Our First Vet Visit

    Handel had his first post-shelter vet visit yesterday and it went about as expected.   He whined and paced in the waiting room and then was friendly enough in the vet room.  That's until he had to get up on the table.  I chose to muzzle him myself before they proceeded.  Thank goodness.
    Other than two moments (once where his hips were being manipulated and the other when she was drawing blood) he happily stood there and took meatballs while the vet tech held him.  Those two times were a little sad, but as usual he recovered quickly and once the muzzle was off he held no grudge (not that  I really believe dogs hold a grudge like humans do).
    Then we spoke a bit about his history and the circumstances that brought him to me.  We decided (along with the advice from our Behavior Modification Trainer) that if the blood work comes back with his thyroid in the normal range for his breed, we'll probably begin him on a short term course of behavior modification drugs (in his case most likely Prozac).
   I know a lot of people baulk at the mention of drugging a dog, but in Handel's case since he is so hyper reactive to my husband's movements both the vet and our trainer agreed that the drug program would help smooth the transition and allow the training program a better chance of working.   The only worry is that thus far Handel has very good bite inhibition.  Even when he is very stressed and sort of snaps over threshold he has never bitten anyone (though he has put his teeth on one person).  There is a small chance that the behavior drugs, while making him feel less stressed out, would also disinhibit his bite behavior.   Therefore, we will start at a very low dosage and monitor him very closely for changes in his interaction with both people and our other dogs.  Fingers crossed the drugs will do much more good than harm.  Regardless, it is worth trying.

Our Daily Training Log:
Added 2nd DAP diffuser (kitchen)
CC/D for husband moving in kitchen (10 min)
Exercise through ball play (non-stop 20 min)
CC/D for people walking dogs in front of vets office (10 min)
CC/D for vets office (15 min)
CC/D for vet tech (10 min)
KOPR (Day 9)
Massage w/ lavender candle (10 min)

Handel & The Thundershirt

   One of the newer training aids often suggested by Positive Reinforcement trainers for dogs that have anxiety issues is a Thundershirt.  Really just a tight fitting wrapped coat, it's meant to act like a hug providing a steady and comforting pressure to the dog's thorax.  Compression based devices have been shown to be very affective in helping other animals and humans find calm in anxious situations.  Renowned doctor of animal science and high-functioning autistic,Temple Grandin famously made herself a "hugging machine" during her college days to help herself relax.   Humans have been using swaddling for thousands of years as a means of quieting fussy babies.

 The Thundershirt works on this principal, all in a safe and breathable fabric attached tightly with velcro.  They are now readily available online and now at bigbox petsupply stores like PetSmart and Petco.  Coming in at around $39 the Thundershirt comes in a few colors and can even be embroidered before delivery for a small additional fee.  However, if it doesn't help with your dog's anxiety it's just an expensive jacket.

   I've recommended the Thundershirt several times to shelter adopters and heard of some people having success...though all recommendations contained a "may work for some dogs" clause.  My informal survey suggested that some success was seen in about 50% of the dogs who tried it.  So I was hopeful, but not overly expectant when buying one for Handel...but if it did work for him the benefits far outweighed the cost.

  So we picked one up, put it on and went straight out to play some ball.  I think some owners describe their dogs becoming frozen by the experience of wearing the shirt for the first time...some dogs will never get over this (and therefore, the Thundershirt does not work for them), but many dogs just need an immediate distraction to get them over the initial moments and seem to be fine after that.  Handel was fine!  In fact, his face appeared instantly happier and more relaxed, his pupils were less dilated than usual and his constant whining was down to a minimum.  We kept the Thundershirt on for a whole day and the longer it was on the better he seemed to be doing.  Growling still happened from time to time, but the husband stalking was almost non-existent...he even climbed up to sit next to Chris on the sofa.  So the Thundershirt worked wonderfully for Handel, right?

  Well, not entirely...while it was on he showed real improvement.  I was quite happy.  Unfortunately in our case, I somehow managed to develop amnesia about his sound sensitivity to velcro.  So late in the evening when he was very sleepy (and so was I), we went to take the Thundershirt off.  With the first sound of ripping velcro, Handel whipped his head around and snapped at my hand, before backing away from me whining.

   Silly me.  After exhausting every high value treat in the house (including left over steak), I gave up and pulled out the muzzle.  Thank goodness we'd worked on wearing a muzzle through CC/D, otherwise he might be wearing a half velcro-ed Thundershirt still.  A whole day's good work with the Thundershirt undone by five minutes of velcro noise.  Sigh. So...will we still keep trying to make the Thundershirt work???  Of course!  But we've got a lot of backing up to do before that.  Now off to desensitize and counter condition for velcro!   I guess it just goes to show that there are no easy fixes.

HANDEL THE FEARFUL DOG

   I'm setting up this blog as an online document of Handel's progress from fearful dog to whatever it is he will be in the end.   It's my hope that by witnessing our trials and tribulations someone out there who is living with a fearful dog may gain some insight into how Positive Reinforcement training can help their dogs move beyond their anxiety.
   Handel's average response to new things or the regular things that worry him are big eyes and lots of whining.  However, when his wary warnings are not heeded he will growl, bark, lunge and on occasion (when very frightened) knock people down and snap at them.  When this happens he looks very scary...but in reality he's probably the most frightened thing in the room.   That old saying "he's more scared of you than you are of him," that my mother used to apply to spiders works well here.
   It's true that most dogs if threatened enough will resort to these sorts of behavioral displays, but in Handel's case the things that cause these over the top reactions are objects and events of daily life that most people would consider inoffensive.   Events like sweeping the floor, sitting next to him on the sofa, leaning over him or shaking out a plastic bag...things that happen in our home every day...can be cause for a mini-meltdown if not approached properly.
  We are currently at the beginning of a long road.  Along the way there will be set backs, but hopefully there will also be amazing achievements and discoveries.  How can you begin to describe the small steps that lead to climbing a mountain...I'll let you know here.