Just joined the group and wanted to share some photos of my Weim x vizsla girl. She tends to ignore her vizsla half most of the time but they’re both Velcro so there’s that. Shes 4 and has a 4 year old vizsla brother who is her emotional support dog 😂
Hello all! I’m a 45 year old F in SW Ohio with an anxious, reactive weim/viszla mix. She’s allergic to poultry, and we suspect also dairy (no cheese 😭). Just wanted to see if any of you all have good recs for high value treats that aren’t chicken or cheese. We’ve used beef sticks and popcorn successfully, but they have SO much sodium, so I’m looking for additional options to help her when we are working on her triggers. What do y’all use?
I’m a 45 yo F in Ohio with two dogs that are FAR too close in age (decisions while in grief after losing two dogs back to back) and one of them is reactive and has generalized anxiety. My male is a vizsla and is mouthy when someone passes our house, but that’s about it. My female is a vizsla and weim (probably says all you need to know 🤣) mix. My husband and I had a V previously and that was my heart dog. We lost him two weeks after our oldest lab to terminal cancer and he was only 8.
Anyway, our Weimie girl is…let’s say special 😆 she’s so anxious whenever we leave the house. We don’t let that stop us from taking our dogs places, so she’s not lacking socialization, and we take them to more fun places than not fun places. They go to tractor supply with us, rural king, cabelas, bass pro shops, and any pet friendly hardware store. We will make special trips to TSC and Rural king just to get them out in public. We have done that since they were puppies. They also both went through puppy classes, and did pretty well. My girl is pretty food motivated, and very easy to teach basic obedience. They are also both crate trained, both at home and in our vehicles.
The problem with her is that, once she is in panic mode, it is very difficult to bring her ‘back to earth.’ She gets trazodone for stressful things like vet visit, but I do hate what it does to her. It kind of messes with her appetite, which I know it can sometimes do. I have been working with her a LOT at home with very high value treats and have finally been able to break through some of the panic. We also finally started her on fluoxetine in the past week, and I know we have some time yet to see benefit, but I feel like she is improving slightly.
So my questions are: does anyone camp or travel with their anxious and reactive dogs? My husband and I just bought a camper and I want to set her up for success. I have up to this point, avoided using the trazodone unless absolutely necessary. Am I possibly doing her a disservice by avoiding it? Can it help her develop positive associations in more stressful situations? Any insight is welcome for sure!