Harley has been evaluated

It's Friday already. Where did this week go? We had the evaluation by Dr. Jamtgaard done on Sunday. She was here for about 2 hours. She said that Harley has separation anxiety and impulse control issues (nothing I didn't already know but it was nice to have it confirmed). She worked with Harley most of the time that she was here just having him settle down. He did settle quite well while Dr. Jamtgaard was here. He settles down for me too but then he gets this burst of energy and starts attacking me, not in a vicious way, but it hurts nonetheless. Anyway, here's what we're doing at this point to modify Harley's behavior:

no more tethering
sit-stay program (we practice this multiple times/day)
orienting and attention training (we practice multiple times/day)
varying my leaving the house routine to lessen the separation anxiety
ordered toys that he's less likely to destroy (Tug-a-Jug, Buster Cube, Kongs)
ordered chew sticks for him (compressed rawhide)
he has been started on Prozac (30mg)
bought him a Gentle Leader
bought him new leashes (2 chain ones that he can't bite through)
now that I have the Gentle Leader and chain leash I can start walking him again
staying in touch with Dr. Jamtgaard
trying to record his behaviors (biting, jumping, chasing his tail)
ordered a D.A.P. diffuser (dog appeasing pheromones)

It seems like a lot but it's not really. It's slow going though. Since he's not tethered he's been jumping up on me and biting me every day, multiple times/day. I try to turn my back to him but that just makes him pissed off and he attacks my back. I try walking away from him but he follows me and continues to jump on me and bite me. If I can safely get to the bathroom, I'll go in and close the door for a short time but as soon as I come out he's jumping on me again. At Dr. Jamtgaard's suggestion I'm trying to get Harley to sit when he starts acting like that. Having him sit will hopefully deescalate his behavior.

I did get in touch with Janice to let her know that we won't be working with her at this time so that Harley can adjust to being on the Prozac. She was very gracious about my change of plans.

I think that once I can get him out there on long walks his behavior will improve. A tired dog is a good dog. I'm also looking forward to seeing what effect the Prozac and the DAP diffuser has on Harley. He definitely needs to settle down, especially when I'm leaving the house. An interesting thing that I noticed is that he always seems to go after me once we finish a behavior modification session. I'm not sure why that is. I'm also trying to figure out what triggers him to bite me in the first place but haven't seen any obvious patterns yet. I'm sure they're there but I'm just not seeing them. I'm just glad that I got him on the Prozac. I'm praying that it will help him not be so anxious.

It still bothers me that Harley goes after me but not others. Again, he's not being vicious but he still bruises and cuts me. At the time he's doing it he's just so persistent and it's difficult to get him to stop. I'm going to work with him though and hopefully that persistence of his will transfer over to the behavior modification. I'm hopeful.

Here's a link to Dr. Jamtgaard's website (Animal Behavior Insights).