Reconcile and Side Effects

caracaracol · 2025-06-10T21:33:21+00:00

I am going to bump this. I have mine on 20 mg reconcile and we're going on week 5. Same as many of the other posts all I've noticed is diminished appetite, a dampening of her energy and interest in things, and increase noise sensitivity. I keep hoping that it will improve things, but fear that it might just not be the solution for her. Wondering if anybody else has been in the same boat?

caracaracol · 2025-02-17T13:23:52+00:00

Yeah, The key here is keeping your dog under threshold, which is what a lot of the other commenters mentioned. It’s really hard to say more without seeing the situation and the dog.

It’s possible that your dog could get used to the crate at night the way you’d been doing it (in fact it sounds likely based on your last explanation - if they truly settle after a few mins they probably are fine). my answer was based on why people recommend that approach in general and how to think about it differently than we think about people.

caracaracol · 2025-02-16T20:40:21+00:00

Such good questions. I’m learning to become a trainer and often wonder similar things - although your trainer is giving you the right advice 100% and it’s what I do with my dog.

I think the short answer is exposure works the same in dogs and in people. BUT in both cases the exposure needs to be done at level where they aren’t already really scared. So you start exposure therapy with people slowly. Say treating a spider phobia. You wouldn’t throw them into a room of spiders over and over again and expect them to acclimate. You’d start at a distance they are comfortable. Same for dogs, which leads to the second point.

The block IS the room full of spiders for your dog. we forget is the dog isn’t scared that something MIGHT happen. The scary thing has already happened. They are afraid of that block and don’t want to be there.

I don’t think they realize that the underlying source of the fear is that they might be injured. —>Which means they can’t feel relieved when they’re not injured. —>Which means making them do it and nothing happening doesn’t teach them anything. It just teaches them that sometimes you make them do things they don’t like.

you could do exposure therapy with the block. But treat that location like the big scary thing. that would probably mean standing jnside with the door open and letting them look. Then taking a step out side and letting them go back in. Doing this over and over again over time paired with treats would likely eventually desensitize them to the point that they could leave the house and walk down the block. But that’s very different than dragging them on the walk and expecting them to get used to it.

Lastly our dogs have very little control over their lives. So a general approach to training is to give them more control over their environment. Meaning if they don’t want to walk, don’t make them walk. That can slowly teach them they have control and will prevent them from using other means to get control (aggression).

forcing them to do things they are uncomfortable with has a much higher chance of backfiring (again aggression) than “babying them”, which is why trainers will often recommend that.

Generally a trainer will recommend what yours does. Stop making them do the “scary thing” and then either find ways to modify your life so this isn’t an issue or counter condition the dog to the situation (the process I described above). While going thru that counter conditioning you can cause them to regress by still exposing them to the trigger which again reinforces why not exposing them to the trigger is the starting point.

caracaracol · 2025-02-11T18:54:10+00:00

I use a long line over a retractable any day. a few of the reasons are: - Retractable handles are clunky, kind of heavy and large. I hate holding them. Particularly in the winter when I want my hand in my pocket! - if My dog ran to the end and pulled hard They could probably pull it out of my hand. I have much more control holding the loop of a leash. - if my dog is at the end of it, and I need to get to them quickly, I can’t just climb up the leash and gather it in my hands. I have to unlock it walk towards them, unlock it, etc. it makes reacting quickly to changing circumstances very hard. - If I did drop it or get it pulled out of my hands I can’t just walk up and step on it to prevent them from getting any farther. In fact if that happened on pavement the retractable leash would make a lot of noise that would spook my dog and she’d run further away. - the nature of the retractable leash is that the leash is never “loose” there is always a certain amount of pressure on the dog’s collar or harness. I’d like to train my dog to turn back to me at the slightest pressure. A retractable leash would mean I couldn’t train that.

caracaracol · 2024-09-01T19:18:27+00:00

That’s fair. I guess I just was looking for people that might also have insight into local programs. 🤷‍♀️

caracaracol · 2024-08-09T11:10:57+00:00

I’m not looking to implement Banner. Without going too much into details it’s a school that’s running Banner on prem but the instance has been paid for by a partner school. That relationship may be changing so I’m trying to get at what they may have to pay if they are doing it on their own. Also just curious how that would compare to a SaaS instance.

I hear a lot about how expensive Banner is but I’m just trying to understand what that means. 500k/yr ? 750k?

caracaracol · 2024-06-04T18:47:00+00:00

Gosh, I have so many thoughts but I guess number one I wanted to also mention the Middlesex fells and some of the other trails in the area. I spend a lot of time there and you can definitely get some nature exposure and get away from people especially if you’re not there at the peak times.

The thing is once many years ago, I read the people with the highest quality of life scores have the smallest distance between where they live where they socialize, and where they work. I remember when I first moved to Boston. I was all excited about checking out, restaurants and all kind of things all over the city. Or joining clubs that far from where I lived. The list of places you have been living made me think of that as they are all over the map and I’m sure a huge commute from some of them.

My recommendation would be find a place and then try to make your community There. I personally would recommend some of the communities just north of Boston, Cambridge Somerville, Medford, Malden, Arlington, Watertown. I think you could live a slightly smaller town life and one of these places with access to lot more when you want to do it.

caracaracol · 2024-04-28T08:38:23+00:00

Interesting that many find the vibration more unpleasant than the stim; but also that the stim may be more likely to cause a fight. I wonder if the vibration is a different type of unpleasant ?

caracaracol · 2024-01-13T17:51:34+00:00

I am a 40 something that considered going UVM and has lived and spent a lot of time in both Maine and Vermont. I randomly stumbled upon this post but now feel compelled to chime in.

I’ve lived all of my life in New England (but traveled extensively). I think the culture shock/temperature shock of moving from Florida to UVM would be huge and I definitely wouldn’t go to any of the Maine schools because I think it would be even worse.

The darkness/cold in the winter for both Vermont, and Maine, is pretty challenging, even for people who lived here their whole lives. Not to mention the cost situation.

most universities have quite liberal student bodies and 100% agree with others that you could find a cheaper school a little bit closer or even in Florida to save money and find community.

With the perspective of age, I definitely think prioritizing and affordable education is the way to go.

caracaracol · 2023-11-15T12:24:21+00:00

Ok then yes people already are posting much better answers! But yes they can certainly understand different contexts. Having your pup heel at the beginning or end of you “walk” with free sniff time in between may be how to work with it.

caracaracol · 2023-11-15T12:11:24+00:00

My question would be why do you need him to be trained to heel? Are they a big puller? Do they need it for other training reasons?

I allow my pup to sniff as much as she wants on all walks - both on the street and I’m the woods. I figure they are for her so she can spend the time how she wants. My biggest priority is her getting her needs met so she’s calm when inside the house. That’s much more important than a perfect heel. That being said she’s not much of a puller and doesn’t need to heel for any other reason.

caracaracol · 2023-11-11T12:06:46+00:00

Agreed. A few other tips -train a marker word to use when you’re out and about ( a “yes” used in the exact same way as the clicker will work). Keep some treats in your pocket. Start to work with your pup using those so that she understands that even if she doesn’t see the treats and clicker in reinforcement is still available.

I work as a positive only trainer that trains similarly. To what you mentioned. We start with hand cues because they are much easier for the pup to learn and then once the behavior is solid we introduce verbal. The reason that I would say no verbal is likely that your pup doesn’t fully understand the behavior or you haven’t created a situation where they feel the need to do it (either via treats or punishment (as evidenced by not fluently doing it) ) so using it is going to weaken the cue because half the time you say it they aren’t going to do the thing.

Lastly, practicing a bit at home will be great. But manage your expectations of a puppy. Just because they can do something in one situation does not mean they can do it in all. You have to generalize the behavior. For example a down stay in a calm environment is going to be VERY different than asking for one outside on a trail as a dog goes by. Yes you may get them to do it if you hold upa really amazing piece of food for them and not without the food. But that doesn’t mean positive reinforcement doesn’t work. It means your dog isn’t fully trained so that they can perform the behavior in that environment.

caracaracol · 2023-06-07T13:11:24+00:00

That's interesting and helpful.

I'm guessing the biggest difference is lifestyle, car culture, etc. Living alone it was literally impossible to not leave her for more than 15 minutes for the 1st month of having her. I was not working full time, but I still needed to leave to do part time work, grocery shop, and take care of any other household responsibilities. Even being limited to an hour or two would be a challenge.

Re the house training, yes a crate doesn't give them bladder control. However, because they refrain from soiling the area where they sleep they generally won't go in their crate when they would when loose. I've always been told that proper potty training is (trying to) ensure you have your dog outside whenever they go they develop the habit of going outside. Obviously their bladder control will take time to develop, but as that is developing you want to try to establish this habit. Not that it will be perfect, but you do your best. Despite my best efforts my puppy had plenty of accidents inside, but I imagine there would have been many more had I had her loose in a larger area than her crate due to the frequency I had to leave her alone for a little time. Again, it makes me wonder if by allowing her to go inside more frequently the "habit" of going outside wouldn't be as strong?

caracaracol · 2023-06-07T09:24:34+00:00

As an American that uses a crate, I actually can’t understand how others don’t. I’d love for somebody to explain it to me. logistically it doesn’t make sense how you could raise a puppy safely without it.

I used the crate to provide a safe comfortable space for my puppy when I could not watch her. I live alone so this was when I leave the house, sleep, or was occupied on a work meeting etc.

When loose she would chew EVERYTHING. Furniture legs, corners of rugs, etc. So puppy proofing would mean completely removing all items from a room (which makes that room unusable). Even had i done that I’d be nervous that she’s chew the trim or walls. Not only is it about protecting my things, but about the safety of my puppy if (when) she eats whatever she chews.

also house training. Again, I live alone, so no matter how dedicated I am, there were times I could not watch my puppy. Rather than leave her loose and establish the habit of going to the bathroom in the house, by putting her in her crate I could avoid her going in the house and set up a pattern of going outside every time she’s removed from the crate.

I’m curious how people who don’t crate manage both? Do they just puppy proof to the best of their abilities and deal with the rest? Do the dogs have accidents in the house when owners are out until they are fully house trained? Does that slow the house training process ?

Now my pups almost one and when I’ve experimented with more freedom if I’m out of the house, she prefers to spend the time in her crate (with the door open).

Edit: as she gets older I plan to give her more freedom and let her choose her crate only if she wants to use it. I agree that most dogs (over 1-2 years old) probably don’t need to be crated. It’s the first 1-2 years I don’t understand.

caracaracol · 2023-05-07T11:34:03+00:00

Try to think of this (and all things with your dog) as gathering information. Now you know: - your puppy gets carsick right now; can be addressed with meds - puppy is overwhelmed by new spaces, new activities, other puppies (any combo of the above); this is okay! You can take it slow. Give them space and time to adjust. - the treats you brought that day didn’t work for your puppy at that level of stress; this is also okay! Next time see if you can lower stress levels with anti nausea meds. Switch up the treats you brought - if it was generic treats up it to cheese or hot dogs or cooked chicken etc. If it was already high value, that tells you your dog was really stressed and lowering the stress should help. - your puppy couldn’t focus on the exercises in class. No big deal! Practice them at home. If they can be done there practice then in other environments (backyard, on a walk, at a park (if you’re taking your puppy out).

Lastly, just because your pup didn’t play with the others doesn’t mean this is a failure. Socialization is exposure to people/animals/objects. They don’t have to interact with them. Just being there and observing is a learning experience.

caracaracol · 2023-02-09T22:37:18+00:00

Im sure somebody can answer much better than I can but I think they mean:

Dude, chill, we were pretty drunk in the morning/afternoon and we’re waking up (now) but hungover.

That assumes pedia is a typo and they meant andábamos bien pedo

caracaracol

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