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[BorderYogal]

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[GentleLake]

Have you consulted a behaviorist, either a veterinary behaviorist or a certified applied behavior consultant?

That would be my first recommendation, and in this case would suggest a specialist vet because of the other physical issues that could well be playing into the behavioral issues.

Wishing you the best.

 

[BorderYogal]

7 minutes ago, GentleLake said:

Have you consulted a behaviorist, either a veterinary behaviorist or a certified applied behavior consultant?

That would be my first recommendation, and in this case would suggest a specialist vet because of the other physical issues that could well be playing into the behavioral issues.

Wishing you the best.

 

We have when he was younger and we are waiting to see them again. Is there anything you could think of which maybe causing the physical issues. 

Thank you for the kind words I do appreciate it. 

[GentleLake]

49 minutes ago, BorderYogal said:

Is there anything you could think of which maybe causing the physical issues. 

No, but I'm neither a vet or a behaviorist. It does seem to me like the physical and behavioral issues might be related, though.

[jami74]

I'm not a vet or a behaviourist either, and I'm certainly not very experienced. But I do very much recognise your feelings of despair because I felt the same way not long ago. Our boy is now 15 months and I think we are past the worst.

If you haven't already, buy and read the Controlled Unleashed book. I held off for longer than I should have because it's expensive (where I am, probably cheaper in the US).

Our boy also never settled. I think he was nearly a year old when one day he settled down to sleep during the day and slept for ages, I actually thought he must be sick. I'm not saying that life was perfect from this point on, but it was the beginning of him not needing to be watched every second of the day and he seemed to get the hang of laying around. Still high energy, still crazy, but with small periods of relaxation in between.

Lead walking: Our boy is reactive to people, cats, birds etc too. And yes, the embarrassment! People are so judgemental. I realised that his reactions are a result of being anxious and unsure and over threshold so we are working lots on having distance between us and them. The improvements over the last couple of months have been huge, possibly helped by being neutered, or maybe just because he's getting older. We keep our lead walks to quiet times of the day and places where we have a good view so can put distance between ourselves and things that trigger the behaviour. We taught a 'leave-it' command with the lead. It was done over a few days and the lead didn't go on him again until he very much knew it mustn't be touched with his mouth. I know other people have similar lead biting problems so it's likely we were just very lucky that it worked so well for us.

They hyper-arousal thing is very important I think. We had a forced few days of no leaving the home because of very bad weather and while our boy was a nightmare the first day, by day three he had settled right down. I think we were doing too much with him. Not just physical stuff but also stressful stuff like putting him in situations where he'd start barking and lunging at things, too many new smells and sounds etc. Since then he usually only gets to leave home once a day and while we might be out for an hour, very little of that is actually running around and I try to keep it as low stress as possible. That means recognising when he might start behaving badly and preventing it. Not only is he calmer on one outing a day he pants less, chews less, bothers the cat less and his stools are firmer. Tiring him out seems appealing and may buy a couple of hours of physical exhaustion but in our case too much exercise and stimulation gives us a stressful couple of days as he struggles to come down again afterwards. I've also switched to calmer games at home, eg sometimes making him wait while I hide the ball rather than throwing it.

Anyway, I really just wanted to say that I also went through a period of time where I thought that my best wasn't going to be good enough and nothing seemed to get any better but then we turned a corner and while it's not always plain sailing it's easier to see a nicer future.

 

 

 

[D'Elle]

17 hours ago, BorderYogal said:

If he is crated he will go down quite quickly in this state but outside of it he can not settle if his life depended on it. 

I am glad you are seeking help from a good behaviorist. You also want to have a vet check him to see if he has some imbalance that can be helped with medication.

In the meantime.....

The crate is your friend in this situation.

Your dog sounds as though he goes over-threshold very frequently. The key is not to allow him to get to that point if at all possible. I suggest that you stop any activity that you are doing with him that revs him up at all. So lively play, no high pitched or excited voices. Everything calm and as quiet as possible all the time.  Study his behavior so you learn the little cues he will give with his body when he is about to go over threshold. If you can stop him before he goes manic you will have better success at retraining him.

When he starts any of the behaviors you don't want, including annoying the cats, he goes immediately into the crate and is left there with the crate covered in a blanket for enough time that he has settled down and/or taken a nap. If possible, put the crate into the other room where the door can be closed and it is dark and quiet and then ignore him no matter the barking or other behavior.

Leash biting. First, don't take him again for even one off-leash walk until you have the manic behavior under control. Can you just walk him on leash within a short distance of your house? I know that's not as good as a walk away, but the point is that he cannot be allowed to continue on the walk if he bites the leash, let alone your trousers. I would also try a chain leash to discourage his biting or it, although use your judgement on this. If you think he'd attack the chain with gusto then don't use it. You don't want him to break a tooth.

So, on a walk very near the house, the moment that he starts to act up in any way you turn abruptly around and take him back to the house and pop him into the crate. What he needs to learn (and it is imperative that 100% consistency be used in this) is that the minute he acts manic or  any of these things you don't want, all the fun stops immediately and he goes into the crate until he settles down.

Now, this part is important. The crate is not a punishment. Do not yell at him, or act angry or say no, no to him before putting him in the crate. Just do it matter-of-factly or even cheerfully. something like "OOPS! You need a time out now." and into the crate he goes. Give him a good chew toy in the crate and leave him alone. Dark and quiet. Even if he carries on a long time at first, if you keep doing it he will eventually learn that carrying on won't get him anything and he will learn to settle down in the crate. This will take a long time. But if you are consistent with it eventually his behavior will change. It's worth it.