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Post by jellybean on Oct 20, 2018 8:57:46 GMT
Would the suggestion that clt80 made about a dog behaviorist not help Hezz.
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Post by Shirls on Oct 20, 2018 9:51:38 GMT
Oh dear, poor Mac and poor you Hezz. I wonder if it is a smell of something that upsets him, of another animal or dog in the vicinity. Sometimes if a dog has had a bad early life, of mis-treatment it may even be a smell of the person that owned him (perfume/aftershave etc.) Noise of a child even? I am so sorry for you both.
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Post by Hezz on Oct 20, 2018 10:11:23 GMT
We do not have an animal behaviourist; talked to the vet about that. We don't have access to one. Apparently with abused dogs, dementia and anxiety issues can hit a lot earlier than with other dogs. I had looked at all available options years ago, not long after we got him, regarding helping to settle into a normal happy household, but obviously everything evolves over time. Unfortunately not enough to bring changes to Mac's life, at this stage. We haven't just hit him with the prozac without looking for other solutions beforehand, by ourselves and with the vet. His issues have been getting gradually worse. When it gets to the stage when you can't see that that life is any fun - he can't be enjoying his life - then it is time to stop fiddle-farting around and do something definite. Drugs have been the last resort, but at least we are seeing some improvements .... not in all regards, but at least in some ways.
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Post by Hezz on Oct 20, 2018 10:53:27 GMT
Sorry, I had missed a couple of peoples' posts. Funny thing, had a lady come to visit today (hormonal lorikeet that she needed a break from) and Mac was happy to sit and have her pat him. Last time she came all he could do was bark at her and back off. We agreed, laughingly, that I would take her hormonal parrot if she would take my psychotic dog. Of course her hormonal parrot has been a dream so far, as was the psychotic dog at the time.
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Oct 6, 2011 7:41:27 GMT
Marianne Marlow
Administrator
George, Daisy, Iris, Billy, Peter, Chipper, Dinku, Barney, Ayla and Rocky
Posts: 28,754
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Post by Marianne Marlow on Oct 20, 2018 11:46:54 GMT
I wonder Hezz, if the dog picks up on any anxiety in the house?
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Post by Hezz on Oct 21, 2018 1:29:46 GMT
I wonder Hezz, if the dog picks up on any anxiety in the house? I'm not sure that there is any anxiety to be picked up on, Marianne. There is only OH and myself at home, now.
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Post by Shirls on Oct 21, 2018 8:57:19 GMT
Oh dear, poor Mac and poor you Hezz. I wonder if it is a smell of something that upsets him, of another animal or dog in the vicinity. Sometimes if a dog has had a bad early life, of mis-treatment it may even be a smell of the person that owned him (perfume/aftershave etc.) Noise of a child even? I am so sorry for you both. You didn't acknowledge my previous post (as above) Hezz, just wondered if you missed it. It may be relevant, may not, but dogs are very sensitive to smells/sounds, so it may be something??
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Post by skysmum on Oct 21, 2018 18:50:41 GMT
Ohhh poor boy . Can i ask Hezz, how does an electronic containment collar work? . I'm just wondering, does it omit any high frequency sounds? Not as such, skysmum. There is a wire around the perimeter of our block which plugs into a transmitter. the collar is a receiver, and beeps first if he gets within a certain distance of the wire, and gives a small electric shock if he goes over it. The beeping is the warning signal to back off, but it doesn't beep all the time, only when activated. It has been great, up until now. Unfortunately, a couple of times when there has been no one home, he has busted through it - something has triggered his anxiety levels to go through the roof. So, a few times lately when no one home we have tied him up on a long lead. Yesterday he completely destroyed his kennel, somehow has dragged the whole thing up into my bromelia garden, destroying hundreds of $ worth of plants, and I am still finding bits of the kennel in the garden - it is in bits. I'm trying hard not to look at it all and remind myself that something is making him do this, that it is not what he wants to do. This last week, the days seem to be worse than the nights! Poor lad . I just wondered if he was picking up on some external high pitched sound that may not be audible to us. We had a time with Tilly a couple of summers ago at a park that she has enjoyed for 10 years. All of a sudden she was panic stricken every time we went in there, i had to stop letting her off lead because she would just bolt. It came to light that other dogs had been affected so the park keeper looked into it and he found out that a nearby garden had a sonic bird scarer going to protect his fish pond. Once i knew i concentrated on listening and could just about hear it, but of course to Tilly's ears it was unbearable. It's just a thought
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Post by Hezz on Oct 22, 2018 1:31:11 GMT
As far as we know, nothing is so different to what it has always been. There could be something, of course, but really we have no way of knowing. We have wondered about the electronic system giving off something but he hasn’t worn his collar for a few days, as the system has been playing up, whether broken wire or it is going to die, we don’t know. Something we need to look into and fix. There just hasn’t been the time for much lately.
Shirts, this hasn’t been a sudden thing, but gradually getting worse over time. If it were from something new in the neighbourhood, I think it would have happened suddenly, rather than build up over the two, three months or so.
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Post by samwiseg on Oct 22, 2018 7:20:38 GMT
So have the meds settled him down a bit now then Hezz? Sounds like you have all been through it
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Post by criswell on Oct 22, 2018 11:33:09 GMT
Poor Mac. I'm glad his medication is starting to help and I hope he continues to improve
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Post by Hezz on Oct 22, 2018 19:18:36 GMT
So have the meds settled him down a bit now then Hezz? Sounds like you have all been through it Settled him down to a certain extent, Sam. He still gets anxious but not quite as actively so, if that makes any sense. He is back to sleeping in the crate, though, as he doesn't have a replacement kennel yet. It is also the time of year when the storms are going to start being around. We've had one but that didn't seem to bother him much. We had dinner and stayed over with family Sunday night and felt we had to take him with us - a bit of a sleepless night, but not too bad.
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Post by samwiseg on Oct 25, 2018 7:32:59 GMT
Awww I so feel for you all Hezz - especially because of the storms too that cant be easy with a jittery pet to have around Probably another silly question but is there a way of distracting him at times like these? Like give him a favourite toy or something? Or is he the "fixated" type? x
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Post by Hezz on Oct 26, 2018 0:49:05 GMT
Sam, he has never played, ever. He looks at you as though you are stupid if you try to play games with him. I doubt he was ever played with as a pup. He has never made use of any toy, never chased sticks or balls. Years ago he would take a gardening glove or old shoe of mine back to his kennel and gnaw on them, but that wasn't a habit we encouraged. To make things worse right now, his containment wire is broken somewhere. My next job for the day is try to track that down, so he is having to be tied up for the moment until we can get that fixed. Hopefully it is fixable, and not completely on the blink.
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Post by clt80 on Oct 26, 2018 7:28:50 GMT
My heart broke when I read he has never played, I feel so sorry for him, and for you. A very stressful time, make sure you look after yourself too.
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