Lexi

[lizzy]

Hi Guys

I am mikes partner just thought I would give you a little update on Lexi

She is now 11 months old and a little terror

She has seperation issues which I have no idea how to handle, Mike wants to get her a doggy companion but im not sure if this will work

She has food issues and just wont eat anything anymore unless its raw, which goes straight through her so we have really wanted to not go down this route

Its our own fault for trying her with it now that is all she wants

How long should a dog have and upset tummy for when changing and what is the best way to change it

She currently has Chappy which she is now refusing as it was the only thing she would eat

She has been having raw bones & loves them, but this has turned her poo yellow, no diarrhoea (SP) is seems normal just a different colour

She is skinny but the vet said she is the ideal weight for her age height etc

So we are slowly changing to raw now but I am dreading it

Sorry for the ramble and I hope I dont sound like a bad dog owner she is our pride and joy and we jsut want to make her happy

I will post some piccies when Mike gets back from work!

Thanks Liz

[nisbreagha]

Hi Lizzy

For some people RAW feeding or changing to anything can cause upset tummies for a while, I luckily never experienced thisnwhen I first introduced it to my dogs 4 years ago.

As for the separation anxiety I'm afraid to say this is down to you guys (I'm not having a go just stating how this happen) to get your dog out of this you will need to become a bit tougher. So this is the advice I give if some one has this problem. You need to stop allowing the dog to follow you around the house (if indeed it does) so you can start to separate yourself and the dog even if it's only for you to go for a pee! You need to start leaving the house for a couplemof mins and the technique to this is ignore the dog for 10/15 mins before hand no fussing, to talking, no touching to eye contact then leave and return after 5 mins, when you return no fusing, no talking, no touching until dog is calm then a nice reward like bait of cold meat or cheese and repeat and extend the time until dog realises you come back and it safe. The key to this is the no fus at the leave and return. Also when you or your parter come home I urge you to greet each other first and ignor the dog till it's clam then reward it. It is also really important that you are exercising it enough as this will drain any excess energy and again make the dog calmer and easier to work with. This will not work over night it can take a while but you both have to be consistent and do exactly the same routine or you will confuse the dog and make things worse. Hope this helps

[wildmoor]

Hi Lizzy is this Lexi who has been to my house?

Re the seperation prior going to work take her for a run tire her out then just before you leave put her food down along with some activity toys, after a while she should actualy look forward to you leaving

[super D]

Poor little sausage hope you get it sorted soon xxx

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by lizzy

Hi Guys

I am mikes partner just thought I would give you a little update on Lexi
Hi Liz,.. welcome to the forum

She is now 11 months old and a little terror

She has seperation issues which I have no idea how to handle, Mike wants to get her a doggy companion but im not sure if this will work
What kind of seperation is it,... barking when you are away or messing?

She has food issues and just wont eat anything anymore unless its raw, which goes straight through her so we have really wanted to not go down this route
Raw is not for all dogs, but as a general rule, raw should be doing good, are you sure that there is no other issues here,.. how long has Lexi been on raw?

Its our own fault for trying her with it now that is all she wants

How long should a dog have and upset tummy for when changing and what is the best way to change it
I would say that in general a dogs gut should settle in something like a week

She currently has Chappy which she is now refusing as it was the only thing she would eat

She has been having raw bones & loves them, but this has turned her poo yellow, no diarrhoea (SP) is seems normal just a different colour
White or yellow poo is a sign that she has too much bone in the diet and not enough meat

She is skinny but the vet said she is the ideal weight for her age height etc
For a good weight dog, you should be able to feel ribs, but not see them,.. and she should have a waist when looked at from above

So we are slowly changing to raw now but I am dreading it
If you can get the balance right between bone, meat and offal [ kidney and liver,... heart is muscle, so is meat, then raw should work out well, it can often be cheaper, they will need less than they would need on a commercial diet

Sorry for the ramble and I hope I dont sound like a bad dog owner she is our pride and joy and we jsut want to make her happy
Rambling is good, you learn that way, asking question is the sign of a good owner

I will post some piccies when Mike gets back from work!
Thants always good,...lol

Thanks Liz

.

[Lollapy~lou]

Hi,
We to had separation anxiety issues with our puppy Isla. We had crying, barking, chewing on every thing in sight. I agree with Nisbreagha, and indeed this is what we did, but you must keep doing it, and it is tough, we felt like giving up many times!! A few things that helped us was:
We played with her in her run, fed her in there, showed her what a fun place it was to be.
We also got her some knogs which we filled with her favorite treat, we did have to show her how to get the food out, but after a couple of goes she did it herself.
An old shirt of my OH which I made him wear a while, I then cut the buttons of and she has this every time she goes out there.
We also got her a DAP collar.
Also even if I am at home and at the weekends she still has her hour out there, this is because we didnt put her out there for 3 days one week and when we did, back to square one.
No fuss when leaving her, I just say here's your Kong, mummy be back and off I go.
One day out of the blue we just had silence out there, which was brilliant, also a bit scary, I wanted to go check on her.
Consistency is the key here, please bear with it. It is hard work but so worth it when you have a break though. It is a wonderful feeling when you get that break though, you know all your hard work has finally paid off.
Good luck, lets us know how you get on.

[Manchester-Mike]

Hi everyone, liz's other half here just saw the post she put earlier.

Thanks for all the replies, hi pam yes its lexi who came to your house.

The seperation anxiety is definitely my biggest problem with her, drives me nuts. I can go out to work and leave her in the dining room come home and find shes been fine all the time. Her problem is abit wierd though. If me and liz are walking her down the street, and one of us for example crosses the road to run into a shop, she has a hysterical paddy trying to follow whoevers left. Or if i leave the house to get something out of the car, she stands at the front window watching barking and crying even though one of us is sat right next to her still. She does follow us around the house, if i get up to go for a smoke, she comes with me, or if i make a drink, she follows me to the kitchen. So im going to try what somebody suggested earlier about stopping her following us around the house (it never actually entered my mind about this) so i think a couple of baby gates might help us out there. We have to plan one of us nipping to the car or shop now because she goes so crazy until we return even if it is literally 2 minutes.

Regarding her food, not sure if she is fussy or is playing us for mugs. She was on orijen for a while but stopped eating for days even though we tried to be consistent but she was going thin so i had to change it. Only thing she would eat was chappie, and she was happy on that for over a month. Then one day, turned her nose up at it. Tried the next day, same. 4 days she didn't touch it for. I knew she wasn't ill because she was scavving for our food and wanted her treats whilst training. Anything proper meat she will eat, so im going to try the RAW approach again.

Any more ideas on the seperation issues would be greatly appreciated. She does get plenty of exercuse i must add. She loves to chase a ball now, so every morning shes out on the field as soon as we are up for 45 minutes to an hour chasing the ball. Then as soon as i get home, we're straight back out for an hour plus. And sometimes a walk on the lead before bed aswell.

Thanks