I'm going to try and keep this thread going as a journal for my progress with Edgar's environmental and sound sensitivities. I would like to have something that I can look back on when we hit rough spots, so I can see how far he's really gone.
Edgar is an 8 month old boston terrier/cairn terrier mix that I adopted from the local animal shelter. Not much is known about his history, but he did have to have two separate cherry eye surgeries, so he spent a lot of time in a cone when I first adopted him which limited my exposure opportunities (pretty sure I'm just using this as an excuse for my lazy butt).
He has toy drive and food drive and is an absolute joy to train. However, he has severe environmental sensitivities that I wasn't aware of when I adopted him. He shuts down in new buildings, panics and tries to run towards the exit. He refuses food and won't play. On the best sessions he will sit in my lap and won't leave. I started bringing him to the event center at work during quiet days to desensitize him, however, wasn't making much progress. One session, I brought Zuma along and saw a remarkable change. Edgar opened up a little, was taking treats and was even able to do simple behaviors like hand touches.
Today was the start of me actually working on this issue. I had been putting it off because part of me was scared that it was going to turn out to be an permanent issue and I adopted him with intentions of doing traveling shows with him at schools and other public venues. A severe environmental sensitivity pretty much makes that not an option. I finally manned up though and I have a game plan. If he ends up not being ok to work in new places, fine. He always has a home with me, and I'm sure I can get him comfortable enough to do shows at my work at the very least.
On today's adventure, my coworker, her dog, Edgar and I went to PetSmart and Petco. I was armed with string cheese and Dog Nation beef treats. PetSmart was really difficult for Edgar. He was shut down for 80% of the trip, however he was willing to take treats most of the time. I was able to get a few hand touches in a quiet aisle. He did attempt to bolt for the door on numerous occasions, but would come back after a momentary pause. There was huge improvements at Petco. He walked in with a high tail, was able to take treats and offered focus right of the bat. I was able to get several more complex behaviors in the first aisle. The only issue we had the entire trip was when an employee banged on the side of a display, Edgar startled at the noise and refused treats. We walked to another aisle and he was comfortable again, able to perform a few hand touches.
My plan is to do a few more trips with stable dogs as security blankets, increasing our time away from them slowly. I am shooting for one or two trips a week.
Thanks for reading this if you did! Emotional support is appreciated!
Edgar is an 8 month old boston terrier/cairn terrier mix that I adopted from the local animal shelter. Not much is known about his history, but he did have to have two separate cherry eye surgeries, so he spent a lot of time in a cone when I first adopted him which limited my exposure opportunities (pretty sure I'm just using this as an excuse for my lazy butt).
He has toy drive and food drive and is an absolute joy to train. However, he has severe environmental sensitivities that I wasn't aware of when I adopted him. He shuts down in new buildings, panics and tries to run towards the exit. He refuses food and won't play. On the best sessions he will sit in my lap and won't leave. I started bringing him to the event center at work during quiet days to desensitize him, however, wasn't making much progress. One session, I brought Zuma along and saw a remarkable change. Edgar opened up a little, was taking treats and was even able to do simple behaviors like hand touches.
Today was the start of me actually working on this issue. I had been putting it off because part of me was scared that it was going to turn out to be an permanent issue and I adopted him with intentions of doing traveling shows with him at schools and other public venues. A severe environmental sensitivity pretty much makes that not an option. I finally manned up though and I have a game plan. If he ends up not being ok to work in new places, fine. He always has a home with me, and I'm sure I can get him comfortable enough to do shows at my work at the very least.
On today's adventure, my coworker, her dog, Edgar and I went to PetSmart and Petco. I was armed with string cheese and Dog Nation beef treats. PetSmart was really difficult for Edgar. He was shut down for 80% of the trip, however he was willing to take treats most of the time. I was able to get a few hand touches in a quiet aisle. He did attempt to bolt for the door on numerous occasions, but would come back after a momentary pause. There was huge improvements at Petco. He walked in with a high tail, was able to take treats and offered focus right of the bat. I was able to get several more complex behaviors in the first aisle. The only issue we had the entire trip was when an employee banged on the side of a display, Edgar startled at the noise and refused treats. We walked to another aisle and he was comfortable again, able to perform a few hand touches.
My plan is to do a few more trips with stable dogs as security blankets, increasing our time away from them slowly. I am shooting for one or two trips a week.
Thanks for reading this if you did! Emotional support is appreciated!
