ibon

Just wanted to add that we are having success with the thundershirt. There's a noticeable decrease in barking and over-arousal when we put it on. He's on a high dose of steroids at the moment which is dramatically increasing his over-arousal in the evenings (whether we're both home or not), and we're getting good results regardless.

Thanks for responses. He gets lots of exercise, a long walk in the morning plus active play throughout the day. The barking issue is not due to a lack of exercise or stimulation (he also gets kongs throughout the day), more to do with steroids. GIT flare-ups due to trying to step down his dosage of preds. Night time access hasn't proven to be a success, we often have to get up in the middle of the night to pull him inside because he's barking. In any case we're back at the beginning with the steroids, he's back on a v. high dose. Doing the best we can but not an ideal time for a renewed effort with toilet training.

We have a dog door but at the moment don't leave him outside if we're out because of some issues with barking.

Thanks for your reply showdog. I know we need to take the paper away but what should we do when we're out (we leave him inside)? The other day I had been out for a few hours and when I came home he'd had explosive bloody diarrhea, which he'd done on the paper. Situations like these are making me confused about what to do. Whereas a normal dog would be fine for a few hours sometimes he's not able to cope.

We have a 7 month old Lappie who has had a number of health problems, and although we have made progress with toilet training we are not where we should be. I am hoping to get some tips about where to go from here. A bit of history, sorry if this is an essay: When we first got him he had persistent diarrhea. We took him outside at regular intervals and because of the diarrhea had some paper down by the front door, but we were still having a number of accidents in other areas of the house. Food rewards were problematic because he was frequently off his food. He was diagnosed with coccidia a few weeks later, but unfortunately only when it reached an advanced stage. He spent a few nights at the vets on a drip, and rightly or wrongly I didn't persist with crate training after this (we hadn't done very well with it up to this point) because he'd had the experience of routinely toileting in one. After that we continued taking him outside at regular intervals and introduced him to using a doggy door, while trying to wean him off the paper. Around this point his was diagnosed with puppy strangles and put on immune suppressing doses of steroids. Cue massive drinking of water and constant peeing. He also regressed at this point and started having lots more accidents. From what I could tell by doing some internet research other people seemed to also report trouble with toilet training while on steroids. Then it became apparent he was eating vast quantities of dirt outside (and throwing it up inside) and we made the decision to quarantine him inside to break the habit. We then had further regression because he was confused about not being able to use the doggy door. As the dose of his steroids was reduced for the puppy strangles it became apparent he might have IBD. The last few months have been a cycle of trying to reduce his dosage of steroids and consequent flare ups of his IBD and diarrhea (and vomiting). So, this is where we're currently at... - He can now get through the night without an accident as long as we take him out last thing. We have to monitor him closely when we wake up (otherwise it's 50/50 as to whether or not he'll wee on the carpet). - We still have paper down by the door. Although he can get through the night, he always uses the paper if we leave him to go out. With him still experiencing intermittent bouts of diarrhea, and still having increased thirst from the steroids I am not sure how to get around this. As a result he is now accustomed to using the paper throughout the day and it's 50/50 as to whether he'll use it or the doggy door to go outside. - For the past couple of months he has been restricted to a tiled area around the kitchen during the day. At night he comes into the living room with us. Generally he doesn't have any accidents in this area, but every few weeks we seem to have a regression and he will pee in the corner or behind the couch. When this happens we immediately take him outside and praise him when he finishes there, the stains are treated with urine off. - He is blocked out of another carpeted living area during the day. Whenever we try to give him access during the day he pees in the corner of the room. I have treated this area with urine off but I'm worried he's become habituated to going to the toilet there. Anyway, I am well aware we have made lots of mistakes along the way. I feel like all our attention has been on his health (and still is) to the detriment of other issues like this. If anyone has any advice on where to go from here with his toilet training I would really appreciate it.

Thanks for all the responses. Dwynwen, thanks for the link to the yahoo group. That's exactly the kind of thing I've been looking for. I'll check it out later today. I should say, at this point our puppy has suspected IBD, he hasn't been definitively diagnosed. He's on the Hills z-d diet, but also quite high doses of prednisolone with intermittent use of metronide. He's having a flare up at the moment after trying to reduce his dosage of pred. I see an alternative health practitioner for him as well, and he's also on a probiotic, slippery elm, flaxseed oil and bentonite clay. I've also used milk thistle. A lot of supplements don't seem to agree with him. I still feel like he could be on a better diet than the z-d. Would love to try him on rabbit but it's really expensive at the moment (I think it's the 'in' thing right now). Cavvysavvy, I'm going to investigate the Black Hawk Holistic you mentioned. Inspector Rex, I am in a similar situation to you, in that I have GI issues. Not IBD (although thought I did for awhile). It's been a strange experience having a pet with GI probs, but by the same token I feel like I have decent understanding of them. My husband often says that our puppy ended up in the right home!

Thanks everyone again for all the help. Corvus, I'm going to have a look a the you tube video later today, thanks. I had some success last night by distracting him with a kong, ice cubes and some toys. I stuffed the kong with his z-d canned food (pretty much the consistency of cream cheese or peanut butter) and froze it. It was quite funny, after about 5 minutes he threw the equivalent of a puppy tantrum because his normal technique (raising it high and then dropping it onto the ground) wasn't working. He did go back to it though and got everything out in the end. I also made sure I tired him out with a very vigorous game of ball at about 5 o'clock. Still going to look at the thundershirt though.

I need to experiment some more with the kong. I have used diced chicken and frozen it in the past but it doesn't seem to last that long. I could try freezing some of the canned food he's on and see how he goes with that. I haven't be to find many tips about what kind of chewing treats are suitable for dogs with IBD, bones seem to be out and also any rawhide type treats. I did read about someone who gives their dog with IBD a sterilized hollow cow collar bone (?), so will try to hunt out one of those next week. Corvus, thanks for all your tips. I'll definitely be trying all of them. Do you do a particular type of massage? I've never heard about the thundershirt before but it looks great, so am going to try and get one asap. Yep, he's definitely a talker sparkycat! Did you notice a big difference after the 12 month mark? I've been meaning to drop by the spitz thread, so must do that. Lappiemum mentioned it to me awhile ago.

We have a 7 month old Lappie who has had a number of health problems, and is now suspected of having IBD. I'm wondering if there's anyone else out there who has a dog with IBD? It would be great to chat to others in the same situation and trade tips/advice.

Thanks for the tips everyone. He's inside when he does this. Whiskedaway, definitely the same experience as you. Once he gets worked up he finds it difficult to calm himself down. The spray bottle works well for other issues, didn't seem to have much effect with this problem though. Will have to pursue timeout again and see how I go. In terms of distracting him, do you have any suggestions for training games MEH? He has IBD so is quite limited in terms of chewing type treats.

I'm hoping someone can help with a problem we've been having with our 7 month old Lappie. He is prone to barking but understands the command 'quiet' and generally responds to it. My husband and I are finding, however, that when one of us is out in the evening he barks excessively (he doesn't do this when both of us are in). When he starts he is then very difficult to stop i.e. he doesn't respond to commands, time-out etc. Can anyone shed any light on this problem for us and give us some tips on how to train him out of this?

Thanks poodlefan. I was feeling uneasy about the dog beach and you've confirmed I had good reason to be. the suggestion for the obedience club is a good one and I'll look into that. In my opinion, no. You're removing his option to retreat if he is unsure and making him a sitting duck if a dog decides to have a go at him. Yes. I suggest joining an obedience club and giving him opportunities for more controlled socialisation with other dogs. If you're really concerned, consult a good behavioural trainer.

Sorry if this is a bit long! We have a 5 and a half month old male finnish lapphund who is very timid around other dogs. Unfortunately he was on immune-suppressing drugs for about 2 months which meant we could not begin socialising him with other dogs until very recently. At the beginning of Feb we started taking him to puppy kindergarten. The first week there he was okay, but hid behind our legs alot. The second week he grew a bit more confident. 3rd session is tomorrow. We are trying to give him other opportunities to be around other dogs and have taken him to a beach twice now where the other dogs are pretty much all off-lead. We are still working on recall and don't feel confident having him off-lead yet. He tends to be very timid when other dogs approach him, sniffing noses initially and then backing away. On one occasion he whined and hid behind our legs. Are we doing the right thing by putting him in a situation where he is around other dogs that are off-lead when he is on a lead? Should we be starting him off slower and not taking him to the dog beach? We are new to our area so don't know a lot of people yet, let alone other people with dogs. I guess we're worried about starting his socialising so late and don't know what the best approach is. Thanks in advance for any help. As a side note, he adores people and is not timid around anyone, male or female, only other dogs.