Michelleva

My cats get raw meat as well as chicken necks and wings. The bones are great for keeping the teeth clean. I think as long as you give him some premium dry food the diet sounds pretty good. Maybe you need to get your fat puss exercising a bit. There's a cat toy you can get from the US, called Da Bird, which I'm told cats go nuts over. My kitties are getting one from Santa. Everyone I know who's bought one has raved about it getting the laziest cats of their butts. I have a big cat here too, but he's not really fat, he weighs 6 -7 kg, but he's in proportion. The vets never been concerned about his size. He's nearlly as big as our cavalier. Good luck with the coughing, my first thought was a hairball, but if it keeps going, you need to get a check up.

Is this something that only has to be done when moulting season starts? Possible future collie owner asking

I have a cav with the same problem. He regularly steals food from my 3yo hand. He's even been caught standing on the coffee table eating left over cookie crumbs. He's a lovable ratbag, but the food stealing drives me crazy. You should hear him whine if he knows there's food but he can't reach it, he cries like a baby, he's 8 so I doubt he'll be changing anytime soon. I wonder if he'd like a carrot?

I've just caught up on this thread, I just want to congratulate you on sticking with it, and listening to the great advice given. This website and its members have helped me with my problematic rescue dog too, he's improved in leaps and bounds too. Good luck and keep us posted. :D

Apology accepted Denis. Sometimes things written don't get read the way their intended. :D Jake loves being outside when we are there, and he's fine while I'm not here, its just the second he hears me open the car door, he barks aggressively and loudly. Its like he's yelling at me, and saying something along the lines of I know you're home, let me in NOW. Because its a completely different bark he makes if he hears something, like a car or another dog. I'm trying to train him out of that demanding bark, by teaching him that doing that is not how he gets what he wants. But its a slow process.

Reddii, you're right it is just excitement. He does love me, I'm his favourite human and he's never very far from me. But I have had the problem with him of excessive barking, which we've been working on. He's made some great progress. He's a rescue dog we took on nearly a year ago, so I guess some problems are undertandable. I will live with his whining, its not really a problem, I just didn't know if I should ensure he's completely silent before coming inside. Denis, my dog is definitely not neglected by being left outside all day. Thats the life he came from before arriving here. If I wanted him to be miserable I would have left him with the previous owners. He is inside 99% of the time, I only put him out if I'm going out for a few hours and its a nice day, and thats when the demanding barking issue has started.

Yes I'm back, Jake my 8yo cavalier is still barking at me demanding to come inside. He's been better but no where near 100% yet. I'm amazed this little dog has a voice left, sometimes he barks for a long time at me. I'd been out this morning, and when I came back, he was quiet, then he heard me get out of the car and the barking started. He was quite persistant today. But he is learning because when he knows I'm inside but can't see me he barks madly, but if he can see my he shuts up, because he's starting to realise when he's quiet he's allowed in. My goal is to try and get his silent for 5 mins before he comes in, but we're not close to that yet. Are my expectations too high? Not sure. But my question is, when he is finally quiet I go to the back door, he's absolutely throwing himself at the door in excitement. I make him sit, I open the door, make him stay and when I say so, he's allowed back in. But what he's doing while he's sitting is whining, almost whimpering. I've been trying to get him to be silent before comes in, but I'm struggling to get him to be totally silent. Does it matter if he's whimpering a bit when I let him in? How do I let him know I expect him to be totally silent before he's allowed in, or should I not bother. I just thought I'd point out that he never barks when he's inside, unless he hears a noise outside, then I investigate it, tell him its ok and to stop it now. He usually does.

I feel your pain. We have a rescue cavalier who acts much the same way. I came to the realisation that I felt sorry for him because he had a tough life before becoming a member of our family. So I've had to take a step back, stopped the pity and shown him some leadership. I am fast becoming the pack leader in the house, and not the other way around. I've now worked out the reason Jake's behaving like this is because I allowed him to. He would bark at me, and I would give him what he wanted because I didn't want to hear it. I suspect you've been doing the same thing. What I'm in the process of doing is teaching him that barking is no way to get what he wants. Now when he goes outside, he's only allowed back in once he is completely quiet. I also make him sit and stay with the back door open and he must sit there until I tell him he's allowed in. We are seeing improvement everyday, but this problem has taken a while to develop so I suspect it will take just as long to un-do. You really need to nip this problem in the bud now, otherwise your baby will become a nightmare to live with, and I'm sure thats exactly what you don't want.

Ohh have fun. At least with two they should be able to keep each other company and out of mischief, or maybe it'll be double trouble. Don't forget to show us pics of them.

Thats what I thought, thats why I asked. Thanks, I'll give him the marrow, I'm sure he'll love it. But he is a cav, I have yet to find anything he doesn't like.

I've been making soup in the slow cooker today, I used Osso Buco and now I have some nice big bones with a big piece of marrow in the middle, is it ok to give this to my cavalier? He gets raw bones regularly, but I don't know whether this is bad for him. If he can't have the bones, can he have the marrow out of them?

Thanks for your continued support and advice Erny, its much appreciated. After he came back inside we got ready then went for a nice walk and a romp at the park, you should have seen the goofy grin on his face, pure joy! But when we got back I made him come inside last, instead of bashing the door down to go inside, he didn't like it and wimpered but when he calmed down I let him in. We'll get there, just need to stick with it.

Well we got there in the end and survived JUST! I was so close to giving in to him, but my will held out longer than his. When I opened the blind and the door he wasn't even standing there, he'd run off somewhere, I had to call him to come inside. These things are alot easier to talk about doing than actually living through. It took about an hour the first time.

I will have to do that. He's been outside since having his breakfast and currently having a temper tantrum because he's not getting his way. He pauses for a few seconds and I think oh he's going to be quiet, then he starts up again. I haven't said anything and the blind is down. I've been standing in the kitchen with the treats at the ready for the last 20 mins, geez this is hard. But he's just doing what he's always done and it has worked, so I'm the one who has to set the rules now. He won't like it, but he'll get over it. This feels the same as when I had to teach my 6 month old son that he needed to put himself to sleep instead of being rocked by Mum. He cried for an hour, but then it was all over.

I can do all of that, but the last part will be difficult because he's always standing at the back door barking, but I'm going to give it a go today. Jake is my project at the moment. His behaviour will improve, I'm determined and since he's so food orientated its not hard to get his attention, I learnt that last night. Thanks again Erny.

Thanks Erny, I will definitely give it a go, and let you know how our boy progresses. Jake does sound very similar to the cav you encountered. He does love his exercise too. We have a park and big oval two doors away and we take him for a walk then let him run around the oval with us, he absolutely loves it, his tail doesn't stop wagging the whole time. Tonight I also addressed his other problem which is being a total pest when we are having dinner. While I was cooking I practised making him sit and stay, he did it so I gave him a little treat. He was like putty in my hands. It was amazing, he sat in the corner of the room because I told him too, he kept an eye on proceedings, but the improvement in him was so fantastic, everyone especially my daughter thought I had him under a spell. It was a great confidence booster.

Well I've done the school run as per normal, and Jake behaved the same way he normally would. I generally put him outside with his comfy bed, lock the house, get my toddler ready, then leave, in that order. I put him outside, his first reaction is to bark, he probably barked 4 or 5 times, then when he heard me go out the door, stopped barking completely. This is why I suspect he's not barking the whole time I'm out. But the second he hears my car in the driveway on my return the barking starts up again. Once again I think he's telling me, you're home I need to be inside. At night he sleeps in the bathroom, and if its lousy weather and I'm going out for a couple of hours I put him in there. My daughter and I were discussing this on the way home, and now we're starting to think that he's equal to the humans in the family. Therefore if you're inside I should be too. I think for him, he had a life of being ignored for years before then has come here and in the matter of 24 hours his whole world has turned upside down, and for the better. My thoughts earlier about him being scared of the backyard don't seem right either, because if I'm in the backyard with him he's perfectly happy to be there. I think he needs to learn where he belongs in the pack, how do I go about teaching him that? I have made some changes already by not allowing him to sit on the couch, he has a dog bed and thats where he sleeps. He also must sit and wait and not come inside until given the command. I also have him eating his dinner on command. I know when the kids take him for a walk, he's the first one racing through the door, so I must get them to change that too. Do any of you think I'm on the right wavelength, or way of base? I'm so happy you're all helping me with this issue, I feel I can make a change for the better, we just need to put a few ideas together. Dog obedience is definitely a possiblity too. He's had little to no training in his life, thats fairly obvious.

Yes, I can. If I go outside to say hang washing up, he will walk to the door with me, then just go back to his bed. He's not pacing or anything like that and he's definitely not barking for me to come back. Maybe he has an irrational fear of the backyard - is that far fetched?

Thanks guys, that some great advice, and I'm going to start doing a little bit every day with him. I'm not even sure if what he has is seperation anxiety because I get the feeling if I put him outside he's just demanding to come back in, because thats where he wants to be. He's definitely not destructive at all. I have rescue remedy here which I've given to the cats before, so I'll give him some of that before he goes outside too. The funny thing is when he knows its school pick up time, he doesn't bark at all. I put him outside, leave and all is well. He's just barking when he's outside and he knows I'm inside, whether he can see me or not.

Thanks, I would like to try some other tactics myself first. I'm home alot with him since I'm a stay at home Mum, so I have the time to work with him. If I don't have any success I will PM you. He's very obedient overall, I've taught him some nice manners since he arrived too. He now sits and will not come inside until he's given the command. He also won't eat his dinner till he's told. So I've learnt you can teach an old dog new tricks, I think this last problem is more about undoing the past and assuring him that I will let him inside again and of course that he is always going to be loved.

Last October we adopted an older cavalier, by the name of Jake. To say he's had a sad life is an understatement. He spent the first 7 years of his life in a backyard, with very little interaction with people. Being a cav, he's very people oriented. I originally planned to get a pup but when I found out about Jake I felt so sorry for him, so took him in and have been loving him ever since. He's a great little dog, who has just recently turned 8. Now the only problem I have with him is he goes into panick mode whenever I put him outside. I think its got alot to do with his past and I'm trying to help him deal with it. 99% of the time he is inside with me, and I'm his person, he loves me above all else here. But anytime I tell him to go outside he protests by barking constantly at me. I know he's barking at me and not other dogs because he stands at the back door looking directly at me and barking like crazy. Normally I just let him back in beause I don't want the neighbours to complain. I've just been washing the floor here and didn't want him inside walking on the wet tiles, so I put him outside with his bed, and he did his usual routine of yap yap yap. This time I've ignored him and not given him any eye contact. He was quiet for a while but now he's starting to bark again. Am I going about this the wrong way? Don't get me wrong I have no intention of leaving him out there, he's a member of the family now, but I just hate that being outside makes him so miserable. Even if he goes outside with our 3yo son he just stands at the door and barks. To start with he would chase our son around but he seems to have gotton over that, he doesn't know how to play at all. Its a bit sad really. Jake has improved so much in the time he's been with me, he's clean, has no fleas and loves his walkies. This is the last real problem I have with him. I'd love to hear any advice you have. Thanks in advance,

We have a cavalier and he doesn't eat his own, but its a race to see who can get to the kitty litter tray first. He's literally waiting outside the laundry when he hears the cat go in there. And he's definitely not a pup, he just celebrated his 8th Birthday!

Thanks for the reply. I do agree about the vets, thats why I thought I'd ask for some opinions here. So you don't think there's any point with the actual vaccination jabs either. I've never actually been someone who religiously took our pets for annual vaccinations, I think its more about $$$ than anything else. Our kids don't need a booster shot every year, so why should a cat or dog?

Last October we adopted a 7 1/2 yo cavalier. I have all his vet history, as well as pedigree papers etc. When the former owners purchased Jake he was 9 months old and the breeder advised that he'd been treated monthly for heartworm with Pro Heart. When these people took him on, they obviously dropped the monthly dose of heart worm and replaced it with a yearly needle made by the same company. Since being on DOL I've seen questions raised about the safety of the yearly injection for heartworm, so I was thinking maybe I should go back to the monthly pill for heart worm. Do you think this would have any adverse affects on him. He's due to go to the vet in June for vaccination, so I will speak to them as well. I'm just trying to learn as much as I can before I go there. I just want to do the right thing for my old boy. He's a lovely dog and has fitted in perfectly with our family.