There are many who, if they passed us on that day, would have thought, because this dog did not bark or lunge at the person or car he saw at a distance…that he was FINE. He may have looked like he was enjoying being on leash in the community. What do you think? Actually, while he may look fine, this is a fearful dog with anxiety. The story of his dog behavior is below.
NOTE: If you have not already read my first post about dogs that are fine, please click here to read it first.
I wanted to share this from last fall to help educate. There are many who would not have recognized that anything was wrong as this dog did not bark at the one or two people he saw, or the car that drove by. Many would have interpreted Rudy as being FINE. But he was a fearful dog who was experiencing a great deal of stress and anxiety.
As soon as my client took him out of the car (in a very quiet parking lot), he immediately had a bowel movement. (And had another bowel movement a few minutes later, and then again.) He was incapable of greeting me with a loose, wagging tail as he did the time before when I saw him at his home. He could not settle on the mat that he would be able to in his home. He was in a constant state of hypervigilance, breathing heavy, paw raised at times, tail held down, some shivering. He could not hear his name. He had no interest in the piece of cooked sausage – a very high value treat for him.
I got involved with Rudy’s family because they reported he is ‘aggressive’ when he saw other dogs or unfamiliar people. He had a history of lunging, growling and barking. He also would bark and startle easily to noises and sights while inside. I saw this the first day I visited; however, I walked my client through counter conditioning and he quickly changed from seeing me as scary to someone he wanted to hang out with. I won’t go through everything that we talked about but we started with an enrichment and management plan. He began showing much more relaxed body muscles, less barking and more interest in interacting with guests – at least inside.
They said when we first met that they had not walked him outside their property in several years because he was so ‘reactive’ to dogs and people and moving objects and unfamiliar sounds.
I can understand how adding any triggers into the mix when he was out, would cause him to erupt. On the morning of the video, it was a very quiet environment. He was over his anxiety threshold the entire time (we only stayed less than 15 minutes). I recommended we get my client’s vet involved.
Getting their veterinarian involved was life changing not only for their dog’s fear and anxiety, but for his family too. He began taking anti anxiety medications. This step allowed him to process his world differently, with a greater threshold for life events to become major anxiety triggers. It allowed us to have incredible success teaching him his world is safe.
Guests to their home, who previously would send him over the deep end with big emotions, have now become happy events. He can be outside, relax and enjoy himself.
These days Rudy is definitely FINE in more situations than he is a fearful dog, with a lot of what he encounters in his world. And that is truly heartwarming!
If you are seeing any of these dog stress signals in your dog, I encourage you to see the help of a qualified professional. Please reach out if I can be of help!
