Stay at Home Dog

Since Netta has arrived the dogs and I have had our schedule drastically changed.  No longer are we all going to work every day.  Work involved many stressers for the Toller.  Two long car rides.  Staying in the cubicle area while Mom abandoned him to train the service dogs.  Seeing favorite coworkers come in for the day and not always being able to hang out with them.  Then seeing coworkers pack up to head home and thinking he may be left all alone..forever!  Really most of Vito's anxieties at work boiled down to me not being able to be with him the majority of the day.  He would have been a very relaxed dog if he could just sleep at my feet all day.  Drugs helped.  And helped with the car rides too.  Really Vito was doing pretty well with the situation and his current drugs.  But still daily stress.

And now Vito is a stay at home dog.  A very relaxed stay at home dog. Mom is always there.  Car rides are way less frequent and usually very short.  Happy Toller.

So relaxed that I've weaned Vito off of both his "situational" drugs that were given twice every day. No more Clonidine, his favoritest drug that you could always tell when 2:30 rolled around at work and it was time for another dose.  Vito would definitely tell you he needed his Clonidine!  And no more Clonazepam, the latest of numerous drugs rotating in and out of his life.  Of course if Vito does have to go on a car ride for some reason I'm keeping the drugs around to well actually use situationally.  How novel.

And at this point I'm still keeping Vito on his base drug, which currently is Sertraline.  I'm not sure if I should keep him on it or not.  A part of me hopes that maybe Vito could get used to being left alone again for short periods of time.  Perhaps without the daily stressers in the other areas he will be able to handle it.  His separation anxiety has always been his biggest issue.  But at one point, several years ago, Vito was able to be left alone for a few hours.  With the help of drugs of course.

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The Long Car Trip Verdict

Did anyone make a guess from a few weeks ago on how Vito's car ride to Missouri went?  My guess before the start of the trip was that Vito would be calm, on extra drugs for 3.5hrs, and then would panic. About a month after we increased Vito's Clorazepate again he started doing better in the car.  So about October to our trip over Christmas Vito had very few anxiety attacks.

It was supposed to be about 8hrs of driving but due to a horrible snow storm, we were stuck in insane traffic for an hour and a half.  I think we counted 19 cars in the ditch?  Vito did phenomenal for 7hrs.  Ate lots of treats, some french fries, even pretended to sleep for a little bit.  And then it started to go downhill.  Never worked up to full panic attack on the ride down, but did get up to some light trembling and moderate panting that last 2.5hrs.

The ride back was the disaster.  Started panicking before we even fully left the driveway.  Major trembling, heavy panting, and looking like he was going to have a heart attack.  Since he already had lots of extra drugs in his system we couldn't do anything until at least several more hours passed and we could give him more drugs.  Also found out that his fancy Sleepy Pod seatbelt harness is no match for a panicking dog.  Vito was able to do terrifying somersaults and needed saving twice before we gave up.
At the 2.5hr mark Adam climbed in the backseat and made Vito sit on his lap, which doesn't really help but made us feel better.  It must have helped a little as at the 3.5hr mark Vito was still trembling and panting but remarkably less.  No longer looked like an imminent heart attack.  We pulled off to get gas and lunch at 4hrs and decided we could pretend 6hrs between dosings was enough to give him more drugs.  It helped.  Vito calmed down quite a bit and was really good for 3hrs, and light anxiety for the last hour.

Since then though his panic attacks have been a regular basis again.  Not every ride at least.  We're at about 50%.  At least things are still going pretty well at work.  Fingers are crossed that things start to die down again and we can get rid of the daily, or twice daily, panic attacks.

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Car Rides

Vito's car rides have been going pretty well ever since we fully put him back on his old drug schedule, with slightly increased Sertraline.  He resumed the regiment in August and starting in early October he  has been calm every day with only occasional mild anxiety attacks.  Yay Toller!!!

Recently I also overhauled our transportation system for the dogs.  After a friend had a horrible car accident but all dogs walked away unharmed due to their Variocage, I wanted something that at least wouldn't completely collapse in an mild accident.  I just can't afford the Variocage but the Ruff Tough kennels are very sturdy themselves, just with a weak door.  The Corgi and Duck got new crates.

Vito has been riding tethered to the floor in a normal harness so he got an upgrade too.  I put back in one of the middle row seats to both help support the crates and prevent Vito from being crushed if the crates get slammed.  He got an official crash tested harness as well.

And shockingly he has handled the change very well.  For the first few days I let him ride on the floor next to the seat to help ease the change.  But Vito had no problem being upgraded to the seat.  Thank you Neurotic Dog!

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Vito Update

I suppose Vito is back to "normal" from our scrambling in July.  He resumed going to work with me and after some initial worked up days Vito seems to have settled back into the routine.  Overall fairly calm at work again minus his usual difficult times and difficult events of the day.

As expected, Vito's car anxiety has also started to creep back up.  Initially going back on Clorazepate was helpful, but now Vito thinks morning car rides are panic worthy and evening car rides are ok.  So this week I've decided to increase his Clorazepate to his old dose, up to 11mg.

Interestingly his separation anxiety seems to have lessened a bit.  Not so much that he can actually be left home alone of course.  But I have actually been able to leave him inside the house while I go outside with Zumi to train.  Small victories.

Sadly Vito is back one exercise restriction, again.  It's been 2 months since he was doing some yelping and light limping at an agility/obedience trial.  For 3 weeks he was on restriction although he was only sore for 3 days.  Then lifted after a rehab appointment.  Fine for 2 weeks, then 1 more little yelp at home.  More restriction and started Vito on Doxy since he was positive for a tick diseases this spring.  Hadn't show any signs so didn't do treatment earlier.  But thought it was worth ruling out a tick disease.  Almost 2 weeks of lifted restriction and Vito yelped again last week, one time.  Seems absolutely fine since. 

But now I'll likely have to do some laser therapy and go from there.  It sucks that Vito really hasn't been allowed to do much almost all summer, minus a few weekends of fun visiting parks.  Certainly no trials and agility practice all summer.  Fingers are crossed we are able to figure out his issue and just a longer period of simple rest is all that is needed.

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Back to Normal

Well tomorrow ends (*fingers still crossed*) THREE weeks of Vito and the other pet dogs not being allowed at work.  Two weeks was bad enough and then the unexpected third week did me in.  The longest and seriously most desperate 3 weeks of my life trying to manage Vito's schedule and get to work myself at the same time.  A HUGE thanks the amazing dog community as people stepped up that I barely know.  And I was at that grasping at straws level to accept.  It meant lots of driving all across the metro but we made it.

And with the decision made to put Vito back on Clorazepate he actually handled the drives really well.  For the first time in a month he has stopped panicking in cars again.

Vito did pretty well on his adventures, at least so I'm told.   While he's not a fan of change to his routines, Vito does relax pretty well as long as he's not alone.  He doesn't even need to know the person.    Which is good, as Vito only knew 2 of his baby sitters!  Was even good with a no furniture rule at one house!

Discovering doggy beds can be ok after all if a couch is off limits.

I am so looking forward to life resuming back to our "normal" highly managed life.  De-stress me.

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Rock Bottom

Well the Toller has not been doing so great recently with life.  We were on a roll there, having reached a 2 month streak of panic free car rides and less anxiety in general at work and out and about. It crashed a bit in April and then became kinda better in May.  And now we've crashed again.  This time all the way back to the bottom.  Car rides have trembling and panting so hard it's like he's going to have a heart attack.  Doesn't look much difference than 2011 did.  And we're about 100% of the rides now being in a panic.

More of a freak at work.  Whining at being left.  Getting easily worked up and frantic. Continuing stress at the obedience club with doing some whining in his crate and crazily frantic when let out of his crate.  Even being panting and having this neurotic energy at home.  It's almost like if he's not sleeping he's neurotic.  

I increased his Sertraline to 1.5 pills in the morning last week.  Will see if it helps.  Other option is putting Vito back on Clorazepate and spending way too much money.  But I don't know if that would help anymore either as when we weaned him off it over several months I noticed almost no difference in his behavior.  It did seem to help him on our car ride to Rochester this past weekend.  Although it also seemed to sedate him.

I alternate being wanting so badly to strangle him and slap him out of his panic attacks and wanting to burst into tears as I can't imagine what it's like to be so worked up you tremble uncontrollably.  And I think how he's having at least 2 panic attacks a day right now if not more most days.

And before you comment I'm going to stop you and warn you that if you are thinking about asking if I've tried this supplement or that plant or something I'm going to feel like reaching through the screen and punching you.  Please hold back your helpful suggestion.

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Fingers Crossed

Vito has been doing well in the car again so fingers are crossed it continues.  I don't bother asking Vito for logical explanations to his behaviors anymore.  Just roll with whatever he gives me.

So since we made it to the 2wk mark again of calm car rides, I resumed the plan of getting rid of drug #3- Clorazepate.  Lowered his morning dose this past Sunday and so far no ill effects noticed.  More hoping.

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The Streak is Over

And just like that Vito is back to where he was.  We made it past the 2 month mark of zero car anxiety trips and almost 5 whole months of very few panic attacks.

All came crashing back this last week. Just as quickly as his decision those 5 months ago to suddenly be OK.  I can't say that I'm surprised as it's not like his recent calmness was explainable by any medication change or training change.  Unfortunately even before his nice change this last November Vito was mainly only panicking on morning car rides and was OK on afternoon car rides.  Currently Vito is stressing out on both.

And sadly along with the return of car anxiety Vito is also getting worse at work again.  More "nutty" and more whining when left.  Not horrible yet and not all the time, but it had been so long since Vito has had a bad day at work.  In some respects Vito is even continuing his nuttiness at home with more frequent stress zooming and panting episodes in the evening.

Now we're left at the decision of what to do.  Since Christmas I have been very, very slowly lowering Vito's 3rd (most expensive) drug Clorazepate.  He's gone from 1.5pills x2/day to getting only 1/2 a pill in the morning and 1/4tha  pill in the afternoon.  Lowered afternoon dose first as usually afternoons are better than mornings, wait 3-4wks, and then lowered morning, wait 3-4wks, repeat.  For the most part the lowering went super smooth without me noticing any change in his behavior until he got to 1/2 a pill in the morning on March 1st.  That first week was hard on Vito.  Car anxiety didn't return, but reactivity was greatly increased.  And then he got better.  March 27th was my last change which brought the afternoon dose to our current 1/4th pill.  No change was seen the last two weeks until April 9th.

I could try increasing back the dose of his Clorazepate despite the fact that lowering it didn't seem to make much of a difference.  And it sucks how much more expensive it is.

I could try increasing his Sertraline slightly as Vito's not at his maximum dose yet.

We could just wait and see how he progresses over the next week or two.

Want my Happy Toller back.

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Vito's 1 Month Chip- take 2

For the second time in the past several years, Vito earned a one month chip of zero car anxiety.  Sadly it wasn't a two month chip as after his wonderful 30 days reached in December, Vito reverted to old ways a week shy of the would be celebration.  For about two weeks in mid January Vito started having some small panic attacks in the car and then he suddenly stopped again.

To celebrate his new 1 month chip and overall 3 months of goodness (since November 17th!) I even stopped on the way home from work, left Vito in the car, and sprinted in and out of Little Caesars to grab pizza.  Considering that Vito used to freak out if I even filled the car with gas, this was a huge accomplishment!  Something I hadn't dared to try in many years.  I held my breath as I ordered and prayed there was a cheese pizza all ready to go.  I'm pretty sure I was in and out of the building in less than 2 minutes!  And then I returned to a very calm and relaxed Toller.

Due to his (unexplained) decrease in anxiety these last few months I also have been slowly decreasing his 3rd drug, Clorazepate.  My goal is to get rid of his most expensive drug as was the original plan when we weaned him off Prozac and put him on Zoloft back in June this past year.  Vito's been on Clorazepate since December 2013 when we decided to get rid of Diazepam (Valium).  At one point he was on 11.25mg /x2day and now he is on 3.75mg x2/day.

However with the decreased dosing has come some side effects.  Overall Vito has handled the gradual lowering quite well with no changes noticed until this past week when he went from 1 pill in the morning to half a pill in the morning (and was already lowered to half a pill in the evening 4 weeks earlier).  Vito was lowered on Sunday and at work this week he has been extra reactive to people walking by the cubicle or talking at a distance.  I made a chart today to keep better track of his reactivity and allow me to see if he improves as his body gets used to the adjustment in drugs or not.  I would really like to not spend the $50+  a month on Clorazepate any more!

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Vito's 1 Month Chip

Yesterday marked 1 month since's Vito's last car ride with anxiety.  I don't think he has ever gone so long before without a panic attack in the car!  That's approximately 56 calm and relaxed rides.

Vito started Sertraline (Zoloft) in June when we stopped Amitriptyline and started his current dose in July.  He also is still getting Clonidine and Clorazepate twice daily.  It seems odd that for 5 months on the new drug he was pretty set on about 50% morning car rides panic inducing, especially if the car was facing the wrong way, or he had to get in the "wrong" side of the car since the sliding door wasn't working or...  and then suddenly the anxiety stopped.  This past month Vito has also been notably calmer in other situations.  No frantic pacing and insane arousal when visiting relatives.   Calm at the vet's office (although not his appointment, but still usually panic inducing).  Relaxed and seeking attention at his chiropractic appointment.  Able to be crated in a soft crate that wasn't his when I panicked and couldn't find Vito's at the club.  Many good things

We've certainly had other anxiety provoking events in this past month but I will enjoy the calmer Vito while I can.  If past experience provides any insight than this new hope won't last too long.

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Vito on Zoloft

4 good morning car rides in a row!!!  Lots of praying to Robot!

Vito has been taking Sertraline (Zoloft)z for 1 month now and has had two weeks at his current dose.  Because Vito is Vito, my breath continues to be held that it will last.

Vito is also doing better at work.  Much less reactive episodes to people walking by!  Hard to tell if this good change is due to the new drug or due to our cubicle move.  We just moved 3 cubes down but in the same little hallway so he has access to the exact same areas as before.  He can even lie under the desk of our old cube if he wants.  I thought the move farther away would be hard for Vito because he still needs to hear people to know he's not alone.  But I think having his bed at the far end helps to muffle the noises of approaching people.  The downside is that if he's having a bad day then he's really having a bad day; as his home base is now far away when he stands at the edge of the hallway by the gate to whine for momma.

He is experiencing a bit of a sedation effect still on his new drug.  I think it may be starting to wear off as he gets used to it though.  Always hard to tell with Vito if a flatter training session is because of drugs or because of his low "work ethic."

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Vito Behaviorist Recheck- Plan H?

Vito had another 6 month checkup with the veterinary behaviorist.  I can't believe he's been going to see her for 2.5 years now!

Overall picture- Well I think we are long past plan B or even plan C.  Yes, Vito is somehow even worse than he was at our last meeting.  That's a steady decline over the last year.  Which actually is pretty rare for my rollercoaster dog of ups, downs, and complete reversals.
Trials and training for dog sports is still going great.  General life not so much.  The hope I had for our long plan of weaning Vito off of Prozac and onto Amitryryptiline didn't pan out to much.  Zero improvement in any of Vito's anxiety areas.  Some worsening of reactivity and ability to relax at worse, but I don't think it's enough to attribute to the drug vs that's Vito.

Where we're at now:

Praying to Robot

- Car anxiety: Complete panic attacks every 1st car ride of the day.  Usually very calm on subsequent car rides.  Polar opposite dog.  I brought out his Robot a few weeks ago to see if that would help him take treats in the morning.  It did not.  But he loves to pray to it in the afternoon!

- Separation Anxiety: Same as where we were at in December.  Vito will start whining, panting, and howling if left for anything more than 15 minutes now.  It's safe to say we only do this in emergencies now.  It's not like I had a social life any way!

- At work: Continues to be very reactive to people walking by.  Reacts multiple times a day and has a hard time turning off.  In general he is also having 1 or 2 "Bad Days" a week where he just can't calm down.  Major panting and to a non dog savy person he looks "very happy" as the slightest touch will cause him to tuck his butt and start trying to sprint around the room.  Luckily I have some nice co workers who are willing to take him to their cubicle and let him pass out in his exhaustion.  Otherwise he has even started to do some howling when I leave him on those days.  Thankfully not every day is a Bad Day and he will often curl up under my desk and sleep when I'm gone.

New plan includes:
1. Wean off Amitriptyline.  Start Zoloft (Sertraline).  Back to the SSRI family.  Thankfully this is going to be a fairly fast wean and switcheroo.  Weeks instead of months.

2. DAP diffuser at work.  Yes we tried a DAP spray awhile ago for car rides and no it didn't have any effect then.  Hopes are not high for this, but I already have the plug in from our early behavioral work as a puppy.

Toller on a Needy Day at work

3. Give Vito a 3rd dosing of Clonidine before bedtime.  He gets the drug at 6am and 2:30pm now, so it's out of his system at bedtime.  Since he is the perfect bed partner I've found no need to do this before.  But we're hoping that just maybe the AM car ride will be better if his levels stay consistent.

4. Consider putting a signup and having coworkers chuck food at Vito during the day.  A potential concern of mine is that Vito is...special.  He already has a favorite coworker at work that he goes absolutely nuts when she arrives (only x1-2 a week she comes to the office).  Major panting and whining until she lets him go visit her cubicle.  She doesn't actually say Hi to him until he calms down, but it takes a good 10 minutes minimum.  And then he passes out underneath her desk and is a happy calm Toller.  But if he can't go visit because she's in a hurry then his arousal levels stay high and he's more anxious the rest of the day.

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The Stigma of Doggy Drugs

When people hear that Vito is on drugs they're usually pretty shocked.  Mainly because Vito's worse anxieties are typically hidden from public view, unless you're lucky enough to work with me!  But secondly because most people either aren't aware that dog's can benefit from the same drugs as people or worse they think drugs are an easy way out.  Almost always our conversation includes questions on whether or not I've tried this or that natural remedy or healing technique.  While people are well meaning, regardless of my answers to their questions it means I'm on the defensive side of my choice.

Happy?  Or stressing up into a frantic nutcase?

Natural and holistic treatments can help many dogs.  They can help take the edge off for both people and dogs in certain circumstances.  Vito has complete panic attacks at least once a day, if not more, on the average week day.  I often have to choose between the lesser of his anxieties when it comes to leaving him alone, taking him with, or changing a routine.  For dogs like Vito, flower essences, DAP, chiropractic, and thunder shirts are usually not going to do a thing to correct a chemical imbalance in the brain.  Exercise is great, but increasing it is also not a magical answer and in Vito's case the adrenaline can actually make his anxieties worse.  Turning to drugs is not an easy decision but I don't think it even has to be a last resort.  If my dogs get sick I'm going to try and treat them with all of the resources available.  Let's have the same respect towards the brain as we would for a broken foot or a diabetes.

So please, stop with the helpful advice on what supplement your friend should try unless you're asked.  Chances are she's already exhausted a long list of things and has for too long seen drugs as a last resort.  I know that I saw it that way and still hate that I feel defensive about my choice even without the help from others.  Hopefully someday we will get that magical combination of drugs that will restore balance to Vito's brain and stop his panic attacks.

Better posts on this topic:
Myth: Anxiety Medication Should Only Be Used as a Last Resort
Meds and Your Dogs, Part 1

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Vito Drug Update- Starting Amitriptyline

We started weaning Vito off is Prozac shortly after our move to the new house in December.  At 40mg, we had a long way to get down to nothing.  Finally after 2 months we had a new fake baseline.  "Fake" since Vito is still on twice daily doses of Clonidine and Clorazepate.

The process showed that Prozac was pretty much doing nothing for Vito anymore.  There was very little difference between Vito on 40mg and Vito on 0mg.  That was great news for me!  We  never had the falling out that I was dreading.  Of course in some respects that was because he was already so much worse that he was a year ago.

Differences I saw were as follows:

- Reactivity to people didn't get any worse, but he's still reacting several times a day at work to people talking and/or approaching my cubicle.  Does so with or without me there.

- Car rides were mixed bags between complete panic attacks with severe trembling and panting, to rides where he wants to eagerly stare at me waiting for cookies.  Mornings are currently worse than evenings.  A trend that seems to reverse itself every few months.

- Recovery from car rides or other stressful events are a big longer.  Most days he still has a quick recovery, but there are days where he has really bad mornings at work now.

- Leaving at home was initially OK for 90min.  But now he's howling and panting at 20min.  I don't dare leave him alone ever anymore.

- Higher energy.  Wanting to play a bit more than before and more eager to train.  Things that I desperately want to hold onto with drug changes.

So now Vito started Amitriptyline 3 weeks ago.  So far there's been no difference but he's only been on 25mg x2/day.  I increased it to 25g in the AM and 50mg in the evening this week.  

Vito will be staying with a wonderful friend who volunteered (yes, really!) to take care of him while I'm in Pennsylvania next week.  

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Catching up, Drug update.

The corgi is confused.  He's not just shedding out a little chihuahua but a sheltie.  Tufting like crazy.

Barely getting started in this photo.

Vito is doing OK with the Fluoxetine weaning process and we're now down to only 20mg, half his dose.  Another month left before he's done and we are on to plan B, or make that plan G?  Still thinks the car is going to kill him in the morning but it's usually safe by evening.  A think a side effect of the lowering is an increase in the naughty, crazy toller I love.  He was so excited to play agility in class last week that his screaming made me momentary forget the course!  And the best part is that he was just as excited about getting to go in the obedience ring on a later day!

But Vito definitely needs his drugs.  Somehow his morning arrangement was skipped one day and wow it made a huge difference.  The morning car ride was panic ridden of course but I didn't think much of it.  But Vito just couldn't calm down once we arrived at work.  The poor guy was trembling and panting when I left to go work the other dogs.  I eventually put him with a favorite coworker and he was able to calm down enough to at least function.  Afternoon drugs helped eventually too.  I hate this fight between relaxation and drive.

The dork does this almost every night when he wants to go to bed.

And Gracie.  She's alternating between finding her mature and responsible self to being a crazy nut.  13 months old now.  I've briefly started some diabetic alert training with her as I can definitely see that as a possibility with her.  So far she loves it.  But we're only on the first step of attacking me while looking for where I hid the scented toy on my body.
Like all the other puppies I've raised for the program, Gracie is a little stalker.  It's impossible to anywhere without a labrador following you.

After being constantly yelled at for not being allowed to shove her head in the shower with you, this is the sight that always greets me when I'm done.

And *knock on wood* the cat might be slightly less angry with a switch to a new food!  We had been feeding him Grandma Lucy's freezed dried food but he was never a fan. He would never actually go on a hunger strike but he certainly wasn't happy with it.  Too bad for him as I'm not about to waste an entire big bag.  Finally finished the bag after almost 3 months of the cat taking it out on us by ripping into every bag he can get his paws on.  Nothing was safe.  He's been eating The Honest Kitchen for a few meals and I'm daring to say he's more content.  We will see.

Obnoxious cat.

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Vito's Behavioral Recheck- New Plan

Big changes will be coming soon for Vito.  He had his recheck appointment this week with his behaviorist.  A long overdue appointment since we had a hard time getting in on the schedule.  We talked about his 3 core issues and how for the most part he is worse in all areas:
- Separation Anxiety
- Car anxiety
- Reactivity to people/ generalized anxiety

Vito likes to stick to his habit of great improvement with each new drug or dosage we try, and then a slow shrinking back to normal.

SA- We continue our habit of not really ever leaving him alone.  If he does have to be left, it better be in the morning when he has the best chance of just deciding to crawl back into bed and sleep.  Otherwise he's anxious after 5 minutes and has restarted his panting and has even gone back to some howling.

Car- Vito has been slowly getting worse for awhile now.  I was hoping that when we were gifted a minivan earlier last month that it would make him happy.  Vito seemed to enjoy the Honda Fit we've sometimes borrowed and I thought maybe he liked the flat surface vs being on a seat.  But the van is apparently out to eat him.  Vito has taken to stalling about getting inside as it takes him forever to cross our miniature yard space and of course he then has to stretch.  About half of the car rides now are panic attacks.  The other half range from light panting to a few nice ones.

Reactivity to people is the lowest of his anxieties.  He's reacting quite a bit at work to sounds of people coming by.  Even to me.  Vito was nice enough to demonstrate his increased anxiety by totally flipping out when the exam room door opened.  But overall not bad.

By all accounts, we're pretty close to where we were last May.  I guess there's one good change since then as I've mostly fixed/managed the issues we were having with redirecting onto the dogs at work.  Vito was rushing and snarking at the labs with the excitement of being let out into the big yard.  Just leashing him and waiting a little bit wasn't helping as Vito is proud of his ability to obsess and explode.  So I went to requiring Vito to take, and swallow, treats.  I've already taught him this requirement for past problems so it didn't take Vito too long to get the rules.  I love that the simple act of eating helps to calm dogs down.  Even though Vito really doesn't want to the treats it's remarkable how much he demands them now, he likes routines you know, and then how much this calms him.  We're not at 100% success, but most days this problem is conquered.

The new plan:

Start over with his drugs.  The big solution that was sticking out back in June that I wasn't quite ready to do.  I became ready this September. Unfortunately the vet wanted to meet with us and talk it out in person first.

1. Scrapping Diazepam which has just too short of an effect and is creating lots of spikes throughout Vito's day.
2. Replacing Diazepam with a longer acting drug.  A very, very expensive longer acting drug :(  We will start Clorazepate.

(3. Sticking with Clonidine to keep helping him during all the transitions.  I definitely notice a difference when it's wearing off.)

Because of the big move, the rest of the plan will be delayed some more.  But hopefully Vito will settle into the new house quickly and we can start.

4. Good bye Fluoxetine.  The daily dose of 40mg is very high and clearly not helping.  Weaning process will take awhile.  This will be rough.

5. Hello Amitriptyline.  She was reluctant to do another SSRI due to the Fluoxetine dose and effect on Vito.  This new drug is in the same family as the very first drug Vito tried.  At that time we stopped after 4wks because Vito was becoming more reactive and anxious in places.  In hindsight I'm now not sure if we weren't giving the drug enough time to work and the anxiety shown was the new Vito just starting to emerge.

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And I can't change.

Even if I tried.

Even if I wanted to.

The first time I heard those lyrics I was driving the dogs home from some event and Vito was having one of his car anxiety episodes.  It wasn't a bad panic attack at least, but it was certainly heartbreaking.  And while I know the song itself has absolutely nothing to do with my little red dog's issues, the chorus still speaks to me.  

Vito usually has a few moments a day, whether at home, work, or in the car, that I look over at him and sigh.  If I'm having a rough day I might even say "stop being a freak."  I know he can't stop panting and I'm sure if he could speak he still couldn't tell me why he was freaking out.  Vito's lyrics would change slightly to

And I can't change.

Even though I tried.

Even though I wanted to.

Our drug progress is stalled.  We have not caught up to where we were a few months ago.  Car anxiety isn't increasing past mild+ levels at least.  Reactivity to people/sounds at work is averaging 1.5 times a day, not awful.  Separation anxiety, well it's easiest to never leave him anymore but for the most part he can handle being left in the morning if needed.  Random panting episodes at home makes him our alarm at 5:30am, our reminder to take him for walks, and his personal just go to bed now clock.  So not bad.  And of course there are still many good things such as our ability to trial in agility, and as his relative calmness to hang out in my cubicle at work when I'm not there most of the day (a feat that took 2 whole years to get to).  Just leaves me questioning the whole what to do next thing.

I already feel like I'm fighting an uphill battle with trying to maintain drive and enthusiasm in playing obedience/agility while the drugs are trying to keep him calm and relaxed.  These past  2 weeks I started doing the Couch to 5k program again with him and I've been doing it in the morning right after I give him his drugs.  He's a panting freak at that time in the house but is so incredibly happy at that time on our run/walks.  Major tucked butt and glee just radiates from him.  It's different if I do those run/walks in the evening; he enjoys it but is content to be that perfect partner just staying by my side.  

Current decisions on the table:
1. Leave him where he's at with his 3 drugs and be satisfied with where he is in life.   Also hope he can at least maintain it as Vito is not so good about that as shown through our history of dosage increases.

2. Increase the dose of his 2nd and/or 3rd drugs (Clonidine and Valium).  I'm pretty sure this option is a no go for me.  Or on the same lines I could give him a 3rd dose of Clonidine before going to bed.  It's supposed to be a 12hr drug but in Vito it's more of a 6-8hr one.  Seems silly to have to drug him up just for bed time though.

3.  Start over.  Scrap his daily dose of Prozac and begin a new main long-lasting drug.  His 40mg of Prozac is so high that we no longer have any new shorter acting drugs to try with it.  Since many of the longer lasting drugs take 6wks to see effects, this option 3 is a several month plan.  I don't know if I have the strength to do that yet.

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Vito Behavioral Appointment

Vito had his recheck appointment with the Veterinary Behaviorist last week.  His 6 month checkup was supposed to be the beginning of January but due to some emergencies it had to be pushed way back.  Back in January and February I was planning on discussing lowering his medication doses and possibly getting rid of one of the 3 drugs he is on. 

I want this again.

At that time Vito was calm, and even resting his head down quite often, on 95% of car rides.  At work he was relaxing nicely under my desk and I was able to train the service dogs without any thought of how he was doing without me.  His separation anxiety was getting a bit worse if left alone in the evenings, but he was still doing very well if left in the morning.

Unfortunately, and with Vito there always seems to be one, things started to slowly change in early-mid March.  Vito is still much improved from last year, but we are no longer in our blissful state that started to exist in October and was cemented by December.

Now Vito is still doing pretty well in the car, but he is slowly increasing the percentage of trips with light anxiety appearing and actual panic attacks are occasionally coming back as well.

At work Vito is continuing to do a nice job of relaxing under my desk when I'm gone, but his reactivity to people approaching or noises heard is greatly increasing.  Vito used to only react a few times a week but the last few weeks he has been reacting several times a day.

At home, his separation anxiety is almost back to square one.  Thankfully he doesn't need to be left alone very often at all so this is pretty low on our list of priorities.  Although I also feel that not being left alone on a regular basis is also what's preventing him from doing better.  Vito was doing very well with longer absences when he had a few short 1hr absences a week to help build him up.  Since that is no longer possible with our work schedules he now can't even handle 20 minutes. 

And finally, Vito is becoming a problem child when he comes with me to let out the pack of service dogs for their noon playtime.  He has never wanted to actually play with the group of dogs, but for some reason he finds the opportunity incredibly exciting and starts working himself up a good half hour before it actually happens; leaving him behind becomes a no longer valid option.  The new problem is his increasing redirection of arousal to the other dogs.  A month or two ago I suddenly found myself having to leash him while the other dogs were let out or he would charge them.  Now he is calm while on leash but as soon as the leash is removed he sprints off like a rocket towards the other dogs and snarks at any one who dares to get excited by his approach.  After the initial rushing/possible snarks Vito will then calm down and be content to ignore the teenage dogs as he sniffs and wanders on his own.

So our recheck discussion was long.   Changing his shorter acting medications of Clonidine and Diazepam to anything else is out of the question as his Prozac dose is so incredibly high at 40mg.  Getting him on a different main drug is a possibility but one that we both want to hold off on as it could completely rock the boat.  Luckily we do have wiggle room left with increasing how much Clonidine and Diazepam he is getting each day.  Currently Vito takes .3mg of Clonidine twice a day, 8hrs apart, and takes 7.5mg Diazepam in the morning and then a hour before other car rides, usually just a 2nd dose at 4pm.  I really don't want to increase either one for fear of decreasing his drive even  more during training/trials but did start increasing his Clonidine to .4mg.

Other options talked about were trying a DAP spray, acupuncture and food changes.  For now I'm just ordering the DAP.  For the dog rushing, since Vito won't take any treats in the situation we talked about giving him a ball for a few minutes if it won't create too many problems with the other dogs.  Or possibly letting him out with just 2 other dogs for a few minutes to let him calm down and then seeing if he doesn't rework himself back up when letting out the rest of the pack.

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Trapped. Life with an Anxious Dog

It can be difficult living with an anxious dog.  Having a dog with both separation anxiety and car anxiety makes it so at times we are trapped.  Vito's been doing pretty good with both but there are some days where he wakes up and life in general is stressful for him.  Unfortunately, Vito woke up on Thanksgiving morning with one of those bad days.

It can be hard to plan things with Vito.  One of his drugs needs to be given 1.5-2hrs before any car ride and another at least 1hr before.  This roughly translates into my wonderful husband stumbling out of bed at 6:30am each day and even 4:30am on agility trial days to give Vito his meds before going back to sleep.  But on mornings like yesterday Vito still wakes up eyes dilated and panting heavily.  Going into a car on one of those days is a disaster and leaving him home alone even worse.  Trapped.

People just don't understand.  Wait, why couldn't you come?  Your dog is on how many drugs?  Even the people that do kinda get it, I'm still looked at as the obsessive or over protective dog mom.

I try.  Sometimes sending him back to bed for a few minutes works.  Yesterday I also tried a stuffed Kong, and then when that failed I tried getting back in bed with him myself.  That worked, until we had to get back out of bed 15 minutes later.  Knowing he likely won't ever be able to left alone for the 8hrs we needed, I threw up my hands and decided to try the 2hr car ride anyway.  That failed miserably and after 20min I called for a ride and had Vito and my husband turn around to spend the rest of the day at home.

Today I'm thankful for my patient husband and for the wonderful blessings that Vito does bring to our lives.

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Vito on Drugs- Update!

It's been 3 months since Vito's recheck with the behaviorist.  I'm daring to say that Vito may finally be doing CONSISTENTLY better in the car.  He now takes treats on 99% of car rides and is starting to dip into my actual relaxation side of my rating system.

And because I'm obsessed with my dog, I present graphs.  Graph #1 is the first few weeks after starting Vito on Diazepam/Valium.  There was an immediate improvement as prior to starting it Vito was slowly seeming to develop a tolerance to Clonidine and was having more and more days of reaching level 2.  After adding in Diazepam Vito had a few times of resting his head down and even one day of sleeping!  But most car rides he was still reaching at least light panting.

Graph #2 is August through now.  Vito's dosage of Valium was slightly increased a few weeks before this starts.  I dare to say that there are many more days where he's slipping past my "calm" rating of zero to the relaxed side!

As for his leg, things are looking really good.  The stitches themselves look lovely and the major bruising is finally going down.  Vito is walking around just fine but is still on restriction from having any fun.  Thankfully he is a really calm dog at home so it hasn't been too difficult to tell him to just go back to bed.  Friday we have our recheck at the vet.

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