14 mo ACD mix- HELP

[lakersfan4life24]

My rescue, Bowie, is ~14-15 months old. According to the DNA test I got he’s about 1/3 ACD, and he’s the light of my life, but he’s also been pushing me to my limits recently. We’ve been working closely with a trainer since he was about 5 months old and have made SO much progress, but I feel like we’ve taken 1,000 steps back in the last month or so. To give some context- before being rescued he was a street dog (found abandoned on the streets in Texas with his brother and what was assumed to be his beagle mom, although according to the DNA test she was likely just a surrogate mom because he has zero beagle in him), so I know a lot of his fun little unique Bowie-isms stem from his past. He’s always been high energy and goes from 0-100 in about 2 seconds flat, and is fairly reactive overall, but this has been pretty manageable and recently we’ve seemed to enter some sort of fear stage/developmental period that’s been really difficult for me to deal with. While he’s always been a bit chompy, he’s suddenly started to show some mildly aggressive behaviors towards people he never has before. We had a one-on-one with our trainer about 2-3 weeks ago to work on his recent fear of nail trimming and he mouthed/nipped her twice, which was extremely unusual and surprising since he LOVES our trainer. He also did the same with my grandma the other day and did some snarling/nipping with her, which he’s never done before- although we were watching a football game with the family at the time and there were a lot of new faces and a lot of yelling from us all, so I know this likely contributed. He’s also been much more reactive than usual and has been generalizing- he’s now reacting to anything that rattles like scooters/trucks instead of just skateboards. I guess I just feel at a loss lately and like I’ve failed him and our training, because we’re suddenly not only regressing but dealing with problems we’ve never dealt with before. I know that some of this is related to his age and the fact that he’s an adolescent, but it’s just been really hard to deal with and it’s brought me to tears several times. Do we need to start an SSRI? Will this get better with time? Just hoping for some advice or insight from other ACD lovers!

Edit: I guess I should mention that we’re on clonidine twice a day

 

[cloelace]

@lakersfan4life24 Your pup is about the same age as mine. Mine didn't go through another fear period at this time (nor any other notable behavior change), but I heard technically it's possible for this age.

Also, someone posted a while back that her pup, contracting giardia, became bitey. It could be a physical discomfort -- I agree with @lee102 here.

 

[sojourningwithjews]

@lakersfan4life24 I was talking to my trainer this week and she said that one bad scare can last days. So when she has a bad reaction to separate her for a while to keep her calm and introduce her slowly back to things that can trigger her almost starting from scratch. So if these are happening close together it might be the fresh memory of the other scare compounding leading to larger reactions.

 

[lakersfan4life24]

@sojourningwithjews I’ve definitely found that starting from scratch and going back to square one has helped, he’s really improving in terms of overall reactivity but now I’m just stressed about the incidents involving people :/

 

[yeshuasown]

@lakersfan4life24 Overwhelming events for the dog in general. Dogs who don't like their nails trimmed don't often care whose on the other end of the clippers. Your trainer should know that. When people are over, he prob needs some space. Maybe start with a basket muzzle JIC. You are in "that age", in combo with his growing comfort with asserting his personal space.

 

[lakersfan4life24]

@yeshuasown No I 100% agree, our trainer was actually just trying to start over with the nail trimming and get him reintroduced (giving him treats while showing him the clippers, etc.) when he reacted and nipped her. It was just completely different from his past behavior with her so it really surprised me. Same thing with my grandma, I know it was probably just too much for him but he’s done really well with similar gatherings in the past so it seemed so out of the blue. But we did start some basket muzzle work just to be safe!

 

[jeremiah99]

@lakersfan4life24 Sometimes these medications can work against you. Clonidine has shown some side effects like excitation/agitation and aggression. I would myself, remove meds, and give him time to settle down from his negative experiance of his nail trim. Heelers can hold on to bits of trauma for quite a while, sensitive souls that they are. Don’t begin Prozac until you have done some deescalation in his recent behaviors. Fluoxetine can also result in an explosive aggressive behavior suddenly without warning. Think sedated then an overreaction to stimulus or environmental distractions. I have experienced all of the above with a JRT that had severe aggression from misuse of e collars, that was amplified by meds. For nail trims, it can take months, a year even to make nail trims acceptable to reactive individuals. One toe at a time so to speak.

In highly excitable environments, company watching a game, remove him from those situations. Give him a quiet place with a stuffed kong or chewies. Even calm dogs can overreact to humans jumping around and yelling. Your job is to protect your pup from things that are not normal goings on, it is too much to expect of him given his background and age.

 

[lakersfan4life24]

@jeremiah99 He’s had paradoxical reactions to gabapentin and Trazodone, so I’m definitely cautious with medications with him. The clonidine seems to really help his day to day stress/reactivity, he’s no longer reacting to EVERY loud noise and mostly tolerates skateboards and scooters. But it’s good to know that fluoxetine can also cause extreme, unexpected reactions, so thank you!

 

[lee102]

@lakersfan4life24 It sounds like he’s in pain. Dogs get migraines just like people. There’s some tell tale signs. Was he on the medication before the sudden change in behavior? Might be time for something else.