Looking for advice for an anxious 2 year old Staffy x Shih Tzu

[dandeebeau]

Hi there, Im hoping I can learn something new here as we have a super anxious pup who, at the moment, we feel like we are letting down. She's always been an anxious bean ever since she was a puppy (we've both had dogs for 20+ years) and this is the first time we've ever noticed a dog like this, so if possible I'm looking for advice and/or suggestions as to what we can do to lessen her anxiety.

I think the easiest way here is to give specific examples of her behaviour. It's worth noting that we are very calm with her, there's no punishments or anything of that sort. We reward positive behaviour with treats and lavishing praise but it seems to have no effect.

1. When I'm alone with her she's calm and relaxed but the minute my wife is around it's like she's on alert and can't rest or relax. Pacing around the floor until we ask her to go to her 'spot' and then she will lay down for a little while before getting up and continuing.
2. When I go upstairs in our house, she will cry until I come back down. It's either that or she will immediately go and sit by my wife (on the floor) and wait until I'm back down. Sometimes she will run up and down the stairs a few times (we have a stair gate at the top so she can't run rampant in the kids rooms) which I close behind me.
3. Walking on the lead, again super calm and slack lead for me when I'm walking her solo. However, when my wife or anyone else is walking her (or walking with me) she pulls and pulls and no-amount of turning the other way and re-directing her energy seems to have any impact. We use a harness where the lead is clipped onto the front so her pulling isn't terrible as she doesn't have the weight behind her to pull properly.
4. Recently she is a little woofy (we call it gruffing) when people walk past the house. This happens when she is with just me and other people.

When she was a puppy she would get super excited when my wife was around and would gravitate towards her when it was time to relax on the sofa.

I have noticed that when I stroke her, she is super calm and relaxed. However when anyone else (wife, children, friends) stroke her she turns around and around and at some points will place her mouth onto their hand. She has never bitten or even tried to bite but it's almost like she is way too excited and can't contain herself and that's the only release.

Now it's becoming obvious that she has anxiety. We work from home every day so she isn't left on her own and we've recently began booking her into doggy day care centres where she can meet other dogs and spend time playing with other dogs.

I do hope you can teach me a few things as she's a wonderful kind pup and I hate the thought of her feeling anxious over things we are unaware of but we could help to stop.

Thank you so much!

 

[geforcefly1]

@dandeebeau First of all I appreciate the detail in your post

I encourage you to have an open mind about dog training for your dog. Here's a couple videos they should be helpful

In addition to this I would say little things sometimes make us a crutch to our pets. an example is sometimes when I am doing work at my computer my puppy would whine just to play or be held even right after just playing or getting back from a walk. I ignore it until the puppy calms down a little and then go and play again or set up a little puzzle or do a little work with commands and then go back to working.

Sometimes when im walking up to my room puppy whines for me to come. I turn around and go do something else until the whining ends and then a couple moments more and return. my pups anxiety has improved a ton.

A comment on the video about the food thing is be careful with bully sticks. dogs can choke. mine did today and luckly i was laying on the floor while he was chewing it when it happened. personally I won't leave my dog with a bully stick unsupervised. my point is just be careful. hope your dog gets better.