Panic Attack Question

[Patti]

 

If we unavoidably & unexpectedly fine ourselves in an extremely noisy crowded place and Willow goes into a full flipped-out-panic as happened yesterday, should I pick her up and carry her out or force/drag her through to the other side?

 

 If there was on other option what would you do.

[LucyR]

Have treats handy if you think that this situation could develop.  Not just treats-HIGH VALUE treats.  Before she goes bananas, start feeding her like crazy and in a very calm voice say "good doggie, good doggie" and back out of the situation.  Hold the treats close to your body so she needs to come in close to you.  The best defense, as they say, is a good offense.  Anticipate when this could happen and prepare in advance.  You want to teach her that you are making the decisions and it is in her best interest to stick by you.  Hopefully she is food motivated!  Can you describe the circumstances in a bit more detail and whether you would be able to anticipate this sort of thing happening in the future?

[Adina P]

I'm guessing you live in a big city?  I can't envision how a noisy AND crowded place would suddenly appear.  If you can spot that it's coming I say don't go forward into that place.  In the meantime work on her reaction to such a place gradually using what was mentioned above.  Start and continue obedience training to help her regular her response to scary and stressful and distracting things. 

 

But assuming that it's sudden and surprising and unavoidable and there she is completely flipping out I don't think it matters HOW you leave.  Just leave however you feel comfortable leaving.

[Patti]

I added the story.

We live in a small town, in the mountains.  But sometimes I think, no matter where we go, THEIR OUT TO GET US.

And Willow is totally convinced they are.

[Nugget's Family]

If she's small enough, I would pick her up. 

 

Nuggy, at 58 lbs, is tough to do this with.  I wish I could pick her up more easily.

 

 

[Patti]

Yes, I am really enjoying the 20 pounder at this point.

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

We used to have similar things occur when Tara was a puppy. She attracted so much attention, as all of our doodles do, and we would find ourselves surrounded by strangers all staring at and reaching for Tara. The minute we saw that she was starting to get overwhelmed we would pick her up.  It seemed that just giving her some elevation and letting her know that she was safe with us calmed her down enough that we did not have to leave

In an emergency situation I think picking Willow up is okay. It think it would be good to avoid making a habit of it though for all the obvious reasons. :) I think trainers would probably say not to pick her up as you are somehow reinforcing the behavior but....like Adina said...in an emergency, the primary thing is to get her out of there asap!!

 

What did you end up doing yesterday?

[Adina P]

Yeah I think most of the time 'picking up' a dog goes along with "oh sweeeet baby...are you OKAY?  Oh how scary!  Don't worry..." as you pet the dog and cuddle it and overhandle it and give the dog the idea that what it just experienced WAS dangerous and here's what happens when you act scared: you get picked up and petted and cuddled and given a ridiculous amount of attention.  That's very different than scooping up your dog and getting out of dodge when things have truly overcome her.  As long as it's not a regular occurrence and there is work being done to overcome the fears, etc...then it's really NOT the end of the world.

[Lauria Orr]

I would likely pick her up if possible, but not draw too much attention to it.  Avoid saying things like"It's okay, your' re okay" in a sympathetic way.  I would pick her up like business as usual, the way you might on her own turf, and just remove her from the situation, as if it was just a normal flow.  Melody is not treat oriented at all, so treats never work for her. The thundershirt or the like, works as well as anything.  Obedience training, as the others have said, is your best bet in the long run.  She will be focusing on obeying you and the distractions will not be as dramatic.

[Eva]

I can't say enough things about a public area of dog training like Petsmart offers. I've taken 2 dogs there for different levels of training,and they are both therapy dogs now. Just the socialization, the noise, the kids, the beeping backup loading machines, other dogs, people walking by, chairs moving etc. It builds a confidence that your dog can look to you. From having your dog focus on you, with + reinforcement with the treats, she will know you are there for her and the bond will keep growing. Step by step if you have a great instructor like we were able to have, she will gain confidence in differing situations. Sometime a simple sit, stay command with people walking by, you are close and can encourage her, give her the treats. They have a section of learning to "accept friendly strangers" and it's an exercise you start in your neighborhood by taking her for a walk. Asking people with treats to slowly approach her as she sits and stays they give her the treats, and more encouragement. Eventually by increasing her "stress" to different situations I think she can almost overcome anything with you there. I hope that helps, Eva

[Patti]

OK so here is the story:

We went to the Fair Grounds, beautiful place that people go with  their dogs for a peaceful walk during the weekdays. HA HA

 Most of the time around 3 other people there.  As we were walking around the backside of the grounds, little did I know that  massive amounts of people had merged by the front entrance in order to set up for a enormous weekend event.

The only way out, the only way to get to my car, …. There were trucks, tents, tables, hammers, people yelling, backing up, moving forward, you name it…. total chaos and a total circus everywhere!

 

I tried to walk by with Willow, staying as clam as possible, however Willow flipped.  First I thought to walk her, but she was out of her mind. So I picked her up.  The moment I did, I thought to myself ... oh S*** 

 

[Donna K & Quincy]

Patti, you did the best you could at the time and got Willow out of the situation as fast as you could. Now that you know there is an issue you can start some training to help her learn to deal with these types of situations. Quincy used to get a little anxious when he was a puppy and he was surrounded by his "fans", he wouldn't get over excited, he would just back away from the situation. He once backed right out of his collar luckily there was a park bench nearby and we gave the "up" command and he jumped right up on the bench and stayed there. He was only a few months old at that time. Now that he is older we can pretty much take him anywhere and he doesn't react. We kept exposing him to lots of situations and never made a big deal of anything. Don't avoid taking her places or she will hold on to that behaviour. Having a command that you can use is key, maybe make it a command that you only use in certain situations and practice it until you have absolute faith that she will obey. For example, Quincy thinks that sometimes "come" is negotiable while "here" is not and he will always obey this command. The funny thing is we discovered this by accident and didn't actually teach him. High value treats and lots of practice. Quincy loves Craisins and will pretty much do anything to get some.

[Patti]

Willow pulled out of her collar and ran into a parking lot. I stayed clam while my heart was jumping out of me chest and call her name.  THANK GOD she came right back to me.  She wears a halter now.

She loves treats, however when stressed she pays no attention to them.

 

We are not going to give up on our little girl, someday, someway she will be just fine.