Rainy Issues Update # 5

Day six

I dosed her with the xanax today and she happily ate her supper in the van! I even shut the door and walked away. She never stopped hoovering. Afterwards she started shaking a bit, so I asked her to lay down. This turned into give me belly rubs mom!

I think she was shaking because it was cold out. Tomorrow I'll try feeding her with the van running. There was a little lip licking but I think that was because she just ate. Her eyes were calm and relaxed.

Everyday she seems to improve more and more!

Rainy Issues Update #4

Day five

Dosed her with Xanax and put her in the car. No shaking but she was panting, lots of yawning, and lip licking. Drove to the park asking her to lay down at every stop light. The wind was making evening cold and miserable so we only jogged about half a mile. But we jogged most of it.

After that we hung out in the van before driving home. Rainy got done ear rubs and seemed relaxed. On the drive home she refused to lay down when asked so I pulled off into the shoulder, climbed into the back and made it happen! After that she was more inclined to listen. She still needs a physical que to lay down while we are driving but if we are parked and I'm in the back she will respond to a verbal one.

We are back at home now and I'm making her lay peacefully in the back while I type this no panting but some lip licking is going on. I think maybe tomorrow I'll go for a walk/jog around the neighborhood and see if she will eat her dinner in the van.

Not as great a day as yesterday but not much of a back slide :-)

Rainy Issues update #3

Day Four
So the xanax got the better of Rainy today! Came home from work and apparently she thought she was super man. She tried to run on the muddy carpet outside, wiped out, and needed a bath.

Then I had some lady minute shopping tonight so we didn't get a walk in. I did drug her up with 3 mg of xanax, took some crock pot turkey, and out to the van we went. I asked her to lay down and she promptly dropped. Very excited for the turkey. This is the first time she's ever eaten anything in the car! I credit the drug induced munchies.

After the food was gone she stood up and just looked around... And around... And around... No shaking no panting no yawning no lip lick living other than from the food. So I decided to let her just peacefully watch the world outside. After 10 minutes SHE decided to lay down and start chattering her teeth with happiness. I gave some ear rubs and her breathing slowed.... At that point I decided to end on a good note. Two really good days in a row. Really hope this continues!

Gobble Google

Turkey is in the crock pot

Rainy Issues Update #2

Day Two

Got home from work gave Rainy her evening meds and 2mg of Xanax. Leash her up, and in the van we go. She laid down and is barely shaking. Still nervous and panting but laid down easier and with less of a physical que from me. At every stop light we hit she still has to lay down. She does this easier but is still panting and drooling the whole time. Get to the park and she had to lay down and wait to get out of the car.

The longer she laid there the more she started to shake. I decided to not wait it out. Have her jump out of the car and we start moving our feet asap. We did 1 1/4 miles and added in jumping up on benches to our agility challenges. Rainy was really dragging by the time we got back to the van. we jump into the van and lay down. She's shaking a little but no stress panting! We stay there and think calming thoughts for about 10 minutes before driving home. Still having to lay down at every stop light we hit.

Day Three

Got home from work today and gave her 3mg of Xanax. Leashed her up and she didn't start shaking. Locked the front door and she didn't start shaking. Got her to lay down in the van and she didn't SHAKE. I kept holding my hand to her body to make sure I wasn't crazy.  Off to the park we go, still laying down at every light. We do the same routine as the other days except we added in laying down in the grass a few times and laying down on top of the retaining wall that she jumped up on. Only do 3/4 of a mile since she looked a little stiff in the shoulders and was tired and dragging after the first lap around. Still jumped energetically during our walk so she wasn't feeling that poorly.

Get back to the van and have her lay down inside. Still zero shaking! I'm excited enough right now to crawl out of my own skin! She's not 100% comfortable. She's averting her eyes and doing a lot of lip licking. We stay there in the back of the car for a good 15 minutes. I'm trying to make the car her safe resting spot after a long tiring workout. During the drive home I still made her lay down at every stop light. She was harder to convince to lay down. Not sure if she was sore, or if she was just tired of me asking her to do the same thing over and over. We got it done though! Can't wait to see what day 4 brings!

I'm amazed at our progress in such a quick time. I'm sure a lot of that is the Xanax. I'm thinking the Prozac will not kick in and start working, but will give it a few more weeks to make sure. After that time I have a couple of other options I want to try. First one is to medicate her with Soloxine. We just had a full panel run and her thyroid is normal, but what *if* this is the magic fix for her? Worth the risk of trying to me. If that doesn't work I want to try Buspar. The only drug in the third class that we haven't tried with her yet. Wish us luck and I'm open to any tips or advice! :)

Rainy's Issues Update #1

Rainy has been having issues for about a year and a half now. She's become increasingly phobic about certain noises and car rides. This is very problematic since we travel so often! I tried ignoring her issues and hoping she would work them out herself. I tried training, feeding high value treats around the popping noises, trying to have fun zippy around games during the noises, sitting in the car and relaxing for hours waiting for her to calm down, leashing her up so she cannot avoid the noises and reading a book for 90 minutes while waiting for her to stop shaking, etc

Then we started medicating her. We started with Amatriptalyn and gave that a solid 4 months. Didn't work and her anxiety increased to the point where she actually was reacting aggressively towards me doing simple things. Like put on her harness. Luckily I was wearing a sweat shirt that took the brunt of that.

We then switched to Prozac. She seemed better for a few days, then took a drastic turn for the worse! We are about 3 weeks in and she would stand in the yard and shake, refuse to come back inside, got increasingly anxious about going up the stairs, and her car issues were the worst I've ever seen!

Called the vet to report in and was advised that maybe it was time for Rainy to go to the University of Penn to see a behaviorist. Initial app there runs $450-$600. All follow ups are billed at $130 an hour. An insane cost to our household! Our wonderful vet suggested that I give her Xanax to see if I can stabilize her and said that I could increase it to three times the normal dosage with no harmful effects.

I got to thinking about Sunshine and how once we found the correct medication it was almost instantly better. Why hasn't that happened with Rainy? Sunshine had 2 years of groundwork and socialization by the time we found the correct meds. I had given up on training/conditioning until we found a med that would work to keep her brain open enough to soak it in. Maybe I have to change my approach.

After a good cry (Really love cubicle walls at work!) I decided to go back to square one and keep it simple. What do you do with a dog that has extreme excess anxiety? More exercise. What do you do with an unsure anxious dog? Training, agility, you take away their responsibility to think and make decisions   and do it for them. What's the goal for situations that make her nervous? Laying down and relaxing. So my crazy out of the box self came up with a training plan that most people will think is insane. But maybe it will work???

Day One

Put Rainy in the car by herself. Leave all other dogs/distractions at home. Have her lay down. She laid down with my physical manipulation help and shook harder than I've ever seen any living thing shake. I figured she wasn't going to calm down then but at least she was laying. Shut the van door, got int he drivers seat, started the van and off we went to a park. Rainy pops back up as soon as I started the car. At every stop light on out 10 minute drive she has to lay down.

Most of the time I am half in the back physically pushing down to ask her to lay. She shakes like a leaf but does what I ask. Once we get to the park she has to lay down before getting out of the car. We wait for at least 5 minutes. Me focusing on slow deep breathing while Rainy lays there panting frantically and shaking like a leaf.

I finally decide she isn't going to relax one tiny bit and we get out to start out jog/walk. No sniffing allowed. This is a working walk, not a fun one. This place has 3ft high retaining walls. Rainy is asked to jump up and down them. We go up and down any stairs we can find. Even found some bushes that she could jump. Rainy did NOT want to jump those bushes. As soon as she took that brave leap she landed and puffed up a good 3 feet. So proud of herself!

Kept her feet moving and her brain going for a solid mile of exercise. Changing direction, heeling, skipping, etc. Trying to keep it fun but make her tired and doing any crazy thing I ask of her. By the time we got back to the car she was exhausted! Hop back in the car. Ask her to lay down, and she was only mildly shaking. I sat there and read some email on my phone while giving her an ear massage. Rainy was still shaking and panting. Shaking was a little less than before the walk. Drove home and at every stop light she has to lay down.

 

 

Stuffies and Sunbeams