Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2011 7:28 am Post subject: Hi again, more issues need advice. (the pony and trap again)
I dont want to be a nusiance, but this one is not about the fireworks problem we have.
In my other post I said about the gypsy type pony and trap that shot past her, and terrified her. It happened 2 nights running, and the sods turned round and went past her again, once one of them shouted out that the dog was scared.
That was saturday eve, so sunday eve, my hubby, peter, took her a different time, to a different place, but they were obviously riding round all the roads, as they went passed again..
This time they were on some waste ground, which he thought would be safer for her. But he said she shot past him to get home, and would have given a winning greyhound a good run for its money.
Yesterday i took her as normal in the morning, but she was awful on her lead, and very wary in the park. So much so that she would not run for her ball unless my mums dog was running with her. Jodie is 10 and our Clover is 5, and they see each other every day in the morning.
All day she was twitchy and alert, whining, running up and down stairs. I didnt go to work yesterday, and she just followed me round, I stuck to the normal routine, and tried not to overdo the fuss, tried to keep to normal.
I went over my parents, who live 5 mins away, for about half hour, when I got back she was up the top of the stairs barking. (we dont let her in the bedrooms, its the cats sanctuary) so we have a gate at the top.
When Peter came home, she ran out to see him, but when it came to her walk, she refused to leave the garden. He walked away, calling and whistling, so she followed him. He said he kept hiding and she would find him all tail wagging, but would then want to go home. He just took her long enough to poo, then came home. Thinking about it, was the hiding bit right?, it seemed right at the time, to encourage her to stay with him and not bolt home.
He left her lead off just to walk along the grass with her to poo.
This morning I took her out, usual, up park, met mum and Jodie. Clover was far more relaxed, but she is awful on the lead, pulls like crazy, and just goes on red alert when its on, settles if I let her walk with me, but I am not overly keen on that all the time, times and situations dictate she needs to be on the lead.
We have bought a DAP spray, sprayed it on a piece of cloth and tucked it in her collar, that worked wonders. Peter bought plug in herbal, pet rescue, I think its called. Also Mum bought some stress relief tablets, and Peter bought some stress relief oil that you put with food.
At bedtime we had a bit of barking, so after a few mins I went downstairs, sprayed a small bit on the cloth tucked into her collar, and she settled.
But I need advice with the lead walking, getting her settled again for walks.
The issue with the barking and stressing when left.
I cannot stay in with her all the time, and these things have never ever been a problem before. I do not want to be in a situation where I have to have a dog sitter just to pop up the shop. I wont take her and tie her up outside, I dont trust ppl enough to do that.
But she is pretty stressed at the moment.
Having said that, right now she is stretched out in the garden, but I want to go out later, I am only going to the cemetary, it is 6 yrs tomorrow that our daughter died, so I want to sort the flowers out, and normally I would take her. But I am not sure whether to take her, and see how it goes, or leave her and see how that goes. The church is 5 minutes up the road.
Peter took her out the car this morning twice, initially she was reluctant to leave me and the garden, but did it, we left the gate open, second time she went ahead of him quite happily.
Also there was no major stress from her when he went to work.
When I leave the house, its always calm, no fuss, shoes on, she gets in her bed, I give her a treat and leave, no fuss, no messing about and she is fine. But yesterday it didnt work and she was awful when I got home.
As Sue says, you are not a nuisance, you want to do whats best for your girl as we all do for our dogs.
We have a lady here who is a behaviourist, I`ll drop her a PM and ask if she can have a look at this thread to se if she can help or advise (You can`t PM her as your not subscribed, at least not yet)
Hi again, I`ve had a reply from Lizi, she`s very busy atm but she has said that you need professional on the ground help and a suitable desensitisation/counter-conditioning plan in place ASAP.
She also advises that Clover isn`t walked again until this has been done as she`s obviously petrified and it`ll only make things worse to keep walking her.
Hope this helps and you can find someone who can help you with Clover.
Jellybelly, all I can advise, apart from not walking her anywhere where these people are with the pony and trap, is that you seek professional, on-the-ground help with this ASAP from someone experienced in working with fear and anxiety issues. Fear and anxiety issues have a horrible way of escalating if not dealt with patiently and sensitivity, and we're coming up to fireworks season too, which will add more stress for her. The more stressed she gets, the more her nervous system is jangled, the less able she will become to regulate her emotional response and behaviour towards fear/anxiety-inducing stimuli and events, so getting some on-the-ground help now is really important. January/February time is when I see the majority of my noise/fear/anxiety/separation cases because people wait too long after fireworks season to get professional help. By the time they eventually do, their dogs won't leave the house for anything - I actually had one case last year where the dog had started to refuse to go outside into the garden, even to pee and poop. So please seek some on-the-ground help now - don't put it off.
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Hi again, more issues need advice. (the pony and trap again)
