I bought Zekie’s dog license today. He is on the books as mine!

This picture was taken back when he still had one fang. He broke the last one off on Valentines Day when we were away for five hours even though I had given him his Prozac and a Valium. I guess I will never be able to call him White Fang. That would require at least one fang.

I tried the Easy Walk harness on Zekie. It does help me have more control when he is lunging but it has had no effect on stopping the growling, barking and lunging at other walkers or joggers and cyclists.

On the last walk I tried a muzzle and also had limited success with changing his behavior. He does better walking with my husband. My husband can warn him ahead of time, “Zeke, be good.” And then Zeke will walk by people with only a slight growl under his breath. This is no answer for me though.

Next I will try going somewhere that we can see people walking from a distance. If he still reacts, we will have to move farther away until I can get him to sit and behave. Then I can give treats and praise. We will try moving closer on subsequent outings. And I will work on general obedience so Zeke will acknowledge me as being in charge, thereby lessening his need to threaten people.

I also purchased some morsels that have four different calming herbs in them. Hoping these will take the edge off. I have weaned Zeke off the Prozac. It didn’t seem to be helping much and he won’t be needing to transition to a new home so we didn’t see the point in keeping him on the meds. So no need to worry about herbal and prescription interactions.

Wish me luck, I think I’ll need it!