How can I help my dog?

May 2, 2008 7:05 AM

I have a dog with several long-lasting behavioral issues. I'm at my wit's end. HELP?

I got a dog from the Humane Society about 4 years ago. She was great for a few months but then started digging out of the backyard. I am a sucker and gave in, letting her become an inside dog since she already was perfectly housetrained. She is a Rottweiler mix, by the way and I guess is about 5 years old now. Once she became an inside dog I noticed even hours before a storm she would start trembling and panting heavily.

This has progressed from there. She can't be comforted if it's the least bit cloudy outside. She pants and drools, tries to crawl on the furniture (which she never does under normal circumstances and she knows isn't allowed). When we let her out into the backyard during this time if you take her eyes off her for even a minute, she knows how to slip out from under the fence and she's gone.

At night she and my other dog sleep in a seperate bedroom. We tried letting them sleep with us but they both squirm and scratch and play and just keep us awake. (Note: even when she was in our bedroom when it stormed she panted and freaked and tried to jump in bed with us.) So now, in the other room, the other dog is crated and Sasha (the Rottweiler mix) is loose in the room. This arrangement worked for months. Now Sasha is trying to tear down the door down when it storms. So we bought a large crate for her and have crated her for about a week. Last night it stormed and this morning I found her loose in the room. She had thrashed around so much, the door on the crate popped open. The crate was about a foot away from where it started and the mat that was underneath was now IN the crate and she'd scratched a hole in the carpet.

I'm at my wit's end. I know it has to be partly my fault but I can't figure out what is best to do for her anymore. I'm thinking of giving her up, honestly. What other options do I have? Thanks.

posted by CwgrlUp to pets & animals (16 comments total)

Storm anxiety is pretty common.

We had a dog that did the same thing, but because of separation anxiety. Basically, we just had to spend more time with her, get her lots of exercise and provide rubber chew toys, until she grew out of it.

You may have to resort to drugs. For the dog, that is...
posted by M.C. Lo-Carb! at 7:17 AM on May 2, 2008

Talk to your vet. Our last dog had severe storm anxiety (including freaking out when it was merely cloudy) and no amount of comforting ever helped. The vet was able to prescribe sedatives for him. We would give him one when we knew a storm was coming. It didn't knock him out, just mellowed him to enough to calm him down and keep him from destroying things.
posted by geeky at 7:22 AM on May 2, 2008

Can you crate her in your bedroom? Being around her people might make her feel more secure. And give her a kong stuffed with food or a marrow bone before a storm - something that will both occupy her and start building some positive associations with storms instead of negative ones.

But if she freaks out to the point where there's no distracting her, you really need to talk to a professional trainer. A session or two can be costly but good trainers can really get to the roots of a dog's problems and get you on track toward fixing them.
posted by Mr Bunnsy at 7:35 AM on May 2, 2008 [1 favorite]

You should definitely see a vet, preferably a behaviorist. There are medical options, including some very effective psychotropic drugs that can help with storm anxiety. Some training may help, but it sounds like you have a very serious case on your hands.
posted by Rock Steady at 7:50 AM on May 2, 2008

I had a dog like this growing up (fireworks were another trigger). No destructive behavior, but he would always go into the bathroom and lay behind/underneath the toilet. We always figured it had something to do with the confines and the coolness of the tile floor.
posted by xena at 7:58 AM on May 2, 2008

I know the digging and the anxiety are both cured with a doggie prozac. I have two dogs and they said that those are both anxiety issues as is the chasing their tale. A prescription for the dog would prob help a ton, if not cure it.

On the other hand a perscription for you may help too;)
posted by femmme at 8:00 AM on May 2, 2008

seconding crating her in the bedroom. Our dogs both have storm anxiety (though not as bad) and they are much calmer around us. We let them sleep in the room if it's night, or lie by our feet if it's day. They feed off your level of anxiety or calmness, respectively, so if you are anxious about her being anxious, it just escalates things. Become a Zen master during a storm and your dog will calm down correspondingly.
posted by desjardins at 8:10 AM on May 2, 2008

Storm anxiety is tough. You don't want to encourage the behavior - so you shouldn't coddle them - also you don't want to make it worse - so you don't want to provide any more anxiety during storms by training them. It's a rock and a hard place.

During storm anxiety dog's are generally trying to get somewhere where they feel safe. Where is your dog trying to go? Sounds like she might be trying to dig a hole to get to such a spot.

Let's talk about your kennel. How big is it? How do you use it? The dog needs to be comfortable in the kennel and shouldn't go in there just to sleep - she should be going in there to hang out whenever she feels like it - so the kennel should be made available to her all day. Also people tend to get bigger kennels than needed for dogs. Dogs like to feel the walls against thier backs and thier body. The more the kennel "hugs" them, the more safe they are going to feel in it.

I don't think this digging (the carpet) is related to the yard digging. I think the carpet digging is a burrowing instinct - motivated by a need to feel safe , and the yard digging is probably more about being comfortable - freshly dug dirt is cool, and soft and wonderful to lay in. To reduce the damage of any further digging on carpet, trim the nails with a dremmel type to tool to round them.
posted by bigmusic at 9:04 AM on May 2, 2008

It is a wire crate. I guess we could have gone a size smaller but I didn't want her to feel crammed in there. We tried putting a blanket over it like we do for our pug but she pulls it through the bars to inside the crate somehow. When she hides it has been in several places - on the couches (even tried to climb onto an end table once when we didn't let her on the couches), in the corner of the room all smushed in, the bathtub and in the closets.
posted by CwgrlUp at 10:58 AM on May 2, 2008

I have a dog who has a lot of anxiety and is very sound sensitive. She freaks out at the sound of loud buses, skateboards, etc. I recently took her to a behaviorist, who taught me counter-conditioning, and so far it has been working beautifully. Basically (bear with me here, I'll try to adapt it to your situation in a minute) I take her out with a bag full of super-yummy treats, like chicken or steak or cheese, and hang out with her in a spot where I know the buses pass by, not so close that she has a total freakout, but not so far away that she's unconcerned--just close enough that she's thinking about freaking out. When she notices the bus, I shovel yummy treats at her, and the minute the bus disappears, I stop. She only gets these treats when we are doing counter-conditioning. In a very short time, the equation changes from bus = IMMINENT DOOM! to bus = YUMMY CHICKEN! Already she is to the point that when she sees a bus, she looks up at me for a treat. Success!

Now, with thunderstorms, you've got a problem, because you can't hang out all day with a bag of chicken waiting for a thunderstorm, and once one comes it dials straight to eleven--your dog will be too freaked to care about your chicken. But what if you got a CD of thunderstorm sound effects? You could gradually increase the volume while counter-conditioning your dog. And, of course, you should keep a supply of truly fantastic treats on hand for when a real storm comes. I really think this would work. I would certainly try it if it were me. Feel free to MeMail me if you have any questions!

Oh, also, thirding the crate in the bedroom, and maybe a plastic crate will make the dog feel more secure. Give the dog a treat every time it goes in the crate and pretty soon the crate will be the best room in the house.
posted by Enroute at 11:31 AM on May 2, 2008 [1 favorite]

Whoops, meant to explain that once I see her looking up at me for a treat when she hears the noise, then I know it's safe to move to the next level, i.e., a little closer to where the buses are. Gradually she builds up a tolerance.
posted by Enroute at 11:34 AM on May 2, 2008

I didn't want her to feel crammed in there. But she /wants/ to be crammed in there. Think about it from a dogs point of view. If you have solid walls around you and touching - you are safe from those angles. So a dog would put her most insensitive parts (back/sides) against the wall and most sensitive - feet, face towards the unsafe (not guarded) area. So the more easily she's able to cram in there - the safer she is going to feel. This might be a reason why the wire crate doesn't feel safe to her - it's not closed up.

So where she is hiding is closed in and up. So the closed in is for a safety we could say, and the up - maybe she has been outside when it rains and she instinctively is trying to get to higher ground. Maybe if you got a solid crate and put it in a corner and up off the floor a bit, she might be more comfortable. So what size crate should get? When she curls up to sleep, you know, tail to face style - measure her - that's how about how wide the crate should be, and she should be able to stand up in the crate with her head level to her shoulders - not beneath them.

Enroute: But what if you got a CD of thunderstorm sound effects? You could gradually increase the volume while counter-conditioning your dog.

I'm all for positive reinforcement, but I'm not sure that the *sound* of the thunderstorm is what sets dogs with storm anxiety off. I'm fairly sure it's the drop in air pressure that is the trigger mechanism. And then the rain and thunder reinforces that. I'm not saying that this isn't a sound strategy, I just think that there are too many variables here to control for an average dog owner.
posted by bigmusic at 12:12 PM on May 2, 2008

I understand your pain! My dog broke off one of his canine teeth at the gumline from biting at his crate during one of his anxiety attacks.

I finally scheduled a session with an animal behavioralist. It was $40 for one hour. It was well worth it, and I should have done it sooner! We were able to diminish the behavior quite significantly (even though it is not entirely gone).

She said that in extreme cases she can prescribe dog Prozac and other medications.
posted by Ostara at 1:15 PM on May 2, 2008

Before you pile on the prozac, you might want to try Rescue Remedy. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I know a ton of dog owners who swear by it and my vet suggested it for our anxious dog. It's cheap, fast and doesn't require a prescription, so it's worth a try.
posted by DarlingBri at 3:34 PM on May 2, 2008

When she hides it has been in several places - on the couches (even tried to climb onto an end table once when we didn't let her on the couches)

Up, up... is she picking up thunder vibrations through her feet - big scary animal headed this way? Get the crate off the floor?
posted by Leon at 4:08 PM on May 2, 2008

We've switched to a plastic crate and she has an apptmt with the vet Monday. Thanks ya'll.
posted by CwgrlUp at 7:27 PM on May 3, 2008