Scared bully since spay:(

Question
Hello Expert!  I have a one year old female English bulldog who just got spayed about a month ago.  Since she has been spayed she is a completely different dog, she went from being mild mannered, obedient (stopped chewing on household appliances and furniture and "going to the bathroom" inside the house a long time ago), and friendly to other dogs and neighbors to a dog that is the complete opposite and terrified of EVERYTHING.  Taking her for walks takes a very long time, as she hears me open the drawer that we keep her harness and leash in she runs underneath the bed and begins to violently shake and cower away from the idea of going for a walk.  On her walk, she barely makes it down our block before she tries to pull out of her harness and make her way back in the direction of home.  She wants nothing to do with other people, dogs, treats, or anything outside of the house.  During the day she is mostly in her bed and prior to her spaying she would follow us around the house, play, bark, etc.  She goes potty in the house and has bitten just about every piece of furniture and appliance that we hadn't been able to hide from her - all mostly while we are gone.  This is truly breaking my heart and making me feel helpless as her owner.  She has just finally began to finish her food during the day, for the past month I had been throwing out more than half of her meals as she wasn't really eating, this I know post-spay is normal; but everything else she has been doing is scaring me.  Please help us!

Answer
Donna,

That certainly is not post-spay behavior although it does sound like it is related to her surgery.  I think it may be because of the surgery and not necessarily the spay.

It it just going to take time to get her to get back to normal.  Take small steps.  Take short walks and then build up to longer.  Introduce her to new people a little at a time.  

I think you are going to have to treat her like a new dog.  Think of her as a dog that needs to re-introduced to a good home.  

Something about the surgery must have really scared her - kind of like a dog that has been mistreated.

With a lot of love, care and hard work, you should be able to get her to trust and love again.

Hope that helps,
Christine Puetz