Anxiety Support Group
Anxiety is a physical condition marked by intense and persistent feelings of distress, fear, angst or dread. General anxiety caused by routine day-to-day stresses usually passes quickly and is experienced by almost everyone at one time or another. However, such feelings that linger over time and are very difficult to cope with, and which lack a clear cause, may indicate...
This is a but of a weird thing and I'm probably over thinking it but it has to do with anxiety so I thought I'd come here. So today my dog went to the vet and usually he is a very anxious dog. Last time he went to the vet he had to be sedated two times and he had taken medicine before he even left the house to relax him. Even after all that he was still up and at it showing very obvious signs of extreme anxiety. This was like a year ago and this time he did amazing! I was so surprised to hear from my sister that the vet said he did very good and only whined a few times. My sister sent me videos of him seemingly enjoying his car ride and even happily sitting shut in his cage. So I am very proud of him but as soon as he got home he started acting like he usually does (going to the windows anxiously looking out them for something he might see as a threat) it's making me feel like maybe I am his problem. Dogs feed off their owners anxiety and though I am honestly not genuinely anxious or nervous very often, I can't help but think it's my fault he's like this. He had such a good time without me so maybe he gets insecure because I am not confident enough as a person. It hurts so much to think this because he's my best friend in the whole world and I'd never want to make his life bad. I know I could just work my hardest on getting more confident but I'm not even sure that's the problem. What if he just doesn't want to live here? He's always happy to see me and my whole family he loves being pet and playing with us but I just don't know why else this would happen. I just feel like a bad owner and I don't know how much better I can do. I give him as much as I can right now and he's healthy and most of the time happy but it makes me so sad to see him when he's horribly anxious. The other day he started screaming at the coffee pot because it was moved and whenever new people come over he's crazy but he did perfectly fine at the vet with new people even as the were giving him his shots. Im not sure if this is even a good thing to be upset about and it probably is just taking up space here, I know there's other people dealing with more than me. But I just don't have anywhere else to talk about it. I just want him to be as happy as possible and my brain keeps telling me I'm the reason he's nervous and scared all the time.
-
Hey all, i know its been quite awhile since i posted on here. Its been a summer all right. Its been something else........... You know how they say not to open the can of worms? Well a few months ago i decided to find out what my due date would have been for my first baby, the one conceived by r***. My baby would have been due on March 4th of 2006. They would be 20 years old. I was R**** on June...
-
My day...today...misplaced my debit card...didn't realize it until I got to the register after shopping to a full cart. Used a different debit card and pulled apart everything looking for missing debit card before I left parking lot. Got home, dropped keys. So now I have a missing debit card, missing keys. A full cartload to unload and put away. I got everything put away.Dumped purse for a...
As for your worry about your anxiety being contagious for your dog. . . I absotively believe this is happening and invite you to see this as a readily available anxiety tool rather than another item on your guilt trip list. In my strictly personal herstory of using animals as a psychotherapy tools, strengthening my awareness of that contagion factor has taught me more about my anxiety cycles than all the pros in my pro parade put together. As surely as my animals feel and react to the rises in my anxiety, they will respond almost as quickly to my calming exercises. Calming their anxieties is, perhaps, the most powerful tool in my psychotherapy toolbox.
Dogs are the most forgiving and responsive critters in my petting zoo. Don't fight Mother Nature. Work with her. Your dog will love you for it. It validates his reason for being.
This doesnt make either of us bad owners. Can you take your dog to a trainer? Unfortunatly they told me my dog is untrainable. The other place i took him wants $800 for private classees. But im doing the best i can and i think you are too. Chin up
Nothing wrong with that.
Practice even breathing when round the dog. Breathe in through nose, out through mouth, then in through nose and out nose. This will calm your body and brain, and I think you'll notice it happen with the dog as well.
For the dog that is considered "untrainable", first assess the problem(s) in order of the worst to the least. When we took our dog to training classes, the dog did well with certain people and less than well with other people. Aggressive behavior is often "fear". We were able to tone down the behavior with some significant changes in our way of approaching people.
Best wishes!
I think you're doing great with your dog. You're suffering from "beating up on yourself" that you're not more perfect. Practice to embrace you and your dog exactly as you and your relationship is because it's good. :-) Love to you.
Ours is no longer as aggressive (fear) after a neighbor brought over her friendly big dog to visit several times. We used lots of treats to reward both of them.
Over-thinking...just add "doing" to it. Look up ways to work with your dog in the home.
You're doing a wonderful job, You wrote it out which is an important first step!