A Wirehaired Dachshund named Harris was so anxious living in the center of busy Edinburgh, Scotland, his mum and dad moved the whole family to the coast, where Harris now enjoys peaceful walks on the beach.
The Road to Wellness
Harris is 11 and lives with big brother Bracken, 13, also a Wirehaired Dachshund.
Bracken wasn’t all that happy when Harris joined the family as a pup.
“(We) introduced him to his ‘Uncle Bracken’ on his second day home. Harris was instantly smitten, Bracken less so, but over time their bond just grew,” said mum, Fiona Reid.
Reid said while Bracken has always been confident and calm, Harris has always been more emotional and anxious.
“Even as a pup, Bracken seemed so mature. We used to joke that he was like a wee old man who had lived on this earth before and had seen it all,” she said. “Puppy Harris was the opposite. The world was quite overwhelming, particularly as we lived in Edinburgh’s city center at that time. Noise, traffic, other dogs… it felt like this world was too much sometimes [for him].”
Harris was fine walking with both mum and dad, but struggled when Reid walked him on her own.
“He would freeze and shake, and then close down, so that he wasn’t responding to anything I was saying,” she said.
Helping Harris Feel Safe
Reid and her partner, Richard Clarke, consulted their veterinarian about Harris’ problems and tried medications, as well as some other things, such as a calming spray, but nothing helped.
She then consulted with a behaviorist who stressed the importance of keeping Harris focused on mum, away from the things that induced anxiety.
“So rather than taking Harris to places I knew we’d encounter dogs, like parks, we headed into the city—on buses, trams, into cafés, shops,” she said. “I took Harris to work meetings and got him used to people. I was challenging him in different ways, with sights and sounds and smells.”
After a year of doing this, Reid took Harris back to the park that had been his biggest trigger for anxiety.
“After a year away, Harris was in a different place,” she said. “He was able to walk and stay calm. Still with anxiety, but nothing like we’d had before.”
As part of this process, she also realized the importance of finding Harris safe spaces on their walks.
“There was one area, close to home, about ten minutes’ walk away, and I’d carry him there. We’d sit on a bench together, or on a low wall, and he’d take in the sniffs and the passing people and traffic and decompress,” she said. “And he’d walk from there. We had a few places like this: benches we’d stop at; steps we’d pause on. They were places where Harris could be a little elevated, which seemed to help, and could simply observe what was happening around him before we moved on.”
Reid said all this was a learning process for both mum and dog.
“For me to learn what Harris needed and find out ways that I could help him, and for Harris to learn that he could trust me in all of this,” she said.
Taking photos was part of it.
“We’d find a photo spot and Harris would sit and focus quietly, ignoring all the surrounding hubbub, while I took a few photos. This could be in really busy spots, but Harris would switch into a calm zone. He knew what he was doing, and we had this routine together. At times we’d find a spot and I’d walk away from him and he’d hold that ‘stay’ regardless of what else was going on. It comes back to what the behaviorist had told me about the importance of focus and we found this through these photo moments.”
City Dog, Country Dog
When they lived in the city, on weekends mum and dad would head to the coast for beach and woodland walks.
“It was very clear that Harris didn’t have the same anxiety in these settings, and Richard and I loved them too,” said Reid. “I’d always been very urban, but Harris and Bracken had reoriented that over the years. We all, as a family, wanted to be closer to the natural world.”
One day, they were finally able to make the move.
“We’re literally on the coast, ten minutes’ walk from the sea,” said Reid, who relocated with Clarke, Harris, and Bracken to East Lothian, in the southeast portion of Scotland.
Long Walks on the Beach
Harris soon settled into his new, much quieter and more peaceful life.
“We were much closer to the coastal walks we loved, so were able to spend more time having fantastic walks with the lads. Plus, [the dogs] had a garden for the first time and that was brilliant,” said Reid.
And then Harris blossomed.
“Because we were able to do lots more coastal walks in all our favorite places, Harris just settled,” said Reid. “This became normal life. His adventuring spirit came to the fore as he was able to enjoy entirely off-lead walks, away from traffic and noise and people. I felt like, after years, Harris was finally himself.”
Keeping the doggies warm on their walks are the pups’ signature jumpers. “They’re by a UK company called Equafleece who make breed specific jumpers and coats, so they fit brilliant,” said Reid, who mentioned that the dogs always wear the Dachshund jumpers. “The Polartec fleece is from 85% recycled content, which I love, and they’re properly hardwearing and warm, so perfect for our very chilly winter walks.”
Reid said Harris and Bracken’s walks and “beach sniffs” bring them happiness.
“They explore the world by scent first, in a way that humans can’t even begin to understand,” she said. “Watching them experience our walks has made me experience these places differently too. I notice and enjoy the details in the way I never used to.”
Prioritizing Harris’ Emotional and Mental Health
Reid stresses the importance of attending to anxiety in our pets.
“We share our lives with these incredible intuitive beings, and, as parents, it’s our duty to do our best for them,” she said. “’Duty’ is a funny word as it can be associated with something you wish you didn’t have to do, but our canine companions teach us and show us and give us so much, and in return we just need to be paying attention to what they might need. You can’t ignore anxiety hoping that it’ll magically get better. This is true if you’re human, and it’s just as true for a dog. It requires understanding and compassion.”
Reid said it requires learning routines and new methods of working around things and accepting that you don’t always have the answer.
“Sometimes, as we discovered after moving, you have to accept that you can’t do X, Y and Z, but rather than focusing on [what you can’t do], focus on all the amazing things that you can do together,” she said.
“Hardy Wee Explorers”
Reid regularly posts videos of beach walks on Instagram. The soothing sound of the sea, the gorgeous views, the music and the commentary by Reid have garnered thousands of followers.
“I crave these moments, these places, these sounds, this calm, to settle my mind,” said Reid. “So, when someone messages to say that they also feel and appreciate that calm, and that they watch these videos to have those moments of calm in their day, there’s nothing better.”
“I hope that people who follow our walks also see Dachshunds as hardy wee explorers, because they are,” she said. “Sometimes people will say to us, ‘Oh they won’t walk far with those little legs…’ and I really want to challenge that, because they can and they do!”