[quote=JulieR]
Originally Posted by rushdoggie
In my experience with rescues, anyway. For years I nurtured the anxiety and never understood why that didn't work. Now, I get it.
Well, like article says, it won't help, but its not gonna hurt either.
This is just a personal pet peeve of mine. I have spent 20 years training dogs: mine, foster dogs, other people's dogs and I keep hearing how by petting your scared dog you will reinforce the fear, and that drives me nuts because its just not true.
You are absolutely right that if you freak out with the dog you will possibly make it worse, because the dog can cue off of you that there is something wrong. But you are not going to make it worse if you pet your dog or reassure him.
You can't verbalize and reason with a dog. But you can show him with your calm confidence that you are in control of the situation and THIS is not a time where fear and worry are necessary, or healthy.
And you can show him with calm kindness that he can come to you for comfort.
However, it sounds like your dog's anxiety was WAY off the charts, and medication in cases like that can be lifesaving. For any extreme anxiety a trip to the vet is in order, just to rule out anything that might stand in the way of homegrown measures.
True. She was a legend, lol. And you are right in that a new onset of fearful behavior should incur an immediate trip to the vet.
But since I had such good results using meds and behavior modification, after years of both of us suffering and her behavior getting worse, I believe early intervention is helpful. I started right away with a different dog who was terrified of fireworks, and he improved quite a lot. There's no reason for your dog to suffer when the meds are easily available and inexpensive.