Comments on: Eli update

By: What Is The Best Medication To Treat Panic Attacks

What Is The Best Medication To Treat Panic Attacks — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 21:26:59 +0000

What Is The Best Medication To Treat Panic Attacks

I don’t mean to be too in your face, but I’m not sure I agree with this. Anyhow, thanks for sharing and I think I’ll come to this blog more often.

By: Dog Name

Dog Name — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 06:29:41 +0000

Dog Name

thanks for your info. whehe

By: Regina

Regina — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 03:02:29 +0000

I hope you see this even though the post is a few days old.

If you can find someone who does “Healing Touch” for animals in your area, it’s worth the expense. A few ‘treatments” from someone experienced in anxiety issues can make a big difference.

Also, “Rescue Remedy” which you can get in any all-natural store, seems to help some pets as well.

Good luck with your new man. He’s a love.

By: Amy

Amy — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 15:03:33 +0000

We have a dog with separation anxiety too, he runs in circles and barks whenver we get near the door, or put on our jackets or even get our keys out. I have talked to a dog trainer and was told to give him something to chew on whenver we leave to distract him. We haven’t done it. don’t know why. I kind of forgot about it until this post. When we had two dogs, it was no better. Also instead of crating Eli when you go out you could just try to gate him in a safe spot. we did that with Farley cause she couldn’t be trusted when left alone. She and Jango would be behind the baby gate by the back door. Lots of room for both of them and not entirely closed in but could not get into trouble. I put them together so Jango wouldn’t taunt her on the other side. cause he is an evil sort. Good luck, I think he just needs lots of love and sounds like he is in the perfetct home.

By: dregina

dregina — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 17:31:12 +0000

I had a hound I rescued who had a similar history to Eli – bone thin when we got her, dreadfully timid, especially of men, and generally freaked out by the world at large. She died two years ago, and we still sit around and tell Sarah stories and laugh. The suggestions above are by and large excellent. I know with Sarah it helped for us not to make a huge deal or fuss about comings or goings or anything she was frightened of. They definitely look to the leader of their pack to set the tone for everyone, so if we just calmly pet her, gave her a treat, and left as though it was no big thing, she did better than if we got all stressed out and anxious or focused a lot on her before leaving. The short trips are a good idea too, as are the chewies/stuffies – Melissa’s tips in general are real close to what we did with Sarah. Nothing works so well as time spent with loving humans. Sarah got over so many of her huge fears in the time we got to have her. It was humbling and even inspiring to eventually watch her walk up to strange men, or calmly step aside for a bicycle, things that gave her huge, shaking panic attacks when we first got her.
Schmeena will help, too.
Eli won the dog jackpot! I’m happy for him.

By: anna

anna — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 17:03:57 +0000

Exercise, exercise, exercise. Maybe with a backpack to make his little shepherd-soul feel useful.

By: Melissa

Melissa — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 15:25:30 +0000

He is a beautiful dog Jenn. I’m glad that Nina and Eli are becoming friends. It looks like you have some great suggestions for the separation anxiety. Who knew there were so many options!

By: Karen

Karen — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 11:34:34 +0000

Hi Jenn

We had a lovely rescue German Shepherd cross many years ago. She had major separation anxiety issues, and could become very hysterical and destructive when left.
In desperation, we read many books and consulted FIVE behaviorists (she had other, more serious mental issues too). It’s been seven years since she died and I still miss her enormously.

We managed to control her anxiety using a variety of several different methods. It took a while, and it was hard work, but it was also nice to be able to leave the house once in a while:

1. Always be the head of the pack and don’t give in to Eli’s demands for attention every time (i.e. ignore him until he goes away, then call him back to make a fuss of him).

2. Restrict the dogs access to certain rooms, so Eli gets used to you being around, but is not able to stick to you like glue every minute you are in the house.

3. Ignore him completely when you return home, until he is completely calm. Don’t make a fuss of him for quite a while before you leave the house.

4. Leave the house initially for very short periods, and work up gradually.

5. This one can mis-fire if done incorrectly, as it can be perceived by the dog as a reward for his anxious behaviour. For this to work, the dog has to be so worked up about the food that you leaving becomes secondary:
Teach him to “leave it” or “wait” for food until you say “take it” (or some such command) and use this trick when you leave the house (you say “take it” as you close the door). Leave food that takes forever to eat, or extract. Buster Cubes are trickier than Kongs to get food out of, and are great mental stimulation. I used to smear Marmite (I’m British, I don’t know what the American equivalent is, but it’s strong smelling, strong tasting, very sticky and hard to lick off in a hurry) on hard smoked bones and leave them dotted around the kitchen. It took forever to rub it into the bones, and the dog would get hungrier and more food-focused the longer I took. In the end you could feel the vibes “dude, just hurry up and LEAVE so I can get to those bones”.

6. Seek out the opinion of an accredited behaviorist, or at least read some books by behaviorists that use positive reinforcement methods. Dogs do not think like people, and it’s very useful to gain some insight into the way their minds work, to enable you to help them most effectively.

I found these author-trainer/behaviorists very helpful:
John Fisher for ‘Think Dog’ and ‘Why Does My Dog…?’
Bruce Fogle for ‘The Dog’s Mind’
Gwen Bailey for her book ‘Perfect Puppy’, which is useful for owners of dogs of any age,
and also John Rogerson.

Good luck

By: Heather

Heather — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 01:00:44 +0000

He might always have some separation anxiety. I’ll walk you through the DTs if you want. Most dogs who come with separation anxiety and “velcro dog” behavior will retain some of that. The main thing is to keep enforcing your “happy Alpha” status (thus making him feel more secrure, and lots of patience. I’ll send you an email tomorrow outling some optios for de-sensitivity training.
One of my current dogs had such severe sep. anx. that she actually jumped out a window to get to us when we were leaving her one day.
As my youngest likes to say, “it could be worse, you could live here.”
Heather

By: amy holiday

amy holiday — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 05:08:23 +0000

I grew up with a German Shepherd who had been trained to attack. She had been chained all day and was viicious. Shannon was a scary dog when we got her, but it wasn’t long before the cat was sleeping on her back by the fire. She was a farm dog, and when my dad took her to the tobacco market, she rode in the back of the truck (horrifying!) and with a “stay” command, she jumped down into the shade under the truck and waited for several hours untll my dad came back to give her another command. Same thing at the vet’s office,. My dad loved to show her off – she was the most affectionate, obedient dog ever, and never wore a leash. We moved to the city eventually, and my grandparents took care of her, making her scrambled eggs every morning. She is the dog I imagine when I think of having dogs again. I think your sweet dog just needs time to understand that he is with you to stay. No one believed that Shannon could become so docile, and if we weren’t so “country” I’m sure we would’ve heard a lot more criticism of my parent’s decision to keep her. I’m glad they did.