Anxiety in public, reactivness and lunging...

[corgipower]

figured i'd add my 2 cents to the topic, because i have been dealing with something similar in my girl. she's 7 month, and there is no telling what will set her off.

a squirrel on the other side of the yard, a trash can (which she has walked past a million times, but this time it is scary, the trees blowing in the wind (yea, she has sat on the floor, looking out a 3rd floor window, barking and growling -- she can't even see the ground below from where she is sitting, she can see the tree), other dogs, other people.

and when she locks on to something and has her anxiety and reactive episodes, she doesn't even register that i am there. if she can't get into her lunging and barking frenzy, she will start rolling, sniffing, plucking grass, biting me -- all from the anxiety.

having tried a few things to help her through this, with no indication of it working, what i do now is i sit down with her, and while she is looking around, i noticed that she gets very still and very stiff. so i started massaging her neck and rubbing her chest and shoulders. after a few minutes, she started looking at me and she would be so much more relaxed through her body as she looked at me, and she would sniff me and interact with me.

 

[Labra]

showdawgz -- the person who doesn't have show dogs and hates showing. Because that makes so much sense.

The best thing to do is ignore the holier than thous. They thrive on attention.

 

[smkie]

i have posted this about a zillion times but i will do it one more time because i have seen it work wonders not only in my own animals but others as well.

www.lindatellingtonjones.com Until you have tried it you just don't know.
Here the intro



The TTouch is done on the entire body, and each circular TTouch is complete within itself. Therefore it is not necessary to understand anatomy to be successful in speeding up the healing of injuries or ailments, or changing undesirable habits or behavior.

 

[Whisper]

I do TTouch sometimes, smkie. I have to find her books again.

 

[showdawgz]

I'm holier than thou?! *happy dance* Thats so cool . Your post is the only one that DOES makes sense .

 

[Melissa_W]

I recommend the book Control Unleashed by Leslie McDevitt. It is ostensibly an agility book, but the exercises can be applied in any situation.

http://www.dogwise.com/ItemDetails.cfm?ID=DTB943

 

[houndlove]

Oh oh she's actually coming here to give a seminar and I think there are still audit slots left! I need to look in to that when I go to class Monday.

 

[saveadog]

He was looking at my face and i was saying your fine..your just fine..its' ok...stay stay stay. and all the fear drained away. His eyes locked on mine, his mouth opened a little and he began to relax. Sounded like the world was coming to an end right behind him and he no longer worried about it. From that point on he trusted ME to let him know that nothing bad was going to happen no matter what it sounded like.

You made me cry!!! - I just LOVE stories like thisopcorn:

Congrats to you on developing such a true bond with your dog

 

[smkie]

thank you it really worked for us. WE went to a metal salvage yard last week to drop off some skillets and a bag of cans for my mama. Where i go, Victor goes. I did watch the ground careful where we stepped so he wouldn't get anything in his pads. WOw you talk about a loud noisy place to walk into with a dog, yet he was ok. Our session had long term good effects, he didn't even rubberneck, and all the workers there came to say hey and commented on his good behavior. I was terribly proud of him.