Can I Do Anything?

[hankdog]

I was thinking of you whilst walking this morning. I too question my ability to be Jakes human, the bottom line is there is no right human, there is just you.

When I got Jake I was feeling a bit good about myself, I had saved the dog that no one wanted, yea he had a bad temperament test but he seemed nice enough to me, I 've had animals of all sorts and I was pretty sure I could turn him around. And then I realised I was leashed to 26kg of bat Cr@p crazy that I had no idea how to handle. I was completely overwhelmed and the first two behaviourists I saw took one look and said PTS. There are still many bad days and I would not take on an anxious dog again but you will adjust and many of your simple achievements will be very joyous. As I'm typing this in the garden my neighbours dog has just started barking and between keystrokes I'm dishing out peanut butter, you adjust. The following things would be what has worked for me.

Read the great dane website section on dealing with separation anxiety, it gives you great insight into how to live with an anxious dog ( good for people too). Particularly important for me was to go check what he's barking at and thank him for telling me but now as the leader I have decided that we are ok with that thing and we are leaving. Thank your dog and be responsive to their often incorrect but honest attempts to communicate.

Try 101 things to do with a box. you buy a clicker for about $5 and get a free cardboard box and hey presto you get hours of fun. This was a huge confidence and communication boost for Jake. He opened up and started offering behaviours. On days I couldn't face going out this was a fun training session. you can later use your clicker out and about and darn if I'd only known about it when I had kids they would be trained this way too. I also set up an obstacle course in my garden, cheap tunnel from spotlight, cones to weave between, free ramps from the side of the road and some pot plants and a stick for a jump. Fun and confidence building.

Read all you can about dog training, realise much of it seems contradictory but that's because different things work with different dogs at different times. If you know lots of bits of stuff you can always come up with something to try. If you have face book friend "creature teacher" and "in line K9" are great resources.

Karen Overall has a free online training program you do inside over a month mostly doing stays etc. We took about two months but that's ok. It gave us something to do and we took it out and about. Yes I am the crazy lady dancing and clapping around her crazy dog.

Do positive things with your dog, I joined the photo forum and took a picture every week, it was something he could do well. When everything had turned to rubbish I still got a good photo. Try set her up for something she can do successfully and you can be proud of.

Once you have a good trainer then stick like glue. I recently had an emergency trip away and it was such a relief knowing I had the backup of a good kennel and great trainer that knew him.

Mostly don't panic, as said above its a slow process and one that can't be rushed. You take lots of little steps and then one day you realise its working but often in very little increments. You will learn a lot not just about your dog but about yourself.

[Badbee]

I was thinking of you whilst walking this morning. I too question my ability to be Jakes human, the bottom line is there is no right human, there is just you.

When I got Jake I was feeling a bit good about myself, I had saved the dog that no one wanted, yea he had a bad temperament test but he seemed nice enough to me, I 've had animals of all sorts and I was pretty sure I could turn him around. And then I realised I was leashed to 26kg of bat Cr@p crazy that I had no idea how to handle. I was completely overwhelmed and the first two behaviourists I saw took one look and said PTS. There are still many bad days and I would not take on an anxious dog again but you will adjust and many of your simple achievements will be very joyous. As I'm typing this in the garden my neighbours dog has just started barking and between keystrokes I'm dishing out peanut butter, you adjust. The following things would be what has worked for me.

Read the great dane website section on dealing with separation anxiety, it gives you great insight into how to live with an anxious dog ( good for people too). Particularly important for me was to go check what he's barking at and thank him for telling me but now as the leader I have decided that we are ok with that thing and we are leaving. Thank your dog and be responsive to their often incorrect but honest attempts to communicate.

Try 101 things to do with a box. you buy a clicker for about $5 and get a free cardboard box and hey presto you get hours of fun. This was a huge confidence and communication boost for Jake. He opened up and started offering behaviours. On days I couldn't face going out this was a fun training session. you can later use your clicker out and about and darn if I'd only known about it when I had kids they would be trained this way too. I also set up an obstacle course in my garden, cheap tunnel from spotlight, cones to weave between, free ramps from the side of the road and some pot plants and a stick for a jump. Fun and confidence building.

Read all you can about dog training, realise much of it seems contradictory but that's because different things work with different dogs at different times. If you know lots of bits of stuff you can always come up with something to try. If you have face book friend "creature teacher" and "in line K9" are great resources.

Karen Overall has a free online training program you do inside over a month mostly doing stays etc. We took about two months but that's ok. It gave us something to do and we took it out and about. Yes I am the crazy lady dancing and clapping around her crazy dog.

Do positive things with your dog, I joined the photo forum and took a picture every week, it was something he could do well. When everything had turned to rubbish I still got a good photo. Try set her up for something she can do successfully and you can be proud of.

Once you have a good trainer then stick like glue. I recently had an emergency trip away and it was such a relief knowing I had the backup of a good kennel and great trainer that knew him.

Mostly don't panic, as said above its a slow process and one that can't be rushed. You take lots of little steps and then one day you realise its working but often in very little increments. You will learn a lot not just about your dog but about yourself.

Awesome advice I emailed the Delta trainer I have for her obedience class over the weekend and she responded immediately with lots of similar advice to what was given here by some People. She has seen Abby first hand and is aware of her anxiety. She suggested among others thing rescue remedy. As it happens I had some in the house so this morning so before taking Abby to her grooming session I gave her some. Taking her there has always been stressful for her , today was her third time. The groomer Susi said she seemed more settled today, the last time she was so distressed she peed while bring held by the groomer who is a lovely young woman. So that is something I am going to keep on hand.

At the moment she is sitting beside me on the lounge listening to music and relaxing. My trainer also suggested desensitising her by giving her treats when strangers come to the house and getting my sins to feed her treats when they come too., another thing I will try. Our grandsons 2 boisterous 8 and 9 year olds came over today for a few hours and I got them to sit on the floor and give her treats for sitting and staying. They enjoyed it and she dud too. Small steps. Once again thank you, you have also had your journey, I agree going through this process makes you see life differently.

[Salukifan]

Awesome advice I emailed the Delta trainer I have for her obedience class over the weekend and she responded immediately with lots of similar advice to what was given here by some People. She has seen Abby first hand and is aware of her anxiety. She suggested among others thing rescue remedy. As it happens I had some in the house so this morning so before taking Abby to her grooming session I gave her some. Taking her there has always been stressful for her , today was her third time. The groomer Susi said she seemed more settled today, the last time she was so distressed she peed while bring held by the groomer who is a lovely young woman. So that is something I am going to keep on hand.

At the moment she is sitting beside me on the lounge listening to music and relaxing. My trainer also suggested desensitising her by giving her treats when strangers come to the house and getting my sins to feed her treats when they come too., another thing I will try. Our grandsons 2 boisterous 8 and 9 year olds came over today for a few hours and I got them to sit on the floor and give her treats for sitting and staying. They enjoyed it and she dud too. Small steps. Once again thank you, you have also had your journey, I agree going through this process makes you see life differently.

Until you understand why your dog is behaving this way, you risk a bite incident. I would await the views of an experienced behaviourist before embarking on any course of behaviour modification. Avoidance of stressors is the only safe way to deal with this until you understand what the issue is.

[Badbee]

An update on Abby. We have an appointment to see Steve Courtney in about 6 weeks. Unfortunately, Abby's growling and reactivity has increased over the last few weeks and this afternoon we took her to the vet to see if there was anything he could suggest. He commented that she did appear to be more anxious and fearful than the last time he saw her. While we were sitting in the waiting room, a woman came in and Abby's immediate reaction was to growl and bark madly at her. The vet has suggested an Adaptil collar to begin with, he suggested it may help her with her anxiety. It's worth a try because at this stage we don't have any other alternatives. It is so sad seeing her like this, she as an anxious little thing when we got her and that anxiety has increased during the 4/5 months she has been with us.

[Brandiandwe]

I can't comment on much here, but I've had an Adaptil collar on Brandi for the past few weeks while working on anxiety and SA issues. It seems to gave helped get her and keep her in a less stressed, more trainable state which has been great. She has chilled out a lot. It will come off in a weeks time and then we'll see if the training has paid off. So it might be worth a try.

[ness]

Badbee - hopefully Steve can help you but like others have already mentioned in the meantime try and manage and avoid any chances Abby has to demonstrate or rehearse any of that reactivity. If that means having her on "house arrest" and avoiding all unnecessary outings so be it. I certainly would be mindful of attempting anything in the way of desensitizing if you don't know what your doing. All the best and wish you every success in overcoming the problem.

[hankdog]

Controversial but actually your vet can start her on meds for her anxiety. You may want to wait until after your visit with Steve. Hang in there, maybe just wrap her in cotton wool for a while.

[Salukifan]

Controversial but actually your vet can start her on meds for her anxiety. You may want to wait until after your visit with Steve. Hang in there, maybe just wrap her in cotton wool for a while.

While you're at the vet, get her thyroid levels checked.

[Badbee]

Controversial but actually your vet can start her on meds for her anxiety. You may want to wait until after your visit with Steve. Hang in there, maybe just wrap her in cotton wool for a while.

We are going to do that until we see Steve, interestingly our son who is a big man and grandson came to visit this morning and she didn't growl at him, she let him touch her and sat next to our grandson on the lounge, she never did that, so perhaps the Adaptil collar is slowly working, is that too soon? I wonder.

[Brandiandwe]

We noticed a difference within 12 hours after putting the collar on. It starts releasing pheromones as soon as it warms up. But all it did was take the edge off and keep Brandi in a less aroused state so we could train and she could learn.

[Badbee]

We noticed a difference within 12 hours after putting the collar on. It starts releasing pheromones as soon as it warms up. But all it did was take the edge off and keep Brandi in a less aroused state so we could train and she could learn.

Good to hear that someone else saw a difference so quickly. What type of training do you mean?

[raineth]

If the collar helps her a bit that is good. Seriously though, as others have said the most important thing you can do until you see Steve is to not put her in those situations where she may react. If you have visitors out her in another room or a crate if you have one.

If you want to still take her for walks, make sure to do it when few people are around, and when you see people cross the street.

There are two reasons it is very important to avoid confronting her with the things that worry her until you see Steve.

The first is that every time she has an aggressive response she is making that behaviour more ingrained. It is like practicing. If you practice anything, you get better at it, right? She is practicing being aggressive, more practice will only make her better at responding to things that worry her with aggressive behaviour.

Second, when she growls, it is a warning that she may bite, and it's not nice for people to be bitten by your dog. Also if she bites, she will probably learn it was a very effective thing to do, and will be more likely to do it again when she is afraid, and you will have an even bigger problem on your hands.

It is so good that you are doing something to help her by going to see Steve. He will be able to guide you on how exactly to help her, you just need to wait it out at the moment. I wish you and her a lot of success :)

[Brandiandwe]

I've done a lot of alone training with Boo, so coming and going over and over again for lengthening periods of time, rewarding calmer behaviour upon return. Then a lot of work on socializing with other dogs when possible. The look at me game with cats and small dogs and distracting her when she starts to fixate. Her anxiety levels have dropped so she's almost stopped peeing inside (although a change of diet has also contributed). She's become a lot less pushy with the others, and has accepted her position under the others, which she's much happier about.

Most of these issues we've worked on since we got her, and all of them stem from fear - she's a very soft dog. But the collar really helped in dropping her down a bit, giving her a chance to learn a better way of being. The collar comes off in a week and then we'll see. But for now, I think it's given us a good chance to work through a few issues. I'm also considering a diffuser for our thunder phobic Hermon.

[Badbee]

I've done a lot of alone training with Boo, so coming and going over and over again for lengthening periods of time, rewarding calmer behaviour upon return. Then a lot of work on socializing with other dogs when possible. The look at me game with cats and small dogs and distracting her when she starts to fixate. Her anxiety levels have dropped so she's almost stopped peeing inside (although a change of diet has also contributed). She's become a lot less pushy with the others, and has accepted her position under the others, which she's much happier about.

Most of these issues we've worked on since we got her, and all of them stem from fear - she's a very soft dog. But the collar really helped in dropping her down a bit, giving her a chance to learn a better way of being. The collar comes off in a week and then we'll see. But for now, I think it's given us a good chance to work through a few issues. I'm also considering a diffuser for our thunder phobic Hermon.

Thanks for the feedback, I have been trying to do sone calming exercises I saw by kokopup on YouTube and have been a little more successful with that this afternoon. Will continue trying what I can.

[Badbee]

Hi just a quick update on Abby. The Adaptil collar seems to have toned down her reactions and behaviour. Today when we went for a walk there were more dogs than normal and while she reacted her reaction wasn't as strong as previously. Bec from pro9 also suggested I try training the behaviour interrupter and I have started that which she loves and responds to really well. Small steps until we see Steve in June.

[megan_]

Controversial but actually your vet can start her on meds for her anxiety. You may want to wait until after your visit with Steve. Hang in there, maybe just wrap her in cotton wool for a while.

We are going to do that until we see Steve, interestingly our son who is a big man and grandson came to visit this morning and she didn't growl at him, she let him touch her and sat next to our grandson on the lounge, she never did that, so perhaps the Adaptil collar is slowly working, is that too soon? I wonder.

She also might have been so scared of a big bloke so she just submitted - which isn't a good thing. If she was my dog, I would do everything to avoid contact with triggers until you see Steve.

My Lucy used to avoid strangers but was never aggressive, so I let her infect with them and, in hindsight, forced her to interact when not comfortable . Then one day, seemingly out of the blue, she had a red hit go at someone. She soon learnt that by acting aggressively she could get those nasty people to leave her alone. It has been years of hard work and management to undo that lesson.

[raineth]

I really, really think the best thing you can do at this stage (before you get to see Steve) is to avoid putting her in a situation where she will display behaviour you don't want.

There is no shame in crossing the road, or turning back and going a different way when you see a dog ahead :)

Every time she does that behaviour it will get more ingrained and make your job a lot harder.