I have a year and a half old Pembroke corgi that I love with all my heart and soul. The problem is, he is very, very high anxiety. No trauma has happened to him though. I've owned him since he was 8 weeks old. When he was a puppy, the day after I brought him home, he was very sick. We found out he had giardia. He was pooing blood, vomiting, it got very very bad. It took a lot of medication, vet visits, cleaning everything he touched thoroughly, etc for MONTHS to get rid of it. He was at least 5 months when I got the negative test results finally, and felt comfortable taking him to the dog park to start socializing. Yes, if you do that math, that meant he had it for 3 months. It was a NIGHTMARE. He wasn't extremely sick for a majority of it, but he had positive test results so I wasn't letting him go out and spread it. I waited until the Vet gave me the go ahead. Whether this had an impact on anything else I'm about to say, I don't know. I'm just trying to be thorough in my information given.
Ever since he hit around 6-7 months, he started being triggered by certain sounds and sights like he was paranoid. Everything put him on high alert. We tried being gentle with him, and putting him in obedience training to help out with his teenage phase. When he hit around 9 months, he started randomly lashing out at us with no growl warnings, ears back, or anything else to alert us that something was wrong. We also had to stop going to the dog park. We'd kept him in the small dog area, but he was to the point that he would bark and snarl at almost every other dog that was bigger than he was. After working with his trainer and his vet, everyone was in agreement to neuter him a bit early. (The vet wanted to wait until a year originally.) They thought it was hormonal imbalance, and for the safety of everyone in the house, including my 82 year old mother, we did this under the doctors guidance. At this time, I also tried CBD to help with his anxiety, but it didn't seem to help.
After a few more unprovoked attacks where he punctured skin and caused bleeding to hands and feet, we decided to take him back to the vet for evaluation, and also started seeing a behaviorist that specializes in aggression and herding breeds. The behaviorist was shocked and how he acted, and assured us she could tell that it was nothing we did. She brought over her own dogs one at a time to several of our appointments to try and re-introduce him to socializing properly, which, he did pretty well! He also had several corgi friends that would come and visit several times a week for play dates. Though, at times, he would lash out at them and bite them too, but never injured them. The owner was very understanding, and this didn't happen with enough frequency for it to alarm her more than having us both try to watch for any social triggers so we knew it was happening.
At this point, his vet put him on Clomicalm to try and help him deal with life in a more calm manner. He ended up sleeping more, but would wake out of a dead sleep and attack the first thing he saw in a panic. So, we quickly tapered him off of it and returned the unused portion to the Vet at their request. The next medication we tried was Zylkene. This didn't make him lash out more in a sleepy panic, but also had no effect. Instead of just biting at feet and hands, he was starting to attack my neck and face, so we pulled him off the meds out of extreme concern. I tried shroomies treats for medicinal shrooms just to say I tried it. Put him back on CBD chews.. nothing seemed to help.
Today, as I'm typing this desperate plea for more ideas, I'm also at wits end over having exhausted every avenue I can think of. I was laying in bed. He is not allowed on the bed, he's crate trained. He jumped on the bed and when I rolled over to see if it was him or one of the cats, he lunged at my throat and bit me hard on the side of the neck, causing a small amount of bleeding, and some bruising. I lifted my hand to cover the wound and rolled away from him but he kept lunging at me to follow and attacking the back of my hand to try to get to my throat again.
I so desperately don't want to get rid of him, because I will live with the guilt of not knowing what's happening to him. Is he healthy? Is he happy? I want him to have the best life he can. He's such a sweet and loving dog most of the time. Just, when he snaps, it's a dangerous situation and isn't provoked by anyone. Both my mother and I have taken pretty bad bruising and bleeding over just petting him. Normally he loves being pet! It's always random when he “snaps”. It's not location either, like petting his butt triggers him. It's always random, and he isn't giving warnings or queues.
A couple of factors:
-When he snaps, he bites and bites and bites until you've run away. If you don't move away enough he will chase you and lunge at you and keep going no matter how you shake, whine, or cower.
-He is always VERY sorry after, like he realizes he lost control. He licks the wounds he made, and looks very sad and pouty, and gets very submissive. He KNOWS he was in the wrong. He just couldn't control himself for a time, like a very powerful temper tantrum.-He is well trained! Though to avoid aggression with other dogs, we had his puppy manners and obedience certificate earned through private lessons at our home. Though, we did have his best dog-friend do it with him.
-95% of the time, he is a sweetheart and loves being pet. He's attentive, and usually very obedient. He's also so so so smart.
Please. I don't want to re-home my dog. But, short of sending him to a boarding trainer for weeks at a time, which is so far out of my budget (and most peoples), I have done absolutely everything I can think of.
I'm so very open to other options. Just, please read through this and make sure it isn't something I already tried before suggesting. I know I was long winded, but I love this dog with all my heart. I'd be happy to answer any questions in the comments or private messages if it means coming up with an idea I haven't already tried!
P.s. I'm really broken up over this already. So, please don't go out of your way to hurt me or troll me. I just want help.
I have a year and a half old Pembroke corgi that I love with all my heart and soul. The problem is, he is very, very high anxiety. No trauma has happened to him though. I've owned him since he was 8 weeks old. When he was a puppy, the day after I brought him home, he was very sick. We found out he had giardia. He was pooing blood, vomiting, it got very very bad. It took a lot of medication, vet visits, cleaning everything he touched thoroughly, etc for MONTHS to get rid of it. He was at least 5 months when I got the negative test results finally, and felt comfortable taking him to the dog park to start socializing. Yes, if you do that math, that meant he had it for 3 months. It was a NIGHTMARE. He wasn't extremely sick for a majority of it, but he had positive test results so I wasn't letting him go out and spread it. I waited until the Vet gave me the go ahead. Whether this had an impact on anything else I'm about to say, I don't know. I'm just trying to be thorough in my information given.Ever since he hit around 6-7 months, he started being triggered by certain sounds and sights like he was paranoid. Everything put him on high alert. We tried being gentle with him, and putting him in obedience training to help out with his teenage phase. When he hit around 9 months, he started randomly lashing out at us with no growl warnings, ears back, or anything else to alert us that something was wrong. We also had to stop going to the dog park. We'd kept him in the small dog area, but he was to the point that he would bark and snarl at almost every other dog that was bigger than he was. After working with his trainer and his vet, everyone was in agreement to neuter him a bit early. (The vet wanted to wait until a year originally.) They thought it was hormonal imbalance, and for the safety of everyone in the house, including my 82 year old mother, we did this under the doctors guidance. At this time, I also tried CBD to help with his anxiety, but it didn't seem to help.After a few more unprovoked attacks where he punctured skin and caused bleeding to hands and feet, we decided to take him back to the vet for evaluation, and also started seeing a behaviorist that specializes in aggression and herding breeds. The behaviorist was shocked and how he acted, and assured us she could tell that it was nothing we did. She brought over her own dogs one at a time to several of our appointments to try and re-introduce him to socializing properly, which, he did pretty well! He also had several corgi friends that would come and visit several times a week for play dates. Though, at times, he would lash out at them and bite them too, but never injured them. The owner was very understanding, and this didn't happen with enough frequency for it to alarm her more than having us both try to watch for any social triggers so we knew it was happening.At this point, his vet put him on Clomicalm to try and help him deal with life in a more calm manner. He ended up sleeping more, but would wake out of a dead sleep and attack the first thing he saw in a panic. So, we quickly tapered him off of it and returned the unused portion to the Vet at their request. The next medication we tried was Zylkene. This didn't make him lash out more in a sleepy panic, but also had no effect. Instead of just biting at feet and hands, he was starting to attack my neck and face, so we pulled him off the meds out of extreme concern. I tried shroomies treats for medicinal shrooms just to say I tried it. Put him back on CBD chews.. nothing seemed to help.Today, as I'm typing this desperate plea for more ideas, I'm also at wits end over having exhausted every avenue I can think of. I was laying in bed. He is not allowed on the bed, he's crate trained. He jumped on the bed and when I rolled over to see if it was him or one of the cats, he lunged at my throat and bit me hard on the side of the neck, causing a small amount of bleeding, and some bruising. I lifted my hand to cover the wound and rolled away from him but he kept lunging at me to follow and attacking the back of my hand to try to get to my throat again.I so desperately don't want to get rid of him, because I will live with the guilt of not knowing what's happening to him. Is he healthy? Is he happy? I want him to have the best life he can. He's such a sweet and loving dog most of the time. Just, when he snaps, it's a dangerous situation and isn't provoked by anyone. Both my mother and I have taken pretty bad bruising and bleeding over just petting him. Normally he loves being pet! It's always random when he “snaps”. It's not location either, like petting his butt triggers him. It's always random, and he isn't giving warnings or queues.A couple of factors:-When he snaps, he bites and bites and bites until you've run away. If you don't move away enough he will chase you and lunge at you and keep going no matter how you shake, whine, or cower.-He is always VERY sorry after, like he realizes he lost control. He licks the wounds he made, and looks very sad and pouty, and gets very submissive. He KNOWS he was in the wrong. He just couldn't control himself for a time, like a very powerful temper tantrum.-He is well trained! Though to avoid aggression with other dogs, we had his puppy manners and obedience certificate earned through private lessons at our home. Though, we did have his best dog-friend do it with him.-95% of the time, he is a sweetheart and loves being pet. He's attentive, and usually very obedient. He's also so so so smart.Please. I don't want to re-home my dog. But, short of sending him to a boarding trainer for weeks at a time, which is so far out of my budget (and most peoples), I have done absolutely everything I can think of.I'm so very open to other options. Just, please read through this and make sure it isn't something I already tried before suggesting. I know I was long winded, but I love this dog with all my heart. I'd be happy to answer any questions in the comments or private messages if it means coming up with an idea I haven't already tried!P.s. I'm really broken up over this already. So, please don't go out of your way to hurt me or troll me. I just want help. https://ift.tt/aRLu7JV https://ift.tt/7FfzdwU
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