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Exercising Reactive Dogs Thread


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No apology necessary, Jake was separated from his mate in the pound. It makes me sad to my heart. I do feel for Del. You will have to become that mommy that throws parties to make friends for her kid.

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No apology necessary, Jake was separated from his mate in the pound. It makes me sad to my heart. I do feel for Del. You will have to become that mommy that throws parties to make friends for her kid.

:laugh: i love the way you put things HD :)

Yeah I remember you saying about Jake's 'sister'. I hope she's doing well somewhere, it would be just wonderful if you happened across her someday.

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I check rescue websites for bulldogs but after two years I don't think he would remember her. Some of the behaviourists we have seen say I should have got him another friend straight away. I think it would have been tricky though, if we had a "normal" dog and Jake he might not stand the comparison well. His buddy was a pug frenchie cross and the dogs he's better with tend to be smaller, brown female bull breeds so there might be a bit of a memory there.

Strange dog he is a friend of mine has a litter of puppies I've been visiting. Initially he was very freaked out when I came home but today he couldn't get enough of me. I thought I smelt a bit icky so went for a shower. He was all over my trackie pants, shoving his nose in and grunting and snorting. Weird dog.

I'm loving the Digby photos, I'm going to think of him whenever I get an ice cream cone.

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Jake does my head in. His progress is slow but steady. We had our alternate trainer today and did some good work with a yellow lab, his favourite type of dog. Both dogs moving at the same time, both in a stay, jake sitting and the other dog moving. A few outbursts but I was pretty happy.

Then the trainers course was coming out for a practical so the trainer offered to take Jake into the class with them. I stayed at a distance to watch. Off he went, in amongst ten dogs. He was looking for me a bit and not taking treats but aside from that he did great, he was snappy up and down, sitting looking alert and no outbursts.

So I took him, we got about ten meters from the dogs and I was so happy and then big outburst. I gave him to the trainer and walked off. All good.

I realise splitting his focus meant he was less focused on the other dogs but just lately I've been suspecting that there is a bit of song and dance for my benefit. Rat bag dog!

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Oh Snook, that's really sad and must be very stressful for you especially as Amy was someone you really trusted :(

Poor Justice too :(

That response is so disappointing, he clearly did need veterinary attention and it seems exceedingly unlikely that that sort of injury could be caused from just playing. Why can't some people admit when a mistake has been made?

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I have no words. I can only imagine how disappointed you must be. Our speshul dogs really need a good trainer, losing that will be a blow.

I do hope Justice doesn't regress and lose all the progress he made with other dogs as a result of his bites. Poor sausage.

Losing your real world dog support system is going to be tough, your virtual system is here. Jake and I send you big hugs.

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Geez Snook, I really feel for both you & Justice..... terrible situation. Doesn't sound like it was a " bit of rough play" to me if indeed 2 vets have treated him. I also find it deeply worrying that no one saw this happen.

Poor justice. Hope he recovers OK . Mentally as well. May take time. I understand your anguish. I would feel exactly the same way. Especially when a friendship is involved & your precious boy.

Thoughts are with you. Give Justice a big healing cuddle from Sonny, Stella & myself.

Edited by BC Crazy
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I just happened to be reading here and have to say how appalling that is, Snook!

IMO someone needs to be watching them at all times in daycares, and I would expect that vet treatment would be sought for any wounds by the daycare as soon as it happened. That's truly awful!

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Hi, new to this topic.

I'm wondering if anyone here has their reactive dogs on anxiety medication? If so, does this help take the edge off? How much? Is it worth the side effects (what are they?) or do they side effects outweigh the benefits?

I've been recommended to try anxiety medication by my vet and I'm weighing up my options. It will be quite expensive, and I don't want him to lose his personality when for most of his day-to-day life he can manage just fine.

I can't work behavior modification with him and dogs currently, have tried with professionals, he is reactive on sight. I've tried the Thundershirt in the past for calming, no help. I'm currently trying a DAP collar. I know I have to give it at least a month, but I'm not seeing any signs of improvement as yet. I'm not hopeful enough to think medication will make him alright with other dogs. I'm ok if we just avoid them altogether, but he can be reactive with people, cars, car travel and new places. If I medicate him I'm hoping it will improve his reactions with these things.

Thanks for any help.

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Such a shame the reaction from her has gone that way. I always think the measure of a business is how you respond to situations where you've stuffed up. Bad stuff happens, abject apologies and some proactive management would have been more appropriate. I do love your photo, you're as photogenic as Justice.

Edited by hankdog
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Hi Ren, welcome to the thread. First off have you had a thyroid test done. The one done by Hemopet in USA is a very detailed one and more comprehensive than is done here.

My boy is also reactive on sight. He is on Prozac, generic Lovan. It's actually not very expensive if you buy from a chemist rather than the vet. The vet writes a script and you get it filled at a human vet. Jakes also pretty committed to his dog phobia, without medication he doesn't actually have to see a dog. He just has to be in a place where he saw a dog before or smell a dog. Medication just have him a little bit more brain so that some of the training can stick.

There is some personality change and we had to play around with the dosage, on 30mg he was too sleepy, on 20 he is manageable but on 15 you get some bounciness. Good for playing but not for his phobias. The first few weeks he will be sleepy anyway.

Without medication I would not have been able to get any training in. I was told PTS by a few trainers and may have done so without medication. The loss of some playfulness is a small price to pay.

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Snook, I think the whole way this situation has been handled by Amy is really poor form & grossly unprofessional IMHO. I was thinking about it last night while trying to get back to sleep after Stella had woken the whole house up for the millionth time ( full moon) she is always at her worst then :crazy:

Anyway, I mean even to the point of deleting your comment off face book & offering you a refund for your last 2 lessons instead of allowing you & Justice the courtesy of finishing them. Pretty petty stuff... Maybe you are best to start a fresh somewhere new when the time is right.

Hope you both are doing OK & Justice's wounds are healing well :)

Edited by BC Crazy
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Hi Ren, welcome to the thread. First off have you had a thyroid test done. The one done by Hemopet in USA is a very detailed one and more comprehensive than is done here.

My boy is also reactive on sight. He is on Prozac, generic Lovan. It's actually not very expensive if you buy from a chemist rather than the vet. The vet writes a script and you get it filled at a human vet. Jakes also pretty committed to his dog phobia, without medication he doesn't actually have to see a dog. He just has to be in a place where he saw a dog before or smell a dog. Medication just have him a little bit more brain so that some of the training can stick.

There is some personality change and we had to play around with the dosage, on 30mg he was too sleepy, on 20 he is manageable but on 15 you get some bounciness. Good for playing but not for his phobias. The first few weeks he will be sleepy anyway.

Without medication I would not have been able to get any training in. I was told PTS by a few trainers and may have done so without medication. The loss of some playfulness is a small price to pay.

Thank you Hankdog, your post is very helpful and I appreciate it.

Somebody had mentioned the possibility of hypothyroidism before in the past, I can't remember why we dismissed it now but to answer your question he has not had the test done. While I discussed his behaviour with my vet recently the topic didn't come up, perhaps I should ask about it.

He won't be able to have a test done at the moment since he's just had a major operation and still on the medication.

I didn't think of getting the prescription filled at a chemist. That's good to know, as the price was a bit of a worry.

Thanks again.

Edited by Ren
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OMG Snook, my jaw literally dropped when I read what happened to Justice. There is NO WAY IMO that two puncture wounds could result from any sort of "normal play" between dogs, especially the one on his back - biting on the back is not a normal part of playful interaction between dogs. Also, no doubt Justice had some sort of reaction to the first puncture wound and any dog of reasonable temperament that was actually playing should have backed off after that, not continued to the point of another puncture wound.

Even if you gave them benefit of the doubt and they do have a dog there whose version of "play" involves those types of behaviours, that dog has an issue and should not be allowed free interactions with other people's dogs at a daycare. I would be furious of I found out a professional I left a dog of mine in the care of let a dog that would do that interact with mine, whatever the dog's motivation was. You just cannot take that type of risk with other people's dogs :mad

Also, as Steph said, if someone was watching they would have seen what happened and been able to tell you, not need to speculate about "puppies" with no bite inhibition.

Ugh, I'm so mad on your behalf!

On the plus side, you and Justice have come so far, I'm sure you'll be able to keep going with his improvement :)

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You are not over reacting! I'm still furious on your behalf and I don't know anything about Amy but it really doesn't sound like she is doing the right thing here at all.

I think it was well worth testing Justice's reaction at class tonight but if I were you I'd seriously reconsider going to the last class you've paid for and would suggest going back a fair few steps in your training to rebuild your and Justice's confidence.

:hug:

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Don't be disheartened though Snook, you obviously know Justice back to front now, you said it in your post, you could see he was uncomfortable and your knew to give him a break. He has the more positive experiences now so hopefully will recover quickly and it sounds like he actually did fantastically well after a quite traumatic experience!

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Aargh is the polite expression. All that progress and one careless day and you go backward. Well at least he chose to avoid and if no one else is complaining of a bitten dog then you know he didn't retaliate on the day. I wonder why there was only one other dog at the class?

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I was wondering the same thing Hankdog???

Justice's behavior at last nights class says it all really :( ...Also Amy's concern or lack there of says it all as well IMHO.

What actually happen for him to have suffered such injuries you will probably never know Snook but at least you know where you are at with him now. You weren't to know Snook though so you can't blame yourself. Justice is in the very best hands, yours I believe. So you will raise above this & continue to make progress. May just take a little time now but I'm sure Justice will bounce back again :)

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