Dog Log: Supportive Pheromones?

Chillin'.

About a month ago, a week after bringing her home, I tried a plug-in pheromone product for Summer with the aim of relieving at least some of her overall anxiety while I walked her through her new home, surroundings, and schedule. After a few days of use I thought I saw some evidence that it was taking the slightest edge off of it but I couldn't say for sure whether it was due to the product or simple passage of time with continued training and support. I left it plugged in and kept notes.

The vial was due for a change on Monday. Over the past few days I thought she was getting a little more hypervigilant but, really, it was just subtle stuff that one would only have a hope of seeing if one spent their days with her. Noises on TV or bangs elsewhere in the apartment building started interrupting her rest again, causing her to lift her head in alarm (but not jump as she had at first). Her movement patterns changed slightly. This morning she seemed just slightly restless, similar to what she did when she first came home, and I decided then to continue the product for now - but even then I wondered whether I was reading into things.

Not long after that she managed to squeeze herself into an impossibly tiny and uncomfortable space beneath a table. Later we took a walk and she was stressed and distracted - and jumped twice in response to sudden sound. Nope, I was right on. Vial will be purchased tomorrow.

Part of the joy of bringing a dog with some behavioral needs into my home is the professional experimentation I can do that can ultimately make their life - and possibly other dogs' lives - better. Here I'm using a product that I was intrigued by but had not had hands-on experience with before - but now I've seen it work (albeit subtly) and I can play with how to best utilize it as a tool. I want to approach this much like how psychiatric medication is used in humans. As an undergrad in psychology I was taught that the goal of psych meds in many cases is to help take that edge off so that the underlying issues can be worked on in the controlled environment of counseling or therapy. In some cases medication can be discontinued once the client learns the appropriate cognitive tools needed to keep a set of symptoms in check.

...so can we do the same with canines? Can I take an adult female with an overall anxious constitution that manifests itself in several maladaptive behavioral patterns and use a moderately successful anti-anxiety treatment in conjunction with training to make her rehabilitation faster or more effective than training alone? Can I eventually discontinue this treatment and have the training and bond sustain adaptive and appropriate behaviors?

This isn't strictly science, of course, at least not in my field. It's a case study rather than an experiment with a control, and my methods may be adjusted based on her response. There are a lot of confounding factors. I'm obviously not publishing any of this.

...but I am taking an approach based on my scientific background and using everything I know about canine behavior, psychology, ethology, and the art of training to shape and craft the behavioral response of a particular little Beardie girl that's laying about ten feet from me. I may use this data to help others in the future.

I'm really excited about this. I seldom recommended pheromone products during my pet retail days because they seemed like tools that would be most effective with professional guidance. Even if something worked immediately and really well with no intervention it could just lead the hapless owner to buy refills for the rest of a pet's life instead of finding and correcting the source of the anxiety - which is ultimately more expensive for the owner and can just make the existing anxiety, depending on source, worse as it goes unaddressed.

I've really wanted to explore this approach for years but never had the chance. With the discovery that this product alleviates some of her anxiety Summer's become the perfect teammate for this project. She's already made such great strides; I can't wait to see what this technique does for her.