We're babysitting the in-laws' Havanese coronapuppy this week

[cimorene]

(She's full grown now, but barely.) We've played with her several times before, but she hasn't been left alone with us. In fact, I'm not sure she's ever been separated from her family. She's a sweet little dog, but she's very very anxious about it. Not too anxious to play at all:

She went from this to this via going out in the rain which was so exciting that she played tag with us for a good fifteen minutes, taking frequent pauses to roll around on the ground like a horse in mud:


...but she won't play inside, or even chase her toys. The only thing that can distract her inside is treats. Other than that she's staring at or scratching on the door. She seems to believe this is hostile territory and the only thing she will do with food is dump it out of the bowl and push it into the corner in an attempt to cover it. The anxious pacing, whimpering and moaning is going to drive me absolutely nuts if it keeps up all week. I'm already going wobbly and tearful and it hasn't even been twelve hours.

Comments

[princessofgeeks]

I'm so sorry! Not being a dog person I have no idea what to do, but I hope it gets better!

[james]

Is there any way to go to in-laws place and get some stuff that smells like the dog's people? Clothes, blankie, pillow, etc?

[twistedchick]

I second this. An old worn-out sweater, anything the little one can cuddle up to and get some continuity?

[cimorene]

Thanks for the suggestion! Actually we do have her blankie here so I shudder to think how upset she'd be without it.

[cimorene]

Thanks for the idea! We did get a blankie actually, and she is spending a lot of her time on it. Sort of divided between lying on the blankie and coming to ask again, in case next time we'll understand and magically produce her people. 😔

[kellyfaboo]

I have a Havanese and they are definitely dogs who have "people" I second seeing if you can get something with their scent. Mine also is prone to taking high value treats and burying them in the yard if we were not watchful.

Sydney has taken to talking and microwhining all evening long. He's 16 and has a little bit of sundowners syndrome. It is maddening but he's our little guy so ...

[cimorene]

Oh, that's interesting! So maybe trying to hide the treats is a breed trait!

The puppy didn't condescend to eat very much of her kibble, but she managed to sneak a few spoonfuls of catfood, and since I knew there was nothing bad for her in it and I felt bad for her, I let her. Apparently according to my BIL there is also a high risk of her filling up on treats if given the opportunity... so we might have given her too many of those yesterday...