HunterDoggy

Thank you all for your support. I truely appreciate it. It’s been a long hard journey so if this works out well I will be so grateful to have a lot of less stress in our lives at feeding time. I’ll be sure to update in a little while to let you know how it is going .. thanks again! 

Thank you Snook! Your idea worked! 

So there you all go! Our not so pretty situation we have going on.. One crate for him to wait in, a plank of plywood to lift up and then the second crate to safely place food in and for him to eat. Topped with his blanket for extra comfort and privacy. No contact with him and us while using this and no stress! It worked well for our first night so let’s see how it continues once he gets used to it..

I’m trying to upload a photo to share but it’s not letting me.. I’m guessing the size is too big. It’s just a standard iPhone photo.. does anyone know how to make it smaller so I can upload it?

So, just an update for everyone following along.. After discussing it, my husband and I have come up with hopefully a secure idea we hope will work well. We are going out today to pick up what we need so I’ll be sure to update you with how it goes!

On 23/08/2019 at 9:29 AM, Two Best Dogs! said:

I saw this DIY remote treat dispense and thought of you!

 

 

if its too small to read, it's pvc piping. In the doorway is a hook or something to help hold it up to get more incline. they're rolling kibble down it.

Thank you for sharing and thinking of me! We did think of this! It is a good idea but we are going to try something else first. Thanks again 

On 18/08/2019 at 9:58 AM, Rebanne said:

ok so a pan/bowl/tray of some sort that can be slid under a barrier, secured and then pulled back out when dog has finished? I like what JRG has done!

 

ETA as I am still thinking   What are the chances the dog would then resource guard the area he is fed in? Would he protect a cage setup like JRG? If you used a barrier across a doorway would the dog then protect that doorway/room?

 

Why is putting the food outside on the ground no longer working? Is the dog now guarding the whole backyard?

So.. he is a very complicated boy that’s for sure! He doesn’t resource guard an area or room. At the moment we put him in the laundry behind a baby gate and then do the food, come back to the laundry and let him outside through the laundry door. That worked well for quite a while but now he has started not wanting to let us in the laundry to be able to let him out. It’s not that he is guarding the laundry, it’s that he gets so worked out knowing what is coming. Also once we get in the laundry and let him outside he would always just go straight to the food but now he runs outside then runs back inside to bite us...

Once he has eaten his food he snaps out of this state and goes back to his regular self..

On 18/08/2019 at 9:30 AM, JRG said:

Here is a pic of a little "spare" pen I have in the yard.  It is completely enclosed and safe - can be padlocked it needed.

('Fiver' is not quite sure why he has been enclosed!!)

I have pushed an old frying pan under the bottom rail.  It has two treats in it (but he is not amused).

Note that I have not had to come into contact with the dog inside the pen, and I could tie the pan handle to the verandah post if I wanted to keep it within my reach so  can remove it.

Thanks for sharing and thank your beautiful dog model for helping too haha! At first I thought this would be a good idea but my husband and I talked it out and went through ideas and we think it will be an added stress to the system but putting a pan (or whatever object) into the area and then having to take it away. Thank you so much for sharing though, I appreciate the help!

1 hour ago, tdierikx said:

Sounds like a decent plan... works for the big cats I've worked with, so why not for a dog?

 

I'm assuming he can't be near anyone when food is around at all? That must be so hard on you and your family...

 

T.

Maybe a mix of a funnel / tube to drop the food down onto a tray that can be pulled away once he’s done.. 

It is really hard. He’s tried multiple medications but nothing has really worked. We’ve just started another.. we’ll see how this one goes.

2 hours ago, Rebanne said:

So no bowls.  Ok so what is the dog fed? Just dry food?  Hmmm

We a do dry and wet food mix. It currently just gets put outside on the ground and he eats it with no bowl but we have to change up our system because it’s not working anymore..

2 hours ago, Scratch said:

Years ago when I worked at kennels we had one run set aside for aggressive & dangerous dogs. 

Dogs housed in that run could not be touched and the run not entered. The run had a shallow slide out tray for feeding to facilitate feeding and cleaning of the tray without having to enter or touch the run. 

 

 

This is a good idea.. I was thinking of making something like that I just need someone to help me as I’m not very handy! Thanks for the comment.

2 hours ago, JRG said:

Not sure that this will help you,but a couple of things in my system of feeding might be of use:

 

1.i prepare the feed dishes the night before.  This means that I can feed all dogs  - I have 6  or more - almost instantaneously.

2. Eachdog goes into its own pen and i close all gates.  No food appears until all dogs are in.

3 the stainless steel feed dish for each dog is pushed under the gate so that it slides into the middle of the pen.   The steel bowls slide really well 

4Each dog can eat as fast or slow as it likes without interference

 

should add that i do not have any food aggression problems, but better safe than sorry

Thanks for your comment. We don’t bring food out until he is already locked up but unfortunately that doesn’t help his issues. We also can’t use bowls so that system won’t work for us. 

I’m thinking even a funnel type system so the food can just be dropped down to him may work..

8 hours ago, Rebanne said:

so he needs to be contained prior to you preparing his food? I was thinking one of those timer food bowls put into a room, then the dog, then the timer will open the feeder. Wouldn't work if the dog needs to be locked up prior though as you would still have to get the food into the room. Otherwise dog in room, barrier across doorway but raised off the floor enough to slide bowl under.

We would have used a timed feeder a longggg time ago but unfortunately he will just guard it, just like regular bowls. And we haven’t used a bowl in a long time. Thanks for the suggestion though

54 minutes ago, persephone said:

with some building help ..a couple of these remote opening devices may fit the bill!   http://easyoutpetrelease.com/m/

Amazing! Thank you! This would be perfect... a great start. Thank you for sharing!

Hi all,

I’ve posted in the past about my dog with OCD and anxiety who becomes extremely good aggressive. I don’t want to have a discussion about him and his issues today but I’m looking for help with ideas. We have had a set routine which has worked well up until a few weeks ago. It’s at the point where we need to figure out a more secure and safe routine for ourselves and our dog. 

His vet specialist suggested a crate to somehow be customised to work with him and us but I’m a bit stumped on ideas at the moment. We basically need to make him go into an area, be able to then put food safely without him getting to us, then once he’s finished be able to let him out. I found online these spinning bowls, they basically can be pushed inside the crate and then spun back out again. We were thinking of making a crate and adding that but I feel we made need a divider to there is two seperate sections for him to be in just incase.. I don’t know if what I’m saying is making much sense but I’m just looking for ideas and thoughts that may help get my creative juices flowing! Even if anyone knows of a crate that has two seperate sections with a divider down the middle that can be removed from outside the crate.. that may be a start. Anyway.. I appreciate any suggestions. Thanks!

8 minutes ago, Tassie said:

@HunterDoggy, have a look on YouTube for training ideas.  I know he's not technically a puppy, but you can look for ideas under puppy training.  Some suggestions .. have a look at Kikopup and Donna Hill.

And you can grow the toy game you have at present, with encouraging him to chase you .. especially if you have another toy you can swap.  Dogs usually like playing chasey games .. for our sake .. we should always have them chasing us, and rewarding (with play is fine) when they catch us.

Thank you Tassie. I’ll give that a go  

22 minutes ago, sheena said:

Can you elaborate on why you can't give your dog a bone outside on his own without the other dog??  It seems your dog is craving something to chew on & the only thing he can find is your stuff.  Even giving him a frozen stuffed kong would help with his desire to chew.

Feel free to have a read of the link above Sheena but I’m not really here to chat about my other dog as it’s a very emotional subject for me. I have got some suggestions and I will take them on board to help with the chewing.

12 minutes ago, persephone said:

It is pretty full-on

explanations here : CLICK

Thank you. I was hesitant to even post today but thought I may get some answers. Apart from the chewing issues, everything else has been good. I’m happy to report the boys get on amazing! They are currently on the floor having a nap together.

1 hour ago, sheena said:

I would be separating them at feed time & giving them both a good meaty bone to chew.  something like half a frozen turkey neck.  It sounds like he doesn't get enough "good" things to chew.

I do already seperate them at feeding time but bones just aren’t an option at the moment due to my other dogs mental health issues. I’m not going to go into it but he is getting help, ect. So for now I can’t really do that. Even if I put this dog outside with a bone it would cause issues.

1 hour ago, juice said:

How often does he go for a walk ? 

Is he crate trained ? 

 

We don’t use crates. I also don’t think it would be fair to put him in a crate while the other dog is out and about.

We go for a walk every day, unless the weather is too hot which can happy every now and again at the moment but I try and get out as early as possible.

35 minutes ago, jemappelle said:

I agree with Diva, Cavs are smart dogs and need mental stimulation as well as exercise.  I've taught my girl how to fetch and then keep upping the game, eg, first of all she had to drop it at my  feet, then we worked on siting calmly before I would throw it and now she has to make eye contact before I will throw it.   There are lots of 'brain games' and tricks online.  I also find that mental stimulation is more tiring than the physical.  

 

Also, one month isn't a long time for a dog to settle.  Good luck and you sound like a great dog owner.  

 

Thank you for your lovely comment. That’s nice to hear. He does play a lot with toys and we always play fetch but he doesn’t quite get it yet. He will run for the ball/toy then if he gets it he will just run away and sit on top of it. I’m not sure if that’s just to keep it from my other boy? Hahah. So we’ll keep working on that but I’ll have a google what other things I can find to keep him busy. 

1 hour ago, Diva said:

He sounds a bit bored and understimulated to me. So he is making his own fun. I’d start trick training, taking walks in new locations, and generally being a bit more out and about. He is young, he needs to do stuff and exercise his mind as well as his body. Just my opinion. 

Thanks for your comment. You may be right, I’m not sure. I don’t really know what trick training is so I’ll have a look into it. I take him out whenever I can, not just walks but visits to people’s houses, just for a drive in the car, ect but maybe he just needs some extra.

7 minutes ago, Tassie said:

The chewing could be caused by anything .. we can't ask the dog (unfortunately),, so we can only guess.     A question .. does he only steal and chew things while you're out, or while you're home and watching him?

I guess in any case, I'd be looking at management so that you can try to nip this in the bud before it becomes more of a habit.   If he were my dog, I would be buying a metal x-pen that you can confine him in when you can't actively supervise.    I'd be feeding him via a frozen feeder of some kind after he's been outside for early morning toilet.    Then when you leave, he goes into his x pen with his frozen food, and maybe a safe chew toy or a meaty bone.   When you come back from your walk, if you can't actively supervise, I would be having him either in his x pen, or outside.    If you have the time, I would be doing some training with him .. teaching him tricks for instance.   Then when you go out again, back in his xpen with a frozen treat.  

Without seeing your dog, it's hard to know, but I'd be applying one of the basic rule of dog training … try to avoid having the dog rehearse behaviours you really don't want to see again .

You haven't said where he sleeps at night .. I would be inclined to have him sleeping in a crate .. again because you can't actively supervise.   At his age, he will get through the night just fine, as long as you don't give him access to water too late in the evening, and you take him out for bedtime toilet.   Treat for when he goes to bed is fine.

Thank you for your reply. I appreciate it. It is very hard to introduce treats / raw meats / bones to help as our other dog has serious mental health issues and isn’t good with food so for this reason we don’t do bones, treats, ect. Both dogs sleep in the bed with us. We don’t have any issues at night time, he sleeps very well and rarely moves off the bed until morning. He mostly steals things when we’re out but does do it in front of us aswell. The other morning I laid out my clothes for the day and a minute later he ran off with my bra.. then today he was biting the cupboard in front of me about 20 mins after I arrived back home. They have a lot of toys which are always in the lounge room ready to play with. This includes different chew toys of different textures.

1 hour ago, persephone said:

Oh Dear ...  

Can you give us some background to work with ? 

What breed of dog ? 
Where did you get him ? 
What were his living conditions at his previous home ? 
Why  did his previous ownder need to rehome him ? 
What is his daily timetable at your hour house like  ? 

He is a cavalier king charles. I got him from the breeder he grew up with, he was rehomed because the breeder had managed to keep too many dogs and decided it was time to rehome some. The breeder was very upset to let him go, he is a very sweet dog (minus the chewing!). At the breeders home they have free range of outside and had a doggy door to inside the house. The breeder did have dog/baby gates around the house so the dogs were only allowed in the kitchen and lounge area. At our house a day is typically my husband and myself leaving for work early morning, I return home two hours later, take the dogs for a walk and then am with them until 3pm. They are then alone from 3pm until about 4:45pm. They are inside dogs, we had a good backyard where they are free to go out whenever needed. When they are left alone, like I said in the above post, we close all bedroom/bathroom/laundry doors when we leave the house leaving the dogs free to roam the kitchen and lounge room but obviously I can’t manage to get everything out of his chewing reach!

I need advice about what to do with my dog who won’t stop chewing.

He is our second dog, we got him almost a month ago. He is a year and four months old so he isn’t a puppy / teething anymore so I don’t know why he keeps chewing! I get that some dogs are chewers and maybe that’s just him but I need advice on what to do about it. He chews almost anything - pillows, blankets, clothes, phone chargers, glasses! He has ripped up bits on my new rug, he has ruined the pillows on the couch, he even steals clothes out of the laundry basket and drags them into the lounge room. Today I have caught him starting to chew on a corner of a cupboard! I can deal with the small things but I really don’t want him ruined my furniture! When we leave the house we shut all doors and puts pillows, etc up so he can’t get them but I’m not sure what else to do. Any advice is appreciated! 

As others have mentioned, go to the vet and make sure there isn’t any pain somewhere. My dog is only one and a half but has serious mental health issues. He bites me or my husband almost every day because of food. It is stressful but personally I could never put him to sleep due to this. Like you, he is my son and means the world to me. This is a very big choice to make and I wish you luck. If you do not want to put him to sleep then don’t. Good luck.

I appreciate everyones comments and I have read them all but I think for now we will just have to continue how we are and wait until our next appointment with the behaviourist. It is a very hard and stressful situation and I live with it everyday. It’s hard to explain to people online to make them understand the situation so I think it’s best I just don’t post about it anymore as it just causes me more stress. Thanks for your comments. If you wish to write more replies then feel free but I don’t think I’ll be back to reply. Thanks.