Even the dog goes to hide during a rage...

[aba]

I'm not in any way making light of the situation, because we have been in tears for much of the past few months as DD's symptoms seem to intensify. But it struck me as sickly humorous when I noticed that our dog will go hide when she gets really bad with the raging, screaming, etc... An ANIMAL even notices that this behavior is not normal and is scared of a little girl :( .

 

Sometimes you laugh to keep from crying (and totally losing it!).... Anyone else have anecdotes that only parents here would understand??

Edited March 2, 2015 by aba

[mommybee]

You have a great attitude and made me smile. Thanks. Speaking of pets, service animals (or pets that assume that role) can be very calming to anxious children. One of our dogs served this role beautifully and basically didn't leave our boy's side when he was at his worst. I'll bet this isn't uncommon.

[aba]

Thanks .

 

Sad thing is, each time this happens, the dog does try to comfort her (because normally they are buddies ) but when she is raging, she pushes the dog away and yells at her :(.

 

Which, by the way, she basically does to us as well.

[qannie47]

I think there must be something to the time of year....perhaps the constant exposure if not actually sick themselves, but it seems that everybodies child whom is prone to these kinds of problems has simultaneously fallen off the apple cart.

[BeeRae22]

funny you should post this, because my dd is in a flair, and our dog has been cowering and hiding in the crate just recently when she's having behaviors, which he never did before, even when things were really bad last year..... (what she's going through now is nothing compared to last year, and this is new for the dog!)

 

hang in there-- it will get better. I was in tears almost every day last year. I sometimes tear up now just thinking about how awful it was.....but sometimes I almost forget too be strong and go hide with your pup for a few minutes if you need to- it's okay, I do it sometimes myself.

[Surfmom]

Ha, well...we have four dogs...and they go slinking off, ears dow and tails tucked whn when DD17 goes into a rage. I really feel sorry for them because it doesn't fit into their scope of understanding.

 

The one thing I have to suggest..and it's the first thing we always do...is to put our dogs in a room with the door closed as soon as things start to ramp up. My fear is that DD might hit, kick or knock one aside in a rage (180 degrees from her healthy state of wanting to be a vet) ...or in a really bad situation the dogs might try come to my defense since they consider me to be alpha or mom.

 

We never thought our children could rage like this....and I am sure we could never imagine our sweet dogs biting a child....

 

But this is some kind of strange parallel universe.

Edited May 19, 2015 by surfmom

[aba]

beerae22 -- Thanks for the encouragement. All the success stories on this board give me hope that one day these horrid days will be just a very bad memory.

 

surfmom -- I have used the exact term "parallel universe" to describe this. And it really is -- people who don't deal with it have no idea is even exists!

 

And we have also considered the dog thing -- dogs are animals after all and they all have their limit and we would hate for something bad to happen. We are glad the dog "takes the high road" and knows when to leave her alone. And it's so sweet to see them together again after the storm passes. Even she seems glad to have her back .

[4Nikki]

One thing I learned about dd's rage is focus. We found just giving her paper to tear helped. She has been in a rage and grabs on to something dangerous or breakable her grip is like a vice. She grabbed hold of her dog once and luckily we were able to get his leg out of that grip. Her brother got on the wrong side of her rage and was thrown across the room. Dd's dog is in another room under the bed at any sign of rage but the are good buddies. He helps her anxiety and gets her out of the house for walks. Rage doesn't know who you are. You have to become a mat (d) ador with focus on some tag else.

[Mayzoo]

Our dog is almost the same weight as kiddo and he is a blessing. Kiddo has never raged at any living thing (thankfully).

 

Our dog has the temperament of a service dog and I have on more than one occasion considered schooling him for such, but the need is not great enough. He gravitates towards her and she swears he makes her feel at least some better no matter how bad she is feeling. If she gets "the upsets" and he is outside, she usually asks for him stating he makes her feel better. Then when he comes in, he sleeps right at her feet 95% of the time. Whether she is feeling bad or not, he wants to stay in her room while she unwinds for bed, and while she goes to sleep (then I sneak him out so he does wake her in the middle of the night).