Harnesses, anxiety wraps, and doggles (oh my!)

Last year, my fiancee and I consulted a dog trainer over various behavioral issues we were having with the pups, including separation anxiety, CHEWING, and what I refer to as "little man syndrome."

This was the last straw!!!!

In addition to some training techniques to implement, she recommended a few items to help a) ease their anxiety and b) to decrease their sensory overload when out.

The first item was an anxiety wrap. The theory was that it would calm them by putting gentle pressure on their body (not unlike the idea of a massage.) I tried them on my dogs and got VERY different reactions out of both of them. Butters just rolls around and paces. Gryphon freezes in time. He just wont move (well, except for his tail.) It's obvious it stresses Butters out more, and I think it is the case with Gryphon too, based on his imitating a statue.

The second item was Doggles. The theory is that it decreases how far the dogs can see, so it calms them on walks. Well, that is if they can stay on! The dogs either paw at their faces or rub on my leg trying to get them off (which they always do.) When I first put them on Butters, he, of course, rolled around trying to get them off and Gryphon froze in time again, staring at the ceiling. It did limit their sight when they were on...

They look like Johnny Depp in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory...

Totally independent of the trainer, we tried several things for tugging on walks. After trying many things that didn't work (I will go over those things later) we decided to try a face harness. Now, I like it! They can't pull me (they are surprisingly strong for such little pups.) Even though I like it, they hate it! Griffy freezes and Butters rolls. We'll start walking and Griffy will randomly put on the breaks, but hey, no tugging! You have to be careful with these though, cuz if they start trying to get it off, and you keep walking, their noses can get scratched on the concrete. :( Then you end up with this:

With that, I leave you with a video of their reactions to all 3 items:

*Yes, I realize I spelled "harness" wrong in the video