Separation Anxiety and Biting

[Lovetodream88]

Originally Posted by dottiesyrky

Again Taylor, that is your positive experience and I am glad it worked for Callie. My vet said that Prozac, I believe, was not always helpful and could cause bad effects. But perhaps other meds may be more helpful with no adverse effects. A dog psych suggested giving my dog Prozac a long time ago for his fear aggression, but after what the vet said I did not do so. It was time and patient training that improved him.

There are lots of new advancements in anxiety medicines now even more since Callie was on one. They even have ones specialized for different issues. I just know that my anxiety is terrible and I couldn’t imagine how much worse it would be without medicines so I would hate for an anxious pup to feel like that.

[dottiesyrky]

Thanks for the Alpha link. I quickly scanned through it and found it informative. Perhaps alpha is the wrong word I used, it was not meant to be that I dominated my dog in a cruel manner, but rather that he knew I was in charge. One can be in charge and still use positive techniques.
Thanks for the update on the newer meds for dog anxiety, I am behind the times there!

[Lovetodream88]

Originally Posted by dottiesyrky

Thanks for the Alpha link. I quickly scanned through it and found it informative. Perhaps alpha is the wrong word I used, it was not meant to be that I dominated my dog in a cruel manner, but rather that he knew I was in charge. One can be in charge and still use positive techniques.
Thanks for the update on the newer meds for dog anxiety, I am behind the times there!

Sometimes I wish I wasn’t so up on the times lol. I swear sometimes it’s like I’m at the vet every week.

[DoHxBoY]

Wow, this thread blew up a bit! I actually only got one email saying I had a reply, came expecting one reply and see 2 pages!

Thank you all for your input!

Originally Posted by Lovetodream88

Sounds like you need to go to the vet and get something for the anxiety. He also should not be lose in the car for his safety. He either needs to be buckled in or in a travel kennel/crate.

When this initially started becoming a big problem, we did seek counsel from our vet and she mentioned a few methods such as Adaptil, keeping him in a crate in the car, or even buckling him in; none of those worked completely. He wanted nothing to do with the Adaptil, often avoiding whatever we sprayed (wish we had this when he was chewing on things!), buckling him in just meant he went completely nuts in one place and tried to hang himself with the belt/harness, and the crate idea was "semi-successful".

My wife does keep him in a crate when her mother is driving them around, and he is relatively calm/sleeps. However, as soon as the car pulls into a parking lot, he goes nuts because he knows someone is going to get out of the car. So, the crate idea partially works, keeps us from being bit and him from barking at any panhandler or kid waiting to cross the street, but he is absolutely still suffering from the anxiety.

In regards to the safety of him being in a crate or strapped in, I've yet to find a solution that truly works and is actually safe. I watched the crash test videos that were performed by Subaru and pretty much every option caused the dog to explode out of the crate, carrier, or harness. The best option appeared to be the ClickIt Harness by SleepyPod, but even that was redesigned and fails now where it didn't before. Even then, He is only 7lbs and it is rated 18-90.

Right now he has the Kurgo Tru-Fit Harness which came with a seatbelt tether. We tried using the tether and.. of course.. it didn't work very well. He would still try to jump all over the place, whined and cried because he couldn't get to us, nearly hung himself on the seatbelt behind him, and all sorts of other issues. We also tried the Kurgo Skybox, but needless to say he went sky diving out of that no matter how we adjusted the straps/harness/belt.

That all said, if you have any better suggestions for him riding in the car with us, we are all ears. I think something that actually goes between us would be best but I haven't seen anything that would fit the bill.

Originally Posted by KatysMom

Hi DoHxBoY,

Vino is a cutie! I'm so sorry that you and your honey-boy have to go through this. There are so many rewards at the back end, so I hope you can see it through.

Your post doesn't mention walks. Do you take Vino on long harness/leash walks? Is that part of your routine with him? While the vet may prescribe some meds, walking Vino may do even more for all of you. It's good for his health, helps him burn off excess energy, allows you to observe his behavior around other people and animals. As well, it's good environment during which you can use positive reinforcement to remind Vino that you are the boss.

You wrote, "My wife and I do not mind the barking and whining, his whines/grunts are so freaking cute that it's ridiculous; the biting we need to stop though."

Possible Vino's barking and whining are frequently just a lead in/prelude to more aggressiveness. So, you want to catch it early and have him calm down before it reaches a point at which he has less control.

He is not going anywhere, and I would never give him up because of this; we will definitely see this through to the bitter end.

Unfortunately, we do not "walk" him very often. He does come with us when we go shopping, and he does walk in those times, but we are not very outdoorsy (it's way to hot down here) and he is pad trained, so he doesn't get brought out on "business" walks. That said, he chases his "sister" Belle, a cat about his age, all over the place and we play with him quite a lot, so his energy is usually expended in those situations.

Mentioning socialization, at first he was amazing, and would go to anyone and everyone. Lately, he's been very over-protective and doesn't like when people come too close. He is also selective in this as well, some people can come right up to him and pet him, others he gets very guarded from them simply looking at him and he starts barking. With dogs, he is fine with other little dogs, but he's always barked at bigger dogs since he was a baby. Our Neighbors have a Yorkie and a Pitbull nextdoor, he is perfectly fine with the Yorkie, but thinks he's all big and bad when the Pitbull comes around.

His whining and growling is definitely a precursor, and we've tried our best to stop him in those moments but nothing seems to work. My wife was even chumming him with bits of treats in an attempt to retrain him in the car and praise him when he was quiet or would stop on a command; but it didn't last/work very well.

Originally Posted by Lovetodream88

There are lots of new advancements in anxiety medicines now even more since Callie was on one. They even have ones specialized for different issues. I just know that my anxiety is terrible and I couldn’t imagine how much worse it would be without medicines so I would hate for an anxious pup to feel like that.

When I mentioned in my original post about being no stranger to anxiety, it is exactly as you say. My wife suffered from debilitating anxiety, and medication more or less saved her life. This is why it breaks out heart that he is going through this and we want to do everything we can to help him.

The vet did prescribe him Trazodone, and it "kind of" worked. Shortly after giving it to him, he would shake uncontrollably for a few minutes and then basically be completely comatose the majority of the day. So, it did calm him down, but those tremors scared us to death and we did not want to give that to him again. Maybe there is a different medication we could try, but did I also mention it is impossible to give him pills? He knows a pill, no matter how we try to hide it, and they never get taken easily. He has been on Trifexis (Heartworm/Parasite/Fleas) for 9 months now, and I dread the day we need to give it to him each month.

We just want our little guy to be okay, to be content with being alone and be okay with us leaving him for any given time.