Look at him! This is Hamish, a Very Important Dog, and he knows it.
He is no trouble at all most of the time but he has his family jumping to his bidding.
He has them up and down opening the garden door, and then may decide he doesn’t want to go out anyway. He takes them his food bowl when he wants food, and obediently they fill it. Whenever he brings them a toy, they will always play. When he wants to be fussed or touched, they always oblige.
A nightmare at the vet
However, things are a bit different if they want to do something with him, if his own space is invaded. He has bitten several times, mostly when they take his collar to either inspect his feet or groom him.
When they go into his space he may back into a corner and bite. He has been chewing his back feet, but they can’t inspect them.
He went absolutely frantic at the vets recently, biting his male owner in the car park and having to be restrained with a catch pole in the surgery. This sort of experience will guarantee future vet visits will be even worse, if that’s possible.
Hamish to put in some effort
If his owners give him better leadership and make him work a little for some of their attention, Hamish should then start to value them when they want to attend to him. They need to learn not to corner him – we wouldn’t like that either. It intimidates him.
He needs to want to come over to them – to please them. He needs to learn that to get attention he sometimes has to work for it.
When his personal space is invaded
For dogs that have problems with people invading their personal space, you need to work slowly and imagine how it feels to the dog. First, I would say that putting him somewhere high to groom him, maybe a garden table, would be less challenging for him.
It all has to be done in tiny increments, starting with him being happy simply being lifted on and off the table. Then he can be massaged and touched in areas where he’s less touchy – no brush or scissors in sight. All the time he needs to be watched for signs of stress, as that is the time to stop that particular session.
He needs to change vets to give him a fresh start.
There is a vet nearby at the back of a pet shop. This would mean he first would smell toys and treats, he could be called through at the last moment. He could be taken there beforehand a few times to buy his dog food.
He also needs to be weaned into wearing a muzzle. This also need to be done in tiny increments, until he’s happy wearing it around the house. It’s essential that the muzzle is not associated with going to the vet.
In other respects Hamish is a chilled and confident little dog and no trouble at all (apart from being another Westie like I met a couple of weeks ago that barks at animals on telly!). A beautiful boy.
Six weeks later: Thank you for all your help. It has made a big difference. He seems much happier.
