Anxious dog won't stop pacing and whining. We've tried nearly everything. What should we do now?
My husband and I are sitting two dogs, one of which is a calm quiet senior, and the other is younger and incredibly anxious. She doesn't stop pacing and whining, and hasn't eaten in the 24 hours since she's been with us. The owner warned us that she is a finicky eater and sometimes won't touch her food, but I'm a little worried since she's skipped two meals now. I've tried offering treats just to make sure she gets something in her tummy, but she refuses the variety of treats I've presented to her. Due to her constant nervous piddling, we unfortunately have to keep her in the kitchen unless she is going outside. She doesn't seem to like this, but there isn't much we can do since we can't reasonably clean the carpet every time we accidentally move too quickly or a noise startles her.
She is constantly either pacing or whining. The whining is triggered whenever there is something different going on (other dogs are playing, she can't see my husband or I, etc.) and it just doesn't stop. Last night, we put her and her brother in the kitchen and our two dogs in the living room separated by a gate. She whined for a solid hour before eventually stopping, then she woke us up at 4am whining again. My husband tried to let her outside thinking she needed to potty, but she was too afraid to do anything so back into the kitchen she went.
The only time she isn't whining is when she is allowed to roam the living room and when she's out in the yard. But the only reason she isn't whining is because she has resumed her pacing. It's not a methodical pacing, either; she will walk in a direction, then erratically stop and go a different direction, and on and on and on. It's like she's lost but doesn't know what she's looking for. When trying to direct her in a certain direction, my husband and I have to stand near where we want her to go (such as into the yard so she can potty) - but we can't look at her. If we look at her, she'll run back inside and pace in and out several times until she decides we aren't a threat anymore. Any verbal cues, like "go potty" or "come on" startle and distract her from whatever she's doing and starts the erratic pacing all over again. Occasionally she'll approach us and put her paws on our legs asking for pets, but she flinches if you try to per her otherwise.
In dealing with this, we've tried so many things to get her to calm down and none of them have worked. She hasn't played with my dogs at all, so I thought maybe they were making her anxious ...
Fyi majority of dogs go off their food in a new place. Eventually they will eat, just don't force them and make sure they're getting water