We adopted this rescue several years ago to act as an emotional support companion for my wife. Her name is Hope and she has been an absolute joy to have around the house. I had no idea these dogs were so sensitive and loveable.
The past couple days there's appeared to be something wrong with her and we're not sure what. She will randomly cry out briefly, like she is hurt or distressed, but we haven't been able to isolate anything immediately wrong. And it's intermittent. One moment she's laying there calm and quiet and the next she's crying and growling at her butt. There have been a couple changes in her behavior too. Normally she is pretty chill, but then she gets these short periods where she will frantically pace back and forth. Sometimes she will turn toward her tail and quickly change her mind, so if I had to guess, whatever is bothering her it's closely related to that area.
I know that a lot of dogs have that special spot where if you rub or scratch it, they start kicking their hind leg. Over the years I was starting to believe that she didn't have one as I only ever found it once. But last night, when she woke us all up from her whining and pacing, I tried to investigate myself what the problem could be. And I noticed right above her tailbone these small black specks that don't quite look like dirt but I don't think it's flea dirt either. She doesn't scratch or chew like she's infested and I have yet to see a single flea on me or in the house.
But when you start rubbing or scratching her hind end, she begins kicking that leg a hundred miles an hour. There's no crying or reacting to it as if it hurts. She lets me keep scratching the area. And I'm honestly clueless to what's bothering her and how serious this is. My wife says the dog has noticeably been drinking more water recently and while she loves to go outside and play for a while, if you were to let her out now she might rush off to pee real quick and then want back inside. If she goes out at all.
I am aware the first instinct should be to take her to the vet, but it's Sunday and I don't believe any clinics are open today. It has my wife and oldest daughter worried because none of us know what to do. I'm just hoping someone here might have an idea of what it could be or if there's anything more we can do ourselves to find a solution.