Tonight I took Lucky to her behavior appointment. Adopting Lucky has been a challenge. She is a sweet dog who has obviously been abused. If you were ever to meet her you would think she is the most sweet and adorable dog. She acts like a puppy (people ask me all the time if she is a puppy) and she has enough energy for three dogs.
Unfortunately soon after bringing her home it was evident that Lucky had many issues that we were unprepared to handle. The agency that adopted her out was unable to help us at first so we were left hanging in the wind. When we finally got some help, it took many weeks for us to get some control of the situation. The biggest problem at that time was Lucky being aggressive about food. If you met her now you would be surprised that she ever had a problem with food.
Over the last two and one half years Lucky has started to resource guard me. That means she thinks I am a resource that is more important than anything else and she needs to protect it. She protects me from Brenda and Happi. It has been a very unhappy house with growling and barking.
At the behavior appointment tonight I had to explain all of her behaviors. I had a short video of her growling at Happi for the doctor to see. Then she told me how to deal with the behaviors.
The first thing we are doing is putting Lucky on doggy prozac. I resisted this when we first got her but now I don't think we can continue living with her with all this anxiety and stress she has. She was a nervous wreck at the appointment. I have never seen her this way. Shaking and not sitting still. The doctor seemed concerned. We have also put her on doggy zanax. This may be temporary until the prozac kicks in. It takes Prozac at least two weeks to take effect. They also suggested using a Dap collar again but we decided to hold off for right now. We don't want to do too much at once.
We are also doing some behavior modifications. I have to walk her more often, keep her on a leash in the house, play work games with her and use nothing for free. She has a new life ahead of her. I need to buy a work toy. It is a toy that you put treats in it and the dog has to work to find the treat.
We start tomorrow! We need to fix this problem. The doctor says this situation is fixable. Yay!
Until tomorrow...
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