Rascalmyshadow

It is a huge relief and honestly I don’t think he really ever fit in here properly, my cats are so happy not having him constantly chase them. As much as I love poodles and have owned them for 20 years I’ve come to realise unfortunately they are no longer suitable for our lifestyle.

I know this is an older thread but I thought I would give it one last update. I have been staying in touch with Hugo’s new owner and he is doing amazing!!! She has an adult son with autism ( whom I met before Hugo went on trial) and Hugo adores him, he was so gentle and had a wonderful vibe about him, she also has a Mum in a nursing home so she takes Hugo in for visits, he gets to go to so many places, beaches, bush walks, holidays etc. the most perfect life. I want to say thank you to those of you that helped me with support and pointing me in the right direction to rehome him in the right way, I have done my fair share of rescue and rehome but when it’s your own dog it is so much harder.

Whoops

You have been given a lot of very good advice, please please get her checked over thoroughly by a competent vet, make sure they check everything, eyes, ears, teeth, bloods etc. We had a little chi who had very similar behaviour which gradually got worse, she had a nasal tumour that spread to her brain, we luckily knew about it before the behaviour escalated.

I saw this story, horrible dog owner he should be charged.

I would recommend Andis clippers they are the quietest and lightest which makes them easier to use if you have no or little experience. For a Maltese you need a 10# blade for belly and armpits and a 40# blade to put under your plastic combs, I use prefer Oster blades. For the length you want look at Big K blade combs/guards. Before starting to clip make sure your dog has been bathed and blow dried (do not leave any damp spots they must be bone dry) and has no knots, always clip the direction the coat grows not against it.

Hi have also been in this situation myself and as Snook and asal suggested definitely get a vet check to rule out any pain, also a proper check on his eyes, our old poodle girl started similar behaviour once she lost most of her eyesight, she could see movement but was often unsure what or who it was. I would also suggest a visit with a good Chiro or similar, often vets miss issues that chiro’s etc will pick up on.

We have seen a small improvement in the last week, not sure if it’s because the weather has been better or because he is settled in our new routine or because I am recovering so not as unwell and stressed. Thankyou for your offer Bundyburger I will keep you in mind if we have to be gone for any prolonged periods, we are going to be staying at Ronald McDonald house in Melbourne for a couple of nights next week while my son has heart surgery, luckily my parents in law have offered to come and stay with Rascal and the other three kids.

No need for apologies I didn’t take it that way, just explaining the whole situation so I can get the best advice. I think you could be right about the change of mood, Rascal is exremely sensitive if I’m not feeling good and if one of the kids aren’t well (especially my youngest) he will stay by their side so I guess even though we are trying to keep everything as normal as possible he will be sensing we are all a bit worried.

He has been enjoying the one on one without any competition but we did notice a few changes within a couple of weeks of Hugo leaving, me going into hospital has definitely not helped the situation but he didn’t react like this when I went into hospital to have my daughter which is what leads me to believe being an only dog has something to do with it. My son hasn’t come home from the hospital and at this stage he’s not likely to until he has his heart surgery in January so except for us visiting him every second day everything else is back to normal, Rascal has been going with my husband to do the school run, we have taken him to visit the grandparents and we have been taking him to the oval where we would normally go for a walk. While he is a friendly little dog I don’t think he would enjoy doggie day care, he doesn’t interact with dogs out in public except for a quick sniff or bark and he’s only really been interested in playing with two other dogs (both were fosters) in his life. He is predominantly my dog, I make sure I have time for him every day no matter what else is going on and he will happily interact with everyone else, if I’m busy he’ll go and hang out in my sons room or play chasey and tug o war with my almost three year old or chill out on the couch with my older daughter or go and supervise my husband outside, although our lives have been turned a bit upside down he has still been a main priority.

Not considered crating he has not been taught to be crated and I think it would add more stress, our property is dog proof he only managed to get out because my husband stacked bricks against the gate so not worried about him getting out again now they have been moved. I could leave some of my clothes for him, not sure how I would record my voice and be able to play it back.

I’ll pick some up on Fri along with the collar hopefully both help.

Is this ok to use along with the Dap collar?

I’ll look for the collar on Friday and if it works I’ll buy a few online. I really hope it helps normally we would only leave Rascal to go shopping otherwise he’s with us and he has been fine with that but the hospital is so far away we are gone for 4-5 hours. This is one of the main reasons I never had just one dog (except when I was still living with my parents).

Yes his world has been turned upside down in the last month, we have tried our best to make sure he is either with us or he has someone home and between my husband and my father in law they did as much as they could to keep his routine normal while I was in hospital.

Some may remember about 3 months ago we rehomed Hugo one of our dogs which has left Rascal an only dog for the first time in his life (he’s 9), we didn’t think he would have any issues since the two dogs barely interacted and had the odd altercation. He has spent his entire life by my side (coming to work before I was a SAHM)but never showed any signs of separation anxiety even the times he had to be left at home, in the last couple of months that has changed and the bad weather we have been having has made it that much worse (he has storm phobia). On Sunday we had to go out for a couple of hours, he climbed up a stack of bricks (have now been moved) and squeezed through the top rails of our gate (he has never even tried to get out before). I noticed him missing as soon as we got home, we managed to find him out in the joining street but something had happened that spooked him and he behaved like he didn’t recognise anyone so just kept running, it took my husband, his dad, my oldest daughter and two random people out of a car to finally catch him, he nearly got run over twice and ended up collapsing from exhaustion in someone’s yard (he ran a few k’s up and down hills) he woke up quite sore yesterday so I gave him some Metacam and some this morning and he is much better and behaving like his normal self. Now we are stressed about leaving him at all which is not good since we are having to visit my baby son in hospital every second day. Today we left my older son at home to dogsit as he is on school holidays but we are going to have a lot of medical appointments to attend in coming months, once the kids go back to school I won’t have anyone to stay with him. When we go out he is left in the house with full access to all rooms and yard, we leave the tv going and heater/air con on if necessary, he also has the four cats for company but he is still obviously stressed. Its been well over 20 years since I’ve had only one dog so have not really had any of these issues, we can’t afford a behaviourist/trainer to help us so I’m looking for any advice which could help. He has recently been checked over by the vet so we know there’s nothing medically wrong and we have tried daily anxiety meds but he reacted very badly so we decided not to risk trying any others except for the one off ones we use for bad storms. He won’t chew bones or anything and he’s not food motivated at all so we can’t use anything like that to keep him busy, he hates wearing jumpers and harnesses so wouldn’t put a thunder shirt on him, i’ll get some dap spray to try but any other ideas would be great.

If you are looking at standard poodles be even more careful about your cats, I’m not sure where you have read your information but they are a hunting dog and chasing/grabbing in many is an instinct that is hard to stop.

Can you give more information about your day to day activities and what the dogs lifestyle would be. I think with your kids ages either would be fine, poodles need a lot of mental stimulation even the tiny ones more so than a cavalier, cavaliers tend to have a beautiful soft temperament, I have never met an aggressive/nasty one (I’ve handled a lot) poodles however can however range a lot in their temperaments from calm and friendly to extremely nervous and reactive, just something to keep in mind when searching for the right one. Both have a few known health issues so make sure you do plenty of research and find a breeder that test for everything necessary, poodles obviously don’t she everywhere but need bathing and blow drying at least fortnightly with haircuts every 6-8weeks, cavaliers are quite heavy shedders but if bathed and properly blow dried with a force dryer each fortnight it will lessen it, their coats are easier to manage being straight. Poodles often have a high prey drive (even the toys)so some are good with cats while others can be terrible even if they grow up together, this is less likely to be an issue with a cavalier. Hope this helps a little.

What a wonderful outcome, I’m so glad you made the right choice, rag dolls are such dog like cats and generally have a lot of patience.

Don’t go stressing yourself over what some stranger said, it is a rare occurrence and if the dogs are getting along fine I wouldn’t worry. We have lived with a pack for over 20 years (first time we are now down to one) including lots of fosters, we have had numerous breeds and the only very serious issue we have ever had was between a female American bulldog and a male mini poodle, there was warning signs before it became serious, it’s not often just out of the blue two dogs that get along randomly attack each other.

Where are you located I have half a drum, happy to fill up a couple of bottles for you. Nothing wrong with bathing dogs that often as long as they are rinsed properly, everyone of my dogs have been bathed every week to fortnight for over 20 years and never had a skin issue. Just realised the drum I have is Biogroom Econogroom, forgot I changed shampoos, it is just as good as the grimeinator, happy to give you some to try.

It’s done Hugo has left on trial in his new home, I feel quite empty but I think he’s going to have the best life. If only doing the right thing didn’t have to be so hard

Just an update I have someone meeting Hugo today and another person on Sat, one in particular I think will be completely perfect. I will se how he responds and go from there. I’m feeling a little better after talking to both these people, knowing he will have the chance to have a happy carefree life rather than one that makes him nervous.

I was thinking similar but because I am the one with the dogs 24/7 everybody leaves it all to me, even if they help out in the short term I know it won’t last.

Yes I had considered that but I had many fosters (a couple long termers) come back regularly for grooming and they were fine, got just as excited arriving as they did when they went home. Also I wouldn’t be able to do his grooming until March or later next year, once I properly recovered from my c-section, so there would a huge amount of time between adoption and seeing him again, probably long enough for him to be well established in a new home. To be honest I don’t really want to have to continue grooming him for someone else, I gave up grooming because of the stress it caused and I get anxiety just thinking about grooming someone else’s dog.