Chance had a pretty successful training walk today. There were less dogs out than usual (because…pandemic), so that helped. The only one she really barked at was a neighbor’s Pug that came out of their backyard already barking its head off, and yet Chance gave it up quickly.
It was our first daytime walk in ages. She checked in on me [attention/eye contact] without being asked to do so and maintained a pretty good heel (or maybe just kept a pretty good eye on the hotdog I had in my hand…I don’t care…whatever works, man).
She is now down to just 20mg Prozac (from 40 mg) plus 15 drops of CBD Oil. This seems to be an effective cocktail. I’m hoping to wean her off the Prozac and likely double up on the CBD Oil. Hopefully by late Fall, we would have had more success and enough time to train outdoor.
I’m all for medicine to lower anxiety so you can get through to the dog. Believe me, I didn’t used to be.
Years ago, I met a dog walker on the island and we talked about this. She opened up about how she always felt (or feels) like people were staring at her when she was eating in public, but that when she was on meds, she realized it was all in her mind.
Many clients are still opposed to the mere suggestion of drugs. It’s definitely not my first plan of action, but if we’re faced with trying to fix a behavior that’s been baked for… shrug… at least 3 years, and realistically you don’t have the time or patience (or even the talent!) to train, or money to hire someone to train your dog indefinitely, short of waving a magic wand (or resorting to… gulp… positive punishment), I’m not sure how you expect to fix the problem with any aid.
I’ve been to countless seminars by some of the greatest minds in dog training (i.e. Nicholas Dodman, Debbie Jacobs, to name a few) and they’ll tell you the same thing. I remember Debbie Jacobs showing us a photo of her dog looking “happy” because it was on drugs.
I’ve come a long way; I no longer worry that clients will think I’m an inefficient trainer if I cannot “heal” their dog. I know exactly what I am (and am not) capable of, and gone are my sugarcoating days; I tell it like it is.
Fear, which is maybe 80% of the cases I come across, especially due to lack of socialization, is not something I can fix in 1-6 sessions (that’s the usual number of sessions people sign up for), and that doesn’t make me lousy.
Training + Maintenance + Acceptance
When I learned that Jorge was autistic (2010) and realized that Chance had very unstable nerves (2012), I had no clue what to do. Eventually, I matured enough as a trainer to understand that there are some things worth training and other things simply left accepting. I’d been given the gift of a “special needs” dog in Jorge – who probably should be on drugs, but I have just chosen the route of 100% training + maintenance + acceptance even if that means threats to bite me and the other two dogs on a daily basis, and Chance – who is on medicine to help me get through to her while training.
In the same way that drugs are not for everyone, for some, drugs might just have to be a lifelong thing. I suspect that Chance may have to be on it for life, even at a low dose, because that’s how she’s wired [nature]. And guess what? That’s ok. Like Debbie Jacobs, I want my dog to be happy, so…whatever works. xoxo