Hello. Asking for a sort of feedback help

[JoA]

Join our free community today.

Connect with other like-minded dog lovers!

Login or Register

Hi. I've just joined so pleased to meet you. I am an animal care professional with some knowledge and a lots of interest and enthusiasm about dog behaviour behaviour, I'm interested to know what you all think are your most common day to day dog behaviour problems. However big or small

 

[JoanneF]

Why do you wish to know please? Is it for a project or survey?

 

[excuseme]

@JoanneF
I'm sure you will be able to give plenty of good advice

 

[JoA]

No formal project as yet, but trying to work out how I might best be able to help dogs and their owners in the future. A sort of informal survey.

 

[JoA]

No formal project as yet, but trying to work out how I might be able to help dogs and their owners. So I guess just an info

 

[JoA]

I don't think that posted properly (spot the newbie)
It is just a sort of informal survey at the moment

 

[JudyN]

I think one of the most common issues people have is separation anxiety. Also common are dog reactivity, jumping up, poor recall and resource guarding.

In puppies, puppy biting and house training problems are common, and chewing in slightly older dogs.

I think anyone hoping to work with dogs would need to have a good understanding of all of these, along with a good grounding in dog psychology in general - once you have an insight into how a dog thinks, this knowledge can be transferred to other, less common, issues.

 

[lurcherman]

Not had many issues, a bit of recall but that was down to me the owner letting my dogs have a bit of free spirit, but I’d agree with recall and separation issues because of work patterns and owners who get a dog and thinking a 10 minute walk in morning is enough.

 

[JoanneF]

Without wanting to sound facetious, I think one of the biggest problems is poorly informed owners. Not their fault in any way, but too many people have totally unrealistic expectations. For example, thinking you unpack a ready trained puppy from a box, not realising how much time a dog needs, poor awareness of puppy farming, the relative ease of buying a puppy, tv shows that look good but hide the ugly practices they employ, the fashion of certain looks whose physical or psychological health is massively compromised. Sorry, I'm getting into a rant now.

 

[Tinytom]

Totally agree with the above ...so many fashion dogs.... cockapoos ending up in rescue as people dont realise how much exercise and mental stimulation these dogs need people should do their research on what sort of life that they can offer a dog and then research which breed they should have. ...then so many wouldnt end up with behavioural problems ...But saying that we have a jack russell with fear issues , especially strange men outside of home ....nobody being able to touch him when he is asleep ...yet we have had him from a 12 week old pup ..he has never been hurt or shouted at ....when i contacted the breeder about his unpredictable behaviour she said put him to sleephe has got alot better (he is 5 ) but i have to put a muzzle on to remove a tick or cut his nails .....
We have had foster dogs with seperation anxiety , fearful of humans , food aggression (usually dogs that have been starved )

 

[JoanneF]

But saying that we have a jack russell with fear issues , especially strange men outside of home ....nobody being able to touch him when he is asleep ...yet we have had him from a 12 week old

There is research that suggests stress during the mother's pregnancy can cause anxiety in pups. I wonder if that might have been a factor.

 

[Tinytom]

We also wondered if he was from a puppy farm and sold with false paperwork. ..we have had every test done from our vets as we thought his tail had been docked too short ...we were given paperwork for his dock tail and his dew claw removal as he was sold as a working jack. ...vets couldnt find anything wrong ...

 

[excuseme]

There is no need for a licence for Dew Claw Removal, only required for the tails.
Please see attachment.

Removal of dew claws

 

[JudyN]

@Tinytom, we had our dog from 7 weeks (I know, too early). We kept in touch with his breeder for a while and know that she loved her dogs and wouldn't have underfed them - but he still developed resource guarding, separation anxiety and other issues. Behaviourists have told us he's 'just wired that way'. Over 10 years later he's come a long way, but still has to be 'managed', and muzzled outside the house just in case.

 

[lurcherman]

On the Dew clew, ooom it’s a weird thing for a dog to have, I’ve had a dog running so fast it bend it back and made it flappy and questions why it was ever there, some are rigid and hurts the dog, but others just flaps around doing nothing, if I had a view I’d rather not have one, I’ve heard some greyhound folk saying it helps balance on cornering,

 

[Hemlock]

Front dewclaws are part of a whole toe, and are attached to a lot of bone and sinew under the skin. Some new surveys suggest that front dewclaw removal can make a dog more susceptible to arthritis. However, there may be other factors involved too. My lurchers have always made a lot of use of their dewclaws for holding things.

Rear dews are usually just floppy, held on by skin only with no bone involved. These do catch on things, and it is generally thought better to remove them. Some breeds have rear dews or even double dews as part of the breed standard, but they tend to be the sort of dogs that don't run much.

 

[Hemlock]

OP, IMO it is very important to make human psychology part of your training in dog behaviour, as you will be training owners to empathise with their dogs. Humans and dogs (and other social animals) don't behave all that differently, and part of your communication skills will be the ability to explain to the humans what the dog is doing and why.