Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hello,
i need serious help (behavior wise) with my little rescued bichon. it seems as time goes on, her behavior and "needy-ness" is getting worse. i'm at my wits end....here is some background on her.

i have a 6 year old, rescued bichon. i (personally) removed her from a horrible case of abuse and neglect 4 years ago when she was 1.5 years old. she spent that first year locked in a basement bathroom or roaming the woods behind her house. she was never groomed, trained or anything. she was not house broken either and was beat many times by previous owners for messing in the house. after hearing one beating episode i went to the house and demanded they hand me over the dog or i would call animal control, and since then this dog has lived with me.

this dog has bonded to me like a shadow. she has never learned to play with other dogs though, or do "normal" dog things. her social skills are pretty much nothing. she drools a lot when exposed to other dogs but is not aggressive or scared of them. i have two other dogs, and they all get along fine. anyways, she is obsessivly attached to me. anytime i leave her she will urinate or deficate on the floor in areas of the house that are occupied by me. (such as my room, and where i leave my shoes, etc). this is even after i let her outside to go to the bathroom. i have since resorted to kenneling her when no one is home because everytime i leave she messes in the house. i even use D.A.P. plug-in and spray. when we are in the house she will whine and cry if she can not be near a person. which keeps me up all night long and is getting worse with her age. its getting to the point where i am losing sleep from her constant whining. i don't want this dog in bed with me, but she is so insistant. i have two other dogs that are fine and normal and don't demand my attention 24-7. but now she is encouraging the other dogs to mess in the house because she constantly does it. i love this dog but it seems like she is getting worse as time goes on and dragging the other two down with her. (golden retriver and terrier mix)

also, she hates to deficate. i know it sounds strange, but she forces herself to hold it and hold it until she gets herself completely constipated. usually she will only poop out "one nugget or two" and pinch the rest back in and think she has done enough to come back inside. then she'll become so constipated she'll need medical attention or "explode" all over the house. i mean, for a 12 pound dog her piles are similar in size to the golden retrivers! also, she will NOT deficate on her own, i (and only i, no one else in the family) has to tell her to GO or she will not go. it is driving me crazy.

i have spent 4 years dealing with this dog and i am losing my mind. i have been involved in rescue and rehabilitation for years now so i know how important it is to follow through with decisions to keep a dog, and i know i will never give her up. but sometimes i want to take her to straight to the animal shelter because she is the most insane dog i have ever worked with. i have never known a dog with so many problems (emotional) then her. i am not giving up on her, i just need advice on how to make all of our lives much more easy. i need help, because this is too much for me to handle. any advice would be gladly appreciated. thanks.

rachel

I wish I had an answer - you were wonderful (lucky too) to 'save' her from that horrible family.

You sound quite savvy as far as most behavior issues go, but I can understand that this little dog is really probably neurologically damaged.

I've never used herbs/drugs, have only heard success stories from other boards, but that might be an only option. You might try to find a holistic vet (one here) to visit & at least get a complete blood work up & the right dosage/med for your pup.

I've heard that only a complete thyroid panel (not just the 1 a vet normally does for screening) is good to get, cos a mal-functioning thyroid can cause diverse problems.

I know you don't want to further isolate her, but if your other dogs are being affected, wow, thats hard.

I have an adopted senior, that wasn't physically abused, but just neglected emotionally from people & dogs & she had also gone into toxic shock as a pup, getting vac & had to recessitated & apparently this happened a few more times in spite of precautions, but anyway, I've wondered if she might have suffered some brain damage.

Her only problem is with most of our other dogs, & they get so aggravated (as do I) cos she just jumps & barks, like about 25 barks to my dogs' one bark, & she does have to spend more time away from us, but has 3 other dogs that will tolerate her outside. I don't feel good that she isn't inside with us except for a brief time every day, but then we give her quality time.

Maybe all you can do with your little one, is just shower her with affection every chance you get & do what you have to do the rest of the time.

Hope this helps, more empathy than any good ideas, smile...

If you do get something that helps, let us hear, cos your experience can help someone else.

thanks for the informative reply. i've consulted a behaviorist now and we are working together to "retrain" her. it is more of a dog psychology approach then a medical one. apparently from years of spoiling her to compensate for her horrible first year has nurtured her fearful, clingy behavior, and has in fact rewarded her for acting in such ways. our first is to re-establish our relationship and re-socialize her to think and act like a dog. the first thing the behavirorist told me after just a few minutes with my dog is that she lacks all confidence in herself as a dog. so....LOL, its going to be a loooong retraining process that mind end up with her spending 6-8 weeks at his "dog ranch" so she can run with a true, established pack of 15-30 dogs and learn to be confident and a dog! it really is amazing. but i hope it helps her.

as far as the constipation thing goes, we are slowly switching her diet over to completely holistic kibble (blue buffalo, if anyone has heard of it, free range lamb formula) with a mix of holistic and natural wet and raw veggies and liver. we think that the processed dog food is too much on her and that could be blocking her up. even though she was on royal canin before which i thought was good....so this new diet should help keep her stool managable and soft, so then we can work on her "fear" of using the bathroom.

rachel

sorry haven't gotten back in a while but I've never heard of this method of running with a large pack of dogs?

always learning though & am *very* curious as to how this is going?

will you update us?

also have lots of questions - have you been out to the ranch to observe?

will your pup have some step by step intro?

have you any references from satisfied clients?

I'm not saying that I have doubts, but I've been around awhile & this is *new* to me.

will the behaviorist be doing any specialized training/handling in addition? Does he have experience with various breeds?

I'd be curious to hear if others are familiar with this method & their opinions.

Please update.