Help with a panicked dog!!!

Question
Please help me, I'm at wits end!  I am sitting here in tears because I don't know how to help my 3 yr old Aussie/Lab mix. Hopefully you can help! We adopted him from a rescue last February and we knew from the start that he'd need a lot of love and affection to bring him out of his shell. He was very shy and took a long time to trust us. My husband and I are "dog people" and showered him with love and affection, hoping he would know he was safe and loved. Since we've had him, he has suffered what can only be called panic attacks. It's not separation anxiety, because he is fine when we leave, and fine when we return. But sometimes he'll be lying there, calm as can be, and suddenly start pacing, whining, drooling incessantly, and basically freaking out. No amount of calming words, petting, etc will calm him. He also tries to get into small areas, too. For example, under the kitchen table, under my desk at the computer, under my nightstand by my bed, and so on. Almost like he's hiding from some unseen thing, the way he looks around at something only he can see. It just breaks my heart to see him freak out like this, and there is nothing I can do to calm him. Please know, most of the time he's quite the love bug, playing with his "sister", or my husband and myself. We have tried the DAP diffuser, and it seems to help somewhat, but not all the time. Also, he has varied reactions to people visiting our house. Sometimes he's a guests best friend, sitting on their feet, asking for hugs and treats, then other times when they visit he shows aggression. It's so hard to have friends over, but I know it's more important to get him happy and healthy. We have had a vet check him out, and found nothing wrong physically. Our vet suggested a behaviorist at a college about 150 miles away. Frankly I'm not in a position to afford that right now, and I'm trying to do a lot of this on my own. Any information you can provide will be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much for your time!!

Answer
Hi, Jenna.

This is your lucky day (I hope). My dog had panic attacks when he turned 14 mos. This was when I first started using Natural Dog Training techniques.

For starters, since he likes to play, play with him as much as possible. If you can get him to play tug-of-war outdoors, and get him to bite the toy as hard as he can, that'll be a good start. Keep in mind that play reduces internal tension and too much affection, particularly if the dog has behavioral issues, can increase his tension. So keep that to a minimum. And don't comfort him when he's frightened! It'll make it worse! If you absolutely HAVE to touch him when he's scared, start petting him at his neckline, using a single hard stroke, all the way to his tail. Do this three or four times in a row and he may loosen up a little. But remember:

DOGS NEED MORE PLAY TIME THAN CUDDLE TIME!

Next, teach him to bark on command. This is fairly easy to do, though it can take a while. You have to do it at a time when he's itching for something to do. Tease him with a toy or treat, then growl and bark at him, and keep teasing him. As soon as he barks (it can take up to 20 mins. the first time you try it), give him the reward and simultaneously say, "Speak!" in a happy, excited tone of voice. Do that exercise three or four times, in several different locations, at several different times of day, and you can start to give him the command BEFORE he obeys it. (It sounds backwards but it works best this way.) Once he'll bark for a toy or a treat, mix it up. Show him a toy, but hide it behind your back or under your blouse, etc. Show him your hands are empty, but keep barking at him. When he does finally, he gets the toy. Do it in the kitchen, do it in the living room, do it in the back yard, do it on a walk, etc. After a few days you should be able to get him to speak reliably under all kinds of circumstances.

Now, when that "spell" comes over him, you can tell him to "Speak!" and his ears and tail and shoulders will all come back up, and his tail will come out from between his legs. Initially it may take him a while to make the connection between the speak command and actually barking, especially because he's in a fearful, not an assertive ("I want that damn toy! Ruff!") mood. But once he does bark, he should immediately stop being frightened.

Now the barking is just a management tool. It probably won't solve the problem, just help you to help him snap out of it. The thing that will help the most is the pushing exercise, where you hand feed him all his meals outdoors, using a pushing exercise where you put one hand, palm up, against his chest, and offer him some food with your other hand. As he eats pull the food away slightly. Gradually, move the food further and further away, over the period of a few days, until he's pushing into you as hard as he can. Here's a link: http://tinyurl.com/3balu6

I don't normally require clients to fast their dogs (as recommended in the article above), but with a panicked dog, I think it's a good idea to start him off with as strong as experience with this as possible. (The speaking on command worked for my dog, but just as a management tool; it wasn't until I fasted him and got him to play tug with me outdoors that his panic attacks disappeared entirely.)

Here's another link that explains why the pushing exercise works:

http://www.tiny.cc/SwimUpstream

Let me know if you have any further questions or problems.

LCK