Dog behavioral problem - can anyone help?

[cheerfulgreek]

Originally Posted by libramunoz

Cheerful--if you knew my 14 year old dog, Iggy (short for Ignatius Starbucks) you would know that dog--OMG!!! Today, my Mom bought the pedipaw for his nails--OMG, that mutt--Jeez you'da thought I was trying to cut off his head! He got into his bastard mode and acted a complete fool! That's just the way that he is.
I've figured since owning dogs since I was a kid, eventually, you get to KNOW your animal. You know their likes and dislikes. You know what they want to do and what they don't. This same mutt has to sleep with someone everynight like a baby, while my 2 year old won't sleep with anyone, but when the bed is empty, he hops on. You just get to know their likes and who they are as a person, and you LEARN to accept them for what they are, or better yet, who they are.
Thank You Tippie and kstar, you guys are correct and have offered some very valuable advice to Hot Damn.
Texas and Xi-Ree, if you would have READ what Hot Damn was saying, you would have seen that all the woman wanted was some help!

I know what you mean.

And lol at the other bolded comments. libramunoz is making me laugh so hard. lol

[SydneyK]

Originally Posted by alphagamzetagam

Anywho - this chamomile tea thing - ...does it actually work to calm them? ...
And where would I get it?

We used this on another dog who was terrified of storms. We ordered it from the Drs. Foster and Smith catalog. Unfortunately, we didn't find it to be effective at all. Actually, we discovered that she calms down if we put a towel in the bathtub, let her hop in and get comfy, then close the shower curtain. Not sure why that helps (and frankly, I have no idea how we discovered that this works), but she pretty much lives in the bathtub whenever it's stormy.

My parents' dog has a licking problem and they rub lemon juice on her feet. It has to be reapplied fairly often, but it seems to work. You might want to try that (assuming the GC vet staff approve) before forking over some cash for meds.

[agzg]

He only does it when there's salt on the sidewalks from the snow. I'd do the lemon thing, but he already has sores from it (which we have been putting cream on) and I think it would hurt him to rub lemon juice in sores.

We've tried stopping him when he starts licking, distracting him with bones, and we do put booties on his feet when we go out (because the salt hurts, too). We're worried that it's going to become some sort of obsession.

We have to go to the vet next week, anyway. Someone needs his rabies shot!

[SydneyK]

Ouch. Definitely a good idea to avoid rubbing lemon juice in sores. Poor thing... bless his little puppy heart.

[epchick]

Originally Posted by alphagamzetagam

He only does it when there's salt on the sidewalks from the snow. I'd do the lemon thing, but he already has sores from it (which we have been putting cream on) and I think it would hurt him to rub lemon juice in sores.

We've tried stopping him when he starts licking, distracting him with bones, and we do put booties on his feet when we go out (because the salt hurts, too). We're worried that it's going to become some sort of obsession.

We have to go to the vet next week, anyway. Someone needs his rabies shot!

This is probably a dumb question, but have you tried washing his paws thoroughly?

My little chihuahua sort of has an obsession of biting his nails. It's really gotten to the point to where a lot of his nails are chipped, and splintering. He'll get tons of things stuck in his nails, pieces of carpet, fabric/thread from a blanket, and it hurts him. You can cut his nails, but he'll just go back to biting them. Its weird because some of his nails don't grow anymore (well he chews them enough that they dont need to be clips) but then the rest still do, and it is hard to clip them.

[SWTXBelle]

Rescue Remedy is cheap - $7 in the link I posted. It worked for my dog and my daughter's cat - ymmv. I'd give it a shot.

Back to the op - could you crate the dog in the car? Maybe if he were in his own crate with his own blankie he would be calmer.

[HotDamnImAPhiMu]

I like the crating idea. Marley came with a LOT of undesirable behaviors, so I crate trained her while we were working on those. Now she LOVES the crate. It's in my bedroom and Marley sleeps in there half the time - I took off the crate door, so now it's basically just a little dog den for her. She's super comfortable and relaxed in it, so she'd probably calm down a lot if I crated her in the car.

If I'd just wanted to drug my dog, I would've hit her with the Dramamine already.

Alphagam, there's a product called Bitter Apple that you can spray on a dog's paws to keep them from licking. It runs about $4 a bottle. You've got a good point with the sores, though - I wouldn't want to put anything directly on them, either.

Last time I went on a trip, Marley got so anxious she created what the vet called a "hot spot" on her flank - one spot that she kept licking and licking until a sore formed, and then she KEPT licking, so she was at risk for infection. It was really hard to keep her from licking while it healed - she'd made a habit of it, even though the original stimulus (me being away) was gone. Plus dogs have the instinct to lick their wounds to clean them, so I really had my hands full.

[agzg]

Lucky has a lot of problems because he was a rescue. But, you deal with them because you love them, I guess.

Lucky's got hot spots, too, but he doesn't get them from licking - he just licks them when they hurt. He's got a skin condition that creates sores on his belly (from laying in urine - his prior owners were horrible, horrible people) and he licks those. We try to catch them before he becomes obsessive - we put lotion on them to help with the healing and ease the itching. It's just really hard to get that stuff to stay on his paws.

My posting makes him sound like a terror, or some little pathetic thing. He's really a happy doggie, though! He loves people (minus a few - live-in's mom literally scares the pee right out of him), and all he wants most of the time is to sleep, eat, go potty and be pet.

I'm just glad we got an appointment with his regular doctor - in October we had to go to the vet because he had a growth near his pee-pee (only a fatty cyst) and we got the other doctor in the office. He hated her, and to be truthful I didn't like her, either.

[HotDamnImAPhiMu]

from laying in urine?!

I really don't understand why people who treat dogs so poorly got a dog in the first place.

[agzg]

They never let him out of his kennel. I can't blame the poor puppy for not being able to hold it.

[libramunoz]

Some people can be really cruel to dogs! Iggy ran away from his home and found us. He hates fire of any kind (except to sit infront of). He was apparently burned on his ears and he hates it!
Buddy (whose real name is Javier Darwin) has a bb pellet in one of his hind legs. He was a foundling.
The people down here seem to think that it's o.k. to get a puppy for Christmas and when the dog begins to grow to just let it out in the country for someone to take care of. What they don't realize is that when the dogs get left out and find one another, they will create a pack and create HELL for farm owners because of them chasing their cattle.
It happens a lot where I live (yep, in the COUNTRY).

[aggieAXO]

I am no expert when it comes to behavior cases. I don't have a problems with the pharmacological approach in certain cases. I prefer Xanax over acepromazine especially in older dogs. Ace seems to really knock the older dogs out and they seem out of it for days (plus it can cause hypotension). I routinely prescribe Xanax for thunderstorm phobia and during 4th of July/New Years due to the fireworks. I think it is cruel (and stupid)when people insist on taking their dog to the park for 4th of July fesitivites-how horrible for the dog. Anyways that is another subject all together.

I was just speaking with a good frind of mine on the phone last week (she was a former tech at the place I work). She is currently a third year vet student at KSU. She had her dogs in the car and they started barking/screaming-I thought my friend had some terrible accident or somthing horrible was taking place. Turns out the dogs hate people on bicycles or motorcylces (anything with 2 wheels). And since it was such a nice day everyone was out on their bike that particular day. She just tries to avoid these people. She ended up taking a longer way home to avoid the bicyclists-maybe that is someting you could try as well (ie avoidance, I can't imagine there are that many diesel cars on the road)??

BTW, Xanax is pretty cheap and safe. Good luck with your dog.

[HotDamnImAPhiMu]

Thanks, Aggie.

[HotDamnImAPhiMu]

Hey vets - am I right to think a 10 year old dog can't go on a 2 mile run? I run slow, but Marley seems so stiff and achy when she gets up... I don't want to make her miserable. She always ACTS like she wants to go...but then, she also acts like she wants to get in the car when we're going to the vet, too.

[SWTXBelle]

I'm not a vet . . .but dogs, like people, have to work up to being able to run 2 miles. If the dog is 10, there may be joint issues. Maybe start slow with a shorter distance?