Almost immediately after putting Lilly back on a full dose of her dog anxiety medications, we saw a dramatic change in her behavior.
Kissing has always been a tell-tale sign for Lilly’s mood:
- If she is kissing ME a lot, in a demanding way, that actually means she is VERY anxious.
- If she is kissing Ginko, rather than growling at him, that means she is relatively calm.
Within just a few days of Lilly going back to taking her chlomipramine twice a day, we started to see a lot more kissing.
I’m very pleased.
I’m continually surprised at how tuned in to Lilly’s moods you are. I struggle with this with my human kids – knowing how to read a dog’s moods is surely beyond me. You must be so perceptive!
Fascinating – my uber anxious Poodle only learned how to lick me after I put him on meds – for him it’s a sign of extreme calmness and contentment. So cool that the same behavior can have opposite meaning for different dogs.
It’s great to hear that the meds are helping. Lady was on the same meds all the way up until she disappeared. She was off them for almost 2 full weeks by the time she came home, so we thought we (me and the rescue) would see how she did being off them.
I have not seen much difference in her personality and anxiety from what she was like on the meds, other than she has been even more affectionate and fun-loving since she’s been off them. Of course, that may be related to her disappearance and knowing she is finally home, but I still wonder if it’s the fact that she’s off her meds.
How interesting that it has a much more pronounced effet on Lilly. I am glad she is feeling much better. It’s so hard to see them so anxious isn’t it?
Aw, kisses. Glad to hear that the meds are helping.
So I guess we are assuming that Gingko is the recipient of the kisses?
Yes. Lilly is still snarling at him pretty often, but she is also kissing him a lot. We’ve added a ThunderShirt now, so we’ll see if that makes any difference.