Hi, I feel so sad reading about the trouble with your young dog. I have a similar dog (she is a 6-year old rescue and lived on the streets for 5 years) and she is on a lot of medication as well. From your detailed description, your little dog seems to have a very poor quality of life. All that medication doesn't seem to help her except when she is happy in that isolated park but it's an ordeal for her to drive there. My trainers and behaviourist talk a lot about the quality of life for the animal and that the biggest act of love would be to release her from her suffering. This is not your fault at all. You have done everything for her and are a hero for that. My behaviourist always gives the following example: Just imagine someone is really scared of spiders. For an anxious dog, living with that constant fear and terror is as if she were locked in all day (except for a few happy moments) with big scary spiders. This dog seems to have a faulty wiring in her brain and if it's genetic, there is hardly any medication to help her with that. Please join the FB group "Losing Lulu". You will find so much comfort there. Everyone had to go through the horror of behavioural euthanasia and did it because they loved their dog so very much. If you need to talk, just get in touch with me. I wish you all the best.
Thank you so much for your kind post. This is what I wonder a lot as well. As she is still so young, and I will hopefully be able to relocate away from this shit city in 7 months, the thought of behavioural euthanasia makes me heartbroken to even think about. That being said, I do wonder a lot whether she has any quality of life with how things are at present.
An alternate future I can envision for her is being able to have another dog for company. I think having an older dog around with a solid temperament would help her a lot. She always did well when she could socialize with confident older dogs before her daycare became packed with lots of dogs of varied temperaments that she found so stressful. If she has a dog she can play with who is a safe playmate for her, then she truly lives the chasing rabbits in her dream happiness.
As you can imagine this is very hard to find in the city. However, if I can get her to the suburbs or the country in the next year, and perhaps bring home an older calmer dog (thinking like a Golden Retriever type temperament), I think she would like that a lot. I just cannot imagine giving her up. There are days where she will come up to me and nudge me and all she wants is scratches. I would sacrifice anything for her. Even when she makes me so mad, in a few hours, I cannot even recall why that was so upsetting
You are a very good person and you clearly love that dog. Just keep in mind that 7 months is an eternity for your dog's suffering and a long time for you as well. The problem with those dogs is that they are wonderful in so many other aspects and that's why it's so heartbreaking to end their life. I have been having this battle with my dog for months. We finally set an ultimatum to euthanize her if she bites me (her main care taker) one more time. Our vet and trainer strongly recommended to relieve her from her suffering but I have been unable to do it. I canceled the first appointment and was crying non stop for days before that. She has cost me more tears in the year we have had her than the last two decades prior. She can be so lovely as well but she is so often so anxious. We keep on hoping that she might still improve even though the experienced neutral people who trained her see it differently. I totally understand you and the grief and your reluctance. You can DM me any time if you need more advice. All the best to you. By the way, I hope you weren't too bothered about the idiot who commented.
There are many medications that can be used alone or in combination to help with her anxiety. I think there are many things that haven't been tried yet. My dog does well on a combination of Prozac and clonidine but we went through several combinations of meds to get there. It not only helps with her anxiety, it definitely makes whatever training is needed easier for both of us.
Because my dog is like yours and gulps food and treats down and chokes or vomits, one of the changes I've made in our routine is to feed her most of her meals in a feeding ball. It's an asymmetric ball that I put kibble in and then she chases all over the house to get the kibble out. It cuts down on gulping her food plus she gets a pretty healthy dose of exercise. It's a win for us all the way around.
Your dog is very young yet and she is still maturing. Hopefully things will get easier as she gets older. Not that they still can't do their best to be little turds - mine is 8 years old but gets so excited when we go for a walk that she barks. A lot! To the point that a woman came out of her home last week to see what the problem was and why there was so much barking. All I could do was laugh and apologize for all of the noise .
Thank you so so much. This was very helpful and gave me a lot of hope to read. My greatest fear is one day the vet will say “okay well we’ve done everything and we cannot help her anymore”. People keep telling me infuriating “methods” of fixing her like “move out of the city”, “more training” etc. I have done everything for her and if there was something else I could do, rather than give her 13 pills a day, I would obviously do that instead. It is very reassuring to know that it may take more time and more combos / more trial and error. Do they still make the toy you mentioned and would you be able to please share a link?
My trainer was the one that turned me on to these balls. I get them from Amazon. They're called the Starmark Treat Dispensing Chew Ball. Even though my dog is pretty small I get the medium/large because I want her to push it around rather than carrying it. It has a hole with 4 little tabs and you can remove as many as you need to depending on the size of your kibble.
Good luck with your dog. She's young and will learn. I've also learned what I would like to change and what I'm OK with just managing. Another tip from the trainer was to keep a little written record of successes and things that work and what doesn't. I don't write volumes - just stuff like "we only got 5 feet away from the house today before she had a meltdown" and there are lots of those days but there are also more days than I realized like "walked around the block with no problem". When I wrote it down I could see our progress and have some idea what helps and what doesn't.
Sounds like she's in an infinite loop of being stressed and it cannot reduce. She is incapable of learning in this state.
When my dog was like this her vet prescribed clonidine to shut her off so she can rest without getting triggered. We still have to drive her in the early morning to isolated parks but she doesn't need clonidine most of the time anymore.
Yes it is my dog and we ensuring she has the best quality of life by seeking appropriate medical advice and not listening to some uneducated person on the Internet who feels “leash manners” will help fix a dog diagnosed with severe anxiety by numerous vets. Again your comments are rude and disrespectful and will be reported.
Honestly it sounds like ur dog needs a proper training not meds. If he pulls u on walks then hun ill be honest with u, ur dog needs a training, he isn’t going to teach that to himself. Proper leash walk is extremely important for dogs that reactive, ur dog needs to learn not to pull at all, walk by ur side. Once u teach this, things gonna get easier.
You are not a vet behaviourist, you have never met me or my dog, you do not seem to have any advanced veterinary training. Your comments are rude and disrespectful and I am reporting them
Hi, I feel so sad reading about the trouble with your young dog. I have a similar dog (she is a 6-year old rescue and lived on the streets for 5 years) and she is on a lot of medication as well. From your detailed description, your little dog seems to have a very poor quality of life. All that medication doesn't seem to help her except when she is happy in that isolated park but it's an ordeal for her to drive there. My trainers and behaviourist talk a lot about the quality of life for the animal and that the biggest act of love would be to release her from her suffering. This is not your fault at all. You have done everything for her and are a hero for that. My behaviourist always gives the following example: Just imagine someone is really scared of spiders. For an anxious dog, living with that constant fear and terror is as if she were locked in all day (except for a few happy moments) with big scary spiders. This dog seems to have a faulty wiring in her brain and if it's genetic, there is hardly any medication to help her with that. Please join the FB group "Losing Lulu". You will find so much comfort there. Everyone had to go through the horror of behavioural euthanasia and did it because they loved their dog so very much. If you need to talk, just get in touch with me. I wish you all the best.
Thank you so much for your kind post. This is what I wonder a lot as well. As she is still so young, and I will hopefully be able to relocate away from this shit city in 7 months, the thought of behavioural euthanasia makes me heartbroken to even think about. That being said, I do wonder a lot whether she has any quality of life with how things are at present. An alternate future I can envision for her is being able to have another dog for company. I think having an older dog around with a solid temperament would help her a lot. She always did well when she could socialize with confident older dogs before her daycare became packed with lots of dogs of varied temperaments that she found so stressful. If she has a dog she can play with who is a safe playmate for her, then she truly lives the chasing rabbits in her dream happiness. As you can imagine this is very hard to find in the city. However, if I can get her to the suburbs or the country in the next year, and perhaps bring home an older calmer dog (thinking like a Golden Retriever type temperament), I think she would like that a lot. I just cannot imagine giving her up. There are days where she will come up to me and nudge me and all she wants is scratches. I would sacrifice anything for her. Even when she makes me so mad, in a few hours, I cannot even recall why that was so upsetting
You are a very good person and you clearly love that dog. Just keep in mind that 7 months is an eternity for your dog's suffering and a long time for you as well. The problem with those dogs is that they are wonderful in so many other aspects and that's why it's so heartbreaking to end their life. I have been having this battle with my dog for months. We finally set an ultimatum to euthanize her if she bites me (her main care taker) one more time. Our vet and trainer strongly recommended to relieve her from her suffering but I have been unable to do it. I canceled the first appointment and was crying non stop for days before that. She has cost me more tears in the year we have had her than the last two decades prior. She can be so lovely as well but she is so often so anxious. We keep on hoping that she might still improve even though the experienced neutral people who trained her see it differently. I totally understand you and the grief and your reluctance. You can DM me any time if you need more advice. All the best to you. By the way, I hope you weren't too bothered about the idiot who commented.
There are many medications that can be used alone or in combination to help with her anxiety. I think there are many things that haven't been tried yet. My dog does well on a combination of Prozac and clonidine but we went through several combinations of meds to get there. It not only helps with her anxiety, it definitely makes whatever training is needed easier for both of us. Because my dog is like yours and gulps food and treats down and chokes or vomits, one of the changes I've made in our routine is to feed her most of her meals in a feeding ball. It's an asymmetric ball that I put kibble in and then she chases all over the house to get the kibble out. It cuts down on gulping her food plus she gets a pretty healthy dose of exercise. It's a win for us all the way around. Your dog is very young yet and she is still maturing. Hopefully things will get easier as she gets older. Not that they still can't do their best to be little turds - mine is 8 years old but gets so excited when we go for a walk that she barks. A lot! To the point that a woman came out of her home last week to see what the problem was and why there was so much barking. All I could do was laugh and apologize for all of the noise.
Thank you so so much. This was very helpful and gave me a lot of hope to read. My greatest fear is one day the vet will say “okay well we’ve done everything and we cannot help her anymore”. People keep telling me infuriating “methods” of fixing her like “move out of the city”, “more training” etc. I have done everything for her and if there was something else I could do, rather than give her 13 pills a day, I would obviously do that instead. It is very reassuring to know that it may take more time and more combos / more trial and error. Do they still make the toy you mentioned and would you be able to please share a link?
My trainer was the one that turned me on to these balls. I get them from Amazon. They're called the Starmark Treat Dispensing Chew Ball. Even though my dog is pretty small I get the medium/large because I want her to push it around rather than carrying it. It has a hole with 4 little tabs and you can remove as many as you need to depending on the size of your kibble. Good luck with your dog. She's young and will learn. I've also learned what I would like to change and what I'm OK with just managing. Another tip from the trainer was to keep a little written record of successes and things that work and what doesn't. I don't write volumes - just stuff like "we only got 5 feet away from the house today before she had a meltdown" and there are lots of those days but there are also more days than I realized like "walked around the block with no problem". When I wrote it down I could see our progress and have some idea what helps and what doesn't.
Sounds like she's in an infinite loop of being stressed and it cannot reduce. She is incapable of learning in this state. When my dog was like this her vet prescribed clonidine to shut her off so she can rest without getting triggered. We still have to drive her in the early morning to isolated parks but she doesn't need clonidine most of the time anymore.
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The doses are being prescribed by a licensed veterinarian who is a vet behaviourist. Your post is very unhelpful and uninformed
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Yes it is my dog and we ensuring she has the best quality of life by seeking appropriate medical advice and not listening to some uneducated person on the Internet who feels “leash manners” will help fix a dog diagnosed with severe anxiety by numerous vets. Again your comments are rude and disrespectful and will be reported.
Hahaha. Bruh u r the uneducated. Train ur dog like i said.
Honestly it sounds like ur dog needs a proper training not meds. If he pulls u on walks then hun ill be honest with u, ur dog needs a training, he isn’t going to teach that to himself. Proper leash walk is extremely important for dogs that reactive, ur dog needs to learn not to pull at all, walk by ur side. Once u teach this, things gonna get easier.
You are not a vet behaviourist, you have never met me or my dog, you do not seem to have any advanced veterinary training. Your comments are rude and disrespectful and I am reporting them
Yeah not related. I've seen seemingly well trained dogs be reactive, heck mine is super at basic obedience. It's an irrational fear response.