Dog Advice

[Warhammer]

We're normally pretty good about advice here, so I thought I would reach out on this.

5 months ago, we took in a 2-1/2 year old stray from the shelter, she looks like a cross between a pit/beagle/boston terrier. She has been a great dog at the house, and has never had any issues with people. With other dogs, she has issues.

When we first got the dog, my 14 year old took the dog out to show our neighbors. He went to the neighbor's back yard, took the dog off the leash, and my neighbor let his chihuahua outside which attacked my dog. His dog was bit once. I then took my dog out for a walk to calm her down, we come around the corner, and she is charged by two small curley haired dogs. One of which snaps at her, which sets my dog off. No damage was done to any dog, everything is fine.

Flash forward 4 months, I have the dog outside, and am feeling like crap, one of neighbors brings her labrador retriever over and her dog winds up bit, because I did not react quick enough to a lunge by my dog. We pay for their vet bill and go on down the road. I chalk this up to me not being my normal self with the dog on the leash.

Tonight, I get a call from my wife, our dog got out, and attacked a maltese and supposedly another dog while my wife and kids were trying to find her. My dog has gotten out a grand total of 7 times since we have had her, 3 times were in the first month we had her. Twice happened over the next two months, and another happened last week when my youngest left the house wide open when he left for school. When we first got the dog, she was definitely interested in other dogs, but not fearful or aggressive. However, she has become more territorial as we have had her more. My wife and kids are pretty shook up because these two guys read them the riot act, to which my wife essentially said, "Look, I did not intentionally let my dog out, much less have her go after other dogs."

She is not possessive towards people, has never been aggressive towards people, but I noticed before I left town this week, she was definitely fearful. I had her out by my truck while I loaded up to leave for work, and her tail was between her legs, and she was skittish. She is respectful towards me and my wife, and will listen to my younger son. My older son she is spottier in regards to, but will generally listen to him.

With the first two dog issues, it was one wound for each, her bite was a "get away from me" reaction. The attack tonight I have no clue what damage was done. I guess my question is, has anyone had this issue, and what did you do to combat it?

[timmae]

I don't have any direct experience with dogs from a shelter and the specific issues you mention. However, my wife and I did take in a stray cat from a local no kill shelter, first as a foster and then permanently. I mention because our new guy is very protective of any food we give him from our other cat and gets mean about it.

When your dog was a stray t may have had to compete with other dogs and/or had issues with compatibility. Maybe try explaining the situation to others... I know that I give a bunch of leeway with any issues regarding previous strays.

Hope it works out long term.

[IlliniCub]

Do you have any classes in your area? We got a Dalmatian as a puppy a few months ago and now that he's getting older and bigger have been taking him to obedience classes. They're really good about socializing other dogs and helping with aggression towards other dogs in a somewhat controlled environment.

[Drake]

We had a dog that was a pit bull mix that we got as puppy (took it in as a favor to a family that couldn't afford to raise a litter of huge dogs). He was a pretty good dog for the first year. Got to be a solid size. Showed some aggression toward local dogs, but nothing unmanageable.

One day, he's sitting next to my 10 y.o. son on the couch. Son is eating a sandwich.

Dog snapped at him and bloodied his cheek.

I took the dog and my shotgun for a walk into the field. I don't have any patience for big dogs that cross the line with unpredictable aggression. (Knee-biters I can tolerate.) It's just not worth the risk to me.

I've known folks who went the dog training route and had good success. It's a ton of work and attention. I'm not that patient, and I don't have any desire to spend my life "on guard" against a dog in my own house.

[albionmoonlight]

I feel for you. We had a fear aggressive dog that we got from a rescue. Turns out his whole litter all grew up really really fear aggressive, so something happened to them as puppies.

We worked with classes, and with a personal dog trainer type. In the end, we could not fix him, and we didn't feel safe with having kids and having their friends come over, etc.

I know some dogs can be fixed. In our experience, some cannot.

I know that this is not a helpful post, really. Just wanted to share that if you can't make it work, you are not alone. Some psychological damage, you can't undo.

[AnalBumCover]

It will take a huge commitment of time and attention. Obedience school is probably the best route to take (a real obedience school, not those dog training classes at PetSmart), but those cost money.

I have a small shih tzu/terrier mix who's friendly towards humans, and aggressive towards other dogs. Being the small type she is, there's no danger of injuring others, but I'm afraid she might put herself in danger with her aggression.

I'm constantly on alert when I take my dog for walks, looking out for other dogs on walks. If I see one coming, I look for ways to avoid the situation - walk the other way, take another route, or find some way to distract her as they pass.

Lately, I've been working on being the alpha during walks. I never let her lead the way. I make her walk next to me, not in front. When I stop walking, I order her to sit. Now she's at the point where she doesn't pull on the leash. When I stop walking, she sits without verbal orders - maybe just an light tug on the leash to remind her.

Now when I see a dog approaching, I'll move a safe distance to the side, stop and have her sit. When she sees the other dog, she'll start to growl and prepare to charge, but I verbally order to "stay" or "leave it". Usually the owners of the other dog see what I'm trying to do and they walk on by with no incident.

It's still a work in progress, but I can see there is progress.

One final note: I do believe what they say about "owners need to be trained as much as the dogs do". Educate yourself. Do your research. Make sure your whole family is on board with the training too.

Best of luck.

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by AnalBumCover

It will take a huge commitment of time and attention. Obedience school is probably the best route to take (a real obedience school, not those dog training classes at PetSmart), but those cost money.

YES.

This is definitely one of those problems that cannot be fixed on the cheap. The people running those PetSmart classes get no training (our neighbor worked at PetSmart, and they had her running classes after reading the same materials that they give out. She had no training or skills whatsoever).

You are much better spending the money for a real trainer up front than wasting $50 and your time on a PetSmart class and then ending up needing a real trainer at the end anyway.

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by Drake

I've known folks who went the dog training route and had good success. It's a ton of work and attention. I'm not that patient, and I don't have any desire to spend my life "on guard" against a dog in my own house.

Originally Posted by AnalBumCover

It will take a huge commitment of time and attention. Obedience school is probably the best route to take (a real obedience school, not those dog training classes at PetSmart), but those cost money.

Speaking as a former Rottweiler mix (RIP) owner, I echo these two guys.

[General Mike]

I have a female shelter dog. She was between 5 and 6 when I got her. I know she is not good with other female dogs, so I do my best to avoid them. She's been charged at by other dogs several times in the 4 years I have had her.

Since I don't want to deal with any potential issues, I just avoid most other dogs at this point. There are 1 or 2 my dog has had decent interactions with in the past that I let her interact with if I seem them out on a walk when I am.

[Warhammer]

Thanks for the feedback.

The issue I have is there is no problem when I am around. I am the alpha, and I have been drilling into my kids they need to be the alpha when I am not home. I can tell when I have been gone for a while that she pulls a lot more on the leash, in part because the kids allow it to happen. I told my wife last night, she needs to be more involved. One of the issues is that I am not home a lot. For me to be the only one she really responds to, is not good.

Another issue, I need to work on her stationary training. I have not done a great job of that. An even better idea, is to work on getting my kids to do train her, so she will respond to them better.

One comfort I have is that she is completely comfortable around people. Strange people come to the house, she sniffs, checks them out, and is fine. She does not jump on them, she will either go or jump to my wife or kids and then walk to the stranger, but after they acknowledge the stranger is safe, she goes on her way.

If she was aggressive towards people in any way, my feelings would change dramatically, we would get rid of her.

[Warhammer]

Another year down and we have had no more issues with Pepper. She does not try to get loose any more, and has not had any more dog biting issues, although she was bit by another dog last summer.

The issue I am having now, one of our neighbors always makes a fuss whenever my kids are walking the dog and she is outside. The kids are beginning to get upset because she is not afraid to let everyone know she thinks Pepper is a mean dog. The kicker, she has one of the two little dogs that charged our dog the day we got her, and she wasn't even there when it happened.

Is this something I should confront her about, or just leave it be?

[Sweed]

Originally Posted by Warhammer

Another year down and we have had no more issues with Pepper. She does not try to get loose any more, and has not had any more dog biting issues, although she was bit by another dog last summer.

The issue I am having now, one of our neighbors always makes a fuss whenever my kids are walking the dog and she is outside. The kids are beginning to get upset because she is not afraid to let everyone know she thinks Pepper is a mean dog. The kicker, she has one of the two little dogs that charged our dog the day we got her, and she wasn't even there when it happened.

Is this something I should confront her about, or just leave it be?

How big a fuss? Talks directly to your kids? Snide remarks loud enough your kids and others can hear? Not sure it would make a difference in how I am going to answer but I am curious. If it were upsetting my kids, that were trying to do a good thing in taking the dog for a walk, I don't think I would just leave it be.

I think I would approach her and tell her the dog is on a leash, under control, and being legally taken for a walk so,if she has something to say she could say it to me and hand her my phone number. I'd tell her she doesn't need to be talking to, or about, my kids and how they handle the dog. I'd do this in as pleasant a voice as I could muster unless she was being a real ass to my kids.

[Warhammer]

Comments such that my kids can hear her from across the street while running with the dog.

[Sweed]

Originally Posted by Warhammer

Comments such that my kids can hear her from across the street while running with the dog.

Oh, shit! Pretty sure I'm not letting that slide.

Back in the day if that happened to my family my daughter probably would ignore or go a different path if one was available but it would bother her, I'm sure. I would have a word with the neighbor.

My son? If she had a sidewalk he would walk the dog up and down it all day long. Hell, he'd make a point to tell me before going, "hey Dad, I'm going to take Jenny for a walk" and have a big grin on his face. Pretty sure no intervention would be needed from me.

[JPhillips]

Very different issue, but thought this could morph into a general dog advice thread.

Has anybody dealt with IVDD in dogs?

[Shkspr]

We had a lab pull up lame at the age of 3 and spent about two years and three surgeries rehabbing him. While that's not the same as a herniated disc, I might be able to offer some words on best practices.

How old is the dog? What breed? How's their weight? What is the vet doing/recommending?

EDIT: Is the dog an indoor or outdoor dog? Are they crate trained? How often each day is the dog alone (no human caretaker present)?

[Glengoyne]

Mrs. G here...

Back in 2003 or 4, we had a Cardigan Corgi, Best dog in the world. I don't remember what the diagnosis was, most likely your IVDD. He came up lame, dragging his back legs. We went several rounds of "crate and rest". He got better, then worse, better then worse. It culminated with back surgery 150 miles away just because there was not a dog back surgeon in our area. When we got to the vet, he couldn't move is back legs at all.

I can't remember how many days he spent at the vet, 3-5 days... $2300 later he walked out of the vets office. He was 4 or 5 at the time, and we finally had to put him down 6 weeks shy of his 16th birthday. I can still recall what they did... a double hemi-laminectomy with two fenestrations.

I would say that he made a 95% recovery.

[JPhillips]

He's 5 and previously healthy. He's a mutt, but there's definitely some Pekingese in him, which is a breed susceptible to IVDD. He's got the stubby legs in proportion to his body that marks dogs that can develop IVDD between ages 3 and 6. He's 26 pounds, but not overweight for his size.

He isn't paralyzed yet, but his walk is unsteady and there's clearly pain in the neck depending on how he moves. There is often a muscle spasm that looks like a regular electrical shock. Most of the time he's in pain, but bearable, occasionally he's yelping in terrible pain.

He has been on a steroid, but starting today we are switching to a NSAID. We carry him over any steps and are going to start crating today to severely limit his movement. He tends to get a little better, but then he moves some and goes back to a hunched back stance. If he's still having problems we're set to get an x-ray later this week.

The vet hasn't specifically said IVDD, but everything I read points me in that direction. I hate that he's in so much pain, but the prognosis does seem to be good and we aren't at a point where we have to think about ending his life.

Thanks for any help or advice. It's really hard to watch him suffer and not be able to do much.

[Shkspr]

Yeah, assuming the diagnosis is accurate, it's good if treatment can get started before complete loss of movement in the limbs is evident. The biggest thing to watch out for on your part during aftercare is to ensure you're strictly following the activity limits - your dog will feel better because of the pain meds, and will likely want to be active before the vet says he's ready. Depending on the treatment plan, don't be surprised if you're looking at a month or two of complete confinement save potty breaks and physical therapy.

He's young enough and it sounds like this is early enough that it'll be okay. Just avoid the temptation to assume a fast recovery based on the dog's relief from pain.