Tonight's class was a series of exterior hides. They are trying to get in as many exterior searches as possible, before the weather turns rainy for winter - which could happen any minute now. There are three hides - all on chairs.
Exterior 1 video - Gimme had the first hide right from the startline. I don't see what Dorothy commented on that indicated Gimme didn't have another hide "in her radar" when she left the first hide. She went by the chair against the garage door, but came back to it quickly. The other dogs had a much harder time with it. It took her a little longer to find the third hide because of the wind direction, but she gets it quickly.
Exterior 2 video - Gimme is really fast with these hides. She has all of them, including the time to get rewarded, in under a minute.
There were a lot of dogs in class, so we only got the two searches. Gimme was the fastest, by far, so it seemed like a very short class for us. It is so nice to see her nose is back.
She's been getting better and better about her anxiety, until the invisible monster bit her this morning. Just one day short of three weeks from the last time. She got off, then back on the bed and under the covers. She laid down and two seconds later, squealed and ran for her life. She wants to hide in the basement, but I won't let her. I just scheduled another chiropractic appointment for her this Thursday. Poor baby is scared again...
We are going off for a long walk as soon as I finish paying bills. Hopefully she'll be more relaxed afterward.
Showing posts with label Anxiety. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Anxiety. Show all posts
Monday, September 2, 2019
Thursday, August 29, 2019
RFE practice (100)
I don't have a lot to report for this practice. I mostly used the time to do some videos for a skills test, sticking to things Gimme knows well.
Oddly she is still struggling with "turn" (CW spin), which she's been doing on cue for 8 years. This may be a residual from the seizure, although at the time it seems to be simple confusion, since she keeps offering "izzy" when she hears the cue. I want to watch the video clearly and see if I am unintentionally giving conflicting body cues.
Warm-up video - I thought she seemed to be more ready to work with me than she was last time. I had set up a line of four toys for a prop-weave video, so she was eager to check them out. I am not asking for much in the way of behaviors as I introduce this new warm-up routine. I'll increase my expectations gradually. Ilona, from the MDSA list, suggested I put the go-sniff on cue. I think it's a brilliant idea; it'll make it clear when we are approaching the sniff-worthy stuff as a distraction vs. as a reward.
When I let her check out the toys as part of her reward, she pawed at the feet of each toy trying to make them squeak. She was certain one would and despite my assurance they wouldn't, the fourth one did cooperate. Note how much faster her tail wags once she gets the squeaks. Also I found it interesting she only persisted with the toy with actual squeakers inside. Makes me wonder if she can smell the plastic. With her nosey prowess, I wouldn't be surprised.
Overall her attitude was much better than it was just two weeks ago. I'm not saying we are out of the woods though. She still went to the door a couple of times, telling me she had enough. I always get her to work a little more when this happens.
Looking back at Gimme's response to the toys, it occurs to me I should be using them as part of her reward. She was excited about having the toys as props to weave around. She was also very interested when I moved them off the floor to a chair. When she realized we weren't going to actually play with them, she was less enthusiastic about working. So next time I will bring some toys I can toss and tug to reward her efforts. Also, play is a better barometer of emotional state than food, so it'll help me gauge her progress.
I got a whimper from her when I brought my hand rapidly down to the floor next to her, trying to use treat placement to improve her alignment. Later in the day in nosework when I was told to get right in there fast with her reward, she did it again. I think it is a combination of startle and residual anxiety. Tuesday night I spent a considerable time contemplating different ways to help her get over this particular fast-moving-toward-her anxiety. There are also some residual anxieties around the house I want to see resolved.
On Wednesday morning I was thinking about it and gave myself a big talking-to. It's only been 2 weeks since Doc started us on the program of Adaptil and diet change for Gimme. He thought it would take up to 5 days to see a change and instead I saw a difference by the end of the day. Still, it may take a long time to get the full benefit. After all, Gimme was in her blue period for 2 months and 3 weeks - so there is a bit of history there to overcome.
I have to resist the urge to try and fix everything right away; she deserves the time to decompress on her own schedule.
Oddly she is still struggling with "turn" (CW spin), which she's been doing on cue for 8 years. This may be a residual from the seizure, although at the time it seems to be simple confusion, since she keeps offering "izzy" when she hears the cue. I want to watch the video clearly and see if I am unintentionally giving conflicting body cues.
Warm-up video - I thought she seemed to be more ready to work with me than she was last time. I had set up a line of four toys for a prop-weave video, so she was eager to check them out. I am not asking for much in the way of behaviors as I introduce this new warm-up routine. I'll increase my expectations gradually. Ilona, from the MDSA list, suggested I put the go-sniff on cue. I think it's a brilliant idea; it'll make it clear when we are approaching the sniff-worthy stuff as a distraction vs. as a reward.
When I let her check out the toys as part of her reward, she pawed at the feet of each toy trying to make them squeak. She was certain one would and despite my assurance they wouldn't, the fourth one did cooperate. Note how much faster her tail wags once she gets the squeaks. Also I found it interesting she only persisted with the toy with actual squeakers inside. Makes me wonder if she can smell the plastic. With her nosey prowess, I wouldn't be surprised.
Overall her attitude was much better than it was just two weeks ago. I'm not saying we are out of the woods though. She still went to the door a couple of times, telling me she had enough. I always get her to work a little more when this happens.
Looking back at Gimme's response to the toys, it occurs to me I should be using them as part of her reward. She was excited about having the toys as props to weave around. She was also very interested when I moved them off the floor to a chair. When she realized we weren't going to actually play with them, she was less enthusiastic about working. So next time I will bring some toys I can toss and tug to reward her efforts. Also, play is a better barometer of emotional state than food, so it'll help me gauge her progress.
I got a whimper from her when I brought my hand rapidly down to the floor next to her, trying to use treat placement to improve her alignment. Later in the day in nosework when I was told to get right in there fast with her reward, she did it again. I think it is a combination of startle and residual anxiety. Tuesday night I spent a considerable time contemplating different ways to help her get over this particular fast-moving-toward-her anxiety. There are also some residual anxieties around the house I want to see resolved.
On Wednesday morning I was thinking about it and gave myself a big talking-to. It's only been 2 weeks since Doc started us on the program of Adaptil and diet change for Gimme. He thought it would take up to 5 days to see a change and instead I saw a difference by the end of the day. Still, it may take a long time to get the full benefit. After all, Gimme was in her blue period for 2 months and 3 weeks - so there is a bit of history there to overcome.
I have to resist the urge to try and fix everything right away; she deserves the time to decompress on her own schedule.
Sunday, August 25, 2019
Veterinary visit
This has been a rough summer for Gimme. It started in early-mid June and continued through just last week. To recap:
He did say this could have something to do with the breakthrough seizure in early July. Sometimes the anti-seizure medications lose effectiveness over time. So the dogs can be anxious pre-seizure, even if the seizure doesn't materialize. With only the one known break-through seizure, he doesn't want to tinker with her dosage or add other medications.
We talked about anti-anxiety medication, but he wants to hold off, because they are tricky to use with the Keppra she gets for seizure prevention.
Instead he recommended an alternative based approach. I am using an Adaptil diffuser next to her end of the couch when I'm not home. Plus I got an Adaptil sprayer to put on a bandana for the days she's spending a lot of time in the car.
He recommended a calming food, but it was prohibitively expensive. A nine-pound bag was going to be $56! Instead I read the brochure and learned its benefit is because it's high in L-Tryptophan, which the body uses to make Serotonin. So I bought ground turkey and added it to her diet. There are many foods containing significant levels of L-Tryptophan, but turkey is an easy source. I made up 1.2-ounce balls of ground turkey and froze them. I am adding one to 3 of her 4 bowls of "soup" (the other gets egg, which also has L-Tryptophan).
Doc said it might take a week to notice a difference, but I was seeing increased calmness by evening. We also talked about my anxiety level from worrying about her anxiety/fears and how it could make hers worse. I noticed in the evening when she was starting to act anxious, if I talked silly to her about it, it dissipated. So I'm really monitoring my own reactions to make sure I don't buy into her drama and unintentionally feed it. I've also been blocking her access to other rooms when I'm not in them, to prevent her from practicing "hiding". My theory is if she's hiding, then it feeds into the emotion of needing to hide.
In ten days she has improved sooooo much. Sometimes I can leave open the access to rooms she hides and she doesn't hide. If she does I encourage her to come back out and then close off access. Her attitude is so much better. Today is the first time I could put her collar on without a treat in sight, though she still got a treat. I started out having to lure her with peanut butter to put it on, so this is a big improvement. For other things, I'm taking my time a little more, trying to prevent any tweaks for her to over-react to and feed the drama. For instance in the week before the vet visit, I barely moved my foot and lightly brushed her toe. She screamed and ran from the room. This might seem plausible given the sore toe/toenail, except I brushed against the other foot! Thus taking my time and being a little more careful.
So that's it for now. There has been a lot of progress and hopefully this will be a thing of the past before long. For training I'm sticking with basics, things she knows well and can get a lot of reinforcement for.
It breaks my heart to see her lose her zest for life - I'm thrilled to see it returning.
- Starting in June she was unfocused, whiny and showing avoidance during RFE practices. Later in the month this behavior also showed up, to a lesser degree, for tracking. There was also a day when we were doing the Rally-O course where Gimme suddenly yelped and then didn't want to work any more. At the time I thought it was related to her false pregnancy, which seemed to have gone on a little longer than I expected.
- Her chiropractor visit showed she had jammed 2 toes on her left front foot. Right after this she did a little better, but still not her usual. It was painful getting her toes adjusted, but she has a long history with Dr. Powell (and peanut butter which she licks as he works on her), so she was fine when he worked on the rest of her body and only a little tense when he got back to those toes.
- Five days later she had a grand mal seizure. Thank God I was home or I might have missed it entirely - 20 minutes later she seemed entirely normal. I blogged about this a month ago.
- At her next chiropractor visit, he found her atlas was misaligned. Dr. Powell said atlas misalignment (top vertebra where skull attaches to spine) is implicated in seizures, though it remains unproven. He said it also causes migraines in humans (I can verify this) and probably does in dogs.
- Her next RFE practice was about the same and I noticed her gait seemed "off", though not limping. I assumed her toes were bothering her again.
- At the next chiropractor visit, her atlas was only a little out and the toes were fine. Unfortunately her right shoulder was now stuck. Again a big yelp during the adjustment, but ready forgiveness.
- Almost right away Gimme came in season a month early. Normally being in season doesn't affect her attitude, but this time it seemed to. Probably the season just exacerbated the underlying anxiety.
- About this time I started noticing Gimme becoming afraid of things. The first thing was a cane we were working with - which I attributed to the shoulder issue. Then she became afraid of her collar, the couch, the living room and even me! She had lost all resilience, she would yelp and go into hiding in the house for the slightest reason.
- At the next chiropractor visit we learned her toe was still bothering her (toenail has a crack in it) and was probably causing intermittent and unpredictable pains when bumped or catching on something.
- Through this 2½ months, Gimme just had one thing after another. The pains she was experiencing must've seemed like she was being bitten by an invisible monster. At our last RFE practice Gimme was worse than ever, despite my efforts to help her and stick with easier stuff. I've been trying to counter condition the things she has come to fear with only limited success. During that session she suddenly became afraid of her harness, whimpering as I put it on her.
He did say this could have something to do with the breakthrough seizure in early July. Sometimes the anti-seizure medications lose effectiveness over time. So the dogs can be anxious pre-seizure, even if the seizure doesn't materialize. With only the one known break-through seizure, he doesn't want to tinker with her dosage or add other medications.
We talked about anti-anxiety medication, but he wants to hold off, because they are tricky to use with the Keppra she gets for seizure prevention.
Instead he recommended an alternative based approach. I am using an Adaptil diffuser next to her end of the couch when I'm not home. Plus I got an Adaptil sprayer to put on a bandana for the days she's spending a lot of time in the car.
He recommended a calming food, but it was prohibitively expensive. A nine-pound bag was going to be $56! Instead I read the brochure and learned its benefit is because it's high in L-Tryptophan, which the body uses to make Serotonin. So I bought ground turkey and added it to her diet. There are many foods containing significant levels of L-Tryptophan, but turkey is an easy source. I made up 1.2-ounce balls of ground turkey and froze them. I am adding one to 3 of her 4 bowls of "soup" (the other gets egg, which also has L-Tryptophan).
Doc said it might take a week to notice a difference, but I was seeing increased calmness by evening. We also talked about my anxiety level from worrying about her anxiety/fears and how it could make hers worse. I noticed in the evening when she was starting to act anxious, if I talked silly to her about it, it dissipated. So I'm really monitoring my own reactions to make sure I don't buy into her drama and unintentionally feed it. I've also been blocking her access to other rooms when I'm not in them, to prevent her from practicing "hiding". My theory is if she's hiding, then it feeds into the emotion of needing to hide.
In ten days she has improved sooooo much. Sometimes I can leave open the access to rooms she hides and she doesn't hide. If she does I encourage her to come back out and then close off access. Her attitude is so much better. Today is the first time I could put her collar on without a treat in sight, though she still got a treat. I started out having to lure her with peanut butter to put it on, so this is a big improvement. For other things, I'm taking my time a little more, trying to prevent any tweaks for her to over-react to and feed the drama. For instance in the week before the vet visit, I barely moved my foot and lightly brushed her toe. She screamed and ran from the room. This might seem plausible given the sore toe/toenail, except I brushed against the other foot! Thus taking my time and being a little more careful.
So that's it for now. There has been a lot of progress and hopefully this will be a thing of the past before long. For training I'm sticking with basics, things she knows well and can get a lot of reinforcement for.
It breaks my heart to see her lose her zest for life - I'm thrilled to see it returning.
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