Dog’s Owner Finally Finds A Remedy For Her Anxiety
Usually, when people worry about their dogs being in stress and anxiety, it is because the dogs show signs of aggression toward other animals or people around them. However, this was not the case with Yiwol, Lily’s dog. Since Lily got her, she has been the sweetest and friendliest dog towards everyone surrounding her. Even when seeing someone for the first time, Yiwol was so happy to greet them. Instead, she showed aggression in some other way. Even though she never caused any harm to others, she had a habit of harming herself.
Lily says that from time to time Yiwol is having an urge to bite herself. This is a rather serious problem, because the bites result in a lot of wounds and scars, which end up causing even greater stress for the dog. It all happens very spontaneously. The dog might be having a wonderful time, then suddenly, start biting herself, and then, come back to being her joyful self again, as if nothing had happened.
But biting herself was not the only unusual behavior Yiwol had. She also had a habit of following Lily around like a shadow. She would not leave her side for a second. This all made Lily vey sad. She loved her dog, and seeing her suffer broke her heart. As Lily had no idea what the reason for such behavior was, she made her mind to approach the veterinarians.
They figured, that the dog’s behavior was very similar to the ones’ with the obsessive compulsive disorder. Usually, dogs with such a condition involve themselves in repetitive actions, such as jumping repeatedly. If this was the case, it would mean that Yiwol’s behavior was a result of having been abused. But the good thing was that obsessive compulsive disorder in dog was not as serious as it might seem. The right approach of the experts could have a great impact on the dog’s wellbeing. So Lily decided to wait no more, and invite the specialists over, and try to figure out what was happening with Yiwol.
When meeting them, Yiwol was just being his regular self – following Lily around, being super friendly and playful, and then suddenly biting herself. They tried offering her new toys, and they tried to pet her, showing her that they were friends. But the dog would not stop biting herself. It was a sign of nervousness and stress. Even though the specialists spent a considerable amount of time playing and observing the dog, they were not able to find out what triggered the dog to act that way.
They knew they needed to be more careful. They were sure that the answer was somewhere there, and they were just missing it. To observe Yiwol’s behavior in more detail, they came up with a new plan. They recorded themselves playing with Yiwol, and than, watched the recordings, trying to analyze the entire situation.
Luckily, the recordings were in fact helpful. After re-watching them several times, the answer was clear. The dog got nervous whenever he saw people approaching her who had some objects in their hands. It might be the camera, the microphone, or even her toys. If she did not see the object in the person’s hand, she was alright. But the minute she realized there was something, she started to stress out. There were some specific objects that he was particularly afraid of, such as the umbrella, or his toys.
Knowing what exactly made Yiwol worry so much was already a huge amount of work. Now, the next step was to try to make her understand, that these objects were nothing to worry about. Also, as the dog was in the constant state of stress, they needed to find a cure for that as well.
The specialist advised to try using scentes water, that usually are very helpful for dogs for relieving stress. First, they conducted an experiment, to see how Yiwol would react to them. They ordered dozens of scents, poured some of the liquid on pieces of paper towels, and put them on the floor, next to the dog. She was totally in love with them. The scented paper towels suddenly became her favorite thing to play with, as she did not want to let go of them. it was a good sign that they would help Yiwol reduce the stress.Anxiety
To prevent Yiwol from biting herself, they soaked the bandages in the scented water, and wrapped them around Yiwol’s legs. Now, whenever Yiwol is about to bite herself, she feels the stress-relieving scent, which prevents her from doing so. This was a great improvement. Moreover, the scented water had a feature of relieving the pain and making the wounds heal faster.
Once Yiwol was introduced to the scented water, she became an entirely new dog. Nobody expected to have such an immediate result. The minute Yiwol had the scented bandages on her legs, a huge smile appeared on her face. Since then, there was not a single incident of Yiwol biting herself. Lily is so grateful she asked the specialists for help. Little did she know that something as simple as scented water would solve the problem Yieol had been dealing with for months now.
But the specialist did not stop there, and made their minds to help Yiwol with one more thing. As the dog already had a fear of objects such as umbrellas, brooms, or cameras, they decided to change that as well. Their plan was to pour some scents on these objects, but Yiwol needed to approached them with her eyes closed. So they tied her eyes, and let her explore the objects relying on only the senses of smell and touch. In some sense, it was a way of reintroducing the object to the dog, and letting her see them from a new perspective.
They let the tog play with the objects with her eyes tied for a while. She was really into it, as she loved anything that had her favorite scents on it. After some time, they untied her eyes, and let her see what she had been playing with during all that time. Seeing these object, Yiwol was still a bit uncomfortable. But she definitely did no react to them the way she did before. With some practice, Yiwol sure will adjust to these objects in no time. She already was confident enough to reach them, and observe them in a very calm and patient way.
After months of dealing with stress and anxiety resulting from obsessive compulsive disorder, Yiwol is finally able to relax, and enjoy every moment of her life. Now, Lily practice plays with Yiwol every day, to make her adjust to being around various objects more. She carefully keeps an eye on Yiwol’s behavior, and now, she has a better idea of what she needs to do if Yiwol’s condition gets worse. Appears that the problem that seemed so serious had a solution as simple as buying some scented water.Anxiety
Lily is so happy to know that the objects that reminded her dog of being abused no longer cause stress to her, and that she is finally getting over the regretful experience that she had in the past.
