Axel's nerves

[Axelsmummy]

After Axel's visit to the vet for his annual jabs, we have now been referred to a behaviourist to get some meds for his nerves.

He has always been a nervous boy. When we went to puppy classes he was very easily intimidated by the other boisterous pups. He would spend all of his time in class with his back to the others and focused on his Kong. When it came time for the bronze course, after 2 classes he was pulled out by the trainer and she has been working with us one-to-one. Unfortunately, even when on his own, as soon as we leave the garden he goes into his nervous behaviour. I describe him as being like a gold fish - 3 second attention span! And every little thing makes him lose focus, ie. leaves blowing, cars passing, basically all the general noises one experiences whilst out and about.

When we are out on a walk, on lead he is very nervous and vocal. When off lead he does everything he can to avoid other dogs. He has an orange bone that he is obsessed with. All he does is fetch it. If you purposely through it into/near a group of dogs he runs in, retrieves it and runs straight back, as if those dogs aren't even there! If another dog approaches him, he completely ignores them. Even if they are barking, nipping at him, or if they take his bone. If he does ever engage with other dogs, he defo seems to prefer the ladies, he almost seems a little more relaxed with them, but males can get his back up quite easily.

They only dog we know that he will interact with is my cousins choccy lab, Ollie, who Axel loves and often tries to hump! My aunt also has a JR, who hates Axel with a passion and often get so wound up around him she make herself ill, but Axel just ignores her as he would any other dogs on the fields/parks.

Anyway, I'm a little nervous myself now for our visit to the behaviourist next week, but we are hoping with some initial meds to take the edge off, we will be able to work with him and train him, so in the future he will learn to relax and come off the meds.

Does anyone know if these nerves can be normal for GSDs and if they can be successfully dealt with?

[LOVEGSD]

Sorry to hear about Axel's nerves, such a shame that you don't know of some good calm dogs that he could walk with. I find that encouraging dogs to walk together, not neccessarily next to each other but a lead walk can bring them together and show them that other dogs are always scary.

Good luck with the behaviourist, have you tried Scullcap and Valerian??
xx

[Axelsmummy]

Originally Posted by LOVEGSD

Sorry to hear about Axel's nerves, such a shame that you don't know of some good calm dogs that he could walk with. I find that encouraging dogs to walk together, not neccessarily next to each other but a lead walk can bring them together and show them that other dogs are always scary.

Good luck with the behaviourist, have you tried Scullcap and Valerian??
xx

Not yet, what are they? Are they something the behaviourist may suggest? Fortunately we have pet insurance, although the vet said to check the small print!

[LOVEGSD]

Originally Posted by Axelsmummy

Not yet, what are they? Are they something the behaviourist may suggest? Fortunately we have pet insurance, although the vet said to check the small print!

Have a look at this....I know of some people that swear by this
Scullcap & Valerian tablets - Dorwest

[max's mom]

Aaww poor Axel, hopefully he will be feeling better soon. Lucky he has a lovely Mummy who will do all she can for him xxxx

Max is nervous and edgy around other dogs, except 2 he knows well. Let us know how you get on xx

[lozzy1]

i hope you manage to find something that helps. i might try the valerian and skullcap myself to calm storm! xxx

[Axelsmummy]

Well, all went ok-ish on Monday.

The behaviourist thinks his problems could be genetic and to do with his dopamine receptors not functioning properly. At the moment he is not on any meds, just a DAP collar, and a mega intense training program. His whole routine has been changed from feeding to walking!

He now has to work for everything, "Nothing in life is free". He has a food stuffed kong for breakfast, and his teatime meal is now fed by the children by hand, (as he displays no food aggression issues at the moment the behaviourist feels confident that involving the kids now and working through some exercises we can maintain this and get him feeling even more comfortable with them being near him in any tense situation). Then he gets a second food kong in the evening when all is quiet and the kids are in bed.

He has 3 levels of rewards, and a 4 step training program. Unfortunately he has been sent right back to the start with his training. Everything at the moment is sit,sit,sit, even though he knows it I have to work him through the house, garden, outside on pavement, then the park. Its the same with getting him to look, (focus on my face). And for now thats it. But each of those commands needs to go through the 4 steps in each of the 4 places!

We've had to drop any walks on the lead. Instead he now gets driven to the park and kept on a long line. His lead work was so bad and his nerves would get so shot, it was just too stressful for all of us. His behaviour around other dogs is not particularly bad, he just gets himself worked up before he even knows if they are friendly or not! Yesterday's trip was ok, but today was a nightmare - the next 6 to 8 weeks are going to go sooooooo sloooow.

Also, there is an exercise where he is tied up and we place a low value item just out of his reach. We then approach him and say "give" and take the item and reward. Then we move the item closer so he can actually reach it, and do the same. As he stays comfortable the item is replaced with something more valuable.

The only other instruction is when he is naughty, he only gets one warning. If he continues he gets "you lose" and a time out in his cage for 10-15 minutes. She said if he continues, or we feel like he's spending all his time in there, its ok, he will gradually get better. She also said some of his behaviours could get worse before they get better. We are lucky that our trainer is just down the road if we are struggling.

Anyway, essay over, I'll keep you all posted on progress!

[max's mom]

Wow someones gonna be busy for a while. I'm sure it will all be worth it in the end though! xx

Good luck with it all, keep us posted. xxxx

[LOVEGSD]

Well there's certainly a lot to take on board there, good luck and keep us posted...xxxx

[gloriab]

whereabouts are you?
maybe other owners nearby with calm dogs could meet and walk with you?