Hydrocephalus/special needs/mentally challenged Papillon house training

[hthrmllr]

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Hi everyone! I have a 1 year old male papillon puppy. He has always been very different ever since he was a puppy and we have grown to believe that he has mild hydrocephalus. The vet said it would be very expensive confirming this, and there isn't much they can do, so just to treat him as a special needs dog. He doesn't hear or see very well. He also doesn't seem to have a good understanding of a lot going on around him. For the first 10 months of his life being home with us, we had him using male dog wee wees for incontinence because we could NOT prevent him from peeing inside. It just would not happen. Sometimes 4 or 5 times within a ONE minute! He does pee outside now, and he basically only poops outside unless he has an accident here or there (so we really feel he has the ability to understand)

He has just been neutered, which we figured would help - and definitely did slightly. Now we are starting to look at options of training him to solely pee outside. We have been doing treat praising while walking and verbally praising. However, he still isn't quite getting it. I'm wondering if anyone has dealt with outdoor training of a hydrocephalus or mentally challenged dog before and if you had any special tricks help you out! It is pretty hard to find information out about this because these dogs are typically just deemed untrainable ! But we want to give him the best possible life.

Also if you have any other tips or experiences dealing with this type of dog, I'd be really happy to hear about it. Thanks in advance !!!

 

[leashedForLife]

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He already has “the best possible life”, IMO - he is not dead of euthanasia, which most dogs with his condition would be.
Rather he is a pet, much loved, in a caring home. He doesn’t care that he wears a belly-band indoors, it’s fine with him - none of the other dogs will tease him over it, after all!

Wearing a belly-band is simple, safe for the dog (so long as U change the disposable liner at least once every 12 to 24 hours), & prevents odorous spots that U may not notice, which he will be tempted to use again.

Think of the belly-band as insurance - he’s safe from making innocent messes, Ur floors & furnishings are safe from urine. Cheap, safe, & simple are winners, IME.

- terry

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[Mad Murphy]

When I decided to keep Remy who had been brain damaged after being hit over the head by his previous owner and dumped in a field to die I was slightly worried about how bad the damage was if he would ever recover etc etc..
I went to my vet who asked 'is he loving and is he clean' ? I answered yes to both questions.
He then asked me 'what do you want from this dog?
'If you want to show him , do agility with him, obedience training , etc you have the wrong dog but if you want a dog to walk with, to love, to cuddle and to be part of your life then he is just perfect'
He told me 'I can send him for scans MRI and other tests but they will tell you he has been hit so hard he has had a bleed in the brain and he is damaged but we already know that, they will not offer you a cure so all you will have after all that is a hole in your wallet. Go home and enjoy you dog'

With Remy we were lucky that he was clean in the house and we had two other dogs who helped show him the ropes.
But basically we took things slowly,used lots of positive training and treats, repeated things often until he got the hang of one command before we moved onto anything else. It took time , but time is free...

We were lucky enough to have Remy in our lives for 9 years. He was love on legs.

 

[hthrmllr]

.


He already has “the best possible life”, IMO - he is not dead of euthanasia, which most dogs with his condition would be.
Rather he is a pet, much loved, in a caring home. He doesn’t care that he wears a belly-band indoors, it’s fine with him - none of the other dogs will tease him over it, after all!

Wearing a belly-band is simple, safe for the dog (so long as U change the disposable liner at least once every 12 to 24 hours), & prevents odorous spots that U may not notice, which he will be tempted to use again.

Think of the belly-band as insurance - he’s safe from making innocent messes, Ur floors & furnishings are safe from urine. Cheap, safe, & simple are winners, IME.

- terry

.

Thank you so much. You have no idea how much those kind words mean!!! We love him so much, he is the happiest guy. I have heard other people say they would put a dog down... but we could NEVER imagine. He is so lovable. Again, thank you so much. It is really nice to hear.

 

[hthrmllr]

When I decided to keep Remy who had been brain damaged after being hit over the head by his previous owner and dumped in a field to die I was slightly worried about how bad the damage was if he would ever recover etc etc..
I went to my vet who asked 'is he loving and is he clean' ? I answered yes to both questions.
He then asked me 'what do you want from this dog?
'If you want to show him , do agility with him, obedience training , etc you have the wrong dog but if you want a dog to walk with, to love, to cuddle and to be part of your life then he is just perfect'
He told me 'I can send him for scans MRI and other tests but they will tell you he has been hit so hard he has had a bleed in the brain and he is damaged but we already know that, they will not offer you a cure so all you will have after all that is a hole in your wallet. Go home and enjoy you dog'

With Remy we were lucky that he was clean in the house and we had two other dogs who helped show him the ropes.
But basically we took things slowly,used lots of positive training and treats, repeated things often until he got the hang of one command before we moved onto anything else. It took time , but time is free...

We were lucky enough to have Remy in our lives for 9 years. He was love on legs.

That is amazing that you took him in like that! Good for you for appreciating him as he was. Yes we are going to keep working at the treats. He LOVES food. I know what you mean about love on legs... sometimes I think they know that you care for them so much even though they're higher needs and they are so capable of so much love and happiness. Thank you for taking the time to tell me about yours!!