Behavior Change?

[phyllus]

We rescued Jake, a beagle, from the side of a busy highway. He had ants, bees and flies crawling all over him. He had bite wounds from head to tail, various other lacerations, a broken leg, fleas, and ticks, and was malnourished and dehydrated. The vet kept him for a week, treating him with antibiotic drips and IV fluids. He began eating on his own on day 3 and gained 6 pounds his first week. When he became stable, we brought him home on day 7 and introduce him to our dachshund and family cats. Jake was accepted and fit right in. He gets along fine with the other animals.

From the day we brought him home it has been a steady climb to improved health. We learned he also knows basic commands including the “go to your room” command. He also easily learns new commands and is eager to offer them.

In 6 weeks he went from wearing a cast to walking normally without a cast. We cured diarrhea in his first week home. In 12 weeks he has gone from parasite-ridden to parasite free; went from 29 pounds to 41 pounds, from dehydration to well hydrated; from being intact to neutered, and he will soon be treated for heartworms.

Jake has been the best dog. He has never run from medications, baths, or vet visits. But suddenly there’s a temperament change with him towards my husband. When my husband comes home from work to sit in his chair, Jake approaches him and sits facing him. Jake will then lift his head to look into my husbands eyes, but if my husband reaches down to pet him, Jake will either growl or snap at my husband’s hand. However, if my husband doesn’t pet him, Jake will nudge his hand until he does pet him and will then growl or snap at him anyway! This behavior began the day the cast was removed and it improves when my husband has time to spend doing things with and for the dog and worsens when he doesn’t have the time. The moment my husband returns to his schedule, things take a backward step and Jake returns to growling and snapping. My husband is the only person Jake reacts to in this way.

I’m open to any advice at this point as I do not wish to get rid of Jake. If anyone can make some recommendations it would be greatly appreciated.

[KOPsBecks]

Firstly congratulations for doing such a wonderful job with Jake, rescueing a dog and caring for them is a huge and amazing thing to do, so well done!

Secondly it sounds like Jake is expressing dominant behaviour over your husband. Some signs of this are:
- directly looking in his eyes
- blocking his path and view by sitting directly in front
- only wanting pats on HIS terms, not when your husband wants to
- controlling your husbands actions by aggression if he doesnt get his way.

You need to instigate a routine to reaffirm his place in the pack, which is unfortunately for him, at the bottom.
Have you got access to a protocol for this, I can put one together for you if you want?

Becks

[phyllus]

Thanks Beck for your response. I've been discussing this issue with Jake's vet as well and he recommended that I turn over as much of Jake's care as possible to my husband. This does seem to help, but since we work for ourselves, my husband's schedule is quite erratic and therefore he can't stick to a strict schedule at home. I'm the lucky one that gets to stay home and take care of all the little details of our business and the pets.

The vet recommended that my husband feed Jake at least one meal a day and also participate in Jakes training and suggested the he walk Jake as much as possible. I have to admit though, that this in itself poses a problem with my husband's schedule changes. For instance, due to scheduling, Jake wouldn't eat at the same time every day if we attempted to let my husband take over that responsibility. I believe Jake should be on ritual as much as possible. One note of interest in this is that when we tried it a few days we both were able to tell that Jake demonstrated a lot of distrust when taking his meal from my husband...we still try though without my interference.

The vet has also very adamantly insisted that we do not reprimand Jake in any form or fashion for this behavior, insisting that the problem will subside with time. I, however, am not so sure this is the best thing to do, even though the vet seems to think that reprimand could cause Jake to "bite without warning". Still, I have resorted to putting Jake in "his space" to relax without putting up the baby gate when he behaves this way. He stays for an hour or so and then rejoins the family at his will without approaching my husband.

The only protocol I have in place right now is a regular schedule for Jake, the SitStayFetch program and the vet for support, and continued training reinforcement. What protocol would you suggest in view of Jake's current schedule? Jake's day is light since he's on limited activity due to the heartworms. Here's his current schedule.

1. Walk around the yard with Jake and my dach between 6 and 7 AM each morning for a little bit of exercise, a few training commands, and potty purposes.

2. Water and food by 7:30 am and re-walk at 8:00 am as in step 1.

3. Both dogs want to nap after that until 1 pm at which time we walk outdoors, reinforce training, play, and then sit in the sun for an hour.

4. Both dogs then want to nap again until 5pm or so.

5. Both dogs are then fed after my husband and I and the family cats have had dinner between 6:30 and 7:30 pm nightly. Jake observes us and the cats eating and then he enjoys his dinner at the same time the dach eats.

6. No table scraps are given to the dogs unless it's cooked meat saved for training treats.

7. They get walked for potty purposes twice more after that and before 10 pm and are allowed to have a rawhide chew during this time as well. If either dog demonstrates resource guarding during this time, the chews are traded for a final training session with treats. My husband participates in this training session for about 5 minutes.

8. At bedtime, since the dach was our first dog and we knew no better when we rescued him, he sleeps in our bed.

9. Due to Jakes injuries, he had to be crated at night, but we later moved him to his own space in the master bath with a baby gate. At bedtime, Jake willingly and happily goes to his space and is behind the baby gate all night, but this location allows him to see me and wake me if he requires attention to wounds or an extra potty trip in the middle of the night.

And that's how we live with Jake currently. I've requested that my husband do not pet Jake on Jake's terms and do not pet him on the head in view of the type of injuries he had. I also asked him to only pet Jake if he works for it by obeying some command first.

Thanks for your help!

[phyllus]

Thanks Beck for your response. I've been discussing this issue with Jake's vet as well and he recommended that I turn over as much of Jake's care as possible to my husband. This does seem to help, but since we work for ourselves, my husband's schedule is quite erratic and therefore he can't stick to a strict schedule at home. I'm the lucky one that gets to stay home and take care of all the little details of our business and the pets.

The vet recommended that my husband feed Jake at least one meal a day and also participate in Jakes training and suggested the he walk Jake as much as possible. I have to admit though, that this in itself poses a problem with my husband's schedule changes. For instance, due to scheduling, Jake wouldn't eat at the same time every day if we attempted to let my husband take over that responsibility. I believe Jake should be on ritual as much as possible. One note of interest in this is that when we tried it a few days we both were able to tell that Jake demonstrated a lot of distrust when taking his meal from my husband...we still try though without my interference.

The vet has also very adamantly insisted that we do not reprimand Jake in any form or fashion for this behavior, insisting that the problem will subside with time. I, however, am not so sure this is the best thing to do, even though the vet seems to think that reprimand could cause Jake to "bite without warning". Still, I have resorted to putting Jake in "his space" to relax without putting up the baby gate when he behaves this way. He stays for an hour or so and then rejoins the family at his will without approaching my husband.

The only protocol I have in place right now is a regular schedule for Jake, the SitStayFetch program and the vet for support, and continued training reinforcement. What protocol would you suggest in view of Jake's current schedule? Jake's day is light since he's on limited activity due to the heartworms. Here's his current schedule.

1. Walk around the yard with Jake and my dach between 6 and 7 AM each morning for a little bit of exercise, a few training commands, and potty purposes.

2. Water and food by 7:30 am and re-walk at 8:00 am as in step 1.

3. Both dogs want to nap after that until 1 pm at which time we walk outdoors, reinforce training, play, and then sit in the sun for an hour.

4. Both dogs then want to nap again until 5pm or so.

5. Both dogs are then fed after my husband and I and the family cats have had dinner between 6:30 and 7:30 pm nightly. Jake observes us and the cats eating and then he enjoys his dinner at the same time the dach eats.

6. No table scraps are given to the dogs unless it's cooked meat saved for training treats.

7. They get walked for potty purposes twice more after that and before 10 pm and are allowed to have a rawhide chew during this time as well. If either dog demonstrates resource guarding during this time, the chews are traded for a final training session with treats. My husband participates in this training session for about 5 minutes.

8. At bedtime, since the dach was our first dog and we knew no better when we rescued him, he sleeps in our bed.

9. Due to Jakes injuries, he had to be crated at night, but we later moved him to his own space in the master bath with a baby gate. At bedtime, Jake willingly and happily goes to his space and is behind the baby gate all night, but this location allows him to see me and wake me if he requires attention to wounds or an extra potty trip in the middle of the night.

And that's how we live with Jake currently. I've requested that my husband do not pet Jake on Jake's terms and do not pet him on the head in view of the type of injuries he had. I also asked him to only pet Jake if he works for it by obeying some command first.

Thanks for your help!