How Change can Affect Dogs...

We’ve just had a really stressful week in our home with contractors upgrading our heating system throughout the house. Poor Bailey, our deaf Great Dane has been really stressed with the appearance of strangers, furniture moving around, lots of ‘debris’ all over the place etc.

For a deaf or blind dog, normality is crucial but even more so in their home.  Being deaf means that Bailey needs to trust in her environment to be able to fully relax and so we keep it as predictable and normal as possible for her.  We don’t move furniture around much or have too many visitors in the house unless she has met them first outside and come in with them.  When she is asleep her sensory perception is obviously severely limited so she hasn’t been able to get much rest in her home with strangers ‘appearing’ out of nowhere or being there when she wakes up.

We have taken time off to make sure that we have always been near her so that when she wakes up, she sees us somewhere near.  As she’s a senior lady now she sleeps a lot so it’s been very time consuming!  We have been careful not to change our behaviour around her – we’re just doing something normal like reading or watching TV or working nearby on the laptop – because if we try and comfort or reassure her if she wakes with a startle reflex, this would be ‘abnormal’ behaviour from us and will unsettle her even more.  If she wakes and sees one of us completely relaxed and normal while chaos is going on in the rest of the place, it helps settle her more than if we actively try to ‘help’ her.

One sad side-effect of all of the upheaval is that she has become afraid of the dark.  Bailey has restricted vision, especially at night, and in the last few dark evenings, probably because of the equipment and tools left around the house and in the yard, she has refused to go into darkened areas, even if we are with her.

We’re hoping that now the work is finished in the house and things are getting back to normal, Bailey will gradually settle and sleep soundly again…

 

MORE reasons not to use aversive collars!

What beautiful sense this makes…

 

On choke chains, prong collars (also shock collars and spray collars!)…

 

“If your dog becomes so reactive over another dog or person, to the extend that he incapable of listening to you, he is in an aroused chemical state.  If… his air supply is shut off with a choke collar, or pain is inflicted with a pinch (prong) collar, you are not doing anything to help this animal to calm down!  A choke or pinch (prong) collar contributes to the arousal level by increasing the adrenaline level.”

 

Why oh why does this not make perfect sense to people still using these things???!

 

Source:  “Aggression in Dogs:  Practical Management, Prevention & Behaviour Modification”  by Brenda Aloff.

 

Some Common Sense...

While studying today I found this:

 

“… a comparison of 13,097 Swedish dogs of 31 breeds found that dogs bred for showing were more likely to display social and nonsocial fearfulness and were less playful and curious than dogs from working lines (Svartberg, 2005). 

 

This survey was no mere straw poll of a few hundred dogs… This was a MAJOR piece of research conducted with over 13,000 dogs.  When you find these kinds of numbers in a study, the results have to be taken seriously.

 

“Many breeders now understand the need to avoid inbreeding of very close relatives, but they often do not look far enough up the pedigree for common ancestry.  Unfortunately, some breeders still do in-breed as they strive for specific anatomical features as laid down in the breed standards.”

 

On many occasions I have asked owners whether they researched their new puppy’s pedigree thoroughly and they’ve said, ‘yes – the parents were fine’.  I have yet to meet anybody that researched FIVE GENERATIONS back to check common ancestry and the possible in-breeding of genetic abnormalities.

 

Source:  Rooney N.J. “The Welfare of Pedigree Dogs” Journal of Veterinary Behaviour, Volume 4, No 5, September- October 2009, p182-183

 

Obese Dogs...

I went to see a dog today that was so overweight that it found it difficult to walk. Why do dog owners look at their obese dog and see a fit, healthy one? (this owner actually thought her dog was UNDERWEIGHT!!)

It's body dysmorphia gone mad.

Just because this dog happened to be a Neapolitan Mastiff, known for it’s solid frame and lots of loose skin, the owner thought the dog had to be massive, despite the fact that this one had quite a small frame (a female).

The dog had that all-too-common sickening ‘roll’ from side to side as the the fat underneath her skin slid around as she walked. She was exercise intolerant due to the excess weight she was carrying and one of her hips was weakening, probably due to dysplasia but not helped by the inches of fat covering her hips and back.

I felt utter despair at YET ANOTHER dog owner who had absolutely no idea what a healthy, fit, toned dog should look like, no matter what size ‘frame’ they have. I have the extreme view that this is a kind of cruelty up there with starving or beating a dog. There is no excuse for making your dog fat. WE are the ones in control of their dietary intake; they are trusting US to keep a check on their weight and diet but we can’t even do that right a lot of the time. Ignorance is not an excuse.

Luckily I went to assess this kind, sweet-natured, gentle dog with a view to finding her a new home and will do my utmost to ensure that I find her one with people who know what a healthy dog looks like and will not kill their her with ‘kindness’.