So… a few general thoughts:
First, fear is an emotion, not a behavior. This is a critical thing to understand because to help your dog you have to make sure you are addressing the root cause - the emotion - not just the behavior displayed. This is one of the differences between training and behavioral therapy.
Before I natter on, let me get the obvious statement out of the way: Force, stress, flooding have no place in rehab work with a fearful dog. (Or any dog!) You are your dog’s advocate - as you are working through a rehab program, if that little voice in the back of your head says that something isn’t right for your dog, intervene immediately. You know your dog best, trust your instincts.
Rehabbing fear or anxiety is often a long term project. Be aware that this is a journey, there are no quick fixes or miracle cures, so set your expectations accordingly. Celebrate the little victories, no matter how small. Moving just an inch forward is still going in the right direction!
When dealing with any behavior issue, I divide my action plan into short term management of the environment in order to lessen encounters with triggers, and then long term rehab work.
I do this because I need to get my anxious or fearful dog in a better frame of mind before we start the long term rehab work. A frightened dog cannot cope with a rehab program. (Or much else)
In a frightened state, the dog is pumping adrenaline and cortisol, their flooded brains simply cannot be receptive. We need our dogs to feel calm and safe as we start work.
If the daily goings-on at home leave a dog stressed, we need to change what we (often unconsciously) do in order to keep our dogs under their stress threshold and so receptive to help. Because I can more easily control my home environment than the world outside, I start here, with the idea that my home is where my dog should feel safe. My home is the dog’s respite from a frightening world, a break while he is learning to overcome his fears. a safe place where he does not encounter the things that stress him.
Short term management is just that - temporary. Changing things at home is not forever, but it can be a good investment. My short term management starts first with thinking about where, when, with whom, around what, and why my dog becomes anxious or frightened. I look for triggers that spark fear or anxiety in my dogs. Then having identified as many of the triggers as I can, I set out to eliminate as many of them (for now) as I can from our daily life.
How I manage the environment will depend on what those triggers are for each dog. Some of these adjustments were simple, such as not searching for my keys just prior to leaving. (Prudence Treadlightly, separation anxiety.) Or arcing wide when we saw a GSD on the horizon. (Hooligan, fear reactivity to certain types of dogs.) Or feeding one dog in a separate room (Heffalump, anxiety based resource guarding.) Or understanding that a drop in air pressure meant I needed to start TTouch (PsychoCollie, crippling fear of storms.) Some of my management strategies, on the other hand, have meant a complete reworking of how we structure our day to day. (Robin Goodfellow, everything).
With all but Robin this environment management phase was temporary, in place as we worked through rehab, until we got to the point where the dog could better cope with everyday triggers and I could slowly return to normal routines at home.
While it seems that changing aspects of family life to reduce the stress tiggers is a huge adjustment, after a while it just becomes routine, even in Robin’s case.
One short term management strategy to please consider: If your dog has run off in fear, while you are working through a rehab program, keep your pup on lead until you have reached a point where you are confident that she will not run off again. The dangers of running off in panic are too great to take chances.
Do you have a fenced in garden, or have access to one? If so, in the short term, do your off lead running and playing in a space that is securely fenced in, and then do your walks on lead. If you don’t have access to a fenced in space, you can sometimes rent one.
FYI I know of one such place in Bad Ragaz, the NF Dogshome. They have several fenced in play areas that can be rented for an hour or so. When we were there for trial stay I met a lady from Zurich who apparently comes there several times a week with her greyhound newly retired from racing who cannot go offlead yet.
https://www.nf-dogshome.ch/hundehotel/freilaufwiese
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Now normally I’d suggest a thorough medical check-up before embarking on a long and winding rehab road, as sometimes behavior is a symptom of a medical issue. It’s easier - albeit costlier - to rule out medical issues first. But in your case, because your dog seems to have developed a fear of the vet, that won’t be so helpful. First working on ‘vet tolerance’ might be in order.
As an FYI, the Tierspital has recently introduced a ‘fear free’ practice model. Staff - vets, TPAs, assistants - are being trained in techniques that aim to reduce stress during a consultation. If you have an occasion to go there, be sure to request that you are seen by the Fear Free team. A bit more on this here:
https://www.tierspital.uzh.ch/de/kle…_Fearfree.html
Fear Free certification is a movement that is increasingly popular in the US, I’m pleased to see that this mindset is making it’s way here. And while smaller practices here might not have official certification, many vets try to make it as easy on a fearful dog as possible. Do you feel your vet is willing to work with you on your pup’s fear of the practice? Would your vet be amenable to extra ‘meet and treat’ visits? To doing an exam on the floor, outside in the grass, or some place that your dog felt less stressed?
You can do a lot of work on training tolerance of typical handling at the vet yourself, at home when you and your pup are relaxed. A good short guide (in German) is ‘Medical Training für Hunde: Körperpflege und Tierarzt-Behandlungen vertrauensvoll meistern , by Oblasser-Mirtl and Glatz:
https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Anna-Obla…ks%2C76&sr=1-1
And the ‘bible’ on the subject is ‘Low Stress Handling’, by Dr Sophia Yin. This is a textbook written for veterinary professionals, but accessible to the lay owner as well. It’s quite expensive, but if you have a vet phobic dog, well worth the investment IMO.
https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Sophia-Yi…ks%2C69&sr=1-2
Here’s an older thread that discusses training tolerance at the vet, as well as discusses general training /rehab with a fearful dog:
https://www.englishforum.ch/pet-corn…endations.html
You might even ask your behaviorist to accompany you to the vet. He or she might have insights or suggestions. Having an professional observer has been a godsend to me many times, the behaviorist can see things I might miss.
Island Monkey has a good suggestion in bringing along an easy-going tolerant dog for the next visit. I’ve done this with all mine, an advantage of having mutts in multipack. Whenever the calm, easy going dogs had routine appointments, I’d bring one of the nervous dogs along too. Key here, though, is that the nervous dog was not going to be handled that day. All that happened to the nervous dog was that he got to hang out in the exam room, watch his big sis behave beautifully, and get treats.
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Which brings us to Desensitization and Counter-Conditions, two fundamental techniques that have helped me help my fearful mutts.
Desensitization is a technique where a dog is exposed to a trigger at a very, very low threshold, long before he reacts.
Counter conditioning is a technique where the presence of the low threshold trigger is paired with something wonderful, to change the dog’s emotional response to the trigger.
The two are generally used together.
Because fear/anxiety is so powerful, it’s important to get this right, to stay under threshold, to go slowly at a pace where the dog continues to feel safe. It’s difficult to judge for yourself where the threshold for each trigger is, and to observe reactions to understand the pace needed.
And, how you apply DS/CC to each of your dog’s triggers will need to be situational and individual.
This is why I believe working with a behaviorist is the best course.
I’d suggest some background reading to better understand DS/CC before you meet with your behaviorist. Here are some basics:
From the ASPCA:
https://web.archive.org/web/20130806…erconditioning
A good short summary from the Anti Cruelty Society:
https://anticruelty.org/pet-library/…ditioning-fear
CARE for reactive dogs website, a more in-depth discussion of DS/CC:, and a treasure trove of helpful ideas:
https://careforreactivedogs.com
More Background info:
From the AKC, changing your dog’s behavior through counterconditioning and desensitization:
https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/tr…-conditioning/
Patricia McConnell, You can’t reinforce fear:
https://www.patriciamcconnell.com/th…-thunderstorms
Emily Larlham, Myth Busting: Reinforcing Fear:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOhpr3NO3TY
Please watch any and all of Ms Larlham’s videos on the subject. I very much admire her work.
Various articles linked from the Fearful Dogs website (Debbie Jacobs):
https://fearfuldogs.com/resources-fo…rs-other-pros/
This is just a starting point…
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As mentioned before, there are basic principles, but no one-size-fits-all. I’ve often found that i need to use a combination of techniques or programs in order to best address my dog’s issues. Training and behavioral therapy often go hand in hand.
A final word:
For decades I have lived with ‘broken’ dogs, and my experiences - good and not-so-good - taught me that with training , patience, the right behavior rehab program, and lots of love I could turn my broken dogs around.
And then came Robin.
In hindsight I made a mistake - I spent too much time on rehab alone, thinking if I could just try one more technique, try a different approach, all would be well. But finally I realized that wasn’t enough.
I see now that Robin’s issues are both behavioral and neurological. (Which drives which remains the great mystery of my life…) So I took a leap that I never thought I’d make: Robin is also under the care of a specialist in behavioral medicine. He is on meds to help lessen extreme anxiety and to help control the behavior that we now believe are partial complex seizures.
Now - this is a step that hopefully will not be needed for your pup.
But if you find that you are not making progress breaking through your dog’s fears via traditional rehab work, if the fears continue to escalate, if you think there may be something more going on, this might be a discussion for later.
This discussion should be had with both your behaviorist and a specialist in behavioral medicine together. Meds do not replace behavioral work, never make the mistake of thinking that. But for some dogs, the combination has been helpful.
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Wishing you and your pup all the very best.