Today was part 2 of the behaviorists assessment. The good news is there is nothing that we cannot work with, which means we don't have to fret about whether we need to find him a new home, hes staying...
We had lots of good advice and were taught different techniques to work with him. We also purchased one of these
photo- Adaptil
Absolutely no idea whether it will work or not, but lets just say we have a very calm dog at the moment...probably due to being worn out from a 2 hour session with the trainer, a good walk and lots of nibbles.
So what did we learn?
1] Diet, we are changing him to a raw food diet for a trial period, nothing to do with behaviour more to do with his stomach and poop. He wont get fed in his bowl anymore he will need to work for his food, filled kongs and natural treats when training.
2] Managing the door anxiety, lots of desensitisation work , and grated cheese! Mornings will be breakfast in his kong whilst we are doing our morning routines, another refilled kong left out for when we are going/gone, as we are leaving we throw some grated cheese onto the floor [its wood not carpet] for him to hoover up. Hes already liking this one. When we have visitors he will not be able to greet them at the door, he will be kept separate and then introduced with food treats, visitors will be pre trained!
3] Obsession with hubs, toy focused activity only, with a training plan, to learn the leave command, more nibbles involved.Low arousal and only reinforcing good behaviour, I shall be training hubs!
4] Toy orientated play, all interaction at present will be orientated around a toy whilst he is learning his commands and appropriate behaviour.This will also teach him self control
5] Handling training, muzzle training and vet training, teaching max not to become anxious when he needs treatments.Getting him to like the muzzle and relax when going to the vets, we have a plan.
6] Relaxing, teaching Max how to relax, and reinforcing when he is calm and settled.
7] chase recall, so we can enjoy more walks that are not oriented around chasing a ball or 3 to stop him chasing cats or wildlife.
8] Reaction to noises, fireworks, thunder etc. We are downloading a commercial recording of said scary noises and then starting with it very briefly and quietly until we can build it up and he doesn't relax, this wont start until the new year when all fireworks will have been released.
All in all a really good session and definitely worth the money. I think we feel more confident in dealing with him and will get 6 months of support whilst working with him, When we are settled into a routine and Max has changed his ways, she will come back in the summer and do outdoor training with us so Max can enjoy a greater variety of trips out and we can walk him on a lead without our arms being pulled out of their sockets.
Currently we are a happy settled household. Long may it continue.
Wow - I'm glad that you've been able to find a way to keep Max with you but this sounds pretty complicated. I wish all the best! Jx
ReplyDeletethanks, will keep you all updated!
DeleteHi I'm not sure if I've commented before but I wanted to comment on your plans for the dog! I haven't read your previous dog posts to know what problems you're having but when we got our puppy last year I wanted to get him trained and by chance came across Victoria Stilwell on tv and subsequently on You Tube. She is a dog trainer who has great success with problem dogs and her methods are brilliant, much like you're describing to be honest and I wondered if watching her shows you might get further help. If you google her name her you tube channel should come up, we found it very helpful. On the same note we ordered her cd for fireworks and its brilliant. I sit and brush my dogs hair while its playing in the background and now when I put the cd on he runs to the sofa and waits patiently for the brush to appear! He was reasonably calm on Guy Fawkes and now we're playing it on the lead up to New Year when there's usually more fireworks. We also got some puzzles for our dog to leave treats in when we leave the house. We started out putting his food in it but when his food got bigger we just used it for treats when we're out and he's great at it, in fact we got him a new and different one for christmas this year to keep him interested! We got it in tk maxx if you're interested. We also use a Kong ball with treats in too sometimes to mix it up a bit for him. My last dog needed Adaptil for firework night but we got it as a collar for him when we were leaving him to go on holiday and leaving him with my mum. He was never as calm as he was that fortnight so I think it's brilliant stuff. Lastly food - I was considering the raw food diet after watching the tv show but its a bit inconvenient, not least we don't have enough freezer space to keep it in. however we came across Forthglade and their food is only lightly cooked and has no fillers etc in it and it actually smells of what it says is in it which is food fit for human consumption! It's a complete food and our dog loves it. We get it online from Berriewood as they often have offers if you buy so many boxes of it. Because of the natural nature of the food our dog never has wind, does small poos and his coat is very shiny. I hope all or some of this will help you. Our dog is still a stubborn hooligan at times but mostly he's good and is still learning. We took him to dog classes for a while and it helped but really they just reinforced the stuff we were already doing by watching Victoria Stilwell on you tube. good luck :D
ReplyDeletethanks for your reply, i will check out victorisa so far its going really well.
DeleteWhen we got our last two cats - one a year after the first - both of whom had been neglected and the last had been physically hurt, I felt we were living in a mad house. We bought Feliway, which you plug in, which calmed them down amazingly. Thankfully we have now stopped it - it is very exoensive!
ReplyDeleteObviously dog training is different and I do hope you manage to resolve the situation. Our neighbour had to leave her dog all day and it chewed everything up. They bought it a companion - and they both chewed things up!