How old is your dog? What you described reminded me of my old dog when we rearranged the furniture. Turned out he was way more blind than anyone had known, and got really confused when things were moved around.

But ya, my dog was freaked out during renos. She had her routine, and then her routine got thrown all out of whack, and she wasn't normal. Thankfully, though she's normally a barky dog, when I locked her in the bedroom during the day while we were at work and contractors were here, she stayed quiet the whole time. Reno's make dogs do weird things. Kind of like people :)

Many dogs and especially cats do not like change. Something which seems to work very well are "flower essences" especially "Bach's Rescue Remedy", it is for distressed pets. You can usually find those in natural food stores. I don't know how or why the stuff works but it does. just takes a few drops either dropped on the tongue or if that is challenging rubbing it on the ears works. Also add some drops to the water bowl every day.
Bach's website
I've also heard of pet owners using Calms Forte:
Calms Forté

Hope that helps,
\x/ade

I agree with Donka. Keep your dog in your bedroom with the door closed, but with lots of comfy things around (his bed, perhaps your pillow, a nice chew toy, and fresh cold water). Also, not only is the furniture gone with all their familiar smells, but there are strangers in the house. Pretty scary for him I'm sure. It goes against all that a dog is genetically programmed to feel about their territory, even the quietest ones.

Go into the closed bedroom to see him A LOT, and pet him and keep him company. He may be thinking his family is in danger with all these strangers, machines and noise, so you need to reassure him. Also, take him for a nice long walk a few times, throw a ball around or something, so he'll be more tired and less inclined to wander down to the basement.

After a couple of days, have him greet the workmen, maybe they'll want to pet him. A lot of times, after a few days, pets grow to love having the workmen around, cause they get more attention and petting! Then they'll be sad when the workmen are finished and gone!

Our remodel went on and off for 6 months. Our border terrier never got used to it and barked incessantly. When left alone in a room, he'd scratch at the doors doing serious damage. Fortunately, I was home most of the time and kept him with me on a leash to stay out of the way of the workers. If left loose, he'd just be at their feet barking frantically. On the very worst days, we took him to a dog day care (when we knew there'd be a lot of nail guns, etc). We tried just about everything to soothe him w/o success.

Good luck!

no, that's not crazy. when i packed to move (yrs ago) 1 of my dogs didn't like it... she chewed one shoe from 7 different pairs of my shoes while i was at work during the day. She let me know!
it depends on a lot of things - including the dog. the 'family', the space, the workers, the noise, the smells etc.

remember their sense of hearing and scent is much stronger than ours is.

some get their little lives in a pattern and plain don't like change of any kind!

Our neurotic cat developed a big bald spot on her back during our kitchen reno. She hated the noise and mess and the disruption of her routine. Her hair has mostly grown back now.

We just had counter demo and granite install, so it wasn't too bad on the cats. I had them in the home office for long stretches with food and a litterbox. They normally stay away from loud noises anyways and sleep a lot during the day hours. Two of them are older (12), but they were OK.

However, they think we cleaned out the lower cabinets for their amusement. One of the cats likes to climb up on ladders.

We have a big dog that loved all of the people in and out of the house, but that proved to be a problem. She loved hanging around the activity and after several weeks of demo got this horrible cough and she would hack all afternoon and vomit this yellow bile. I'm not talking once or twice a day, I mean non-stop. We took her to the vet and they told us her lungs looked like an asbestos victim. We couldn't figure it out, then when they heard about the remodeling, they said that during the demo, the drywall would hit the ground and the little particles would float up into the air. She is low to the ground so it especially got into her lungs. I freaked out (also having a 1 and 3 year old that are also low to the ground). We took her to a specialist who told me she was not going to live...it was traumatic to say the least,---- then they figured out while her lungs looked terrible, after all, she just had an extreme allergy to dust ---- can't tell you what a relief that was as my guilt for this remodel was off the charts! Anyway, all is well now, but I would recommend keeping pets away from the mess and action ----the dust and mess are dangerous, there are all kinds of sharp things around and often demo leaves partial structures and unsafe areas along the way. One time my poor dog was outside and it started to thunder. It scared her and she ran up the stairs in a frenzy to find us and she ran right over an attic access that was open while they worked and fell through to the first floor. She was badly banged up and bruised, but didn't break anything --- but the construction disoriented her a bit and things were no longer where she expected them to be and an area that was loosely cordoned off she could still get into. I can't believe my poor dog had two incidents during this project and we were even extra safety conscious with little kids! I learned that it is better to just protect them by keeping them away from the construction.....

We had a temporary door installed at the end of the hallway leading to the bedrooms. At night, we'd lock the two cats up in that end of the house with us, they'd remain there during the day while workers were in the house, and we'd let them out when we came home at night. This way we didn't have to scramble to round them up first thing in the morning, and they had the freedom to roam around 1/2 of the upstairs during the day. Well worth it!

The first night of our remodel our our dog was just acting not himself so I ended up taking him to animal er! They checked him top to toe and said "he's upset, there is change in his life. Plus the workers spoke a different language so he doesn't understand." Game him more attention and each morning I had to workers sit on the floor with him and talk showing they were ok. Yes they thought I was crazy but when they'd walk by him they'd then pat his head - bingo attention, he was fine! Animals are sensitive creatures.

Our dog (lab mix) likes seeing the workers, but doesn't like too much construction activity. Noise is okay, but vibration bugs her. She tends to curl up in the back of my daughter's room when something big is going on (jackhammer, compressors, that sort of thing).

All in all, she's okay, but you can tell she is a bit stressed now and again.

I'll weigh in too...you are NOT crazy and i agree with donka and akchicago. dogs go by their nose first so if all their old scents are gone and new ones are there ... i'm sure it is throwing him for a loop especially if he is middle age or older. Poor thing! We did a ton of projects when we moved in and like akchicago said once my Golden started to greet the workers- he was following them around the house and began to relax a bit etc... I kept him in our bedroom at times with some good comfy stuff too and a window to look from. You may want to give him an old pillow/pillow case/tee shirt/slipper etc something with your scent on it. I would absolutely let him sniff around the workers in your house- let him get use to everyone.

Thanks everyone for the kind thoughts for poor Hunter. We adpoted him about 2 years ago, and he is about 8 years old - not sure exactly as he was a stray. He is definitely a grumpy old man of a dog when it comes to changes in our routine. If we stay home on a Saturday he keeps looking at us as though he is waiting for us to leave so he can get some peace and quiet.

Today was another tough day for us since the workmen left the container I store his dog food in on the floor in the front room when they left. By the time I got home from work he had gotten the lid off and eaten his fill - he wouldn't even touch his dinner and is now lying on the floor with his tummy all swollen looking very uncomfortable. I'm hoping with us home for the weekend he will feel better.

He does know the workmen in our home (at least a little bit) but I just remembered he always acts weird when people are in the house. If someone he doesn't know is here he will follow me around wherever I go. I'm not sure if he is protecting me or if I am supposed to be protecting him, but he doesn't normally behave like that.

I am going to search for doggie daycares in our area for when they are coming to lay the new floor next week, but at the beginning of the week I think I will just close him into our bedroom. He is normally home alone all day, so I don't think that will bother him but he does usually get the run of the house. I think he won't mind being locked up now.

Thanks again.

Louise

Louise, definitely, I would try the locking in a room. I didn't want my pup around all the hazards, so she was always cordoned off in an area. She didn't seem to mind at all, and in fact I think it made her relax more because she didn't have to feel like she was watching the house. In the bedroom, she would just get in her comfy spot and sleep all day, despite the noise. If they see the action, I think they get more anxious about it. Obviously depends on the dog, but it worked for mine, kind of like crate training I guess, just a much bigger 'crate'.

We kept our dogs in our bedroom with the door closed most of the time. I was very worried about someone leaving the door open accidentally and them escaping. Also, our younger dog would want to be close to the activity and I worried that she would bother the workers too much or get hurt by some of the equipment.

It worked pretty well since our bedroom had all of our smells in it, which I guess is comforting. It wasn't part of the reno and I would leave our alarm clock radio on also to give some background noise.

Even though this is a busy time try to get some extra exercise in with the pooch - it's a great natural stress reliever for animals as well as humans!