If it's not the kids...it's the dog!

Meet Moose.

Moose is a beautiful 6yr old Hungarian Vizsla with the heart of an angel. He is a sweet, loving domestic giant.....who is afraid of his own shadow. Moose has many anxieties, I feel as though I'm bubble wrapping my house, just so Moose can walk and live calmly. I've got foam mats lining a "runway" for Moose, so he can go from stairs, to kitchen, to dog bed in family room. If there is even one mat missing, Moose will sit on the mat before the missing piece, and cry for an hour ...because he's stranded on an island, [and the sharks might get him...] We joke that we need to take a video of him, because he has to back into certain rooms of the house, and up certain steps of the staircase. When he does we say "beep,beep,beep" like a large truck in reverse lol. He walks sideways past certain openings, dark shadows scare him, wind instruments terrify him- my list could go on and have a blog of it's own.

His latest anxiety is over sewer grates. You know the ones on the road, that are sort of open- the kids love sending rocks down them to hear them splash. Moose is TERRIFIED! After an almost bad situation during a walk last week with kids on bikes, Mia in stroller, etc  I found out Moose is afraid of these grates [when his backend almost took out a bike] . So I am determined to beat this fear- I got him comfortable enough to sit on the grate for a few mins, and get calm that time. I took Moose and Mia for a walk tonight, and he only had one episode of terror , and then proceeded to stick his snout into every hole [it's sort of waffle-like ]  sniffing, wagging his tail . He made it over 6 sewer grates with only a tiny bit of apprehension! SUCCESS!

I'd love for Moose to be "normal" ..but he will never be. Moose is such a gentle soul and we're trying to find a solution to his anxieties to give him some relief [and to give me a sanity break!] but haven't found anything that works wonders yet. We tried Rescue Remedy first- but it just made him an anxious dog...who puked a lot. Then we tried Clomicalm from the vet- and I didn't notice an improvement, but I noticed MORE anxieties so I stopped that one. Next step is human anti-depressants but I'm hoping that a ton of fresh air, a lot of play with the kids during the day and a long walk everynight, will make a big difference- I think he has cabin fever, and his depression [he seems to get depressed in the winter months] lifts when we get outside finally. I might hire a dog walker for the cold months next year...