🐾Our First 2 Years With Our Reactive Rescue Dog, Luna!!🐾

[@apotheosis2926]

Thanks for sharing your journey with Luna! We have a reactive dog who we've had for years and never felt comfortable taking him on walks. I've started giving him treats as we go, and he's already so much better about handling barking neighbors. Pretty soon I think he'll be ready to walk past other dogs without lunging and whining. It's been so encouraging to see your videos of Luna, and it gives me hope for our own dog to go on walks more often without him or us feeling tense the whole time. Thanks again!

[@PaddleboardingFL]

aw my reactive rescue looks just like Luna! He was already 4 when i adopted him and i had no idea about his past or his reactivity until i found out the hard way, he was already an adult by the time i got him so his reactivity was never really able to be trained out but over the years he's become a lot calmer and more manageable. He's the sweetest most well-behaved dog when hes with people he trusts & it breaks my heart that people would be so cruel to him for so long. (his previous owners neglected him and then shot him in the face and left him in a ditch. A woman and her kids found him and took him to the police where he stayed with the sheriff until he put him into an shelter, 11 days later i walked in and adopted him. It wasn't until a few months into owning him that i got a random call & it was from a sheriff asking me if i knew anything about his case to which i said no?? and was told what had happened to him) We've never been able to trim his nails because the quicks are so overgrown from the years of neglect, and he has a big scar on his cheek under his fur. I'm so glad i was able to find him because i don't think he would have lasted long if he had been adopted by anyone else who couldn't give him the time & independent life he needs. So happy to see Luna thriving with yall & becoming more confident & comfortable!

[@manja1714]

My fav videos are those that start with "I'm gonna try to keep the video short this time"😂

[@MerediddyS]

Lol. They’re always the longest!

[@meghanhowe9300]

Yes to all of this! Our dogs are similar ages, but we had her from the puppy stage. It wasn’t until about 3 months old that she became reactive (fear-based) after an injury. She’s our family’s 4th sheltie but the most reactive, and our trainer helped us understand part of her behavior was because our other dogs came from long lines of family dogs, whereas this dog, Daphne, came directly from a horse farm where her family was working dogs. We’ve worked closely with our trainer and an animal behaviorist- whose first prognosis of our dog left our family in tears, because on a scale of 1 - 10, 1 being your dog will never improve and 10 being your dog is an angel, she rated our dog a 4 and wasn’t sure if she could improve; there was also a line in the write-up about how aggression cannot be cured but it can be treated, and if you cannot live with the aggression you cannot live with the pet. But we knew if she were to be rehomed she would not make it. Those first 6 months were awful; the shame element is powerful because your dog doesn’t “work” the same way most dogs do, and you have this horrible feeling that if she were to break free or bite someone while scared, she’d potentially have to be euthanized. Just gut wrenching feelings. Luckily, she’s come so far. The doctor just gave her a 7-8 rating meaning she’s got some work to do but she’s doing great. While she still has a lot of triggers (some wacky ones, like reflections on the ceiling) that will never go away fully, we have found that following her daily schedule- up with the sun and down with the sunrise (she goes to bed early), specific walks and playtimes, medication (fluoxetine and gabapentin) and consistent training means that she can live a relatively peaceful (for her at least haha) life. We leave her alone to nap in the afternoon (otherwise she won't relax), and she gets to run in our backyard to her heart's content for hours. The main thing we're working on now is grooming, because a long coated dog that is sensitive about being handled isn't going to love grooming. It's an inelegant process and you think they'll never improve, but one day you look back and see all the things they can do now that they never could do before. Except the stairs. I don't think she'll ever figure out how those work (and she has ramps to use for those). Anyways, that’s my novel but I just felt SO seen and heard by your video and Alyssa's message. Luna has such caring parents who have done so much work to have her live a comfortable life!

[@MerediddyS]

Omg!!!!! I’m so glad you shared this experience- what a journey!! It makes me so happy to hear how far she’s come. Reactive dogs are good good dogs, and sometimes hearing stuff like that from a professional can be absolutely devastating. I’m so glad you stuck it out though!! ❤️❤️❤️

[@keikustar]

luna is so lucky to have been brought into your and brian's home, and likewise, you and brian are lucky to have her!

[@MerediddyS]

We are SO lucky!!

[@rayr2497]

Luna is such a beautiful dog, she's so lucky to have found such a caring family in you.

[@MerediddyS]

Thank you!! We love her so much!

[@watchlistenwrite]

Your attitudes toward these dogs is so compassionate. What an amazing gift of love and time and care you've given them

[@MerediddyS]

She stole our hearts and we had no choice!!

[@hufflepuffwannabe]

Luna and Dolly are such sweeties!! You guys have so much love, kindness, and dedication for others. It's really wonderful!!

[@MerediddyS]

Thank you!! 🙏🏻❤️

[@Ibelieveinthedoctor]

Yall did so good with lunie 🥺🥺🥺

[@MerediddyS]

Thank you!!! ❤️❤️❤️

[@jennschalle2825]

Thank you for this video! Definitely had an experience with my dog, though more issues with general behavior than reactivity (though there is some of that, too), and at one point, I wasn't sure if I would be able to keep her. It broke my heart to think about taking her back. I managed to give it more time and with a little more patience and some training, we got to a decent place. She's still a little nut, but we do have a bond I never thought we'd have when I originally adopted her. Luna is so lucky to have found you and Brian and it's wonderful you've formed such a strong bond with her. ❤

[@MerediddyS]

I love this!! Sounds very similar to our experience with Luna. ❤️ thank you for sharing!

[@ItsBAndBees]

Omg I’m so glad you shared this!! We just adopted/were gifted a heeler mix and he sounds like a total maniac when he sees other dogs too! I’ve been trying to work with him and feel like I’m constantly apologizing to everyone even though he’s really sweet and friendly. His bad habits also include wanting to jump up at guests and peeing any time he’s excited. He’s only 8-9 months so I know most of this will be a waiting game and your video helped give me some more motivation ❤

[@MerediddyS]

Yes!! The mark and reward training will help a lot with that :) best of luck!! Give us updates on his progress!!

[@MariaEverlasting]

Luna is such a special dog and she is so lucky that you and Brian love her and take care of her! Definitely teared up a lot, just so happy for all of you! ❤❤❤

[@MerediddyS]

Thank you!!! We love our dog!!!

[@EH-lt9wc]

Oh man this made me cry lol...I love my reactive rescue dog so much. When she was a puppy she was taken from her mother too young and forced to live in a small kennel with dogs much bigger than her. She's 11 years old now, and recently got diagnosed with arthritis, but she's still my baby girl ❤

[@MerediddyS]

Yay I love this so much!!!! Your sweet baby girl!!

[@42by10]

Man I wish I had seen a video like this when my dog was still a pup. He's five now (give or take) and he has many of the same triggers that Luna has/had. He's doing better now, but I had no idea the leash frustration actually had a term. He was one of those pups that took 2 years to get out of adolescents, and he has a slough of other issues. He's allergic to poultry products for one thing, which made finding food that didn't make him sick tricky. A lot of the training we did when he was young was fairly counter productive because we thought he was just in his puppy years, and his breeds (mostly herding dogs we think) were making him overly hyper. It took a while before we realized there was more to it than that. I also come from a large family, and not all of them are dog savvy (and frankly don't listen to me because I'm one of the younger siblings), so trying to get them to help with the training was frustrating. Some of my family are nervous around dogs too, so he would get more frustrated because he couldn't interact with these people, which is one of his calming methods. All he wants is to be petted and interacted with, but if he doesn't get that it makes him more frustrated. And telling someone who is afraid of dogs to "just pet him" while the dog is growling (he's backwards, he growls when he's happy to see people) just isn't going to work. I curbed his mouthing and jumping habit by teaching him to grab a toy instead. He has a special group of stuffed animals separate from his main toys that he is allowed to have on special occasions. They are of a specific size and weight so that he can comfortably walk around with it in his mouth without his jaw getting tired. (I also keep these toys separate because if I don't keep a close eye one him he will swallow bits of the toy in his desire to shred them.) The size and shape was a trial and error thing, and only came about because I was keeping a close eye on him. Some days are better than others and I could easily go on for another 10 paragraphs about what it's been like trying to navigate my dogs behavior, but I better just stop here and say wholeheartedly: WORTH IT. My pup is a cuddle bug. He looks after me in ways I am constantly surprised by. My family who are nervous about him still want to know how he's doing and like to hear my stories about him. They are trying as much as he is.

[@MerediddyS]

OMG I love this comment so much!!!!!! Thank you for sharing this story!!! Luna is the same with excited growling- it’s so hard to get folks to understand! And yes- inconsistent training from varied people makes things so hard!! For us, it’s getting folks to praise her at the right time when she’s not jumping! Everyone just waits til she jumps to have a reaction to her and we are like NO!! PRAISE HER QUICK!!! Anyway I love hearing all of this!! Your dog sounds so special!!

[@42by10]

@@MerediddyS Thank you! It's funny you say he's special because that is what our vet said when I was describing how he screams in the car. She called him a "Special Soul" (she also called him a Pin-head but that's because at the time his body out grew his head and it took him a bit before he properly filled out! 😅) And we've worked on the car ride screaming. Now he gets a bullystick, and/or a kong filled with treats on short trips, and he has medication for long trips.

[@vickyt5050]

This was such a heart warming video ❤

[@MerediddyS]

Thank you for watching!! ❤️❤️

[@jenniferrichardson7790]

seeing you guy's journey with Luna has been super lovely to watch, the clear dedication and love that you and Brian have for her is so heart-warming to see! ❤❤

[@MerediddyS]

Thank you ❤️❤️❤️

[@vicky96541]

❤❤❤❤

[@MerediddyS]

❤️❤️❤️❤️