Improvement for Molly !

[PENELOPE DILL]

Hi Adrienne:

I wanted to give you a positive update about Molly.  I took your recommendation and discussed medication related to Molly's behavior with her vet.

I had given it 6 months to try and train her and I kept feeling something was just not right.  When I told her vet about her not sleeping, the constant biting, etc,  she was very concerned about her various behaviors, especially the not sleeping (like you were).  Molly has been on Fluoxetine for about 4 weeks now and she has shown great improvement.  She isn't having any side effects from the medication and we've decided she has a severe anxiety disorder.  She is still energetic but calmer, has stopped biting me and jumping on me.  She lies down on her own (doesn't sleep during the day but better sleep at night) and isn't constantly pacing.  She has eye contact and listens to me at times 🙂  I can cuddle her and kiss her head and she nuzzles me back.  Before she would try to bite me.  I've realized she wasn't just energetic like everyone was telling me,  she was acting frantic.  Her sweet nature is showing now.  I'm still working on training, which is moving at a glacial pace but I assume we've lost the last 6 months because of her anxiety.  So my attitude is I'm working with an 85 pound mentally 2 month old puppy who is really a teenager !

Thanks again for your help !   Penelope

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hi Penelope,

Thank you for the positive update! I am glad your vet was able to find a good solution to help her be under threshold enough for some relaxation. This is very important. Hopefully, she'll be able to relax enough to get some sleep during the day. Fluoxetine may take 4 to 6 weeks to have a full effect. 

With the medication helping, this is a good time to start training, which it sounds like you are already doing. It's OK to go slowly, work at her own pace and happily praise and reward the small improvements.

Keep up the great work! It's awesome she isn't having side effects.