Hi all I’m retaking my sis for my job tomorrow and I was doing extremely well on everything in the beginning now I’m getting 50-60% on my finals I have read the book twice and I think I’m mixing everything up now. Any recommendations on videos would be extremely helpful because I feel like I’m gonna have an anxiety freak out due to my job being dependent on this. TIA using pass perfect
Hi everyone. I’m looking for advice, personal experiences, and recommendations regarding behavioral medication for my 2 year old Border Collie.
I have a lot of prior experience working with dogs and behavior, and I truly care deeply about giving him the best life possible. He is incredibly intelligent, highly driven, and we are constantly doing training, enrichment, trick work, and mental stimulation every single day.
Despite that, he has been one of the most challenging dogs I’ve ever worked with. Since around 8 months old, he has struggled heavily with severe overstimulation and anxiety outdoors. Walks are especially hard because he often wants to immediately run back inside, and once outside he can become completely overwhelmed. His hackles raise, he pants heavily, drools, freezes, and can spiral quickly if triggered. Once he goes over threshold, it feels like even one small thing can set us back significantly.
He has also redirected onto me during these moments through nipping, though he immediately calms down once regulated and has never seriously injured me. Indoors, he is a completely different dog. He is loving, engaged, eager to learn, and much easier to work with.
I’ve worked with trainers, spent a lot of time learning his triggers, and I know him extremely well, but I’m at a point where I’m wondering if behavioral medication may help lower his baseline anxiety enough for him to better process the world around him and make training more effective.
I am not looking to sedate him. I simply want to help him feel less overwhelmed and improve his quality of life.
If anyone has experience with behavioral medication, veterinary behaviorists, or similar struggles with highly intelligent reactive dogs, I would really appreciate hearing what helped.