Lisa, thanks for that advice. I will call ask her about that.
Usually there is some sort of consultation either by phone or email questionairre or sometimes in person to get a good feel for the household and your concerns. That may be a good time to address your concern about how to make things work with the household as a whole.
How is Mr. Otis doing?
He is doing pretty good, they all are right now..once our foster went to live with his foster/forever family we have calmed down alot… He seems to respect the kitchen as my domain and rarely enters it while I am cooking or uncooking ( I am 100% raw now), he lays in the dining room and sleeps, so close by but not in there.
We haven't had any fights in a week or so now and feeding is much calmer and more structured, he does his "leave it" extremely well and will not touch his food until he gets his go ahead word. So far so good. The trainer will come home to us for a much larger fee, so we have decided not to do that yet, but we'll see. His test results are not back yet from Dr Dodd's, but hope they will be in a day or two.
He is doing pretty good, they all are right now..once our foster went to live with his foster/forever family we have calmed down alot… He seems to respect the kitchen as my domain and rarely enters it while I am cooking or uncooking ( I am 100% raw now), he lays in the dining room and sleeps, so close by but not in there.
We haven't had any fights in a week or so now and feeding is much calmer and more structured, he does his "leave it" extremely well and will not touch his food until he gets his go ahead word. So far so good. The trainer will come home to us for a much larger fee, so we have decided not to do that yet, but we'll see. His test results are not back yet from Dr Dodd's, but hope they will be in a day or two.
Sounds like good progress is being made. Good job hanging in there and working with him. Maybe the neutering will make a difference too. Let us know his thyroid results.
I wish there was a way for Lukas to be unafraid around your Otis. Animals can sense fear and will sometimes take advantage of it. You know your son better than anyone…perhaps you will know a way to bolster his confidence with Otis.
Good to hear that Otis is improving - you are obviously doing the right things. I look forward to hearing more 'improvement' news.
Petra,
i'm glad to hear things are improving with Otis.
We got Otis results back from Dr DOdds and his thyroid is A OK..however today he attacked a friend of ours 6 yr old daughter and grazed her on her buttocks. I am feeling like this is the end of the road and that I am out of options..
We got Otis results back from Dr DOdds and his thyroid is A OK..however today he attacked a friend of ours 6 yr old daughter and grazed her on her buttocks. I am feeling like this is the end of the road and that I am out of options..
He just surprise attacked her from behind? Did she have any interaction with him at all before that?
Several times..her sister and her spend almost every friday at our house, so Otis knows her very well
He was laying on the dog quilt in the living room playing with a toy when she came through the living room to go outside..She was maybe 3-4 feet from him when he got up and just charged her, she turned and tried to run away and he got her on her buttocks.
It wasn't like a play attack but a mean I'm going to hurt you thing? Buddy has charged me from behind with a surprise bite but it's a rowdy play thing.
She has bite marks on her little butt..no this was far from play.
I didn't hear you saying anything like this until now…Is he having some pack order issues with Moses being in the household? What is Moses' maturity level? (Teenager, young adult, etc) Just wondering if something has been brewing between them under the surface.
The only dog bite I have ever received was a bonzai attack from behind as I was leaving the home. It was a West Highland Terrier that got me. I had been petting him not five minutes before he bit me. I never did figure out why he bit me. No growl, no warning...just bolted from across the room and got me. Maybe some of the experts can help explain it...
I'm so sorry you're having trouble with Otis.
@AJs:
I didn't hear you saying anything like this until now…Is he having some pack order issues with Moses being in the household? What is Moses' maturity level? (Teenager, young adult, etc) Just wondering if something has been brewing between them under the surface.
The only dog bite I have ever received was a bonzai attack from behind as I was leaving the home. It was a West Highland Terrier that got me. I had been petting him not five minutes before he bit me. I never did figure out why he bit me. No growl, no warning...just bolted from across the room and got me. Maybe some of the experts can help explain it...
I'm so sorry you're having trouble with Otis.
I was thinking about Moses as well. Seems Otis has had this biting thing escalate since Moses arrived. Not that Moses is fighting to be the alpha dog just that Otis feels threatened.
It would be a wise thing to keep him in his kennel at this point, that kind of bite is a serious thing. Was there any "noise" "warning" first? Or just straight up went for them? Where were the other dogs when this happened?
As far as I know it was very sudden, caught her off guard and freaked her rightfully out.
The other dogs were outside in the back yard enjoying the spring weather, Otis was outside as well, until he came in about 15 minutes before this incident..I had the door opened so they walked in and out as they pleased, the kids too.
Moses is 10 1/2 months and very non confrontational, will cower if Otis comes at him or if he has a bone/toy or is sleeping where Otis wants to sleep he will drop the bone/toy and get up and leave the spot for Otis…Otis dominates Moses very much..
-Even though he is neutered, there had not really been enough time for the testosterone to be flushed from his system, so you are still dealing with the temperment/etc of an intact dog.
-Moses may or may not be an issue. Yes, it does seem like many problems cropped up when M came along, but it is also the same time frame that O would be reaching maturity. Maybe a combination? Maybe the arrival of M, maybe just poor timing. Just because O dominates M, doesn't me that the presence of M is not troublesome for O.
-The bite sounds like it could be O being overthreshold/overstimulated. Playing with a toy, playing outside, kids running around, etc, could put O overthreshold. And it does take time for an animal to come down from an adreneline rush. (more on this, i suggest reading (surprise!) Control Unleashed and playing lots of the Off Switch game)
-Or perhaps the bite was preditory drift?
http://www.alldogsgym.com/content/view/378/
squealing children can trigger preydrive.
that's my two pennies worth of thoughts
He bit my husband before Moses entered our lives by a month or so, maybe Moses coming in escalated things, maybe not..my untrained eye have a hard time seeing that..
I realize his neutering will take a while to go into effect " hormone wise", so I am not expecting wonders, that wouldn't be fair for him.
Over stimulation, maybe, but this is how our house is, kids playing, dogs running around and roosters crowing. We have a normal household with a 5yr old and a 9 yr old..4 dogs and lots of other things going on..we thrive on it, but maybe Otis is not.
We are talking about what needs to happen from here out..he is my angel and always will be, maybe he isn't supposed to be here though..
Petra i am so sorry to hear about Otis, you must be worried sick. Do you know anyone who would take him who have no children and possibly where he is the only Dog. I know you have his best interests at heart as well as the rest of your family.
