I got Peach as a 5-month-old puppy, and when she came home with me, it was the first time she'd ever left the kennel. Ever. This means that now that she's almost 18 months old, we're continuing to deal with fear issues. Scotties are supposed to be bold and fearless. Peach is neither of those things.
I knew what I was getting when I got her. I had Peach's older brother, Charlie, for about six months; Charlie had a lovely personality and gorgeous structure, but I had to send him back just before he turned a year old because I was too busy with school. I've always regretted that decision. Peach was the result of a repeat breeding of Charlie's sire and dam, and I wanted to buy another bitch. Charlie had also had fear issues, but I knew they were for the same reasons. Their breeder had serious health problems and wasn't socializing her puppies. I knew both the sire and dam, who were lovely dogs with great attitudes, so I knew it wasn't hereditary.
Charlie eventually bounced back (testosterone certainly helped, after he matured and was collected several times). Peach has not, but a lot of that has been my fault.
She's been on Prozac for about six months, but I haven't done much behavior modification with her...between school and helping everyone else's dogs, my own dogs are often the cobbler's kids. This past weekend, I took Peach to a show with a friend, just to see how she'd react. As soon as we got into the building, she flattened, began shaking and scanning, scurrying around on the floor with her tail between her legs while she tried to get away. I went with a vet friend who specializes in behavior, so she told me to try alprazolam (Xanax) as a short-acting anti-anxiolytic.
I gave Peach a Xanax yesterday and took her to Petsmart because I needed to buy some treats for classes. I had my fingers crossed that the Xanax would help her (she's always been terrible at Petsmart, overwhelmed and overloaded and frightened). Well, yesterday she was frightened out of her mind. She was in a blind panic, trying to escape and darting in circles and jerking to the end of her leash. By the time I got her back in the car, she let her anal glands go.
I sat down yesterday after we got back from the pet store and started making some notes about Peach's behavior, and I realized some very important things: I've never really worked with her on this (sounds obvious, but somehow this fact has eluded me), and I've given her totally inconsistent feedback in new locations when she's fearful. Sometimes I just walk and keep going and ignore her, sometimes I stop and try to feed her, sometimes I try to redirect her into an appropriate behavior which I can reinforce...etc., etc.
I felt bad once I realized this, so I decided that I was going to treat my own dog's behavior problem just as I would any client's dog. I wrote out all the details, and then started coming up with a treatment plan and homework.
Today, we're going to go to the post office and just hang out in the parking lot for a bit, working on clicking and treating for looking at people, and c/ting for any noise (she is extremely fearful of loud thunking and clunking in new environments). I don't know if Peach will ever be a show dog--she has two points, and I don't know if she'll be stable enough to be shown. But I can't drag her to a show every three months and just hope for the best. It's not fair to her. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my treatment plan will help her. She's a lovely little dog with a silly, happy personality. She deserves better than this.
