About the fear agressive thing...

Meet Bertrand:



He is my 4 year old frenchy and at the age of 1 he was diagnosed as an fear agressive dog. I went to a dog psychologist and the first visit was a disaster. Bert was shaking all the time and was really really scared. The psychologist took a video of our first visit. She honestly thought that it was best for Bert to be put down because he wasn't having much of a live. But I wanted to try to work with him for six months or so and see if we could turn things around. AND WE DID!

It took a lot of time but now our little Bert is enjoying his life at the fullest!!!

What did we do?

- First of all you have to learn the dog that whenever he's scared he can flee away instead of attacking.
- If you walk the dog and you see that something frightens your dog, cross the street.
- If someone comes over to your house, before you let that person in, put your dog in a bench or in a room where he feels save. Give him a cookie.
- Ask visitors not to look your dog in the eye and don't let them pet your dog.
- Don't take your dog to busy streets or events.
- Learn your dog new things, and reward him lots. It will boost his confidence.

And yes, we gave him pills. Human pills for people with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Fluvoxamine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluvoxamine

It helped to give him more confidence and at the same time learn his new behavior. We gave him these pills for about two years. Now Bertrand is already a year pill free and he is absolutely great. We still put him in a room first when we have visitors but after 30 minutes or so we let him loose. The first 5 minutes he barks and shows he's the boss of the house but after that he doesn't mind that there are people.

I'm glad that I didn't put him down. Bert is right now lying next to me, snoring very loudly.

At the last visit to the psychologist she showed me her notes and the video of his first visit. The progression he made is really amazing. She could even play with him.