this post was submitted on 27 May 2024
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spent the weekend at a wedding a couple of hours away. sent the two herding dogs to my agility coach and the chi mix to a friend's house for boarding. chi mix and aussie did great! the border collie had a rough time. apparently barked more or less the whole weekend and couldn't settle. i think she was just bored and overwhelmed/overstimulated, sigh.
we've had a few thunderstorms, and the xanax the vet gave me doesn't seem to be helping the border collie's severe reaction (barking, leaping, basically inconsolable making both humans lose sleep for a couple of nights). i'm wondering if i could up her dose. also picked up a thundershirt, but haven't had a chance to test it out during a real thunderstorm yet.
we've got a two-day mock agility trial this weekend, and i'm hoping to get all three dogs in the ring at some point or another.
RAGBRAI is steadily approaching, but due to lack of sleep and being out of town, i didn't get a chance to ride at all last week or this past weekend. fingers crossed i can get a decent ride in after work tonight.
Vis the Xanax/alprazolam, have sometimes found that benzodiazapines taken to manage situations I find threatening (irrationally or otherwise), make my head fight the drug as it gravely fears any diminution in excessive vigilance.
Similar may be true of your collie? Probably a stronger dose will sedate her enough, but could make her more frantic than ever.
Accordingly, consider giving her the alprazolam once the perceived threat has passed. This could let her unwind faster & also to come to associate perceived threats as something to notice, but which she can relax about once they've passed on.
yeah, ideally i would give the xanax before the storm arrives, but that's not always possible. vet said to go ahead and give it to her even if she was already reacting. i may try giving it to her after the storm to come down; that's a good idea!