TheCheekyMonster

Betadine might be a better option lol, metho burns like nothing i've ever tried!! hahah I did try on me first .

Ow cool ,thanks for that advice, I might need it for something else, dont know what his done but his now got a chunk missing from his leg, I might need to wipe it down with the metho before trying to dress it.... **sighs** its just never ending with this dog. I dont talk to Gus or look at him when I come home his straight in the crate or when I let them out in the morning, but it comes to the point where I dont have a relationship with my dog its forever trying to get him calm and trying to make it enjoyable to be around. When I do talk in the house or even to him it is calm and I try not to get too excited around it...... if were outside in a park situation yea I make a bit of a racket because I want to play with him and he responds well to that, he loves tug and a flirt poll and will drop it until he can play again so I try to tire him out that way

Ow he was taught, it just never sunk in. So I need a new method which im hoping k9 pro will be able to shed some light on... Metho! super glue sheesh it sounds like animal cruelty lol but probably not a bad idea.

I have a consult with steve from k9 pro, I have heard good things about his training and I have attended a workshop of his and liked his approach so im going to give it a shot. Googling Karen now! haha I have a lot of reading to do but anything helps I guess the more I can expose myself to on the subject the more I can see what works for Gus and me.

Oooooooww!! yea that didnt work for us either haha still kanga tail

What drops?? is there a magic calm potion!! hahah nah I'd never consider drugging him, he just has so much personality and its a love hate relationship at the moment but I too have spend a fortune on this tail so I want to keep it for a little longer lol, but yes I think if we control the calm we can some what control the tail.

I was going to buy this book but didnt know if it was any good! thanks for the heads up ill give it a go.

I think I will wait till after my behavioural consult till i consider docking, because I too think most of it is behaviour related being very wired doesnt help his already playful behaviour his a dally after all, they are pretty active to begin with but he is a few levels up from active I think. I have wrapped a sponge hair roller on the end for now and ill just need to keep it on until another solution comes about, but yes infection is always my main concern that and sometimes his blood will get near my face, once I thought it got in my eye and it freaked me out its not the most hygienic thing to have slashing around.

Yeap that sounds like Gus..... there is just so much blood that comes out! CSI crime scene is a pretty good explanation.

castration? won't make any difference to him doing agility or tracking and quite possibly won't make any changes to his behaviour at home. Honestly this dogs needs to learn to chill, bolting through the house, bashing people out of his way, jumping on the other dog, he sounds seriously stressed to me. Maybe get a behaviourist in to look at his overall behaviour and get some sort of plan happening. It is what im doing, lol just hanging out for our appointment date, but thought I might get some band aid solutions until then, just to make things a little less "wanting to strangle him!" He is a bright dog ever since he was a pup he was very attentive but the reward is never great enough for him to choose to do the wanted behaviour... food is gold for him so I trained every day morning and night with food, he would get what I wanted him to do during those sessions but applying them with distractions just went over him, I tried to introduce distractions slowly but I guess I did it allll wrong and then I gave up so I have now asked for help, probably a little too late but we'll see how it goes. @Aussie3 he is calmest when sleeping! and on the end of my bed with the rest of the fam after he has been told to chill out a good 10 times lol. @staff' n Troller" I play crate games with him every night he knows what a crate is, but if the option to be on me is there he will do that which is why I need to zipp him up in the crate, I have some brainwork toys, Kongs, Puzzles but I cant feed both dogs together or near eachother so its sometimes difficult to have food stimulating activites but whenever the chance presents itself that what I do, swimming he loves, running along side a bike? I havent tried yet how do you teach them to do that without making you fall over?, due to purines his food is very basic and he is fed by scattering his kibble and whole egg all over the back pattio and garden whilst Nala is inside. I got blood work done for hyperactive thydoid but nothing came back. If someone saw my dog they would think I neglect him, his very hyper and really skinny and it couldnt be further from the truth I feed him bucket loads and try to stimulate him mentally and physically every day... even though in the last few months I have just wanted to give up surely raising a mentally & physically healthy dog is not this difficult.

I have a k9 pro soft crate its awesome because he doesn't hurt his tail in there, but we have a very very small laundry which is where the two dogs sleep and unfortunately there are just so many narrow entrances to the house he cant help himself..... we have one amazingly compliant dog who the only problem is she hates possums and gets excited by car rides, but is the best snuggle bug and nothing phases her too much... and then there is Gus the child who has worms constantly wriggling and moving and whacking his tail and just never chilling out. where did I go wrong!!! I was actually thinking of giving him the snip, but I want to start agility and tracking with him, so not sure how that will go

He can whack his tail in every position lol, I thought as well if he was in a sit surely he cant do damage, I was very wrong.... but the rear end awareness may be a good idea, I will do some reading on the perch work.

He actually frustrates me to tears sometimes because as a dog owner you try to do your best and you hate to see them bleeding or what should be painful, or when you just cant understand the behaviour or why its happening. This is what happens when I go to greet him in the morning and afternoon, I open the laundry door, he will jump on top of Nala to get to me turn around in circles whack his tail everywhere and hop up and down on his front legs, he will either try to bolt through any gap to get through to the rest of the house or I will say toilet real quickly so he diverts to the back door to the yard so they can go out. Afternoons, I come home Gus is at the kitchen window whining until I open the back door, he will then do the same as what he did in the morning except jump on me this time and then both dogs will proceed to play very roughly, only in my boyfriends and my presents do they play really rough and boisterous, I will give him as many pats as I can until my thighs and shins start to really hurt from the whacking I will then put them both in the laundry to calm down before letting them into the rest of the house. When I open the laundry door he will bolt through the kitchen and try to get into the hallway but I will call him back and close the laundry door so the space he has is limited (this time is usually when the most tail damage is done) I will ignore him and do what I have to do in the kitchen, wash dishes make dinner and he will sit on my feet and lean on the back of my legs and shake ever so lightly, I will give him a pat at this stage because I know this is as calm as he is going to get, we are always conscious to do things with minimal fuss and very calmly slowly and quietly but you know its annoying not being able to just walk around in your house without getting the dog excited, or talking without getting him excited and I have no idea why his like this.

Yeap, being calm in general is something we have tried to work on since day 1 with little success, it might not have helped that he was in a very nervous environment when he was a pup, I now live by myself with Nala and my OH and I think it will just be like working with a huge pup again, taking things right back to basics, I do have an appointment with a behaviourist just to help me understand things a little better. The only time he is chilled out is on the bed lights off but that's after a 15 minute wriggle around.

That's for that, he is 22 months, always splits the tip and mainly inside although he does give it a good bang on anything he can outside and when you ask him to sit he will rub it raw from wagging on the concrete so I try to only make him sit on grass. He has always been a very high energy dog and its always the initial period when I let him in that his just a wild cannon so I will crate him until his calmed down then let him in.

He will keep the wrapping on, guess I will just wrap it up until he learns to chill with the tail whacking

I wish I could do this but its not very practical when you have 2 dogs who like to rumble I think it would be dangerous unsupervised.

I have done this, for a while it worked but as soon as it comes off he splits it again. So I just wondered if the solution is it needs to just be constantly wrapped, my vet suggested docking but I'm not too keen on that suggestion.

Gus has happy tail... or I think that's what it is, he is constantly splitting his tail and the bloody is just a nightmare. I cant have his tail constantly wrapped up can I? does anyone have a dog with happy tail or a dog who is just totally unaware of its tail. That's the thing he is totally unaware of his tail, how do I teach him to be aware of his tail, I have tried to wait until the tail is not moving and then treat him but he didn't get that he was getting a treat for not moving his tail .

Methinks garbage bins should be well locked away , if he's so obsessed ...poor boy . Lol he was locked away!!, evidently not locked away enough the bin was on the kitchen bench as well... Last night he came on my bed was the biggest ordeal he was wriggling like the biggest worm, then after about 15 minutes he settled and fell asleep. I think the thunder shirt might be a good idea dotdashdot

I am seeing another vet but I did call a few and when I said full blood work they were so lost, Kangaroo meat is very high in purines these things are ruled out/ very moderate in his diet because of purine levels + = Moderate purines ++= High Purines • Lamb +, rabbit +, beef +, pork + • Tuna +, sardines +, octopus +, peanuts + • Kidney ++, liver ++, kangaroo ++, venison ++, buffalo ++ • Caviar ++, scallops ++, anchovies ++, shellfish ++

This vet appointment can not come any sooner!!! I couldn't get in for another 2 weeks, Gus had a HUGE dinner and one would think any other dog would be rolling on his tummy with fullness.... but no he was whimpering ALL night so I woke up and he has gone through the whole rubbish bin and eaten all its editable content luckily he didn't eat any of the foil or plastic but he did eat some chicken bones, he seems good as gold this morning but JESUS!! the dog is so highly strung and constantly eats!.

I just think that if you were on the top floor and couldn't go down to let the dog eliminate then the dog may need to use a litter type thing on the balcony or in the bathroom/ laundry, people can make it work and these two seem very committed I have spoken to him about "what if it gets to much" and his response was "I have never returned a dog or let one go for convenience, if the apartment doesn't work then it will just have to go"

Thank you everyone so so sooo much for your suggestions, it has been very helpful, I am terrible with small breeds and breeds which need more than a bath and a weekly brush I am so lucky with my guys they don't require much but I know the common misunderstanding that small dogs are low maintenance which can be far from the truth. I am off to contact Varicool and see what more I can find out. :)

I haven't read everyones posts yet but he has raised two dogs well before this will be his gf first dog, i have made sure body corporate approval was given before he asked me to look, and that if they part ways the dog will be in his care they know enough as your average person of course it will be walked but they are not like people on this forum who have above average knowledge of dogs thanks again in advanced...p.s just found out small fluffy isn't what they are after he said maybe a toy poodle or cav