prior to lunchtime without incident- all equidistant from me as I sat here at the computer. After the afternoon meal she practically asked to go lay in her crate in the bedroom, so I complied and I've been letting her do that, since she's playing so hard outside that she's only hurting herself more. They typically all have another two hours or so downtime after that meal, anyway. I don't care whether it's in here or in the bedroom in her crate if that's where she wants to be. She definitely wanted to be alone and confined, for whatever reason.

Letting her play outside seems to help, though it has it's own frustrations. My neighbors turned a pair of bunnies loose in their backyard about 3 months ago. Their own dogs don't seem to mind them, but Kansas has been intent on digging under the fence to get to the bunnies who seem to have decided they prefer to hide under the neighbor's junk pile that backs up to the fence- a makeshift burrow. Don't get me started on pet owners being less than responsible. I've had to go above and beyond, and then redouble my efforts just to keep those damn rabbits safe and alive, while praying  for their demise. From constantly filling in holes, to blocking off parts of the fence, to my husband building an extra fence 4 feet off the property line fence in order to keep Kansas away from the bunnies. Despite all our efforts, she jumps the fence. No matter how high it is. She's figured out how to vault off the fencing perpendicular to the barrier fence, forcing herself over the top of it. She's practically crippled by the end of the day from a few bouts of this. Thus, I've gone from supervising her on a tie-out so she can have some outside time, to just keeping her in the house. I can't leave her in the yard with the other dogs unsupervised anymore. She will clear the fence after squirrels or rabbits every time, and hurt herself in the process. On the other hand, some of her current issues seem to stem from being kept inside with me while the other two dogs are outside. Then again, I wonder if her sudden vigilance toward whatever she thinks the other dogs are doing when they are all inside is a case of her "micromanaging" because there's not as much going on in the backyard to watch as there was in the summer. She would spend every waking indoor moment watching out the back door. Now she seems to have turned her focus inward.

I can't pin her behavior down to one thing: resource guarding, pain and grumpiness, jealousy, the other dogs' new insecurity because of her ugly behavior... I may have to resort to crate rest and pain meds, no walking, no outside play, etc... or I may have to buy some melatonin and try to boost her brain chemistry/sense of well-being. Or get a DAP plug in. Today was very smooth, til I tried to leave her out for 30 minutes before the dogs' bedtime and encourage them all to play toys. They haven't even played with their toys in days. Airlie and Leo were even loathe to go into their crates (next to hers) last night. Leo was playing just fine. Airlie was acting skittish. Kansas started to play, then lunged past me to get at Airlie. When I let it play out, Airlie always gets away unharmed (though with much shrieking and maybe a wet, slobbered on neck) and then turns around and immediately initiates play and they are friends again. Leo is another story.