Hi there, need advice for my girl.
I got her as a rehome from a family who could not handle her energy level. She was around 7 months old and I trained her, got her into classes and all the fun puppy things. She was great, well behaved, and we went on many many adventures for the first year of her life. I found a lot of joy with working with her as my stress reliever from college classes. She was very social and very activity motivated, loved other dogs and people.
However, I had to leave her at home for 2 weeks while attending a family emergency with my in laws across the country. When I got her back from my parents house, she was her normal self.
When we got back to my house though, that’s when the reactivity issues began. She began barking at other dogs walking on the side walk (she never used to bark), hated when people she knew came over, and I couldn’t take her on any adventures like we used to without her reacting to people and other dogs. I’m a little lost.
For more information, she was not abused in any way shape or form by my parents or older brother, and she has stayed at my parents house with them on separate occasions for multiple days at different times. It was only after this trip home when she began being reactive. And yes, i feel awful that I had to leave her, but I feared putting her in the bottom of the plane for 5 hours was not going to be beneficial for her.
I’m a little lost and also feel like I failed. I think she is more anxiously reactive as most of the time she tries to hide behind me, hide in her crate and does not snap or nip at anyone rather just runs away. Any advice on how to help calm her down and almost help me ground her through these anxious feelings? She’s also lost all her food motivation (i used chicken and bacon), when it does come to training, which worries me. We’re headed to the vet tomorrow. TIA for any info, anything helps. The baby is pictured.