“Millie has a lot of issues. She gets over-aroused very quickly and then takes a long time (sometimes days, depending on the situation) to return to normal. Triggers include things like simple excitement (chasing balls, Mantrailing, or the scent of potential prey), stressful situations such as seeing other dogs, and separation anxiety. As soon as her arousal ‘bucket’ is full she is no longer in a headspace to respond to commands or react calmly to a situation.

After a couple of months on the Breakthrough Start-up we noticed that it was taking her longer to become over-aroused. We had better recall in over-exciting situations and when we met other dogs she was briefly stressed but then quickly returned to normal.

The Breakthrough was taking the edge off but she still had a lot of issues, especially with anxiety, and she started taking Reconcile (Prozac) to deal with those. This made a big improvement in her anxiety levels and we stopped using Breakthrough as we assumed that the Reconcile was taking over that role. Within a few weeks we noticed that although her anxiety was reduced she was becoming over-aroused more quickly again. Speaking to the Breakthrough team the food apparently works on a different part of the brain to the Reconcile and we put her back on the Startup. About a month in we are starting to see her over-arousal levels reducing again. We can use a ball to distract her from other dogs or at the start of trailing, whereas in the past she would just have dropped it and run off barking.

She will be staying on the Startup. It is not a miracle cure, but it does have a noticeable effect on her headspace – it takes her longer to become over-aroused and therefore she can think more clearly for longer.” 

Success story from Millie’s owner, a client of Chrissy Beckhurst DipCABT, CABP, MAPDT01015  from Pet Matters.