County Animal Shelter

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Rockville, MD 20850

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Hello and thank you ahead of time for the helpful advice you may provide to us. We just rescued a 5 year old female Golden that was thought to have been a victim of neglect and abuse thru a puppy mill situation or breeder. She is very sweet but as expected a wreck in so many ways. She is very scared and hides all day in her dog bed in our bedroom where she finds comfort. She will come out if we put a leash on her to go outside and do her business (huge plus). But as soon as she is finished, she can't wait to get back in the door and run back to her bed. After a full week, we have gotten her to take treats from our hand and she is eating and drinking, again in her space and while no one is watching only. She has also found comfort in doggie toys which are all over the bedroom. It is the one thing that she will make a move off the bed for if no one is watching.

We have done research to some degree and see that she exhibits all the signs of neglect from a puppy mill situation. She is deathly afraid while outside, constantly looking up at us as I have read is because she does not trust us. She will let us pet her and is not aggressive to humans whatsoever. We do have 2 other dogs, one is a Golden, and I think just the observation of them may help us also. Of course she can only observe them when they are outside or in the bedroom but I believe it helps a little. She just yesterday allowed my other dog to sleep next to her, the entire night, even resting her head on his. She will growl at them if she has food or toys but that is understandable and something we will eventually work on. We say no to her and she stops, she just has to learn the ropes or if need be we understand we will have to feed her seperately someday, when she makes it to the kitchen. That is not a huge issue to us as that we can eat out of her bowl with her, its just the dogs she doesnt care for at this time.

I do realize that we have a long road ahead of us but I also do not want to hurt her in any way by doing the wrong things. So my main question I guess is, is it right to allow her to stay all day and night (except for potty time) in the room where she feels safe? Here we even bring her food and water. I dont want it to be holding her back but also dont want to push her either. We have found that when we are not home, she will come out to explore a bit. This we know because she has many more toys in her room when we return that were in another part of the house when we left. This brings us such joy to see. She will not wag, shows no emotion and is just a big ball of fluff sleeping in our home. We appreciate any pointers or advice you can provide.

Thank You, Lisa

Hi Lisa,

Kudos to you for doing such a wonderful thing. What you describe is very typical for a dog who is "shut down" because she is absolutely terrified and has undergone  transitions for which she has been very poorly equipped because of her terrible background. I am very glad to hear that you have other dogs. Often dogs like this have had experience with other dogs and can help them understand how the home works. Sometimes they seem to use the other dogs as "interpreters" as to what certain human behavior means. Also, there is "pack facilitated behavior" that may help her gather courage to do the things she can't on her own.

The key with these dogs is to give them time and space. It can take many months and even years for these dogs to make significant improvements BUT they almost always do improve. Maybe not to the level a dog with a normal background would achieve, but they do get better. I do recommend that you allow her to have her "safe" place. You can encourage her to come out but don't force her to interact.  

Teaching her a few simple cues like "watch me" and "touch" for treats can help make your interactions predictable and pleasant for her. "Watch me" is just when you hold up the treat in you fingers to your eyes while you say "watch me." Once she looks at you, give her the treat. The "touch" is when you hold out your closed fist with a treat in it and when she touches it with her nose, you open it and let her eat the treat. You can use this to get her to move from one place to another. It is really easy to teach and will help with confidence.

I often medicate dogs like this with generic Prozac (fluoxetine). Taking the edge off of their phobia can help them adjust faster. If your vet is not comfortable prescribing, he or she is welcome to call my office 301.947.3333 and I can make recommendations.

I find that patience, calmness, predictability, treats, and time bring these dogs around. Clicker training her so that you can reward things like approaches would be helpful. If she is afraid of the clicker, you can get soft clickers or just use a retractable pen and "click" the top to get the sound. There are a lot of good clicker training guides on-line and trainers in the area.

Go to YourDogsFriend.info for information on trainers in the Montgomery County area.

With the resource guarding with your other dogs, I would give it time and actually call your other dogs away from her so they learn to not bother her. She has known severe want so her desire to not lose her food and toys is understandable and will most likely abate in time.

Good luck. It sounds like she has ended up in a great home.

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Hi,

I am a foster mom for 10 cats. Seven of the cats are kittens and 3 are adults. However, I have different cats and kittens in my house at various times.

I have 2-year-old cat (estimated age) who came to my house pregnant. I had her for about a week and then she had 4 kittens. I kept her isolated in a separate room when she arrived. At first she would not eat as her food dish was in front of a mirror and she hissed at her reflection. We covered all the mirrors and glass in the room with sheets. After her kittens got older I moved her to another room that has glass doors and she hissed at all my other cats through the doors. When her kittens got older she hissed at them, if they were away from her any length of time. When her kittens were 8 weeks old,  I separated her from her kittens as she kept hissing at the girl babies who had just been spayed. 

I have tried to allow her to run loose in the house, but she hisses and fights with my other cats. If I take her to an adoption event, she hisses at everyone.  She is affectionate with people, if there are no other cats in the room.  However, recently I introduced her to my brother in-law and she was aggressive with him (she swatted at him). She spends her days locked in one room and only gets human contact for twice a day feeding and litter box cleaning. She used her litter box faithfully and does yowl  occasionally.

I would like to let her loose in the house so she could have more room, however I don’t want any cat fights.

Mary Jane

Your situation is challenging, to be sure. As I'm sure you know with your experience as a foster mom, cats come with all kinds of temperaments. Some of the temperament is genetically determined and some is related to previous life experiences, especially during sensitive periods of development.  This cat sounds like she is phobic of other cats. She may have a nervous temperament to begin with which was exacerbated by her life before she got into the shelter system. I suspect she was found as a stray, since she was unspayed and pregnant. She may have found other cats in her environment to be very frightening and is incapable of developing relationships with other cats. The depth of her phobia is clear by the fact she hissed at her own kittens if they were separated from her.

I suspect, based on your description of her temperament, she would do well in a home with no other cats. I suspect she would develop a loving relationship with her new owner but it might take awhile for her to develop confidence and the new owner would need to have a "soft touch" and let her develop the relationship at her own speed. As you know, there are many tricks to speeding this process while never "forcing" the cat to interact.

In your current situation, I would start by letting her out when you've put the other cats away. Having controlled exposures to the other cats at doors that have been wedged open just an inch or two, such as feeding them, can also be helpful. You can also co-mingle the scents of all of the cats by rubbing their heads gently with the same dry washcloth or handkerchief so they all smell "the same." This will simulate what happens when two cats rub/mark one another.

I think the trick with her will be finding the proper environment. In a multi-cat household, some cats do end up living a decent quality of life being confined. You meet all of their needs in that one room. Some fearful cats seem perfectly happy with this, as long as they get adequate social opportunities with their owners and the room has adequate enrichment in it.

Feliway diffusers can sometimes help although it CAN make cats who are fearful of other cats more frightened, because it is the synthetic version of the F3 pheromone, which comes from other cats! I always test by using the spray form and spraying it in an area and watching the cat's response to it before I get a diffuser.

Good luck,

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We have a male cat that I inherited from my college age daughter six months ago. My daughter got the cat from a friend who found it abandoned at a dumpster when it was 4 weeks old.

The cat was a fairly sweet kitten until about 4-6 months of age when it began scratching, biting and hissing frequently. It could be sitting calmly one moment and then become aggressive for no apparent reason. It has continued this behavior to this day.

My daughter had to rehome the cat because her roommates were nervous living with it and it was our hope that living with me and my 2 gentle cats would help diminish this behavior.

It hasn't and after 6 months of living with us I'm at the end of my rope. I also have 2 kids both of whom have been scratched numerous times. Our vet suggested trying the cat on Paxil but that only made the behavior worse. I'd gladly give the cat away but who would take it?

The saddest thing is the cat often follows me around like it wants to be around me but then will scratch me if I try to pet him.

Thank you for your question. What a sad situation! We do often see behavioral problems in cats who, as kittens, did not have a "normal" upbringing with a mother cat and siblings. That is why progressive shelters will take orphaned kittens and put them with nursing mothers. Unlike many other mammals, nursing mother cats readily care for other kittens, even if they are not their own biological kittens. 

The problem now is that "window" of development is over now so you do have special needs cat on your hands. It is very likely his behavior will never be what you expect a typical cat to show. We sometimes can help these cats with medication. In fact, for cats who show aggression toward the people in their home, this is often the main thrust of therapy and is life-long. The dose and type of medication is really important -- I usually use generic Prozac. I have found that these cats are often really sensitive to medication and we need to start at very low doses. There are also some management techniques, such as limiting touch and instead, teaching some basic training cues, like having the cat target to a spoon or pencil. What you do is put a dab of cat food on the tip of a spoon or pencil. The cat soon learns to touch the item with its nose. In this way, you can move the cat where you need to move him without touching him. Clicker training can be helpful with cats like this, too. You can find good descriptions of this type of training on-line. Search on "Karen Pryor cat clicker training". You can also get Karen Pryor's book on Clicker Training for Cats.  You can also anticipate certain situations when he might attack and try to avoid these situations or redirect his attention to a tossed toy. Make sure you never respond with anger or punishment, as it always makes the aggression worse in the long run. Staying calm and keeping yourself safe, is the best approach. Wearing long sleeves, long pants, and using cushions or large pieces of cardboard to simply shield yourself if he comes at you is helpful.

You are welcome to ask your veterinarian to call me (301.947.3333) to get some recommendations about medication if you would like. 

Good luck.

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My dog's name is Métis (pronounced Matey) and she has been going to Doggie Day Camp since she was about 5 months old. She is a mixed breed (lab and either aussie or cattle dog perhaps), spotty dog that I rescued. She was spayed prior to coming home with me at 8 weeks old. She is now 10 months old and fairly rambunctious. I take her running a couple times a week and take her for a walk/fetch every day that I she doesn't run or go to doggie daycamp. She graduated from the Petsmart puppy kindergarten class. She did very well in class and is eager to please. She listens to commands about 75% of the time these days. She did better when she was younger.

Two weeks ago, the staff at the day camp center had to remove her from the day camp and put her in a separate room because she started a 'scuffle' with another dog. They told me it happened when they first brought Métis into the room. She ran at another (female) dog to play, and a fight ensued. That afternoon, they brought her back into the day camp room and she was fine. They later told me she's a fairly dominant dog in the day camp room. I was surprised because I've never seen her be dominant or aggressive toward dogs when she is with me.

Last week, I brought her to daycamp very early so there wouldn't be many dogs there when she arrived and she was fine in day camp all day.

Today, I brought her a bit later and there were already a bunch of dogs in the day camp. They called me about an hour after she arrived and said she had started a few scuffles with other dogs and had to be removed from day camp. Perhaps I can only bring her in as soon as they open to give her some time to be in the room with fewer dogs and get out some of the crazies before other dogs come? She seems to be very very excited in the morning, even if I took her for a run the night before.

I know she loves going to day camp. She especially loves to follow the person around and seems to be very very people oriented. At Petsmart she generally ignores other dogs and goes straight up to people.

I'm hoping this is just a puppy phase. Do you think that's possible, or should I consider not bringing her to day camp (if the staff will even let her back)?

I usually take her to day camp once a week, but am considering taking her twice. Do you think she does this because she doesn't go often enough? Is there a way to train her to not be this way?

I was planning to take her back for intermediate training class starting in January. Do you think this will help? If so, I'd be willing to start as soon as the next class starts.

Any suggestions?

Thank you for your question. Taking dogs to a doggie daycare is a very nice option for some dogs. However, it is not the best environment for all dogs. It is very common for a dog's behavior to change as the dog matures. Metis is smack dab in the middle of her adolescent, teen-age years so you will see changes in her behavior and these changes will probably continue until she stabilizes into her "adult" personality, somewhere between 2 and 3 years of age. Doggie daycare situations can be a very overstimulating for some dogs. In addition, although the staff at many of these facilities are very nice and responsible dog lovers, they are usually not highly educated in ethology and current training techniques. Sometimes they may not noticed changes in a dog's demeanor or the development of an overstimulating situation until it is too late and a fight breaks out.  

I have had a personal experience where my adolescent puppy got into a serious fight with another dog at daycare. I refused to take him back even though the facility wanted to work with me. These are the reasons why: It is critically important that young dogs not become fearful of other dogs and this can happen if too many "scuffles" occur. The behavior becomes reinforced and you can see a dog turn into a very reactive dog, one who might lunge and bark whenever he or she sees another dog and who has difficulty meeting other dogs. For several months after my dog had his bad experience, he was very anxious meeting new dogs. In fact, for a period of time he snapped during the greeting of every dog we met. I subsequently spent a lot of time controlling his exposures to new dogs and keeping him calm and relaxed, using a variety of standard techniques to help him establish proper greeting skills.  

I do not think this is a "puppy thing" she will grow out of and I worry it will worsen if you continue to allow her to go to daycare, where things are pretty much of a free-for-all. I would strongly suggest that you get the help of an experienced trainer who uses postive techniques to help her develop confidence in meeting dogs. I don't know where you live but I love the work that is done by Your Dogs Friend. They have a variety of classes that could be appropriate for Metis and the trainers could give you pointers on how to orchestrate her interactions with other dogs. They also provide a list of trainers that can come to your house to help you privately. Do not, under any circumstances, enlist the help of a trainer who will use "corrections" such as jerks on a choke or prong collar, yelling, or shock to stop her snappiness with other dogs. This can temporarily suppress the behavior but does nothing to help Metis learn to be relaxed when meeting and interacting with other dogs.

Doggy daycare can be very beneficial for some dogs. For me and my dog, it was a temporary method of providing exercise and stimulation for an energetic puppy but ultimately led to some undesirable behaviors, which I have since dealth with by making sure I personally was always there to monitor and control interactions with other dogs.

Good luck wtih your puppy! It sounds like she has found a woderful home. 

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Hello,
Autumn, our newest addition, a rescued puppy mill golden retreiver, is about 5 or 6 years old. We have had her 3 months now. Since arriving, she has chosen her dog bed in our bedroom to be her "safe" spot and that is where she spends all her days and nights. She does not come out unless we leash her to go out for her business, which she does well. She is extremely fearful of everything but does not have a mean bone in her body. She allows us to pet her and love on her which is wonderful without any signs whatsoever of aggression.

We also so have another Golden who is male and 11 and a male mixed breed who is 3. She will at times watch them play in interest from the bedrroom door and does sleep next to one of them at night. Other than that she has no interest in them. They are very laid back, lazy dogs. In 3 months she has come around a little, very little. She will take a treat from us now and sometimes doesn't cower when we go near her, other times, for no apparent reason she regresses and does. Cant quite figure that out. We do realize it is only 3 months and could take a year if not longer.

Anyway, we have all intentions on giving her the time she needs to try to become part of the family or interact if she can on whatever level she feels safe. We have no problem with time and patience. Just recently something has changed for the worse and we are not too sure why or what to do about it, so I am writing to you for advice. We are finding that when we go out now for more than an hour (which is not too often) she is pooping and peeing in our bedroom at the door entrance. And yes she was just walked beforehand and does her business outside. We do know for a fact that when we are not home, she will come out of the bedroom and pace most of the time down the hall a gazillion times. And she usually will also greet us at the door, with our other dogs, when we arrive home but as soon as we see her and she sees us she darts back to the bedroom. So my question is can her sudden accidents possibly be because she is so anxious that we have left her, and if so why now and not the first 3 months??? And what can we do to help her correct this. Should we suddenly start to crate her when we are not home??? We do give her a calming pill daily, we also spray her bed with the anxiety spray and leave a dog anxiety music cd on for her to try to help her. I believe (and it is just my guess) that after the 3 months time she has bonded to us (even though you would never know) and now when we leave her she is having a seperation anxiety. She also will take something from the home and rip it up when we are out or just bring it to her bed for safe keeping. Any advice you may have is greatly appreciated. This new problem is just something that we really have to find a fast solution to because she is ruining our carpets and it is upsetting. We love her to pieces and just want to help her in any way we can.
Thanks,
Lisa P

My friend just adopted a 2yo recently neutered male named Cody from another animal rescue. We think he is a pit/boxer mix, but we're not 100% sure. This dog has a lot of problems. He is very attention needy. He follows us around everywhere, and if we close a door (say to use the bathroom) he cries immediately and tries to get through or he runs around the house frantically looking for us. He also eats everything. By everything, I mean anything he can get into his mouth including sticks, bottle caps, etc. When she got him he was very thin, but he seemed to be gaining some weight at the shelter, but we did find out he had worms and he's being treated for them now. She's had him for about 2 weeks, and in that time he has lost some weight we think because he is getting lots of exercise. The other day when she went to the bathroom while he was eating he frantically ran around the house and jumped on a table to get a bag of treats. He ate ALL of them and his food to the point that he was vomiting and having diarrhea.

We are also having housebreaking issues. Now that it is snowy and cold outside, he refuses to poop out there, and it is a struggle even getting him to go outside. Also one of us has to be outside almost next to him before he will go to the bathroom. When he first arrived, there were a couple accidents, but he seemed to get the idea that outside is the bathroom. He would go to the bathroom on walks as well as outside in the yard during playtime. The yard is completely fenced with a 6ft privacy fence, so we don't feel distraction is part of the problem.

But the most concerning issue is the fact that he has bitten me. I'm her dogwalker, and when we've been on walks he's great. But when I've taken him in the yard to play he has nibbled and pulled on my sleeve. The other night I took into the yard to play. Everything was going fine, and we were having a good time with no biting or pulling. Then all of a sudden I took a quick step backward, and he was on my upper arm in a split second holding me tightly enough to break my skin through a large, double layered coat. I was able to pull my arm away, but he continued to try and hold my arm until I was able to hold his collar and pull him off. My friend has not had any of these problems. At the time, I was wearing all black and puffy clothing, and we are wondering if this is a sign that he has been trained as an attack dog of some sort. Although he has pulled on my sleeve before, he has never jumped on me like that before and he seemed to be restraining me rather than pulling me or chomping.

My friend is extremely troubled especially with the biting because literally everything bad is happening with me alone. We are his only 2 caregivers. She has not experienced or witnessed anything like jumping or biting. He is such a sweet dog at other times, and he doesn't have the "look" of a mean dog ready to attack. He is also very submissive, and he even cowtows to her cat. We are worried how he will act with anyone considering I've been with him from the beginning. I helped her decide to adopt him, and I've spent quality time with him in and out of her presence. Basically, we want to know if there is hope for this dog because even with the bite we want to give him a chance.

Thanks,
Portia

Hi Portia,
Wow! What a list of issues. I'll make some basic recommendation for each, but he does sound like he is a very complex and possibly difficult case. Do you know anything about his life prior to his entering the rescue? Anyway, I'll list the problems and make recommendations.

1) He probably was starved and if you say he is LOSING weight, is still feeling terribly hungry. I would make sure to increase his intake of food but more importantly, use food dispensing toys to deliver the food so it takes him a long time to eat. This will help with his neediness, too. An easy thing to do is to take a Kong toy, plug the bottom small hole with a treat and some peanut butter or canned Cheeze Whiz, invert the toy into a plastic cup, fill with dry dog food, then fill with broth and freeze. It can take a dog up to an hour to eat this. You can also get toys that you fill with kibble and when the dog pushes the toy along the floor, kibble comes out a little at a time (Kibble NIbble and Buster Cube are a few brand names)

2) Housetraining. If he is thin and short coated, he may be very cold intolerant. Use a nice thick dog coat on him so he is more comfortable. Take treats with you and reward him with them just to get him out and about. When he does eliminate, give him a "jackpot" of really high quality treats, like tiny bits of string cheese or hot dog.

3) The biting issue is quite concerning. I can't make a diagnosis without much more info and seeing him personally. But, it is possible that he was in a dog fighting environment and people will agitate dogs to get them to aggress. It is possible that his excitement level was high and your movement unwittingly triggered the aggression. If it was at night, decreased vision could also have had something to do with it. The fact that he delivered a full-mouth bite and continued to hold is of concern. I would try to keep play object focused, e.g., throwing a ball or toy, asking him to drop for a treat, and sit before you throw it. Things should be very ordered and calm.

Please start "nothing in life is free" with him so that he learns that before he gets ANYTHING from you, he has to sit first. Use treats for a few days until he gets the idea, then getting what he wants will be his reward. He should sit before getting petted, getting his leash on, getting his food or food dispensing toy, water bowl put down, door opened, etc. He should develop a very reliable "sit." Use this whenever he is in the back yard to keep him under control. You may want to keep a leash dragging on his leash to help provide greater control.

I am concerned about this but it is still very early in his adoption. He sounds like he has a fair amount of baggage, the full extent of which may not become apparent for some time. It is quite possible you will need direct, professional help to deal with his issues, especially if the aggression is noted again, which is fairly likely. YourDogsFriend.info provides a wealth of information for dog owners and also lists trainers. You may also want to contact the rescue and inquire what resources they will make available to you to help you and Cody.

Good luck

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Hi!
Thank you so much for posting this advice section for pet owners! I have read through most of the posts on puppy mill dogs, and will incorporate some changes with my girl, but wanted to give you a run down of my adorable little girl to see if there are additional things I can be doing for her ...

We rescued her in September, she has been with us since then. She is a 3 year old shih tzu/poodle mix, cute as can be. I wasn't told she was specifically a puppy mill dog, but only that her last family had small children and returned her. I also have a four year old 20lb mix, who I consider to be the most wonderful dog and mentor possible. These two dogs get along very well and play together every day. We have a doggie door into a fenced-in yard, and I assumed our new girl would follow her brother right out the door. No such luck. She won't go anywhere near the door. She potties and poops in the house, and I have never seen any indication that she is going to go. On the occasions she has pooped outside, in watching her, it almost seems as though she doesn't know she has to go. She doesn't circle or sniff, never showing any signs of looking for a spot. I have never actually seen her poop or potty in the house, but can only assume it's the same deal. I have been faithfully taking her outside, praising and giving treats when she goes, but she has never indicated she knows she is suppose to go to the door, bark or whatever to show me she needs to go. She will go outside with our other dog, but when he is done, she marches right back up with him, whether she is finished or not.

She is absolutely terrified of my husband, and this seems to be getting worse instead of better. Barks fiercely at him whenever he moves. She will not take a treat from him. I cannot get her to stop barking and have tried a sharp "no", clapping my hands, shhhing her, nothing works.

I am feeling sooooo discouraged. I have read several times over about anti-anxiety medication, and think this may be the route to take. Can you tell me what you suggest for that? Do you have any other suggestions for me? I plan to put her leash back on her and tether her wherever I am in the house (had done that previously, but was hoping she had made some improvements). She is put in an x-pen at night and crated when we leave the house. She seems fine with that, and likes to eat during those times.
Thank you so much!
Dawn C

Hi Dawn,

How wonderful of you to take on this little girl. You are dealing with two very different problems that have very different etiologies and treatments.

Housetraining -- For puppy mill dogs, they live in a cage where they do everything: eat, sleep, poop, and pee. The concept of eliminating in certain areas never ever comes up so they don't learn what our housepets learn very early on. The challenge is great and the only thing you can do is supervise, supervise, and supervise. If she is totally comfortable, you can swoop her up and immediately take her outside when you see her go. However, you don't want to scare her or teach her the wrong thing -- like you get upset when she eliminates as opposed to where she eliminates. Also, these puppy mill dogs really don't learn to learn, so the idea of there being a positive consequence to certain activities can be very foreign to them and take some time until the proverbial light bulb goes on. Tethering her to you (or keeping her in the same area with you with gates/closed doors) and confining her when she is not supervised along with regular trips outdoors and treats when she eliminates outdoors. You may also want to consider doggy diapers (if she tolerates them).

Reactivity to your husband -- This is a totally different matter and related to inadequate socialization and probably negative experiences with men in her previous situation. Medications are likely to help this, although how much depends on the dog. Generic Prozac is what I most frequently use and your veterinarian is welcome to call me to discuss options if he or she is not familiar with using this medication. You will have to try to redirect your dog to you for treats whenever you anticipate your husband will be doing something "threatening." Usually, this means entering an area or moving once he's been stationary. Speaking or looking at the dog can also trigger fear. Teach both of your dogs that when you say "treats" if they come to you, you will give them treats. Get them to look up to your eyes when you say "watch me" by holding up a treat and repeat this until they settle or your husband has finished moving. The first step is to prevent this explosive reaction by giving her this other activity which will help her cope. Keep a leash on her so you can bring her to you and away from him if necessary. Once she stops reacting to him, you can simply have him stay motionless while you toss treats closer and closer to him. She has to get more comfortable just being around him before he starts interacting with her himself. Having another dog is wonderful and will increase her motivation to get to those treats, pushing her a little more than if she were an only dog.

Good luck. It is not easy but often things do get better with time and patience.

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I have two pit bull mixes, a mother and daughter. The mom came into my home as a stray about 3 years ago. She was pregnant and gave birth to 12 puppies the next day. I fostered out the puppies who lived but ended up with mom and one puppy I couldn't place. Both dogs have shown an increasing aggressiveness to my cats to the point that we now live in a divided house.

The unthinkable happened yesterday. They got into the "cat" part of the house and killed one of my cats. At this point I am looking for new homes for the dogs but I fear in the end I am going to have to put them both down. They are fine with people, loving and loyal pets, but pure predators with cats and other small animals. Is there any hope to change this behavior?

Jennifer

Hi Jennifer
In my sad experience with dogs who have a strong predatory instinct, it is something you cannot change. As you note, these dogs are often very friendly around people but extreme caution must be exercised around other animals. When I was first in veterinary practice, there was a period of time where everyone I knew who had a Pit Bull had their dog kill another small animal, usually cats.

They can be rehomed, but obviously in homes where they are not exposed to cats or small dogs. The owners must make sure they are always under strict control off of property -- sometimes my clients will even muzzle their dogs on walks in case they would break free. Also, if they are ever introduced to infants, extreme caution must be used, as some predatory dogs perceive infants as prey rather than people.

I am so sorry for you. It is an awful position to be in but there is no way to eliminate predatory behavior in a way that would assure the safety of your cats (or any cats/small animals) in the future.
Sincerely

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Hi,
I'm hoping you can help me stop my chubby cat from getting too fat before it gets out of control. We adopted two female cats from the Montgomery County Humane Society in January and had them both spayed before we brought them home. Both were underweight when we got them. Bella, age 2, was only 6 lbs. and has a tiny frame to her. She gained 1-2 lbs. and looked quite healthy, but now I fear she has gained another 1-2 lbs. and is starting to look chubby. She is fat in the back part of her, behind her waist and hips. She eats dry food constantly and won't touch wet food. How can I get her to lose weight? Should I just not leave out as much dry food? (She tends to eat our other cat's dry food, too, but I want our other cat to be able to eat throughout the day -- Slinky eats well and likes to space out her eating throughout the day.) Is it worth looking into higher-fiber or diet food? Would switching her to wet food help? Or do I just need to monitor her eating in the morning and not leave out dry food for her, make her wait until we get home at night? Will she go hungry during those 12 hours we're away from home? (Slinky actually eats wet food, but we haven't been able to get Bella to touch the stuff.)

Thank you,
Melanie

Hi Melanie,
Thanks for the question! You are right to be concerned about Bella getting too chubby. Since she sounds like she is going to overeat if you give her an unlimited supply of dry food, you will have to control how much she gets. It is interesting with regard to high-fiber "diet" foods. Sometimes cats actually seem hungrier on them, so you may want to start by simply cutting back on her ration of dry food. It would be great if you gave her at least some of it in a food-dispensing toy, like a Roll and Treat. These are toys that you put dry kibble in and when the cat rolls them about, the food dribbles out. So, it will prolong the eating process and make her exercise, two good things to control weight. In answer to your question, you should just feed her allotment twice a day. You may end up putting all of it in the food toys once she figures out how to do it. You can calculate how much to feed her by multiplying her "target" weight by 30 kcalories and that is how many kcalories she should get a day. Caloric content should be listed on your cat's food label. Make sure you weigh her once a week. Cats should only lose about 1 lb a month.

You can have a problem when you have one cat who overeats and one cat who is picky. If the overeater is larger, you can place a baby gate in a doorway so only the smaller, skinnier cat can fit UNDER it to get to the food. You can also wedge a door open with just enough space for the skinny cat to get through, but not the chubby one. You can also place Slinky in a room with the door closed for a given period during mealtime to prevent Bella from coming in to eat the dry food. The good news is that you can feed Slinky wet food without worrying that Bella will consume it. The more high tech solution is to get a magnetic pet door with a "key" collar that Slinky's would wear so that Slinky could get into room with the food via the pet door but Bella could not.

Cats can do OK only eating dry food although it is ideal if they are happy eating both wet and dry. Sometimes you need to be able to put medication in canned food or sometimes there are medical reasons why cats might need to have canned food (jaw surgery, tooth loss, etc.) However, often cat develop a preference for one or the other based on what they were fed as kittens and it can be very difficult to get them to expand their food preferences.

Good luck on helping your cats obtain and maintain their ideal weights.

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Hello. I am hoping for some help with my fear aggressive dog. She is a 1-yr-old German Shepherd Dog. We got her at a young age, actually way to young for her to be taken from momma, but at the time we had no choice. The mother was our neighbor's dog and they were moving. She was about 6 weeks old. We've spoken to other trainers about her problems and we've been told that part of it is related to us not socializing her enough, though we did try puppy classes, and the other part being because the house she was in prior to us getting her was an abusive household. We didn't know the later part until after we got her.

Anyway, at this point, I'm lost as to what to do. We can't have people over, we can't take her anywhere. People are petrified of her while she's muzzled. In her muzzle she clearly can't snap, but she cowers, growls, and tries to snap as best she can. We have been told to give her anti-anxiety medication just to take her to the vets office. I don't have thousands of dollars (as much as I wish I did) to spend on having her problems sort of resolved. In order to do that I had to have her in her crate and had him toss treats at her for a while, and then after about a day of that I muzzled her and let her roam the house. She was still afraid of him, but was more concerned with getting the muzzle off than trying to attack.

To make matters worse, I'm pregnant with my 3rd kid, and while she has no problems with the other 2 kids I'm worried that with the 3rd child she might be aggressive toward it. Our other 2 kids were here before she was. And to top that off, yes there is more, we might be moving to a duty station overseas where she'd need to be quarantined for 6 months.

I'm really at the end of my leash here. She didn't learn anything from her past puppy classes because they concentrated on her aggression. I've spoken to other trainers, but I don't have the money to dole out for training. It would break my heart to put her down, and I've tried finding people to take her in, but no one wants an over-the-top fear-aggressive dog. She fears EVERYTHING!!! People, dogs, cats, it doesn't matter what it is. We never even finished her puppy classes, and stopped going 2 weeks before the end. Nothing we did was working and that was with us trying. It only seemed to make things worse. They told us to take her to the dog park, all she tried to do the whole time was attack the other dogs. The only people she gets along with is my husband, myself, the 2 kids, our other dog (who is the complete opposite of her and gets super excited to see people), our cat, and our rabbit. lol!

Any advice would be fantastic. She isn't spayed, and we should probably do that. I REALLY don't intend to breed her, especially with her problems. I know after breeding she could get significantly worse. Her father was extremely aggressive as well. Please help. I don't want her to attack someone or someone's dog. I'm just lost as to where to go from here.
Ashley G

Dear Ashley,

I am very sorry to hear of you difficult situation. Unfortunately, what you describe is a very complicated and serious case and there is little I can recommend to help you in this "ask the vet" format. I see many aggression cases at my clinic and it takes a thorough and intensive 3-hour appointment to get a clear history, make a diagnosis, do a risk assessment, and come up with a treatment plan. It sounds like your poor dog has gotten the short end of the stick in terms of nature (aggressive father who doesn't sound like he was the best dog to have been bred) and nurture (removal too early from her mom).

Even with the best care we can provide in terms of management, behavior modification, and medication, managing extremely fear-aggressive dog(s) is a life-long commitment and success can be quite variable. It sounds like the prognosis will be guarded based on your description and euthanasia may be the route you are ultimately forced to take, especially given your circumstances with your family situation and financial constraints.

I'm very sorry that the usual type of "tips" I provide in this forum are not going to be helpful in this very serious case.

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