Prozac for Puppies?

My holistic vet just recommended a Chinese herb for my Flurry who is an extremely anxious dog. Her anxiety exacerbates her skin allergies, so it's a difficult situation. The herb is called Concentrated Shen Calmer (click for link) and there are several varieties online. I have the capsules which I open and sprinkle on her food, but it also comes in a powder. It might be worth trying one of these before you go to the chemical meds. I've tried those too for her and honestly, they didn't do much more than make her sleepy, but still anxious! So far, this seems to be helping her some.

This is another blend that doesn't require a prescription from your vet, made by Herbsmith. https://www.herbsmithinc.com/calm-shen/

 

Della is on Fluoxetine (aka Prozac or Lovan) and will be on it for life. As she has been debarked I can guarantee she has been on it before (it's a requirement to exhaust all avenues before debarking), but she certainly didn't come to me on it. My sister also has her golden retriever on it, and she started fairly young. I know quite a few dogs who use it, there's probably more but owners are often too embarrased to admit it as it looks like they failed.

I do think you have more chance of reprogramming his behaviour by catching it early and retraining now, so don't be disheartened about starting him on it. Della has made a lot of progress, I used to not be able to walk her at all and she had fence aggression problems. I guess the 2 most noticeable things for me is she can be walked now and I can call her off when she starts barking. And she absolutely loves going to dog training.

Admittedly, a couple of months ago I was lamenting that Della seemed to be going backwards - turned out she had kidney stones and was in pain, now that's cleared up she's heaps better and she smiles now (she never used to).

Anyway, from my experience I really recommend having a training plan to work on when you start the Fluoxetine, as you may only see small progress with just the drug. My sister didn't bother and her dog often needs to take a second med to get her anxiety down. I did add in a second med, but once we got the kidneys sorted out Della's only needed the Fluoxetine. Dog clubs are a handy and safer way to teach a dog to learn and focus around other dogs. You also need to work on slowly increasing the threshold (eg start with 5min in hard to walk places and only slowly increase the time if he is coping). And remember to take breaks from stressful situations to let the adrenalin levels drop.

The Fluoxetine made a big difference training Della. She loves going to the dog club and we use the commands she learns there to get her to focus in other places - like it switches her into work mode. At the club we started by working a bit away from the group but now she's good working around other dogs as long as I keep her working. Walks have been slower, but I don't always walk her every day if her adrenalin levels are still high from the day before (often she will decide by refusing to put her collar on). We intersperce walks in public areas with walks in quiet areas, and the walks in public areas are shorter (she's up to about 30min now).

Honestly, I don't think Della would have made it without the Fluoxetine, that's probably why she's had so many homes. If her anxiety had been dealt with when she was younger it would have made a huge difference.

If you think it will help you re-train Remy then go for it. Better to do this while he is young and those synaptic pathways are maleable, and hopefully when he gets through this he will be a confident adult. Some dogs just find adolescence more difficult. Tully went through a really tough adolescence, I even considered sending her back! Now she's the most sweet natured and confident girl and I learnt so much I became a trainer!