Help before I give her away
 

:confused::cry:

Hello all,

It's been a while since I've been on the forum! Thank god you are still around... I need help!

My pretty Bikini is now almost 6 years old and she is a smart pup let me tell you!
I have three kids and my two oldest sons are soooo sweet to her and are helping me a lot with her.
Of course life is busy but I try and walk her everyday. But as the years go by the issues are getting worse.
First of all, she has tons of allergies. I've tried everything. Now she eats very good quality food. It's called CaniSource and it is natural ingredients dried in an oven. But I have to keep her on prednisolone because she scratches until she bleeds. I've tried supplements, everything I swear. And this is all year around even during the harsh months of winter here in QC. I could put her on Atopica but it's 90$ a month which I find expensive.

Besides this, she is a real barker. She barks at the door, when she sees people, when there is a slight noise, when she plays, when my husband comes in at night and we are all in bed. It's getting unlivable...

I've realized how stressed I was when I left for the first time in 6 years without her. I went on the 3 weeks trip... and every time the door rang, my heartbeat would go up and I would look for Bikini. It has become a natural instinct to me to protect people when they enter my house. This is not normal. Also, she still bolts out when she sees a dog or some type of people. She gets super excited and barks until people give her attention. I've tried training her but people are sooooo dumb sometimes. They think she's cute and the come to her and excite her.... Now she wants everybody to give her attention. But how can I get stranger not to give her attention?

My husband has asked me to give her away especially with 3 kids. We only had two kids when we got her but a surprised little girl joined our family 7 months ago.

I don't want to give her away... My oldest loves her to death to.

Would anybody have any recommendation on Yorkie's behavioural problems or books to recommend. A lot of sites seems to not recommend Ceasar Millan's techniques...

Thank you for listening to me... Hope I can find some support here :aimeeyork:cry:

Oh don't give her awaaay!!! She just loves you and shes a spoiled Diva!!! I know they are like children sometimes and the stress can be highh....take a deep breath and don't panic. There is help.

There are many people on here who will be able to give some great advice.

As far as allergies, they can cause a pup to be jumpy and behavioral problems, because they are so uncomfortable...so IMHO I think you need to address this first.

If you have not already consulted with a Dermatologist or Allergist please do. They are very good at stuff like this.

If that is not in the budget consult with your vet about VARL. My pup has been on VARL for 11 months and it is wonderful. It is a blood test and the initial cost for testing is under $500. Once they determine the results a SERUM will be made for your pup and your vet will teach you how to inject (it really is simple) you will do this at various times for the first couple months eventually leading to a every 21 day injection. The serum is ordered 2ce a year and is under $200.

Another option is. GOO http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/yor...e-try-yet.html,

I ordered mine today to supplement my VARL injections, with the hope that someday we will not need injections. Presently, I can only vouch for VARL, but I am trying the GOO.

Good Luck and please don't give up, we are here for you.

I hope you dont give her away because dogs can be trained to not be so bark. Get a whistle, a can with coins or whatever seems to get your dogs attention. Blow or shake it when she barks and say no bark. After a while all you will have to do is say no bark it works

Sounds like the new addition to the family is spreading everything thin. it WILL get better. I completely suggest a behaviorist (dog) to see what tweaks could be make to work on the barking. The noise CAN cause a lot of stress.

Hang in there, and do what's right for your family as a whole.

Years ago, I had taken in a female Yorkie that the owner was going to take to the pound....I was married then, and when I brought the little dog home, all was fine UNTIL my husband walked inthe back door. That little dog went absolutely CRAZY, barking so relentlessly, she could hardly catch her breath.....then my son came home from school....same thing....come to find out, she had obviously been abused by some MAN and she hated MEN! Loved to be around women, but went gasping for air, snapping-jaws crazy when a man entered the room, even after all those years...it was like she was seeing them for the first time, every time she saw my husband or son. I worked with the dog for 3 years....my family was going to throw me and the dog out into the street....seriously, my husband said either the dog goes or he goes....I was sooo sad for her, I didnt want to send her away, because I seemed to be the ONLY CRAZY WOMAN in the world that would put up with the bahavior, constantly making excuses for her. SO I did the ONLY thing I could do....I bought a shock collar.....after less than 3 hours, she stopped the barking. THEN, I TOOK THE BATTERY OUT!!!! I left the collar on her neck, and that was all she needed to remind her not to go crazy barking. BEAT ME WITH A BOARD PEOPLE....STRAP ME TO A TREE AND BEAT ME WITH A WHIP!!! I DID WHAT I HAD TO DO IN ORDER TO KEEP THAT LITTLE DOG WITH ME.....oh, by the way, I did get rid of the ex-husband eventually...the little dog stayed, the ex was kicked to the curb, and my son and i and the little dog were very happy.....she just wore that collar with the battery out, for the rest of her life and she was fine! She never did get over men and her haterd/fear of them!

Please dont give her away!!! i know there are somethings we try to live with and there are times when our family is almost at wits end with our decisions, but she is only spoiled, and trying to protect her family.. i have a barker also.. he barks at ppl passing by, othe cats, dogs, it someone pulls in the driveway, or walks in my yard.. if my kids drop something or the alarm clock rings he barks, but he is very harmless.. yes he does get attention from strangers, but he will accept it only, and only, if he feels u r not a threat..otherwise he will continue barking till i say STOP.. idk wut ur baby reasons are, but im sure its only to protect a family he calls his own..just work with him, wish u and ur family the best..

Perhaps you should consider rehoming her to someone who will love her unconditionally and not complain about her illnesses, costs and take the time to train her properly when and how much to bark, how to behave at the door and around people. It sounds like maybe you have already broken faith with her and she has become a burden. I have very carefully read and re-read your post since you placed it, noting your tone and use of words particularly and they just don't sound like a person who is 110% committed to this dog. And that's what dog stewardship is - it is total and permanent commitment to them whatever comes. It is paying whatever it may take to keep them healthy. It is either taking the time to learn positive and loving behavioral modification techniques and implement them on a daily basis or learning to live with the behavior. If things have happened in your family and situation and you no longer feel you can keep that sort of relationship with her, despite how you and your oldest will miss her, she may be happier in another home through the rescue group here. I am sure there is a single woman or couple out there who would love to take this little girl. It is just the general mood of your post and that title of the post that seems to me at least to probably represent an already likely broken relationship. And this happens sometimes.

But if that is not the case and you are willing to do whatever it takes to keep her and can afford to treat her medical problems, start with studying and learning and applying daily scheduled training times for "behavioral modification" - just you and the dog. You will have to keep your family out of the picture during the early sessions. Keep the sessions loving, patient, positive, regular morning and night and short. Lots of praise and love when she does the right things. In no time at all, she will begin to learn that behaving is fun - and further, she will begin to learn through just doing it over and over during the training and reward, that doing what you say is automatic. That is the wonderful thing of behavioral modification training - they learn, kind of like Pavlov's dogs - to just automatically always respond to your direction. It is wonderfully rewarding and fun fun fun for your dog. And you will be so proud of her when she doesn't jump up on visitors or dart out the door or bark all night. You will begin to view her in a totally different light and see that it was not knowing her role in the house - that of follower to you the leader - that made her unruly. And you will be happy with her again! Dogs that think they have to sort of run things are often not very happy or settled but you taking the lead by modifying her behavior through regular and fun training, showing her true leadership along with infinite patience all the while, will help her beyond measure. But, oh, it takes learning properly how to do it right so buy some books on the subject, Google it and read, read, read. You will feel empowered and positive and realize that if you commit, you can fix this. The choice is really yours to make.

I would suggest doing allergy testing were they send the blood away and do testing on it. You cannot blame her for having allergies its not her fault would you blame your child? She needs training either you need to do it or hire someone to do it. You need to teach her sit and stay and when the door is open tell her to sit and stay and you will have to work at it a lot. I cant really give you advise about the barking but there are some great people here who can. Most dogs would prefer getting a little less attention then going away and never seeing there family again but walks are great for the whole family. There is also so many dogs in shelters that a dog with allergy's is not going to be someones first pick and she could end up being put to sleep and that's something you really need to think about.

thank you all and yorkietalkjilly...
I truly know she is a smart girl. All her behavioural problems were cause by us... mostly by me. Having three kids gives me less time for her unfortunately. But I still walk everyday with her and my boys play with her. She is not an unhappy dog :)
I have talked to my vet about her allergies... He said that allergy test are most of the time not conclusive and the injections works 25% of the time. He did not recommend it for Bikini because she is allergic to many things! Maybe even human dander. We tried all kind of avenues without success unfortunately. I do provide her with all she needs... there is no questioning! But 90$ a month is a lifetime commitment... with three kids it's a lot in our monthly budget. Prednisolone is 18$ every three months. I spend more on her food and grooming.

If I came here, its for advice to try and make our lives easier. We all want to keep her that is for sure... It's just hard for me right now to give myself 100% to her.
I started reading and I love hearing people's advises. Please continue with ideas and opinions.
My husband thought of the citronella collar or the vibration one... Any thoughts?

I highly recommend getting some books and videos by Ceaser Millan for the behavioral issues. You can find them on amazon. His resources helped us a lot with our Yorkie. When he was a puppy, we were at the brink of not being able to handle him, but now we've got him to a place where he's a pleasure to live with most of the time. :)

He's still not great with people, but as far as living with us and the barking situation, he's great.

I've come to the realization we cannot always talk people into keeping their dogs and it is not always in the best interest of the dog to be kept by some people.

People need to think a lot harder before getting a pet in the first place.

Please if you do rehome her do so with a reputable rescue group.

http://www.varlallergy.com/17.html
Again, please talk to your vet about VARL. My Mini was so allergy ridden and suffering we thought we might have to put her down. Mini's highest allergen trigger is HUMAN DANDER and she sleeps with us, and licks my husbands face for hours. This stuff is working. Varl is not like other injections at all. I'm not guaranteeing it will work for every dog but the percentage of success is muchhhhh higher, i believe it is 80% and I will check that out, but I know its not 25%. Goo will not work with human dander, but it will probably help with the everyday environmental triggers she certainly has.

I did not want to pass the message as very very negative, I am sorry.
Of course it is not her fault she has allergies... I know that.
All I wanted is support and suggestions!
She does sit, stay, lay down, turn, come here. But when there are other humans her level of excitement goes from 1 to 10 in a second... And she does not like high energy dogs such as puppies.

The varl is a lot different then ordinary allergy testing and it is really something I think you should look into.

Regarding food, have you tried her on Raw? Our dog doesn't have allergies but since we out him on primal raw dog food, his coat is much better and his poop is very healthy. I wonder if it might help with your dog's allergies.

Canisource is a grain based diet. See: CaniSource Dog Food | Review and Rating

I would put her on a limited ingredient diet or grain free diet for starters.

For Barking: http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/gen...h-barking.html

For bolting out the door:

I use Taste of the Wild as it is a low allergen for a Yorkie I highly recommend the Roasted Wetlands Foul flavor it is a low allergen holistic grain free food and the most economical (as in super low price for any food let alone high quality).

One of my dog's is on RAW while I also implement midel Prey RAW in conjunction with TotW with the other two-I'd love to go to BARF but it's harsh when you have kids around.

Believe it or not, with good behavioral modification training, if she starts to get excited, even just a look from you will put her butt on the ground and have her looking back at you, mouth open and smiling, saying - "See, I controlled myself! Aren't I great!?!?" And you melt inside. They can learn from you to control themselves. Just start studying the techniques and then the training will follow and you can have a wonderful pet before long.

I agree. Charlie gets really excited and with the new cat around he wouldn't go to sleep and was whining and barking all night keeping everyone up. The other night I took him separably in the back room with me and took my time with him until he calmed down and laid down with me and went to sleep. I had to stay up a little late that night, but my patience and time worked. He understood what I want and that's to go to sleep at night. Since that night he does lay down and go to sleep when I tell him at night now and if he does get up its for water or to his potty pad and not to whine and bark and keep everyone up. It takes a little patience but if you go about it right you would be amazed how much they understand and how quickly they pick up what it is you want from them.

My rescue was a crazy barker took me about two months two make him stop constant saying no barking, no barking he is scared to death of noises so the can wouldn't work for him, but I always said no barking no barking every time he would bark, after about two months it was so much better after four months he hardly barked at all. Its been almost two years I have had him he doesn't make a peep unless the door bell rings at the door or on tv. He can't tell the difference between tv bell and real doorbell.
As for her allergies while I understand that the pred is much cheaper option,
It in fact may cause some of her temper issues, and is not great being on long term, can you try the other for one month see how that goes. I just looked and might be able to get a rebate on the atopica, perhaps try to stretch out her grooming a few extra weeks to try the different med.

I can't help with the allergies but we got a guy back in January, his mom was at her wits end with him. He was marking everywhere and she kept him belly banded and he had a lot of aggression when the door bell rang. So much that her husband had pretty much said "me or the dog". I went all the way to west Texas to pick him up and he is so sweet. She cried when we left because he was her baby, but she just didn't know what to do with him. She had just started a new job, she has a baby and another dog and it broke her heart to let him go but je just wasn't working in their family anymore. He is 8 yrs old and she had him since he was 8 wks.

We have been slowly working with him, and when he barks, we spray him with a water bottle and tell him "no, Darby, no bark!" in a stern voice He hates being wet but would continue barking and we would spray until he stopped. Now when someone new comes in the house or the doorbell rings, he looks at us before reacting, and all we have to do is reach for the bottle and he calms down. We had one incident with him, but other than that, he's been great.

She was worried about him being rehomed because of his 'issues' but we were more than willing to take him on and work with him. If you gave your baby away, you might get lucky to find a family willing to take on a 'problem' dog but if not, that poor baby would be passed from house to house or worse, end up in a shelter or pound.

Please rethink getting rid of her. I know Darby's first mom regrets having to let him go, but is glad she found us to take him.

Many dogs cannot tolerate the grains in dog food. I find it hard to understand why your vet has not suggested at least a limited ingredient diet. I also suggest a commercial brand raw diet that is grain free. Also some purified or distilled water would be helpful. Having such severe allergies and being on Prednisone all the time must be very difficult on her. No wonder she is so high strung!

Having an unexpected addition to the family can be very stressful. I'm sure dealing with the new arrival and a pet that needs such constant care is causing your nerves to go on high alert.

I would also suggest you get a new vet. Putting a dog on full time steroids instead of finding the root cause of the problem is so unprofessional and uncaring. If you find you feel you would be better off without your dog then I would not encourage you to keep her. She would be better off in a home that will spend the time and money to help her illness and can cope with her other issues. I really think that once her health issues are properly addressed her behavioral issues will subside. However, if the relationship she has with your husband is badly damaged I doubt that anything will rectify it. If you can find a loving home for her that can deal with her issues she may be much better off.

Hello. A bit hard, but i am agree to all you are saying. :)

I kind of thought the attitude toward the dog was a bit hard, since she is sick with allergy and on pretty serious medication, facing a new addition to the family as well as those in the family that want her gone now and the OP obviously considering it. A little Yorkie in that situation is probably feeling pretty stressed and unhappy - they take everything so personally. And sometimes if a relationship is broken with a dog, someone just saying it can either help one go ahead and accept that or cause them to realize how much harder they are going to have to work to help the dog deal with its issues. Because it will be work - fun work to many but not necessarily if you are a busy, busy wife and mom who is maybe pretty overextended. Later, the attitude seemed definitely softer and more hopeful toward the little Yorkie so there seems every possibility that this baby can stay with the family if mom can hold up to all she's got to deal with.

I have a Westie with severe skin allergies - common in his breed. We have tried so many things.

He usually does have to have a low-dose of sterioids in the spring and fall - but really the pills are not that expensive. However, they do make him hungry and a bit cranky! So we try to walk him more - eventually he gets used to the steroids. (I know; I hate them too. Sometimes my allergies require them as well).

Another thing we use is a Cortisone Shampoo - this has really helped his itchy skin. We have to bathe him much more often during an allergy flare-up.

He eats Blue Buffalo Wilderness - Duck Version. So far, so good.

His skin allergies can get so severe that he ends up with a skin infection. I know that he must be miserable with it. We try to keep it under control - but those pollen times of year are just difficult.

Try the cortisone shampoo if you haven't already. It's an RX from the Vet.

I myself have itching reaction from medication I have to take and it is as stressful as pain once you start to feel the stinging and intense itching all over - or even just on a hand or ear or eye rims. But if it gets bad and spreads, it can be absolutely maddening and so uncomfortable after a while. I so feel for dogs that have bad allergies and scratch until they bleed. They seem utterly miserable.

thank you all for your input :) I will document myself on all these suggestions and see what the best option would be! She is a wonderful addition to our family and will make the best we can to keep her happy with us.
For her allergies, I will definitely talk to my vet about varl and I will read on it :) For now, I keep it under control...
Did anybody try the citronella collar or the electric training collar? I found one for lap dogs by Innotek and it seems to have good reviews?

God bless as you all work through all that you have to deal with and hopefully this little girl will turn out to be the best little companion ever.

She already is the best companion :) she just has some issues that we need to resolve!