An update on Poppy...

[Fifyfomum]

Okay so I posted about three weeks ago about my new dog Poppy who is six months old.

Well we've had a pretty rough few weeks all in all, mostly she has been fine, learning to walk on the lead, learning to behave in the house and she has been jumping up at us when we walk through the door a lot less.

But she doesn't understand that we don't want her to bite us and her 'play bites' are getting more and more aggressive and scary. Yesterday I was out in the garden trying to just get her to sit and wait nicely for a treat and then moving away from her and getting her to come to me and sit nicely for a treat rather than bounding around and she got very excited (as she does) and started jumping up and snapping in my face. I turned my back to her and folded my arms as I have been told to do and she started biting my ankles, she bit my hip and she was jumping up and trying to bite me where ever she could. Obviously just nips or I would be in hospital but it was SO scary and I couldn't control her at all, she was running around the garden at a rate of knots, barking and then jumping up and biting me :( I was, frankly terrified and quickly got inside the house and left her outside.

Then I took her to the vet, who couldn't even get a microchip in her or even stroke her head after 10 mins of trying to pet her. They brought her back through and said that they could pin her down and do it but she would be ruined for the vet and that if she got really sick she would be untreatable which would be awful. They recommended I got her a muzzle, put it on sometimes at home and brought her down to the vet just to sit in the waiting room and get a treat etc, so she didnt associate the vet with bad stuff.

They didnt charge me for my visit, said if I keep the dog I need to get a behaviourist because Poppy has deep seated abuse issues (she was fearful of the vet not aggressive) and will cost me a fortune in behaviourist treatment. Obviously this is quite worrying for us with two small children (not that she's been odd with them, shes very patient with them)

Anyway so yesterday after lots of upset and trying to find out if it would be better for us to rehome her with someone who knew what they were doing a bit more, or to find someone who could come and work with us, we spoke to a lady near to us who said she could foster the dog if necessary and would be on the end of a phone if we needed her, she is a dog trainer and I asked her what to do in a variety of situations and she let me know which was really good.

Then I got contacted by a charity called BLIZE who are a rescue and support charity specialising in Husky's and they said they try to help as much as possible to keep the dogs inside a home and then will find them new homes if needed. Which is amazing so they are coming to visit us in the next few days and are on the end of a phone if I need to talk to them.

Its been incredibly upsetting and sometimes very scary for us but I am hopeful that with the right support we can help Poppy regain that trust that she has lost from her abuse and also understand how to be a good doggy and live in the world without scaring humans or needing to resort to biting to 'play'

This is interesting; ours are on Nutriment at the moment mainly because Ddog2 has done so well on raw and our two rescues (Ddog3 and Ddog4) came with extremely dodgy tummies which raw seems to have sorted. I always thought it would improve behaviour due to the lack of additives. With Ddog3 so anxious I'm now wondering if I'm doing the correct thing. I might just keep the diet but get a dap collar for her!
OP if you want to go on to raw you could do worse than look at the nutriment website. I found it after a link here I think to a site called all about dog food. I put in the breed age sex etc of the rescues and nutriment was one that came top.

Cashewfrenzy that article is just opinion and has no scientific basis to it at all. They have been no trials and also discusses many kibble style food for the results and test. The newest trial is does mention is 2009 and even refers to an old trial in 1996! Things have moved on a lot since then.

Just for the record Raw diet is not high on protein, nutriment does contain carbs so the serotonin and Tryptophan theory is covered. Although there has been no evidence to show that it does change dogs behaviour.

I tried to make it clear that that wasn't a reference nutty. It was emailed to me by the APBC by way of background to the presentation and is unfortunately all I have at this moment in time. I'm back at work next week and if I remember I'll have another look for the reference list. Rebecca was very clear that much more research is needed. I'm sure she'd be happy to discuss with you if you were to email her (am I right in thinking you are an APBC member too?).

I don't think it's cut and dried but I think it's worthy of caution, that's all. At the end of the day the OP needs behavioural support and diet is likely to have only a minimal effect either way. That a dietary change could be a panacea is potentially a risky diversion.I tried to make it clear that that wasn't a reference nutty. It was emailed to me by the APBC by way of background to the presentation and is unfortunately all I have at this moment in time. I'm back at work next week and if I remember I'll have another look for the reference list. Rebecca was very clear that much more research is needed. I'm sure she'd be happy to discuss with you if you were to email her (am I right in thinking you are an APBC member too?).

I don't think it's cut and dried but I think it's worthy of caution, that's all. At the end of the day the OP needs behavioural support and diet is likely to have only a minimal effect either way. That a dietary change could be a panacea is potentially a risky diversion.