A little back story:
We adopted Odin our AmStaff when he was about 7 months old from a NJ shelter. He was mellow at first (later found out this was because he was sick with pneumonia), but once he was well and settled in we realized how high energy/high anxiety he was.
This is our first pit so we had no idea what to expect. We hired a professional dog trainer to help educate us on the best way to train Odin and help him become a well behaved dog.
She gave us some good tips and tricks and we did start to see improvement in his behavior, but he was still very anxious and excitable but we figure it was typical puppy behavior.
Flash forward to today:
Odin has just turned 2. After speaking with 2 separate vets and doing some research of our own, we decided to give Prozac a try to see if it would help curb some of Odins anxiety. (We had tried exercise/wearing him out but his energy level in relation to his anxiety never changed) He has made signifcant improvements in his separation anxiety - he's comfy in his crate and no longer barks and panics when we leave for work, but will still have some anxiety if either myself or my boyfriend leaves the apartment to run an errand. He does ok on his walks, still pulls, but the gentle leader has helped. And is resource guarding is pretty much gone (HUGE relief).
When Odin is home with just the 2 of us, he is the sweetest most mellow guy in the world. He just like to be lazy and lay on the couch. He obeys his commands - sit, stay, off, lay down, etc.
The issues we have are this:
1. Whenever we have guests over he FREAKS OUT. Barking, jumping, the whole nine yards. It's not aggresive, it's just over excited. As soon as the buzzer rings he stands at attention. Then he rushes the door when I try to let someone in. If they make it inside, he is just jumping and $#@!aulting them (with love of course - but no one wants a 60 pound dog on top of them). It takes him a solid 10-20 minutes to work through this insanity, then he is pretty much calm. Occasionally he will jump on the person throughout the rest of their stay.
We've tried 'claiming the space' and training him to respect the boundary around the door but it hasn't worked. He doesn't respond to physical correction (by that i mean the 'tsst' thing that Cesar Milan does and seems to work so well and every other dog but mine). We've tried off leash, on leash, pinch collar, gentle leader, high value treats - nothing seems to work.
2. Leash reactivity on walks - As soon as he sees another dog his ears are up, tail is up, and if I can't snap him out of it fast enough he was start thrashing around and lunging to get to the other dog because he wants to greet them. Again, not aggressive, just wayyyy over excited. Unfortunately with the pit stigma people see him and are terrified because he looks out of control and they think he is going to attack them and/or their dog (sadness :sad:).
Can't walk past another dog without him reacting. Went to the park the other day and in the distance he saw another dog jumping around and playing - he went nuts. Barking, thrashing, would not respond to high value treats. Nothing seems to snap him out of his fixations. He doesn't understand how to properly meet another dog.
3. Separation anxiety outside the house - So like any other couple with a dog my boyfriend and I had hoped to enjoy taking him on walks together. The issue is, if we both walk him for some reason he thinks its ok to pull. Individually he doesn't really pull at all. The worst thing is if one of us needs to step away for a moment to grab coffee or stop into a store - he panics. Completely and totally panics. Whining and barking and pulling to get to the person who's gone inside. If we are not with him together he loses it. Treats do not distract him at all. Not even super stinky treats that are high value.
Long story short we still have a lot of issue with his leash reactivity, separation anxiety, and meeting of new people and animals.
We are trying everything we can think of but nothing seems to click with him. I just want to be able to have people come over and not have him freak out. It would also be great to be able to walk him past another dog and not have to fear he is going to lunge at them.
Any advice would be helpful!
We adopted Odin our AmStaff when he was about 7 months old from a NJ shelter. He was mellow at first (later found out this was because he was sick with pneumonia), but once he was well and settled in we realized how high energy/high anxiety he was.
This is our first pit so we had no idea what to expect. We hired a professional dog trainer to help educate us on the best way to train Odin and help him become a well behaved dog.
She gave us some good tips and tricks and we did start to see improvement in his behavior, but he was still very anxious and excitable but we figure it was typical puppy behavior.
Flash forward to today:
Odin has just turned 2. After speaking with 2 separate vets and doing some research of our own, we decided to give Prozac a try to see if it would help curb some of Odins anxiety. (We had tried exercise/wearing him out but his energy level in relation to his anxiety never changed) He has made signifcant improvements in his separation anxiety - he's comfy in his crate and no longer barks and panics when we leave for work, but will still have some anxiety if either myself or my boyfriend leaves the apartment to run an errand. He does ok on his walks, still pulls, but the gentle leader has helped. And is resource guarding is pretty much gone (HUGE relief).
When Odin is home with just the 2 of us, he is the sweetest most mellow guy in the world. He just like to be lazy and lay on the couch. He obeys his commands - sit, stay, off, lay down, etc.
The issues we have are this:
1. Whenever we have guests over he FREAKS OUT. Barking, jumping, the whole nine yards. It's not aggresive, it's just over excited. As soon as the buzzer rings he stands at attention. Then he rushes the door when I try to let someone in. If they make it inside, he is just jumping and $#@!aulting them (with love of course - but no one wants a 60 pound dog on top of them). It takes him a solid 10-20 minutes to work through this insanity, then he is pretty much calm. Occasionally he will jump on the person throughout the rest of their stay.
We've tried 'claiming the space' and training him to respect the boundary around the door but it hasn't worked. He doesn't respond to physical correction (by that i mean the 'tsst' thing that Cesar Milan does and seems to work so well and every other dog but mine). We've tried off leash, on leash, pinch collar, gentle leader, high value treats - nothing seems to work.
2. Leash reactivity on walks - As soon as he sees another dog his ears are up, tail is up, and if I can't snap him out of it fast enough he was start thrashing around and lunging to get to the other dog because he wants to greet them. Again, not aggressive, just wayyyy over excited. Unfortunately with the pit stigma people see him and are terrified because he looks out of control and they think he is going to attack them and/or their dog (sadness :sad:).
Can't walk past another dog without him reacting. Went to the park the other day and in the distance he saw another dog jumping around and playing - he went nuts. Barking, thrashing, would not respond to high value treats. Nothing seems to snap him out of his fixations. He doesn't understand how to properly meet another dog.
3. Separation anxiety outside the house - So like any other couple with a dog my boyfriend and I had hoped to enjoy taking him on walks together. The issue is, if we both walk him for some reason he thinks its ok to pull. Individually he doesn't really pull at all. The worst thing is if one of us needs to step away for a moment to grab coffee or stop into a store - he panics. Completely and totally panics. Whining and barking and pulling to get to the person who's gone inside. If we are not with him together he loses it. Treats do not distract him at all. Not even super stinky treats that are high value.
Long story short we still have a lot of issue with his leash reactivity, separation anxiety, and meeting of new people and animals.
We are trying everything we can think of but nothing seems to click with him. I just want to be able to have people come over and not have him freak out. It would also be great to be able to walk him past another dog and not have to fear he is going to lunge at them.
Any advice would be helpful!
2 year old AmStaff leash reactive/separation anxiety/behavior issues
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