They do all they can for Winston but his behaviour is a challenge for the young couple – as it would be for most people. They simply can’t cope with his manic evenings.
They have had the one-year-old English Bulldog for under two months and they are at their wits’ end with him. It’s ruining their life to the extent that the gentleman admits to not wanting to come home in the evening. (more…)
German Shepherd Kerry is bored.
Kerry
Although it’s natural for adult dogs to sleep for up to eighteen hours a day, this is only so if the rest of the time is filled with stuff natural to the dog – and its breed. Sleep probably won’t be in long blocks of enforced inaction during the day, but dozing between doing other things.
Young dogs in particular need action and fulfilment (just like young humans) or they get bored.
Kerry is a beautiful eighteen-month-old German Shepherd living with another GSD, Lemmy, aged four. They are both gorgeous dogs with lovely, friendly basic temperaments.
Young Kerry, unfortunately, probably isn’t getting enough action in her life and she’s very easily aroused. I saw this by how the smallest thing results in her leaping at someone, me in this case – grabbing my clothes and even hair with her teeth. (more…)
Aggression towards other dogs when out on walks might be the problem but the causes probably have tentacles in other areas of her life.
Reactivity is always as a result of some sort of stress – fear being the most likely. Stress isn’t a thing that is there one minute and gone the next. The surprise or shock may be sudden, but the effects linger. We know with ourselves that once things start to go wrong nothing seems to go right. We get into a progressively touchy mood. Stress builds up. (more…)
Excitable Dalmatian Milo can get from zero to a hundred in a second!! He barks persistently at people coming into the house- though didn’t at me. I’m calm and the lady and her adult son were asked to ignore him initially. Nobody was stirring him up. It was in the Read more…
Darcy watches the lady all the time. When she’s out of sight he pants and he paces. Even when left at home with the gentleman, he whines and stresses. Separation specifically and only from the lady freaks him out. Strangely, he shows no sign of being possessive of her nor Read more…
It’s a kind of vicious circle. A constantly challenging, easily aroused puppy can get us down. Our resulting loss of patience makes puppy worse. Days start badly Their days with sixteen-week-old Luna start badly as the easily aroused puppy fights against having her harness put on. The exasperated lady admits Read more…
An elderly family member is no longer able to look after her dog and he now has a new home. Cairn Terrier Ben has gone to live with the couple and their dog Bonnie. Bonnie is a Labrador Cocker Spaniel mix (the Labrador next door called to visit the mother Read more…
“We must show the dog who’s boss”. Rex guards his food. Guarding food and resources can be a contentious issue where human response is concerned. Many conscientious dog owners, doing what they believe is best, follow dangerous, outdated notions. These techniques can involve, right from the start as routine training, Read more…
Unpredictable aggression? Unpredictable only because they can’t see inside Banjo’s head. If they could, and if stress was visible, they might see a little pressure cooker in there; they would see how over the past five months or so things have simply become too much for him. Unpredictable also because Read more…
Maybe it wasn’t such a sudden behaviour change after all. Perhaps there were already signs.
Earlier when we spoke on the phone I heard this story:
It began about three months ago. Ambrose was spending hours just sitting and staring. (more…)