Apparently, our owner thinks that Desi has some 'inconsistencies' and is concerned about potential lawsuits if and when she gets free and makes mince meat out of some other dog or even worse, a human being. With that in mind, Desi and her owner made the drive up to 'Postive Paws' to meet with Carla, the behaviorist.
Immediately, Desi made it clear that she was out of her comfort zone. After nearly 30 minutes of Carla's techniques, Desi started to calm down a bit. How did Carla know that Desi was on edge? Desi was showing a few physical charactistics of an uncomfortable dog, which would be: ears perked up and/or drawn back, blinking her eyes, wagging her tail (yes, this can be a negative), a 'ready' stance, puffing her cheeks/lips out, and raising her hair on her back.
After working with Desi for another 30 minutes or so, Carla recommended that Desi come back for additional work in a couple of private sessions. Desi's owner hasn't scheduled the sessions yet, but Carla gave Desi some paperwork on how to work with Desi on decreasing anxiety and increasing her calm demeanor.
The one thing Carla gave Desi that really surprised Desi's owner was a scarf with lavender oil sprayed on it. Carla told Desi that the lavender oil smell should calm Desi down. If you have a dog that is anxious or doesn't appear to be 'at ease' as much as it should, try using a scarf sprayed with a little bit of lavender oil. Unfortunately, Desi is a 'tom boy' type of female, so as soon as her scarf is put on her collar, she has it wrapped and bunched up on her collar, which doesn't look to lady-like. However, adding a few squirts of lavender oil every couple of days has seemed to calm her down a bit, so even if it doesn't look spectacular, it's the effectiveness that matters, right?
If your dog has a few issues with 'acting a fool' at times, maybe you should try a few squirts of lavender oil as well. If this stuff can calm Desi down, it can calm any dog down!
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