moosikins

When would you consider medicating a dog for anxiety? TL;DR - My house broken 2 year old pooch is stress-pooping after a big transition. She's always been an anxious thing. We've been asked if we want to medicate her before and declined in favor of modifying her behavior with positive reinforcement and training to improve her confidence. It's worked...until now. Help! Long version - Our Pandora is amazing - she's affectionate, intelligent, active, and sweet. She loves our two kids (toddlers) and deals with them well by alternating between playing nicely and finding a quiet spot to get away from them when necessary. We just moved from a rental home with a huge yard to a new build with no yard whatsoever. It wasn't our choice since the builder screwed up the timeline and didn't get to do the final property grade before winter set in so we can't even consider a fence until the land is graded, debris is removed, and I'm certain that it's safe to run on... We also just got a kitten, but they've made fast friends and are beginning to snuggle and deliberately touch. So lots of transition for our poor girls. Calypso is doing fine with the change. I know they both long for a yard to run in, but they're handling it by getting long walks, having much more room indoors to run and being encouraged to wrestle and romp inside. There's also a large basement where they go down with the kids to play. That being said, Panda is pooping in the house now and I strongly suspect it's related to stress. She's been so anxious since the pre-New Years fireworks began right after Christmas. The accidents started off small. A runny poop here or there, never in the same spot and I'm decently sure she's not marking. She leaves the situation immediately with her tail tucked and her ears flat. Her outdoor poops are runny too. The last few days she's just had terrible accidents in the house, big messes and all over a large space. I feel so bad for her and she's not being punished at all. As soon as we notice, we whisk them both outside for a walk and she gets lots of pets and cuddles because we know she's not doing it on purpose. She's house broken and does her best to wait. She also won't ask to go when she has these accidents - for normal potty time, she seeks us out to get our attention and make it known that she needs a walk. They have free range of the entire house. She just seems SO anxious. She sits around looking like she got kicked (mopey face, slumped shoulders, sad tail), she bolts to my side when I sit down and crawls into my lap. If she can, she rests her face on my face. She doesn't seem to be in pain, her belly isn't tense or tender, she doesn't have any injuries, and she's always been a very skittish, anxious beast. We've been asked by several vets if we want to medicate her and always declined because we've always exercised her and significant positive, loving attention has eased her high strung behavior quite well. But now I'm not sure... It's not fair to make her live like this, with all this anxiety and stress. It's not good for her health and it's certainly not good for her long term behavior. I'm afraid that if we leave her this anxious for too long, it'll become natural again and we will undo all the good progress we've made with her. She was getting so confident and becoming quite independent before we moved. She's 2 years old, at a healthy weight for her body (52 lb, give or take a pound). She eats twice a day, Hills Science Diet (grain-free) and the Kirkland wet food mixed in. She eats veggies and we avoid table food as often as possible. She gets some chicken here and there from the kids. She has 24/7 access to water. Any thoughts or experiences with doggie Prozac? Any suggestions for helping her (and my brand new carpet)??? Obviously we'll be going to see the vet soon...As soon as I find one I trust. We just switched in the last few months but they're too busy and too hectic, plus they can't figure out if Cal got all her vaccinations or not because their record keeping is abysmal and they put us at risk of losing our therapy dog insurance with their incompetence. I'm making phone calls to friends this week for recommendations.

Cal likes to take my things and lay on or with them. Panda some something similar, but she just goes to where the things are. If I leave a worn shirt on the bed, Cal would take it and go to her favorite couch spot, but Panda would lay on it in its original place. I think it's sweet, especially since neither does it with my husband's items. Just mine and occasionally the kids' clothing. Nothing is ever damaged or chewed, just laid on or relocated.

My condolences for your loss. Sending our love...

Hi there! It's been a while since I've been on here. Just thought I'd give an update on my girls and see how y'all are doing. What's new? Who's got new pups? Who's pooches have done something impressive lately? Tell me about your adventures! Show off your pics! Calypso and Pandora have been awesome. Cal is newly four and doing great - we've discovered some hip soreness but a daily joint supplement has rapidly helped her get and stay better. We're going to be investigating some potential thyroid issues this summer, but it's bothering me more than it is her. Her attitude issues aren't a daily struggle at home anymore, she's no longer guarding her food even though we're always cautious, and she's really let Panda into her personal space lately. Panda recently turned two and is finally starting to calm down. Her energy level is a great motivator for Cal and they really enjoy playing together and are often found wrestling in the backyard or in the house. They take turns being the instigator and it's nice to see Cal letting her guard down and allowing Panda to be in charge. They're both enjoying the kids and being really tolerant of the typical toddler behaviors. I joke with my husband that we were right to get a second dog - each baby needs his own dog! They love their puppies and take good care of them. My nearly 3 year old feeds his pooches every evening and pats them on the rump while telling them they're good girls. The 1 year old leans in and gives kisses. Unfortunately, he's also completely unafraid of large animals as a result of growing up in a dog-friendly home and recently kissed a giraffe... On the downside, both dogs have developed some dog reactivity, but we're working on that with some controlled exposure to the type of dog they react on (GSD, due to some bad experiences because some people are just idiots and shouldn't handle beautiful dogs). We're hoping to see some improvement with consistent work and in the meantime, we're holding off on attending things that require close proximity to other dogs unless we're able to give each dog our full attention. Cal is a certified therapy and crisis dog with a national team and we're really enjoying that. We got to nursing homes and crisis events (such as funerals, thankfully we haven't had a large-scale crisis in our area). She's got her CGC, CGC-A, and CGC-U. I'm working on getting her registered to earn the AKC Therapy Dog title. If we had been logging hours from the start, she'd be somewhere between the THD and THDA titles. I'm also looking into doing the AKC trick titles with Panda. She's so goofy, I think she'd love it. Here are some photos of my pups, they're a joy. Calypso is the one without white on her nose, Panda has the white nose marking.

<3 So great to hear that she's doing well!

I'm going to check our paperwork since we're renewing our insurance and certification next month and give United another call out of curiosity. Now I'm wondering if they're confused about allowing her!

Waffles, I can't seem to reply directly to you on my phone! I've never flown with her but I'm told that she has the credentials (United confirmed, I was recently going to take her with me on the flight but canceled the trip). I always always always tell people she is a therapy dog and remind nervous employees (at stores and such) that they are not obligated to allow her. I don't know why but our official team color is red and her vest makes her look super official and very service dog like, so she has a pink PET ME leash sleeve and I like to show off her tricks and talk to people about the difference between therapy and service animals. She is trained to curl up between my legs on the floor (we practice on public transportation). She rests her chin on my foot and I use my other foot to pull her tail in so she doesn't get stepped on.

People in need of animal transport should contact groups like Highway Heros! <3

This is exactly why my dogs will never fly in the cargo hold. Cal is a certified therapy dog so she's allowed to board a plane with me and sit between my legs/under the seat. And Panda will just never fly (because she's not capable of sitting still) because there's NO way I'm risking their lives.

That's very disappointing. I'm usually quite unhappy with Petsmart's customer service and in-store presence. We love Chewy and use it almost exclusively...Their customer service has been AMAZING. This past winter they mailed us two commissioned portraits of our dogs and a handwritten note of appreciation for being customers. It was a total surprise, just arrived one day in the mail. They follow the dogs on instagram and borrowed two photos to paint off of. <3

Or maybe someone here has room for Dale's overnight? ❤

Info:

Can you help Dale get to his foster? Dale is a senior dog on his way to his foster where he'll get healthy and rest up while waiting for his FUREVER family to find him. If you're in Texas, Oklahoma, or Missouri with the ability to help, PLEASE reach out to Highway Heroes to pick up a leg of the drive. Dale is a Border Collie and he's being taken care of by Come Bye Border Collie Rescue! The CBBCR volunteers say Dale is just fantastic and who knows, maybe you know someone who needs a companion like this gentle and smiley boy! Or maybe YOU need him! ❤❤❤

Wow!

Awesome, I'll check these out. Is the warning against weave poles for the same reason as we warn folks not to run with pups, the growth plates need to close and mature?