Extreme Fear and Anxiety in Dogs

I have a 6 year old Boston Terrier that I adopted from an animal shelter when he was about 6 months old. He has always been friendly and outgoing and has been socialized well. He was our shelter's mascot for a long time while I worked there. Suddenly he has developed a behavior where he looks like he is scared. He has always been afraid of thunderstorms, but usually he would just sit on my lap and be fine. The last couple of storms he trembles severe and doesn't settle down. This is how he is acting a lot now. It seems random. We will be watching tv and all of a sudden he starts trembling. Sitting on my lap doesn't seem to help him. He will stare at my son or my husband like he is afraid of them, but then will go to them and kiss them. It takes him a long time to come out of it. Generally I go put him in our bedroom for quiet time. I understand him acting this way during thunderstorms, but now he can't even enjoy family time. Nothing has changed as far as that goes. The same people living in the house. We are kind of loud, but it usually laughing. He has never been yelled at or hit. He is a very well behaved dog. Today he got into the trash and when we got home he was trembling in the bathroom. This is something he has never done. Not sure what to do.

Our rescue, Banjo, had severe anxiety when we first got him 7 years ago. After time he got better and things were pretty normal. For the past 6 months banjo, who is now 12, will bark constantly when left alone. It has gotten to the point where we need someone to come and stay with him whenever we're all going to be out of the house. He also has pulmonary hypertension that he developed before he was rescued by the shelter. We're at our wits end was trying to have someone home all of the time which is difficult for our busy family. We're going on a week's vacation in 4 weeks and he is staying at my son-in-law's house. I'm very concerned with how that's going to go. He barks, pants and paces when anxious.

My friend dog has been scared of men since he was a puppy 8 weeks old. This dog has been around my husband his whole life but still doesn't like him. The owner has been in the hospital for 3 months and dog still not coming around. He barks all the time to the point he is hoarse. He becomes aggressive at times. We have tried medication without change. Had a behaviorist work with him for a short time. If I am home he is so close to me and won't have anything to do with my husband, but if I am gone he might allow my husband to pet him. We have tried having only my husband giving him food and water, me ignoring him. I am at my wits end with this dog. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

Hi,
I have an eleven month old Labrador bitch.She is extremely nervous of strangers
and avoids contact at all costs.I have just been to take her for a trial day at a kennels as I have to go away for a few days in Ocober.It was just awful.She slipped her lead when taken by one of the staff.And ran round in terror until I managed to get her back.I did eventually manage to leave her.She has been taken out among lots of people and to noisy places since 8 weeks of age when I carried her until she had her jabs.I tried her in puppy classes but she was too frightened to participate.I am at my wits end.Do you have any advice on this.
Is there any medication she could try to cal. Her down?
Thanks
Monica

Hello, my jack russell is 8 years and has always enjoyed exercise on the park off leash. She has developed a phobia of motor bike noise and will run in a panic if she hears one. I've tried adaptil plug in, collar, thunder shirt but without real success. Also fireworks are a trigger. I've tried neutracalm also. I think we are at the point of medicating as she is endangering herself when she runs away often towards the road. Are there any medication that have been proven to help without sedation? I've also tried cognitive therapy but nothing helps. Kind regards Jane

I just had my second baby and when I nurse my male dog sits next to me and trembles. Lately he has taken to licking and chewing on the end of his tail. It has gotten so bad that he has to wear a cone 24/7 as he has nearly chewed the end of his tail off. I have given him canibus/CBD ok as well as canibus treats but the behavior is continuing,

Our dog has become anxious around other people and dogs and it got the point today when he tried to bite the vet giving him his vaccine. About 8 months ago, he ate something and had to have it removed, and this was about the time we wanted him in puppy school. After his surgery we were told to keep him away while he recovered, and now he barks, pants, snaps, growls non-stop any time he sees another person. Any time he gets hurt, he seems to blame my husband and becomes aggressive towards him too. I'm not sure how to handle it anymore, as I've tried relaxation massages, calming tablets (he doesn't seem to do well with grains, so we had to stop), and I've tried just ignoring him when he gets nervous and starts barking. I've just found out I am pregnant and we're in the middle of trying to pool together enough money to see a specialist. Any advice?

Brutus has always had separation anxiety and would normally destroy whatever he could. In the beginning years it was lilies, remotes, and shoes. We would then block him to only one room that seemed to work for a while. We moved in August of 2017. Since then he has become much more destructive when left alone. He would open doors, get stuck in a room and then eat the Sheetrock to try and get out. We started leaving him in the garage which worked for a while. As of the last three-four weeks he has tried to get back into the house, chew on door handles, (when someone forgets to lock the door to the house) gets locked in the laundry room and ears the Sheetrock and whatever else he can get access to. While in the garage (it’s 2 1/2 car garage) it’s full access. He has food and water. Toys, windows, bed. We really aren’t sure what else to do for him (or us) at this point.

Hello, I just rescued a 10 month old Pitbull/German Shepard from the shelter. She's extremely intelligent and full of energy, needless to say very loving with everyone that comes into our home as well. The issue is that when I adopted her, she was in the medical area of the shelter due to wounds they believed were caused by being a victim of a hit and run. Everything was fine until I tried taking her out for a walk the first time. As soon as she would see a passing car she completely freaked out and refused to walk. She pulled really hard to go back and wasn't calm until I let her back in the house.i tried the same several times day and night but nothing. To top it off she has so much energy that she has completed destroyed much or the garden areas in our house as well as random objects she can get to. She digs a lot too. Then I took her to the vet for her first visit. High anxiety again without seeing any dogs and then when she did see one she almost lunged over it but not in an attacking mode. The dog was a small breed so it seemed scared of my 46 pound girl. After that there was no calming her until I got home. I'm feeling trapped because I would love to have her take walks and have fun with other dogs and just make her as happy as I can, but I have no idea where to even begin. My family is already leaning toward returning her to the shelter but I feel she has potential with the right guidance. I'm just afraid she'll never be able to leave the house because of her fears. Any advice would be appreciated :(

My 2 yr old Beagle/Blu Tic mix, Aiva, suddenly developed several phobias about 8 months ago. These include fears of hardwood/tile floors, jumping on the couch/bed, and riding in the car (specifically when the back windows are up). Aiva was literally born in my home, is loved fiercely, and has never been abused or neglected. She spent her first 16 months before the onset of the phobias immersed in hardwood floors, couches, and car rides. She was born to an older, pregnant rescue dog I found, and was an only puppy. Because she was a singleton, I was worried about her early socialization so her mom stayed with us for 4 months and I made sure to introduce her to other dogs, people and places. After her mom was adopted and she had all rounds of her vaccinations, I started seriously working on socialization her. I put her in puppy training & daycare several days a week, and took her for rides constantly to stores, dog parks, friend’s houses, hiking, etc. to expose her to as many experiences as possible. We spent most of our time at home cuddling on the couch in my hardwood floor living room, or sitting together on a loveseat in my screened in porch. But at around 16 months, Aiva suddenly developed the phobias. There were several changes in the environment at that time, including a new foster dog with potty problems (who was adopted 3 months later), a large rug being removed from the living room due to those potty problems (2 even larger rugs were later added), and a member of the household leaving (who returned 2 months later). But despite the resolutions to the changes above, at 2 years Aiva now refuses to walk in a room with most types of hard flooring, and shakes and pants if she is forced to when we go to friends’ homes. She sits at the threshold of my hardwood living room while I watch TV and sadly whines, but refuses to walk in the room (I have tried every incentive/reward imaginable). She will no longer jump on a bed/couch with me (or at all), although she will jump up with her front paws on me and whine and paw as if she wants to. Anytime I encourage her to do any of the things she is afraid of, she acts frightened of me and runs/walks away, only to come back minutes later and whine again. And while she still loves and desperately wants to go for rides and hang her head out the window, as soon as I have to put the windows up, the shaking, fear and panting begins. I’ve spent hours trying to figure out how all of these triggers are related, and I’ve tried everything I can think of to alter the environment or desensitize her from them. But nothing has worked. At this point I fear my dog and I will never cuddle together again, and that is devastating. Any advice would be appreciated :)

My dog does this thing whenever she’s crowded with a lot of noise around her. For example, my other dog got stuck under something while trying to reach the bone the two of them had been chewing on and started whining loudly while Archer (the pup this is about) kept chewing on the part of the bone she had. I went to help Aspen out and Archer barked and did something that looked like she was attacking Aspen but she didn’t seem to bite her (that I know of it was all very quick) and she didn’t back off of her until I pulled her away, she was fine after that. But I’m not sure what this is. Is it an anxiety or budding aggression? I also don’t know if it’s the crowding or noise that triggers her or if it’s both. When I walk the two together, I use a leash coupler to walk them both usually, we walk past dogs that will bark at them and she does something similar to what she did in the precious story. This happens pretty rarely but when it does I get worried.

Is it possible for a dog to have separation anxiety after not seeing a specific child, to lead to her being scared of kids? I have a 6 month old lab who was fine with kids, happy and playful including to my nephew, until about 2 months ago. Nothing has happened to traumatize her that I know of, other than her not seeing my nephew in about 2 months. When kids are around she will run and try to stay away from them, showing signs of being scared. Until my nephew came around again and she was ok, he would play and she would just randomly go lick him and walk near him showing no signs of fear.

My dog is very relaxed, great with kids, likes to sleep a lot and is otherwise a good dog. But, when he's alone in the kennel he'll poop, and pee, and injure himself trying to break free. This last time he ate his poop as well. He is an older dog who was given to us by his previous owner. I'm trying not to have to give him up but according to the humane society he is unadoptable.

My 7 year old Yorkie, has extreme anxiety, he high pitch squeals and whines constantly, pees in the house, excessively licks everything, tremors and has a lot of seizures, he has to always be lying on my chest. I have only had him 2 years and he has gotten worse and worse. He is jealous if I touch my other dog and pushes him out of the way. Am currently pregnant and need help before the baby arrives What can I do to make life a little easier.

I reacued a lab mix 10 yrs ago from an abusive home. I allowed my older Springer to pick his companion and he picked Izzy. They were inseparable for 9 years until we lost Trey 8 months ago. Since then Izzy has been left to socialize with my other Springer who is not as friendly as Trey was. But now Izzy has to be right beside me at all times. She shakes and tucks her tail. She will push her way between me and the kitchen cabinet while I’m cooking. But yet the slightest touch if she’s not looking just sends her running for her life. She is always yawning and shedding like crazy. I tried the xanax which made her act much worse like she was drugged and high as a kite! I’m really worried she will jusy drop over dead from a heart attack one day. She is also scared to death of cell phones which is weird.

I have a 5 year old Malshi who has always been self assured and calm. Suddenly she has developed acute anxiety - shaking, hiding under the bed, running away when let outside, loss of appetite, reluctance to drink water, etc. Had the vet do a blood panel and all was good. She gave us Trazodone, but the poor thing just sleeps all day with that. Not a great way to live, I'd say.
We have no idea what the trigger is. It's been going on for a couple of weeks. Sometimes it starts in the house, sometimes outside, all different times of day. It usually lasts for several hours before she'll venture out from under the bed.
Her favorite thing is going for a ride on my scooter. I have a pouch she rides in and she is in heaven during our rides. The other day she freaked out in the middle of our ride and I had to rush her home she was shaking so hard. Today it happened twice. No sooner did she get over the first attack, than she started all over again. We have no idea what might be causing it. Help?!?!

I have a 19 month old gsd. He has extreme anxiety. He gets scared to even come outside the house, scared of everything. If we try to take him outside he starts pooping and peeing out of fear.

We took in a foster Yorkie about 2 weeks ago. Her owner had to go onto a nursing home and the dog was left alone in an apartment for a month, with only someone coming in to feed. She is extremely aggressive but her bites are not intended to draw blood, just to make us leave her alone. She shakes and has tremors when we pick her up. I know her elderly owner could not lift her. She yelps and squeals to object to being touched or lifted. Her owner did not train her or demand anything from her. She will not walk on a leash although that has improved. We take her down the street and have her walk back home just to drain some energy. She also doesn't play with toys at all.

I volunteer at a rescue and currently have a Great Pyrenees that has the most severe anxiety that any of us have ever seen. She is only calm outside. Inside, regardless of the weather, she paces, drools, tries to chew on the metal pin and cries. She is on trazadone. We have tried thundershirts (she chews them off), pheromone collar, diffuser and calming treats. Exercise hasn’t improved her behavior either.

I have had my rescue dog (from abroad) for just over four months. She was originally found on the street, having been hit by a car. She is a fearful little dog but gaining confidence in quite a few areas. I can now walk down the road to the park with her as cars go by which at first she was terrified to do. She no longer runs away when I get the lead. She enjoys walks and other dogs and she is responding to reward based commands. Even her caution of people is a little better.

The big problem is her fear of the car. Although she is good about being left alone, I need to be able to just put her in the car and take her with me when I visit people etc. She is sick after five minutes. I stopped all rides and started from scratch, just sitting in the car with the engine on and rewarding with a piece of chicken (kept exclusively for the car - her favourite.) I have now managed drives of 5 minutes to the sea and once we arrive at the destination, she loves her walk. But she HATES the car and drools and looks utterly miserable.
I have tried various places and today she sat on the seat beside me and I could stroke her for a lot of the time which helped a bit. Still afraid though and drooling and retched a bit.

If I persevere, is there any possibility she will get used to it if I continue every day? She has improved in other things. I do not want to give her tablets every day though I wouldn't mind for a long distance. I have ordered herbal travel sickness tablets as if they work, it might be a good alternative. We do have very bumpy roads here. I do not know if she is afraid because she has been sick or if the fear brought on the sickness.

I don't want to give her back but feel that if we cannot beat this, she would be better with someone who never uses a car. Yet she is so attached to me it would feel like betrayal. I feel she has been through a lot in her (estimated) three years of life.

Thanks for any thoughts you may have.

I recently took in a dog from a home that was terribly neglectful and was planning to her down. She is a 1 year old half husky half german shepherd. She was not spayed nor given any shots at all. I have had her now for 2 weeks with shots and has been on her period since I got her. I notice she is a bit anxious around other dogs and having a terrible case of separation anxiety with me. I can't leave her at all without her howling and barking like mad. The last time I left her in a kennel she injured herself trying to break free. What is the likely hood of this being due to her being in heat or is this something that would remain after being spayed and if not how do I go about trying to get her to calm down with me not being home with her? It doesn't matter if my husband is home with her she still cries for me.

My Plott hound/Bluetick coonhound mix is just over a year old. We rescued her when she was 9 weeks old from an uncertain past. Three months ago she all of a sudden decided she did NOT want to go for walks, where previously she'd loved going for long walks around our neighborhood and playing with other dogs in the off-leash area at the dog park. We live in a small apartment building in a residential part of a large city, and three months ago, our neighbors, whom we're friendly with, adopted a dog. We worked with the neighbors to make the dogs comfortable around each other, but they always barked and seemed mutually afraid of each other. Eventually, the neighbors re-homed their dog for unrelated reasons, so she's no longer in the building. However, the fear of going for walks in our girl has stayed! I lure her out with treats and give her lots and lots of praise, have worked with a trainer, and have even put her on medication. It seems to only be giving her moderate relief. She barely sets foot outside of our front yard, and is barely getting any exercise, despite being a breed that needs lots and lots of exercise. I really want her to be able to enjoy her old life of going for long, fun walks and enjoying adventuring in the outdoors. I've researched adolescent fear periods, and I'm starting to fear that the trauma of the upstairs dog may be permanent. Any advice? Thank you!

Wiley is a three year old huskey/english boxer mix, extremely social with people and other dogs. He wants to lick whomever he's with to death. He has has separation anxiety disorder since he was young and has destroyed doors, door knobs and molding in several apartments while my daughter and boyfriend are away working. In the past he has undergone professional dog training and has even been on a doggie prozac regimine for a while. I'm trying to convince my daughter to find a better home for him with no confines. Would a large kennel/cage be right for Wiley? That type of confinement seems worse than free reign in an appartment. We love Wiley. He's almost human. What do we do?

My 3 year old pitbul mix has had car anxiety for about a year, ever since we were in a fender bender together. I've ignored his panting and shaking while we drive, hoping it would just go away if I didn't encourage it. It didn't; in fact it has gotten much worse.

The car situation I can kind of deal with though, but what's happening now is much worse. We moved into a new house with a friend and her dog two weeks ago and since a couple days ago he's been an anxious mess. Tail between his legs, panting, shaking, cowering near me, trying to get outside, etc.

I've tried ignoring it, again, hoping it will go away, but it is driving me crazy. He eats and drinks but is constantly lips his lips and panting. What do I do?

I rescued a dorkie when she was 5 months old. She is so anxious, she won’t come to anyone except my one daughter. She barks at everyone when they move, talk, etc. She barely eats. She growls at anyone who goes near her, she has been like this since we got her, she is now 7 months old. She also rolls over and pees on herself. I tried the thunder shirt and it did not work. Please help, we love her and want her to feel better.

My 5 year old neutered male pitbull-Boston terrier mix has suddenly developed an extreme fear/anxiety! His tail between legs and hiding under beds. He wants outside and will not come back inside for hours, hides in flowerbeds. We have had blood work, urine tests and x-rays. We tried fluoxetine but he wouldn't eat. Thunder shirt causes him to stand frozen in fear. He is happy when we are riding in car and going on walks. He has floor surface issues. He gets along with other dogs and we have a 13 yr old german short haired point that exhibits none of these issues. Don't know what else to do.

Hello: i have a 9yr old blk&tan coon dog. just all of the sudden out of the blue, she is very scared constantly shaking and panting wont lay down or sleep and is always trying to get as close as possible to me when ever i move she is right there. she was never like this, she was shaking her head alot then she stopped. could a parasite have gotten into her brain? to cause all this fear?

My 9 year old chocolate lab has developed a fear of floors especially if they are shiny. He refuses to walk on them without help and if he go through doorways he turns around and walks backwards. He is well socialized we take him with us as much as we can and he loves to ride in the car, yesterday he began to refuse to get out of the car. He sat in the car shaking and refusing to move. I had to pull him out. After that he was fine.

Ok a week ago we were on vacation. Our dog stayed in our home with a dog sitter who he knows well from the daycare he attends. All was well with our one year old lab until we came home.

I have a server in my home office and I had to change the backup battery (looks like a small car battery) before I left town. I left the old battery one on the floor and figured I would dispose of it upon my return home. When we returned home the battery was on the floor and we were installing a window air conditioning unit. My dog, who has an invisible fence collar got next to the battery with his invisible fence collar on and unfortunately got the shock of his life; at least that is all we can assume because he ran tail between legs, shaking, and threw up his meal. He is doing fine, looks like no lasting effects from the shock, he is eating playing walking twice a day, etc. My problem is that he has always stayed in my office with me throughout the day since we got him and now he is terrified of my office and wont come near it. He associates the window air conditioner as what hurt him. How do I get him past this very tramatic event.

Rescue dog suddenly attacked me. He doesn't have enough teeth to cause any real damage. It startled me, but I wasn't really frightened. I don't want to give up on this dog. He doesn't show any of the symptoms of anxiety that are listed, other than he wants to be in my lap when he is inside, smiling the entire time. He is not an all weather dog and doesn't like to be outside when the weather is bad, but the second attack occurred when it was raining and he was the one who initiated going inside. I have owned dogs all my life and have never run into this problem. I cannot stress enough, I WANT TO HELP THIS DOG.

Our dog was adopted from the street (overseas), where she survived for about 4 months on her own. Since then, she's lived with us in various style homes. She's developed an extreme fear of the air conditioner or heater - to the point where she fears us leaving or even coming back in the house if she knows it's running. She leaves the bed at night to hide underneath it and trembles when it turns on. Otherwise, she's a fairly well adjusted pup - pretty alpha and a little food-aggressive at times, but this is her only true fear. And it changes her personality 180 degrees. We don't want to medicate her for something she is constantly exposed to, but she isn't getting any better, despite us giving her treats in the middle of the night, or tucking her under the covers with us. Inevitably, she crawls out from under the bed in the morning, breaking our hearts. I've read about long-term exposure and desensitization, but it runs on and off during the day, so how can we best show her that it won't hurt her? Or is this a case for a behaviorist?