Kia has been acting weird ~ HELP!

[ramanth]

Kia is crate trained and for the first few years I've had her, she would stay in the crate when I'm not home. The times I 'tested' her to see if she'd like to stay out, she'd either destroy the place or try to go thru the window the minute I walked out the door.

One day, a few months ago, I figured I'd leave the crate door unlocked. (She was already in it as that is the 'routine'.)

I came home to find her sleeping happily on the couch and nothing destroyed. :D

Now, when I get home, she comes up to the door as I'm unlocking it if she's not already on the couch.

Tuesday evening, I get home from work and there is no sign of Kia. I call out and Zam comes into the kitchen. No Kia. Mildly alarmed I hurry into the bedroom.

Kia is on the bed and immediately flips over showing her belly, her ears are back, tail thumping, with a "I didn't do it mom, I SWEAR!!" look in her eyes.

It was her guilty look and pose to a 'T'.

Bemused, I do a check thru the place. Nothing missing, nothing torn up, cats in once piece. So what's the problem?

I tried reassuring her and after a few minutes she THEN gave me my kisses.

Wednesday evening, I open the door and Kia is in her crate. Her ears are back and she ducks her head again with a severe guilty look.

I looked around the apartment...again... nothing missing, nothing torn up, cats in one piece, no accidents.

She wouldn't come out of her crate for 15 minutes after I got home. I coaxed, I begged, I tempted with treats. Nope... just this heartbreaking guilty look.

What is up!? :confused:

[Cinder & Smoke]

:confused:

Are you Sure you can't get da KATs to "talk"?

:p

Time to invest in a Video Cam to stake da place out with.

Have you asked the Neighbors if they "hear" anything while you're gone?

Here's hoping you don't discover a Major Crime!!
:D

..

[Corinna]

Maybe shes confused about being loose . After all the time of being crated. They are like kids push to see if you are going to punish and prove you love them.

[ramanth]

I wish Andy's recorder was working! I could try asking the neighbors but I think they are all gone during the day too (students).

Corinna, I would think that too, but she's been loose for months now and went from bouncing up to me to greet me to this guilty act. I just don't get it.

She's eating good, good solid poops, and peeing fine. She doesn't appear sick.

Maybe she is tormenting the cats and they are just brushing it off. It's not like there is this glaring evidence.

:confused:

[shutterbug0303]

How about a webcam? You can get one at Walmart for like $20 and it should have a program in it that will record when it detects motion...at least, mine does (Logitech cam). It wouldn't be such a huge investment and maybe you could get to the bottom of this? :confused:

Whatever it is, I hope you can figure it out soon. I would be so sad not to be greeted by wagging tails when I got home. :(

[chrissycat21]

Could she have gotten into her food or treats? Gone to the bathroom in the house? Gone somewhere she wasn't supposed to?

I'm all too used to that look, Snowy likes to do what she wants when no one is home....:rolleyes:

[cali]

I read a book a little while ago, that said that the "guilty look" means nothing, the behavorist did a test to show the dogs owner that the dog is reacting to her and not anything she did, he left a fake pile of poop on the floor, had her owner walk in as if just getting home and immedietly the dog ran and hid with the guilty look. my bet is that Kia is acting that way because she thinks she is in trouble for not being in the kennel.

[anna_66]

Goodness Kim, I don't have any idea of what it could be:confused:
Hope it's nothing to be worried about.

Hugs and kisses to Kia

[lizbud]

Originally posted by cali
I read a book a little while ago, that said that the "guilty look" means nothing, the behavorist did a test to show the dogs owner that the dog is reacting to her and not anything she did, he left a fake pile of poop on the floor, had her owner walk in as if just getting home and immedietly the dog ran and hid with the guilty look. my bet is that Kia is acting that way because she thinks she is in trouble for not being in the kennel.

I don't know who wrote the book, but this sounds right to me.
Kim, are perhaps still expecting to come home to a mess one of
these days? Kia could be picking up on your apprehension, or
facial expressions. Smokey is a lot like this about sometimes.

Things can be going alone fine & he'll start the "guilty" look thing.
He just needs reassurance from me that that alls well. :D

[pitc9]

True... all she's known for years is that she is a good girl in her crate, and now you come home, maybe wake her up from a nap, and all she thinks is.
"Oh No....I'm supposed to be in my house when Mommy comes home???:eek: "

When you walk in the door, do you make a big fuss? Calling for her in a high excited voice.. etc. If you do, then tomorrow don't do it. Just walk in and say hi to her, and go about your way. Or do the exact opposite. If you are normally quiet, then make a big fuss and tell her what a good girl she is... etc. Just to see if it makes a difference.

I hope something works Kimmy!!

[Corinna]

well it sounds like a question for Carrie , I actually saw here on the other day. Ment to tell her glad she was back.

[sabies]

Poor Kia. I think she's confused about being out of the crate and she's trying to read you to see if she did something wrong. Maybe the cats are playing mind games with her all day? That is weird that she has been out of the crate for a while and is only now acting nervous :(. Kia you're a good dog!

[NoahsMommy]

I don't know much about dogs, so I don't have any advice.

I hope it gets better though. :)

[micki76]

Poor Kia. :(

Any new neighbors? Any construction going on nearby? Are you positive that she's not peeing in the apartment somewhere?

Perhaps she's just feeling insecure for some reason. Chester likes the crate when he's feeling that way.

[shais_mom]

Poor Kia....
I dunno what to say but I do hope you figger it out!

[Dixieland Dancer]

Kimmy, I know it's hard to comprehend because we tend to put human emotions on our dogs, but they are not capable of feeling guilt. Dogs actually have very bad short term memory and if they are not punished or rewarded within 3 seconds after a behavior, it's a wasted effort on the humans part.

Instead of guilt, you are actually witnessing submission. It could be caused by some reaction that you are making unconscienously when you come home. Perhaps you are apprehensive as to how you will find things when you come home? Kia is also experiencing a new freedom that she never had before and is probably not 100% comfortable with it yet. Remember, something she knew as routine for years has now changed dramatically for her.

I would suggest you try mixing things up a bit when you come home. Instead of walking into the house, you could try staying at the door and calling Kia to come outside. Entice her with something she really loves. With Dusty his favorite thing is either "Let's go OUT!" or "FRISBEE!" but with Dixie it is "COOKIE!". These are happy words they LOVE! Make your greetings upbeat and positive! You need to take the anxiety out of yourself about "how did things go today" and focus on the positive. If something did happen during the day in a negative way, your 3 seconds to reinforce the correction are long gone anyway.

Mix up your coming home greetings. Be creative. Some people actually come home and ignore the dog for awhile and then do their greetings. Personally, I'm not capable of that because I miss them when I'm away from them. ;) This is actually a better remedy when you are dealing with seperation anxiety.

One last thought....instead of putting Kia in the crate, perhaps you could section her off in just one part of the house. It might not be so overwhelming to her if she is given smaller pieces of freedom at a time, instead of it all at once.

Hope this helps!

[ramanth]

Thanks for the advice guys. :)

I don't conciously worry about whether or not she's going to destroy something while I'm gone. I'm so tired when I get home from work that I'm usually thinking.. "I'm so sleepy. I'm so glad to be home. I can't wait to see Kia and the kitties."

So if she's picking up any apprehension it must be unconciously.

Besides, since my brain has gone into shut down mode as I'm unlocking the door ;), I don't get upset unless I actually SEE something wrong, so for her to be acting like that is why it's so wierd.

I just walk in, drop my stuff on the table and say, "Hi baby!" the second I see her.

I'm usually quiet as I'm coming in, so yesterday I made a big fuss as I came in the door.

She was in the bedroom, and so I called out, "Kia! Where are you!? Where's my baby?" in a very chipper voice and she came bounding into the room doing her happy spins and wagging her tail. :D

That's how she USED to greet me before doing this guilt/submissive act.

I petted her and told her she was a good girl over and over and she just wiggled happily. :)

I never had to call her to me before... she would just come running at the sound of the key in the door.... so now I'm going to call her and keep praising her. :)

Perhaps she was sleeping in and I caught her off guard so she felt bad for not greeting me. :D