SAD puppy

No, I dont mean ‘sad puppies‘, I mean puppies with SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder.

Pretty sure Arnies got it.

Normally Arnie is a very active puppy. Hes always destroying a Wubba, or stalking a housefly, or plotting ways to break into his food bin, or helping me cook in the kitchen, or standing in the windowsill telling The Dog with One Eyebrow to fuck off– Hes a very busy dog.

So when the apartment was quiet at 8 pm last night, I knew something was wrong.

Quiet = Arnie found something particularly wonderful to eat/covet/destroy, and he thinks if hes REAL quiet, I wont notice

This is where I found him:

Several hours later, when I kindly suggested that he move his fat black dog butt off my pillows so I could go to sleep, this was his response:

Aaaaand when I tried to get him up this morning:

I was like “Arnie! You have to get up and go potty before I go to work!” I take his response as “No, I have to stay in comfy bed and sleep. I can pee on the floor while youre at work.”

Its been cold, dark and dreary the past few days. I think my puppy has SAD

Comments

#1 Optimus Primate
October 8, 2009

Poor puppeh!

Seriously, though, what’s up with butts on the pillow? Max does that, too. I try to explain to him, “Pillow: Yer Doin It Rong!”

Does he care? No, he doesn’t. He’s convinced that pillows were made for puppeh butts.
#2 Naked Bunny with a Whip
October 8, 2009

when I kindly suggested that he move his fat black dog butt off my pillows so I could go to sleep

That’s not racial transcendence!
#3 Sili
October 8, 2009

Dummkatz is good at hogging my duvet, but at least it’s feasible to just shove him away.

SAD is a bugger. Does light therapy work on dogs? I think it helps me (I guess I should go dig up the lamp from the cellar), but as with my ADs I can’t shake the feeling that it might all be placebo. But … as long as I feel better, right?

Good luck. And thanks for the photos.
#4 BeamStalk
October 8, 2009

Awwwww poor Arnie.

When it rains, like it has the last few weeks, I try to force my cat outside. That always motivates her to stay away from the door.
#5 Hank Roberts
October 8, 2009

I’d be more concerned about a developing physical health problem for this situation than about SAD, which doesn’t usually come on extremely fast, it creeps up and devours you slowly.

If you want to try SAD treatment, I’d highly recommend from long personal use, successfully, starting with a
dawn simulator, $25: http://humboldt1.com/~zerdo/index.htm

Lots more out there; psycheducation website has a lot on it.
#6 Reynold
October 8, 2009

I’d be more concerned about a developing physical health problem for this situation than about SAD, which doesn’t usually come on extremely fast, it creeps up and devours you slowly.

That’s what I was thinking; if this keeps up I’d take him to the vet.
#7 brandon goodell
October 8, 2009

Yeah, if it’s sudden like that, it’s probably more likely that he just has a 24-hour bug or something. Even if he’s just been slowing down over the past week, coinciding with the bad weather, that could simply be a correlation.

Are his poops solid?

I can’t believe I just asked that.
#8 Paul Lundgren
October 8, 2009

Yet another reason I’m glad I only have a cat. She tucks in nice and neat next to my pillow, not on it.
#9 Orac
October 8, 2009

Are you sure he doesn’t have something physically wrong with him, that he isn’t sick?
#10 RayvenAlandria
October 8, 2009

You might want to have him checked for pancreatitis. It’s very painful and dogs who have it just want to lay around all day.
#11 Joshua Zelinsky
October 8, 2009

I think Arnie is just hoping that if he looks sad enough he’ll get added to PZ’s recent gallery of sad puppies.
#12 ERV
October 8, 2009

Aw, thank you all for caring, but Im pretty sure hes fine.

He popped right up this morning when I said “GOODIE! WHO WANTS GOODIE??”and we went about our normal morning walkie/breakfast/poop.

Goodie > Morning grumpy

Poopie appeared normal.

LOL!
#13 RBH
October 8, 2009

Nevertheless, keep an eye on him. Lethargy in a normally active dog is not a good sign. We lost a dog to autoimmune hemolytic anemia and an early sign (which I missed) was spells of lethargy that came and went but lengthened with the active intervals growing shorter and shorter.
#14 Rev. BigDumbChimp
October 8, 2009

My husky gets like this when the summer in Charleston rolls around and it’s too hot to sleep on the deck any longer.

He’ll spend the first week or so going in and out of the dog door all night until finally he accepts that he’s an arctic pup in a nearly tropical local. Then he goes into depression for a few days.

(he was a rescue so don’t get on me about having a husky in South Carolina).
#15 The Curmudgeon
October 8, 2009

I’ve got two Dobermans. They’re my 4th and 5th in a long history of Doberman ownership, but their predecessors are no longer with us. A little bit of inactivity would be welcome from time to time, but it would probably indicate a problem. I’d take your dog to the vet, Abbie.
#16 ERV
October 8, 2009

Weve been playing since I got home from work– Im pretty sure he was just in a funk last night
#17 firemancarl
October 8, 2009

I have not had teh puppiez since mine died while I was in teh navy. However, he was a golden/ yellow lab mix that occasionally was in a funk. But c’mon, we live in Florida where it was 98 today!! Still light at 730 and we never have to shovel snow and all the animals are
happy about that!!
#18 Tyler DiPietro
October 8, 2009

Poor Arnie, though I’m glad to hear he’s better.

I never noticed the golden highlights in his fur…
#19 Mobius
October 9, 2009

Could be that Arnie is just getting a little older and starting to snooze more. Since he seems to have plenty of energy now, it probably doesn’t mean anything.

Missy dog, the dog that HATES to be wet, had to go outside to do her business while it was raining. I figured she would be right back in. Wrong. She decided it was more fun to run up and down the fence chasing the neighbor’s dog in the rain. So I had to get wet to get her back inside. Now I have a wet, smelly dog.
#20 BAllanJ
October 9, 2009

My bird actually likes this time of year… the days are finally about 12 hrs long, which her species has evolved for, not the 16 hrs we get in summer… She does stay on my shoulder a lot more these days instead of flying around to various perches around my house… demands more scritches etc. But… Winter’s coming, and she REALLY doesn’t like 8 hr days, so turn up the lights, and let her burrow down into my shirt. (BTW, she’a a parrotlet)
#21 eyesoars
October 9, 2009

My (eldest) dog started doing this about 8 years ago. (He’s a very old dog now, being >= 3 years old at the time.)

It got worse over the course of a couple weeks, to where he’d stopped eating. Had him to the vet a couple of times. On the second or third visit, the vet had an “aha” moment, and tested for Addison’s disease (hypoadrenalism).

The meds aren’t cheap, but we got our dog back. The same vet said he’d never seen a dog with Addison’s live more than six years, so he’s doing pretty well.

/es
#22 stogoe
October 9, 2009

But c’mon, we live in Florida where it was 98 today!! Still light at 730 and we never have to shovel snow

I never want to live anywhere near anywhere where the temperature could threaten to go into triple digits. I’ll keep my snow shoveling and my long winter nights, thanks.
#23 not a gator
October 9, 2009

Speaking of seratonin (which they give to CFS patients), what’s up with this XMRV, ERV?
#24 Paul Lundgren
October 9, 2009

Poopie appeared normal.

On behalf of the Internet, I thank you for setting our mind at ease.
#25 DVMKurmes
October 9, 2009

I have a couple of Jack Russells who do the same thing when the weather cools off. Short hair and small bodies make it hard to stay warm outside, and a nice bed, preferably warmed up by the humans is the place to be .
#26 HalfMooner
October 10, 2009

You did mention the weather’s been colder. Paul Lundgren’s idea is exactly the same as mine. I think Arnie was just staying warm.

Dogs just want to be comfy. They figure “creature comforts” like blankets and pillows were intelligently designed just for them.
#27 Mobius
October 10, 2009

Besides, to Arnie the bed smells like Mommy. That makes it, in doggy terms, a great place to hang out. And, as was pointed out, it’s comfortable too…a bonus.
#28 LKL
October 10, 2009

very glad to hear he’s doing better. Maybe he just had a bit of a canine cold virus.

The time my dog suddenly lost his energy, it turned out to be salmon poisoning (he’s ok – some excellent vet care).
#29 John C. Welch
October 10, 2009

Maybe he finally realized he’s in Oklahoma, and needed a few days to deal with that?
#30 daedalus2u
October 14, 2009

What I do for my own SAD is sit under a 500 watt quartz halogen lamp for a half hour or so in the morning. A quartz halogen lamp is broad spectrum, so I think it is better than the fluorescent lamps that are tri-color. If you put it on a timer to go on and off at the right time, he could lie under it by himself..
#31 Monado, FCD
October 16, 2009

Good that he’s feeling better. I like the golden highlights, too. It could have been just a doggie tummy ache.

One of my cats did that for a (rainy) day but she perked up again. I don’t think she was feeling well.

Rev, you brush your dog a lot in summer to get out excess hair, right?
#32 ktbug ladydid
October 18, 2009

I can sympathize. My pup has been locked in the house for the past month (heat). I’ve tried to make it a little easier by moving furniture to make a long path from the DR to the LR, so we can play fetch in the house…but it’s not nearly as much fun as going for a walk, playing in the park down the street, and saying “hello” to all the neighbor dogs, cats, and people.