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Anxiety behavior - Destructive
Electronic Fence - will it help with anxious dog?
It is very hard to stop a dog from chasing cats when it has a strong urge to do so. The hardest behaviors to change are the instinctive ones and chasing small animals is pretty instinctive in dogs. It is possible to change this habit in many dogs (not all) but it does take time and patience. If it is your impression that he really wants to catch the cats and possibly harm them, I think I would recommend letting him go back to the rescue group. If not, then there may be more time to think this through.
I am at home, without my behavioral reference texts. I am not even close to being a behavioral expert but the texts may have some advice. I will check on those tomorrow and relay any information I find.
If you are determined to work this out and there is a certified animal behaviorist or board certified veterinary behaviorist in your region, they would be a good source of qualified help. Your vet may be able to refer you to one of these people if someone is available in your area.
For now, keeping them
separate is a good idea.
Anxiety behavior (destructive)
Dogs hear much better than people do and will sometimes react to things like construction or changes in traffic noises that are inapparent to their owners unless they are very observant. Dogs will also sometimes manage to injure or frighten themselves in some way at home that is inapparent to their owners. We have had several instances of sudden onset separation anxiety that related to things like this. In one instance a neighbor was having rock delivered for a sea wall and one of my client's dogs became very upset about the construction trucks, running away from home for the first time in eight years of living there. She continues to be frightened of trucks with no known reason for it (no evidence she was injured in any way by the presence of the trucks).
Despite the sudden onset and the severity of the signs you are seeing this sort of behavior will often respond to the typical treatments for separation anxiety . It can be helpful to use anti-anxiety medications for the first few weeks while attempting to retrain a dog to accept the absence of its owners.
You may be able to
condition your dog to all sorts of sounds by getting recordings of them
(they sell sound effect CDs and records) and playing them at very low volume
on the stereo, then gradually increase the sound intensity until your dog
becomes accustomed to the noises. It is probably best to get advice on
this from a behaviorist, if possible, since the conditioning technique
works better if you can recognize the first signs of nervousness and just
push to that level with the sound. Also, different dogs need to work at
different speeds and having the help of someone who has done this sort
of thing before is useful. A very nervous dog might do better if an anti-anxiety
medication is used in conjunction with training. You might want to talk
to your vet about this, since these are prescription medications. Your
vet may know of a good behaviorist in your area, too.
There are several common reasons that dogs destroy property. This can happen if the dog is a high energy playful dog that just destroys things because it is playing inappropriately. It can occur in dogs that are frustrated by territorial invasions they can not respond to because they are penned, in the house or in a crate. Some dogs are afraid of something that happens when owners are away (an example would be construction noises in the neighborhood that an owner might not even be aware of). Other dogs have separation anxiety. These dogs are so distraught over the absence of their owners that they tear up doors, crates, windows, etc. in an apparent attempt to free themselves or just to rid themselves of the anxiety. Dogs do not seem to be spiteful -- at least they don't seem to be able to put together a plan like "I'll get even with those people for leaving me alone by destroying the couch". So it is important to remember that if the underlying problem can be found and treated there is a very good chance of successfully overcoming the behavior.
It would be very helpful with the degree of problem you are seeing to talk with a veterinary behaviorist if at all possible. Your vet may be able to refer you to a behaviorist in your area. If this is not possible perhaps your vet would be willing to let work with you to resolve this problem.
Increasing the time spent interacting with your dog in an activity that uses a lot of energy can be helpful with almost any behavioral problem. Writing a log of when the problem occurs and what happens each time for a week or so will sometimes give you insight into which of the possible problems is leading to the destructive behavior.
It is very very difficult to change behaviors that are fun or instinctive.
A young child almost never has the strength, physically or mentally, to discipline a dog on a consistent basis. This makes teaching them not to jump on children more difficult, especially at 9 months of age or so. Many dogs do seem to recognize that jumping on children isn't fun after they do it a few times and the child quits playing or quits paying attention to them but that does not consistently happen.
Unless you have a lot of time and your vet or someone you know can refer you to a very good trainer or a good animal behaviorist, I think that you will find it hard to train this puppy.
I hate to be so pessimistic but over the years I have been in practice it seems to me that most people have a very hard time training a difficult pet without help. It can be done but it is uncommon. If you are determined to keep the puppy (which is an admirable thing, if so) then get the help you need. If you feel you can not handle the situation, everyone is probably better off.
The "R.E.M." or rapid
eye movement sleep portion of sleeping is the time when people seem to
dream and probably the same is true for dogs. Why some dogs have more restlessness
when dreaming is hard to say --- but I suppose they could be having nightmares
or very exciting dreams.
Dogs generally become sick in the car because they are frightened, not because they have real motion sickness. It is necessary to reassure your dog that these fears are groundless (which might be hard depending on how you drive). You need to get your dog used to the car by taking trips that are short enough that your dog does not exhibit the typical signs of car sickness- drooling, vomiting, etc. It may be necessary to start out by just sitting in the car together and giving your dog a treat after a few minutes. Then take very short rides followed by a treat - even if you can only make it to the end of the driveway. Gradually increase the length of the trips until your dog enjoys the car rides.
If you don't want your dog in the car, but find it necessary on occasion, you can use tranquilizers to control the nervousness with good success in most dogs. Your vet will have one that works well for him or her.
Some dogs really have
motion sickness. It is possible that dramamine will work in these dogs
but even in these dogs tranquilizers like acepromazine that also have anti-emetic
properties usually work well.
I have not seen much advice from behaviorists on introducing cats and dogs in a household. There is some information on introducing cats to cats or dogs to dogs. So I can only give you a little advice, based on what I have seen.
If your dog does not like cats, particularly if he or she has a track record of chasing or hurting them, that would be a major complication. If the cats have not met a dog before or are already conditioned to respond to the approach of a dog aggressively, that is also going to be a major problem. I am hoping that neither of these problems are present since you didn't mention them.
If your dog has never met really met a cat and your partner's cats have never really met a dog, I think it would be best to introduce them at the cat's house. This way, your dog will be a little hesitant to be aggressive and a little more likely to give the cats a chance. Plus, the cats know the territory so if they are frightened they may chose to run for a favorite hiding place rather than respond aggressively. Keep your dog on a leash and don't make a big deal of the cats. Just make a few trips to the house and let them notice each other at their own speed. As long as things seem to be going OK, you may find that there isn't a worry and that the cats and dog will do fine. If a problem occurs it would be best to try to find a veterinary or animal behaviorist in your area to help with the introduction. Your vet may be able to refer you to one.
If it is not possible to find a behaviorist, then it might help to follow the advice for introducing cats to cats. The standard advice in this case is to keep them separated in different parts of the house -- but to switch the part they occupy each day so that they have to get used to each others scents and presence. When the searching activity slows on your dog's part and the cats seem less nervous/aggressive/frightened then try slowing introducing them while keeping control of your dog -- only because your dog is more likely to be able to seriously harm the cats than the other way around. Eventually, dogs and cats seem to accept each other in almost all cases. If your dog does show aggression, it may be a long and difficult process, though.
Electronic Fence - will it help with anxious dog?
Q: Hi, our 1 year old labrador retriever is a beautiful pet, except!!! he eats the walls in our laundry room. It is a small room [8x10] where we keep him when we`re not home [which isn`t very often]. He only started this at about 8 months of age and he doesn`t do it every time. We also have a 12 year old Lab who has the run of the house. We can trust her. Do you think the cause of this is being separated from her? We don`t want to leave him out with her because he pesters her so much and she has a bad leg. Any corrective methods we can use? We tried putting tabasco sauce on the wall but he just went to a different place, the wall has about 9 holes now. Help before their totally gone!
A: The most likely problem is separation anxiety. The electronic fences work if the dog is trained according to the directions and they are not one of the dogs who are willing to take the shock of the fence in order to chase cars or play with other dogs. They have one major drawback, which is that they do not keep other dogs from coming onto your property. This is a big problem if your dog is aggressive towards other dogs or if aggressive dogs visit your property. Also, they can be a problem if your dog is aggressive towards people like mailmen or delivery men who may not notice that the dog is free in the yard. Overall, I'd say that more of my clients who use these fences are happy with them than are not happy with them. I have worked on two dogs who chased cars despite the fences and were injured by the cars. One of these dogs died, so there can be serious consequences when the fences don't work.
