Tiffany -

Teach Macy to "find it." Start by hiding a treat in plain sight, but
making her wait to go get it until you say "find it" or give her a hand
signal that means "find it." As time goes by, make it harder and harder
to find the treat, until you can put it in any room in the house and she
can find it. Then you can just hide it in a different place every day
(or several times a day) and tell her to find it. If you don't want to
be giving her that many treats, try a scented toy - but in the
beginning, treat-based training works best for this particular game.

Terry S
--
"In real love you want the other person's good. In romantic love, you
want the other person." - Margaret Anderson






flash_allen13 wrote:
> Some of you may know I am fostering an anxious and prey driven golden
retriever. I'm asking for advice from those of you who have dealt with anxiety
in a dog as it is my first one. I've dealt with nervousness, fear, hyperness,
even fear aggression, but never anxiety.
>
> The first couple days I had Macy it was like her mind was racing a mile a
minute and she could not and did not know how to relax. I believe, and some of
this is speculation based on what I do know about her previous owner, that she
was higher energy than her owners. They did not know how to and did not give her
the amount of exercise she needed. So, Macy turned her pent up energy onto
something else-prey. I think naturally she does have a strong prey drive and she
became so obsessed with finding the next prey and going after it because she had
nothing else to do. She acted out in other ways as well including pooping in the
house. Her owners were frusterated often with her, which helped cause her to be
anxious.
>
> So, now here's a dog who's prey drive rules her mind the first 5 minutes of
our walk. It has gotten much better and continues to. After 5 minutes she calms
down a bit and is more respondant to my corrections and after 10-15 minutes she
walks beautifully at my side or behind me. She's now relaxed in the house as
well and the backyard. I have started using a backpack on her as well, although
only once so no weight in it yet. Will start with weight this evening. I also
bike with her some and run.
>
> At times her focus is so intense on certain things, like when we play ball, it
reminds me of a border collie. Not as intense as that, but when she's chasing
the ball it's more than a fun run, it's like a job for her. Her mind seems very
sharp and I can see where she'll get bored easily if not challenged and
exercised every day.
>
> So, any specific advice and tips for the anxiety, other than the basic things-
exercise, rules and boundaries, mental challenges, stay calm myself. Also, as
far as her prey drive, anybody have things I can do with her on my own other
than throwing a ball and working on obedience during that? I think she would do
great in a class of some sort, but that's not an option right now. I'll
hopefully be getting some bottled scent to use with her and my hound dog who
likes to track. Thanks!
>
> -Tiffany & Scarlee, Macy
>
>
>
>
>
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