# Tips for a rescue with anxiety?



## JenaMarie1988 (Feb 10, 2017)

I got my 4 year old Lab mix, Lucy, 3 years ago from a shelter. From what I heard her previous owners didn't do anything with her. After a lot of work, she now knows the basic commands (But they only work if she isn't having anxiety) and thankfully is potty trained. She was extremely happy to see me the second I walked up to her at the shelter, the woman said Lucy had never reacted that way to a person before and that she had sever anxiety and would be put to sleep if someone didn't adopt her soon. She was extremely under weight when I got her and I have gotten her to a healthy weight but if I'm not around she refuses to eat to the point that she will throw up.

She's extremely protective of me- doesn't want anyone to come near me. If anyone even walks past my house she barks uncontrollably and has destroyed my blinds. She actually bites the window sill if someone gets to close to the door!

I have tried socializing her (with people, because she already loves animals) and she does AMAZING at the dog park- she doesn't even pay attention to the people wondering around. But once we leave the dog park as soon as she sees a person her anxiety kicks in. If I see someone before she does I can normally distract her but it doesn't always work. She is a very sweet and happy dog when she is around people that she trusts.

Lucy only knows the basic commands because of her behavior I trainer her myself at first. But I have spent thousands of dollars taking her to trainers and even took her to a behavior specialist and nothing has helped. 
Does anyone have any tips to help things run a little smoother for us?


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## Kathyy (Jun 15, 2008)

Has medication ever been mentioned?

My first fearful dog acted much as Lucy - at the shelter I was his long lost friend. He was car sick going home and the very next day was fearfully barking at people walking by. It took years before he stopped startling and barking when people came into the room from other parts of the house. I do not allow my dogs next to the window where they can bark so at least that wasn't a problem, they are thanked for letting me know about the cat, dog, bike and called out of the room. When he lost his hearing late in life he stopped being so worried about people. I suspect putting him on medication so that initial startle was dampened would have helped him a great deal. There's a long thread on a sub forum on Molly's journey with meds here. that might be of interest. My current fearful dog will be evaluated and medicated if need be but I do some of the things mentioned on that forum with quite a bit of improvement after a year.


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## Lillith (Feb 16, 2016)

While you are training, try to avoid her triggers as best you can. Put something up to block her sight out the window. They have "frost" paper that you can stick to your windows, etc, that may be helpful. Try to avoid walking when you know there will be lots of people about, that sort of thing.

Does she react differently to people on leash vs. off leash? The reason I ask is because you said she was fine at the dog park (which I'm assuming is off leash) but once you left (assuming on leash) she reacts.

How long did you use the methods the trainers suggested to you? Where they positive, force free, rewards based trainers? Anxiety is something that takes a long time to correct, far more than a few months or weeks with a trainer, and sometimes the dog will just never be what most people consider "normal." I would also suggest reading "Medicating Molly" to see if that is an option you would like to explore.


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## TGKvr (Apr 29, 2015)

What did the behaviorist specialist have to say?


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## JenaMarie1988 (Feb 10, 2017)

Kathyy said:


> Has medication ever been mentioned?
> 
> My first fearful dog acted much as Lucy - at the shelter I was his long lost friend. He was car sick going home and the very next day was fearfully barking at people walking by. It took years before he stopped startling and barking when people came into the room from other parts of the house. I do not allow my dogs next to the window where they can bark so at least that wasn't a problem, they are thanked for letting me know about the cat, dog, bike and called out of the room. When he lost his hearing late in life he stopped being so worried about people. I suspect putting him on medication so that initial startle was dampened would have helped him a great deal. There's a long thread on a sub forum on Molly's journey with meds here. that might be of interest. My current fearful dog will be evaluated and medicated if need be but I do some of the things mentioned on that forum with quite a bit of improvement after a year.


I brought up medication when I first got Lucy, but her vet said she wanted to try other options, like exercising her more, which doesn't work very often, thankfully today it did. We went for an hour walk and she even slept through a friend coming over. The vet recommended a trainer too but after working with the trainer for 7 months, she said there was nothing she could do for Lucy unless she was medicated. Last year I brought up medication again and her vet said she didn't want to do it because it could cause damage to Lucy's liver and suppress her appetite when it took so long to get her to a healthy weight. The behavior specialist recommended Bach's Rescue Remedy, and I asked the vet about that and she said that would be okay for Lucy. Lucy is currently on Rescue Remedy and had been for the past year but there hasn't been much of a difference.
Thank you for the link, I will check it out!


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## JenaMarie1988 (Feb 10, 2017)

Lillith said:


> While you are training, try to avoid her triggers as best you can. Put something up to block her sight out the window. They have "frost" paper that you can stick to your windows, etc, that may be helpful. Try to avoid walking when you know there will be lots of people about, that sort of thing.
> 
> Does she react differently to people on leash vs. off leash? The reason I ask is because you said she was fine at the dog park (which I'm assuming is off leash) but once you left (assuming on leash) she reacts.
> 
> How long did you use the methods the trainers suggested to you? Where they positive, force free, rewards based trainers? Anxiety is something that takes a long time to correct, far more than a few months or weeks with a trainer, and sometimes the dog will just never be what most people consider "normal." I would also suggest reading "Medicating Molly" to see if that is an option you would like to explore.


I will definitely look for the frost paper! I do try to walk her when not many people are around, normally very early in the morning, around 2pm and late at night are the best times to walk her around. I felt like a creeper watching outside to see when the times were that people weren't around but I felt it was something I needed to do for Lucy. 

She does react differently to people on leash vs. off leash but it also depends on her environment. It used to be that she just pulled and barked when I was walking her, the trainer said its because she is overprotective of me but recently she has started acting like that when any female is walking her. Off leash at the dog park she does great, but off leash at home she will start circling someone she doesn't know. Someone came over to help my roommate with some yard work and my roommate left the door open, Lucy got out and acted like she was going to be playful but when he reached for her she nipped at him. 

Then there was an extremely odd but good interaction with an AC repair man. Part of an assignment that her behavior specialist gave us was to slowly introduce her to things, so when the repairman came over I put her leash on her and had her sit in the hallway where she couldn't see the man but she could hear him. Every couple of minutes I would have her walk a few steps and sit again until she got to the end of the hallway and could see him. I had her sit and watch him for 10 minutes and she didn't react at all so I dropped the leash but had my foot near it just in case she reacted. She started to wag her tail, ran to him, jumped on the couch and started licking him. But I have tried that same process with my nephew's friend and it doesn't work, as soon as she hears his voice she tries to go after him. She has never had a problem with children before this.

Most of the trainers we stay with for a while unless the trainer tells us to leave, which has happened a few times. One time I left after 2 sessions because the trainer wanted to muzzle her, which once I met the behavior specialist she said I made the right choice because with how Lucy is, muzzling her would only have made it worse. I always look for positive reward based trainers, the only one that wasn't was the trainer that wanted to muzzle her even though he advertised that he was a positive reward based trainer and I heard that his business got shut down. I am actually still with the behavior specialist but she has been out of town for several months due to her mothers health and Lucy is regressing big time. What little progress she has made is reversing even though I am still using the same methods.


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## JenaMarie1988 (Feb 10, 2017)

TGKvr said:


> What did the behaviorist specialist have to say?


First of all, she suggested using Bach Rescue Remedy since the vet refuses to put Lucy on anxiety medication, Lucy has been on it for about a year, it helped a little in the beginning but not as much anymore and if she sees me putting it in her water she will refuse to drink it. The specialist actually wanted me to put the dropper straight into Lucy's mouth or put the Rescue Remedy on the inside of Lucy's ear but she won't let me do either of them. If anyone has any suggestions to get it in her system easier, I'm open to idea's.

The specialist said that she thinks Lucy was born with anxiety and she is more than certain that other dogs from her litter have it too, and the fact that her previous owners weren't the best and being in a shelter made it worse. Since I'm the one that got Lucy out of it she is extremely protective of me and too dependent on me, which isn't good for either of us. She also noticed that even when Lucy is scared she has more confidence when she is outside but she will refuse to go very far if she goes outside with the behavior specialist and I am still inside. Lucy has what the specialist called an invisible leash because to Lucy I saved her, so she needs to always be close by and on alert to save me. 

Lucy is deathly scared of loud sounds so the behavior specialist held Lucy's leash across the room from me and made as much noise as possible, Lucy was panting, shaking and crying until she let go of the leash and Lucy ran straight to me, as soon as her body came in contact to my leg she stopped all signs of anxiety even though there was still loud noises. I'm currently still working with the behavior specialist, (but she has been out of town recently) because Lucy has shown the most progress with her. We have gotten Lucy to the point where she doesn't need to be touching me, she just needs to be in a small space to feel comfortable. I have even re-arranged my bedroom so that there are spaces for her to go into to feel comfortable and as Lucy progresses more we can change the environment again.

The Specialist also explained to me that we will never get the anxiety out of Lucy, all we can do is give her some better coping tools and show her that it's okay to relax because I'm safe.


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## Lillith (Feb 16, 2016)

JenaMarie1988 said:


> I will definitely look for the frost paper! I do try to walk her when not many people are around, normally very early in the morning, around 2pm and late at night are the best times to walk her around. I felt like a creeper watching outside to see when the times were that people weren't around but I felt it was something I needed to do for Lucy.
> 
> She does react differently to people on leash vs. off leash but it also depends on her environment. It used to be that she just pulled and barked when I was walking her, the trainer said its because she is overprotective of me but recently she has started acting like that when any female is walking her. Off leash at the dog park she does great, but off leash at home she will start circling someone she doesn't know. Someone came over to help my roommate with some yard work and my roommate left the door open, Lucy got out and acted like she was going to be playful but when he reached for her she nipped at him.
> 
> ...


First off, I would probably get an opinion from a different vet. Your trainer is right, Lucy's anxiety is most likely hereditary. As you will read in the Medicating Molly thread, in order to make any real progress you have to get Lucy to a place in her mind where she can learn the coping skills the trainer you are working with is teaching. 

For now, continue to manage her and make sure she has as few stressful encounters as possible.


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