Medication for anxious/reactive dogs?

[Allelbowsandtoes]

Hi
Some of you may remember my posts from the last few months. DP and I bought home a 3 year old whippet 3 months ago, we found her online so it was a private rehoming. I don't need to be told how naive we've been, I know that now but despite that we really are doing our best by her now.

It became clear early on that she has separation anxiety, we've been working on this with a behaviourist (who comes highly recommended and has all the qualifications) without much progress.
She's also been reactive towards other dogs - at first only when we'd been sat in a public place for a while and she saw it as her territory to defend, but it's been happening on walks too over the last week or so which is new. I know its early days but her behaviour I getting worse rather than better.

We're doing everything our behaviourist suggest and have been consistent with it but it's so hard as sometimes she reacts seemingly out of nowhere and it's hard to intervene when there are minimal warning signs. She hasn't bitten other dogs or tried to but she will sometimes bark very angrily at them.

We've tried calming supplements with no luck and now thinking about medication to lower her overall stress levels so we can do the training properly. Any advice or experiences?

Thanks

I have a dachshund who is very protective over me in particular, he's now 7 & in all honesty I don't think he'll change. People do tend to laugh at him due to his size but he hates other dogs. Loves people. Hates dogs. Goes ballistic & has bitten,(not entirely his fault because he was on leash but other dog wasn't &: escaped from a garden), luckily owner was fine about it. Very lucky.
I suspect what's happening is that she's getting more comfortable with you, she is insecure and not wanting anything to threaten her safety with you. I'd try to distract her with treats if she likes them, it's the only thing that works for my dog, bribery (!)
Trying to make sure that you are providing a barrier between your dog & any other dogs when walking.
I'm sorry not to know a lot about medication, would your vet be helpful with this? Presumably you've tried the herbal medications?

What tactics are you using that the trainer has suggested?

My dog is on Trazodone.
He suffers from separation anxiety, which became worse after lockdown.
He”s been on it for about 2 years now.
It’s wonderful, he’s much calmer, and I’m more relaxed and happy knowing I can leave him and he’s snoozing, and not barking continuously.
Vet keeps a close eye on him, but I haven’t noticed any side effects.

The best person to advise on meds is the behaviourist

A vet. Speak to a vet.

No one should be giving medication to their dogs that effect their behaviour and/or personality without speaking to a vet.

However, I would be doubtful a vet would be willing to medicate a dog with behavioural issues (SA/reactivity) for out in public. At home, maybe. Simply because the second you stop the medication, the unpleasant behaviour will just reappear...and you can't medicate her forever.

Being completely honest, you need to not give her the opportunity to react. You need to divert her attention on walks. Keep it on you at all times. Nothing else. Don't let her run along on a loose lead. Call out if other dogs approach etc. You need to manage this quickly - it will likely escalate to biting eventually. And the best way to do that is be consistent with diverting her attention and not putting her in situations that make her uncomfortable. It's difficult - I've been there.

Medicating her isn't going to fix her problems, it's going to mask them from you. And chances are she'll still be stressed but you won't have any obvious 'tells' to look for - and that's when it gets dangerous for both you and her.

You need to speak to a vet.

Aaawwwwww I love Whippets.

Can we see a photo please?

You need to avoid the situations that make your pup anxious. So don’t leave the dog for any longer than it can cope with. Avoid getting close enough to other dogs to trigger the reactivity.
Dog training advice and support on FB gives good advice.

Vets commonly prescribe medication for dogs with reactivity and other anxieties. It's not meant to completely mask their behaviour, it's a tool used to Lower their stress levels so that the training works better.

I cant completely avoid all triggers with her and its utterly impossible to keep her attention on me at all times while we're out - she's totally hypervigilant.

I should have been clear that we have an appointment to speak to a vet next week.

Thankyou, that's really helpful.

I'm hoping my vet will prescribe something non sedating like Sertraline but I'm really glad to hear you've had success 💙

Here's the sweet girl 💙

I presume you've tried counter conditioning with treats, if she's a foodie? It can feel like it's not working initially but with perseverance and keep her under threshold it really does make a huge difference. I could never trust mine 100% with other dogs, but we now lead a normal life where I'm not permanently stressed on walks!

Our dog is on low dose Prozac. It really was a last resort. She came from an abusive home, and she was exceptionally anxious.
She’s done really well since she started the medication. It’s made a big difference. We are continuing with the training and she’s actually able to engage with it now. She actually enjoys it. Medication (from the vet) combined with a dog group and help from a behaviourist is making a huge difference.
Do you think your dog would like agility? This is something that has also helped to build my dog’s confidence and keep her focussed and busy.

These are on offer at the moment.

One of ours is a whippet and he cannot be left because of his separation anxiety.

These biscuits are fantastic for calming.

Bless her 😊

Mine is on a form of Prozac and long lasting melatonin. Without it she simply wouldn’t be alive as she has had long term trauma and possible brain damage due to being puppy farm rescue.
You are totally correct in saying that meds can help them enough to make training more successful. It isn’t a quick fix, think months not weeks. Lots of dogs can be tapered off it once the training kicks in fully but in my case my dog will be on it for life. It’s not cheap, insurance covers most of mine thankfully.

Until you can get her under her threshold for reacting you’ll just be stacking trigger on top of trigger. Even if you have to stick to secure spaces or even brain games in the garden that is better than putting her in situations she can’t cope with.
Be careful with behaviourists. Anyone can call themself one and sometimes do more harm than good.

Nothing wrong with prescribed meds if they make her more relaxed imo

We had a very anxious dachshund and he benefitted from a thunder jacket.

Oh and being ahead of the anxiety when out and about so I always told him oh there’s a bike/dog/shopping trolley coming and moved him clearly to the other side of me with his lead and then talked to him all the way past. Without loosing my concentration. The minute he thought I was not on top of the situation he felt the need to step (bark) in. He needed
to know I was the one who was ‘on guard’ and he could trust me to keep him safe.

This isn’t true. My dog is on fluoxetine for SA and it has been transformative for him. It is likely he will be on it for life (the vet has said this). It doesn’t mask the anxiety, it removes it for him. Believe me, nothing could mask that anxiety. Without meds he’d have ended up in rescue or PTS more likely as he couldn’t even be left for five minutes. Now he’s fine for a couple of hours. It has been totally life changing where SA behaviourists and training programmes have failed - even they openly tell you that you’re likely to need meds as well as training.

The OP is also obviously going to the vet as the types of meds she’s talking about are prescription only.

I feel your pain. Our DDog is anxious and very dog reactive on lead and we tried everything with little success. Ultimately we have had to accept it and just have to avoid his triggers as much as possible (and get used to being judged constantly when walking him!). We haven't tried medication as we can manage him....just...but hemp oil has helped take the edge off a bit eg he can now cope with fireworks without completely freaking out.

My older dog had such bad separation anxiety that when I left her (went into the toilet next door) to go for a wee she ate through a wall. Now she can happily be left for a few hours. Because we followed the advice on the FB group I mentioned. It’s not quick and it wasn’t easy but it works.

We’ll have to agree to disagree as neither my vets nor my partner (a vet) would proscribe medication to dogs for behavioural issues after 3 months - there are options above that I’ve suggested that OP could do. She’s had the dog 3 months. 12 weeks. That’s much too soon to see improvement through training - these things can take years to solve and 3 months is very early to decide to medicate a dog.

Edit; I’m not trying to be harsh, but three months is far too early to medicate a dog that’s had so much upheaval - they always say dogs don’t settle for several months and if this dog came with issues of course it’ll take time for it to settle and trust OP etc. And I am genuinely surprised anyone could think it was a good idea.

Hi, yes I have. It can work well sometimes but if her stress levels are high anyway she reacts much more quickly.
I try to take her to parks when it's quiet but I can't do anything about dogs walking past on the other side of the road etc.

Hi, I'm using a behaviourist who was recommended by my vet and has all the qualifications.

As for secure fields, I cant afford it on top of the hundreds of pounds a month we're paying for dog sitters so we can go to work. Obviously she can't go to dog daycare which would be cheaper so we have to have dog sitters in our home which obviously charge quite a bit more.