The Original Anxiety Wrap Case History - Toby
This is an actual example from one of our clients who is noticing more and more improvement in her dog's unwanted behavior. The Anxiety Wrap was ordered for Toby in on April 17th of 2010 to address his aggressive reaction to different stimuli. It's now been 3-months and a big pat on the back goes to his owners for their commitment to their dog and consistency in using the Anxiety Wrap and the free treatment program that was provided with the Anxiety Wrap purchase. Here is our survey question and the client's own words to describe her dog's unwanted behavior.
Dog's name: Toby
Breed: Rottweiler/German Shepherd
Age: 3 1/2 yrs.
Weight: 80 lbs
What is your dog's issue/s that created the need for the Anxiety Wrap? He goes from completely relaxed to 100 % motion.....i.e." running to the window to bark at a dog or human walking outside. He is easily upset when on a walk when there is something different than he has seen.....like a parked truck, a piece of paper, of course, another dog. He has broken the "o" ring on his collar to take off after another dog and bitten him on the tail. He tries to pull away from my husband when they walk when another dog comes along.....sometimes. He is quick to pick up on another dog's aggressive energy, even if the other dog is not displaying any aggression.
3. How long has your dog suffered from this issue?
4. What other treatments have been tried and what were their results? We've used "Bark Busters", public classes, a K-9 dog trainer and another personal dog trainer.
Sent: Friday, May 07, 2010 11:36 AM
Good morning Susan,
This is so long that you may want to grab a cup of coffee first.................
This is an update on Toby and the Anxiety Wrap.
We bought the anxiety wrap and face wrap for Toby in April. Toby's issues have been anxiety that he expresses with the following:
Extreme reaction to anything different on his walk route: a truck that wasn't there yesterday, cows in the pasture along side the road, another dog, a piece of paper flying in the wind.........you get the idea. When he sees these unfamiliar things, he tries to get to them by lunging very quickly. He is very strong..........85 lbs of intense rottie/shepherd mix. He is my husband's dog. I don't walk him.
One day on his walk, there were two men each walking a dog on a leash. Toby lunged at one of the dogs, breaking the "O" ring on the Cesar Milan double collar. My husband didn't know he broke the "O" ring and got Toby back on his collar. He, once again, broke away and bit one dog on his butt by his tail. That particular dog was known to be aggressive in his younger days, but is no longer that way.
Another time the trainer we've hired for Toby brought one of her Dutch Shepherd female dogs who has an aggressive nature, but is well trained. The idea was to see if Toby would react to her dog's aggressive energy and he did. He tried to get to her, but my husband held him back.
About 7 months ago, I took Toby for a walk, thinking I could control him. Ten minutes later, my husband came along and Toby sprinted to him, dragging me along the gravel. I was unable to control him and nearly fell.
I should tell you that we have been dog people for a long time....over 40 years. All of our dogs have attended numerous training classes, three of them have been certified as Therapy Dogs...all rescue dogs.....but we've never had a Toby before. He has baffled us. He has been through 3 levels of group training. In one class, the excitement got very high as they were doing recalls. Toby was attached to a plastic rope which was hooked to a post in the ground. Another dog (65 lbs) was doing its recall, when that dog decided to run right past its owner and to a little dog who was attached to an in ground post nearby. Toby got excited by all the commotion and broke the plastic rope and went after the bigger dog, whom he bit. All the dogs got separated and class went on, but not without a lot of feelings floating all around. The dog Toby bit was not hurt badly enough for Vet care, but that was the last group class Toby took.
If there is a common thread in all that Toby does, it is that he very quickly gets into a state of high excitement, the hair on his back rises up and he can get aggressive. We added another dog to our household last November under the guidance of our trainer. She is another rescue dog, a boxer mix, 2 years old. She & Toby are great pals. They play together & take naps draped over each other's bodies. The Boxer mix is my dog and is now certified as a Therapy Dog.
Our dogs live their lives in our house or on our huge deck. We don't have a fenced in yard. When Toby sees anything from the deck: a person, another dog, a bird....he goes into a frenzied barking. The hair on the back of his neck goes straight up. If I am home, I go to him and call him with treats in hand to distract him and get him in the house. He pays no attention to me. If I want to get him in the house, I have to grab his collar and put it on and take him away........when he doesn't want to come he'll evade me by running right past me and circle around to go back to his past where he saw the object he was barking at. He is such a strong boy that once he ran right into me and broke my toe......barefoot me. When he is in that state and I try to grab him, I flips his head around as if he'd like to bite me, but he knows better because we've been through that & he knows he's get a huge scolding, so I can see he's rethinks his "I'd like to bite her" notion and turn back to what he's barking at. I am not afraid of Toby.........we have an understanding that I am his boss.
OMG, I know this is a very long description.........if you've gotten this far you deserve a medal. Jan
| Sent: Saturday, July 03, 2010 11:35 AM Hi Susan, Remember Toby? We got the Anxiety Wrap sometime back in May. I emailed you that we noticed a slight difference in Toby, mainly that it was possible to distract him when he got riled up when a dog went by. He has made steady progress...in little steps. Well, yesterday, our neighbors came to their vacant home for a week and brought their dogs. Normally Toby would get all riled up and bark incessantly at them. We would then bring him in the house so he wouldn't disturb them so much. (Our homes are barely 20 ft. apart). The neighbors called our attention to the fact that Toby was being much calmer than he had been in the past and that this time it was their dogs that were causing all the barking noise. Toby was just watching. They asked me if we were doing anything to train him. I told them about the Anxiety Wrap and that he also does 45 minutes on the treadmill twice a day. Those things, along with our constant training are paying off. Thought you'd like to know.....Jan
Sent: Wednesday, July 28, 2010 2:13 PM Hi Susan Here are 3 pics to choose from. I would tell you that Toby doesn't like his anxiety wrap as he lies down when he sees me coming with it, though he is cooperative in putting it on. But in one of these pics, it appears he has a smile on his face.......doesn't it? He continues to become a more mellow boy......and as I said before, I can now call him back to me when he's gotten excited with a dog outside & runs to the Dining Room window to peer out. The hair on his back goes UP as well as his tail and he BARKS loudly. I can call him back and he'll turn to me and then come for his treat...... he'll still be excited, but at least he'll come. We put him in his crate when we have lots of company, as he will get very excited jump up on them until he settles down. He loves people. As you can see, Toby is a Rottie/shepherd mix.....he weighs 80 lbs and is 3 1/2 years old. We've had him since he was 8 weeks old. The other dog is Sami, our boxer mix, a rescue dog we got last October. She is 2 1/2 years old. Since we got her I've taken her to training classes and she has become certified as a Therapy Dog. she now works at our local library as a reading dog. We'll start the same program in our local elementary school when school resumes in a couple of weeks. Sami & Toby are good pals....... when they play/roughhouse together, if it gets kind of dicey, I'll call to them (Hey, you guys, what are you doing?....Leave it!) and Toby will be the first to stop....then he'll walk away. Jan
July 29, 2010 11:22 AM
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