Hi everyone! New to the site, wanted to introduce myself. Excited that I found a forum about weims! Apollo will be 1 on Saturday, 7/20. We got him when he was 12 weeks old. He has such an amazing personality, an absolute love, friends with everyone and everything and such a sweet boy. He seems to be allergic to EVERYTHING, we’re currently working through an elimination diet with his vet before putting him through allergy tests. He is always breaking out in small bumps all over his body. He’s been treated for staph, multiple rounds of antibiotics, I don’t want to keep medicating him. Benadryl doesn’t touch anything for him. We’ve crate trained him and he’s done fine until the past couple months. He breaks out, injures himself or rips apart his nose. We decided to let him stay out, removed anything he could knock down or get into, gave him treats to find for nose work, toys and bones, leaving the TV on and after a couple weeks, he ate a couch cushion. We kept a camera on him and he seemed to want to sleep in funny positions all over the couch more than anything. We then got a durable hunting crate that he can’t break out of and he continues to rip open his nose. I work full time and my husband is a firefighter. The days that he’s on shift, we have a lady come by and spends time with him through the day. He’s run, walked, strict training, nose work, you name it. We’ve tried re-training with the crate to make it positive and he just does not seem to care, he hates the crate; even with a special bone or toy that he can only get whole crated. We’re trying rescue remedy, against his elimination diet protocol. So far, he’s seemed to have done good but I don’t want to say that out loud yet. It’s only been 2 days. The days that my husband is on shift, he’s fine. It’s the days that we’re home and run out to the store or run an errand. We did 3 weeks board and train, he did excellent with the trainer. We’ve implemented her training at home and it’s not working for us. She’s supposed to come to our house and work with him at home as that’s where the problem is and the scheduling hasn’t worked out yet. Doggie day care doesn’t work for us as there isn’t anywhere (or anyone) around that can take him when we leave for work, it’s entirely way too early in the morning. I wish it would, he would love a play day! Please tell me someone has some advice. He’s such an incredible pup, I refuse to give up on him. So excited to be a part of this forum and excited to share with everyone! Attaching a picture of our sweet little man...
Hi and welcome aboard. How long is he left for? Have you tried dog proofing your kitchen and leaving him the run of it while you are out? Which country are you in, Shannon?
Hi Chris, & thank you!! We’re in the United States, Florida. The days that my husband is on shift, he’s left for 3 hours at a time between visits or me coming home. Those are the good days. The days that we’re home and run errands, usually never more than 2-3 hours tops. We have puppy proofed to where everything is removed from counters, shelves, hutches, etc. it looks like we’re moving out. We cannot contain him to the kitchen as he can hop onto the counters to escape and doggy gates are just a wall to break through or jump over for him. Confine him to a bedroom and I’m afraid it won’t go well for either furniture or the structure of the room (door, door frame, walls, plantation shutters). Thank you, Chris! -Shannon
He's a lovely boy, bless him. Did he go to board and train for this particular issue? If so, I am not surprised at all that you still have the same problems now he's home. It rarely works for the vast majority of problems once the dog is back home, for separation issues, nah. Separation problems are a long haul. It starts with leaving for literally seconds and returning and rewarding for calm behaviour and building up from there. Could I ask, was the problem worse when he came back home from his training? Weimis are very owner orientated dogs and he is at the age where he would feel it most
Thank you, he’s a ham! Yes, the board and train was for the crate issues, off leash and manners. She told us that he doesn’t have separation issues and the crate wasn’t a problem at all so they worked on the other training points more. Get him home and he’s perfect...with separation issues far worse than when he left, he didn’t hurt himself before. Is there a magical age that they feel it less? Not even sure there’s an answer to that one.
They always feel being away from home. Unfortunately, 8-12 months is a fear stage so not a good time, but I'm the first to admit that I'm biased because I don't believe away training is good at all. When you have to leave him, get him out for an hour if you can beforehand, then do some training with him before you leave. He'll be more tired and may settle better. The only way to overcome it, is to work through a programme of helping him accept and feel more comfortable with it
I do think that the away training has hindered our progress with him being alone. I wouldn’t do it again, that’s for sure. Each morning he gets a structured run followed by play time. Then he'll Have his down time and before we leave, he gets a good solid 20-30 minutes of structured training that’ll be followed by a quick break before going in his crate. Training remains structured before we leave for errands as well. I’m hesitant to say it, for fear that I’ll jinx it, but he’s been absolutely perfect and hasn’t done further damage to his nose since having the rescue remedy. We’re still working on the crate re-introduction, he no longer puts up a fight, he willingly goes but he gives the pouty face to make sure we know he’s not excited about it. Last night, we heard him go into the crate on his own to check it out a few times. Hopefully we’re headed in the right direction.
My girl used to have separation anxiety when she came. I have always given a long lasting chew treat when I have to leave my dogs for long periods. After having tooth damage from bones and antlers, I now give them something like dried tripe, paddywack, or dried ears. Rubber Kong toys filled with mushy food/treats and then frozen can keep them occupied for ages.
