Things that helped our dog!
So, I guess I don’t have enough subreddit karma to post to a thread, so I am adding a post instead.
I have an extremely reactive pit named Beans. She is the best dog at home with me, my partner, and our other dog. But when she is in any other situation where she can see strangers or other animals, and feels like she needs to go into overprotective mode, she is complete chaos. Her brief background is that she was seized with her mom as a puppy by the police (from drug house or dog fighting ring, or both, we don’t know). Her mother was so protective at the shelter that she didn’t let anyone come close to beans for over a month. She was 4 months old at the time. The shelter was finally able to separate them and sent Beans to foster at a local dog daycare. That is where she met us and our other dog, who quickly became the only dog she would tolerate. We adopted her right before Covid, so other than her time in daycare she did not get proper socialization. After adoption, she became increasingly more aggressive at daycare until she finally bit another dog badly and was kicked out. Then we had Covid. It really made it hard for her to be around any new experiences, but we still tried to walk her on the street and had a huge yard with a 6 ft stockade fence, so she could run without having to be around others. We thought that we were in good shape until one day in 2022, she broke through a poorly latched gate and went after a small dog walking in the street with its owner, killing the dog. It was an awful situation that ended up with her going to dog jail and we had to fight to get her back. Luckily, we met a really great trainer through the process and he helped us keep her, testifying to the board that she wasn’t inherently dangerous, just dog aggressive.
When she came home, she was even more isolated, not allowed to leave the house and only allowed within a fenced kennel INSIDE our fenced yard when she went outside. Fast forward to this year, we relocated from the country to the city, and Beans whole world changed overnight. Now she is around dogs, people, and sounds constantly, and it has been pretty exhausting figuring out how to acclimate her to this new environment. I want to share what has worked so far, and hopefully it will help other people with reactive dogs.
Prozac and Clonidine - she was on Prozac immediately after we got her, but it was a lower dose that wasn’t increased even though she doubled in size. Our old vet didn’t think it was necessary, but our new vet suggested upping her dosage and adding Clonidine, a med I had never heard of. It had made a huge difference, and I rarely see it mentioned on the forum. The Clonidine is a BP med, so it actually helps by keeping her heartbeat from spiking when she is triggered. It isn’t a sedative, but it has helped take her down a notch. For the first time ever, I am able to call her back and get her attention when she is actively reacting to something. I never thought that would be possible, but this med was the thing finally worked.
Baby talk- this is weird but I never considered how much tone of voice would affect her. Since moving, we have started using high pitched voices to call her off when she is barking, rather than our regular voices. She associates the higher pitch with something positive, so it has helped reduce her anxiety about whatever it is she thinks she needs to protect us of. I can’t stop her from reacting, that is just her, but I can stop her from escalating. We say ok! Thank you! After she runs barking at the door once, and she reacts immediately like ok, I did my job, I can stop now. I never thought thanking her for barking would stop her barking, but there you go!
Privacy vinyl on windows she might be able to look out of- this we learned early on and it really helped stop the escalation before it starts. She is just SO triggered by what she sees, so taking that one sense away makes a huge difference. We also put barriers up in our new yard so she can’t see through the fence.
Crate training and time out- when she is especially bonkers, usually right after eating before her clonidine kicks in, she gets a beanie butter king in her crate, with a blanket draped over it so she can’t see out. This is her happy space, and I’ve noticed that if she’s tired, just like a little kid, she will go to sleep right away. Since she is “on guard” in her brain at all times, the blanket crate is like telling her it’s ok, you are off duty, you can relax.
Noise machine- we also got a white noise machine that we run by the front door. It’s not perfect but it cuts down on a little bit of reaction.
Gentle leader/halter collar-this is the only collar we use, it is so fantastic at guiding a dog into position, and is the only thing that consistently stops pulling. Beans does not go on walks anymore, but when she is in the yard we use a leader on a long extended leash so she can snoop around but we can still pull her back if we need to.
All this goes along with a ton of time training her, getting her to recognize simple commands like “touch” to get her attention when she is about to lose it. Come and sit go out the window, but “touch” is fast and easy, and can get her to comply when other things can’t.
There are a ton of great ideas and advice given on this forum- I’m really happy to have found it. I hope this helps anyone who needs it. Sorry so long!
TLDR: Clonidine helped my dog, along with window vinyl, crate training, baby talk thank yous, noise machine, and gentle leader collar