# Digging, barking & whining!!!



## smudgebiscuit (Jan 25, 2011)

Evenin' all,

Can anyone throw any light on our current situation with our 1yr springer spaniel Molly. For the last 2 weeks Molly has been digging in the garden lots & keeps digging the carpet..also barking at bed time when we leave her in the kitchen & also barking & whining when we leave her for work. All of the above is totally out of the blue-she's never really barked/whined much, but now every night regardless of how much exercise she's had she will bark & whine-only for a few minutes but it's more than she's ever done & also my leaving routine every morning hasn't changed but she will whine/cry/bark when i leave her.....anyone got any ideas???

Thanks in advance


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## leashedForLife (Nov 1, 2009)

smudgebiscuit said:


> For the last 2-weeks Molly has [dug] in the garden [a lot] & [digs at] the carpet, [too].


is she intact? 
if so, when was her last estrus? *digging* is a common bitch-behavior; once learned, it is not un-learnt. 
the more estrus-cycles a bitch goes thru, the more-likely she is to acquire digging habits, above & beyond 
breed-tendencies to dig, which are often seen in terrierrrists, Nordic breeds, hounds, etc. 


smudgebiscuit said:


> [she barks] at bedtime when we leave her in the kitchen &... [barks & whines] when we leave her for work.
> [this] is... out of the blue - she's never really barked/whined much, but now every night, regardless of how much
> exercise she's had, she will bark & whine - only for a few minutes, but it's more than she's ever done.
> 
> ...my [departure] routine every morning hasn't changed but she will whine, cry, & bark when i leave her.


re the barking, 
how old is Mollie?

whether things have changed for U is not the question - something has changed for Molly. 
there may be a change in a neighbor's schedule, especially at night: more noise, more traffic, 
come & go pedestrians, car-doors slamming... Who knows?

the local environment may have changed: maybe the airport sends planes over Ur area when the wind 
is in a specific heading, & she's reacting to the sound. Maybe someone is repairing a roof, redecorating, 
the city is tree-trimming or repairing a local road... dogs can hear both *infra*sound & *ultra*sound, 
as well as the same narrower range as human-hearing, but over a much, much wider area.

rather than worry about Why, i'd retrain the behavior.


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## smudgebiscuit (Jan 25, 2011)

Thanks...i was wondering why but mainly wanting advice on how to train her out of the behaviour too!!

Anyhoo.....may have a cause for the changes...as i was wiping her down after her run tonight, milk came out of her boobs so think she having a false pregnancy, had noticed her boobs looking a bit bigger over the last week or so but just thought it was part of her maturing.... she is my 1st dog :blush2:

Have checked with a someone i know that's a vet & they've said to just let it run it's course, unless we get overly worried then of course take her to vet if needs be


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## leashedForLife (Nov 1, 2009)

smudgebiscuit said:


> ...think she having a false pregnancy... just thought it was part of her maturing....
> she is my 1st dog :blush2:


have U scheduled her spay? that would be my immediate suggestion. 
bitches who have phantom-pregs are much more likely to have Pyometra. 
this is a year-round danger, but is most-likely in the 90-days after an estrus. 
that's 6-mos of the 12-month year, plus 2-months of estrus, are high-risk.

cheers, 
- terry


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## smudgebiscuit (Jan 25, 2011)

Yeah she's due to go in end of september-she didn't have her 1st season until nearly 12 months old so vet said to have her done 4 months after end of season. She's been a bit grumpy.....tried to look at her eye this morning & she growled at me ( she always running into bushes & then her 3rd eyelid doesn't go back into place-usually sorts itself out after a few hours) that's totally out of character for Molly-she's usually so placid....hope she going to be ok


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