Jealous Jack Russell?

[ditzyangeluk]

My dog is driving me insane. I am assuming it is since my Hermann has joined the family that she is restless and clingy - like she 'knows' something is going on or is new to the house. (I have Googled and see only posts relating to pregnant women!)

Tilly is a 12 year old Jack Russell. She keeps pacing, or staring at us, following us everywhere and wanting to get on our laps all the time. I have no idea what to do to ease the situation but it is driving me mad!

Any others had this or have any ideas?

 

[Merlin M]

My Jack Russell is always like this, she is 13 gets very jealous anytime the torts or even by hubby gets attention.

They are by nature very one person dogs, they form very strong bonds with their person! But do get jealous!

 

[ditzyangeluk]

She is driving me barmy the madam! Even hiding or squeezing into little gaps or between my feet, aaargh!

 

[Carol S]

Just give her some extra attention and reassurance and hopefully she will settle down soon.

 

[Shakudo]

Keep giving equal attention, it could be your dog is wondering and is afraid of going to a lower pack status.
Dogs can get jealous indeed.

 

[wellington]

I have a Bull Terrier and she is jealous of anything I pay attention too. Cat, lizards, torts, son, other people, however, it's not all the time, just when I am paying attention to one of them. Torts don't really want or need your attention, so give more to the dog. Maybe while the tort is in sight of the dog, but you paying all the attention to the dog. Good luck

 

[Merlin M]

She is driving me barmy the madam! Even hiding or squeezing into little gaps or between my feet, aaargh!

Yup, mine drives me crazy too, sometimes just cries at me till I go over and pick her up and give her a cuddle! And really loves to squeeze in between me and the arm of the sofa...

Oh and the more attention the more she wants (but to be fair Buzz has either a brain tumour or more likely brain lesion so is not always a good representation of what to expect from a dog...)

she follows me to bed and even to the loo!

 

[tortoise5643]

If i m not mistaken, I believe @Tom is a dog trainer.. Maybe he has input?

 

[ditzyangeluk]

She's getting extra attention and my tort doesn't really get ay attention when she is around as most of the stuff is done by then. She seems worse when the tort has gone to bed!

We are in the mind now though, like with children, even negative attention is attention and she seems to have worked that out. We uss her when we can but if we go to the other extreme or over-attention, it may make her even worse!

 

[ascott]

Jealousy in humans is accurate. Jealousy in dogs is not accurate. We humans label behaviors in animals so we can identify and try to understand it in ways we relate.

Animals do form bonds, animals do require social settings (be it like species or humans) to maintain mental health. Dogs are pack animals. Dogs are strict followers of hierarchy and all they do require this to be established. In a split moment upon new meetings this happens....there is no exception...

In humans, jealousy shows itself based on humans perception of another receiving something better than what they believe they have...not the same thing...but more of an emotion or a self perceived moment rather than really needing to be so...

In dogs, in a household the dog has already established itself (hopefully the human has set the hierarchy) within the people and all other animals/critters....if this is done, the dog is secure, knows what its role is and no stress/"jealousy" ...now, if something (or new being) is introduced and this something changes the dynamics of the household/family unit/pack....the dog will sense this and stress can come on...the dog can feel the shift of the unit....when this happens, the human has to understand (because this is the way humans are) and reconcile the cause for the change in the dogs behavior---so since the animal can display what humans may when jealous, we reduce their basic primal perfect system to our human reasoning.....

If you ooooo and ahhhh over a new member of the family/pack and do not re-establish the hierarchy--there will be a lack of balance.

Just saying.