poochmad

Does he have a rash or any sores on his tummy? (Could be a grass allergy.) It could also be the food. Henschke scratched like mad with Orijien. Have you changed his shampoo or washed him recently? If yes, you may not have rinsed all the soap out causing him to get itchy. I wouldn't worry about the reflex thing, that's just it - a reflex. (I never know whether dogs like being scratched on that spot or not!)

I'd definitely be getting it x-rayed as well. It could be hip dysplasia.

Well. Good news! Henschke for the first time ever walked with his mate (a Cocker) for almost the whole walk (40 mins) without pulling! Whenever there was a little bit of tension we stopped and then proceeded when the lead was slack. This is the first time ever, that I've been able to walk him a) next to another dog and b) without pulling. I'm so thrilled! Yahoo! :rolleyes:

For someone who has been dealing with a dog pulling so much it's painful for your arm socket and not enjoyable at all, having him walk on a loose lead is an absolute gem! :rolleyes: (At last it seems to be sinking in.) I like to have a little lag in the lead only because he 'tests' the tension and if I don't watch what he's doing he quickly ends up pulling before it's realised.

Last night when I walked Henschke, he walked in front of me, but the lead was loose. Not as loose as I would like, but not tight. When the lead did go tight, I'd stop (I tried to call him back but he doesn't even look back) or wait until he was side tracked (meaning the lead was loose) until I resumed walking. When we picked up his little mate, he pulled like a trooper...until I walked him in front and then he walked beautifully on my left and on a loose lead. Whoo-hoo. My next step is to get him walking on my left on a loose lead at all times. From now on, I will click (make noise in my mouth) and treat when he's at my left and walking where I want him to be. Hopefully it won't be too long before I have a great-loose-lead-dog to walk.

This sounds like a good idea...I will try this and see how we go. How long did it take before she was consistently on a loose lead?

Sorry, it was a joke. I read that when dogs pull, it's because we taught them...so I had successfully taught Henschke to pull...by not teaching him not to...

Our dog loves to dig. Huge great holes that are so deep at times you can only see his back legs and tail and he's a medium sized dog! We had tried covering them, putting poo in them...he just moved to another location... Until the day we bought a clam shell, filled it with soft sand (washed sand so it has no yuckies in it) and hid treats in it. Since then...not one hole dug - anywhere. Wish we had done it a lot earlier.

How did you go at the vets?

I've taught Henschke to pull on the lead and he's very good. Up until recently he would pull you almost off your feet whenever you opened the front door, the front gate and then proceeded to pull you all the way on a walk until he got tired and stopped pulling. [The above is said in jest.] In a over a week's time he's going to be staying with a friend and when she commented that she was going to train him to stop pulling, I realised it was not good that he was pulling, besides the fact it being quite dangerous. (I also didn't think it was fair for me to ignore his behaviour and for me to leave it to her to train my dog.) So. I did a bit of research and one of the training techniques is to become a 'tree'. When the dog pulls you stop. When the lead slackens you go. Stop, go, stop, go. So far so good. In only one day, Henschke stopped lunging out of the front door and would sit waiting patiently. When I got to the gate, he would stop and wait until it was opened and not lunge across the front lawn. In a couple of days, he's stopped pulling me up to his best friend's house. Sure I have to stop at least 6 times, but the lead is getting more and more loose. The main problem I have is Henschke sits. As soon as the lead goes taut he stops and sits. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? When he sits, we move on. Am I doing this loose lead walking right or is there a better way? I was going to use the clicker to get him to walk beside me, but I want to focus on him walking loose on the lead before advancing to heeling. I don't want to confuse the two. What have you done to teach your dog to walk loosely? I should also mention that he's at his worse when there's another dog around. When we're just walking on his own, he's quite good and quickly slows down so the lead is constantly loose.

Agree with the others. If she was listless and not moving, looking generally sad, then I would rush her to the vet. The fact she is still happy and playing could be that she just ate something that didn't agree with her. Perhaps she gulped it down to fast and then ran around too quickly? If she starts having diararroa (I can't spell that word) then I would definitely take her to the vet or if she slowed down, is panting and/or looking distressed. Give her a break from feeding, then slowly introduce it and see what happens. If she continues to throw up after every meal, I'd take her to the vet.

We did what Jed suggests; we watched how much Henschke was eating in the morning - not much. He now gets 1 complete meal a night and the morning he has access to food if he needs it in the form of chicken wings (frozen in a kong), a bone, a biscuit ball, treats hidden in the sand pit. It keeps him occupied as well as feeding him throughout the day. Considering it's usually only the small treats and chicken that is always eaten tells us that he's not really that hungry during the day. As he's getting older, he's eating less at night as well. He's not a guts so it's easy for us to guage how much to feed him.

Bailey...speaking from experience...get your pup outside now! Due to irrational fear we left our Field Spaniel inside until he was near 6 months and listed below are the effects: Chewed walls, chewed doors, destroyed telephone (ate the whole thing), barking/howling. Little independence. He is now so used to being inside that we are having to retrain him to be outside, especially when eating bones. Over dependence on us. He stresses when we leave him for long periods as he's not used to be on his own, even though he was left inside the house. With lots of support, advice and encouragement from the dudes and dudettes on here, we are slowly turning a 9 month old pup with separation anxiety to one being able to be left on his own. One experienced DOLer said (and boy the words stung but they were right) is that we created a dog who was over dependant on us because he hadn't been taught to be on his own and also wasn't able to experience being a dog...smelling the air, digging the yard, chewing sticks, lying in the sun, etc. As long as your pooch has a safe place to go if he's frightened (like a kennel or access into a cleared out shed or garage), then trust me, when I say, both you and he will be much happier. LOL.

Hi all. Thanks for your replies. So we're now putting buggerlugs on the lead to take him outside for a wee and a drink (whichever is needed) as a way to limit his 'excitement' of doing what he wants and to also give us greater control over getting him back in the house when he's done his business. My question now is: How long can we expect him to continue to wake up during the night - is this a 'teenage' thing and we just need to remain consistent so he learns that nothing is exciting if he wakes up (i.e. he is kept on a lead at all times and taken back to his crate after) or will this be a 'forever' thing now and we will always be woken up at night to take him out? Before the heat wave, he slept through the night.

Congrats. There is nothing better than the feeling you get when you get past a 'blockade', huh?

Um...I think the vet needs to read up on his breeds - they aren't called the 'merry' cocker for nothing! Goodness knows what he'd think of a youngish labrador!

Thanks for your response. I've decided to put him on the lead when he wakes up for his 'toilet break' as he is now being really naughty and wanting to play when he goes outside. Which of course at midnight is really annoying when you've gotten up and they've done nothing! I want him to learn that there is nothing exciting happening when he goes outside, so we will see how he goes with this. I just don't want him waking up every night as a habit. When he was younger he slept through.

Thanks for taking the time to post, Erny. I always enjoy reading what you write. :D We have been following the new routine for the past week and there is already a marked difference in his behaviour, especially in the morning - no acting excited (mouthing, running around, etc) he is extremely calm. We can now walk out of the house without him going off like a banshee since we practically ignore him and have given him exciting things inside and outside the house. (He loves his sand pit.) We're still having trouble with him waking up at least twice in the night. The first time, I will take him out and he usually has a long drink and a pit stop, before taking him back to bed. If he wakes a second time, I now tell him 'NO' and he will settle back down to sleep. I'm hoping that with time he will go back to sleeping through the night...his waking up in the middle of the night won't develop into a habit will it?

If you love HIM, and not the feelings you get when playing with him... it should be a pleasure- as you are setting him up to be comfortable and content!!! Agree 100 percent. As I said to hubby, the problem we created was that WE were the most exciting thing around and WE were his entertainment. Now we have recognised that, we know that this is the best thing for him (and for our neighbours) so he's a lot more comfortable being on his own.

Yesterday our neighbour told us that Henschke's been barking for 3-4 hours straight everyday for the past week! (I wish they had told us after the first day so we could have fixed the problem.) So to counteract this, we are doing the following: Not allowing him on the bed in the morning. If he cries during the night, I take him straight outside for relief and then straight back to his crate he goes. Ignoring him in the morning. (Before we were lavishing him with attention and I think that was causing him stress.) Doing what Caro does - hiding food around the house and yard. Giving him special treats, more kong like toys and putting them outside. Last night we played the treasure hunt thing and he caught on very quickly. This morning he was a lot calmer in behaviour and I think it was because we didn't molly coddle him or allow him on the bed. Perhaps that might be part of the problem too? He may have been confused with his placement in the pack and maybe that might also be why he's been acting up? So we will follow this routine for the next two weeks (it will be hard, because I love my boy) and we will see how that goes...I'm sure the neighbour/s will tell us if it's not working and the next thing I guess we'd have to do is put a citronella on.

Good points - if he whinges again, I will let him out for a wee and then put him straight back. Definitely agree on the consistency. We give him chicken stuffed in a kong and he has beef hides to chew on while we're away. This weekend we're going to buy some sand to put in his clam shell and will hide treats there instead. Will definitely do the 'treasure hunt' idea - at least to get him outside the house (he seems to spend most of his time inside), so he can use his mind while we're not around. Good, good, idea.

Sounds like you're allergic to dog saliva. My husband is the same and he's also allergic to some coats as well. Just avoid your dog licking you.

Not sure if there's any bitches on heat nearby...certainly not in our house... He seems to be fine physically. The only thing that did change was that during summer he got really hot and when he woke up and cried, I'd take him outside for a huge drink, toilet and then back to bed. He did this a couple of times a night. When it got cooler recently, he was sleeping through the night. It's just been the last 2 nights he's been doing it...last night was the worse and then this morning he cried for the first time when we walked out the door. Do you think the summer change might have been an issue? Before this, he slept throughout the night and didn't wake up until the alarm went off.

Henschke is 8.5 months old and oh my goodness. He is doing things that he hasn't done since he was a baby puppy and it's driving us insane! Help please! The biggest problem at the moment is at night time. He sleeps in our room in a crate...when the alarm goes off, he is allowed on the bed with us for a sleep and a cuddle. Lately, he has been whining periodically throughout the night (as it's dark when he gets up with us), but then would go to sleep after a little while. (We ignore him.) Last night, he woke at 12am and kept whining and scratching the crate until the alarm went off at 5.10am!!! Poor hubby didn't get an ounce of sleep; I just ignored him and slept under the covers. Any suggestions on how to get through this? I was thinking about not allowing him on the bed at all until he's past this phase...or spraying him with water when he cries or telling him off. Thoughts/suggestions? Today when we left him he howled. He hasn't done that since he was a puppy either. We waited a moment and he stopped. Obviously we're concerned that he will keep it up and if he does the only option we have is to get a citronella collar as we have painful neighbours and I'm sure they will complain if he continues to bark/howl. Honestly, it's like we have a different dog. :cool: Any suggestions, advice, help, opinion, experience most welcome.

That's what I thought (or possibly put something 'out') when I read your OP. IMO, unless the cruciate was already damaged, what he did shouldn't have been enough for the cruciate to simply rupture so easily. Hope it does prove to simply be a sprain. Agree Erny. The vet didn't seem to think it was a complete rupture, but covered her butt by ruling out a possible partial tear. This morning I noticed he was walking fine, not favouring his leg or anything and I commented to hubby how quickly the meds work...and he said, I haven't given him any! Whoo-hoo! We've decided to keep him quiet (i.e. no walks, jumping or running) until Saturday and then stop the meds. If he has pulled/strained something, then this will give him ample time to heal. (I'm so excited!)