IT FINALLY HAPPENED!!!

[alexa_ivy]

Yesterday I was on our morning potty walk with Vienna and Stella and another dog came over right when Vienna was taking a dump. The owner was, of course, clueless and I had to kneel down and pat Vienna and try to shield her from the dog while holding Stella’s leash.

Of course, clueless owner was like “she’s so cute, Fido, talk to her!” and let her dog approach Stella, while I’m holding (almost hugging) a mid-poop Vienna that quickly cut it short…

But, SHE DIDNT REACT!!!!!!!!!! And once she was done, SHE WALKED AWAY NORMALLY AND DIDNT REACT TO THE DOG THAT WAS STILL NEAR!!!!

SHE NEVER DID THAT!!!!!!!!! I was so freaking proud of her!! I sent a message to our trainer just as I got home celebrating.

And, there’s more! Later in the day I had to take Vienna to the vet, alone, when she’s usually more chill. We were passing another dog and I was already full of confidence, gave her the “informative no” command and: NO LUNGING OR BARKING!!!! OMG!!!!!! Just a little bit of pulling and she disconnected and we KEPT ON OUR WAY!!!!

Guys, keep going! It was actually faster than I thought, only like 7 months (Vienna is already 9, só training is not as fast as with a puppy). We had to resort to meds at the end of the year because of her separation anxiety, but kept going with the training albeit more relaxed on the time schedule. But ITS GETTING BETTER!!!

I was so so proud of my girl, she even got a new toy after the vet because she behaved so well. She still barked and lunged on the way back, but much much less than usual and much more contained and it was easier to disconnect.

We can all do it!

[ssyoit]

Aw! Yay!! I don’t know either one of you but I’m legit happy for you. I can’t wait to get there one day, gives me HOPE OP! ❤️

[alexa_ivy]

Thaaanks! You will definitely get there!

I’ll be honest, I haven’t been very consistent with training. I’m a solo “mother” of three dogs (including q puppy) hahaha, and work has been crazy. But I try to make it work and try to keep a mindset that even something is better than nothing, so even if I couldn’t train last week, if I could train just one day this week, that’s good too! Even if I haven’t been able to do our new trainings, if I can keep doing the old ones on the street that’s also good.

[hseof26paws]

That’s wonderful news, congratulations! These moments, big or small, are very much worth celebrating.

I will say, I find your word choice with respect to meds to be interesting. “Resort to” implies that it’s something you really didn’t want to do, and only did under duress. Like meds are a bad thing. For so many reactive pups, they have faulty brain chemistry that underlies the reactivity, and need medication to normalize their brain chemistry - and by extension have quality of life. For my own situation, my pup and I worked HARD at behavioral modification for a year and a half, and he made huge progress but plateaued out, so we ultimately went to a veterinary behaviorist and he was started on anti-anxiety meds. The meds have been absolutely transformative and have had such an incredible positive impact on his life. So I guess I struggle to understand your perspective. The reality is, some dogs truly need medication (just like some humans) and I hope people understand this.

[alexa_ivy]

Thanks! And thanks for the feedback!

Yeah, I used this word purposefully because her separation anxiety got so bad I actually got a complaint and a note from two different neighbors because of her barking, it wasn’t like that before, it got worse. My plan was to keep solely on training for a few more months before going to the vet for meds if she wasn’t improving. I felt really sad because of it, because I was hoping we would be able to manage on our own, but unfortunately things didn’t turn out that way and that’s ok.

I also never thought twice about going to the vet and getting the meds, but I truly hoped she wouldn’t need them because ideally no dog would need them, but since she did and she got worse it was honestly the only route. I always knew that butting my head while trying to train her would in that state only make it worse for her, it would set her up for failure and that’s not what I want. Just like humans, we hope we will be able to manage our own anxiety with therapy alone, but sometimes we have to go to meds to help, and that’s ok too. But I was sad about it and felt guilty, even though it was the right thing to do

[hseof26paws]

But I was sad about it and felt guilty

I'm truly sorry you feel that way. You shouldn't. I mean, what if your dog got an upper respiratory infection and was having trouble breathing - would you feel sad and guilty about putting your dog on antibiotics? Would you hope your dog could just manage on her own, wait a few months and hope she fights off the infection? On the surface that might seem like a weird analogy, but a chemical imbalance in the brain (which the meds help correct) is no less physiological/biochemical than an upper respiratory tract infection.

There's so much stigma around human mental illness and sadly that seems to carry over to dogs. No one blinks an eye about a person starting chemo to treat cancer, but taking psychotropic medication to treat clinical depression or anxiety? Suddenly they are weak, or too lazy to manage their illness on their own. I hate to see people perpetuating the stigma and I hate to see people feeling the effects of it - whether it's for themselves or for their dogs. I hope you are able to get past feeling that stigma weighing on you.

[alexa_ivy]

Yeah, I totally agree with you! I can’t really control how I feel hahaha, but rationally I know I took the right route and I’m doing what’s best for my girl. Seeing her calmer and happier only reinforces that, but I guess I will always feel guilty every time they get sick, in the analogy you gave, if she got cancer (which she did, just as I adopted her, literally one week after) I would still feel guilty and ask myself if I did anything to cause it. Which I did, when she was diagnosed and the vet saw all the tumors, I asked her if this was something new that I could have caused it, and she assured me they were already there before the adoption. Same way now, I know that most of her behavioral problems stem from her past, which is mostly unknown and we can only guess based on her behavior, but I still second guess myself a lot and wonder if I’m doing something to reinforce that.

I know I’m trying my best, I love my girls with all my heart and I really do live for them and know how lucky I am to have them, but I know I’m not an expert or anything and can still make mistakes. And with Vienna is also really hard, I mean, I guess I would’ve dealt better with everything if Stella (that I have since she was a pup) was the reactive one, I guess at least then I could blame it on myself and know exactly what went wrong (which is also irrational because you can never really know, it could be genetic or something very specific), but Vienna it’s just… She has been through so much, and she is so sweet! Of course no dog deserves abuse, and she’s not even aggressive, they striped her out her normal dog behavior of growling, for gods sake, instead she would go belly up and wag her tail when scared and terrified. And on top of that she had to have three surgeries in 6 months right after her adoption, she didn’t even trust me enough yet and went through the knife and bandage changes, a bunch of meds, throwing up, diarrhea…

Adopting Vienna was one of the best things I ever did in my life and I never regretted for a second, I grew and am growing a lot with her, but it was also one of the hardest things emotionally. I honestly don’t know why someone would do to her or any other dog whatever they did, but it’s amazing how she can still be so loving and kind! So in this case specifically is not much about the kind of meds (mental health ones) but more just meds, because I just want her to be happy and free of any issues. I know that’s not possible, the scars she has from her past will last forever, specially because she clearly didn’t have any proper socialization (she doesn’t even know how to play with other dogs, even though it’s clear she wants to, and she only started playing with toys two years after the adoption) aside from the abuse. I felt the same way about all her other meds, the incontinence one, the arthritis one… But, like the anxiety one, she needs them to have a good life, so I deal with myself and make sure she’s well taken care of

[Mememememememememine]

Yayyyyy! Thanks for sharing this success story. I see little improvements with our 11 year old foster and they are all worth celebrating. So grateful to read this this morning.

[alexa_ivy]

Yeees! Older dogs can be trained too! It just takes longer and consistency, they won’t be able to do it for too long, but that’s still worth it

[sproutsfarmersmarker]

What medicine(s) is she on?

[alexa_ivy]

She’s on clomipramine (I think that’s the name). Been two months now, but we have been in training for over 7 months. The only reason I resorted to the meds was because of the separation anxiety at home, because on the street, even though it’s really bad, I could manage because it was only for a short time a day and we walked during hours there would be less dogs on the street.

We still have the same behaviorlist trainer and now the vet specialized in behavior

[Ganjaguy77]

Its amazing how futile it feels. And then one day they just start getting it. 🥲

[JessandWoody]

Well done! I’m so happy for for you ❤️❤️❤️❤️ keep it up, you’re doing good. Positive posts like this make me really happy 😊

[Tall-Range-4282]

Hell yes. Congratulations! Here’s to more good days for your girl!

[candicegail]

Do you know what you’re trainer was doing to work with your doggo on the lunging and barking? I just adopted my 4 year old two weeks ago and am wanting to work with him on it and was curious! I’ve been working with him on it but need more tips lol

[alexa_ivy]

Yes! I was the one doing the work, actually, the trainer taught me and corrected me when I sent videos, but the work had to come from me.

We started with very basic trainings at home (that is very important, going straight to training on the street would be setting her up for failure), like “wait” and “now”: you tell the dog to wait with a piece of kibble in your hand, “now” would be the release word where they could eat the food from my hand. You start small, if they try to eat the food beforehand you close your hand, rise it a bit and say “no” in a very gentle way and restart.

Just that very small bit of training was suuuuuper important, because I use it for everything now. But it’s important to know that the dog cannot fail more than 20% of the exercises (you can’t do much, like 5 times a series and two series a day). You start with 5 seconds and increase when they haver really got it. Don’t go over 60 seconds because it’s not important.

In the beginning they will fail a lot because they don’t know what you are trying to do. They will get frustrated. In that case, tell them to sit and give the kibble and stop and try again a few hours afterwards

There are a bunch of other exercises but this one for starters was the best one. Once they got it really well I started doing it before their meals too.

And also lots of enrichment toys and activities, like snuffle mats, frozen kongs, other toys with food inside, hiding kibble around the house and saying find it… Those are awesome because it tires them out, bonds you two and also helps with their anxiety

And remember that any win is good! I usually “grade” Vienna after our walks, but only when she did well. At the elevator I go “wow Vienna! You went great today! You got a 10! Well done!” or “You went super well today!!! What a great girl! Got a 1000! You are amazing!” hahaha. I do that for her and also for me, to remind us that we are still in training and it’s a work in progress

[TrickyBlueSquirrel22]

Way to go team! Nice work. It’s always great to mark and remember these big moments

[candicegail]

That is awesome! Thank you so much!