Been so pleasantly busy with the start of the new semester. I am a person who loves her routine and keeping busy.
We took Gustav off the prozac as we didn't see any change and, to be honest, he actually seems a little more responsive on walks since then. Too many confounding factors to attribute that to the prozac, though.
Loona, my mom and dad's dog, is living at our house for the weekend. I took all three on a loong two hour walks yesterday and everyone was lovely. Gustav sort of dragged behind, which was odd, but did a great job with autowatches and keeping a lid on things. However, he did poor job responding to his name, which is something we've been practicing on walks. The addition of Loona and loss of the prozac are both possible factors in his behavior.
I'm looking into the possibility of another anti-anxiety drug. Justin is skeptical and I'm not sure, but I'll do some research and see what I think.
I had goals for the dogs training-wise in terms of set-ups and other things a certain number of times a week. I would say I get a "C" for fulfilling them. With the gradually warming weather and getting used to the school routine, I'm optimistic that I can get completely up to speed. It's fairly modest: a set-up a week for each (together is fine), relax-on-a-mat for Dottie three times a week, and a separation anxiety session for Gustav twice a week. And lots of u-turns and looking at me (for Gustav) on walks. The u-turns are going great, the looking at me is okay but I practice a lot so hopefully it will improve, the set-ups are pretty much on par with my goal, but the matwork and separation anxiety have not been getting done. Oh well.
So, that's what's new here.
Hi Cynthia! I just found your blog through a comment of yours on Patricia McConnell's blog (specifically, an old post on dog aggression). I have a reactive, aggressive dog who is just like Gustav, and I'm so glad I found someone else who is dealing with these problems. Just like you, I would describe my dog as "suspicious" of people, and wanna-be alpha with other dogs. He doesn't quite fit the description of fear aggression and I haven't found anyone else who has experience with issues like his. Anyway, all of this is just to say thank you for writing this and making me feel not so alone with my crazy dog. I hope you'll keep updating Gustav's progress, but for now I'll have to go back and read all your previous entries. Best of luck to you and Gustav and Dottie!
ReplyDelete~Andrea (and Angus)