Working with a holistic veterinarian or trying some holistic approaches at home can reverse the behavioral change that I feel was caused by the surgery or the anesthesia. Some animals are sensitive and do have serious reactions that I could not treat when I merely had my conventional treatment. 

I strongly recommend finding an integrative
veterinarian with whom to work. This is a person trained in many different
approaches, including using conventional drugs only when absolutely needed.
Working with one can increase the chance that your cherished companion can live
a long and healthy life after recovering from this current problem. There are
good ones and great ones, and a few homeopathic veterinarians will consult by
phone or email. You can go to the web sites for each type of holistic practice
and use their referral list to find one near to you. Many practitioners are
members of only one or two of the organizations, so you do need to go to every
site to find who is near you:
1. Wide range of treatments: http://www.AHVMA.org, American Holistic Veterinary
Medical Association and http://www.civtedu.org.   
2. Homeopathic veterinarians (these can often help you by phone if no other
holistic practitioners are nearby that you like): http://www.theAVH.org and
http://www.DrPitcairn.com;
3. Chiropractic and Osteopathic – http://www.animalchiropractic.org; http://equineosteopathy.org/ (they treat
dogs, too)
4. TCVM (Acupuncture and Chinese medicine): http://www.IVAS.org, http://www.aava.org &
http://www.TCVM.com
5. Herbal – http://www.VBMA.org

At home you could take a class to be attuned in Reiki and offer it to everyone in the house on a daily basis. This may reverse the problem (see below). flower essences are totally safe and could help him become normal again. Maybe try a session with Sharon who makes the Anaflora line and is also an animal intuitive. 

Personally, I think every person who lives with or works
with animals must know at least Level I Reiki. The practitioner offers this
energy and the animal comes over to get it (or places her hands upon the
animal), or it can be done from a distance, even around the world with the
intent for healing to occur. The energy flows through the healer into the
animal. This is based on directly applying Chi (energy) to rebalance the energy
field so it no longer needs to produce the physical symptoms. It is a very good
adjunct to any healing modality, especially to relieve pain and inflammation. I
have seen cats who began to eat again when their food was treated with Reiki.
It also “takes the bad out of” things. By doing Reiki on smelly water
in restaurants I have been able to drink sweet tasting and smelling water. Use
Reiki anytime that you must give injections, vaccines, drugs, flea or heartworm
drugs, or other substances with potential toxicity. Reiki is great to calm
animals, relieve discomfort, and can deeply heal some problems in some animals.
 

1. Great information on Reiki – http://www.reikicourse.org. 
2. Kathleen Prasad is a wonderful teacher and works with my favorite sanctuary
and holistic education center, BrightHaven http://www.brighthaven.org. Kathleen leads
a free monthly telechat for anyone trained in Reiki and using it with animals.http://www.animalreikisource.com/. 

3. If you cannot find a Reiki Class near you (same class for people and animals
as it connects you through an “attunement” to the healing energy of
the universe, making you a channel of healing), the following groups offer long
distance, free, attunements. 

a. http://theholisticcare.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=13, 
b. http://freereikiattunement.com/
c. Christine at cbearse@earthlink.net, http://www.awakeningrainbows.com. To receive
free distance Reiki send her your first name only, city and state, and whether
or not you have had any Reiki training.  She invites you to include your
pets as well.  She uses a teddy bear and does a full body Reiki distance
treatment for one hour each Sunday evening from 9 p.m. until 10 p.m. EST. 
d. And a team of over 100 healers will send free healing energy until you say
not to. Email Barbara at nancelot01@aol.com with your healing request, name of
animal, species, color & age. In the subject say request through Dr.
Chambreau

4. for a fee:

Excellent recommendation in 2015 – http://reikishamanic.com/

http://www.ReikiBlessings.com offers many types of
energy healing classes- search a bit to find the reiki ones or email them. Long
distance healing and training is at http://www.animalhealers.homestead.com. 
5. Get a free treatment for yourself at http://www.interdimensionalhealing.com.

I am so glad, Crystal.
If you want to learn more yourself, join our Thur 1-2 eastern Blabs run by Jeff Feinman (free) and then look at taking his on line course coming up or one of my two in Maine and Maryland in Sept/Oct. Sign up for my RSS feed on my site to learn more.

The vet said they cudnt feel any baby’s as she over weight but she nested twice now in 2 weeks

I cudnt get through is it normal for a rabbit to nest twice in 2/3 weeks I have pictures but cant send on here

Do U know anyone that does

I think a lot of dogs enjoy having some tension in the leash because it allows them to “zone out” on the walk and enjoy sniffing around without focusing 100% on their owner. If the owner turns or slows down it is easier for the dog to immediately feel the change in the tight leash than it is for them to suddenly hit the end of a really loose leash which probably hurts their neck. In a way this makes sense because it is impossible for anyone, dog or human, to pay attention 100% of the time (think about day dreaming in school). 

There are a couple of tricks you can try. One is to train the dog to walk on 2 different pieces of equipment. For example, if they have a buckle collar on they must keep a loose leash at all times (could be used for busy sidewalks, vet visits, ect) and if they have a harness on it means you are on a more casual walk and you don’t mind them leaning on the leash as long as they aren’t yanking your arm out of socket. You could also use different commands (“heel”- walk at attention by my side and “walk on”- we are just walking for enjoyment so slight pulling or sniffing around is fine). One thing nice about using commands is that you can alternate during a walk. For example, you can practice “heel” every time you cross a street and then allow the dog walk casually during the rest of the walk. Your dog will give you better attention during the heel because they know it will be over soon, as opposed to you trying to demand perfect focus for the whole walk.

If you want the dog to always walk on a loose leash when wearing its buckle collar, make sure you only put that collar on when you are mentally ready to train and have sufficient time. Don’t use it during quick walks around the block before work when you are distracted/ in a hurry and not paying attention. Start out by having the dog practice sitting for you a few times indoors for a treat. Proceed outside and as soon as you feel tension on the leash stop and wait! Don’t move at all, it helps to have your hands holding the leash at your waist so you don’t accidentally give more slack when the dog pulls. Wait for your dog to sit automatically (without a command), then give a treat, and take one step forwards. A lot of dogs will explode to the end of the leash with excitement so be ready to stop and wait again. Allow the dog to pull, jump up, bark, paw you, ect without punishment. Just wait for the sit, give a treat when they sit, and walk forwards. See how many steps you can take on a slack leash. When the leash is tight, stop and wait for the sit again. Soon the dog will be really focused on you because they are ready to sit every time you stop. Once you begin walking along on a loose leash, you can periodically reward the dog with a piece of kibble for looking up at you. Remember, reward the dog when it does something you like. 

Sophia Yin has some great training videos related to this on YouTube!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2vZusiOzJg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUCl6ndLN7Q  

https://drsophiayin.com/philosophy/

Ian Dunbar also has a variety of great videos on this subject.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U92mG5-V26M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkapxaexrBA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLERx9XR8pU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InJD18Zxudc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Saa13XvCdlI

http://www.dogstardaily.com/book/export/html/2131

I also recommend Grisha Stewart’s book “Behavior Adjustment Training”. 

Thank you! He is a 2 year old golden retriever, and still really goofy when he runs (he doesn’t stop in time, runs into things, etc.) I’m hoping he just pulled something. My vet is closed until Monday, so I can’t call for any advice.

Thank you. He seems a little reluctant to get up, and he has trouble getting up the stairs. I just took him outside on a leash to go to the bathroom, and he was putting weight on it outside (still limping though), but holding it up again when we got inside. Is it possible that it is just a pulled muscle?

In a dog’s world, it is more important to be with the person they love and trust to care for them than it is to have a back yard to roam.  You need to get your dogs into your apartment with you and establish a daily routine for them.  Up super early and take a long (1 hour) walk so they are ready to nap the day away.

If you can afford to leave your dogs with a vet for extended periods, you can afford doggie daycare, or a dog walker.  Look for a day care close to where you work, or for a walker that will come to your apartment and take the dogs out in the afternoon.  Your dogs should have 2 things each day they can chew, especially if they are crated all day.  Things like a stuffed and frozen Kong, a treat puzzel/maze toy, or Nylabones.  This helps keep them calm and happy.

Get back to basics with crate training and on-leash walking.  Try a Martingale collar so that your dog can’t slip out of it.  

These dogs are not your roommates’ responsibility.  They are your responsibility – and if you no longer want to make the efforts it takes to have them live happily with you, then you should be finding them responsible new homes.

Thank you, I had crate trained them in the beginning. But they seemed to be more comfortable after our early morning walks, to just curl up together in my bed and stay in my room. I started putting up a baby gate in the door and they seem to be just fine with that. They will still go into the crates, but only when it’s time for bed. I will try that Martingales collar. I’ve just been taking them on walks one at a time because the lab, Sylvia, at first required me to pay careful attention to her. While the other, Shy, loved to take her time on walks. Sylvia got better, but she still every now and then would pull or slip out of her harness or collar when I wouldn’t go the way she wanted to go.

I think the routine I had back our old home with the walks 3 times a day and potty pads in areas in case of accidents will be our best bet. I think I’m mostly worried about Sylvia barking at every noise she doesn’t recognize and the stress this move will have on them with all the changes.

I know you didn’t say that. However, this delay of 2 months in finding a way to get your dogs into a routine of living with you smacks of expecting someone else to be responsible for their well being. You know a 2 hour drive back and forth is getting old, wasting time you could be spending with your dogs in their new home. As for boarding dogs at a vet – you are exposing them to all sorts of diseases. Yes, I am sure the people at your vet do the best they can, but in all likelihood a vet’s office is not the idea place for dogs to be unless they have medical conditions that need the attention of a vet tech. It is just a different focus and skill set. A good doggie day care is a better environment for your dogs – they would be out of cages and interacting with dogs and humans most of the day at a day care. And if you spent time, energy and effort on an animal behaviorist, and working with your dogs that you now spend on traveling back and forth you would have the 2 most perfectly behaved apartment dwellers in the nation.

The gifts are a idea! Yeah I’ve spoken to the neighbors above and across from me apologizing. Though they all looked at me weird at first, they were pretty nice about it. They have been back with me for 2 days now and they seem to be adjusting better than I thought. especially since most of the furniture and things around them are from our house. So they are surrounded by scents they recognize and I think thats helping them. The only issue we are having is that one of my dogs is on high alert with every noise that happens outside. but when I say “Sylvy no barking” She stops immediately. Today while I was at work I set up a webcam in the room they were in, and they mostly slept all day and chewed bones. I was so proud, I bought them new squeaky toys and let them chase me at the dog park.

Thank you! You have been so nice and helpful.

i’m glad ti seems to be working out. i’m sure they’re much happier with you!

There is some stuff you can sprinkle on her food that stops them from doing it. It’s available in large pet stores and feed stores. At least then she won’t eat her own. It’s a discusting habit but will not do her any harm.

Yes, it’s iffy, but inexpensive and worth a try. BTW, that was a good article.

Oh and in case I didn’t mention, two or three day of being rapped on the nose, a dogs nose is very sensitive, he quit mis behaving and never ate poop or pulled on the leash again. May sound harsh but it worked.

Thanks I make an appointment tomorrow