Kelpie With Anxiety

[lilyandjazz]

Hi,

I own a 5yr old kelpie (she is show bred, so does not have any working instincts) female who is desexed. I have owned Ebby since she was 8 weeks old, she has always been highly strung around fireworks and thunderstorms, the rest of the time she is extremely outgoing.

The fear she has at these times cannot be trained out of her, it is her nature.

She gets walked 3 times a week and also goes to the off lead park most days of the week for a run.

I have noticed a big change in her overall personality in the past 6 weeks, beginning with her trying to escape from my yard a handful of times, when she does get out all she does is run and will not respond to being called. She has had a few close calls but has lucky come back to me not hurt.

It has come to the point where i am unable to leave her outside without being supervised or she tries to escape. The only place she seems happy is either under the bed or in a walkin wardrobe with no windows.

It is almost like she is afraid of not just the storms and fireworks, but any raised voices or loud noises now.

I am taking her to the vet as i feel she may need some form of full time medication as her quality of life is poor.

Can anyone let me know experiences they have had with medications ? or similar situations.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Mel

[Kavik]

Has anything changed recently?

Zoe, my Kelpie cross, is also scared of thunderstorms and fireworks. Several years ago, when I was living at home, my parents were renovating the kitchen. Serious renovations, they knocked down walls and it was very loud. Zoe was in my room when I was out so that workmen didn't let the dogs out. During this time, Zoe, who normally loves going for walks, did not want to leave the house. The only way she would go out was if she was with my other dog. She got more nervous than she is normally, and I considered taking her to a vet behaviourist to see if she needed medication. Eventually, a few weeks after the renovations stopped, she was happy to go on walks again.

Her favourite spots are under the coffee table and in her crate if she is scared.

[Cosmolo]

Medication without behaviour modification techniques is not particularly effective- particularly for high level anxiety. I know you saidtraining won't help but what training/ behaviour mod have you done so far that leads you to think that?

[lilyandjazz]

Hi,

I know it sounds ridicilous that training is not an option (as training is one of the most important things for a dog) She is obedidence trained and when not worried is fantastic....wish i could video link what she is like...then you would have a letter idea.

She gets into such a state her eyes basically roll back in her head, she is unable to focus, he only thought is getting somewhere dark, she pants constantly so much that i am concerned she may have a heart attack or a stroke, once the storm is finished it usually takes a good period of time for her to respond to me again once she has calmed down.

For eg. In last nights storm i had her on lead in by lounge room to try and get her to calm down.... she was in such a state to get away so nearly pulled me over....i am not a weakling, so that is a pretty mean feat.

In relation to getting out of yard , she can move 2 big concrete pots filled with stones and dirt which takes my mum and i alot of time to move and then move a drain grate which in underneath the gate.

There have been no changes to her routine in the past 6 weeks so not sure why her anxiety has increased so dramatically.

Do you have any suggestions re: controlling the fear i am basically at my wits end, am concerned she is going to hurt herself.

Medication without behaviour modification techniques is not particularly effective- particularly for high level anxiety. I know you saidtraining won't help but what training/ behaviour mod have you done so far that leads you to think that?

[Poodle wrangler]

Worth taking her to the vet to check for any physical problems, in case that's contributing.

If she has no injuries, I'd suggest increasing her exercise to at least an hour walk each day- it sounds like this must be on leash for her safety.

Think how fit you will be for summer.

Can you also go back to basics in training her to come etc.?

Any problem with her hearing? Or, is she choosing to ignore you?

[lilyandjazz]

Hi,

She is already booked into the vet, was concerned may be a brain tumour, due to change.

I don't think exercise is the problem as she goes to a (fenced in) off lead park basically every day.

Basic training isnt a problem when she is not worried. She basically blanks out and the only thing she can focus on is getting away and will basically move anything, crash into anything or go through anything.

I have even tried to move her head so she makes eye contact with me and she fights too look away and she is basically off her head and does not know what she is doing. I have even tried with my brother as she really responds to him and he can't even get her to focus.

Worth taking her to the vet to check for any physical problems, in case that's contributing.

If she has no injuries, I'd suggest increasing her exercise to at least an hour walk each day- it sounds like this must be on leash for her safety.

Think how fit you will be for summer.

Can you also go back to basics in training her to come etc.?

Any problem with her hearing? Or, is she choosing to ignore you?

[Poodle wrangler]

sounds suspiciously like something neurological

[Kavik]

Zoe is the same when she gets scared All she wants to do is go home and hide. Normally she is really responsive, but when she gets scared or stressed I can't get her to pull out of it. She normally walks well on lead, but will pull and choke herself if she is scared/stressed. No amount of coaxing/changing direction/distraction or correction will get her attention.

[BC]

You could try one of those Cd's that desensitize your dog to loud, strange noises, such as fire works, guns, traffic etc. I have one at home and think its great.

[Mizzi]

Hi Mel,

Have you had an unusual amount of thunderstorms recently?

We live in Central West NSW and, seriously, we have had thunderstorms almost every afternoon for the the past five weeks.

If this is happening in your area, maybe Ebby is experiencing even more anxiety than usual due to the expectation of thunder every day.

Our most recent rescue dog is terrified of thunder and, ironically, we got him five and a half weeks ago - just before all the storm activity started.

After the first storm we had while we were at work, Ben escaped from the yard and was missing for an hour after my OH got home.

He came running back when I arrived home - I think he must have heard my car coming up the road.

So now, when we're at work, my OH has to duck home and put Ben in the garage as soon as the thunder starts.

However, when we are home, we have started taking him for walks around the yard while it is thundering.

The aim is to get him used to being outside with the thunder, while having the reassurance of his people being with him.

We have made progress - he ate his dinner outside during thunder a couple of days ago. :rolleyes:

Do you think you could try some desensitization measures like this with Ebby?

Good luck - I hope everything works out for you.

[SallyDog]

Has something recently changed in your local area. I have a Kelpie X (which is petrified of thunderstorms) that I walk near the beach every morning, about 3 months ago she started to go in a panic every time I took her for a walk she would bolt and I would have trouble catching her she was in a mad panic. It got so bad that I contemplated giving up the walks, until I discovered that they were doing some significant building renovations two streets away. The dog was petrified of the noise of pnuematic nail guns. The renos have finished and my dog is now happy.

We also had a terrier dog when I was younger that hated storms, when we went to our uncles holiday house the dog would be fine until the next door neighbours turned up and then the dog acted as if there was a constant thunderstorm. We discovered it wasnt the neighbours, but there wire gazebo door which made a click that the dog thought was a firecracker. We changed the clip on their door and had a happy dog

Just because you cannot hear it your dog can hear things that they find scarey, so have a look in your neighbourhood, something may have changed that is causing distress it may not be the answer but it is worth a try and a look.

[Lab_Rat]

Your poor dog and poor you!

I hope the visit to the vet can perhaps rule out anything nasty!

Perhaps you could try rescue remedy when she starts having her anxiety attacks (that is what it sounds like to me, the panting and eyes "not there"). Also remember not to unconsciously encourage her anxiousness by trying to sooth her. Its hard not to I know when your dog is so terrified of something, and you dont know what that scary thing is! Dont forget also the sense of hearing a dog has, I cant even begin to understand how acute it is.

We trained our kelpie to bark at thunder, to try and keep the anxiety out of her head to begin with. Its seem to work, in fact anything we feel she may be afraid of, we try and get her to investigate in a "get-it" type way.

A few years ago we had lightning directly strike the farm house we were living in. It happened around midnight and it was the second scariest thing I have lived through. I had two cats and a ridgeback in bed with me (and my OH of course ) I am only just getting used to thunder and lightning again, but I think I may have instilled some of my fear into our new ridgie.

Im sure training will help her, even if it can help her understand when things go wrong, you are her safety zone.

RG