Eve
New Member
- Owned by
- 1 cocker
Hello everyone.
I would like to say I joined the forum feeling happy but it is with a sad heart after losing one of my Cocker spaniels. He was 13 years old, my Blue Roan English Cocker who meant the world to the whole family. He was such a happy dog with a bottom that bounced from sode to side all day every day from the happiness in the wag of his tail.
He sadly passed away from secondary epilepsy. He developed epilepsy when he was 9 and we've controlled it really well with meds and him having maybe two or three fits a year on the meds and we'd learned not to panic and how to help him through over the years. This secondary epilepsy was something else though and it broke my heart watching my poor boy going through that.
The reason I'm here though is because of my second dog. He's the younger of the two being just a year younger at 12 and he was the dominant of the two. He also latched to me right from a puppy and I never understood why because being disabled I was never the care giver. My husband always fed and walked the dog but he would growl at my husband if anyone came near me and it caused a few problems over the years. We have had behaviourists come and see him and have worked with T-Touch and were told that sometimes breeds are so finely bred it can cause problems in some dogs and we were advised to euthanise him by the behaviourist, T touch and the vet...none of them could reach any trigger or anything to find out why he behaved the way he did.
I couldn't do this. He does have some happy times but always on his terms, the rest of the time he just chose to stay with me. He literally doted on me.
Since the death of my first dog (2 weeks ago) he's been very quiet and not really bothered with me at all. He just stares out of the window which just breaks my heart thinking he's waiting for My other dog to come home. (They both used to do this if one went to the vet without the other).
My dog has changed. He even growled at me and I actually thought he would attack me had a not stood my ground and turned sideways to him and not looking at him at all. I was stuck in the corner of the sofa with him and I could feel him going rigid, I knew he was going to attack me, so all I could do was hold his muzzle shut which he didn't like at all and made he get off the sofa and to stay down. He has stayed down, but he's different with me and I don't know what's happened for him to have changed like this?
He has never showed any aggression toward me at all ever but now....I just don't trust him. It hurts so, so much missing my first dog and now losing my second dog to some degree. I can't risk him being up on the sofa anymore so ive had to keep him down on the floor, so I no longer get that closeness from him and it just makes the grief of losing my first dog so much harder.
Does anyone have any ideas what I can do to get my dog back how he was?
Since I overpowered him and put him on the ground it's like he wants nothing more to do with me. He normally goes to bed in his bed in my room, but he's now chosen to sleep downstairs with my husband. (My oxygen keeps hubby awake at night).
So I'm at a total loss what to do. How does. An old boy change so much? I can't have my first dog back, but I'd really like my second one back if anyone here could be so kind as to offer any help at all.
I never meant my intro to go this way, but once I started i couldn't stop and I had to give a small part of what I and my dog are going through right now, so apologise for this being so long.
I would like to say I joined the forum feeling happy but it is with a sad heart after losing one of my Cocker spaniels. He was 13 years old, my Blue Roan English Cocker who meant the world to the whole family. He was such a happy dog with a bottom that bounced from sode to side all day every day from the happiness in the wag of his tail.
He sadly passed away from secondary epilepsy. He developed epilepsy when he was 9 and we've controlled it really well with meds and him having maybe two or three fits a year on the meds and we'd learned not to panic and how to help him through over the years. This secondary epilepsy was something else though and it broke my heart watching my poor boy going through that.
The reason I'm here though is because of my second dog. He's the younger of the two being just a year younger at 12 and he was the dominant of the two. He also latched to me right from a puppy and I never understood why because being disabled I was never the care giver. My husband always fed and walked the dog but he would growl at my husband if anyone came near me and it caused a few problems over the years. We have had behaviourists come and see him and have worked with T-Touch and were told that sometimes breeds are so finely bred it can cause problems in some dogs and we were advised to euthanise him by the behaviourist, T touch and the vet...none of them could reach any trigger or anything to find out why he behaved the way he did.
I couldn't do this. He does have some happy times but always on his terms, the rest of the time he just chose to stay with me. He literally doted on me.
Since the death of my first dog (2 weeks ago) he's been very quiet and not really bothered with me at all. He just stares out of the window which just breaks my heart thinking he's waiting for My other dog to come home. (They both used to do this if one went to the vet without the other).
My dog has changed. He even growled at me and I actually thought he would attack me had a not stood my ground and turned sideways to him and not looking at him at all. I was stuck in the corner of the sofa with him and I could feel him going rigid, I knew he was going to attack me, so all I could do was hold his muzzle shut which he didn't like at all and made he get off the sofa and to stay down. He has stayed down, but he's different with me and I don't know what's happened for him to have changed like this?
He has never showed any aggression toward me at all ever but now....I just don't trust him. It hurts so, so much missing my first dog and now losing my second dog to some degree. I can't risk him being up on the sofa anymore so ive had to keep him down on the floor, so I no longer get that closeness from him and it just makes the grief of losing my first dog so much harder.
Does anyone have any ideas what I can do to get my dog back how he was?
Since I overpowered him and put him on the ground it's like he wants nothing more to do with me. He normally goes to bed in his bed in my room, but he's now chosen to sleep downstairs with my husband. (My oxygen keeps hubby awake at night).
So I'm at a total loss what to do. How does. An old boy change so much? I can't have my first dog back, but I'd really like my second one back if anyone here could be so kind as to offer any help at all.
I never meant my intro to go this way, but once I started i couldn't stop and I had to give a small part of what I and my dog are going through right now, so apologise for this being so long.
