Alice Stops Barking

Alice the Shorthaired Dachshund

Alice was rescued from a loving home but lacked the critical care of socialization as a puppy. Consequently she was very nervous and barked at everything. She was put on the breakthrough diet in the hope that it would take the edge off of her behaviour and give us a little more peace – but I was truly shocked at how well it worked! Within 2 days Alice was noticeably quieter and her barking episodes were shorter.

<span  class="x-dropcap" >A</span>lice the Shorthaired Dachshund“Alice is my dog, a 4 year old standard shorthaired dachshund. My partner rescued her when she was 18 weeks old. She was in the loving home of a teacher, who had always wanted a dachshund, but sadly she didn’t know much about dog or early puppy care and Alice was going stir crazy in her flat alone whilst the teacher was out at work 12 hours a day. Because of this Alice’s early socialisation was impoverished and she came to live with my partner as a very nervous girl with a high pitched bark in response to anything out of the ordinary, which for Alice was everything! When I moved in and ‘adopted’ Alice, alongside his 3 other dachshunds, I knew I needed to do something to help her, but didn’t know what. Alice would bark continually at any noise, which the other 3 dachshunds responded to in typical daxie style! The cacophony was irritating and frequent and lead to 2 very grumpy humans! She would also bark at all visitors – so much so that we often preferred to shut her away, rather than endure her constant barking at their every movement or laugh. Visiting dogs were also very scary to her and left her unable to settle or relax, barking and fidgeting constantly and seeming very anxious. As we have a busy home with lots of drop in guests, she was always on edge, awaiting the next scary knock on the door. Alice would also whine when left alone by us, as well as compulsively lick another of our dachshunds to try to soothe herself. Whilst we loved her, her habits could be very irritating and frustrating for us and made having guests quite a stressful experience, which was a shame as we love entertaining.”

“Within 2 days Alice was noticeably quieter and her barking episodes were shorter”

“I put her on the breakthrough diet in the hope that it would take the edge off of her behaviour and give us a little more peace – but I was truly shocked at how well it worked! Within 2 days Alice was noticeably quieter and her barking episodes were shorter. She seemed to calm down much quicker following an unexpected noise or guest, and the positive effects continued over the next few weeks. Alice was less manic and anxious and seemed much calmer, settled and happy and much more capable of relaxing.”

“After several weeks on the diet I began to work on counter conditioning her when guests visited. The process is very simple, the arrival of guests leads to plenty of cocktail sausage, all being hand fed from our bemused guest! Very quickly, Alice’s initial apprehension has changed to enthusiasm. She still barks at guests and greets nervously, but now can overcome this initial response and approach them cautiously for treats. The time taken to approach a stranger (which would not happen at all before the diet) has reduced dramatically from several minutes, to mere seconds and she now pesters guests relentless for fuss and cuddles, really demonstrating not only the positive effect the diet has had on her levels of anxiety, but also the improvement in her learning capabilities. The high point for us was a barbecue over summer, where we had 20 guests and 5 visiting dogs, which Alice greeted with only a few barks before settling down on our laps!”

“Whilst a house with 4 dachshunds is unlikely to ever be a quiet household, my partner and I find our home much more peaceful and enjoyable thanks to the diet. We will never be greeted by a guest unaware, but we are very thankful for the diet giving us the opportunity to help Alice work past her fears and anxieties and feel much calmer and more settled.”

Submitted by Corrine from Forpaws training, Guildford

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