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Old 04-19-2014, 03:10 PM   #1
Carmeow
I♥ my girls Luma+Rosie
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Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Aggieland, TX
Posts: 3,359
Default Weird new anxiety issues

Luma has always had her "quirks"...like being afraid of the kitchen or being extremely over-hyper when we have guests over. I definitely feel like she was pretty well behaved other than those things. She listens to commands pretty solidly. But we moved a few months ago into an apartment with an identical floor plan, except it's newly renovated. Since then she has been acting strange. At first I thought she was still just adjusting, but now I'm feeling guilty about moving her from the old unit.

She has no trouble walking on the hardwood, but I think it's a little more echo-y and she hates loud noises. We used to live upstairs, but now we live downstairs and the people above us have children and are very, very loud at all hours of the day. Lots of loud booming/banging noises from upstairs which freaks her out. I've already had to talk to them about being more quiet after hours since I get up for work at 4:30am M-F, but kids are kids and I understand that. Luma is just not used to these noises.

She has even had an accident or two (which NEVER happens) due to her being scared. There were no children around the old apts. but the new one is right by the pool and courtyard/playground/picnic area. There are children outside screaming and playing from 4-8pm. During these times, Luma gets so anxious she starts shaking pretty hard and whining. Hiding under the couch, flopping onto her side, and has even hidden in the kitchen and peed in there because she has never gone in the kitchen before and once she realized where she was, she felt "stuck" in there.

She will just frantically try to climb up my chest and lays there shaking and panting like she's terrified. I feel so, so bad. When she gets in these moods (or whatever they are) she won't listen to anything I say to try to snap her out of it. I don't baby her because I don't want her to think something is wrong. I just use a friendly voice, like the one we use when we play. I try to distract her with toys, a game of fetch or tug of war, etc.

Today I left the house for maybe five minutes to run to my car and get my phone, and when I came back I heard loud noises in the bedroom. Luma had chewed/bitten huge hunks of wood out of the bedroom door. She wasn't shut in the room, the door was open, and she didn't go to her pad, she had peed on the floor. She was shaking very hard.

All of these behaviors are extremely unlike my Luma. I don't know what I can do to turn this around and make her feel confident again. I worry about her so much. Rosie, my other baby, is perfectly fine and if anything, seems happier than ever. What I have tried to change so far to make it better: way more individual "special" time. Taking them on errands, taking them to the dog park more, letting them play outside more. They're never shut in the bedroom. They always have free run of the house. They are alone maybe 3 hours a day at the most. That's always been the same. I would like to hear any suggestions yall may have. Am I overthinking this?
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Carmen, mama to Luma
& my little angel in Heaven, Rosie.

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