behavior after kennel

Question
Dear Jennifer,

Let me tell you about my dog first. He is a very well loved and pretty spoiled pooch. He has always had behavior problems (probably needed obediant school but he has such a great personality (always happy and wagging his tail skip in his step,) I didnt want that to change so I have loved him regardless of his bad behaviors. My issue is this. Recently my husband got tranferred to another state for work. So we had to load up our 2 dogs and 2 cats and move across 4 states. We took 2 vehicles (dogs in 1 cats in the other) but my girl went into heat right before we left and staying in hotels was becoming a miserable thing so when we got here I put my male in a kennel for 5 days so we could get moved into our new house. See both my dogs have stayed in Kennels before(in fact for 11 day recently while we came to buy our home). But never has a kennel stay changed their personality.My Buster Boy went into a vet kennel this time (figured since I didnt know the area that would be safe). He was perfectly healthy and fully vaccinated except for heartworms since my old state didnt require that. They put him on heart worm preventitive and I called daily to make sure he was okay. They gave me rave reviews about how he was doing. When we picked him up on Wednesday His voice was all but gone, he was weezing as though they has put pressure on his throat(wind pipe). They had removed his collar and were using a choke restraint leash on him. I know this cause they lost his collar (had given me back his leash at check in) and gave me the leash they had been using on him. But the weird thing is that he is affraid to bark now. They told me that it is normal cause of so much barking in the kennel but I dont buy that because 3 weeks before he was in the kennel for 11 day and came home barking fine not change in attitude all mister personality. Now he wont bark not even on command anymore and doesnt howl. I know this all sound a bit petty but there is more. He is depressed. He seems sad and withdrawn(doesn't wag his tail anymore). He doesnt want to play and seems very much worried he will offend. He is trying really hard to be the perfect dog. But I miss my happy go lucky beagle. He has also had diareaha since he came home. When I called the vet told me it was nerves he would be fine in a few days but here we are 5 days later and he still has it. I will schedule an appt tomorrow ( with a different vet) as it is Labor day today. The diareaha really bothers me since he went in as a very healthy dog. Could he have caught something even though he has his vaccines? I am affraid they put on a barking device or shock collar. (would that make him fearful?) If it was too powerful or used too much would it cause the diareaha and could that be the reason he is affraid to bark? What can I do to find out if he was mistreated? Could you please do your best to give me some idea of what would cause such a drastic change in personality and let me know what I can do to make him feel secure again and safe enough to bark and howl(not all the time mind you) But I love the sound of his voice when he howls and I am really missing hearing him especially when he does it when he is happy and I miss him always wagging his tail. I miss my Baby and want him to be okay not so sad.

I feel guilty now for puting him someplace I knew nothing about but figured it had to be safe since it was a vet hosp.

Pamela

Answer
When dogs are kenneled and they are stressed (especially beagles) they can bark so much that they lose their voice.  And they also can get themselves so worked up that they get diarrhea too--we see a lot of stress colitis.

Not only was he put in a kennel but you also moved and he was separated from his family for 5 days, so there are several issues here to contribute to the depression.  

I find it hard to believe that the kennel would be a shock collar on any dog.  And as far as being mis-treated, you can ask the kennel if there were any problems.

He may also be sick with a fever from a viral infection.  We can't vaccinate against every single disease out there.  I would definitely get him a checkup.  I would also recommend you have a stool sample checked to make sure he doesn't have any intestinal parasites as they can cause diarrhea.  

In the meantime for the diarrhea, I would recommend feeding boiled chicken or burger with rice plus plain yogurt--no regular dog food.