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BTW, don't let any vet RX Ace for her for anxiety or panic. Our young dog started having seizures while on Ace (which was RXed for car sickness). When I reported seizures, the vet said it, "lowered the seizure threshold"...yeah, right, it CAUSED seizures. Works fine for a cat that HOWLS on long trips, though.
We've had two sheps -- each lived over 14 years despite many SERIOUS genetic health problems (which are BTW frequent in sheps).
Can you describe when the panic occurs?
Also, there MIGHT be a pet part of city-data and if so you could repost there and might get more responses.
Thank you for your reply. She is 2 years old and I got her 2 weeks ago.If you leave her in the house when you go somewhere she tears the blinds down trying to get out.If you leave her in the back yard she digs out or she jumps the fence.Thank goodness we have good neighbors they try to put her back in the yard,but she gets right back out.She is terrified of thunder storms she paces back and forth even when she's in the house with us.She is a very sweet dog.We also have a 2 year old male german sheperd,the 2 of them get along real good.
Well rocky, I checked last night and there is a pet forum on city-data. I think it might be good to repost your question there and instead of "dogs" put the title something more pertinent to your dog's situation (so that people who know something about this situation would be more inclined to answer it).
Seems to me though that you are talking about a couple of different problems and we've experienced both with our former dogs.
In regards to the thunder storms, onae of our former dogs was elderly when we moved to Georgia and that dog had rarely (if ever) experienced a thunderstorm. The dog was terrified, drooling, pacing, panting. Her first vet RXed xanax (generic) for that. The point was that the dog was elderly, and was making himself ill from fear. We had felt that if the dog had been younger we would have tried to do MORE behavior modification (also the dog was not just elderly but had lupus and had already had one operation for malignant melonoma, so we were very concerned about what the stress of thunderstorms would do to him).
One thing that helped a little bit with the thunder was that we would put the dog in our bedroom with a "sleep machine" on (ocean noise) He was very comfortable in the bedroom because that's where he slept. This did not stop the problem, but lessened it. The problem whether you or someone in your family would be around for most/all of the thunder storms. We also turned the light off in the bedroom because that was normal for the dog. So the bedroom became a sort of "safe" zone during storms.
I think that the tearing things apart when the owner leaves is, unfortunately, pretty common. Maybe some people on the "pet" list might have some ideas about that. Personally, I'm real familiar with the destruction when gone aspect, once having forgotten something and came back to find the living room "carpeted" in dirt...I mean WALL TO WALL dirt. The dog had emptied out three planters and spread the dirt over the entire living room.
As far as the climbing fences, we found out by accident that another shep we had was climbing a 6 foot fence everyday when we left. Interestingly, the dog would be back in the yard by the time my husband and I got back from work. We got two dog runs (HIGH hurricane fence) and hooked them together and put a kiddie pool (not vinyl) in the run so that the dog had plenty of water. We placed the dog run halfway under an overhang and halfway in the "sun". The dog was pretty sneaky and actually pulled the pins out of the dog run and climed out the top, so if we were to do this again, we would re-inforce the steel pins in the top. All the escaping stopped when we got a young dog from the pound. They became fast buddies and the older dog never tried to get out. Since you've already got two dogs this night not be pratical for you, though.
You might need to try some kind of an RX with behavior mod for the thunderstorm. Personally, I hate to see a young dog on daily meds (that's just a personal preference for me) and the xanax worked better for our dog. Since your dog is young, maybe your vet would think that a small amount of a tranquilizer could be used with some behavior mod. Again, our dog was in bad physical health and elderly. If you go the tranquilizer route, what we found best was the highest strength generic xanax (which is a sort of bluish-purple), and the vet would RX an appropriate amount. We didn't want our dog zonked out, just to stop making himself ill. We found the bluish-purple one best (not because of strength) because it seemed to disolve easily IN THE DOGS MOUTH, whereas the other lesser strength ones seemed to be a little bit harder and took longer to work. Our vet also tried valium with our dog, but that seemed to take too long.
Honesly, I'll bet that the people on the "Pets" forum could offer more advice.
Wishing you all the best...and I'll "see" you over on the "pets" forum if you decide to repost.
Thank you for your reply. She is 2 years old and I got her 2 weeks ago.If you leave her in the house when you go somewhere she tears the blinds down trying to get out.If you leave her in the back yard she digs out or she jumps the fence.Thank goodness we have good neighbors they try to put her back in the yard,but she gets right back out.She is terrified of thunder storms she paces back and forth even when she's in the house with us.She is a very sweet dog.We also have a 2 year old male german sheperd,the 2 of them get along real good.
Are you bringing her for walks (on a leash) and making sure that she's getting plenty of exercise?
What you're describing is separation anxiety. Talk to a trainer about how to cope.
In the meantime, you probably need to keep her chained to prevent her from escaping.
And, the hormone I mentioned in another thread will help with thunderstorms and general anxiety.
It sounds as if your dog is experiencing separation anxiety. In almost every case, with patience, kindness and consistency, the behavior can be resolved. I'd had dogs with anxiety before, and it usually subsided once the dog became accustomed to its new surroundings and the structure of my home environment. Then I fostered an epileptic standard poodle with the most severe separation anxiety I'd ever seen. He chewed windowsills, chairs, walls and doors. He cried constantly, trembled and hid. If crated, he'd bang himself against the crate wall over and over and over, drooling and whining and barking all the while. It was pitiful and destructive and was wearing me down. Drugs were a last resort due to his propensity for seizures. I consulted a trainer. who gave me a reading assignment, "I'll Be Home Soon", by Patricia McConnell. I carefully followed the tips in the book, and with her help, soon saw positive results. I adopted the dog, and today, two years later, he's learned so much. He's calm, doesn't exhibit anxious behavior, and hasn't had a seizure in over 6 months. He's an amazing dog. I urge you to consult a trainer, or buy this book (very short and under $10.) You can help her.
Get a crate & start using it. Get her use to it when you are home. Once she is comfortable being in it. Start leaving her there when you are not home. When you are not home give her something to do...gong toy with treats inside...leave a radio on low in the same room or tv. Another thing during storms crate her....turn the radio up just a bit ..not blasting then ignore her. Wait till after the storm is over the when shes calm give her lots of hugs & play time. Some one trained her to fear storms...that happens when we humans are trying to reasure the dog, But in the dogs mind its really say YES LETS FEAR THIS THING!!
I don't think a crate is the answer in this case. I also have a large dog that completely destroyed several crates. His behavior was just like the poster just before you... drooling, rocking back and forth... nothing was going to keep him in the crate. In his case, he was fine once I quit crating him and put him in the kitchen with a child gate. (I'm not recommending that for the op at this point, however)
Patricia OConnel is really good. I've not read the book "I'll be home soon" but she is a dog psychologist... or something like that. She actually teaches a class at the University of Wisconsin on dog behavior. I've got several of her books.
Her book, "I'll Be Home Soon" was recommended to me by a trainer.. I'm sure it's excellent.
Last edited by World Citizen; 05-24-2008 at 08:46 PM..
With training the crate will become her den...her safe place. He has to teach her that the crate IS a safe place to be. Thats why I said to use it while hes at home till she feels safe!! I did not say throw her in the crate & leave her!!
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Dog Appeasing Pheromone
