Posted by marilyn
on July 15, 2009, 10:15 pm, in reply to "Re: A second Marley!"
Thank you both so much for the sound advice. I will try to follow up as much as possible as soon as possible. I have a good, kind, sensible trainer here who has trained my original 2 and I will restore the dogs original training schedule as soon as he can fit us in. I will also order the book you mention.
The reason I had to stop or rather not start the training was because the female had an epileptic fit the night before the first lesson (probably owing to drugs given during her sterilisation operation). The 2 had been living together in one room, brother and sister unsterilised, no light, heat, electricity, water. Once a week someone left 10 bowls of water and food and if they ate it on day one they waited until day 7. This was for 7 months as their owner had died - now all this is history and they are safe with me.
There are 2 areas I would really appreciate your further help with.
One is that the male has been diagnosed positive for adult heartworm (after 2 bloodtests to separate laboratories). I immediately had treatment for microfilaria ( baby heartworm) and these were eliminated however the tablet has no effect on adult heartworm which are growing in his heart and possibly breeding. I can keep on killing off the microfilaria but the adult worms will be damaging his heart in the meantime. The treatment I am told is very painful to the dog both in terms of administration (deep muscle injection) and the arsenic which is injected. Let alone the chance of heart failure as the worms are eliminated from the heart. There seems to be no other solution to this but it is hard to subject the dog to so much pain and suffering after what he has been through.
The other thing is to ask for any suggestions for a temporary period to simply detain the dog if we need to take the others to the vet for example. I am at home most of the day so it is rare for him to be left alone but I'm not sure where I can put him for a short period of time. Husband suggests chaining him up outside as you can imagine (for his own good!) and as much as I want this training and de=stressing to have an immediate effect I am worried about him going through glass windows or slashing his paws if he is not somehow restrained. (still talking about the dog, not the husband!)
Any help you could give would be much appreciated.
Thanks again
--Previous Message--
: I would agree with Jo, that this dog sounds
: very much like he is suffering from stress
: and separation anxiety. There has been a
: huge change in his life and he is reacting
: to that. If your husband is starting to get
: a bit irritated he will undoubtedly be
: sensing that which will be making it worse.
: Physical castration is not the answer it
: will take time to build up his confidence
: and trust, the trauma of surgery at this
: time is likely to make things worse insetad
: of better.
: Get him checked out for any physical
: problems like a urine infection/prostate
: problems just to be on the safe side.
: Consider getting some help in relaxing the
: dogs, which can be achieved through
: something like Tellington Touch ( Getting in
: Ttouch with Your Dog by Linda Tellington
: Jones is very comprehensive) and you can
: also get trained practitioners. Try getting
: him to do some Ttouch groundwork exercises
: in the garden instead of him working himself
: up until all he can do is react instead of
: think/listen.
: As Jo mentioned keeping him on long lead
: in the back garden will allow you to keep
: control, and have a chance of distracting
: him onto something more positive. There are
: also a range of homeopathic and herbal
: remedies to help him relax, if your vet is
: not a homeoptathic vet, could you consider
: getting him to refer you to one who is?
: It sounds as though you have doen a lot for
: these dogs, I am sure with time it will come
: right.
: Doreen www.haveahappyhound.co.uk
:
: --Previous Message--
: Hi Marilyn
:
: The 2nd Marley sounds like he is suffering
: from stress and separation anxiety. i take
: it when he is confined he is on his own i.e.
: away from you or the other dogs? When dogs
: get stressed it affects their water works,
: so peeing is a release for them - he's not
: being naughty and shouldn't be punished for
: it.
:
: He may well be picking up on your husbands
: negativity towards him which will make the
: situation worse.
:
: I would not be in a rush to castrate him -
: castration is not a cure-all for these
: problems, or many others that vets suggest.
: The chemical implant they recommend can also
: 'fry' dogs brains and make them worse.
:
: I would start a plan of de-stressing him and
: training in small amounts. Be in no rush to
: start walking him, but do practice lead
: training - Turid Rugaas has a book on lead
: training (look on Amazon), her method is the
: best I have come across. Doing this a few
: times a day, plus games, will help him focus
: (brain work will tire him out), and bond
: with you. Also practice leaving him alone
: for very short periods of time and return to
: him with minimal fuss, to build up his
: confidence in being alone. Try to get your
: husband involved as well, positively!
:
: You may need to accompany him in the garden
: for now on a long lead to stop him running
: off - use this time to reward him for peeing
: in the garden, to reinforce that is where
: you want him to go.
:
: You've done a brilliant thing taking these
: dogs on and you will be fine, it's just some
: dogs take longer to settle than others and a
: house and owner change is a major deal in a
: dog, especially sensitive ones. He just
: needs time!
:
: Best wishes
:
: Jo
:
: --Previous Message--
: I started with 2 Samoyeds(now 4 years old).
: I
: adopted an elderly ill-treated Samoyed 2
: years ago (now 13 years old). I recently
: had no choice but to adopt a brother and
: sister Samoyed (four years old) as they were
: in indescribably bad conditions.
: They both have their medical problems which
: I am curing. Neither have ever seen a lead
: before which is currently making walking
: difficult. The girl is a sweetie, but her
: brother is a second Marley.
: Despite reinforcing all fences he bludgeons
: his way out (but always comes back). If he
: is confined in a room he hacks away at the
: door. I am afraid he may even damage
: himself in his desperation to get out. He
: sometimes pees against the furniture and
: husband is becoming very anti. He is a sweet
: dog in his own way but I don't know how to
: stop him wrecking the house.
: I wanted to have him sterilised but cannot
: until his heartworm is cured (he can't be
: sedated safely). The vet administered a
: "chemical sterilisation implant"
: which she says should last for 6 months but
: is showing no signs of slowing him down.
: I don't know whether to have the dog adopted
: or the husband. Help!
:
:
:
:
:
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