Any ideas or suggestions?
As some of you may or may not know I keep an online journal on my personal website. Believe it or not, I have regular readers, and from time to time I receive an email asking for advice on certain issues. I have just today received an email regarding a problem, and I wanted to share it with the posters of PT. The message is long, but I am hoping that someone among you may have the time to read and perhaps offer some meaningful solution to the problem this reader poses:
Quote:
This is long. But in order to understand Kaiser, I had to tell you his history. I’m really desperate for help on the problem.
We adopted Kaiser from a German Shepherd rescue when he was 9 months old. We had a 16 month old German Shepherd, Tazz, that we had adopted at 11 weeks old. At that same time, we had adopted a male wolf puppy. He died at 16 months old after a battle with terrible seizures. Tazz was terribly depressed and we figured an older dog would be helpful to her.
Some background on Kaiser who is now 12.
He was bought by a young college girl when he was 8 weeks old. She couldn’t handle him by the time he was 6 months old so gave him to 2 college guys who “were going to straighten him out.” They abused him. Tied him with a 6 foot chain to a dog house. Kicked him at feeding time when he jumped on them. He’d slip his collar and take off…when they finally got him, they would beat him. He was filled with fear and borderline turning but the rescue agency felt he could be saved in the right home.
The dog was a mess! Getting him to eat was a battle. At first I had to hand feed him because he was afraid of the dish…then we progressed to me sitting beside him while he ate. And very fussy eater. Trying to find a food he liked was frustrating. But he finally chose Iams. I took them off Iams in 2008 because they were getting dry skin and put them on Nutro. That food nearly killed our dogs. They were all very ill and I immediately switched to Eukanuba. Kaiser loves it and Tazz no longer gets ear infections.
We couldn’t raise our voices or move too fast or he would be terrified. It took months to get him to the point where I could touch his collar without him freaking out. They told us not to crate him as he was terrified of a crate. We kept one in the front room for a long time with the door tied open and he wouldn’t even walk by it. If he became frightened he would stand up on his hind legs and lunge forward to bite. But the couple of times he did that to me, once his teeth touched my skin, he immediately stopped. He never broke the skin. He followed me around the house so close that if I stopped, he’d bump into me. I couldn’t leave the house at night for the first year we had him because he would be so upset when I got home that I’d be up all night with him. He’d run around the house licking the floor or if we put him outside, he’d eat grass until he vomited. He had to be tranquilized during thunder storms and fireworks. NO one could put their arms around him to hug him or pull him close because he would bite. Any form of restraint scared him and he would attempt to bite. I was the only one who could do that. He also spent 24/7 licking and chewing his left leg and the vets said it was behavioral. He was terrified of having his nails trimmed and that took weeks. I’d do one nail a day. Now I use a dremel tool to trim them all at once.
I took him to 2 dog trainers and one behaviorist. They told me he was a true case of separation anxiety. They told me he needed tough love training. I did one lesson with a trainer and left---furious. He basically grabbed the leash from my hand and dragged Kaiser away from me. Kaiser was sick for a week. They said his leg licking was behavioral.
Our vet (at the time) scared the poor thing to death every time he gave him his shots. We had him come to the house because Kaiser would get too scared at the vet. Kaiser had to be muzzled and it would take several people to hold him down while he got his shots.
I started my own program. It took a long time but Kaiser started to be a fairly normal dog. They all had told me to ignore him during a thunderstorm or give him a tranquilizer. Finally one day I said to heck with this and sat on the floor, holding him in my arms. The next storm, he came to me and again I held him in my arms. Kaiser no longer needs to be drugged and though he’s a little nervous, he no longer becomes insane with fear…racing through the house to climb into the tub to escape the storm. Now he curls up near me or on the bed with me and sleeps.
He began to realize that people are good! He began to love everyone! He gets so excited and happy to see anyone and everyone.
Kaiser was 5 when we adopted a Pit Bull puppy, Max, that was diagnosed with a severe heart condition. The breeder gave him away to a teenager because this condition kills dogs before the age of 2. He ended up living in a car for two weeks because the landlord wouldn’t let the pup into the apartment. He was rescued and we were asked to take him. The vet involved in rescuing him just wanted a home where he could live a normal life for the few years that he had. He was 10 weeks old. We adopted another German Shepherd, Jada, soon afterward. Max and Kaiser bonded. Jada bonded with Tazz.
We took Jada in to be spayed and when we went to have her stitches out, they took her to another room without us. When they brought her back, she tried to run toward us and the vet’s wife jerked her back. The vet started lecturing me on how bad German Shepherds are and that we never should have gotten another one. Blah, blah, blah.. I never went back.
My new vet had me bring Kaiser to his office to hang out in the waiting room, receive treats, then leave for a couple weeks before the visit for vaccines. We still used a muzzle for awhile because I didn’t want anyone getting hurt. We no longer need a muzzle and Kaiser loves our vet. No more pre-office visits.
Four vets and a specialist that did the ultra-sound all said Max would die before the age of 2. Our new vet said 80% of these cases do indeed die before 2 BUT he would rather put Max in the 20% category. He recommended CoQ10, Vit E and Ester C. Max will be 8 in December, Kaiser is now 12, Tazz 13, and Jada is 7. Max could not be neutered, though, because anesthesia most likely will kill him.
If company comes, we put the dogs outside in our fenced in back yard. I feel it’s safer because of the way people react to Pit Bulls and most of my family feels Pits are dangerous anyway. Max is a happy go lucky, energetic, little guy (50 lbs). He sleeps with cats! Kaiser is 65 pounds.
To the problem…….We first saw this about 3 years ago but it was minor then. If Kaiser went out first, then Max….Max would bolt by Kaiser and one day Kaiser snapped at him. He didn’t bite him or connect with him but I was worried about it. We decided to change the order to be safe. It was a problem ONLY when we had company.
We began letting Max go first and be well off the deck into the back yard before we let Kaiser go out. Solved the problem. Then my mom moved in with us 2 years ago. She has been difficult to teach. In May she let them out when company arrived with Kaiser first. Max bolted by him and Kaiser whirled on Max, snarling, growling and snapping. Max bit him. Kaiser took 14 stitches to his leg. Kaiser ripped every stitch out even with an e-collar on! Went to work even more on his poor leg, licking and chewing. Note on door as a reminder as to who must go first! We just got through the healing of his leg.
My mother did it again on June 2nd. My sister was here. This time Kaiser went into a frenzy, attacking Max. I arrived home just at the moment it happened but couldn’t get to them in time. Max tried to get away but Kaiser cornered him. Max bit Kaiser in the chest. It took 18 stitches to repair the damage and a drain for 3 days.
The dogs are not allowed out together anymore. I’ll be finishing a second fenced in area today that comes out another door so we can separate them when company comes.
Kaiser wouldn’t eat for 4 days. In those 4 days, he wasn’t chewing his leg. That got me curious so I began searching on the net about food allergies. I had questioned vets about this but they had said no. It would be more than just one leg. I began searching the net. I found information on dog allergies and corn and how it can be just one leg they brutalize. Then I started to search aggression and food allergies and found one story about a dog with a corn allergy that was having aggression problems. I ran it by my vet and he says I may be onto something.
Do you know anything about this? Have you ever seen this in dogs?? I’m worried sick. I don’t dare leave the house with my mom home with the dogs. I need to find out why this is happening.
I did switch his food to Eukanuba Naturally Wild Venison. He ate it gingerly but then after the first bite, he gobbled it down. SO far, he hasn’t chewed his leg but I’m afraid to get my hopes up. Any ideas on this would be appreciated. I’m sorry this is so long but I did feel history might be helpful.
Anxious to hear what you think!
