I have an 11year old female mix breed dog. She seems increasingly sad and anxious around the house. She hardly ever ventures off her bed; she trembles when we show any prolonged interest in her or try to groom or bath her; she won't even entertain the idea of playing with any doggy toys; and she is developing patches of discoloured fur and even sore skin on her legs where she is 'worry licking'.
She is taken out for a long walk every day, and while out and off the lead she is fine - happy, energetic etc. It's her behaviour in the house that worries me. She just seems so unhappy.
Some background:
She was born in our house and has never lived with any other family but ours.
However, there have been two fairly major changes in the family recently: firstly, our other dog, her mother, died two years ago and she is now our only dog. Secondly, we had our first child two and a half years ago.
DD adores the dog and speaks to her very kindly and gently. We have taught DD to only stroke her back, which she does very gently, always under supervision.
She has always had a very submissive nature and has always seen herself as lowest in the 'pack'. But her submission and anxiety have reached new heights.
When our DD first became mobile, we transferred the dog's bed into the kitchen, so she could be out of the way of the toddler. But if anything, her depression got worse because she was isolated from us most of the time. So now that DD is more sensitive around her, we keep the dog's bed in the living room. But at the moment, her 'worry patches' are worse thatn they've ever been.
I'm thinking about taking her to the vets. But what can they actually do to help her? Has anyone else had a dog who was depressed? What did you do?