There's no behavioral vet where I live and I've tried for almost a year to drive to see the nearest one (nearly six hours away), so I finally found one that does consults by phone and we did that yesterday (day 1).
He has several parts to the plan that I'll get into more depth on, but I think I'll startby using this as a diary of sorts for our progress.
Day 1 - phone consult with vet for about 90 minutes (this is our second call) - he says she likely has anxiety which leads her to overreact and suggests behavior modification with medication (fluoxetene, generic Prozac). He also said that the regular vet says she's no longer on exercise restriction (she has been recovering from heartworm treatment).
So, I came home and I walked my dog for the first time in almost two months and it was glorious. We went to a quiet university campus after dark (no squirrels) and she was alert to people but it's funny how varied that is. To a police officer, she wagged her tail and cheerfully pranced toward him. To people inside a building she stopped to stare as if to say: hey, notice me! To people walking past us who looked at her and said she's cute, she tried to jump on them.
Things were fine until we went behind a building and she was straining to see something - it looked like kids with a flashlight. She kept straining and then a dog there was straining to get to her and she had a little meltdown. But just a little one. She kept walking and took a treat once we were around the corner.
The vet says 5-10 minute walks, more for mental stimulation than physical, but I like walking my dog and we'll go further.
Day 2
No morning walk because I overslept and Ziggy no longer wakes me up in the mornings. She was staring at me a lot, sitting nearby and staring, like unsure what to do. The vet says not to comfort anxiety but if she seems unsure, I like to invite her to be pet.
Usually I give her chicken and kibble in the morning when I leave and she happily gobbles it up, but today she tried to leave with me. Poor baby, you don't want to go to my boring office without comfy couches.
Got home late and she was still on point with being very mindful and attentive. I ate something and she looked at her empty bowl - the vet said she needs to get on a regular feeding schedule. I always like how when i'm eating, she likes to eat at the same time instead of beg from me. But we'll give this a go. She was just disoriented because there was no food in her bowl.
We did a little training with sit, roll over, wait, "find it" (starting with dropping a kibble, making her wait, and then telling her to "find it" when I'm pointing at it - we'll expand from there). Very on point.
I changed my clothes for going for a walk and she got super worked up - she will take running leaps at the front door to bounce off it. Literally. So I had her sit on her mat while I put on my shoes and her harness - she would get off the mat and I'd just put her back on it with a command and tell her she's good.
And off we went - we are trying to get better about the stairs with her not pulling me at all because they can be slippery, and she was better, but once we got on the ground she was kinda crazy with pulling a lot so I shifted the leash from the back of the freedom harness to the front, which helped. She pooped within two blocks, and that usually takes the edge off the pulling.
We traced our old steps, where we used to walk, and her favorite dog friend's mom was coming out to check the mail. They haven't moved away yet, which is great news for us. He wasn't outside but maybe tomorrow morning. Ziggy was over the moon to approach his yard, so very happy to see her friend but kept walking when he wasn't there.
She was watchful of people and situations throughout the walk but if she lingered too long I'd get her attention, treat her, and we'd walk along. At one point we passed a yard that we both always forget has a small dog in a kennel on a backporch - the dog barked and it started Ziggy so she prance lunged toward it and barked. I said, "Hey, it's all good," and kept walking and she barked again but then was fine to keep walking and seemed unstressed. She did do a long stop and stare at the yard where there are usually three large dogs with big barks, as well as a house where she once saw two labs on a top floor. Just looking carefully, being on guard.
And now we're home and she just seems kind of out of sorts. Too mellow, too cautious. She lays on the couch without moving, not sleeping, eyes open, but just looking off into space. When she was eating, it sounded like she was vomiting or trying to vomit - which could be heartworm pieces still, or who knows what.
She just doesn't seem herself. Her spark is muted. Maybe she's just coming down from the rush of jumping people on Monday eve. Or otherwise under the weather. And we haven't even started the Prozac.
I love Ziggy's spark, her verve, her enthusiasm.
We just something the behavioral vet suggested - I put her up in a room then walked to the front door, opened it, rang the doorbell, pretended to have a conversation etc., then let Z. out on leash to walk around the pretend person. It AMPED HER UP. When I gave her treats she was snatching them from me roughly, a sign of her being stressed out.
But hey, it woke her up.
On top of the two walks (5-10 minutes each, though we will usually go considerably further - it's not even worth putting on my shoes for ten minutes), about ten minutes of training per day. A big one is distracting from triggers - "response substitution." We did that a bit yesterday - when she would bark out the window, I'd call her, treat her for coming, and repeat. The behavioral vet says that when a dog is anxious, comforting doesn't help improve the response but food does.
The thing about the behavioral vet is: I know these things. I've read a dozen books, dozens of websites, watched lots of videos with experts. I know these things, but I haven't been really consistent enough once we reach a plateau. So, Ziggy doesn't usually react to people anymore, though she used to, because we worked on it. Because we worked on it, dogs at a distance who aren't paying her mind are able to be ignored. Because we worked on it A LOT, Ziggy never jumps on me (unless we're goofing around and dancing without me communicating a better move for her). She doesn't mouth so much, all that is SO MUCH BETTER. And we get to a place where things are god and I sluff off. So hopefully working with a vet with whom I have contracted for three months of support will keep me in line. I know that I'd really rather not have Ziggy on Prozac for the rest of her life, so let's give this a running shot by focusing diligently on the behavioral modification at the same time.
I want to be able to have people over without Ziggy mauling them. I want to have her make dog friends without me worrying about their introductions. I want to take her out to national forest land off-leash and if we run into a group of other people and dogs to have it not be a big deal. I want to travel with her and stop to visit friends and have her be well-behaved with new people and dogs in other houses and situations. I want to do agility or some other such dog sport with her.
When the regular vet called today to talk about the fluoxetine and Ziggy's treatment plan, he kept talking about Ziggy not getting a police record. But I don't think Ziggy is aggressive - she could be if I don't work on it, but she's not a mean dog who wants to attack. Now, her barks at dogs walking past may indicate otherwise because most dogs don't want to walk anywhere near our house - I've seen dogs freeze, puzzled and nervous, then pull to get away. Ziggy is a modern-day Boo Radley.
But as both vets have said - Ziggy is doing her job. Her job is protect herself, the home, and me. And she does it well (though that whole letting strangers in the house at 2 am and sit upon command and be calm and not tell me this is happening? STILL MAKES NO SENSE).
Ziggy is unpredictable but I am on duty all the time. I'm always scanning the environment, always monitoring her behavior and reactions. and maybe that's not enjoyable but it is what it is. I'm a major helicopter parent. I hover. I intervene. And I will be eternally grateful to her friend Roux's parents for telling me I'm too much and that they can handle Ziggy. And they do. They are wonderful friends for watching her - and all the effort they had to make to convince me that they could handle her. She loves them.
She is unpredictable but I just don't think that she's aggressive. I think that if she is bitten that she will bite back, I know that she has lousy manners ... but these things make her my little soulmate. She lunges at people to jump on them and to lick their faces with wildly joyful abandon - that's not aggression, that's belligerence. And I want her to stop because it's not safe for her to act like that.
The behavioral vet keeps saying that as dogs get older that they are less interested in meeting a lot of new dogs, but I don't think Ziggy is to that stage. He also said that hunting/herding dogs like her - when faced with a threat they run toward it. I do think that's correct. She does not shirk, she does not shy away - she faces any danger with tail held high.
Hey, she's my pup. We're both of us not very bright about things like that. We are chargers. And in a dangerous situation, frankly there are few beings that I would shout "cover me!" and expect to be fully covered like I can with Ziggy. She is so hypervigilant and constantly scanning for danger, ready to leap into any fray.
She's asleep and I'm thinking that I may have given her some bad chicken because I'm a horrible person. Yikes.
I order some window film to block her view through the windows. Sigh. I want her to be sane.
He has several parts to the plan that I'll get into more depth on, but I think I'll startby using this as a diary of sorts for our progress.
Day 1 - phone consult with vet for about 90 minutes (this is our second call) - he says she likely has anxiety which leads her to overreact and suggests behavior modification with medication (fluoxetene, generic Prozac). He also said that the regular vet says she's no longer on exercise restriction (she has been recovering from heartworm treatment).
So, I came home and I walked my dog for the first time in almost two months and it was glorious. We went to a quiet university campus after dark (no squirrels) and she was alert to people but it's funny how varied that is. To a police officer, she wagged her tail and cheerfully pranced toward him. To people inside a building she stopped to stare as if to say: hey, notice me! To people walking past us who looked at her and said she's cute, she tried to jump on them.
Things were fine until we went behind a building and she was straining to see something - it looked like kids with a flashlight. She kept straining and then a dog there was straining to get to her and she had a little meltdown. But just a little one. She kept walking and took a treat once we were around the corner.
The vet says 5-10 minute walks, more for mental stimulation than physical, but I like walking my dog and we'll go further.
Day 2
No morning walk because I overslept and Ziggy no longer wakes me up in the mornings. She was staring at me a lot, sitting nearby and staring, like unsure what to do. The vet says not to comfort anxiety but if she seems unsure, I like to invite her to be pet.
Usually I give her chicken and kibble in the morning when I leave and she happily gobbles it up, but today she tried to leave with me. Poor baby, you don't want to go to my boring office without comfy couches.
Got home late and she was still on point with being very mindful and attentive. I ate something and she looked at her empty bowl - the vet said she needs to get on a regular feeding schedule. I always like how when i'm eating, she likes to eat at the same time instead of beg from me. But we'll give this a go. She was just disoriented because there was no food in her bowl.
We did a little training with sit, roll over, wait, "find it" (starting with dropping a kibble, making her wait, and then telling her to "find it" when I'm pointing at it - we'll expand from there). Very on point.
I changed my clothes for going for a walk and she got super worked up - she will take running leaps at the front door to bounce off it. Literally. So I had her sit on her mat while I put on my shoes and her harness - she would get off the mat and I'd just put her back on it with a command and tell her she's good.
And off we went - we are trying to get better about the stairs with her not pulling me at all because they can be slippery, and she was better, but once we got on the ground she was kinda crazy with pulling a lot so I shifted the leash from the back of the freedom harness to the front, which helped. She pooped within two blocks, and that usually takes the edge off the pulling.
We traced our old steps, where we used to walk, and her favorite dog friend's mom was coming out to check the mail. They haven't moved away yet, which is great news for us. He wasn't outside but maybe tomorrow morning. Ziggy was over the moon to approach his yard, so very happy to see her friend but kept walking when he wasn't there.
She was watchful of people and situations throughout the walk but if she lingered too long I'd get her attention, treat her, and we'd walk along. At one point we passed a yard that we both always forget has a small dog in a kennel on a backporch - the dog barked and it started Ziggy so she prance lunged toward it and barked. I said, "Hey, it's all good," and kept walking and she barked again but then was fine to keep walking and seemed unstressed. She did do a long stop and stare at the yard where there are usually three large dogs with big barks, as well as a house where she once saw two labs on a top floor. Just looking carefully, being on guard.
And now we're home and she just seems kind of out of sorts. Too mellow, too cautious. She lays on the couch without moving, not sleeping, eyes open, but just looking off into space. When she was eating, it sounded like she was vomiting or trying to vomit - which could be heartworm pieces still, or who knows what.
She just doesn't seem herself. Her spark is muted. Maybe she's just coming down from the rush of jumping people on Monday eve. Or otherwise under the weather. And we haven't even started the Prozac.
I love Ziggy's spark, her verve, her enthusiasm.
We just something the behavioral vet suggested - I put her up in a room then walked to the front door, opened it, rang the doorbell, pretended to have a conversation etc., then let Z. out on leash to walk around the pretend person. It AMPED HER UP. When I gave her treats she was snatching them from me roughly, a sign of her being stressed out.
But hey, it woke her up.
On top of the two walks (5-10 minutes each, though we will usually go considerably further - it's not even worth putting on my shoes for ten minutes), about ten minutes of training per day. A big one is distracting from triggers - "response substitution." We did that a bit yesterday - when she would bark out the window, I'd call her, treat her for coming, and repeat. The behavioral vet says that when a dog is anxious, comforting doesn't help improve the response but food does.
The thing about the behavioral vet is: I know these things. I've read a dozen books, dozens of websites, watched lots of videos with experts. I know these things, but I haven't been really consistent enough once we reach a plateau. So, Ziggy doesn't usually react to people anymore, though she used to, because we worked on it. Because we worked on it, dogs at a distance who aren't paying her mind are able to be ignored. Because we worked on it A LOT, Ziggy never jumps on me (unless we're goofing around and dancing without me communicating a better move for her). She doesn't mouth so much, all that is SO MUCH BETTER. And we get to a place where things are god and I sluff off. So hopefully working with a vet with whom I have contracted for three months of support will keep me in line. I know that I'd really rather not have Ziggy on Prozac for the rest of her life, so let's give this a running shot by focusing diligently on the behavioral modification at the same time.
I want to be able to have people over without Ziggy mauling them. I want to have her make dog friends without me worrying about their introductions. I want to take her out to national forest land off-leash and if we run into a group of other people and dogs to have it not be a big deal. I want to travel with her and stop to visit friends and have her be well-behaved with new people and dogs in other houses and situations. I want to do agility or some other such dog sport with her.
When the regular vet called today to talk about the fluoxetine and Ziggy's treatment plan, he kept talking about Ziggy not getting a police record. But I don't think Ziggy is aggressive - she could be if I don't work on it, but she's not a mean dog who wants to attack. Now, her barks at dogs walking past may indicate otherwise because most dogs don't want to walk anywhere near our house - I've seen dogs freeze, puzzled and nervous, then pull to get away. Ziggy is a modern-day Boo Radley.
But as both vets have said - Ziggy is doing her job. Her job is protect herself, the home, and me. And she does it well (though that whole letting strangers in the house at 2 am and sit upon command and be calm and not tell me this is happening? STILL MAKES NO SENSE).
Ziggy is unpredictable but I am on duty all the time. I'm always scanning the environment, always monitoring her behavior and reactions. and maybe that's not enjoyable but it is what it is. I'm a major helicopter parent. I hover. I intervene. And I will be eternally grateful to her friend Roux's parents for telling me I'm too much and that they can handle Ziggy. And they do. They are wonderful friends for watching her - and all the effort they had to make to convince me that they could handle her. She loves them.
She is unpredictable but I just don't think that she's aggressive. I think that if she is bitten that she will bite back, I know that she has lousy manners ... but these things make her my little soulmate. She lunges at people to jump on them and to lick their faces with wildly joyful abandon - that's not aggression, that's belligerence. And I want her to stop because it's not safe for her to act like that.
The behavioral vet keeps saying that as dogs get older that they are less interested in meeting a lot of new dogs, but I don't think Ziggy is to that stage. He also said that hunting/herding dogs like her - when faced with a threat they run toward it. I do think that's correct. She does not shirk, she does not shy away - she faces any danger with tail held high.
Hey, she's my pup. We're both of us not very bright about things like that. We are chargers. And in a dangerous situation, frankly there are few beings that I would shout "cover me!" and expect to be fully covered like I can with Ziggy. She is so hypervigilant and constantly scanning for danger, ready to leap into any fray.
She's asleep and I'm thinking that I may have given her some bad chicken because I'm a horrible person. Yikes.
I order some window film to block her view through the windows. Sigh. I want her to be sane.
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