Siobhan

Hi All -- I have a problem, but I need to give you some background before I can tell you what's going on... My husband and I have had a little tri colour Miniature Foxie cross boy for a while now - Chili. We absolutely adore him and he's settled in quite nicely. We rescued him from a shelter after the loss of our GS late last year. We are unsure of his full history however we do know that he and his sister were removed from his last home by the authorities. Some of his behaviour is fairly typical of abused dogs and we don't have too many issues dealing with them. For example, we are fairly sure he was abused a lot at dinner time as he won't eat if you watch him, or he will bring a mouthful of food out into the lounge and hide under our dining room table to eat it. He's obviously been belted up because even a pointing finger can send him into fits of fear. We have never hit him, but he's definitely got some left over anxiety. Anyway, the behaviour we are most concerned about is the seperation anxiety. We only have a problem with this if his routine is broken. He's left at home most of the day, but we leave and return at the same time every day so he's not worried. The problem arises when either my husband or I leave the house at night. He bonded with me very quickly and when I leave the house, apparently he walks around the house whining and pacing for hours. He didn't bond as quickly with my husband (I believe he was abused by a man) however in the last few months (with quite a lot of work) he's become very fond of him. Tonight when Chris left, Chili became extremely depressed. He is sitting at the front door and won't move. He's become very quiet (he's usually very energetic and a bit of a loony!). He will come over for a pat but just goes back to staring at the door. I'm really not sure how to deal with this. I've called him, picked him up and brought him over, sat on the floor and called him, offered him treats, I've even tried just leaving him and only speaking to him if he came over for a pat, but he's still really quiet and depressed. Any help that someone can give me would be very much appreciated as I'm running out of ideas. Thanks for taking the time to read my extremely long post :p

They reckon he's crossed with a Fox Terrier. I don't have a hard time believing that as he has certain Foxie traits. Just so you all know too... Unfortuantely we got in too late with him as he was adopted by another family on the weekend (a bit sad for us, but great for him - so we are happy). Probably best anyway as we were still having doubts about the allergy issue. As we were looking at several dogs, we checked out the Blue Cross Animal Shelter in Wonga Park, Victoria and found our perfect little man. A Mini Foxie crossed with who knows what (probably Jack Russell) named Chili. He doesn't have any medical issues that we know of yet, so that's a good sign. He's coming home on Saturday, so will upload pictures when I have them. Thanks again to everyone for their very helpful advise. Given I've never had a scratchy dog before, it certainly helped me make an informed decision - even if we didn't adopt him in the end!

Hi Guys - This is why I love this forum. Everyone has so much experience with all sorts of problems. Thanks for all your advise! I'll keep watching this thread to see if anything else comes up. At the moment we are still weighing up our options with regards to adopting this dog. Given our most recent experience, I have to admit that I'm thinking long and hard as I'm not sure I have the energy to take on another high maintenance dog. We will be having a meet and greet with him at some stage this weekend and we'll make our decision from there. All your advice will be taken into consideration - especially those of you who have first hand experience with scratchy pups. I'll let you all know how it turns out. BTW we also have our eye on a young pup who looks promising, with no allergies Cheers

Hi All -- After the loss of Kai (our 7mth old German Shepherd) four months ago my husband and I finally feel ready to take on another dog. We've decided to rescue one and have found quite a sweetheart that we're interested in - a 18mth old Basenji cross. The only concern with him is that he has an allergy to clover grass. We are not sure of the exact details at this stage, but it looks as though he's allergic to touching it (as opposed to inhaling the pollen). Aside from the obvious avoidance of clover grass - which would be near impossible unless we kept him inside permanently - what can people suggest with regards to preventative measures to minimise major outbreaks? I'd rather avoid putting him on long term medication if I can, but are there things like Telfast for dogs?? His foster mother let me know that she washes him with a medicated shampoo and puts aloe vera cream on his skin after being in long grass, but I've read that medicated shampoos can often make the problem worse with prolonged use as it lessens the immunity of the skin. Is there a natural alternative that I can use instead? If we are successful in adopting him, the first thing I intend to do is put him on a immunity booster diet. Does anyone know of a good one? Or where I can get a receipe to make one myself? Thanks Guys - I eagerly anticipate your advice Cheers

Hi Everyone -- Maybe I'm missing something, but I've never heard of grapes being bad for dogs, onions? yes, grapes? no. Can someone explain to me what they do to them? Cheers - Siobhan

If you can be bothered... making your own mix is great. I used to do that for my GS girl. It's much more cost effective and you can be absolutely certain what goes into it. I started doing that out of pure frustration... My philosophy is... If you wouldn't eat it, why should your dog? - Perhaps a little idealist of me There are some fantastic websites that can offer you recipes, however, steer clear of any that suggest you put onion in the mix, as they obviously have no idea what they are talking about! I also suggest that you take any intended recipe to your vet. They will be able to advise you on any nutritional requirements that will need to be added. Good Luck!!!!

Rest In Peace Chickee

It's with a very heavy heart that I announce the passing of Kai at 7 months of age... PTS due to an increasing problem with aggression. We'd like to sincerly thank Ron Williams, Michael Tucker and Dr Phillipa Grimalli for all their help and support over the past few weeks. Chris and I pray that we have made the right decision and hope that Kai will be happy and at peace on the other side with Zeus, Kruger, Spudy, Trude and Ralph.

Hi All -- Only yesterday I posted the following about our 7 month old German Shepherd: "I have a 7 month old German Shepherd girl. Recently we have been worried about her mental health as she is the kind of dog that requires a lot of attention. Not necessarily hands on, interactive attention, but she just wants to be around us; whether it be sitting watching me cook in the kitchen, or watching the telly with us. A few weeks ago, we noticed that she was getting increasingly upset and desperate to see us when we got home from work. She would throw herself at the back door, and get herself into such a state that when we did let her in she would wet herself. We have always been careful to avoid loud, overly exciting returns home, in order to avoid, as much as possible, seperation anxiety... But she was getting obviously more and more anxious about being left alone. My husband and I both work full time, so she is on her own up to 10 hours a day, 5 days a week - We knew this would be the case, so we have always provided her with toys and mental stimulation while we were at work. We take her to obedience training on the weekends. We also have family members with farms and lots of other dogs, so we take her there as much as is practical. In short, she is rarely away from us on the weekends. Anyway - to cut a long story short, we made the decision last week to get another dog. We had always planned to get another one, but it's been pushed forward in order to avoid a sick German Shepherd. We have purchased a 1 year old Labrador dog named Toby from the RSPCA. Kai and Toby have been introduced onsite at the RSPCA, prior to his purchase, but I would like some advise on the best way to bring him home and re-introduce them on Kai's territory. We thought that it may be best if we take them both to a local park and introduce them there, then walk them back onto the property together - But if anyone has some methods that have worked for them, we are VERY open to suggestions." Well the new issue is that we took her to the vet last night to have her stitches taken out from being desexed. The situation was not ideal - she was in a small consult room with no was to escape (from her perspective) and she was essentially backed into a corner. The vet approached her and she barked aggressively at him. She never lunged or attempted to bite him, but the vet certainly got a nasty fright. At that time, the vet panicked. He raised his voice at us, pointing aggressively towards Kai. My husband became quite upset, and the vet and hubby had a minor verbal altication. By now Kai had backed herself even further into the corner of the room. The only time she would be remotely calm was when he was on the other side of the table, at which time she would lie down and watch him. Once the pressure was taken off, she retreated immeadiately. After further discussion, the vet once agin attempted to approach her. He crouched down, looking her full in the face and offered her a treat. She once again barked at him aggressively. At this stage, I removed her from the room and took her outside in order to calm her. She immeadiately calmed down and would respond to commands such as sit and drop. There have been a few instances at this particular vet where, surprisingly enough, the vet nurses (and once - one of the vets) have frightened her and she has barked at them. Kai is normally a sweet natured thing, she is certainly shy and timid, but not aggressive. She does not deal with stress well, but is perfect in situations where she is comfortable, such as at home, at the farms and at dog training. At this stage the vet is talking about her being a "Dangerous Dog" and wants to medicate her to the eyeballs. Our trainer has given us the name of a Behaviuoral Vet and also the name if his own GP vet for us to take her to. We refuse to take her back to that vet! We are also going to be doing some extra training with our trainer and an expert that he has brought in for us. <Yes all this has happened since last night> My concern now is that we are bringing Toby home tonight and they are both going into a kennel for the weekend, as my husband and I are supposed to be going away. Our trainer has told us that they should be fine, as they will bond over the next couple of days, and then even more in the kennel as they will both be in an unfamiliar situation. Does anyone have any similar experiences or advise for us to consider? At this point we are highly stressed about our situation and could use all the advise we can get.... Thanks in advance - Siobhan

Thanks for your reply - Unfortunately, it's not an ideal situation to be bringing him home. We will be there obviously all night the day he comes home, but we are both unable to be home the following day. I think I may ask my mother and father in law to check on them during the day... Another less than ideal situation is that we are going away this weekend and both dogs will be going into a kennel. We have been assured by our trainer that it will be ok, because they will bond more quickly due to the unfamiliar situation for both of them. I still have my reservations though...

I have a 7 month old German Shepherd girl. Recently we have been worried about her mental health as she is the kind of dog that requires a lot of attention. Not necessarily hands on, interactive attention, but she just wants to be around us; whether it be sitting watching me cook in the kitchen, or watching the telly with us. A few weeks ago, we noticed that she was getting increasingly upset and desperate to see us when we got home from work. She would throw herself at the back door, and get herself into such a state that when we did let her in she would wet herself. We have always been careful to avoid loud, overly exciting returns home, in order to avoid, as much as possible, seperation anxiety... But she was getting obviously more and more anxious about being left alone. My husband and I both work full time, so she is on her own up to 10 hours a day, 5 days a week - We knew this would be the case, so we have always provided her with toys and mental stimulation while we were at work. We take her to obedience training on the weekends. We also have family members with farms and lots of other dogs, so we take her there as much as is practical. In short, she is rarely away from us on the weekends. Anyway - to cut a long story short, we made the decision last week to get another dog. We had always planned to get another one, but it's been pushed forward in order to avoid a sick German Shepherd. We have purchased a 1 year old Labrador dog named Toby from the RSPCA. Kai and Toby have been introduced onsite at the RSPCA, prior to his purchase, but I would like some advise on the best way to bring him home and re-introduce them on Kai's territory. We thought that it may be best if we take them both to a local park and introduce them there, then walk them back onto the property together - But if anyone has some methods that have worked for them, we are VERY open to suggestions. Thanks Everyone - Siobhan

Thanks for the advise everyone - I hadn't intended to cause a debate regarding the use of static collars but healthy debate never hurt anyone. We ended up getting an Ultrasonic collar that emits a high pitched whistle when she barks, but we found that it was next to useless. It went off at random times (ie not necessarily when she barked) and it was too confusing for her. We now have decided to confine her to the back room on a permanent basis. We have set her up properly with a stretcher bed and HUNDREDS of toys. We have also started feeding her there also, so she very definitly knows that it's her space. She's slowly getting used to being confined at night - Once agin thanks so much for the advise. Cheers

I have a 5 month old GSD bitch. We too were worried about taking her to dog training before she'd had all her vaccinations. But we took her to puppy pre-school at the local vet (you can be sure she won't pick anything up from a vet surgery). I can't recommend this highly enough. We had our puppy from 6 weeks, and we enrolled her the day we picked her up. I suggest you take your wife and kids with you. That way they can learn about care and training of the puppy from an expert, rather than just you! The trainer will teach you all sorts of things, from nutrition to avoiding onset of problem behaviour. In Victoria (and I'm sure it's the same in NSW) pretty much all vet clinics have one of these programs - I suggest you get in to one as soon as possible. I also suggest you start taking her for short walks. We walked ours from about 7 weeks. As our trainer said - she is as likely to pick up something from dirt you've tracked in on your shoes, as she is from going around the block on a walk. We obviously monitored what dogs she came into contact with (ie no strange dogs, only ones we knew - we picked her up if any strange dog was off the lead), but it gets rid of the excess energy. Maybe then she will be calm enough for your children to pat. I wish you all the luck in the world - German Shepherds are an absolute delight - even the puppies

My 5 month old German Shepherd puppy, Kai, started barking at possums in the middle of the night. Every time she barked, we went outside and told her off. Now she's realised that if she barks, we will come out and talk to her. We know the best solution is to ignor her, but our neighbours are getting cranky (which I don't blame them) so we can't leave her barking at 3am. The solution at the moment is to lock her in our back room - which she HATES!! We both work during the day as well, and we're not sure if she is barking when we aren't at home. We've been thinking about getting a citronella collar. They are really expensive to buy, but our local council has a 3 month wait to rent one. We can't wait that long... We have been told that the static collars are really effective. I've also seen one that vibrates when they bark. Does anyone have any advice around which sort of collar to use?