Stressed Dog

Tormund isn't happy and I don't know why. I would have said it's the Christmas tree cos it's new and out of the ordinary, but it had already been up for a week before he started acting strangely. He keeps pacing and panting and trying to hide (including behind the tree, which is another thing that makes me think that's not the problem), and when we go out the back he seems to be trying to escape from the garden. It's really upsetting and I don't know what to do. I don't want him to be unhappy, but I don't know what's wrong. I'm trying to act normally and keep to the usual routine and sometimes he does seem like he's getting better, but then he'll suddenly panic for no reason.

Maybe he just hates this house as much as I do. We had another leak last week, worse than the first one. This time the water came down through the kitchen ceiling and shorted out the lights. We didn't turn them back on for three days to give the electrics as long as possible to completely dry out, which made things a bit tricky as it gets dark at 4pm now. Fortunately the Christmas lights provided quite a lot of illumination.

It's funny, he didn't panic when the plumber came. In fact he was very well behaved and allowed us to shut him in the living room without a fuss. Yes, he barked a few times but not excessively. I was very pleased with him and thought it showed how comfortable he was here now.

It's almost like he wants to make me a liar. I sent a Christmas card to Battersea and mentioned how he's settled in so well. I included photos of him in the woods and on the sofa, saying they were his two favourite places to be. And since then he hasn't been on the sofa once.

I was really looking forward to our first Christmas together. But right now it's just stressful and miserable.