Prozac and Patchouli

Hey, it's February! That happened quickly! I have to admit that blogging has not been a top priority (good thing, or else I'd be doing very poorly at that). But that doesn't mean we haven't been working!

Ela's Level 2 obedience class at TCOTC wrapped up. They were kind enough to accomodate us for the last few classes by letting us work in a ring of our own. Some classes Ela was a super star - showing me that she met every requirement to pass Level 2; heeling, sitting, and targeting with energy and enthusiasm. Other days she was a nervous wreck, staring at the ceiling, hypervigilant, and almost catatonic in her response time. Those are the days that we spent only doing RP and lily pads.


Ela will start taking Prozac to assist with behavior modification

 The magnitude of the inconsistency of her performance was one of the main reasons that led me to consult with a veterinarian that specializes in behavior. The other reason was her ceiling-staring. She often ducks, crouches, and rolls her eyes up to the ceiling. When she does this, she loses focus on whatever she was working on, and wants to retreat to a quiet place. It is difficult to engage her after she stares. This initially happened after a light-weight hollow door fell over toward her - but didn't land on her. She was very spooked, and after that was very wary of this particular room. However, her behavior quickly generalized - to all doors, all doorways, all ceiling corners, all ceilings, and then the sky.  Staring repetitions were repeated daily, sometimes several for a couple hours. My attempts to counter condition this were not effective - I can CC a noise, an object, an object dropped by me or pushed off the table, but I cannot CC a randomly falling object. I was worried that she was developing a severe phobia, and I needed to halt the progression immediately.

Our behavior vet recommended Prozac to help me with my general training plan for Ela. She thought that Ela's odd ceiling-staring behavior might need to be solved with plain old life-experience. If I can help her to feel less anxious (through medication and confidence building training), then perhaps she can process the idea that it is actually statistically unlikely that things will fall from the sky and hurt her. Ela doesn't believe me on that right now.

I also consulted with a shaman - why leave any rock unturned? Per her suggestion, I smudged the house with white mountain sage and Ela stopped her ceiling staring behavior by 95%. I see her glance at the ceiling (no more freeze and stare) maybe once every three days. It was astounding. Apparently, she is sensitive to spirits, and they only add to her generalized anxiety. I'm also looking into other spiritual therapies to help her, but alleviating this part of the problem has been very relieving for both Ela and me. (Don't worry, we won't actually be using patchouli in this program.)

Ela starts Changing Attitudes at TCOTC in two weeks, and I'm looking forward to continuing to work with her in a very flexible space. She'll have her own corner, and when we get open ring space the other dogs will be behind barriers. I'm also hoping that Ninso will switch dogs with me and handle Ela during the course. I'm very curious to see how she will respond to someone else.

If Ela likes Ninso better than me, it will probably ruin our friendship, but I'd rather find out now than later.

Ela and Oliver love each other

Oliver had his second week of nose-work at AGDN. He is absolutely thrilled to find hot dogs and string cheese in cardboard boxes. I am fairly certain that he will sustain a head injury by diving into a box at some point throughout the course, but that will be okay, I bought health insurance for him.

So, that is more recap that revelation, but I mostly still feel that I am collecting information on Ela's situation. I've got a few ideas brewing, but I'll have to save them for another post.