[Dailydrool] Gumbo

[Sabrina Nicholls]

Gumbo was 5 when we adopted him in February. We have another Basset, Ellie, and they love to play. Gumbo quickly made friends with my friends' dogs - two female Poodles (one a standard) and a male Beagle. But when we started obedience, we found out he's afraid of most large dogs. If he meets one large dog, he'll bark (and he sounds enormous, scary), and he'll charge. Our obedience teacher, whom we've known for 20 years, has a Ph.d. in Animal Behavior and uses only kindness methods. She put Gumbo in the center of a very large circle (in a parking lot) where he saw a number of large dogs; he shook and his teeth chattered. That confirmed that he's not aggressive, he's fearful. He was eventually successful at the CGC and the BARK test to become a reading dog. At libraries, it's difficult because there are large dogs there, but we get into a corner and I try to keep him lying down and facing the wall while kids read to him. We expect a school assignment soon, and he'll be the only dog. But we can't go to any group events. I was wondering whether any of these anti-anxiety drugs might work to change Gumbo's behavior around other dogs?

Sabrina, Gumbo, and Ellie