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

My reactive GSD is on fluoxetine and it's been great. She calmed down enough to learn (and it took many months to even start after the behaviourist and vet suggested it as there was a stage of ruling out other things). It's bloody expensive, but 1 year later life is very different and her dose has halved and she will hopefully be off the medication in some more months. This is alongside training, lots of rest (her) and hard work (us).
Lots of people suggested various herbal alternatives that are a bit useless and people love giving terrible advice to reactive dog owners, especially those with no dogs who watch "trainers" on tv. Ignore them, keep talking to your vet and behaviourist, you're not alone

Thanks, I appreciate it and I'm so glad the fluoxetine has helped your dog (alongside all your hard work of course).

Yeah we've had all the suggestions of adaptil collars, herbal supplements etc, none of it makes a blind bit of difference.

I think those who haven't been through it don't understand how severe separation anxiety can be - so many people suggest we leave the TV on for her or something as though that's going to help when she's howling the house down 🤣

I had a very, very anxious greyhound who got more and more anxious as time went on, to the point where it was almost impossible to walk her. She also cried a lot when at home on her own. The answer? Another greyhound. We got a calm, happy boy who just loved walks and people, and everything was a new adventure to him. Sorted her right out, she was like a different dog almost instantly. They were totally fine just hanging out together at home, we'd record them on video and they'd both be upside down on the sofas snoozing.

I'd never just have one greyhound again, they love being in pairs.

People are weirdly judgemental about using medication for dogs for some reason - it's almost like they think it's the lazy way out.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with it if done properly - our beagle is on calming supplements (as recommended by our vet) and it's made a huge difference to our lives. He can now be left home alone for an hour or two, he's much less reactive on walks and doesn't run, hide and shake whenever he hears a loud noise. The difference is incredible.

Please don't let people put you off. Some dogs just need a little bit of a helping hand to be able to learn properly, and that's okay. It doesn't mean you've failed as an owner!

Thanks all. Saw the vet this afternoon and they've prescribed low dose Fluoxetine. We'll see how it goes over the next few weeks and months

That’s great news.
Let us know how it goes.

Good luck! I noticed a sudden improvement in my dog after 3 weeks. She was suddenly able to get involved properly in the training.

Great news! Hopefully it will help you both and let you move forward with the training.

That's fab news OP - hopefully she'll be feeling much better soon 🥰

Hi all

I know a few of you asked for an update so here I am.

She's been on medication for 3.5 weeks now and actually started to show a marked improvement a couple of days after starting. We're not really sure why as obviously Fluoxetine doesn't work instantly. We did start the meds around 3 months after we got her so perhaps hitting the 3 month mark meant she felt more secure and at home with us.

There's been a real shift in the separation anxiety training. When we first started with the behaviourist in mid May, ddog would come to the door and whine 15 seconds after I left. She's now up to 30 mins solo and so utterly chilled - we have cameras to watch her and she usually either stays in her bed or gets up and potters for a bit before burrowing under our duvet or sunbathing on our bed (her favourite place to be). We're continuing to be cautious and still slowly increasing times as advised by our behaviourist but so far so good.

Reactivity has also reduced dramatically. We went to the park recently as some friends were having a bbq - only intended to stay briefly as she's found it hard to settle in public before, but she was super chilled - spent most of her time lying down sunbathing, totally floppy, untense and relaxed. I couldn't believe it.

Obviously there is still work to do and we continue working closely with the behaviourist and not putting her in situations that are too much for her. We're bracing ourselves for possible regressions during the training but things are definitely looking up.

Currently enjoying my morning coffee while she's cuddled up under my duvet slumbering with me 🥹🐾

That´s reassuring to hear. My rescue has just been prescribed it by the vet for general anxiety (with panic) and also to help with thunderstorm/ fireworks phobias. It is working very well so far. My vet also started him on Reconcile (dog Prozac) but he had really bad side effects from it so we stopped that and he is on Trazodone which seems much better.

Fab news op, she’s doing so well!

Fluoxetine has been transformative for my dog. We would have had to rehome or pts without it. Nothing else worked but now he can live a normal happy life. I hope yours is the same OP.

That’s great news OP! So pleased it’s working for her 😊

That's amazing OP.

OP just wondering how things are going now? This is something I’m considering after 2 years of battling reactivity and anxiousness