All Dog Info

Glad to see you have beefed up your dog’s diet and have seen a difference already! Every bit helps.

How have their digestive systems handled the change? Did they suffer any diarrhea? How are they now that they have been on it a while?

And when you say the Rottie does not have a healthy coat, I am assuming that its dull, itchy and flaky. How are his ears and between his toes? Any redness or strange, nasty odor? If all he has is a dull, itchy, flaky coat then a change of diet will help. Even adding a tbsp of olive oil to his dinner should improve the overall condition (start with a tsp and slowly increase the amount over a few days to make sure the olive oil does not give him diarrhea). If his ears and between his toes is red and inflamed, he may have a food allergy. If that is the case, let me know as we will have to try switching his diet to a hypoallergenic kibble to see if it improves.

Okay, to take the health factor up another notch, what about dropping the canned food and feeding a slightly higher quality dry kibble? Canned foods costs far more, sometimes up to double the cost per serving as kibble so by taking away the wet food and then adding that money into your kibble purchase may mean a significantly better quality food. Many of the Pedigree or Iams kibble would be within your budget and they are a far better product then the Dog Chow without breaking the bank. This alone should make a difference in your Rottie’s coat condition.

Dogs that have been raised on mixture of canned food with kibble may find a kibble only diet bland but I have yet to see a finicky Lab or Rottweiler so I would guess that it may slow down their eating but not stop it. If they do turn their nose up, try adding hot water to the kibble to produce a thin gravy or add a little bit of last nights left overs to their meal – a few carrots, some gravy or a little bit of potato may entice them to eat.

Other things you can do that should not be too expensive but will help with the Rottie coat are:
•    scramble them up an egg each once a week
•    add the olive oil to each dinner
•    add a few cooked veggies to their dinner when you have leftovers
•    once a week pick up a couple of beef soup bones from the butcher as a treat.

Try bathing the Rott in an oatmeal shampoo as well – oatmeal has amazing soothing properties for itchy and flaky skin and give him a good brushing at least once a week. I love those rubber brushes made by the Kong Company for Rottie fur, it gives them an incredible shine!

Any Rottie owners out there have suggestions for Tommy?

Let us know how it goes, Tommy and if it doesn’t get any better, let me know and I will see if I can come up with a different angle.

Ann

How strange that I should get two questions about the same problem in a less then a week.

Because your dog is a little older, I would have your vet check her out, paying special attention to a possible bladder infection as well as kidney function. My instinct tells me it is behavioral but I would hate to miss diagnosis the problem and it actually be medical and correctable!

If she is fine, have a read of the post for Monday, June 15th and see if anything I mention there applies. I need a bit more information such as how is her demeanor with you and your boyfriend, is there another dog in the house that she may be competing for attention, does he get angry when she does it making her feel she needs to act more submissive? Let me know more of the details and I will see if we can help!

Ann

How odd! She is a year and a half old and only just started doing this? Very strange!

Does anyone have a similar story or thoughts on Jessica’s problem?

My gut reaction is that somehow she has it in her head that this is the appropriate behavior. I know, it sounds crazy, but if she has a sweet submissive temperament and she has been rewarded with praise and pets when she acts submissive, then the next step is to subjugate herself even more by urinating. It is almost as though she has resorted to puppyhood and submissive urination.

How to fix this problem is to build up her confidence and only to interact with her when she is not acting submissive. This is harder then it seems. The best option is for you and your boyfriend to ignore her when she acts submissive. So if she starts to crouch, put her ears down, hunch her neck and shoulders, put her tail down, any of the behaviors that imply she is about to act submissive, you need to turn around and walk away from her. When you feed her, make her sit, stand or shake a paw or anything where she has to interact confidently with you. Same with treats, chews or toys, play with her with them until she is in play mood versus submissive mood and then reward her.

Here is a story to help you understand. When I worked with show dogs a few years back, we had a really sweet, good natured female that everyone loved to bits. She learned that she would get more attention if she responded submissively which for her was to lay on her back with her belly up. Well, this doesn’t work in the show ring because judges cannot judge a dog that is flat on its bag, wagging her tail between her two hind legs! So, by orders of the boss lady, we had to retrain to stay on her own four feet when people approached her. It was tough, I guess tough love, because the hurt look on her face when you ignored her submissive gesture was brutal! The other half of the training was to work on her obedience so she knew what ‘stand’ meant as well as all the other important commands. This built up her confidence and when she felt like dropping down in a submissive position, we could stay ‘stand’ in a happy, excited voice and up she would pop. Took a couple of months but by the end of it, she was a different dog. And, not that it is important, but she did very well in the ring when the judges could actually go over her while she stayed on her feet.

To deal with the immediate problem, my inclination is to have your boyfriend ignore her entirely unless she is acting confident and not submissive. This is difficult though if he is home alone all day with the dogs. Where would the dogs be if you were both at work? I am wondering if it is viable for you to put her in her crate before you go to work and she stay in there until you get home. It seems crazy to have to do it when there is someone home with her but taking her out for bathroom breaks etc is maybe too much interaction until she builds up her confidence around him.

Can you start doing obedience with her? You want her to know her commands perfectly and teach her the ‘leave it’ command. Sit across from your dog and using a very high value treat like cheese or sausage placed in your open palm, offer her the treat and say ‘leave it!’ calmly but in a tone that implies you mean it. If she goes to reach for it, close your hand and do not let her get it. When she stops trying, immediately give her the treat. Keep repeating this until she doesn’t even try anymore. Now try it with a piece of yummy stuff on the ground and if she goes to grab it, cover it with your foot. As soon as she backs away, take your foot away and tell her ‘good girl’. Keep practicing and then try it with other things. I use it for just about everything, saving ‘no!’ for emergency situations. ‘Leave it!’ works well for barking especially!

Because you have been practicing her obedience and she knows her commands as well as ‘leave it!’, when your boyfriend starts to interact with her, make her stand and if she starts to get submissive and/or pee, give her the ‘leave it!’ command. It should make her stop instantly and when she does, congratulate the heck out of her!

What else…?!? Play tuggies and let her win (shouldn’t be tough with an Anatolian…). Keep you voice happy and excited when interacting with her.

If her behavior continues even after you’ve tried all of these training techniques, consult a behaviorist. Being able to see the dog interact with her people is vital to understanding the problem and a behaviorist might be able to fix the problem quickly because of it.

Good luck and let us know how it goes!

Ann