Q: I have an 8 year old Silky Terrier, whom I've had for 4 years. She has always gone into fits of shaking, salivating, glazed eyes and her tongue turns colors when I get ready to leave her. Upon my return, I always find that she's done her business on the carpet at the front door, and her other business elsewhere on the carpet. Now, she's so afraid of the dogs next door, I can't even get her out when I'm home to go to the bathroom. What can I do?

A: This is a very small dog. If she has genuine reason to be afraid of the dogs next door, that situation needs to be remedied before you can even start to change her behavior. If this is a fenced yard, you might add a second fence on your side, several feet in from the fence where those dogs are. Give her a little potty yard of her own where she feels safe. Never leave her out there alone.

If by chance it's an apartment or condo situation with no yard of your own, perhaps you could carry her out the door and not set her down until you have reached a completely safe place for her to relieve herself. Alternatively, you could create an indoor relief station for her.

Her degree of physical distress indicates a situation where medication might be part of the humane approach. To help a dog through an emotional problem with medication, you use a veterinarian and a behavior specialist. As the situation is restructured and the dog reconditioned to be better able to cope, the medication is given on a temporary basis to calm her enough to benefit from the behavior program.

She sounds like she is really suffering. I hope you can get help for her, and solve your problem, as well as hers.