# first time fostering a dog with PTSD



## oliversmom (Jan 18, 2008)

Hi all: 

Wow, I have so many questions. My husband and I are fostering a dog from our local rescue for the first time ever and we have a pretty difficult little girl. 

Lila was rescued six weeks ago from a situation where she was chained up, emaciated, and attempting to protect her puppies. She went into the home of one of women who run the rescue for a week and then into their shelter building and now she's with us. 

Considering what she went through she's pretty good, but she's very afraid of people, including my husband. Sometimes she'll pee when he's just standing over her. 

I realize that time will do a lot, but my main concern right now is that she seems to be overly attaching to me. She cries when I leave the room for about 45 minutes and then she'll calm down. Most of the problems come in the evening, when she seems to get especially anxious. She acts out by guarding me against our other dog, Mowat, so I can't even get close to him without her lunging at him or simply getting upset that I'm addressing him. 

I did a short training session with her today and afterwards went into the kitchen, which she couldn't access because there's a baby-gate in the doorway, in order to give Mowat a break from her (because of her hyper-arousal, she finds it hard to calm down, although that is getting better). Once I was in another room, with Mowat, which she couldn't access, she went ballistic, barking, barking, barking for over 10 minutes and I finally calmed her down by crouching beside her, although she cowered then so that's not ideal. 

I've been dealing with the evenings by leaving the room and spending my time elsewhere while she, my husband, and Mowat hang out, but I'm not sure if that's ideal either. 

We aren't even thinking about how to desensitize her to people yet (which she's terrified of for the most part) because there's all this to consider. I'm thinking that maybe I should leave the training to my husband and simply ignore her...(although that's so hard!!) ??? 

Any, any, any advice, thoughts, suggestions are very welcome! And thank you in advance!


----------



## Nuclear_Glitter (Jun 20, 2012)

My current foster dog, Oswald was doing similar things at first. He's a puppymill dog. He was crated in a small crate for 4-5 years. 

When I first brought him home he attached to me very quickly, and he'd growl at my dog when he got near. So, I played a game I call "cookie dog party". I'd leash the foster, and have someone bring my dog in, and when the foster seen my dog I'd feed him treats and praise him. I'd just act really happy that my dog had come into the room. Then, when my dog left, the treats and attention left. Then after a minute or two, I'd have my dog brought back and the party would start again. 

I did this a few times a week because Oswald's growling wasn't that intense. You could do this a few times a day though and it could really help thing. 

As far as the dog crying when I leave the room, I still haven't gotten that fixed yet. There are several separation anxiety tips around the forum and the web though.


----------



## oliversmom (Jan 18, 2008)

Thanks for the great idea. We'll try it. Her resource guarding with Mowat seems to happen mainly at night. She seems to get triggered by the dark. Your poor guy, in a crate for that long. Who are these people?


----------



## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

I'll try to make a longer response later, but initially, I think try having your husband interact with the dog while he is sitting down. Even sitting on the floor. Much less threatening for a scared dog. More interaction with your husband is good, but it should be very low-key to start with. 

While you're home and supervising, leaving a harness and traffic lead/hand loop on the dog can give you a non-scary way of grabbing the dog or moving her from room to room. 

I've had moderate success with the herbal anti-anxiety chews and water additives. Valerian root seems to help. I've used it for a dog that screamed and panicked in the car and for a dog that was overwhelmed in crowd and both were more mellow with the herbs but not in any way drugged or sluggish. If the dog is on any meds or has any health problems, check with a vet first though.


----------

