rescue Ya'll Gotta Help!

sab3mmom

sab3mmom

Well-Known Member
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2 cockers
Had Merlin on the table tonight and I really thought we had come someplace good. I've been holding his paws at night and we seem to have gotten past the "I'm gonna take your hand off" kinda thing when I touch his posterior. Tonight's a grooming night since they all got bathed Sunday. Mozie got the full spa last night and Merlin stepped right up for tonight's session. Trimmed his ears, his face, down the sides, OH CRAP! I swear he near about had a seizure when I just went to scissor his precious little back feet. Not quite but it scared me enough to move on to another area. I swear to you I have never hurt this dog and I've gone thru Maxwell with precious feet syndrome and came out verry good but this little guy is totally stymying me. One step forward and three steps backwards I'm saying. I have tried Rescue remedy and Benedryl but none of the above works on a little dog who runs on jet fuel. I don't want to force the issue at all cause I'm near all about "you have to trust me". I really need suggestions. And no Mark - they aren't ALL like this. I just happen to like a challenge...and a beautiful dog with great potential.
 
Gabby also has "precious feet syndrome." :) I end up doing his feet 1 of 2 ways. One, I do a little then quit when he's had enough. Second, I wear him down. I guess he finally gives up and lets me trim his feet. I'm not sure why Gabby has fits about his feet. I'm assuming he had a bad experience with a groomer. I've also tried medicating Gabby with a vet prescription sedative with horrible results. It just made him drunk and less cooperative. :p

EDIT: You know what works wonders is having some else help you. I used to take Gabby to a groomer that let me assist her. Sure, Gabby still got cranky once in a while but she got a lot further than I could. I think Gabby didn't know how to react to her since he didn't know her as well.
 
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manuel said:
I've also tried medicating Gabby with a vet prescription sedative with horrible results. It just made him drunk and less cooperative. :p

EDIT: You know what works wonders is having some else help you. I used to take Gabby to a groomer that let me assist her. Sure, Gabby still got cranky once in a while but she got a lot further than I could. I think Gabby didn't know how to react to her since he didn't know her as well.
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I was thinking this morning if I could get some Valium from the vet but you're saying uh uh? Sure do wish I had someone to help so I could try the p-butter inna cup trick to distract him but it's just me.
 
Oh Sharon, how I remember those days... my Bunkie was like that about his whole back end, hiney back legs and feet. At first I tried rescue remedy, then benadryl, then I used the peanut butter trick which sort of worked. His back half never looked as good as the rest of him, but, oh how I loved that boy.
 
Sharon, there ARE meds that work for dogs with behaviour issues, such as fear and aggression. This dog sounds like he might be a candidate for medication, at least while he learns to control his aggressive tendencies.

Composure is totally natural, as is DAP . . . Dog Appeasing Pheromone. Both of those are a great place to start, along with heavy dosing of Rescue Remedy about a half hour before you start grooming.

You might want to consider clicker training . . . it works WONDERS. Check out "Click to Calm" by Emma Parsons, it fits this situation quite well.
 
I'm betting Manuel used Ace to medicate Gabby, which can knock them out, but also they can snap (literally) out of it in a second, which makes them unpredictable. I don't like that stuff.

Sharon, just use a muzzle or an ecollar. You know the peanut butter jar trick, which acts like a muzzle and keeps them busy too.

There have been times when I have used a leash to quickly muzzle that snappin' beak, when that's all I had available.

I try not to medicate the dogs, however, have done so on a few newbies that came in really bad and needed a 3 hour shave down. Lots of breaks and treats too. I usually give 2 melatonins about an hour before it's time to do the deed. I keep a jar of chicken baby food next to me for lickys.

Kellys suggestion for DAP is a good one. There are several types. Plug in, spray and sometimes I spray it on a dogs collar or bandana if we are going to vet and/or they are afraid of car.

And then there are times when I threated to bite them back if they don't knock it the H*&^ off. Just the other day I was doing Nemo the naughty and he too hates his legs/feet clippered, so he pretended to snap at me. I put my entire mouth over his and told him it's my way or else. Hehehhe, and he 'let' me scissor his legs and quickly run clippers over them to even them out a bit.

I'm sure Merlin senses your fear.
 
He's not biting anymore. Just keeps yanking away from me and last night his leg was twitching really oddly which appeared to be the start of a seizure it was that odd. That's why I backed off for the night.

Dap is available where? I can put some on a bandanna and it will calm him? Melatonin at Walmart maybe? I need to calm him. Gots a muzzle but he hasn't tried to bite in a while. Wonder if the muzzle will calm him down or just make matters worse...
 
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I don't typically advice medication . . . it's definitely an individual thing.

DAP can be ordered from almost any of the online Pet Supply companies. Try http://www.1800petmeds.com or Drs Foster & Smith.

You can get melatonin at any pharmacy or drug store . . . I would recommend the 3mg tablets (not dissolvable).
 
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sab3mmom said:
And no Mark - they aren't ALL like this. I just happen to like a challenge...and a beautiful dog with great potential.
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Who?...me, Mark?

Been there, done all that.

I won't go into all the gory details, but I invested 18 months into rehabilitating a "spaniel" (I've never seen a Cocker with rear dew claws and this one had doubles!) for our national club rescue.

He wouldn't be fit to be rehomed if he couldn't be groomed, would he?

I took him through an obedience course at our local training club, mostly for socialization with other people and their dogs but he turned into the star of the class.

His first bath and brush was nearly disastrous. I thought one or both of us might end up dead.

I called the rescue chair twice and told her I just wasn't sure that he could overcome his fears and the alternative wasn't pleasant.

It took a lot of work and TLC to get him to accept clippers or a blow-dryer without pure panic setting in.

I found out later that the no-kill shelter where I pulled him from, had knocked him out completely for the two grooms they had performed.
 
Yay Mark,

been there too -- and yep, we've had a few with back dew claws. I just had them removed when we had them neutered. Hate those things.

I started to groom one dog and she snapped. Went to put the muzzle on and she snapped again, catching the palm of my hand. Called the owner and he was just around the corner -- and he came and got her. Told him I can't groom her if she's going to bite me.

Turned out the poor thing had a tragic ending. They called it 'rage'. She was a re-home from a breeder and the breeder agreed to groom her, but she was in NJ. They tried it once, but even the breeder said she was iffy now.

Shame
 
We got Reesie at about 11 1/2 weeks. The first time he saw a comb he went ballistic. I had never seen anything like it before. He was so fearful of a comb, brush, and you couldn't get near him with the clippers.

Kelly suggested we start out slowly & feed him constantly with something really good. Thankful my husband & I usually groom the kids as a team. I would constantly feed something to Reesie while Gary would do the grooming. We done it in small steps, and it took awhile to get him better. He still isn't thrilled, but he tolerates it well.
 
Have spent the last week really handling (softly) his back legs and feet. I'm not up to trying again this week to trim his toenails - there's just too much other poop going on this week...need to just enjoy the pooches and unwind as much as possible for the next few days. Think I'm gonna try his favorite fruit loops in my pocket and bribe the heck outta him next time. Along with RR, and Benedryl for both of us! He's settling quite nicely in my arms a LOT now all upside down and letting me scritch his underall area (all up and down the insides of his back legs - not the chili pepper) so maybe next time won't be so bad...
 
Sounds like a great plan. I'm sure your patience and efforts will pay off in the end.
 
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