Stressed Lolly. Bichon, Shih tzu, Springer mix

Lolly is an eight year old Bichon mix from Witney Oxfordshire who had been living quite happily with an older cat and until recently a house rabbit. There are many people who do not believe in pack or hierarchy when it comes to animals but it is sometimes blatantly obvious that this is what was the problem.

Lolly arrived to a household which contained a cat who wasn't best pleased of Lolly's arrival. The cat showed authority and the puppy accepted this, however over time Lolly as with many domestic dogs had become very territorial of her environment reacting to anything at all she heard outside.

When the family introduced a new kitten into the mix things started to change. Lolly became obsessed with the new addition and immediately wanted to control the kittens behaviour which would involve constant barking unless the kitten was asleep. As the weeks went by the two cats started to become very territorial with each other which would send Lolly into a barking frenzy and resulted in her stress and anxiety levels hitting a new high resulting in a new behaviour of obsessively licking herself.

In situations like this it is important for the owners to learn how to take all of this unnecessary stress away from the dog in order to allow her to relax. By implementing specific changes to the way the family interact with Lolly day to day and by showing them how to redirect unwanted behaviour before it happens they were able to create a much calmer environment all round. The result as I have since heard from the family is a much calmer dog who no longer feels the need to react to things going on outside the house and could honestly care less what the cats are up to.