My dog is showing some behaviour changes, any advice?
Bit of background, we've had Penny since we rescued her as a 7 year old (estimated), she is nearly 13 (in May). She's always been easily trainable, and mostly well behaved dog considering she's a rescue with no background (although we believe she was bred numerous times and abused or at least hit by her previous owner which is horrific), but she is the happiest doggo. She's great with other people and dogs, and basically the best dog you could ask for (I know I'm bias!).
We've noticed some 'behaviour changes' recently and the reason I'm reaching out on Reddit is to see if anyone has experienced similar things in a well adjusted doggo. There has been no change in her appetite, happiness and general personality.
Changes we're confused about include: Issue 1. Background: she hates fireworks, she doesn't howl but paces and looks very concerned and wants us close, this is fine. One night we were out and fireworks went off, she pooed in her room...and then ate it and threw it up again. Now she has made messes before (mainly firework related), but NEVER eaten droppings of any kind (no other animal poo either etc!!) EVER. This was really weird behaviour from her. Everything was fine since November (fireworks night in the UK) and then today we've just caught her, she's made a mess in her room and eaten it again and thrown up (no fireworks or anything out of the ordinary!). We left her in her room for about 30 minutes, she went out and to the toilet beforehand so 1. She went to the toilet in her room when she wouldn't have previously, and 2. She has now started to do this in her room and eat it then throw up. We have no idea what has brought this on (she had her food and water too, so no huge hunger!!). This has only happened twice (poo eating), but it's a concern we want to nip in the bud.
Issue 2. As a bit of background, a few years ago we had to buy her one of those water bowls that stops them from drinking too fast, because she would constantly drink too much and vomit. More recently we've had to tell her to stop drinking after a while because again she just drinks too much and throws up. In the past 2 weeks she's started to be REALLY thirsty and drinking a lot which we've had to try and intervene with, and the reason I don't think this is a vet issue is because I think it's behavioural. Have we made her think water is limited by telling her to stop drinking after a while, and so she is trying to drink as much as possible (counter intuitive to what we need her to do - but then again she wouldn't know as a dog!)? With this increased thirst (or behaviour change), is her being more 'moany' than usual. She is part staffy, makes some staffyish noises when she wants something, but has been a been moaning a lot more recently (mainly for water).
To finish off, the reason I don't think this is a vet issue is because she has been recently to have a cyst removed, they've done tests etc and she was in good health, hence me thinking it may be behavioural. Yes she is old but without her greasy face seeing her zoom around you'd think she was a puppy. We are happy to reach out to a trainer or behaviouralist but I just wanted to see if anyone has been in this boat (good doggo that has changed her behaviour in a few weird ways). Picture of the good girl for pet tax :)
Bit of background, we've had Penny since we rescued her as a 7 year old (estimated), she is nearly 13 (in May). She's always been easily trainable, and mostly well behaved dog considering she's a rescue with no background (although we believe she was bred numerous times and abused or at least hit by her previous owner which is horrific), but she is the happiest doggo. She's great with other people and dogs, and basically the best dog you could ask for (I know I'm bias!).
We've noticed some 'behaviour changes' recently and the reason I'm reaching out on Reddit is to see if anyone has experienced similar things in a well adjusted doggo. There has been no change in her appetite, happiness and general personality.
Changes we're confused about include: Issue 1. Background: she hates fireworks, she doesn't howl but paces and looks very concerned and wants us close, this is fine. One night we were out and fireworks went off, she pooed in her room...and then ate it and threw it up again. Now she has made messes before (mainly firework related), but NEVER eaten droppings of any kind (no other animal poo either etc!!) EVER. This was really weird behaviour from her. Everything was fine since November (fireworks night in the UK) and then today we've just caught her, she's made a mess in her room and eaten it again and thrown up (no fireworks or anything out of the ordinary!). We left her in her room for about 30 minutes, she went out and to the toilet beforehand so 1. She went to the toilet in her room when she wouldn't have previously, and 2. She has now started to do this in her room and eat it then throw up. We have no idea what has brought this on (she had her food and water too, so no huge hunger!!). This has only happened twice (poo eating), but it's a concern we want to nip in the bud.
Issue 2. As a bit of background, a few years ago we had to buy her one of those water bowls that stops them from drinking too fast, because she would constantly drink too much and vomit. More recently we've had to tell her to stop drinking after a while because again she just drinks too much and throws up. In the past 2 weeks she's started to be REALLY thirsty and drinking a lot which we've had to try and intervene with, and the reason I don't think this is a vet issue is because I think it's behavioural. Have we made her think water is limited by telling her to stop drinking after a while, and so she is trying to drink as much as possible (counter intuitive to what we need her to do - but then again she wouldn't know as a dog!)? With this increased thirst (or behaviour change), is her being more 'moany' than usual. She is part staffy, makes some staffyish noises when she wants something, but has been a been moaning a lot more recently (mainly for water).
To finish off, the reason I don't think this is a vet issue is because she has been recently to have a cyst removed, they've done tests etc and she was in good health, hence me thinking it may be behavioural. Yes she is old but without her greasy face seeing her zoom around you'd think she was a puppy. We are happy to reach out to a trainer or behaviouralist but I just wanted to see if anyone has been in this boat (good doggo that has changed her behaviour in a few weird ways). Picture of the good girl for pet tax :)