Anxious dogs, like anxious people, need help managing and reducing distress
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Re: Anxious dogs, like anxious people, need help managing and reducing distress
#2With dogs approaching the quasi religious status, quasi sacred status of sacred cow here in America, how long before laws are passed mandating annual checkups for dogs?
Re: Anxious dogs, like anxious people, need help managing and reducing distress
#3My older dog was a stray as a puppy and we give her fluoxetine(commonly called Prozac) to help with anxiety. Even after years of training we have issues with trying to walk her during daylight because she crumbles in fear. Our other dog being present gives her some confidence but they both also react more to other dogs when they think they have to protect the other, so it's a daily struggle.
Re: Anxious dogs, like anxious people, need help managing and reducing distress
#4Treating dogs like humans is very detrimental to the dogs, more than detrimental, actively harmful.
I'm ok when seeing adults doing that to their kids (i.e. treating said kids as grown-ups), after all they're their kids and I don't have children of my own, but when I see the same sort of behaviour being transplanted to handling dogs (or pets, more generally), then I get really angry. Again, dogs, and animals, are not humans, applying "human-like treatment" to them means harming said dogs and said animals.
And more to the point of the article, as the owner of a very sensitive Border Collie myself the "secret" of avoiding separation anxiety for your dog is not to treat your every home departure like you're heading off to the Antarctic, treat it like it's nothing, like you're just going to get rid of the trash. No matter if you're gone for 5 minutes or for 4-5 hours. This applies for both leaving the house and getting back to the house.
Re: Anxious dogs, like anxious people, need help managing and reducing distress
#5> If evidence suggests that many dogs, like many humans, misbehave because they are struggling with emotions and anxiety, why do so many pet owners and trainers look to punishment as the solution, rather than addressing the emotions directly?
Same reason why so many people do the same to children - they're set in their views and are unwilling accept that they might be wrong.
Also, it's less work (at lesst in the short term). All the more reason to continue.
Re: Anxious dogs, like anxious people, need help managing and reducing distress
#6I wonder if this differs from wolves? I sometimes think about just how much we have evolved dogs to mirror us in so many different ways.
In other words: by selecting for responsiveness to human emotions, to what degree have we made dogs' brains more like our own?
Now I'm going to cuddle my pup Henry.
Re: Anxious dogs, like anxious people, need help managing and reducing distress
#7With dogs approaching the quasi religious status, quasi sacred status of sacred cow here in America, how long before laws are passed mandating annual checkups for dogs?
Some manner of obligation to care for your pet (any pet) should exist. This has nothing to do with religion and is all about honoring the commitment you entered when you decided to take care of an animal.
Re: Anxious dogs, like anxious people, need help managing and reducing distress
#8With dogs approaching the quasi religious status, quasi sacred status of sacred cow here in America, how long before laws are passed mandating annual checkups for dogs?
Some manner of obligation to care for your pet (any pet) should exist. This has nothing to do with religion and is all about honoring the commitment you entered when you decided to take care of an animal.
Okay, I see it okay yeah we always have room for one more law. There's always more room
Re: Anxious dogs, like anxious people, need help managing and reducing distress
#9My older dog was a stray as a puppy and we give her fluoxetine(commonly called Prozac) to help with anxiety. Even after years of training we have issues with trying to walk her during daylight because she crumbles in fear. Our other dog being present gives her some confidence but they both also react more to other dogs when they think they have to protect the other, so it's a daily struggle.
Vets give Prozac to dogs?
Re: Anxious dogs, like anxious people, need help managing and reducing distress
#10With dogs approaching the quasi religious status, quasi sacred status of sacred cow here in America, how long before laws are passed mandating annual checkups for dogs?
Are they not? Dog licenses require rabies shots, and vets require checkups for shots at least around here.