Excessive Panting!

We had Dottie (EBT, who was spayed 11 days ago) to stay over with us and Storm last night and she was in her crate, when, about 5.30 am, we thought she was telling us she needed to go to the toilet (she was very restless and making tiny whining noises). So we let her out of the crate and got ready to take her downstairs (we live in a 2nd floor flat) for a toilet. Twice we had to move her, once off of our bed and once out of the way, so that my OH could get dressed to take her out and both times she yelped, which we thought was strange!

Anyway, it turns out that she didn't need the toilet as she did not go, despite my OH being out with her for about twenty minutes. He also told me that she didn't want to come back into the flat, so he had to coax her up the stairs to go back indoors!

When he got back inside the flat with her, she didn't come running in as usual, instead she laid out in the hall, by the front door (facing away from us) and wouldn't move and she had started panting heavily and trembling too!

This went on for about quarter of an hour or longer and in this time we were trying to placate her and get her back into the bedroom where her crate was. We eventually got her back into the bedroom and into her crate, but she still lay there panting and staring into space for about another 15-20 minutes, until she eventually stopped panting and fell asleep! She did not feel hot at all, so it wasn't because she was hot that she was panting!

Today she has been absolutely fine and back to her normal self and this is the first time that she has stayed with us, that she has been like this.

Anyway, we rightly or wrongly, have put it down to either the fact that she had overdone it a bit that day (she had playing with Storm quite a bit and been very active on walks). But she was fine i.e. not panting, acting normally, apart from being restless in her crate and not really settling, up until the point where we tried to get her off of our bed and she yelped!

OR, She was a bit stressed out because we pushed her (not roughly) off of our bed?

Her current owner is a very nice lady who has had Dottie since she was a puppy, so she hasn't been abused in any way.

We were really, really worried about Dot last night and if she had carried on panting and trembling like that for much longer, we would have called out an emergency vet for sure! But luckily whatever caused this behaviour was all over almost as quickly as it had started!!

Any ideas what could have caused this sudden panting and trembling though, does it sound like a stress response as it came and went so quickly?? Her owner has said that like us, she has never witnessed Dot acting like that before.

What you describe can certainly be a stress response, it can also be a pain response, which itself causes pain.

Possibly she had a cramp, if she had overdone things? They can come on very suddenly and painfully and gradually fade away and she would likely have been tired, and relieved, after the emotional exertion of it all?

It would be one explanation that would fit what you describe, but t may not be the only explanation.

After 11 days the spay should be healing well, unless there are/have been any complications, but if she has been on restricted exercise while recovering she might be less fit than usual and more prone to over do things?

Is it possible that she heard some fireworks? Her behaviour seems very similar to my last dog when I was staying over with a friend and was therefore not in her own home (comfort zone). Only an idea. Glad she seems OK now though.

Might be worth mentioning to the vet when she has her stitches out, but it's probably a one-off and I wouldn't worry unless it happened more regularly.

That was meant to say "which itself causes stress."