I had my little 3 year old Tibetan Spaniel spayed about 4 months ago.

Before she was spayed she was a bold little thing that didn't have any fears or phobias. Since spaying she is now a nervous neurotic little thing, she gets petrified of any beeping digital type noise, the lawn mower sends her in to a tizzy, and many other things.

All these things she totally ignored before she was spayed. She gets so frightened she trembles and shakes,I know picking her up and cuddling her for reassurance is not helping her, but i'm not sure how else to handle this sudden change in behaviour or why it is happening.

Have any of you experienced changes like this after spaying, could it be hormonal??

i would appreciate any suggestions, ideas etc.

my x's little shi tzu is/was scared of storms but he is almost over it now the best way to handle it is to take no notice of her keep going what you were doing or just sit down and start reading a book watch T.V or have a cuppa don't let her jump onto your lap but sit so she can't but can sit beside you on the floor don't speak to her act as if she is not even there and it should make her start to think well mums not scared so maybe it's not going to hurt me after all, it does take a long time for this to happen it won't work in a week or two or the other thing is to record all the sounds that she is scared of and play them non stop for weeks on end until she is that use to them she does not hear them any more that is a quicker way to do it, i watched that one on a Dr harry show a couple of years ago lol, Tobby was not scared of storms until after he was desexed, but i think think your little girl has very sensitive hearing and that could be her problem but i am not a vet so i won't go there

Now that is a good idea to record the sounds, i would never have thought of that, as far as me ignoring her, i literally have to go out of the room, as when she is in a scary tenzy if i am standing up she tries to climb up my leg.

But i will definately make a tape with all these spookie sounds on it, thanks for the idea.

What age what your dog speyed?? It is not likely to be the desexing itself but possibly it coincided with a fear period that all dogs go through, especially during their first 12 months. Royalla's advice regarding ignoring and not comforting is spot on. It is usually a process of desensitisation to the sounds, getting used to the sounds of storms or the lawnmower. She may have been highly stressed at the vet's when she was speyed and it has now become her fallback behaviour because she has been comforted when she exhibits this and gets mum's attention!

I usually have all my girls speyed eventually and have had no problems at all. I found my red cattle dog had a better temperment after her operation. She is 6 yold and has had four litters of puppies and was very emotional when coming into and out of her season. After he speying she is more even tempered and not as prone to bitchiness with the other girls.

She was frightened of storms before she had her operation.

Thanks for you replies, my little girl was 3 when spayed.it is so noticable because she was as bold as brass before her spaying, an example is we have always used a fly zapper , living near the bush thye are a pest.

Over the last couple of years this has never troubled her a bit, but if it zaps now, she trembles, feels really hot and climbs up the leg of the person nearest her, if i am sitting in the chair i try and ignore her, she will try and bury her little head between me and the chair.

thats the bit i find puzzling they are all sounds that she total ignored in the first two years of her life, now for some reason she gets petrified.
I will try with the desensitising

We also try to have the girls desexed before they are too old, due to what seems to be a tendancy to pyometra. We haven't had any problems and if anything they also seem to settle better, become rather affable to the others and develop a spreading waistline. She may have gone through some trauma at the vets and I just wonder if the anasthetic wasn't quite deep enough and she had some sense of what was going on.