yorkie-extremely anxious

Question
i have a 2 1/2 yr. old male yorie.he is neutered.he is extremely anxious.he whines and whimpers if he sees anyone or any animals walking by the house.he goes insane when anyone comes to the door.i cannot leave him out in our fenced in yard or he will bark and whine and throw himself at the fence between us and our neighbors.they have 3 dogs,but they can't see each other.the other neighbor has a small pomeranian and he he petrified of her.he is so bad the cops and the human society were both called. if i take him for a walk and anyone approaches him he will totally flip out.i try to talk to him in a reassuring voice  but nothing seems to work.if we yell or disipline him he is a wreck.. can you give paxil to a dog? any suggestions?

Answer
Hi Jann,

Thanks for e mailing me here at AllExperts with a question about your Yorkie.  

I was wondering if you could be a bit more descriptive in letting me know what your Yorkie is doing when you write he "goes insane" when anyone comes to the door?  What exactly is/are the behaviour(s) that your dog is exhibiting?  Depending on what he's doing, I may have different suggestions.  

Regarding leaving him out in the yard, I think it may ultimately work better for you supervising him when he's out in the yard.  In the beginning, you may want to have him on leash attached to you, or holding the leash.  That way, you can prevent the behaviour of his barking and throwing himself at the fence.  If you have leash control of your dog at the times he does this, you can give him a verbal warning such as 'Enough,' and if he doesn't stop the undesirable behaviour, you can bring him back inside for a time out for a minute.  Then, try again, and repeat if necessary.  After many repetitions, your dog will get the idea that when he's noisy or behaving in an undesirable manner, he doesn't get the reward of being outside.  He will learn that he only gets to be outside when he behaves calmly.  If this is an ingrained habit, the training might take a while - but it will be worth it.  Also, I personally am not a fan of leaving even well behaved dogs outside alone, even if the area is fenced and secure.  It's my experience that even if the best of fenced yard situations, dogs can develop some bad habits and frustrations, as it sounds like your Yorkie has developed.  I've had good success with dogs of all ages making it clear to them that if they don't behave in a certain way that I expect and desire, they don't get to be outside.  This is very effective training for all dogs and owners with whom I've worked and I'm confident that you will see results if you're consistent and 'put in the time' and effort needed to change your dog's current habits.

Again, with the neighbour's Pommie, I'm not sure what's going on there and I don't know why you think your Yorkie is terrified of her.  What are the behaviours that he's exhibiting that make you think he's terrified?  Most terrified dogs exhibit avoidance behaviours.  They will typically cower, try to hide, tuck their tail and try to put distance between themselves and the thing of which they're terrified.  Whatever is going on, if the behaviour is so undesirable that the police and humane society have had to be called, then I would avoid putting your dog in any situation as much as possible where your dog may encounter the Pomeranian for now, until you can work with a trainer and behaviour consultant who may be able to observe exactly what's going on, assess it, and help you resolve the problem if possible.  It may be that you'll need the cooperation of the Pommie's owner in order to resolve the issue, and I hope you and the neighbour can work together with a trainer using only positive, non-punishing methods in order to help you work out what the problems are and resolve them.

When you take him for a walk and he "flips out," again, I don't know what behaviour you're describing.  Does he try to put distance between himself and anyone trying to approach him?  Will he lunge, bark, try to nip?  Does he try to hide?  Whatever it is, it may be that your dog lacked early socialization to people before he was 12 - 14 weeks of age, and perhaps doesn't know how to behave with people.  Again, a positive methods trainer may be able to help you gradually reshape your dog's attitude towards strangers approaching him.  

As far as medicating a dog, you would need to consult with a vet behaviourist about that.  Usually the best thing to do is apply a training and behaviour protocol as the first course of action before considering medication.  Medication is not a 'quick fix' and may not resolve your dog's issues, particularly if your dog doesn't learn any appropriate behaviours and if the situations remain the same and are not managed differently than they are being currently.  Medication is generally used after behavioural and training protocols have been applied but haven't worked, and the dog needs pharmaceutical intervention in order to open a biological 'window of opportunity' for training and behaviour protocols to start having an effect.  If you haven't tried any of the management techniques I've briefly mentioned, training, and behaviour modification, I would suggest making those your first course of action applied consistently for a few months, and then consider the possibility that medication may be able to help your dog so that the behaviour, management, and training protocols can start taking effect.  If that's the case, many dogs can be weaned off medication once their brain neuropathways start to become, essentially, 'rewired' using the techniques I've mentioned.

Tbanks again for writing in, and please follow up and let me know how it goes!

Best regards,
Madeline at AllExperts
www.ny-njDogTrainer.com