SALTWOOD

Dandruff is dead skin which, if it is excessive, means that the health of the skin is not optimum. If the dog is recently fostered it may be you are just seeing the results of his previous living and eating conditions. The cause can be as basic as using the wrong shampoo or it can, and usually is, the result of a diet that is not providing any or sufficient amounts of Omega 3,6 & 9, especially diets that don't get the balance of these essential oils in the right proportion. There are many brands of Omega oils available for dogs and they do work, especially when used in conjunction with a raw all natural diet - not highly processed dry dog foods which contain ingredients from unknown origins, regardless of how good their manufacturers say they are!

If we had smell-a-vision I could have posted the before and after very effectively - but no, I didn't take any photos as the dog wasn't that bad to look at - but smell - that was another story!! As you say Badboyz, it makes a BIG difference even when you feed 50/50 dry/raw to feeding 100% or even 90% raw. Many people are frightened to feed raw food to their dogs. They have been brainwashed into thinking that they couldn't possibly provide everything a dog will need in their diet unless they feed it out of a packet or can. What did dogs do before the big dogfood manufacturers came on the scene! The Dobe in my avatar is now about 44kgs and has only ever had raw natural food. His bone and especially his legs/feet are absolutely perfect and catlike. You don't get that kind of result if the diet is inadequate.

I recently took back a little dog, an oldie, and at that stage he was so stinky, and I mean mega stinky, that no one in their right mind wanted to touch him, let alone pat him! He also was an itchy dog! His diet consisted of a quality dry food plus pet meat rolls & raw bones at that stage. Not a terrible diet on the surface of it! He is a lovely little guy, very well behaved but even though he was washed regularly he would really stink in a few days, if not hours, later! Not really condusive with getting lots of love and affectionate pats as no one wanted to touch him, me included! Since arriving here several months ago he has only been fed a raw, natural diet and - this is the best part - he no longer stinks and his teeth have gone from being partially covered in tartar, especially the back teeth, to being almost squeeky clean. His skin has improved too, although I think he will be always be an itchy dog it is way better than it was. Also the best part is that I can now pat him with safety. He thinks it is the best part too! I know that many people here feed raw, natural food but I also know that a lot still feed the processed dry dogfood and I am here to tell you that sooooooo many dog health problems can be addressed by just feeding what nature intended. I am not posting this to pat myself on the back, rather I wanted to share my experience in the hope that if just one person out there reads this and can help their own dog in the same way, I will be very gratified!

Thanks for that explanation Erny - I will reflect!!! :rolleyes: ETA: Not a rescue - had her since she was about 12 weeks old - she came with this behaviour.

Yes it goes under the heading of 'mildly annoying' because it is so different from my other dogs behaviours and it fascinates me as to how it started and how it can be modified. I like your thinking Erny and problem solving and will definitely set up the situation you described and give it a try just to see what happens. I tried the hand on the ground technique you outlined and it was funny - she actually gave a little bark and play growl because I was doing something different by virtually making her take the biscuit a different way. She took it in the end from my hand on the ground - yeah!!!!! It's like as though she wants things on her terms, not mine. A battle of wills - or am I reading too much into this?? It is not earthshattering stuff but really fun to see how their minds work!

I know what you are saying about the biscuit and I will continue along the lines you have outlined but the thing is that it extends to everything that is larger than a liver treat. She won't take chicken necks from the hand or fork (yuck). She won't take piggy ears which all the others just can't wait for and grab with glee from my hand. She won't take a meaty bone ..... etc. etc. So you see, and so do I from reading my own posts that she does have some sort of issue..... I wonder what and why?? Where do I start?? She is not an overly fearful dog in other ways..... I need a dog psychologist I think!!

Tried Ernys method last night with very limited response from dog. Bent down with back to dog and biscuit offered on palm of hand backwards (not easy to do in the dark) Dog nuzzled biscuit but didnt take it. Eventually I got enough of a nuzzle to knock the biscuit off my hand and she ate it. Weird isn't it??? Don't know if repetition will make any difference or improve the situation.

Yes Erny I think you might be on the right track with that approach - I will try it tonight. Perhaps it is a hangover from something learnt in puppyhood - some threatening occurence that has been retained in her memory banks??? I didn't breed this dog but bought her in and she has never taken 'biscuits' or 'piggy ears' from my hand - doesn't take big edible things as opposed to small things like liver treats, etc. Will give it a go! :D

I have a routine which all my dogs love and live by. That is, before they are kennelled overnight they get their 1/2 dog biscuit, which they all love and eat readily in their beds including the 'blonde' one. They also get 1/2 a dog biscuit when they get up in the mornings and take themselves to their exercise yards. Everyone takes the dog biscuit from my hand eagerly - except the 'blonde' one - who has to have it placed in front of her, then she picks it up and eats it straight away. For other times I reward with liver or chicken which she will take from my hand. Do you think it is just because she doesn't like biscuits as much as liver??? Or is it more sinister that she has a phobia about dog biscuits???

As you guys were so good with coming up with a way to teach my 'blonde' dog how to catch food I thought I would see if you can solve another of her issues. The same dog won't take a dog biscuit from my hand no matter what I do - she will take liver treats, chicken pieces, etc. but when it comes to a dog biscuit no way - I have to put it down in front of her and she will then pick it up and eat it!! Any ideas on what her mind is thinking and how to get her to take a biscuit from my hand??

Totally enjoyed all your responses. Tried the no treat unless you catch it method and it is beginning to work - the mouth is coming open and their is an attempt, however misjudged, to try to catch the treat which is a big step forward to totally ignoring the issue. I haven't worked out if this dog is just 'blonde' or is incredibly smart as she is always the 'problem' dog! :D Will attempt the box idea but don't know if she will 'get' that - will let you know!

AAAHHHHHHHHHH - so that's how you do it!!! Will give it a go - squashed liver treats here I come!! :D Thanks a bunch!

Of all my fur babies I have one that is 'difficult'! Very difficult to train - or to put it a different way - she is challenging to try to work out ways that will get through to her! :D What I am currently working on is that I would like her to be able to catch food treats, like the rest of my dogs, but I just can't get to first base with her. I have held food within a few inches of her nose and dropped it, she lets is fall on the floor and then gets it! I have repeatedly let drop small amounts of bait - again she waits for them to hit the floor! Can someone tell me some methods to get her to catch??? Pleeeeease???? :D

I feed one large marrow bone at a time cut in half so the marrow is exposed. When the bone is fresh my smaller dogs get a few hours turn each. After than it gets passed on to my Dobe boy. He proceeds to reduce its size by about 2/3rds then I take it away. This takes about a day. Naturally a bone that has been unrefrigerated for several days will get pretty stinky if there is any marrow/fat/meat left on it and perhaps cause excess bacteria in the gut. Also dogs that have a poor tolerance for fat may get sick from it. By the time my crew are finished with it, there isn't much life left in it!! :D We get our moneys worth out of marrow bones around here!!

Ahhhh, I crate my dogs in really BIG separate crates of a night time so when I take the bedding away they still have the plastic base to sleep on so we differ there. Oh and once they start that kind of thing it does take some time for them to 'hopefully' grow out of it. Dogs seem to do it for different reasons, one being to mark their territory. So if you leave them with material bedding that absorbs the urine you will either be washing it every night or letting them sleep in a wet smelly bed. ;) You could try giving them the shadecloth hammock beds - they can't wee successfully on them and they can be used inside and outside. See, dogs are creatures of habit and once they start that kind of behaviour they then have to 'unlearn' it - and that takes time plus you have to remove the desire to continue with the undesireable habit.

It sort of defeats the purpose though, doesn't it?? I chose to feed all natural/raw because I wanted to eliminate all the heavily processed and preserved food using ingredients of unknown origin & type from my dogs diets. I wanted to know what they were eating and be in control - I also wanted dogs that did not have a compromised immune system caused by eating who knows what in the dry dog food. I have been told that just recently there has been a big recall of dry petfood in the USA because of problems from ingredients sourced from China and this is major premium brands in both cats & dogs all available here. We know that highly processed foods in our diets are not good for us - we still eat them and we generally don't die from them, but don't we all feel so much better when we eat fresh, good quality food??? That's what I want for my dogs - the best I can possibly give them for optimum health and well being!

Recommend you contact your state Canine Control body who will advise you on obedience clubs near you. Often your local vet will know about local obedience classes run by these clubs too. You are better off going to these clubs rather than the commercial enterprises.

Yep, been through this one. I bought all the nice warm blankets, etc. and found I was washing them every day. After the blankets I tried newspapers and found they got shredded overnight and I had pick up all the little pieces the next day which was worse than washing the blanket. Next step, I took everything away and they couldn't make a mess or pee on anything. Did that for about 2-3 mths then reintroduced the blankets and they didn't pee on them anymore. Now they just chew little holes in the blankets overnight so their blankets look like swiss cheese - ah well, its polar fleece and relatively cheap to replace every 3mths when there are more holes than blanket!! ;)

I agree, this is a problem that you can't reprimand the dog for - you must distract and hope it lessens in time. This dog would benefit from a bit more structure in its life and dog obedience classes and daily practice would be the way to go. Try to train it to the stage that it can obsess about something else, like a game of ball or a toy.

Many years ago I had to have my mini poodle PTS because of this and associated problems. With her it was a neurological problem and she would chase bird shadows without any care to her own safety. She had other issues as well and in the end I had to make a very tough decision. Some trainers ie Jan Fennell suggest that in some cases it can be because of leadership/stress issues in the dogs environment. Perhaps basic training combined with ensuring the dog is otherwise well adjusted might help. You could try reading Jan Fennells book The Dog Listener. It is worth trying anything you can to try to fix this problem, if it can be fixed, as I know how terrible it can become.

Thank you for your explanation Arya and also everyone else who helped me here. I will keep persevering!! You are right, I now see I have been rewarding a bad position with the dog and must reassess my rewarding. I never really stop learning when I work with dogs, no matter how long I have been doing it or how hard I try, there is always a new challenge!!

Would appreciate your collective opinions then on this aspect of the behaviour please - When I am walking along and give the stand command I am getting a crouch, ready to leap for the toy reward. I think I am making the mistake of letting the dog see the toy but if I don't then I don't get any attention. Perhaps I am expecting too much but I don't think the penny is dropping with the dog - waiting on my part for the right posture might fix things. However, this dog doesn't really learn quickly, I can wait a long time for a sit!!!

So what you are saying is that I am half way there but it is the last half that is the hardest to refine??? In some things I ensure the dogs gets the instant gratification of getting the toy when it does the right thing but what I want is for it to continue on behaving itself for a while before it gets the toy HOWEVER the dog thinks differently and won't go any further - if you know what I mean - not big in the work now and get paid later dept.!!! I now need help myself - I am getting confused - I am constantly trying to manipulate the behaviour and it isn't straightforward by any means!! AARRRGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!

OK, sorry for the delay in answering - Dog was initially not really that interested in food as a reward, couldn't hold its interest but it was and still is very motivated by a toy. HOWEVER - now the toy has become a BIG problem as the dog is SO obsessed it is anticipating the reward and it is affecting the performance. I thought - and you can all correct me here - that if I toned down the reward I might get the desired result. Obviously something has gone wrong with my toy training to produce the results I am getting - it doesn't matter how I try to change the exercise the dog knows the end result and eg. doesn't do stands properly (crouched), won't walk properly beside me, etc. etc. all because he knows that I have the bl##dy toy!!! My bad, I fear, but how to correct it now?????

I am training a dog that initially didn't really respond very well to food rewards so I used a toy. Now I would like to use food instead of the toy. Does anyone have any ideas on how to achieve this changeover and still maintain the dogs interest??