Willow, my dog.

[dinky]

Thought you might like to see my dog, Willow, an English Mastiff .She is great with the cats but unfortunately, since the quakes, she has become very stressed and this has made her VERY aggressive towards people. I can no longer let her run free at the dog park but I walk her late at night and she runs free in the park then.Willow sleeps beside me in bed every night and is an excellent guard dog, barking at the slightest sound. As 2 of our front windows are broken through the quakes and I have cardboard covering them, the house is not secure and so Willow's presence is very reassuring. I really believe she would kill anyone who tried to get in. It is a real responsibility having a huge dog that is aggressive and I do make sure she is always either inside or behind locked gates.

http://i1361.photobucket.com/albums/r663/brennachapman1/IMG_0083_zpsa3c86b10.jpg

[Kazz]

My Lord what a beautiful expression she has how old is she? and I like her name too.
I do feel for you and her character change since the quakes.

On another note have the quakes always been so bad in New Zealand?

[angieh]

What a sad, beautiful face Willow has. I am sorry she's had such a character change since the quakes. I wonder if there is anything an animal behaviourist could do with her?

[dinky]

Yes, Willow does have a sad face.Believe me, I have tried working with her to calm her down and she has seen a guy who works solely with dogs suffering from post quake trauma, all to no avail. The quakes have affected many animals in Christchurch. Some have had to be PTS because they have been so agitated.Willow is coming up 6 in September. She was a young rescue dog who had been badly abused when I took her on and was terrified of hands and would cower when anyone tried to touch her. She was coming out of her shell when the massive 7.3 quake hit Christchurch out of the blue in Sept.2010. We had never had quakes before this, even though NZ is on a major fault line. Since that dreadful day, we've had 13029 quakes in Christchurch and our beautiful city has been destroyed. Hundreds of fault lines have opened up around Christchurch and we have quakes daily.Even though most of the quakes are now small, many animals remain badly traumatised. Willow also now has other problems like excessive licking and biting of herself until she bleeds. She is a beautiful girl but I have to be extra vigilant with her always.

[angieh]

I feel very sorry for you and all those who are still suffering. I am actually very sad that there is little or nothing on the Internet about the recent quakes Christchurch has suffered, everything is of course about the visit of the Cambridges in April. I haven't checked out social media sites however. I do feel bad that the continued quakes are not being covered ... 13029 is a HUGE number. I am astonished to find out it's been that many.

Poor Willow - she is very lucky to have found someone who loves her so.

[PoshPuss]

I'm surprised by how may quakes you get down there too Dinky! :shock: I never thought of the Land of the Long White Cloud as being so vulnerable to the forces of nature I guess though that's why the country is so beautiful because it's so new and unusual.

Willow is gorgeous and you know her personality so well I think she does feel as secure with you as you do with her!

[Shelley123]

Willow is beautiful and so lucky to have a home with someone who understands her.
What a shame the quakes have altered her personality, it's something i have never thought of before.
My parents have a papillon that licks himself excessively, they have found that using a thundershirt on him reduces it, not sure if you could get one to fit a mastiff though.

[Kazz]

If not a thunder shirt maybe a lads football jersey. I think Bella would be truamatised too with all that. Hope they are coming to an end is there any official word when they may ease?

[dinky]

Thanks for all your kind comments about Willow.Thundershirts are not made to fit mastiffs - I have enquired. I'm glad your parents wee papillon is finding some relief though Shelley. Kazz, unfortunately Christchurch will probably always have quakes now as the initial quake opened many new fault lines and I am told that there are now hundreds of fault lines crisscrossing under the city and surrounding areas.Many people have moved away to other cities, but I'm staying put.Just waiting to hear on the fate of my house from EQC. Most of the quakes we are having now are small ones and just to make a liar out of me, we haven't had one for 24 hours, so that's good.

[pamela81]

She is lovely. Sorry to hear that she is now aggressive towards people.

[Velvet]

Beautiful dog. Just wondering with her sad expression have you ever had her thyroid levels checked? Sad expression, character changes, itchy skin - all symptoms - just a thought

If you look under Wiki at the breed health issues, hypothyroidism is mentioned. Maybe worth having her checked sometime x

[dinky]

Thanks for the info Velvet. I'll speak to my vet on Monday and find out. Willow has had many tests done on her, so she may well have had that particular test as well, but I will find out.I'm now worried about her when we have the house repairs done around August. The estimated time is 6 months that we will be out of this house, and longer if it is a total rebuild. My insurance covers boarding catteries and kennels and will pay for temporary accomodation, but Willow would never survive in kennels. I don't want to leave my cats for that length of time either. Never mind. I'll worry about that closer to the time.