[lucky3tattooco]

Hello, all!
I'm new to the forum and searched a bit to see if there was a similar post but couldn't find one. My wife and I have an australian shepherd/blue heeler named Murphy that is 4 years old. Easily the smartest dog I've ever owned (sometimes too smart for his own good).. Anyway, a little over a year ago, my wife caught a flu she couldn't shake for over 3 months and was pretty much bed-ridden.. She's better now, but the issue we have is that if she ever gets a little bug with a cough or sneezing, Murph starts shaking like a leaf and tries to squeeze into the smallest place he can find. He pulls down curtains trying to get behind them, knocks over tv's, wedges himself behind the couch, and on and on...
I don't really want to give him drugs, but it's nearly impossible for my wife to control him if she's sick and I'm at work..
HELP!
p.s. he never acts this way if I get sick, just the wife...
Anyone with a similar problem?

[lange]

That's interesting! I think Ree had something similar happen but her dog wanted to keep smothering her with his presence.

Every time your wife sneezes or coughs give him a piece of chicken or something super SMELLY and IRRESISTABLE. Maybe your wife can do the same too. That way your boy starts corresponding the noise with something positive. You can even practice when she isn't really sick, that way you can plan the training when you're both around,

[lucky3tattooco]

yeah, I forgot to mention that part.. the other end of the spectrum is that he will want to climb right up onto her chest and ut his face as close to hers as possible, and that's usually what he does to me when she coughs if I'm home..
I'll definitely try the treats or chicken and I'll post with how it goes asap!
Thanks

[reeskujo]

Lange is right..I went through and to some extent still have issues with Seigi when it comes to me being sick...I've got Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome which comes on at all hours of the day or night..When it happense I spend half the night in the bathroom violently throwing up for hours on end..Well it was apparently pretty traumatic for Seigi because it got to the point where if I was in the shower he laid out side the door whining,crying and doing whatever he could do get in the bathroom..What I started doing was giving him a treat when I need to go in the bathroom and close the door and if I was just doing my hair or putting make-up on I'd leave the door open so he could see I was ok...While this hasn't stopped him from laying in front of the door when it's closed he is much calmer about it..Of course this past week I've spent 6 days in the hospital because of the CVS but as soon as I got home I started right back with giving him treats when I close the door so he knows I'm ok..If I'm going in to take a shower or just use the bathroom I also don't respond to his whining or trying to get the door open and he eventually quits doing it.