My Rescue Dog Has Several Issues, What Can I Do to Help?
Question:
Hello. My husband and I have just adopted a short legged Jack Russell Terrier from the pound here in town. They say he was for whatever brought in by his previous owners but that they left absolutely no information on him including his name. So we brought him home and he was such a sweet dog. We have noticed some issues that we aren’t sure on how to deal with though, its been years since either of us has owned a dog!
First off I should tell you that he is probably around 3 years old and from what I can tell either we just aren’t guessing the commands he was trained with or he has never been trained before however he is generally a very well behaved dog, house trained for the most part and already fixed. He has absolutely no aggression to other dogs or humans and even cats he just wants to play and give everyone kisses. If something can possibly pet him he loves whatever it is!
The problems that we have noticed is that first he doesn’t like people touching his right hind leg, sometimes his left as well though usually after he jumps when you’ve touched it he will let you touch it after that and second he wont let get near his mouth which is really going to make it hard to clean his teeth but I haven’t tried yet since I don’t even know how to get him to let me near his mouth but I can see the plaque on his teeth when he opens his mouth. He also has some worn down teeth if that matters, the vet said he could possibly just get one of those dogs who chews too hard.
Third I think that he may have been water spray bottle disciplined because he doesn’t like water and when my husband was holding a bottle of cleaner one day and tried to pet him he ran away and wouldn’t come back until my husband put the bottle down! If he has to go outside to potty and I open the door and he sees it is raining he won’t leave the porch unless I drag him off and even then he won’t go potty. Bathing him was also a very big hassle! We’ve only done it once so far after we got him out of the pound we figured he would need a good bath, I’ve never had a dog who didn’t like water before so I was wondering if perhaps you could recommend something to get him used to/not to be afraid of these things?
I also think he may have some separation anxiety issues as well because any time me and my husband have left the house together we have always come home to find that he has gone potty in the house regardless if we had just taken him out or not and we were never gone for very long any of the times. I have seen some techniques on the internet on how to work on this but am going to first talk to the vet we are taking him to. I know it could possibly be the whole he sees himself as leader of the pack and I’ve been trying to place myself as alpha over him but I’m not sure at all that its working.
Lastly since we had to rename him he of course doesn’t come when we call because he doesn’t know that he is being called yet (haven’t even had him for two months yet!) so I was wondering if perhaps you could recommend a technique to retrain him to his new name?
Thank you very much for your help!
Felicia
ANSWER:
Hi Felicia,
All in all, it sounds like you have a great little dog on your hands! The growing pains of bringing an adult dog into the house can be stressful for all involved including the dog so patience is needed on all sides.
There are a few things going on with this boy. Have your vet examine his hind end for any past injuries or arthritic growths, etc. An x-ray or two may be necessary. Something may have happened that you have no way of knowing about that gives him a physical reason for not wanting to be touched on his hind end. If that is the case, you know you will have to be extra gentle when doing anything that may cause him pain or discomfort.
My best recommendation is signing up for a basic obedience class that emphasizes manners, positive training techniques, and communication. You will all learn a ton and you will have someone available to you that knows the dog as well that you can ask for help with a few of these problems. You may need to have one or two private in home sessions as well as the obedience class to assess the separation anxiety, fear of water, and mouth and foot sensitivity. Remember, he is still learning to live with you too. Trust is not built overnight if he comes with a history of abuse or neglect but he will learn to trust you in time.
Take care,
Ann
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