Pheramone dog collars

[Karen]

Did she get Lyme disease before she got the vaccination? A little confused about the sequence of events here! What do you mean she is "nervous" or "sensitive"? Sensitive to what? Nervous in what circumstances? Sorry, don;t mean to ask so many questions, but I don't understand the situation enough to answer yet!

[Woodnymph]

Did she get Lyme disease before she got the vaccination? A little confused about the sequence of events here! What do you mean she is "nervous" or "sensitive"? Sensitive to what? Nervous in what circumstances? Sorry, don;t mean to ask so many questions, but I don't understand the situation enough to answer yet!

Hi, sorry - to be clearer She had the lyme vacc as a puppy. She got (not Lyme) another tick disease at a 1yr.plus....But also she is different from the other dogs, nervous- sensitive to what is going on. I guess over sensitive would describe it more. She startles easily..new situations..new people.. Now I have been reading everything I can about this. Lyme vaccs (which she got again at 1 plus yrs. old) can cause nervous system problems- just as the tick diseases can! Anyway whatever caused it she seems to really develop it worse as an adult. I would say around the time she got the tick disease...before that just a bit over sensitive. She had a litter of beautiful puppies and was a great mom. All the pups were fine and don't have a problem- very stable. But am thinking that with hormones etc..reproduction may not be the best for her. She was a very calm mother and seemed much better. After the litter she had another Lyme vacc(1,1/2yrs. or so)..now she is over sensitive again. She has never been hit or abused verbally. Very sad. So was thinking of the pheramone collars.

[Karen]

Have you tried extra training with her, some one-on-one time and confidence-building things? What "job" does she do, if any around the house? Giving her things to do may help bring her out of herself and make her more sure of her place in the world again ...

[Woodnymph]

Have you tried extra training with her, some one-on-one time and confidence-building things? What "job" does she do, if any around the house? Giving her things to do may help bring her out of herself and make her more sure of her place in the world again ...

Yes, we have worked with her. The most confident was when she had the puppies. We are very close, and she would ask me for help if she needed to. She had 10(!) and it was her first litter too. She was so gentle with them. We take them on long romps in the woods,and they can run free. She is always trying to be the "good" girl. Mostly we tried giving her More individual attention. Worked on commands etc... but she has had a hard time phsyically this last year. Bouts of being retreated for tick disease. We give her massages- that helps with the pain and stiffness. Sometimes she is fine and then symptoms back. We have spent SO much $$$ trying to help her. She came from a Tennessee breeder with a good rep. and he is a vet too. Her parents have good pedigrees. Saw another vet yesterday. He said that we could try xraying to make sure there are no problems that have developed- hip wise. Said that some things show up in adulthood ...What would you have her job be? Thank you by the way. Do you work in the animal field? Linda

[Karen]

Yes, we have worked with her. The most confident was when she had the puppies. We are very close, and she would ask me for help if she needed to. She had 10(!) and it was her first litter too. She was so gentle with them. We take them on long romps in the woods,and they can run free. She is always trying to be the "good" girl. Mostly we tried giving her More individual attention. Worked on commands etc... but she has had a hard time phsyically this last year. Bouts of being retreated for tick disease. We give her massages- that helps with the pain and stiffness. Sometimes she is fine and then symptoms back. We have spent SO much $$$ trying to help her. She came from a Tennessee breeder with a good rep. and he is a vet too. Her parents have good pedigrees. Saw another vet yesterday. He said that we could try xraying to make sure there are no problems that have developed- hip wise. Said that some things show up in adulthood ...What would you have her job be? Thank you by the way. Do you work in the animal field? Linda

I am glad the vet will checking things out just in case. After all, hone we are in pain, we humans tend to be extra sensitive and short-tempered as well.

I was just thinking any task you could give her - like fetching the paper, bringing you her toys, she is a collie, after all, and without something to herd, gotta keep those minds busy! Patrolling the boundaries in search for critters - anything you can think of to give her more deliberate "purpose" might help her focus outside herself. Once the vet checks her out, maybe you could work on scent-training or becoming a therapy dog ... or even a reading assistance dog, she might enjoy that, and interaction with children ...

I and my husband run this site, and I am a designer by training, radio show presence and now host, book reviewer, and life-long animal lover. My husband grew up with collies (likely mixes, not purebreds) and was confused the first time he visited my parents' house, and Gracie the Great Dane leaned on him - his collies never ever did that!

[Woodnymph]

She has really never relaxed around new people, and children. Funny she has had the same experiences as the others and went places,etc. She is quiet and a lady. If she is playing with (I have 3 other collies)them and running around she does forget to be cautious. She is never cross with us.Hopefully we'll get a handle on her problem. All 10 of her puppies had a quiet sweetness... My other females were much high energy! Linda

[Asiel]

Very hard to understand why you keep giving her the vac for Lyme. This would be my no.1 suspicion. I have seen many dogs react to different vacs exactly the way you describe. The rabies vac gave one of my dogs a severe case of the jitters, plus she had the weirdest bout of what we called pseudo rabies. The day after getting the shot she started being afraid of lights, shadows and her water...she would try drinking but would jump away the minute she touched the water so she was going without. Many more smaller problems and this lasted for over two weeks. Needless to say I get the puppy shots and none of my dogs get another shot for life. And none have gotten ill or contracted any communicable disease.