Has your dog recently received Ivermectin or Trifexis?  Both can lead to permanent neurological damage I’m told.  Also some dry dogfood and dog treats are being recalled for fungus contamination.  One dog treat I gave my 3 dogs caused them to have the same symptoms and then they had seizures.  Luckily I figured out what it was and they all recovered.

When we crate our puppy we actually don’t put pee pads in there — take him out at night and in the morning and do it consistently and it teaches them when to go to the bathroom

We were told not to put pee pads in the crate as they should not be encouraged to go to the bathroom in their den. It takes a little while to get used to but we found getting rid of pee pads altogether was the best thing ever. We had our months of accidents but now our guy never goes to the bathroom inside.

I found pee pads increased his incontinence

Give him some space and toys and stuff and reinforce him for going in the den and just making sure he doesn’t have water before bed and is taken outside

Also make sure his kennel doesn’t smell like urine or feces — he may not realize he isn’t suppose to go to the bathroom in there and he may be playing or destroying the pee pads because he is teething — there are awesome rubber toys you can get and we just popped out the squeek mechanism in them so ours could chew on them all night and also make sure he gets a long walk and lots of exercise before he goes in so he isn’t full of energy!!

if he’s urinating constantly could be a UTI  so many get checked for that!

Yep, you are training your sweet puppy to pee and poop in your house when you use pee pads.  Follow the directions below to house train your pup, and sleep in sweats or something like that so you can pop up in the middle of the night and take that puppy outside if he starts indicating he needs to pee (he should be sleeping in a crate that is small enough that he does not want to pee in it).  I sleep in sweats with slip on shoes beside the door for all my dogs until they are 6 months old.  

I have a 11 year old Scottie that was taught to pee on pads in the bathroom when he was a puppy, (before I got him at 6 months old) and to this day when it is cold or rainy at night he will go into the bathroom and use the bath mat instead of going out the doggie door which is 4 feet away.  If you teach them to use a pee pad you will struggle with the results the rest of his life.

Fight the good fight!

Amy, this is resource guarding and it is a strong instinct in some dogs — and has nothing to do with the amount of food or water the dog receives.  You MUST go find a trainer (or 2, 3, 4).  Yes, start with your vet’s recommendations, but don’t stop there.  Find a local dog club and ask them for recommendations for a trainer that uses “positive reinforcement” techniques only.  Any other kind of training will lead to more problems as the dog gets older.  And the first trainer you try may not be the right trainer for your family, and your dog — so that is why you need to keep on going until you find the trainer that will really work for you, your son, and your dog.

Be sure your children are involved in the training of the dog.  Find a trainer that will also work with your son.  A 6 year old will not be responsible for training the dog, but he has to understand what not to do, and how to behave with the pup.

In the mean time – LEAVE NOTHING IN THE DOG’S REACH THAT CAN BE GUARDED!  This means no food left around.  Your son can not walk around with a cookie, a juice box, etc.  No bags of chips left on coffee tables.  If he has nothing to hoard/guard, he won’t be biting.  In all likelihood if you don’t learn how to work with your puppy to reverse this behavior now he will start guarding other things — toys, his bed, his favorite place on the sofa, etc.  And be sure to have him neutered when he turns 6 months old – you will avoid another whole set of problems if you do this.

It took me 18 months and 4 trainers to finally have a dog that wasn’t biting me or my husband when he disagreed about who should be on the bed at night.  But once we understood each other, I had 12 years with the best dog in the world.  Truly.  

A hot spot is not a particular skin ailment, but rather an area that has been licked/chewed to the point where it develops a bacterial infection that causes the “spot” to be oozing a honey colored, gooey discharge, often with an odor. 

I am a holistic veterinarian, so I can offer a number of possible solutions for you and also some coaching for general itching problems. 

first, since he is worse this summer, I wonder if you have recently had  your old
“analog” electric meter (it has 4 little discs that spin and a man stops
monthly to read it) changed for a “smart meter” or “digital meter” – looks like a
computer. These can cause severe health problems or worsen current ones. Opt
out of getting one.  http://www.stopsmartmeters.org  If you already have one, pay the money to replace it, and the monthly fee we are charged for protecting our children, animals and ourselves from the high EMFs. http://marylandsmartmeterawareness.org/ has info to educate you and help you. 

Also, this summer has been much wetter, and some animals are more susceptible to that. Also, when were vaccines last given? they can cause skin problems. 

Finally, has he been showing any lameness, even mild? Sometimes they will chew on a part of the body that is in pain. 

the conventional treatment for itching is anti-itch medication, topically or orally and maybe an antibiotic. 

Holistically there are some treatments for this episode, then work to maximize health by
following the keys on my website, http://www.MyHealthyAnimals.com, especially the 7 keys to health. Healthy dogs just do not
get hot spots.  

Now, clip the hair around the spot if it is discharging, then use brown lye old fashioned soap followed by the black or green tea bags. Once it is dry, use aloe from your own plant or a drinkable organic aloe vera from the store, or plantain from your yard (if no chemicals there) made into a slurry or calendula to heal. If it is very itchy, SSStingSSSTop ( from the health store) may help. 

Merely improving the diet (raw meaty bones and pureed vegetables) may help end the itchiness, or you may need to seek professional care (Bel Air, Hereford, White Marsh are probably the closest holistic veterinarians to you – http://www.ahvma.org for details, or the links page on my site). Mitomax is
a super probiotic that
can improve nutrient absorption, so helps with all problems. I have had many
animals’ itchiness clear up while using this, though sometimes they need to
stay on it. Unlike other probiotics, it is very stable and is ok at the low
stomach pH.

 Rescue Remedy is an easily available (at any health food store and many regular stores) combination flower essence to “rescue” when needed. 10 drops in a cup of water and sponge on the itchy knee, or add to any other topical treatments you choose. Put one
drop in a separate water bowl for him (and any of the others) to drink – change daily.  If the RR seems to help, you can give some orally (few drops from the bowl) as frequently as any of the family thinks of it.  

Even if the licking is because of a knee issue, the Rescue Remedy may help, as will the self healing methods listed below. Of course, if symptoms worsen – time to visit a veterinarian, preferably an integrative one if you are interested in that approach. 

For the future, learn Reiki (www.AnimalReikiAlliance.com is a local Baltimore source of classes, and any holistic store or practice nearer to you as Reiki is the same for human and animals), acupressure, TTouch, healing Touch for Animals (HTA),
massage, acupressure (several good books) and take one of my homeopathy classes – August is a 6 days class.  

There is a great store that will be a healing resource for all your animals – Baron’s country Store (N of Bel Air, so should be close enough for you). It is near Dave’s natural market, another great resource. 

Ask more questions here if I was not clear. 

Hi Sarah!