0: No fear or anxiety, relaxed/loose body movements
1: Eyes wide, body slightly tensed, will alert on object/noise (or scan the area looking for threats) but will let it go relatively quickly and go back to previous activity
2: Mixed signals (tense body, wagging tail, happy ears, foot raised), Able to turn away from scary object/noise if asked but not able to relax easily, Indoors: unable to rest even if she looks tired, intermittently pacing and trying to rest (usually whining)
An example of Category 2.
She's checking in with me, but tense due to a train passing by ~1/4 mile away.
3: Stops eating kibble but will accept higher value treats (beef jerkey, hot dog, cheese, etc), Indoors: has trouble focusing on cognitive tasks such as scent detection but can recover if I work with her, Destroys things, Cries in her kennel if she can't get to us but if let out will be jumpy and mouthy
4: Will probably eat higher value treat but only if forced to turn away from object/noise (ie: gently pulled by leash)
5: Unable to eat anything, Won't respond to me, Aggresses at scary thing, Complete shutdown, Indoors: will bite at bars to get out of kennel (ie: when people walk in the house)
Here is an example spreadsheet for November to help track Aggie's anxiety/fear levels:
| Date | Fear/Anxiety | Comment |
| 11/22/2013 | 2 | neighbor DOG |
| 3 | training session outside w Margaret & Rory, strange DOG walked by | |
| 11/23/2013 | 2 | TRAIN passing at oxbow |
| 1 | asked A to leave trail and sit due to RUNNER approaching | |
| 1 | training session OUTSIDE, Margaret watching from car, no distractions | |
| 3 | NAOMI entered house, A was in kennel | |
| 4 | during DINNER (eating chicken) | |
| 11/24/2013 | 3 | TRAIN passing at oxbow |
| 2 | training session outside, MARGARET across street | |
| 11/25/2013 | 2 | training session outside, MARGARET across street |
| 3 | beginning of WALK outside, nothing particular present | |
| 4 | play session with Cupid, neighbor DOG | |
| 2 | OSCAR came home, in cage | |
| 11/26/2013 | 5 | PLUMBER came over |
| 4 | TRAFFIC during walk | |
| 4 | PLUMBER entered again | |
| 11/27/2013 | 5 | DOG out on walk |
| 5 | during DINNER (no meat eaten) | |
| 11/28/2013 | 5 | GUESTS coming into house |
| 5 | hearing DOG walking around downstairs while in kennel upstairs | |
| 4 | Seeing DOG (Jack) outside initially | |
| 4 | When DOG (Jack) was in backyard | |
| 4 | Aunt LINDA walking into house unannounced in evening | |
| 11/29/2013 | 4 | hearing DOG walking around downstairs while in kennel upstairs |
| 4 | WALK outside in new place with guests | |
| 3 | visiting with GUESTS in living room in evening | |
| 11/30/2013 | 4 | TRAIN at oxbow |
| 3 | general anxiety after being kenneled for a few hours |
Here is a corresponding graph that totals the points of each day in the spreadsheet:
While I'd love to lower Aggie's overall anxiety/fear level, I recognize that it's not going to be a clean cut decrease. As Aggie's anxiety/fear regarding one situation decreases, I will slowly start introducing her to more situations that will increase the anxiety again (ie: taking her to the vet for short visits). That being said, I hope that the introductions to these new situations/locations will be more fun than scary, so I would like to see that as of December 2013, her overall points per day decrease.
Please post your feedback if you think there is a cleaner way to gather/present this information! I'll update this page every month so that we can track any progress from month to month.
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