019 | Ruff Around the Edges with Lauren Sisak and Stella, an anxious dog in the city that never sleeps

019 | Ruff Around the Edges with Lauren Sisak and Stella, an anxious dog in the city that never sleeps

Imagine living in New York City with an anxious dog. I was pretty curious as to that experience and so when I found Lauren and Stella on Instagram,  asked them to come on the podcast, and were there stories to tell.

 

First of all we talk about how Lauren ended up choosing Stella, who is a she when she had set out to adopt a male dog. This had everything to do with Sammy her previous dog, who was also a little Ruff Around the Edges.

Then there is so much more, from the practicalities of living in the city, to how Lauren makes sure she meets her personal needs (making them a mandatory requirement).

We discuss the impact living with Stella has had on her relationships and friendships and what her mindset has been around that. There’s a hilarious (in my book) instagram post she made about it that I am linking to here:

And we talk about how medication has helped Stella, and how it’s not the end of the world when there are breaks in training.

There may be some talk about West Elm rugs and candy crush too, but you will just. have to listen to the episode for that.

Also, West Elm, if you’re reading this and you want to sponsor Lauren and Stella, then by all means reach out!

Links

Lauren and Stella on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/sitstaystella_/

https://sammysstraysrescue.org/

 

007 | Ruff Around the Edges with Forrest & Tucker, Tsu, and Penelope the cat

007 | Ruff Around the Edges with Forrest & Tucker, Tsu, and Penelope the cat

Who can resist you when you’re staring like this Tucker?

Forrest’s story is an absolutely lovely one and different from most of the stories so far.

Forrest and his wife did not hire any trainer to help them with Tucker, but relied a lot on their own observations of him, figuring out what worked and what didn’t along the way.

Tsu, the yang to Tucker’s yin.

Absolutely not an easy feat when you consider having to rely on dog parks
(gasp!) for exercising an anxious dog together with a dog sister (Tsu), that is the polar opposite of him. No, she’s not a golden retriever people :-), but she sure sounds like one.

Penelope, whom Tucker luckily gets along with
Sniffing it out!

I loved hearing how Forrest managed to find a way to balance the needs of both his very different dogs.

004 | Ruff Around the Edges with Vanessa O’Sullivan & Darwin

004 | Ruff Around the Edges with Vanessa O’Sullivan & Darwin

Vanessa & her and her boyfriend’s gorgeous Black Mouth Cur Darwin

After several years an MRI finally reveals brain abnormalities in Black Mouth Cur Darwin’s brain. Rather than give up and accept the status quo, Vanessa keeps trying out new training ideas and management strategies to improve quality of life for everyone in the multi-dog (and cat!) household.

The gang, left to right: Sputnik, Darwin and Sonic

Strap in for another long episode people. Follow along as Vanessa recounts how a perfectly behaved puppy changed to an anxious adult dog after puberty.

Back in the US still

We discuss how assumptions can lead to blind spots. For the longest time, Vanessa and Ryan had assumed that the move from the US to The Netherlands and the plane ride over had been the triggering event for the decline in Darwin’s behavior.

Going through old photographs looking for clues in Darwin’s body posture, they realized that assumption was false as the signs had been there earlier. Vanessa tells us what it took for her to gain confidence in her own knowledge of dog behavior.

A short improvement in behavior after quitting Darwin’s anxiety medication gave them hope briefly, as did the possibility of maybe being able to participate in an RTMS trial at the Belgian University of Ghent, but none of it was meant to be.

Made it onto the couch!

Darwin’s anxiety is such that having to make simple decisions such as “Should I get on the couch?” are stress inducing for him.

Darwin all comfy in his Baskerville muzzle

Muzzle training turned out to be a blessing in disguise. As a bonus side effect to the muzzle training, it became a tool to help Darwin relax.

You can find Vanessa on Instagram: @overseas.with.pets

As soon as her dog training business website officially launches, you will be able to find it here too.

A link to the scientific article that got Vanessa to contact the university of Ghent is here:

TMS improves anxious aggressive behaviour in dogs: A case study

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