It started out as a necessity. Swamped with deadlines and a work trip on the docket, I didn’t realize Lilly was getting low on her medicine. To stretch it a bit longer, I skipped her evening dose of clomipramine (antidepressant that targets her generalized fears) for a few days. I kept it up, however, even after her prescription refill arrived.
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Lilly has been off the xanax for a month now. While at first report, she showed no ill effects, drug withdrawal, or behavior problems. Things may have changed … and NOT for the better. Lilly had a rough few days last week.
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On the advice of our behaviorist from Colorado State’s veterinary school, Lilly has taken both chlomipramine and xanax/alprazolam twice a day, every day, since summer 2008. We didn’t just drug our canine heroine, though.
Helping Lilly better cope with the “scary” world at large also required hard-core behavior modification work spanning years. This includes the Relaxation Protocol, which provided the basis for everything we do for and with Lilly via training.
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We’re what you’d call “early adopters” of the Music to Calm Your Canine Companion from Through A Dog’s Ear. I first wrote about it in fall 2008 for a boarding kennel trade magazine. So, we’re so pleased to let you know that Volume 3 is now available. That means we can have 3+ hours of uninterrupted relaxation music in the house.
(My CD player only holds 3 CDs at a time.)
Truth? I use the music as much for my stress as I do for the dogs’. Not kidding. Especially on days when I’m uptight (hmmm …. always?) or on deadline, I’ll pop the CD’s on and set the player to repeat all.
The lower, slower, simpler music arrangements spoil me. These days I find other music somewhat overwhelming, but that could just be my own stress train speeding across the plains of my existence.
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Years after we tackled the Relaxation Protocol ourselves (both the one by Dr. Karen Overall and the one our own behaviorist prescribed), it remains one of the top reasons people come to Champion of My Heart. Pretty neat, huh? So, I decided to revisit a couple of the common questions I get about our Relaxation Protocol work.
If you are new to our site, please check out the MP3 audio files to make doing the Relaxation Protocol easier.
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In week 6 of the 2010 Never Shock a Puppy dog blog campaign, we discuss the special cases of training a fearful, reactive, or “aggressive” dog. Unlike the other topics so far in the campaign, this one is harder for me to summarize.
Every dog is different. Every situation is different. So, my fall-back reminder about doing any rehabilitation work or training with a fearful/reactive dog is this:
You cannot change how a dog behaves until you change how she FEELS.
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Remember, my quest to get written prescriptions with plenty of refills so that getting Lilly her medications wasn’t such a hassle? Remember how it took two visits to get the prescriptions because of another emergency at the hospital? Well, imagine my frustration to find that the prescription was wrong — all wrong — when we finally needed refills.
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Let’s continue our discussion about fearful dogs from a broader perspective. It’ll be VERY clear next week why I’m revisiting some of these key points. I promise, but for now, let’s talk mistakes.
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Sing it with me, kids. I’m a woobie. He’s a woobie. She’s a woobie. Wouldn’t you like to be a woobie too? (Look at me dating myself again, with an obscure 1970s Dr. Pepper reference.)
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Justine van der Leun‘s new book Marcus of Umbria: What an Italian Dog Taught an American Girl about Love essentially ends with Justine and Marcus getting on a plane in Italy to return to a non-existent home stateside. As I mentioned in yesterday’s book review, while I liked the book a lot, what intrigued me more was what happened next. So, Justine and I spent a good hour or more on the phone Monday, talking about Marcus and how she learned to live in a modern, urban world.
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Last Sunday, Lilly did the Tour du Grandmas, vising first my mom who now lives in an assisted living facility and then Tom’s mom who is home after more than two months away. I ran out the door without my camera. So, sadly, I have no photos or video to show.
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Posted by Roxanne Hawn | Posted in Dog Life, Dog Musings | Posted on 23-02-2010
Some days, my brain buzzes with larger, more philosophical sides to dog training. In part, this happens because of items I see in dog world news such as this dog training summit. At some point soon, I may rant a bit on that very topic since I’m not shy about the fact that I’m no fan of “He Who Shall Not Be Named.” But, today, I wanted to share a distinction I think will help.
Answer me this: When your dog responds to cues or offers default behaviors or just generally behaves like a civilized canine citizen, do you feel a sense of power or pride?
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Posted by Roxanne Hawn | Posted in Dog Life, Dog Musings | Posted on 15-02-2010
Last Friday, I accidentally pulled a terrible trick on my sweet Lilly. I rushed around in the morning before an entire day of eldercare efforts, and I didn’t realize what Lilly assumed based on various visual clues until I stepped toward the front door to leave.
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I have no Katie news to share because our little social event got postponed last Sunday due to weather. It snowed. Not snowpocalypse or snowmaggedon kind of snow, but enough snow to keep Katie’s new family from coming up the canyon. BUT, I did manage to take Lilly to class last week. It wasn’t ideal, but here is our report.
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I took Lilly for an in-town outing for the first time in doggone ages last Sunday. We mostly ran errands and such, but she did get her first chance to visit my mom at the assisted living place. It wasn’t a perfect visit behavior-wise, but it wasn’t terrible either. I kept it short (10 minutes). I rewarded the heck out of every tiny confident thing. Looks like we have a few challenges to train, if indeed Lilly would like to continue these visits.
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