Nothing bad to report for the last few days, but I haven't yet taken her back to the place where the tantrums were worst. I've been making sure that I do plenty of off lead/on lead whilst we are out and concentrating on loose lead walking, using lead and flat collar instead of harness, which is a good thing. So I need to go to the devil area and also the park where we were with the borrower lady (who is still keen ) and be fully prepared. As an aside, I was pleased yesterday as for the first time she actually saw a deer, instead of just picking up on it's scent. She ran to the point where it had disappeared into the undergrowth and then speedily returned to me with out being recalled. I am working on recall so didn't want to risk it. Regards the food change, I'm still dragging my heels. The answer I got from the behaviourist was that the all about dogs website can tell which ones are excellent and which will suit my pocket. But I still don't understand which ingredients I do or don't want. Perhaps she feels it's more about the purity than the dietary constituents.
2 days ago we went to the devil area to see what would happen. Sure enough at the usual spot she comes hurtling over to me and started grabbing my coat pocket, the one where the tug toy was, and was determined to get it out, jumping up and nipping. I think it took 6 or 7 standing on lead before she stopped, and then just walked quietly home on a loose lead. It's bizarre, but I do think it started due to the discomfort and anxiety of the phantom pregnancy and learnt that she could. It was like "oh this is the place where I barge you around and then I get to play tug and win, because I'm big and strong now"
Posted to soon. So I will have to keep going there and just deal with it. The vet told me that the 2 month window to get her spayed starts next week, which is 14 weeks since the end of her season- what a long time for hormones to be awry.
Well things have been a lot better this last week, just a few times she has gone to grab my sleeve but stopped herself before any intervention. Yesterday we went to the devil place and it didn't happen, but it was pouring with rain so that might have made a difference. But she was a lot better at the training class today, I did need to stand on the lead twice, but she soon gave up. So maybe we are turning a corner with this behaviour.
In the UK only a Vet can advise on diet. A trainer or behaviourist can suggestvthatca diet change may be beneficial but not what you should actually feed your dog
Hmm? Really? I don't necessarily think that vets know a huge amount about nutrition. The basics, yes for sure, but specific foods maybe not. in human terms, you would seek information from a dietician. A canine nutritionist would be the best expert to get advice from for your dog.
People can offer advice but only you can decide. It took me a long time to find a food that suited my boy. There's lots of good stuff out there and I tried a few. My need to change his food was urgent but with Miss Sassy it'd not so urgent so take your time. You are working through her behaviours and succeeding.
I think that's all it was, and after all I had asked for advice about the behaviour and that was part of her answer. She only said that Akela is what she finds works.
Yes I think you're right about vets knowledge, unless perhaps they choose to specialise. I asked at my vets not long ago if any of them had a particular interest and would support raw feeding, but none of them do, it's the vet nurses that do all that. They had just had a talk from Natures Menu and were wanting to promote that. They are all lovely and I'm full of praise for they way they have helped Cass feel happy at the vets, but one of them told me that Cassie is no longer a wolf and wouldn't know what to do with a whole rabbit carcase. I beg to differ. My young neighbour came to help with some recall exercises, she's a second year vet student, and was really interested in +R training, she'd never heard of it and said they don't do anything about behaviour or training at all. I guess there is just so much for them to learn that they can't cover everything.
Yes, spot on. My gut feeling was to work on the behaviour. Quite like to find a food for her that she's not so keen to recycle!
Totally agree with you on the limitations if vet training - many vets are extremely poor on behaviour and training as well. I was just pointing out that trainers and behaviourists are not allowed to recommend diets. The reason we refer to the vet is that they are qualified body responsible for your digs health. It is upto individual vets whether they refer you to canine nutritionist or advuse themselves.
If you also look on the all about dog food site there is a section all about the ingeduents that go into the dog food which can help explain the labelling produced by the manufacturer and helps in making choices on food based upon what you are happy with. I've feed numerous brands, some as recommended by my vet for special diets, but would not go as far as to recommend any one food - it depends upon what's important for the individual - price, quantity, availability etc. Choose a food and buy the smallest size to trial first - some manufactures offer a 1kg or 1.5kg size which is enough for transition and knowing whether you dog likes it. Good luck choosing a food
Thank you @Jojo83, very informative and useful. I will look at that section. As @SwampDonkey says though, it's not urgent, I seem to be getting on top of managing her behaviour, so I can take my time. I begin to wonder though if anyone really knows what's best for them, but I didn't know there are specialist canine nutritionists.
I spoke to one about Rory they were helpful and had some good ideas. I tried the food my vets suggested too which was useless to Rory and did not work. I the end I managed to work a lot if it out myself and with trying different things got to the point were he's ok.I'm happy with the food he's on now and I think it's a good price. Things took a while to get to where I was happy with him and what he was eating.
This week has been a lot better, with no mugging incidents since Tuesday, which was quickly resolved by standing on the lead and no interaction at all. We were in a field that has just had the barley taken off, so we've not been in it for a few months, and a lovely sunny day and I honestly think it was high spirits, whereas when this behaviour started it was definitely angsty. Today we've been to a small horse and dog show locally, just to see how she was because it seemed for a while she didn't like being somewhere different, only a couple of weeks ago I was helping out at a big equestrian event and every time she got out of the car a tantrum happened. It was odd because a lot of her socialisation involved such things. So I'm happy to say that all was well today, and she seemed to enjoy the excursion just as she did last year. We even entered a class but were not placed -- I blame the handler !
