From the Styx by Peggy Tibbetts

This is Part 5 in the Crazy Bitch series about our Akbash/Lab mix Venus. She has Canine Compulsive Disorder (CCD) with aggression. Links to the four previous episodes can be found at the end of this post.

The Dog Whisperer

The weekend before Tod left for Chicago, I saw Karen J at Dogland.

“Venus seems a lot calmer,” she said. “How are things going with her and Zeus?”

“Not well,” I said. “They’re fine here at the park. But we still keep them separated at home. Zeus doesn’t really want to have anything to do with her. And who can blame him? I don’t know if he’ll ever forgive her. “

“That’s so sad,” she said. “What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know. Stay positive. Keep working with her,” I said. “I don’t have any answers. I’ve given it up to the Universe. The answers will have to come to me. Somehow.”

Prior to Tod’s departure I worked on my self-confidence. All my life, I’ve had a special connection with animals. I’ve bred and raised dozens of Persians and Himalayans. I’ve bred, raised, owned, and fostered dozens of dogs. For ten years, Kay Larson’s horse ranch was 2 blocks from our house. For many years he enlisted my help with socializing his horses and a donkey. He said I had “animal magic”.  So-oo why couldn’t I work my magic with Venus?

Venus really enjoyed spending mornings at Tod’s office. The extra walks plus having the run of the office was good for her. But we were concerned that the combination of Tod’s absence and taking away her new office routine would increase her anxiety at home. Our daughter, Ema also works at his office so she offered to take Venus with her for at least 3 mornings.

Before Tod left on Monday afternoon, November 17, we made sure Venus had three walks. After he left, I decided to calm her anxiety with meditation. I called her into the bedroom while I sat on the rug in a lotus position. I told her to sit. She ignored me and did her anxiety dance. So I closed my eyes and began deep breathing. I should’ve videotaped the session. It was hilarious.

“A-um.”

Bop. She poked me in face with her nose. I kept my eyes closed and ignored her.

“A-um.”

Bop. Bop. Again with the nose in the face. Again I ignored her.

“A-um.”

Bop. Bop. BOP. She almost knocked me over.

“Ouch!” I opened my eyes and pushed her away. “Venus, go lie down.”

She licked my face. More anxiety dance. Time out.

I got up and let her outside. She ran around the house, into the garage and barked at the door to get back in. I took that as a signal that even though she was being a pest, she wanted to be near me while I meditated. I let her back in. Next I tried a new tactic. I stretched out on the carpet, face down and covered my face with my hands. She poked at me and pawed the carpet. I nearly suffocated trying not to laugh. Eventually she lay quietly beside me. I hung onto the moment as long as I could. We had accomplished something. What that was exactly, I had no clue.

I turned to the intertubes and googled “dog aggression” which led me to the Dog Whisperer website and an announcement that the program would be returning to the National Geographic Channel beginning with a re-run of an older episode about dog aggression on Tuesday, November 18. I set my DVR to record it.

I admit that I had watched a couple episodes of the Dog Whisperer a few years ago before we adopted Venus but had never kept up with it. Cesar Millan seemed like a really good dog trainer and nice enough guy, but I thought the dog owners were idiots. There was a woman who was afraid of her own dog and a couple who never walked their dog. Why do people like that even have dogs?

I was supposed to increase Venus’s Clomipramine from 50 mg twice a day to 75 mg on Tuesday. But I cheated and upped it on Monday night. It was my first evening alone in the house with those two mooks and I didn’t want any trouble. Even though we had been opening the gate after dinner when Tod was home, I kept the gate closed and the dogs separated. They still weren’t even going out in the yard together. The only time they were together was during walks. I decided not to make any changes in that routine while Tod was gone.

I assessed my “tools”. In addition to the Clomipramine I had the leashes, Zeus’s studded collar, pepper spray, the gates, and a ridiculous Chinese-fire-drill-with-dogs routine. How the hell had life with my dogs come to this?

The 75 mg dosage worked. Venus acted calmer right away. By Wednesday I felt certain we could get through the week without any problems.

Then I sat down and watched the Dog Whisperer episode I had recorded. It was the one about Isis and Tina, the two Pit Bulls that fought with each other all the time. Their aggression threatened to break up their owners’ relationship. Isis and Tina hated each other. But Cesar trained their owners how to work with the dogs to build a positive, healthy relationship. I was blown away. Zeus and Venus weren’t anywhere near that bad. That meant there was hope we could repair what Venus had broken.

Call it a revelation – or divine intervention – or canine intervention. I knew I had found my answer. And his name was Cesar Millan.

I watched the episode twice and picked up a whole bunch of tips on how to train Venus right away, starting with the leash. We were giving her way too much control. I reined her in. I also made her sit until she calmed down when she acted aggressively toward other dogs. By Friday we had made tons of progress. I couldn’t wait to show Tod the episode and how I had applied what I learned.

When he got home Friday night he noticed immediately how much calmer Venus was and how much more control I had gained over her anxiety. The “Shhh-t-t-t!” and snapping of the fingers worked like a charm. Distraction. We watched the episode and Tod saw how Cesar’s dog psychology and people training worked.

“What this means is that in order to rehabilitate Venus, we have to start all over again with her training,” I told him. “It’s a huge challenge but at least now we have a resource to help us get through this.”

I set the DVR to record the upcoming Dog Whisperer marathon on Thanksgiving weekend. We continued working with Venus. No fixating. No dominance. No anxiety. We opened the gate in the house and we let them out in the yard together with supervision. Zeus didn’t always stay in the same room with her. And he didn’t always stay in the yard with her. But SOMETIMES he did, though he kept his distance.

Thanksgiving weekend was amazing. Ema, Tim, and Hailey came over for Turkey Day. The dogs were calm and well behaved, even around all the food – which usually makes Venus really anxious, then Zeus gets all grumpy. But that didn’t happen. We watched several Dog Whisperer episodes and got a whole bunch more new tips and tricks to work on with Venus. 

On Saturday, November 29, we took the dogs cross country skiing. It was our first time out for the season. We have trained them to do skijoring. It’s a gas. Zeus isn’t into it as much anymore, but Venus loves it. Oh I know. I know. How the hell did we manage to train that crazy bitch to do skijoring and work with Zeus as a team? All I know is she wasn’t crazy when we trained her.

Anyway, that day something wonderful happened out on the West Elk ski trail. When we let them loose, Zeus and Venus walked together side by side, flanks touching. They sniffed together. They played together. She wasn’t fixating on him. He wasn’t ignoring her. It was like old times. Zeus remembered what it was he used to love about Venus. Her companionship. Tears ran down my face as I skied.

We devoured Dog Whisperer episodes as quickly as the DVR could supply them. Cesar takes a holistic approach to dog rehabilitation. He considers the dog’s breed, energy level, training – or not, living conditions, and what sort of pack leadership – or not – comes from the humans around the dog.

Using Cesar’s criteria we evaluated our situation. Tod and I are pretty good pack leaders. We don’t “humanize” our dogs. They get plenty of exercise, discipline, and affection. I’m good with the discipline but I need to be more patient with Venus. When her anxiety level rises and I have to tell her to sit 20 times in a row and she doesn’t do it, I lose my cool and yell at her, “Sit dammit!” Tod needs to be less permissive and more consistent. He cuts her way too much slack. Sometimes he rewards her anxiety with the attention she’s seeking. We admitted our weaknesses and committed to improvement.

We learned about triggers. How to identify situations that activate Venus’s anxiety. Zeus gets a lot of exercise for an 8-year old Malamute, so he gets more tired than Venus who is only 3. When he’s tired he doesn’t like to be messed with. But as I pointed out, Venus is a nose bopper, which pisses Zeus off and he grumbles at her. That’s a trigger. He grumbles, she gets anxious. We worked on training Venus to leave Zeus alone when he’s tired.

Family members coming and going is another trigger. Or people coming to the door. Those are common issues that Cesar addresses. We worked on distracting her during those situations by following his instructions. 

We learned how to recognize when Venus was showing dominant behavior, because when she does that, aggression usually follows. Even though she’s a 90-lb dog, she used to walk across the back of the couch. We used to think she was funny like a clown. Not. She was displaying dominant behavior so we made her stop it. In fact much of her attention-seeking clownish behavior that used to make us laugh wasn’t funny anymore. We suddenly saw through it. She used the spotlight to control the situation and gain dominance. As cute as she was, the behaviors had to stop.

The great thing was, in the process of correcting her dominant behaviors, she didn’t lose her comical spirit. She still sits upside down.

She still rolls on her back grins and shows teeth.

She still tosses her dog toys. She’s just not allowed to smack Zeus with them while he’s resting.
 
Cesar is an expert in dealing with all types of dog anxiety and/or aggression. He usually recommends 10 minutes a day on the treadmill. We don’t own a treadmill, but we haven’t ruled out getting one. We decided our 4 walks a day were better than a treadmill.

With severe “red zone” cases of aggression, Cesar usually takes the dog to live with his stable pack for several weeks. We don’t live near LA so that’s not an option. Venus does have dogs that she regularly socializes with at Dogland. We decided that working on her social skills at the park was a pretty good substitute. 

We had good days and bad days. What mattered most was that we were making progress with her.

Because I’m a writer I need to know why things happen. Why did Venus go crazy? Veterinary medical researchers suggest that an imbalance of serotonin in the brain can cause CCD in dogs. Researchers also recommend taking into consideration other factors, including the dog’s breed, plus the levels of “stress, frustration, and/or conflict” in the dog’s life, which is exactly what Cesar does.

The Clomipramine combined with training were just the beginning of Venus’s rehabilitation. Our next step was to look into her past to find more of the missing puzzle pieces.  

Stay tuned for Part 6

Part 1: Tale of Two Dogs

Part 2: Dog Bomb

Part 3: Sick Puppy

Part 4: Torn Between Two Dogs

Click here to add From the Styx to your RSS reader.