Since he came to my home at 8 weeks old, I'd described Willow, my Friese Stabij puppy, as 'shy and reserved'. But since he came to my home, I felt as if I'd done everything well - and successfully. Except for some days of heavy rain, we went out every day. First in my arms, and then on his own four paws, he went into town, along cycle paths, and woodland trails. He became accustomed to cars and noisy tractors passing by him, cyclists everywhere, and all kinds of people (including children and wheelchair users) in close proximity. By 16 weeks old, he still would not have wanted to have been approached by anyone - and he still found strange dogs a bit overwhelming - but all was going well, I thought. Until last Saturday. Last Saturday we went across the road to the duckpond. Willow had been there before. He had liked it there. He wasn't interested in the ducks, but apparently all the grass area around the pond was wonderful to him. We practiced recalls there. But last Saturday it all went wrong. A duck quacked. Maybe when we'd been there previously, the ducks were all silent. I hadn't noticed. Sometimes ducks quack, sometimes they don't quack, and whether or not they had quacked in Willow's presence before, I simply hadn't registered. But, on Saturday, when a duck quacked, Willow totally panicked. He wanted to bolt, but as I (thankfully!) had him on a lead, he couldn't bolt anywhere but round in desperate circles, the picture of terror. As he was doing so, a person was walking towards us from one direction, and somebody else was cycling towards us in the other direction. I scooped him up, and carried him home. I took him into the back garden to relax. No way could he relax - he ran straight back into the house and hid up a corner. He was soon back to his usual self, however, so OK, no passing the duckpond again right now. We could go out in the opposite direction instead. Which is what we did the next day - a quiet Sunday. The opposite direction leads to the main street of town; no ducks there, quacking or not. All would be fine, I thought. No, it wasn't. It didn't take more than a few steps to discover that Willow was NOW panicking about people walking past, and about cyclists. He'd never done that before. He must have got them entwined with the quacking in his head. Come to think of it, when that duck had quacked, it was out of his sight. Maybe he had thought that either the pedestrian or the cyclist had been the one who quacked. Or both of them. We can avoid ducks. We can't avoid pedestrians or cyclists. So now it is like everything has changed. I had 8 weeks of 'introducing a shy puppy to the world', and he - although still preferring to be ignored by strangers - was fine. I was looking forward to his further development, and the walks we would take. But now, after just one quack, I need to work on 'doing something about the total panicking fear of people walking or cycling', which feels like something very different. It felt very depressing on Monday - as if I'd 'lost' my puppy and acquired a different one. Thankfully, I got over that once he stole flowerpots from the garden and emptied them all through the house. No, I've still got my Willow. He still makes me laugh a lot.
Poor Willow, it does sound like the quacking got confused with coming from the people and the cyclists so now you will have to go back a few steps and give Willow distance so that he is not over threshold as you won't get anywhere if he is. LAT (Look at That) training would be very useful to help you with this, there is lots of help on the forum to help with this. Go to the park with lots of good treats and keep a good distance from people/cyclists and treat him for being calm whilst looking at them, if he is not you are too close. Very gradually over time which might be many weeks you can move a little closer but this must not be rushed, so please do take your time. You can gradually introduce the ducks at a later date. I hope Willow will be OK. He looks gorgeous but your floor doesn't! xx
Poor Willow. I have a very nervous Willow, too. My advice is to give him a few days with absolutely nothing that might scare him, even if this means he doesn't leave the house for those few days. Stress hormones can take several days to leave the body and, if you don't give them the chance to do that, he'll be going into each encounter with raised anxiety levels even before you start. This could lead to his fears worsening. I would be tempted to have a chat with your vet to discuss whether medication is appropriate. Fear can become a learned response, and you really don't want that to happen, as it can become completely debilitating. I was resistant to medicating my Willow, but now wish I had done so sooner. The meds allow her true personality to shine through more. I am on a long journey of desensitisation and counter-conditioning with her now, with the hope that we'll eventually, one day, be able to wean her off of them, but it may be that the way her brain is wired means she will be better staying on them forever. She certainly didn't have any chance of getting better without them.
I agree with Smowbunny. It's really worth discussing the benefits of anxiety medication with your vet.
I didn't know that, so it was fortunate that I did indeed keep him at home until yesterday. Yesterday we went and sat in the front garden with a chew toy until he got bored and wanted to go further. So then we went all the way past the next door house to a grass verge that he thinks is fascinating. And he laid on the grass in bliss while a few cyclists passed: he looked at them a bit suspiciously, but I gave him treats, and he didn't move. Yesterday was a Public Holiday here, though, so a lot quieter than usual. This afternoon is busy/noisy outside, and we may just sit in the garden. I'm thinking that maybe if I just go at his pace, and where he wants to go, even that is just to his nearby grass verge, then he will hopefully keep me within his comfort levels. He's got the rest of his life to learn to walk with me, and not the other way around. The priority right now is for him to find out that people don't quack! Oh ... and I've also got to get over my self-consciousness about hanging about there. Middle-aged people don't usually sit on grass verges for no apparent reason! I don't know anything about anti-anxiety meds. I guess they would have side-effects? And yet, I certainly don't want him to add any more fears, especially not at this young age. I never expected him to totally panic so easily.
Willow is on Fluoxetine (Prozac) and was also on Rivotril for a few weeks, as the fluoxetine takes a while to kick in. The Rivotril had no noticeable side-effects, after a little while of increased appetite which may have been caused by mild nausea. The main thing with that was that it was short-lived, so I had to time the tablets so that her peak happiness coincided with walk times. I wouldn't have wanted her to be on it long-term, but it was just a stop gap. She has no side effects from the Prozac. It has given her a lot more confidence, and allows her to chill out at home more, too. It's generally made life a lot easier for her. She can be a bit of a grumpy pants towards the other dogs, but once it kicked it, she suddenly became a lot more tolerant, especially with the puppy, who she now adores. I have a bit of a log, which you may be interested in: https://thelabradorforum.com/threads/willows-noise-phobia-medication-journal.18456/ It's not a panacea, and she still struggles with certain things, but life is far more manageable and less stressful for her now. See how you go, but don't be afraid to talk to your vet about it.
I know this one too well With my lab's loose lead training, if he pulls I turn around and have him follow me in a little about turn, and then back the way we were walking (I don't like just turning and walking in the opposite direction as I want to get to the place we were planning to get to!), but it must look really crazy...well, it's working and it isn't forever, so have to just get on with it I'm glad it sounds like you're making good progress with Willow!
Thank you, snowbunny, for the link to your log. Yesterday's outing with my Willow was very interesting. We live on the edge of a supermarket car park - one can imagine how busy and noisy it is on a Friday afternoon! So I thought that we would just sit in the (open/unfenced) front garden and Willow could watch the busyness from a safe spot. He had other ideas, though, and wanted to go to his grass verge. I followed him, but after a few paces he stopped and his tail tucked under. He didn't like the open space in the car park opposite him. So we went back to the garden. After a little while, though, he got up again and decided, yes, he would go to the grass verge anyway. It is just round a corner, out of sight of our house. He hesitated a bit at the open space, but then continued to the corner ... and then stopped dead. Opposite the verge was a rubber dinghy displayed for sale. What???? He swung round, and at that moment a man came by pushing a bicycle. It didn't exactly quack, but it creaked in a way that could well be a quack. Willow fled for home, me following him. He wanted to go back indoors, but I said we could sit by the front door instead. He sat on my lap at first, then relaxed and sat next to me, eventually laid down, and then started crawling back towards the car park, me shuffling along on my bottom beside him. We ended up outside the garden - then he got up and, despite the open space, the rubber dinghy, and bicycles that almost quack, said that he would STILL like to go to the grass verge. And so off we went again, and this time Willow was brave enough to go all the way, and he flopped down on the grass opposite the rubber dinghy, next to the road with potentially quacking cyclists passing - I was amazed that he'd chosen this for himself. Three attempts to get here, but he kept choosing to try again. I let him stay awhile, but not too long. I wanted it to end on a good note, and not to risk something scary suddenly happening now. Willow didn't really want to go back to the garden, though, so we sat just outside, and spent maybe 10 or 15 minutes watching all the car park activity, including shoppers walking within a few metres of us, cyclists, noisy motorbikes, and a big delivery truck unloading. I didn't think that he'd got a connection yet between people/cyclists and being offered treats, but he did suddenly get it, his head swinging round to me, 'Did you see that bicycle? Where's my treat?' He didn't want to go back indoors. I got up to go back inside, and he laid down, his front legs spread, in his 'Nope. Not moving' position. I feel hopeful. It's obviously going to be a very very slow process, but that's OK.
It sounds like you are doing the right things with little Willow, letting him take the lead in what he can manage. He is obviously desperate to get out and about, but scared at the same time... But with your support, I think his curiosity will win, and slowly he'll gain in confidence. Don't rush it, you'll get there.
Really good to read that you are letting him set the pace, and also really positive that he is choosing to keep trying to go out. You will both get there.
Willow sounds like he is dealing with this really well with your support. He is setting the pace at what he is comfortable with. It doesn't sound as if he has anxiety as such, more that he had a shock and is still processing it, working out what's OK. You're doing the right thing, giving him time to set his own pace.
