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Constant Panting

My Aussie is constantly panting. She is also very timid. Is this a trait and is it normal?

Comments for Constant Panting

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Panting
by: Anonymous

My aussie pants a lot because she is very active and gets overheated. As for timid - they are all different. You would have to check out the parents. My aussie's father was very timid and the mother was a sweet, sweet dog. Mine is in between. I have had only had one aussie and she is 2 1/2 yrs old. She is truly a jem. Very loyal to her people, is on guard all the time (seldom sleeps) and protects/plays with our lab (same age). She kills any animal that tries to get in the yard (except dogs). She has killed mice, moles, groundhogs, cats, birds, and rabbits.

Panting
by: Diane

I have often had this same question regarding Aussie's and panting.
Sadly I lost my beloved 4 year old Aussie to lymphoma a year ago July. He lived 7 months after his diagnosis. His vet treated him with chemo and herbs. Most of the seven months he felt very good, but was always panting. As a puppy we would have to put cold cloths on his head and keep the house very cool. His Holistic Vet said he has internal high heat and we tried everything to clear it without success.
We now have Jess our 5 year old female Aussie and she too pants all the time. She was a breeder dog and sadly has not had a very good life up until now 4 litters of pups and she is only five!
Been debarked even though the breeder denies this she cannot bark and has neurological trauma to her neck and hind quarters she too pants all the time and again we cannot clear the heat which her Vet said can cause problems. If there is anyone out there that has knowledge on clearing internal heat please share, she wakes up at night panting. I know panting can be pain and several other medical conditions, but she has been through testing and is often at the Vets sometimes weekly with multiple problems without resolve. Both of my Aussie's were and are positive for the MDR1 gene... makes me wonder if this is somehow connected.
My heart breaks for her as she never seems comfortable and is the sweetest little angel. As far as behavior both of my Aussie's have been wonderful. Jess is timid of dogs, but was attacked by one with one of her previous owners. We are trying to work on her fear issue, but at her pace.

simba
by: Anonymous

My Aussie is a very good dog, 9 years old always afraid of storms and a lot of people stays by my side just get worried when he pants and shakes at times.

My Out of control Aussie
by: Lou

This is a different topic. Mt Aussie is 9 months old and constantly pants, but she looks stressed. We run her but it may not be enough. We can also be playing in the yard, then all of a sudden she goes in attack mode on me biting, barking to the point
I have to tie her off until she calms down. My wife and I are seriously thinking about giving her up, maybe she needs to be on a farm running. She is a lovable gentle dog otherwise. We also have a Dachshund which she uses as toy and we have had enough. Can anyone help us?

panting
by: Blaine

we too have an Australian and she is 8 years old.
She pants constantly and it is annoying but we live with it as she is the most loyal dog I have ever seen.
He coat is so thick she should have been a lamb but we keep her cut down to about a half inch and that helps.
We also live in hot Arizona which I'm sure does not help and have been thinking about getting one of those kerchiefs that you put around your neck to cool you down.
We keep her in the house almost all the time because of the heat but let her out when she wants to go but then she just sits by the door wanting in.
She is a little chubby but other than that healthy as a dog can be....hopefully.
She is a terrible traveler as everything seems to scare her but she will ride all day long in my Jeep over all kinds of terrain and loves it...who can figure?
I wish some one would figure out why they pant all the time.

Lou
by: Anonymous

Lou

Where are you from? I may be able to help you! I know someone who raises, breeds and shows Aussies.

My email address is: TonyaFotinos@outlook.com

Please email me with your contact information, if you are interested in helping your dog! You may want your dog back if this lady can help.

She will run every test to see if it might be biological.

Thanks,

Tonya

SENIOR AUSSIE PANTS 24/7
by: Anonymous

I've raised my Aussie from a pup. He will be 15 this year. I've approached my vet on some issues he has and it would be very costly to do these tests. He sleeps most of the time, only because of a move from a house to an apartment over past 3 yrs, so he does not get the exercise needed, so he lost muscle in back legs as well. His cannot walk far and trips and falls. He has been panting 24/7, as long as I can remember, worse over past year. The panting is loud and as much as I love him, it does wear on my nerves more as time goes on, and I get angry and cry. I'm afraid he might be in pain, for which the vet has given him pain meds. Do you know if this is known in the older Aussie breed? Any suggestions?

Cooling Pad helps
by: Anonymous

Our 11 month old Aussie tends to get hot very easily. During the day he always refused the soft dog beds and just chose to lay around on cool hard stone tiles. He used to pant excessively at night and never lay on his blanket. I was super worried because the room does not seem hot to me. We recently bought him the cooling gel pad, kept the window opened, gave him access to water, and all that seemed to help a great deal. He took to the gel pad immediately. The gel pad is definitely not durable and he already kinda chew a corner off, so I am not sure I would trust it alone with him in the crate.

Panting
by: Emily

I have an 8 year old Aussie, Kate, who wont stop panting after every walk we take her on. can anyone give me advice? i'm worried.

Aussies - Excessive Painting - COOL BEDS
by: Rannie G

Hi all. I have an Australian Cattle Dog who pants a lot, though not all the time. I've come to believe it's a characteristic of the breed. My vet says she's in perfect health. I've spoken to breeders and they confirm that the breed revs high. I was extremely concerned when she first came to me as a foster.
In the summer she, too, prefers the cooler floor to her bed. I'm looking into buying one of those COOL BEDS. They're great, and we use them at the animal shelter where I volunteer. I don't recall their exact name. There are several kinds. They're easily found with a Google search.
You all might want to check them out on the internet. Good luck.

Panting
by: Anonymous

My Aussie will be 13 this December and pants like crazy. I keep my air conditioner at 72 all day just for her. She is not hot and she’s definitely spoiled. The vet has done chest X-rays, throat ultrasound, and blood work and everything looks great. I could do an MRI and bronchiole scope but that will be thousands of dollars and may not show anything. There are times when she is sleeping that she isn’t panting but if she is awake then she is. Some nights are really bad and she is restless so I end of sleeping on the floor next to her while she is in her bed. This is about twice a week in the middle of the night so I am getting no sleep. Does anyone know why this could be happening? Is it old age? It will kill me if I am letting her suffer. Please help.

Panting
by: Trk

I just got an Aussie from a gent who could / didn't want to keep her (his kids dog), she is 4 years old and pants a lot, found a very simple solution which she loves, got a fan for her, so now when she gets hot and starts to pant, you will find her sleeping in front of her fan, blowing away hair, and loving it, but no panting.

She really loves her fan, I found out when she started laying in front of another fan on hot days.

This is my third Aussie, my older girl just turned 13 and is a lethal white" Aussie".

Panting
by: Anonymous

I find that giving my Aussies ice cubes, as many and as often as they want, cuts the panting down to almost none. I keep a full bowl around for them and if they drop them on the floor... so what... it’s water and it evaporates.

Aussie Anxiety
by: Anonymous

My son's Aussie Cattle Dog bites us and jumps on us every time we get ready to leave the house. This Aussie has anxiety.

I just saw recently at Pet Smart that they have calming items to try. But we haven't tried them just yet because we were also going to look into training for his anxiety.

But I saw a comment that said they tie up their Aussie when he goes into attack mode but I think that may make the Aussie worse.

Maybe a cage may be better but definitely training.

Love for our Aussie mix
by: Lara

Our dog, Orion, is a 2 1/2 Aussie-Border Collie mix we got from an Amish farm in Northern New York where we live. We have noticed that Orion pants a lot, but not all the time. So does his litter-mate brother that we dog-sit for our friend. I do believe it is the breed as they are high energy work dogs and have a faster metabolism. I do research in biomedical sciences and neuroscience along with a focus in genetics, cellular biology, stem cells and regenerative medicine.

After reading many of the comments here, I also find that our boy moves from his dog bed to the cool floor and the space under an open window at night. He doesn't stay on our bed for very long except for cuddles and love because he gets too hot. We keep our thermostat at 62 F at night (better sleeping for all of us). I periodically hear Orion move from his bed to the floor, but always find him back on his bed in the morning, which is by my side of the bed. During the day we keep the house around 68 F.

He travels everywhere with us, loves to go in the vehicle, is well socialized with both other animals and people. He gets plenty of exercise and fetch is a religion to him. He would play fetch from the moment he wakes up to the moment he falls asleep if he could. He is fantastic at frisbee and loves his chewed up soccer ball. I sometimes get a little concerned about his panting, but I look at all the other aspects of his life: He is active, has LOTS of energy (wish I could bottle and sell it!), eats well, drinks water regularly, has a fantastic disposition, plays with other dogs, is great with people, naps periodically, and sleeps at night. He Loves going hiking. I usually have him off-lease and he stays with me; just wants to play fetch with a random stick the entire way. He covers about 5 times the mileage I do.

I think it important to make sure this breed, as with any other, has good, healthy food, LOTS of LOVE, gets a lot of exercise, is exposed to many environments, people and animals and I believe that will lessen if not eliminate any anxiety and "bad behaviors". We have been very blessed with how wonderful Orion is. He truly is one of the best dogs both my husband and I have ever had. We are looking for a female to breed with him before we get him neutered.

Good luck to everyone!

socializing
by: Anonymous

Any suggestions on how to best socialize my female Aussie 10-month-old puppy? When we try to take her places or she barksquite a bit and I am sure people get annoyed. If people come to our house she also barks and barks. Not sure what to do. We would love to be able to take her more places. She does go to doggy day care / training once a week. She is also a panter and quite bossy.

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