Nervous dog

[casper90]

Hi, looking for advice very nervous dog, 5yr old, had her since a pup, she is a cairn terrier mixed spaniel, lots of energy and loves playing but nerves seem to be getting worse as she gets older, absolute nervous wreck at times, jumps out of skin at any noise, worse since having baby (now 9 months) she is getting more clingy and has recently started whimpering in early hours, also have an older lab who she's normally more secure with and sleeps with but she has been banging door trying to get out, try to give her as much attention as possible but she is so clingy, she is curious around baby, but there has been inevitable change in routine since having baby, e.g. time of walks etc varies, I am trying to get a more fixed routine but difficult to juggle, any tips how to calm her down

Has the nervousness coincided with the baby?
I would suggest a veterinary check up.if there is no reason for the change.
Things to try are an adaptil diffuser or collar. These either work really well or not at all.

Look at diet, is it high protein? This is often thought of as an issue but it very much depends on the quality and type of protein.

Try to be reassuring to your dog, without responding directly to the nervous behaviour. So don't chastise or fuss over the dog. Try to ignore stress behaviour at the time, business as usual, everything is fine, nothing to worry about etc. This worked well with my dog who would go into meltdown with fireworks. It was hard to ignore his distress but responding to it reinforced his fear. Now he barely takes motice.

My dog is naturally stressy and highly strung. Its just him but his"brother" is mr cool.

She's always been nervous but yes has got worse since having baby in the house, think the change and initial noise distressed her (ds had colic so frequent crying) but all is much calmer now and she doesn't seem frightened of him, and used to baby cries now, its stuff like everyday noise like putting cup down on table she can jump or moving about in kitchen closing cupboards, etc thanks for your advice I will look at diet, didn't realise that could contribute and will get a check up at vets as getting worried about her, I do fuss over her when trying to reassure her but yes I can see this is probably reinforcing the behaviour so will try that tactic of ignoring, thank you

It might be possible to get a behaviour consultation with one of the vet nurses (after ruling out any physical cause) who will be able to give advice about diet and yhings to try.

Diet can influence greatly - Baker's for instance is called doggie fruit shoots for good reason.

Good luck x