Fin and Gail's diary

So there you are, on a long and winding road with your anxious dog..... The progress is very slow. So you think to yourself, as I did, well, Gail really likes playing, but my 14 year old oldie is not happy to oblige. May, just maybe, if she had the chance to play with another dog, she would realise much quicker, that the world is not a bad place.  Organising a play date is a problem, as with every dog, there comes a human and she is terrified of humans... So what is the solution? I thought I had a really great idea and I wanted to add another dog, one without problems, one that is good with people and likes other dogs. Not a puppy, but a young adult dog. As I wasn't that successful with a failed worker, I thought this time I search locally, looking for a dog that needs a new home. Obviously getting Gail a companion wasn't my only aim. I could do all the things I wanted to do with the new dog until Gail was ready, if ever, and take off the pressure off her and ease my frustrati...

  I went to see the vet with Gail and in length we discussed what her issues are. She then prescribed medication for anxiety. I was asked to slowly up the dosage until I feel I see a change. She highly recommended to look for a behaviourist to help Gail. Medication alone doesn't do the trick, we still have modify behaviour and most of all make her feel safe. I found a lovely behaviourist and we discussed the does and don'ts. He recommended not to take her to the office for now, as she might be overwhelmed by it. He gave me some things she could  do. One of them was "free work", where she gets lots of different stuff to do, first in a safe environment. I was lucky, Gail if very foody, even though she doesn't take food when stressed. That is always a good indicator if your dog is just too stressed to learn. I hid food in my conservatory for he to find, I wrapped treats in paper and hit them in boxes. First time she wasn't quite sure what to do. She started unwra...

  So here we were..... Gail had settled in, but every walk was for her full of anxiety. I started walking her early in the morning and late at night, to avoid meeting people.  I sat in the car in a car park with her and fed her treats when people passed by in the distance... It all showed very little improvement. Then one day I read a post on Facebood from a dog trainer, describing her journey with her rescue dog from Romania and how the dog got worse when her older dog died and how full of  anxiety he was. She then went down the route to ask her vet for drugs to relief the anxiety. She then described how it changed her dog's behaviour and how it was now possible to work with him.  Unfortunately there seem to be quite a taboo on taking drugs for anxiety. In people but more so in dogs. We have the idea, that we can "fix" a dog with training. Conditioning, counter conditioning... etc. The problem is, if your dog is so fearful that he cannot learn, you will no...

  So let us talk about frustration for a moment. You know, when you have an idea of something, or how something should go and then reality kicks in and nothing is as you expected it. We all get frustrated sometimes. We all handle it differently. We get upset with ourselves, with others, we get aggressive, we give up, we retreat.... So I got frustrated, as Gail didn't meet my expectations. When I get frustrated I retreat, I feel sad and depressed. It is sometimes difficult to get out of the frustration. Writing this, I realise how often we dismiss when dogs get frustrated. We label it as maybe aggression, or being naughty or being stubborn. Maybe we should reflect more about ourselves and then admit that dogs can have similar feeling, but might express them differently. I took Gail to the office with me and she slept under the desk. I asked my colleagues just to ignore her and I could see that, though she was stressed, she started relaxing. The first time she was mainly panting. But...

  Welcome to my blog. I haven't blogged for a long time and I am wondering if people still blog. Do they? If not, I give my thoughts to the internet for some archaeologist to dig up in some hundred years. This blog is about my 2 Border Collies. Gail, who I rescued a year ago from a farm in Wales. She is a "failed" sheepdog. Then 2 years old. A beautiful tri colour Border Collie.  I had plenty of foster dogs from farms, being failed sheepdogs. In general they were really nice dogs, but scared, timid, shy and didn't know anything about the big wide world. Some were better than others, but all adjusted really quickly to living in a house and our hectic lives.  I found Gail via Facebook, where I asked in a Facebook Group  if somebody wants to rehome a none worker. I had these plans, that Gail and I would do mantrailing together, she be my companion wherever I go and she goes to the office with me. I met Gail at the vets. I don't live in the UK, so for Gail to travel t...