Hi everyone. Dweezil just turned 1 year old a few weeks ago, she's a Cocker Spaniel/Cairn or Norfolk Terrier mix ... She's
always been a hyper doggie. She's been allowed to wander the house for increasing amounts of time, as she's housetrained, but we just recently taught her to leave the plants alone. Last week, she was bitten by a spider (we think) and had an allergic reaction, and was somewhat down for a couple of days afterwards, from a steiroid shot, and also some benedryl.
She went back to normal, and then, yesterday, I realized she was being extremely calm ... lying down more than usual (napped while I napped, thank goodness!). However, I don't think she's lethargic, because she still jumped up to steal pillows, and to follow me, and play if I wanna play tug; she still perked up at normal things and ran to the door when people came home, but didn't overreact and bark. I asked my parents if she had been running around while I was at class (I was gone most of the day) and they said, not so much, but she was ungated for almost the entire day, so we think she is just a lot less restless because she's not confined to the bathroom anymore.
So, I was wondering if people experienced a "calming down" in their dog when the dog was finally allowed to wander around the house unsupervised. I have been expecting her to calm down for awhile now, but since it came close after the spider bite, I wasn't sure if this could for sure be due to her having more freedom and therefore not being restless.
I'm still a new mommy, so I don't know when I should worry or take behavior as normal!