Post photos of your dogs vol2
Discussion
mids said:
chrisga said:
Sad to say the two girls don't get on so well (would happily kill each other if left alone)
Jeez. How do you cope with that day to day?If we go out on walks we put the main instigator in a muzzle. When they are out they are usually "spanielling" with more important stuff to worry about than each other so we don't tend to get problems. We are also lucky in that we have a "dog van" with four individual crates so they all get their own space when travelling.
We have had our first springer from a puppy and the second is a rescue. In hindsight, having two b
hes about the same size and age probably wasn't the cleverest thing we have ever done but we took them on so have learned ways to cope and wouldn't give either up. When we took on the rescue they were fine together (hence partly why we agreed to keep her) but the afternoon after they had both had a lepto 4 jab, despite having lived together for 2 years at this point, was the first time they fought properly. It may be coincidence but they had never had any "proper" fights before. After that (prob 3 years ago) we would get the first springer getting agitated over guarding stuff but nothing ever really came to blows. Fights then became sporadic, perhaps once a quarter or even further apart but we could always see what triggered them so tried to reduce those factors as much as possible and everything was manageable.We then got the cocker pup and about 8-10 months ago (when he was 2 and a bit) he started to seem anxious when we were in different parts of the house (as we had just moved and he was getting used to new surroundings) so thinking we would help to calm any anxiety we bought a branded pheromone diffuser. Wow. We definitely didn't do the right thing (including reading the small print!)... Turns out the pheromone diffusers should never be used when a dog has shown any signs of aggression. Within 24hrs all hell had broken loose and we had had about 3 full on fights. After 3 days we had had 10 fights. We couldn't figure out what was causing it and the diffuser didn't even register with us as we understood it to be calming. After a bit of research we found other examples of it acting as a dis-inhibitor (if that's a word) so the two girls were basically like drunks brawling, they didn't care what happened. Unfortunately we didn't cotton on quick enough and in those three days we think they re-programmed themselves to understand fighting is fine and it became self rewarding. We have since tried to gradually re-introduce them but with little success though they haven't fought for months now.
So anyone thinking a pheromone plugin diffuser might reduce tension between dogs be careful!
Here is Jess in her modified greyhound muzzle which lets her open her mouth as wide as she needs to pant heavily, and she can still take treats and drink while wearing it. It's so light she doesn't seem bothered wearing it:
IMG_4674 by Chrisga, on FlickrEdited by chrisga on Tuesday 20th September 10:23
Wow, that was an interesting read. Well done for working through it as that can't be easy at all and I'm sure lots of people would have bailed and rehomed.
Didn't know about the pheromone diffuser risk. I bought adaptil spray when I first got my pup just for the first few nights and had no problems so was happy with it although it's obviously hard to tell if it contributed anything towards the calmness.
Didn't know about the pheromone diffuser risk. I bought adaptil spray when I first got my pup just for the first few nights and had no problems so was happy with it although it's obviously hard to tell if it contributed anything towards the calmness.
Chriga love the expression top left
Recal training going well
https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v...
Recal training going well
https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v...
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