Hi All
This is my first post here.
I have a 5 year old male cavalier king charles spaniel who is proving to be the most difficult dog I have ever had. He is one of two dogs who were both bought as puppies around the same time. The other dog is a female shih tzu who is very laid back and adapts easily to everything. The Cav on the other hand is so highly strung its almost impossible to relax around him. In the past we have always adopted dogs from resuce type organisations and this is the first time we have gotten a dog from a breeder. We decided to go for a pure bred dog as we had lost 2 resuce dogs in a row to illness that had not been picked up before they were adopted. Both dogs had cancer and despite extensive and expensive surgery they did not survive. We know you can't predict illness but we felt environmental issues do a play a part so we thought we would go with a breeder who had certified her dogs did not have heart problems, eye issues etc and chose 2 breeds that we had enjoyed in the past. When we contacted the breeder (registered)she was located several hours away and offered us a puppy from her litter. We didn't actually meet him until the day he was tranferred to our care. From the moment he arrived though he had a high pitched noise almost like a yodel that he broke into reglarily. We put this down to seperation anxiety and didn't 'mollycoddle' him. He was desexed under at around 6 months of age and we have fed him high quality dog food (not supermarket food) and fresh chicken wings from the moment he arrived. He has always been primarily an indoor dog.
When he was a pup we took him to puppy preschool and the trainer was surprised that he was so stubborn that he would not 'work' for a piece of cabinossi. Being in a regional area there was only one puppy preschool to attend at the time. One of the participants bought her daughter with her who was obsessed by our dogs and would constantly distract him and try to pick him up. We talked to the child's parent on a number of occassions about the issue but she couldn't care less and as the class was rather large the trainer seemed too busy to really notice. We ended up dropping out and trying home training. When we contacted the breeder, on several occassions, from some advice she never replyed to us so I got the feeling she was aware of his temperament problems before she passed him onto us for full price. Fast foward 4 years on and we have tried what seems like everthing to make him easier to live with but its not worked. He steals food from the hands of the children,is constantly demanding - not necessarily for attention but for inside/outside access. For example if you just open the door for him to go and do his business in the yard he will whine and whine until he is escourted. Likewise when he is crated for the evening he will whine, bark and yodel despite having the company of another dog and wake the whole house up. He is rarely alone as I work from home - he is probably without human company for around 6-8 hours a week. That's not to say that he is 'beside' me 24/7 as he will often be in the lounge room while I am in my office. I don't allow him to sit on my lap and discourage him getting up on the lounge (he will often try to do this) as I feel that he is trying to claim ownership and dominance as he has a perfectly good and comfortable bed. He barks and yodels incessently when visitors or residents come into the house. Grooming is also very difficult despite trying to only reward him when he is showing 'good' behaviour.
The 'yodel' is something he does day and night so it is very difficult to get a full nights sleep. If he is not doing this he is whining or obsessively licking and getting underfoot. We have tried medication (clomicalm and prozac) which did not have positive effects - in fact he almost seemed more neurotic on them as it seemed like he was hallucinating. We spent hundreds of dollars on a trainer who worked in the home with us, tried homeopathics and herbal preparations, the thundervest,a vibrating collar, as well as had him investigated for any medical concerns. The vets have suggested we either try some pheremone diffusers or we think about putting him down. I'm not convinced about either option but my wife is saying she can't live with this behaviour for potentially another 10+ years and asked me to consider rehoming him or following the vets advice having him put down. I am convinced that he would be quite a loyal dog to someone but with his behaviours there would be no-one in the world who would want to take him on. I don't give up easily but I'm at my wits end and don't know what to do with him. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
