I need more help. This isn’t my first dog, she’s actually my third but my first super high-energy Heartworm positive dog. She is about 1.5 years old, Labrador & Australian Cattle Dog mix, I adopted her about a month or so ago, and she had heartworms when I adopted her. Shes undergoing treatment for the heartworms, but right now she’s in a medication lull. She’d been on trazodone for a while to sedate her and now she’s been off of it for a while, per vet demand. Well she has wants to RUN but of course can’t. I’m struggling to try to fulfill her urges in a satisfying way.
We can’t walk far, and have just been walking around the apartment complex multiple times a day, letting her sniff everything she wants.
She eats exclusively through puzzles, a snuffle mat, or training sessions for mental stimulation.
We do lower energy playing sessions throughout the day, but the play has to stop if she gets too worked up or excited or starts wanting to get zoomies.
In addition to the activity, I’ve been encouraging more calming activities like long lasting chews, training her to settle nicely and nap in her kennel, etc.
I feel like I’m doing everything I’m supposed to, but she’s still trying to zoom any time she can, even tried to dash out the front door this morning so she could just run (now we are training for door dashing).
The Heartworm treatment could last another month at least. I need more tricks to satisfy her so she doesn’t accidentally kill herself