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Please Help Me Save My Dog


Jellyblush
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It's true Snooks! We are!

We had a great day. My head is spinning a bit - a lot of what I learned is contrary to advice from behaviourist BUT the previous advice hasn't showed sustainable results, it's been one step forward and two back.... I was really struck by how logical the advice I got today was.

We bought a crate on the way home. It's a bit flimsy and I don't think it'll last long but I got the people at Petstock to say I could return it if it seemed too flimsy, so we might do that and look for something stronger. Apart from that though, Roo seems pretty happy in there, scooted in of her own accord and I shut the door while I friend and I watched a movie, no stressing. The advice I got today to separate the backyard from the confinement was great. As was the advice I got on changing feeding pattern ,those two things struck me the most, but I learned heaps. Roo is a bit dubious about the calming paste. I'm really grateful to Nekhbet, glad I found this forum and the great advice on it, and I'm sure it'll be a slow progression but I'm at least hopeful now I have some new things to try.

Friend and I then took Roo to the pub to celebrate :) Who says you can't have a social life with a nutty dog...turns out she's even a bit of a man magnet :laugh:

That's great but honestly, I was waiting for the promised 'Nekhbet is a bogan' photos ...

bolt.gif

Nekhbet is not the bogan she promised (false advertising!). She is actually very pretty. Disappointed! :laugh:

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Hey I'm a self professed bogan :rofl: we forgot to take photos, which we should have because we had a Dogue, St Bernard and Malinois there too :D

Viking Bogan :p

Good luck Jelly, sounds like some fabulous progress, will have fingers and toes crossed for you.

Nek is pretty awesome.

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a lot of what I learned is contrary to advice from behaviourist

yeah that sounds like me lol told you I'm speshal

We bought a crate on the way home. It's a bit flimsy and I don't think it'll last long but I got the people at Petstock to say I could return it if it seemed too flimsy, so we might do that and look for something stronger. Apart from that though, Roo seems pretty happy in there, scooted in of her own accord and I shut the door while I friend and I watched a movie, no stressing. The advice I got today to separate the backyard from the confinement was great. As was the advice I got on changing feeding pattern ,those two things struck me the most, but I learned heaps. Roo is a bit dubious about the calming paste. I'm really grateful to Nekhbet, glad I found this forum and the great advice on it, and I'm sure it'll be a slow progression but I'm at least hopeful now I have some new things to try.

Friend and I then took Roo to the pub to celebrate :) Who says you can't have a social life with a nutty dog...turns out she's even a bit of a man magnet :laugh:

OK all I can say is YAY! Hey Trigger's a real man magnet too I'm sure you want to take him too O_o if in doubt with the calming paste I mix it with meat or conversely, put said calming paste on finger and rub on her gums :) no choice but to take it

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Have you left her at all since you got home, Jelly?

Nope....want to build up to that very, very slowly. Have this week all planned out so she won't be left at all, but will be crated whenever I'm home, might try a few open/shut the front door scenarios but won't go anywhere.

Then next weekend I thought I'd try some very brief absences.

I

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Hey Trigger's a real man magnet too I'm sure you want to take him too

Thanks for your very generous offer but as you have seen I am barely dealing with one dog!!!

Thought I'd show you how much Roo hates her new crate ;)

20130210_110318_zps51b2c7fc.jpeg

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These pics are a must see for anyone who doesn't believe that crates are A Good Thing! So pleased that Roo is taking to them so well and I wish you all the best with her, Jellyblush :)

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hey lets see if my theories work first :laugh:

Your assessment of Roo based on what you let her do, is based firmly in reality. So your theories have a solid foundation.

From all that went before, I'd expected her to be a frantic, always hyperactive dog. But you saw a dog that's malleable. And she sure looks the picture of total relaxation in the crate.

BTW, you've obviously never met a fat bogan. :)

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From all that went before, I'd expected her to be a frantic, always hyperactive dog.

BTW, you've obviously never met a fat bogan. :)

Nope - I said in my first post that she's a gentle, calm, submissive dog. She just goes mental when completely alone and has no 'off'switch that stops her hurting herself. She's a doll when there's someone around though.

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From all that went before, I'd expected her to be a frantic, always hyperactive dog.

BTW, you've obviously never met a fat bogan. :)

Nope - I said in my first post that she's a gentle, calm, submissive dog. She just goes mental when completely alone and has no 'off'switch that stops her hurting herself. She's a doll when there's someone around though.

Not your fault, Jelly. It was my over-active imagination that did it. :) I could do with some training myself .... in reading comprehension.

:) :)

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That's great but honestly, I was waiting for the promised 'Nekhbet is a bogan' photos ...

bolt.gif

Nekhbet is not the bogan she promised (false advertising!). She is actually very pretty. Disappointed! :laugh:

I know! I feel quite gipped!

Have you left her at all since you got home, Jelly?

Nope....want to build up to that very, very slowly. Have this week all planned out so she won't be left at all, but will be crated whenever I'm home, might try a few open/shut the front door scenarios but won't go anywhere.

Then next weekend I thought I'd try some very brief absences.

I

Sounds great. How is she if you go out the front door just to get something from the mailbox?

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Tried that today ... a lot of quivering and lip licking, but she stayed lying down in the crate (I videoed her).

I also pottered around downstairs for an hour, with her in her crate upstairs, she didn't seem phased at all although she did shoot out of it the second I opened the door.

She's currently chilling in there with the door open... :thumbsup:

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Yeah I didn't recommend that Jelly just leave her in there straight away, we still need to take things step by step so Roo actually learns by achievable goals life's not that bad when Jelly's not around. Home will be hard because so many habits are there but the fact she happily sat in the van with no stress reactions at all shows how situation specific her behavior actually is. A really bad separation anxiety dog I expected to carry on like a pork chop in my van especially as it's just so different, extremely confronting and the owner is not there to be the safety blanket.

There's patterns that Roo has that she uses to set off learned behaviors, and as we all know old habits are hard to break. Not impossible, just take some time and patience. Once Roo learns some alone time with the crate, then we're going to tackle the backyard issue :) I think we'll get to a level that Jelly has more then one option to safely keep Roo at home while she's out. If her pain threshold wasn't as high as it is though half the problems would not be there :laugh:

It is good to see she's doing so well already! She will exhibit old behaviors but like I said, let her brain kick in and she'll see how silly they actually are when such a good option is there ready for her to enjoy.

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