Hi

Sorry you are having problems with Dexter (good name by the way, I also have a Dexter ).

With the biting, have you tried immediately re-directing him to a toy or something more appropriate the moment he starts? it sounds like attention seeking behaviour more than anything.

You say you exercised him lots prior to the diagnosis of his leg condition. So this must be frustrating for him, going from a lot of walking to very little. Have you thought about hydrotherapy a couple of times a week? swimming puts no pressure on the joints and is absolutely brilliant for wearing them out. Also, you could try clicker training.

[QUOTE=fluffymummy;1880987]It's crazy they wouldn't let you go to puppy classes as he was too old??? I took mine when he was 5 months old.
QUOTE]

Aberdeen is a rip off city, its how they get you to go along to one on one sessions, money grabbers

[QUOTE=liz & kiesha;1881000] London is worse, the classes we went to weren't that good, think they did more harm than good sadly...

Dexters mum needs a one to one session. She iosn't going to learn how to stop him biting at home in a class with 5 other dogs.

The classes will be great to stop him being bored and hopefully you will enjoy them but for the biting it would be a good idea to get someone out to look at what is happening.

Failing that I'd put a trail lead on him and as soon as he starts pick up the lead with no eye contact and no verbals and put him out of the nearest door. You can stay the other side of it and let him back through after a couple of minutes.

What could happen is that it takes a lot of repetitions before he stops, and he might start to bite harder to get a reaction.

You might also find that it works for a few weeks then he starts it again, don't panic, that is normal and he will stop quicker second time round.

You don't give him ANY kind of reaction though.

Good luck.

rune

Hi Liz & Keisha - I would love to meet up. I am actually in Inverurie, not sure where you are, but would happily come to you. He is very sociable. Before we had problems with his legs, we would often got to the local fenced in hillwalk (Newseat) and he loves playing with other dogs, the only real problem we had with him was that he would go running off with them and wouldnt come back. When we meet other dogs, he does sit and let them sniff him and then will playfully jump about with them. He isnt a big jumper with other people and it only seems to be me he bites.

Thanks Rune - I agree about the one to one sessions. The problem is that most of the time if someone else is there - he is fine. The people who are running the training classes also do one on one sessions and have said that if there is no improvement after the six weeks we could maybe look at that, but they want to see how the classes go first!

Have never heard of hydrotherapy for dogs. I will look into that - as I say - they say it will be four months before he can walk off lead again so this may work in the interim.

Thanks to you and everyone for all your advice - I feel so much better already. I guess I just feel like I am letting Dex down by doing wrong by him and I just want to fix it!

Oh, you should definitely look into it then! I did a bit of work with dogs doing hydrotherapy at my local canine centre (volunteering) and the dogs LOVED it. Swimming really is the best kind of exercise for dogs that suffer with their joints, are recovering from surgery, etc., as it is non-weight bearing. Owners could even get into one of the pools and swim with their dog at the centre I was at...such fun!

I'm in Inverurie on Thursday, would be happy to pop in for a cuppa and chat and meet the wee guy. p.m me your address if Thursday suits you

Just want to say a big thank you to Liz - your advice has been invaluable, and I can honestly say that the last four days have been really good. He seems to realise that when I talk to him - he has to listen. I have also managed to curb the biting ( i know it seems a bit soon) but magically when he jumps up to bite (which has hardly been much this weekend) I just firmly say sit and he does.

Thanks to everyone, I feel like I am really making headway now.

Onward and upward.

Jo x