Little Gifts

There are people on here with skill in this area who will respond but I have a couple of little bits of advice for you based on my own experiences with a difficult dog and using behaviourists. 1. Over time you may need to try a different behaviourist. I've used three and they have all been invaluable and helped us through different issues. No one person may have all the answers. Also if your dog is like ours his behaviours will keep changing over time and your strategies will need to change too. 2. Regardless of the activities you would like to do with him, if your dog cannot be exercised outside of your property for various reasons then you need to find ways to be physically active at home. Our girl stress poos and vomits when she leaves the property so we simply stopped putting her through that as she wasn't enjoying it. What's the point in making her do something that causes her stress when there are other ways to 'exercise' through play or games in the backyard? 3. Tire his mind out too. Our girl is always alert too and needs her brain challenged as much as her body. She now gets all her meals through puzzles. Some I bought second hand and others I've made so it hasn't cost me a lot of money. It takes maybe 5 more minutes at meal times but it has made a huge difference in our house. Our next step is to try nosework at home with a view to hopefully doing it outside the house if she can become focussed enough to not be stressed about not being at home. 4. Routine is good. Some dogs need routine to feel safe. Your boy could be one of them (my girl is). 5. Your boy might need a job. All of ours have jobs that match their natural tendencies and we support them in doing it. Don't give them a job they are not capable of doing or you are setting them up for failure. And by jobs I mean he might be good at alerting you to things going on outside your house (as opposed to guarding which I don't think is a good job for an anxious dog but alerting can be rewarding for a naturally vigilant dog). One of mine is really nosy and always has her nose in something so her job is to let me know if we have something unusual going on around our house (mice for instance). She gets a lot out of doing something she is naturally good at for her pack. 6. Always remain vigilant and de-escalate as soon as you see anything of concern happening for your boy. Don't let him grandstand for your attention. You have to stay one step ahead of them and not get lax and let things go back the way they were. It's baby steps forward at all times.

It's a big ask of an open adoptee but obviously dogs with issues like this sometimes become foster fails if they have other redeeming qualities. I'd put Tempeh in this category. We manage because she chose us when we were fostering her and we felt like her best forever option with her issues. She is quirky and loveable in her own way and luckily as she ages and we keep her fears under control she is mellowing. As anyone with a difficult dog knows it takes commitment. How many committed open adoptees exist for dogs like this though and where do you find them?

I'm so mindful of doona issues since you posted this. We've only recently had a cold snap requiring doggy coats and extra blankets. Over the past week Stussy has managed to burrow into a doona cover. She slept there all night and I only noticed when she tried to jump off the bed in the morning wearing all the bed linen. Last night Tempeh kept waking me because her coat kept twisting around leaving her bum cold (poor love). At one point I got up and put the light on to fix it and noticed that Stussy was under a heavy fleece blanket and it was all wrapped tightly around her head. No idea how she managed it but she was quite happy. I have no idea how she is breathing fresh oxygen in these enclosed places but she seems to enjoy being confined. She just barrels her way out when she gets too hot but obviously this is going to be an issue now she is a senior girl. More things to worry about!

DDD you are hilarious! It's only temporary. Pfft!

I live in Logan and can recommend Jane Harper with Dogs On Track. She is based on the Sunshine Coast but travels. We had made a decision to put to sleep one of our dogs for unpredictable serious attacks on our other dog and at the eleventh hour I decided to give it one more chance with a different professional. She had been kept crated since the last emergency vet visit for them both. Jane was brilliant and she gave us strategies that were very manageable. We have two different dogs today - some is due to age and some is due to the changes we have all made. We have also lost another dog from our pack (cancer, not aggression) and Jane was on hand to give us advice on additional changes that needed to be made to rebalance the two in question - a good behaviouralist does not just come in once and then leave again. We have not even come close to their being another incident and it is about 16 months on now since the last major fight. We are all much happier but we did make a serious commitment to implementing the recommendations and sticking to them. That is the key. You understand your dogs better and remain vigilant to triggers and divert them immediately before they escalate. So if it is not a medical issue causing the behavioural problems then you need to be in this for the remainder of your dog's life. Also I don't think the fee a behaviouralist like Jane charges is excessive for the outcomes that are possible. If your dog is injured or injures another animal it costs a lot more in vet fees! So off to the vet first for a full check up then check out Jane (or someone like her) and see what can be offered to manage the behaviours and get things back on track for your bubba. Using this approach has saved both our dogs lives.

I too just saw that Scotty is gone. Gosh, what love you had for this little man! I'm so sorry for all the pain you are going through. Your poor heart. But he's free now and not suffering anymore. Big hugs to you SM - it's ok to feel as you are - Scotty was a huge part of your world.

Gosh what a fright! I'm so glad she rallied around. I found the hardest thing about caring for a nearly 17 year old girl was preempting the situations she might get herself into when noone was home (or when we were asleep like what happened to you). At least you can make adjustments to avoid this again. And as I have a doona diver getting on in years it is something I will be mindful of too. Not your time yet Miss Feather!

My kitchen bin has lived in the spare sink in the laundry ever since Naughty Stussy arrived some 9 years ago. Still can't leave any food lower than bench height anywhere in the kitchen so our potatoes and bananas live in a drawer!

And Anna please do some homework on the prices for papered and guaranteed purebred chi's so you can compare it with situations like this where it is likely you will get neither. Don't go paying a silly price for a dog that someone just says is purebred. That is how new owners get ripped off and why the backyard breeder industry continues to flourish. I hope you find the pup for you!

I assume so. I was in Hong Kong and China back in the early 80s and dog meat was a staple. So common you had no idea that you were even eating it. Even in HK people who lived on boats commonly raised dogs for slaughter in the same way some people might raise fowl to fatten up for the table. As for China - my experience was they would eat anything and not only that they would eat every part of everything. I also remember some of the things my Asian partner's father told me about delicacies he had eaten over the years. I wont horrify you with details. So much of China is still not westernised (or affected by western norms) so why wouldn't this still be a cultural thing?

I'm just speculating here as I have no science knowledge of such things. In the wild I'd expect that a wild dog would be foraging throughout the day and would need nutrients to match day time activities. They are not strictly nocturnal animals so do not save their hunting for only night time like some creatures. They would probably eat anytime they could get a meal and their activity level probably means those nutrients are used up pretty quickly and the chance of over eating is slim. So in captivity if they were fed only a night time meal and then go to sleep would that meal still be available to sustain them throughout their daytime activities? Does the canine system become attuned to the patterns of feeding and do some kind of slow release thing? I feed twice a day. Same size each time (except for one dog which I've detailed below). It was how all our animals even as kids have always been fed. Even when I have cared for breeders dogs they have always been fed something twice a day even if the size of the meals were different. It's is not even something I've ever questioned! One of our current dogs does bile vomits if she gets over hungry during the night. She wants to be fed at 7am and 5pm every day and some nights will start asking for snacks from as early as 8.30pm. We give them because she knows her body better than us. But if she doesn't ask we don't offer. So we have to juggle quantities at meal times based on the amount of snacks given out the night before. I would never be doing this if she didn't seem to need her food spread out at night time. If your dogs are doing fine on one meal a day then I don't see a need to change unless their health starts to indicate a different arrangement is needed.

I recognise that lot! Glad they all had a good time together!

How terribly sad. Poor Egg just went in the river like he was nothing. Two people who should take some animal ownership classes before ever owning another pet I think.

I do not for one minute believe at least half of that rescue's post. If they have nothing to apologise for then say nothing. Don't engage if you think you are being treated badly by someone who doesn't matter. Hopefully the truth will come out in court or at least some sense of truth will come out. She may not have been the perfect pet owner but she was still the legal owner. I know from experience how hard it is to find a missing pet within your own local area, let alone somewhere you were on holidays at. That council has a lot to answer for.

My stafford is my heart girl and as much as I want to hug and kiss her she cringes when I do so I know she doesn't like it. But she loves other physical touch (inner thigh rubs!) so we do that instead. My shar pei loves kisses and head smooches and will ask for them but if I tried to wrap my arms around her she freaks out and runs. I think if we pay attention to their body language we can usually tell what they like and don't fairly easily. I find if they really like something they will initiate it.

Hey Pers, I hope I didn't miss anything - is Trouble still around and doing ok?

This is a fundamental issue I don't understand. You have 2 blue staffords that appear well cared for. When scanned they have chips but the chips don't match up to the register you search. Soooooo. If you were genuinely in the business of reuniting animals with their loved ones wouldn't you either find the time to do more research on those particular dogs or delegate it to someone else? Surely one of the best parts of the job would be happy endings rather than keeping crying dogs in kennels and then killing them when their time is up? Why would you not put energy into a positive outcome for a dog where possible, particularly where there were signs of the dogs in question being valuable and well cared for rather than dumped strays? Councils and holding shelters need to accept they are far from perfect when it comes to creating a space where it is possible to find your lost animal. I went through this with mum's missing cat - terrible photos and repeated, desperate phone calls for more information unanswered. I felt my council were so unreliable that I went in regularly just in case he was there and they hadn't listed him at all or correctly. From comments on FB regarding these dogs people are saying that exact same thing happened to them - they called and also visited and there was their animal, in some cases ready for sale. Where was the phone call or even a match worthy description and photo online? What is the point in chipping our animals if that information is not used to its full potential? Do councils want to reunite or are they just offering a wandering animal removal service?

Yes she had eaten all her breakfast (a slightly smaller one than usual as I wasn't expecting her to want to eat) but still had a smaller seizure at the vets about 2 hours after her breakfast. I'll definately keep this issue in mind. I have to document things like when and what she ate if/when she has her next one so the vet can see if there is a pattern. The treats they get at night are usually chicken or lamb based and are supposedly natural but I'm going to check all the ingredients to see if there is anything of concern.

If/when I adopt another dog I wouldn't be surprised if it had medical issues or was in its twilight years (or both). Those things don't scare me at all. It is a privilege to provide care for an animal that gives so much of itself to us and who doesn't let it's limitations affect it's living. I love puppies but have always been more attracted to a dog who has already decided who it is going to be.

T she had bloods done to check for anything and everything and nothing odd showed up. She has her evening meal around 5pm and we always check they have eaten the bulk of it. Late night snacks are always given (and factored into their overall diet) because Tempeh gets the vomits in the mornings if she gets over hungry (they are fed by 7am). Both dogs only eat until they are full and will leave food if they don't want anymore so I'm always mindful of late night hunger. We only feed them that early at night because of Tempeh deciding she might die if not fed by then!

Funny you mention about Malcolm being hungry - I decided to offer Stussy breakfast because if her stomach was upset or she still had pain she wouldn't have been interested. But instead she wolfed it all down and licked the bowl and it was only her usual kibble! Same again last night. My vet was also the vet I used with my boy who had epilepsy. She gave Stussy a very thorough going over and did bloods but found no sign of pain or anything obvious that caused the seizure. She's also asked me to monitor her and video tape it if/when it happens again and to write down notes about it and what she ate and did in the hours before. She said we could do an ultrasound of the organs she can't feel and we could do a CT scan of her head to see if anything comes up but she didn't want to do that unless it was essential. Stussy is a pretty calm dog and has been keeping herself quiet since it all happened - no drop and rolls or zoomies. I'll be keeping it that way as much as possible. Thank you for sharing your experiences PK. As I said, I had a boy with epilepsy and it was really challenging. Even though this is different I'm still really worried. I'm not in a good head space for Stussy to suddenly get old and sick on me.

I have a 9.5 year old stafford girl. Over the past few months we have had a couple of incidents of her waking during the night with shallow breathing, tremors and she is unable to be calmed or settled and just keeps walking/pacing/sitting (rather than lying). Each time I have thought she was in some kind of pain. It has quickly passed and she's settled and gone back to sleep. She is not a dog that shows pain or illness easily. She rarely vomits and has only really had one major health scare which resolved with treatment (can't remember the name of it now but it made her skin red, hard and swollen and was something to do with her red blood cells I think). She had a much longer incident on Thursday morning so I took her into the vet as soon as possible that morning. Her temp was elevated and while there she had a similar incident but the vet wasn't available to see it (we were waiting on bloods). I was concerned she was having pancreatitis attacks as the tremors seemed to be from pain, but when I touched her body she didn't flinch in any particular location and her stomach was not tight. The bloods have ruled it out too. My vet thinks it is neurological and she is having seizures. More monitoring needs to be done to determine what testing should be done and then what treatment options might be appropriate. I know there can be a gamut or reasons why a dog might develop seizures but I am interested to hear of others experiences. I have previously had a dog with epilepsy and these turns are nothing like that. Of other concern to me is that she is not the same since Thursday's seizures (if that's what they are). As an example she spent about 3 hours last night lying with her head under the lounge room stairs. No tail wag if I called her name or went and patted her. Just lying there with her eyes open like she was focused on something. She is usually quite social at night and lying on top of me for cuddles on the lounge and up and down if she hears something happening outside. She pretty much slept all Thursday (I had to leave her and work yesterday) and today she is still very quiet and lying in spots she doesn't normally (like on my bed rather than on her bed beside me while I'm at the computer). She's also lying with her legs under her rather than in her dead cockroach position or on her side with her legs splayed everywhere. I know an epileptic fit can take a lot out of a dog so do seizures do the same? Also what tests did your dog have done to diagnose seizures and the cause behind them? Thank you - I hate seeing her like this.

This is making me wonder whether there are some rangers taking pay offs for certain breeds of dog? I mean we are dealing with those 'rare blue staffies' that unsuspecting fools pay a lot of money for! No idea whether these two were desexed but if not that makes them valuable in the wrong hands. I hate to be suspicious of people but in this case there is a distinctly fishy odour. Imagine if rangers were selling dogs for fighting/bait? It makes me sick to think about it. I'm glad the true owner is pursuing this legally because even most normal people can see she owns these dogs and that adequate efforts were not made by certain 'professionals' to ensure she had the opportunity to reclaim them. I hope the book is thrown at the ranger and rescue. I also just wanted to add in relation to Dogslife's comments that most rescues would have returned her dogs that most rescues would've also made complaint to council regarding them not following their own regulations in selling them dogs that legally belonged to someone else as it makes a rescue legally liable. I don't know of any rescue that would have time or money to spare on dealing with a messy situation like that. Oh and I have no idea how to get rid of the empty box below that has mysteriously appeared!

Here is a pic of Stussy lying in her favourite dead cockroach sleeping position. It wouldn't let me add it yesterday with the others. I think she hopes someone will accidentally fall over and rub her inner thighs (her favourite spot). And yes her toenails are a fright. It's an ongoing problem. This is what they look like by week 3 before her nail cut. We've tried to reduce it to every 2 weeks but her anxiety increased and it was undoing all our good work.

Here is my beloved Stussy who is all about relaxation and love.