russellwith2ls

Thanks GG. My dog is ~22 pounds and I believe my wife gave her a dose for 20-40lbs, so she was definitely getting more per pound than most. As a precautionary measure we are going to switch treatments.

A little late to the thread, but how many days after taking Trifexis did your dog have the seizure? Ours had a seizure 4 days after taking the pill for the first time. This happened last week and we aren't planning on giving it to her again, but can't obviously say it was the pill and not something else. Thanks!

It's been about a week since I first posted, and what a rollercoaster of a week it's been! The seizure was pretty scary for us and especially for Stevie, and for several days afterwards Stevie really did not want to be around us nearly at all and her fearful aggressiveness actually got worse with my wife. It was heartbreaking. However, in the last week we reached out to every resource we could (SPCA, Trainers, you guys) and have been taking all the advice we got to heart. We've really been restraining ourselves to only touch her on her terms, only if she clearly signals she wants it and even then only for several seconds. We also have been working on handling exercises with treats. My wife has been hand feeding her 2x a day, working a lot on the "touch" command (nose to hand) and other obedience stuff. I have been working drop it and trading games and she picked those up super quickly. I am SOOO happy to say that after 3-4 days of regression, her behavior towards us and overall emotional state took a turn for the better, and the next day too, and so on since then. She is back to the pup we adopted, albeit one with some minor behavior issues. My wife and I both are confident we have the time and resources and, thanks to many of you, knowledge to deal with those issues. The best part is that she just seems so much happier than a week ago which is fantastic to see. Thanks again for sharing your experience and expertise. Super helpful! Stevie says thank you too: http://imgur.com/Bw5O5US

Wow! I'm so impressed with the quality of all this advice! Thank you so much! First off, I think my wife and I do need to remind ourselves that she is a shelter dog that we have only had for less than a month, so the bonding and trust is going to take a while. We know that, but one forgets context sometimes when you are focused on one issue. And YES, the stillness is what she does. I know exactly what you're talking about but I wasn't putting it together and neither was my wife. When I read this out to her, she said that is exactly what Stevie did the last time she snapped. Thank you for that insight, it is definitely what we need to watch for. The trading up game is something we will work on. It's going to be funny to learn what she perceives as her hierarchy of toys and treats. It's been a tough couple of days though, and it's pretty clear stress was a big contributing factor in the latest incidents. She had what we think was a seizure two days ago (the reason for the 2nd vet visit and a 3rd yesterday). We are not sure why, as I said, we got zero medical history when we adopted her. Her ALT Enzyme is elevated at ~320 but everything else is normal (that they tested for), and general behavior is pretty good, if a little aloof. And the aloofness could certainly be due to the stress of the vet visits. Since her other vitals were good, the vet recommended watching behavior closely and if there are any other signs of sickness, to bring her back in for more extensive tests and a recheck of the ALT. I would like to recheck ALT in several weeks anyway, and if it's still high, consider treatments. We are also switching her to higher quality food. Hopefully that will help also. Poor Stevie! Thanks again for such amazing advice! Time and patience + knowledge...thats the equation, of course! Cheers, Chris

Hi, How can I get my pup to stop snapping at people? Here is the background: 3.5 weeks ago my wife and I adopted a 6-9 month old border collie cross from the local SPCA. Even though Stevie Nips is a bit on the small side for BC's (~20#s) and so clearly mixed, she exhibits lots of BC traits such as her coloring, herding, stalking, is very smart and athletic, etc... We have no information about her previous life or parents. She is very receptive to training, already has learned not to jump, sit, down, place, chair, up, off and getting better at leash manners too. She is always very friendly and submissive to strangers giving them low tail wags, happily approaches them and rolls over when they pet her. She has "bitten"/snapped at 4 people since we got her 3.5 weeks ago: 2 vets, my wife (2x) and father-in-law. She has never broken the skin or really caused any pain, so seems to have good bite inhibition. The first time with my wife was when my wife tried to take some food away from her that she found on a walk and the 2nd time was when my wife went to move a toy that she was playing with (which is what also happened with my father in law). After the first Vet bite, they suggested practicing medical touching while giving her treats, which we did. It's hard to know if they helped during the 2nd visit, because while she did eventually snap, she was more calm and did better longer, but she was sick, so energy was down. My wife and I both care for her, but I definitely spend more time with her and play more with her. She has never snapped at me, even though I do all the triggers too. My wife is 7.5 months pregnant and works full time, so is doing as much as she really can already. Obviously having a baby on the way is a forcing factor in dealing with the snapping and biting though. Each time she snaps around toys, she doesn't really indicate before hand that she is upset. No growling or mouthing or trying to escape, and with the toys she is often playing with the person happily, returning again and again for more play. She rarely makes any noises at all. Maybe a single bark if someone opens the front door or she finds a raccoon in the backyard, like last night. With the last vet incident (last night), she happily and submissively approached the vet, stayed in the center of the room with her, and the vet was petting her for at least 5 minutes while speaking with us in the exam room, and then BAM. It was seemingly out of no where. She doesn't know "Drop it" or similar command yet, which is probably something I need focus on. For her, food is the best thing, more so than toys. So if she is playing with a toy, and you give her a treat, she ignores the toy and won't go back to playing, so you can't get any reps in, in terms working on drop it. I have a couple of questions: What do I do when she snaps at someone? My reaction is to harshly scold her and remove her from the toy or food, but I am reading that that could contribute to the problem by installing a mindset that when someone is doing something she doesn't like, it is going to lead to punishment, which could make her initial reaction worse. Is that overthinking it? How do I work with her on not snapping when she doesn't do it to me? There doesn't seem to be a way to get repetitions in that doesn't involve strangers or friends, which might lead to them getting bitten. Is there some way to train her to exhibit a human acceptable complaint (growling, soft mouthing, etc...) that is not snapping? Tips on training a dog "drop it" when they totally ignore toys when food or treats are present? I think a good drop it command will help, but how do I teach it? Thanks so much for any info you can share. While my wife and I grew up with dogs, she is our first dog that wasn't also our parents and first BC. We already love her so much and just want her and us to be happy and comfortable together. Cheers, Chris