Hello, I'm new to this, so here goes.
I have a white Staff (male), about 4 yrs old called Thai. We've had him for nearly 2 yrs now, when he came to us he had been badly treated (by some sicko). He would cower, growl at people. go off into a corner of the room, and never wag his tail. Happily now he is a changed dog he bounces around, loves attention and his tail never stops wagging.
However, he sometimes still growls at certain people (not everyone), I think he may be just protecting us by doing this and I'm thinking of taking him to obedience lessons to try and help (as he is quite untrustworthy). He does growl if he has a toy in his mouth and you try and take this, he won't let go (willingly), although he will not growl if you take his bowl of food away from him.
At the moment he has got conjunctivitis (the vet thinks), we have some eye drops to put in - the first few days was ok as he couldn't really open his eyes enough to see that the eye drops was coming, but now he won't let me put them in, he growls and tries to bite my hand. We tried giving him a treat at the same time but he saw it coming and pinning him down was too frightening for him and made him worse. We will persist and maybe try when he is very tired or asleep.
Reading through all the notices on this board has been very interesting and reading about the kennel cough has made me think if he has this also, for a few months now (would it last this long?) he does cough and wretch sometimes as if there is something stuck, but not all the time. We asked the vet last week about his cough but he was unsure (as Thai was quite a difficult patient, growling and stuggling). As Thai is a bit overweight too, this could also be a cause of his cough etc, he is on a diet at the moment, but I will mention kennel cough to the vet next week when he is back.
Just another thought, would getting him castrated help with the growling etc. Also any info on alternative treatments for dogs would be appreciated. Any advise on these issues would be welcome. (wow, once you get started its hard to stop).

Shouldn't do this, but can't resist, my fingers have taken over the keyboard...
Thai meet Max. Max meet Thai. :D :D :D Now that would be interesting.
toodles

Hee hee - yes it would be interesting. Try giving Max some ear drops and he takes your hand off. I would suggest that you purchase a good Baskerville muzzle as if he is anything like Max he has read all the behaviourists books and knows all the tricks like giving treats. I usually have to get Max in a head-lock with his muzzle on before I can wash his ears :rolleyes:

Hi,

I don't know anything about Staffies so I'm afraid I can't offer any appropriate advice, but I just wanted to say hi and congratulations on Thai. It sounds as if he's come on in leaps and bounds since you took him on and I'm sure he'll continue to do so given the right training.

There are plenty of Staffie owners who I'm sure would be more than happy to help.

Fiona

Do the people thai is growling at have anything in common? Do they wear glasses, or have white hair or whatever. Its well known that if a dog is treated badly and beaten by a man with glasses for instance then the dog will be wary, to the point of growling, at every man it meets with glasses. If you do find something like that and we know what it is then we can advise further.

Hi! & Welcome
Did he come from a rescue centre?
If so do you still keep in touch with them, they might also be able to help with further training & conditioning behavour
Karl

Hiya Climber (Karl)

No its a bit of a long story but a friend of a friend was owed some money from 'bad lad' and he didn't have it so he said he would have the dog in payment (as he knew he didn't look after it), but then I guess the novelty wore off.

Thanks for the advice, I thought I might ask the vets.

Thank you for the loverly welcome, I feel right at home now.

Eoghania, thanks for the intro to Max.
Bangor, Yes read a few of the discussions on Max and he sounds like a loverable rogue. The muzzle was next on the agenda. Thanks.
Issymum (Fiona), thanks for the nice welcome, and yes he is a loverly dog and its awful when people treat them so badly, but now he is spoilt, hence the diet.

Thank you.

Hi Thai, I have a staff bitch who also hates the vet with a passion - though she just stands their shaking and panting, the big girl! I would agree with alie on the mistreatment thing - i know that cleo is very persecptive to sights and sounds she associates with nice things (gets very excited everytime she hears a motor bike as my bro rides one and she is besotted!) and it works equally the other way to. I would also suggest a muzzle for the eye drops, but maybe try and make the muzzling a pleasant experience - treat before and after - or something. The cough like he's got something stuck seems to be quite common in staffs - cleo has it, especially when she gets excited: is he a short nosed dog, as it might be a short palate problem? All i do to make it stop is stroke between her front legs (as this calms her) or open their mouth a little so they can breathe properly - its not serious, they just seem to get a bit fixated on it. And the castrating bit - would probably only help the growling if it was directed at other male dogs, and maybe not even then - but i'm no expert! :D Could the toy thing be playing? - cleo growls at my partner when they play tug, thinks its a great game, and tries to instigate it by growling with toy in her mouth?
Good luck with him, and let us know how you get on.

Hiya alie,

Yes we did wonder that, as sometimes he will bark and growl at young lads and we often wonder if that is like 'bad lad' (the name we have given to the previous owner). Also if he had kids as sometimes he tends to growl if small children come near him, usually under around 10ish, but also wonder if thats just cos they are a bit warey of the dog and he senses this. I will enquire as to what 'bad lad' may of looked like.

Thanks for the advise.

It would be interesting. It sounds to me if he is growling at young lads and kids, then he could have come from a home where he was teased unmercifully and picked on by the kids in the household. Some people when they get a puppy do not warn their offspring that it is not a toy to be poked and pinched (worse... kicked etc) Then when the pup growls or bites ( quite understandably since dogs have no other way of saying stop, I don't like that) it either gets a good beating, "to put it in its place" or gets thrown out, either to a rescue home at best or out on the streets at worst. If people had to pass a test before they had dogs, I'm sure the dog owning public would be halved!!! If it is kids then I would suggest letting kids you know and trust who are dog friendly, accompany you on walks with thai or anything else that he likes doing so that he begins to associate nice things with children being near. If they are strong enough, let them take the lead and give him a run, make it fun for him. If you don't trust him, you will have to keep the muzzle on at first, we don't want any accidents! It will take time because dogs have long memories and the poor little thing has a lot of mental wounds to heal.

Thanks alie,

My boyfriend has a couple of nephews who come round and Thai has got used to these and he loves them. Like you say it will take time for him to learn to trust again. Thanks.

Fully agree with you Alie
We had a dog from exactly that sort of background 15 years ago & he was that way with small children under about 8 years old.
He was 5 months old when we got him & never totaly got over it even at the age of 13:(

Sad storey,
so he is on his third home now:(
but you sound caring & have made his life a happy one now keep up the good work thier worth it:D
Our older BT is from a split home we got him when he was 3 years old
karl

Thanks Karl

Yes I love dogs and they are definately for life.

Hiya Cleopatra,

Yes its amazing what they remember, Thai hates motobikes he barks like mad at them (again must of had a bad experience with one). Yes I will have to try and make the muzzle a pleasant thing for him, so he doesn't mind waring it.
Yes he does have a short nose, thats interesting about Cleo as it also seems to happen with Thai when he is excited.
He seems ok with other dogs, (he doesn't seem to know the difference between a male or female), its only when other dogs come across agressive to him that he will return the gesture.
Thanks for the advice.

Hi,
Just wanted to say, just because a dog doesn't like something, it doesn't necessarily mean that he had a previous bad experience.

Motorcycles and motorbikes have unshielded engines. The sound can drive an animal (and human) absolutely batty. It hurts ears. Some dogs don't care, others go nuts. The machines can also trigger the "chase & kill" instinct in certain dogs (motion & sound). I just remember well trained military dogs who worked calmly in heavy auto traffic, just going nuts with motorbikes.

It sounds as if you're doing a wonderfully patient job with Thai. He's come a long ways.
toodles

Hi Thai, Just thought of something else. You said that he is overweight - this too could be causing the coughy thing, or certainly helping it along a bit. Have you tried putting him on a light or senior type of food - i thin it contains less protein, and so less energy to be turnrd into fat if not used

Hiya,

Great, thank you. I think thats what the vet may be thinking too. He said to cut his food down (and treats, like ice-cream!) and give him extra exercise, but yes I will look into other dog foods too. Thanks.

Hi, Remember to increase the exercise gradually, building it up daily. If he is quite a bit overweight then to much exercise straight away will cause strain on his joints. Also when he does loose the weight, maintain the exercise. Staffies enjoy and need lots of exercise, most people don't give them enough, and not just on a lead. The best is when they can play with another dog!

Talking of Ears, Zac's ear seems red to me can I buy any drops for him never had a dog with furry ears before.The groomer plucks them but this last week one ear seems red..but not a vet case yet.

Hi! Patricia
Check the "health" posts on Thornit ear powder

karl

cheers Karl

A method I found that worked for giving eye drops to a dog who was convinced I was trying to murder her was this.

Kneel on the floor with legs slightly apart, but feet together, get the dog sitting between your legs facing forward, then place your hand on top of the dogs muzzle and push his head down towards his chest, so that your arm and hand are controlling the head. with the other arm blocking the other side use the free hand to open the eye, while a third party administers the drops. It can be done alone, if you can work two of the fingers holding the head down, up to the eyelids.

The legs are used to contain the dog, and holding the head down t5o the chest seems to induce less panic than trying to clamp hands around the muzzle, though if you have a muzzle, then it will leave your hands free to administer the drops, keeping his head still with upper arms!

Nice move Brainless - the other method is anesthetic, sedative or 2 lb hammer :D

Bangor if I were you id go for the hammer:D

Well, got a mussle at the weekend, (after changing it for the third time for one that fits, should of took Thai the dog with us in the first place, dohh). Managed to get some drops into his eye without poking them out, he just struggles like mad and makes a some really vicious growling noises. Just run out of drops now as most of them have ended up elsewhere...
Anyway he is back at the vets on Thurs 11th so we will see what he says.

By the way Banger, Max is absolutley georgous, I like the photo with the bucket on his head and the baloon thingy in his mouth. You can tell he is mischeiveous by the look on his face....

Thanks Thai again - yes the pic of him with his med collar is a particularly good one he was 5 months then. We had to get him a large great dane collar (bucket) because when he was neutered he found ways of smashing the collar or eating it, trying to get at his wound to remove the stiches :rolleyes: The balloon (LOL) was a ball he found on the beach and managed to reshape into the shape of a rugby ball and despite his collar was still able to play with the ball unlike the ad on the TV lol. He used to scoop the ball up with his med collar (bucket) - this dog aint daft you know LOL

I've recently had to administer eye drops to Banya as she has had conjunctivitis....I find if I catch it immediately tepid salt water works well, about i/2 a teaspoon to 1/2 a pint. The infection doesn't seem to go further.

Still, had to use drops for her just this week - it really isn't easy!!!! :( Apparently one other trick is to be quick, (sometimes easier said than done if the dog has sussed you out!!!) and also bring your hand with the drops in up, from below the muzzle/vision of dog, rather than just homing in on the eye.

We are having better luck now we are attempting it this way. Still hate doing it, though!!!

LIndsay

Cheers Lindsay, I'll try that with bringing them up from below. I find another way we have managed to do it, is that when he is asleep on my knee I get them and slowly lift up his eyelid and pop them in. Thing is I can only do one eye at a time, cos he then jumps up and goes off in a huff and then always has one eye on me, watching for me to pounce.