Leah
,@bailey21
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My 3 year old toy poodle, bailey, is currently having behaviour issues. He is well trained and we have even had a trainer not too long ago but despite all of this he is continuously going through phases a misbehaving/reactivity. These phases started to occurred since he was about 1. During a phase he typically gets very possessive aggressive, temperamental, reactive and starts to ignore all of his commands! Does anyone have any tips to help or stop these phases all together?
Comments
Hiya, my dog has pancreatitis and I have tried different food, medications and probiotics. Nothing seems to work for long and hasn’t went for longer the 3 weeks without a bad spell. Does anyone have any recommendations on how to help him as he is only just 3 and I am fed up of him not being able to be a young dog.
Comments
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Laura Have you tried low fat prescription food for this? I know Hill’s, RC, and Pro Plan all have a gastroenteric diet option.
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Sarah Morning-
I’m sure you have already discussed this with your vet, but maybe keeping a diary would help narrow things down and help you and your vet come up with a plan that lasts a little longer? Best of luck????-
Leah Post author He is kept consistent with food and only gets vegan treats as they don’t upset him. But with everything else he’s kept the exact same.
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carrie Urquhart I know you tried diets, but I wanted to add one maybe you hadn’t tried. Royal Canin makes amazing foods for sensitive stomachs. Have you had a full work up at the vet to rule out everything? I’ve seen nervous dogs who have constant pancreatitis. There was a medicine for nervous dogs that didn’t sedate them, cant remember the name of it right off but I could figure it out.
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Leah Post author Well he is currently on royal canin. But it doesn’t work, he’s still consistently having bad spells. We have had Lots of tests done but hes not nervous or anything. He is a very confident dog.
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Good morning. One of our shepherds used to get this way from time to time. It turns out that even though we are consistent, with him we had to be extremely diligent and consistent. Any change in routine would set him a little off. So for us it was a long road of patience and repetition. And walks. A LOT of walks. Going for a leashes walk where you are in charge is like a reset button in my humble opinion. It reminds them that you are higher in the pack order. The key is to catch the unwanted behavior right as or right before it starts-easier said than done. This helps you figure out the trigger and then in turn you can start to desensitize them to it. It is definitely a process of rewarding wanted behaviors and ignoring and redirecting where bad behaviors are concerned. Definitely a full time job, but it can be done. You may want to look into a certified dog behaviorist rather than a trainer. They can help you get started and would really be worth the money. Very best of luck.
Hiya, thanks for getting back to me! I have started to get a really good routine since I got back to work. He has also started to only be allowed on the lead as I’m starting to see a more reactive/aggressive side to him and he is usually at heel to walk until I let him sniff about. I have been referred to behaviourist from the vets but I have to wait til I get my own house due to my living situation the now, unfortunately.
In the short term, look into Nothing In Life is Free (NILF). I agree with Sarah, there’s likely something setting this off. Try to keep logs of what happens to cause these relapses, so you can figure out how to avoid them in the future.
I’d also love to know more:
-Do you have any other animals in the house? How about children?
-Is he intact?
-What sort of training do you do on a regular basis, beyond basic commands?
-What sort of grooming routine do you have with him?
-When was his last bloodwork done, and when you had it done, was a thyroid panel part of it? Have you ever brought this up with the vet? Have you ever checked him over to see if anything hurts? Bad behavior can also come from physical discomfort, eye issues, coat issues, teeth issues, osteo issues from long nails, ear infections, etc. Is this the same dog with chronic pancreatitis? I’d bet that’s playing into it, too – sick dogs don’t always behave well.
-Did you get him from a breeder or a rescue? If the former, have you talked to the breeder about this? They might have insight for you.
Hiya, thanks for getting back to me! I’m going to get that sorted tonight as I’ve just had a look into it and it seems to be really good. I have to keep a log of his food he eats, how much and if he’s had a good or bad day with his pancreatitis, I have noticed with that log that he acts out when he’s having good periods with his pancreatitis. I have a guinea pig but he seems to have a very good bond with him, he also has daily contact with dogs as family members own dogs and I work in a groomers(he comes to work with me). I currently live with my parents and their children have no respect for him, so I can’t do any crate training or that. I constantly having to tell the kids off but because my parents don’t it makes no difference, I am hopefully moving out in the next month at the latest! With his training we do tricks, obedience, some agility, off lead training( he is not getting to that the now due to his relative/aggressive tendancies currently) and grooming training. I am currently doing retraining by basically go over every command he knows for at least 2 days each but building it up for him. He had blood work at the end of last year but I have found that he behaves badly when he’s feeling better. I did speak to the breeder but she didn’t really have anything to help my out and I know a good few dogs she has bred from the same mum and dad just different litters and they are all fine.
What’s your normal training routine? And you’ve gotta advocate for your dog – he’s very small, children are usually larger than toy poodles and often don’t respect their space. Eventually chances are he’ll bite one of the kids if they aren’t respecting his space.
This might mean separating him from the kids. It might mean crating when you can’t be there to supervise 100% of the time.
Well he’s never in the house now when I’m not there and if he can’t come with me I get other family to watch him. We usually do 2 sessions morning and night, for about 10mins. He unfortunately had a seizure today when we were out so I think his behaviours more than just acting up. He will have a vets emergency appointment tomorrow morning so I will hopefully know more then.
Oof, yeah. That may explain quite a bit. Is this is first ever seizure? I hope you get some answers.
Yes, me too but I’ll let you know what they say tomorrow!
Definitely let us know. I’ll keep you guys in my thoughts.
At the vets today they took blood but all his vitals were fine and the only thing wrong with him physically was he was a bit sore on his spine, which we believe that’s due to hurting himself during the seizure. If the blood tests don’t come back with anything he will go and get a head scan.
Did they do a full thyroid panel?
Hiya, his blood results came back clean but I’m going to need to look into something else to do more tests as since he had the seizure his behaviour has became more aggressive rather that reactive.