*UPDATE... Really Good* Our New Foster

[Nina]

Dibby Dog has a new rescue.

Remi is a male Black Lab. He is HUGE he is 9 months old and he is alredy 90lbs and he is 28inches at the shoulder. He is super sweet, loves to play fetch, he knows frech and english. It's nice I get to speak frech to him. (Living in an all english province I don't get to speak frech very often)We are working through some behavior problems. So I may be asking for some help.  But I am sure that we will be able to work through them.


Nina

[LibbyP]

I have to say I LOVE all of you involved in rescue/foster parents out there!!!!! That is such an awesome thing you are able to do. To be able to open you homes & heart and show this animal some love and attention that they may need to have the patience to work through their problems and still have time to teach them something to better prepare them for their furever home. I send you a million  and hugs and a pat on the back ~ well done!

Remi is one big handsome lug of boy, already 90lbs at 9mos ~ just imagine when he 'fills' out 

[EllieAndBlu]

awwww Nina, what a handsome boy!  I applaud you and everyone who fosters... y'all are a special group of people!

[Nina]

Aww thanks he is such a wonderful boy. The only thing that we are working through is food aggression.

He is fine we have our hands on the bowl he'll even eat out of our hands tails wagging and all. But when you put the bowl down he gets very cautious and is always watching and his tail is down. Then if Harley gets near he starts to growl, not in a back off way. We have been feeding him in his crate and we cover the bowl if he growls. When he calms down he gets food again.
He does not do this with the water bowl he will let Harley drink out of it when he is. And if Harley is drinking he will not go near it. She is the dominate dog. And we are able to dominate him.

Does anyone have any idea's?

Nina 

[Nina]

Here is an update. (Sorry kinda long  )
We stopped feeding him in the crate because it seems to stress him out. And we changed the bowl that he is eating out of (we were using the one that the previous owners had for him) and now we are keeping the bowl in our hands and he eats that way. So far so good. Yesterday he was fine until he was done eating then he had his ears back, and his tail was not wagging. So this morning as soon as he was done eating Tim walked away with the bowl(the bowl was in his hands the whole time) and I distracted him with a toy. And all was fine no aggression at all!  Hopefully in time we will be able to put the bowl on the floor but for right now this seems to be working. I noticed that it is the whole eating thing that seems to be a problem, he eats really fast and he gets so into it. This morning Tim got him to slow down, by dropping some food on the floor and taking the bowl away, and making him sit before he got it back. We have a vet appointment on the 20th (just a check up) so I'll see what she has to say. I think we have to desensitize him to the whole eating thing. Any input would be great.

Nina

[schelmischekitty]

i don't have any suggestions.  i think you're doing an awesome job already!  very nice looking pup though, he sure is gonna be big!

[Nina]

So far so good with the feeding. We are still feeding him with the bowls in our hand and we may have to do that for a long time, but that is better than having the aggression issue. What I have been doing is holding his empty bowl and pouring his food in a bit at a time. And as soon as he's toy eating Tim has a toy ready and I put his bowl away. I have also randomly been feeding him handfuls of food. So that he knows food is always available. So far so good. 

He is such a sweet boy. Still in his puppy stage getting into everything. But it is such a hoot! I'll post more pictures soon.

Nina

[kathryn]

OMG, Remi is so handsome!  I think I'm in love with that face.  I have to say that I love large labs.  He looks like a lab that I knew when I was growing up named Snake.  Good luck on the food aggression.  It sounds like things are coming along nicely. 

[bluskygirl]

I am sorry about the food aggression. I have dealt with this with Bella for some time now. She's not aggressive yet, but she is definitely terrified that someone's gonna take it from her so she eats as fast as she can and gets really... rigid and nervous.  I have read several books on this, and there are some specific methods that can be used.  The basic idea is to put the dog dish on the floor (start with an empty bowl if he's aggressive with the dish as well as the food) and walk towards the dish and place a goodie in it. The goodie should be something that he only gets at this time.  I used freeze dried liver squares (GAG). Begin walking from the same distance each time, and once you see a change in his demeanor (i.e. he's wagging his tail and stuff) you can start coming in from other angles, and from other distances.  The next step is to add food. First use dry food, once you made it all the way through the process with dry food and he appears happy when you come to his dish while he's eating, switch up to a mix of canned and dry, and then canned.  The idea is to work up to things that are especially yummy and more prone to protecting.  Jean Donaldson also recommends going up to a whole frozen chicken once the canned food is successful.  The other important thing to remember is that the treat that you're putting in his dish while he's eating must always be yummier than what is actually in his dish.  THis will help him to understand that ONLY good things happen when you approach his food during meal time.

Unfortunately all this worked for Bella until the day we finished and then we were back where we started.  She seems to do better if I put small amounts of her food in her dish and walk away.  The whole serving at once overwhelms her into thinking she must hurry.  So, I have resorted to feeding her about 1 cup at a time, 7 times a day and I talk to her and touch her and try to get her used to the idea that just becuase people are around doesn't mean her food is unsafe.  I don't have another dog, so food aggression with multiple dogs in the house is something I can't help much with.

Hope this helps. If you have any questions, feel free to send me a message or reply here. I might even be able to photocopy some of that book for you or something if I can.  Good luck! He's a cutie pie!

[macybean]

Riley can get funny about food. He and Sadie will change bowls sometimes, but if he starts with her bowl and finishes it (it's smaller), he'll stand by her and bark until she moves away from his bowl so he can finish that one, too. With other male dogs around, I put my two in the kitchen with a baby gate at feeding time. When Drama (female) was here, she had a crate. She wouldn't bug Riley for food, but there seemed to be some tension with Sadie. I'd put Sadie in Drama's crate to eat without locking the door. When she was done, she'd let herself out. I think it worked, b/c Sadie didn't feel like someone was coming to get her food and Drama wasn't goofy enough to try to take Riley's food (he'd bark if she got too close).

I think Bluskygirl's method sounds like a good place to start. I think separating them was more like a bandaid than a good way to fix the problem in my case. My dogs don't seem to have issues when it's just them, though.

[Nina]

Well things are not good. His aggression is getting worse not better. He attacked Harley twice and this was with a treat. Another time he was going to go at her for no reason. This morning I fed him all was fine until he was done eating I put his bowl away, made sure my back was never towards him, and he started to stalk me. I had to put a chair in between me and him. Then he growled a bit. I called Tim to help me, he responds to Tim better than me.
Tim calmed him down, then came time to get him in the crate, and all h*ll broke loose, he had never done this with crating. He went for Tim's arm, and then in the crate he was growling, snarling ect. And he was growling at Harley, she wouldn't move from her spot. We had to bribe her with a treat. She refuses to go by his crate now.

I think that he is menatally unstable, I fear for my safety and for my family.  We are trying to place him in a lab rescue. The person that runs that resuce is a trainer. I have also looked at the SPCA, the thing is that if they deem him unadoptable he will be pts. I don't know if I can deal with that.  I have been crying all morning. I feel like a failure.

Nina

[schelmischekitty]

i'm so sorry that things are going so bad!  i wonder what happened to him that causes him to act like this.  could it be a chemical imbalance type problem that might be helped with medicine?  i'd sure hate to see him pts, but sometimes there just isn't any other way.  i wish you luck with him and will support whatever decision you make, because in truth you're the one who knows the severity the best.

[Anakalia]

I'm so sorry you're going through this!  I've been through something like that as well and it's scary and upsetting all at the same time!  You're not a failure, sounds like you're doing everything possible to give this guy a great future.  Maybe meds can help? 

[Nina]

He did have parvo as a puppy, and he comes from questionable breeders. So I think that he does have "ghosts" in his head. We are going to do what ever we can to save him. I am just scared to turn him over to another rescue because they may deem him unadoptable. It is just so hard, I am so angry, why does this have to happen! It's just not fair.

Nina

[LibbyP]

Nina ~ I am very sorry to read you are going through this very tricky situation. Please believe that what ever is deceided that we are here for you, sounds to me you are doing everything possible for this foster. Sometimes (IMO) there are far worse things that 'could' happen to him than to be pts. Ask yourself this ~ could you sleep peacefully at night knowing he was adopted out? I know you will do what is best for him, you are no way a failure ~ others wouldn't have even bothered to try ~ pat yourself on the back you are an awesome person that does an awesome thing trying to help these throw-away animals. Sending you a great big hug ~ Kim