You have an active dog that enjoys walking, running, sniffing, chasing balls and generally living life to the max. Then something happens, maybe they have ruptured their cruciate, broken a limb or a multitude of other injuries and now they have to spend the next 4-6 weeks in a cage on strict cage rest. How on earth are you both going to cope?! This is something I get contacted about a lot… So here are my 7 top tips for ensuring you both end the cage rest period with your sanity in tact.

Active dogs like Lulu can find being cage rested a stress

1. Brain games

Think about how your dog would have spent their day prior to cage rest – walking, running, snuffing and using their brain in a myriad of ways. Now, they have not much to think about. Boredom can lead to stress, frustration and a general negative emotional state. So, now we have to think of fun ways to engage their brain.

Start with feeding enrichment. This could be licky mats, Kongs or more traditional puzzle feeders (some nice ones are made by Nina Ottosson, Kong and Buster to name a few). These can keep a dog interested for good periods of time. Just ensure that a) they don’t eat the puzzle (I’m watching you Mr Labrador!!) and b) the puzzle itself doesn’t cause frustration. Start easy and then make it harder over time.

For a different post, but remember cats need games too!!

2. Reward calm behaviours

When your dog offers calm – such as lying down and chilling- make sure you reinforce them. A quiet, calm ‘good dog’ might be all you can offer, as for many dogs much more can excite them and they stop relaxing.

3. Make sure the crate is comfortable!

I know this is an obvious one, but it is so important that the dog has a supportive surface to lie on, especially if they are sore after surgery. If in doubt try it out yourself. If they are used to being in the family home, please don’t put them away ‘out of the way’… This will likely cause stress. (You would be surprised how many people crate rest the family cavoodle who is used to sleeping on the bed in the garage!)

4. Do some training

Disclaimer to this one – please clear it with your vet first. Many dogs can still do training when they are being cage rest and enjoy both interacting with you and using their brains! Some simple things to train can include: ‘touch’, ‘chin holds’, face holds, leave it (not with their dinner… another thing that will cause frustration) etc.

5. Do some massage

Lots of dogs enjoy massage / touch. If your dog is one of those, they might enjoy a nice quiet massage session with them to relax.

6. Pheromones and supplements.

Adaptil is a synthetic version of dog appeasement pheromone and can help dogs feel less anxious in lots of situations. Place a diffuser by their crate, ensuring good air circulation.

There are also certain supplements or nutraceuticals which might help some dogs. Always chat to your vet first to ensure these are suitable for your pet.

Recovering from surgery can be a stress on all members of the family

7. Medication

For some dogs, crating is very stressful and the above just doesn’t help. If your dog is struggling at home, please chat to your Veterinarian. There are many effective anxiolytics that can help them through this tough time!

Good luck! If you need further help, please feel free to contact me. A phone consultation for some troubleshooting or advice may be really helpful!

Julie x

Dr Julie Ashton, BSc, BVSc (Hons), MANZCVs (Veterinary Behaviour), MRCVS

Dr Julie is a behaviour vet who is passionate about collaborative care.

I was recently asked to help contribute to an article about ways in which to keep your pet’s coat in great condition 🙂

For me, as someone who sees a lot of anxious dogs and cats, getting your pets used to grooming equipment at a young age is key! Always make the introduction positive (and below the threshold at which they get anxious) and pair it with something good (a treat, a pat etc).

Things to focus on include:
– Introducing a brush / comb.
– Introducing clippers – first just the sound from a distance and then the feel of the vibration on their skin (if you don’t have clippers, you can use the ‘Sound Proof Puppy App’.
– The feel of water on their skin
– The sound and feel of the hair dryer
– Nail clippers
– Getting your pet used to being handled all over (including tummy, face and feet).

If you have an older pet who is already anxious, it’s not too late! We can often work to reduce their anxiety and help them to realise that being groomed isn’t as stressful as they might think – so don’t dispair!

For more top tips and to see my contribution then read on 🙂

http://www.advantagepetcare.com.au/en/pet-health/keeping-pet-coat-healthy-shiny/

“I think I need to get a bark collar…”

These are words often uttered by new clients. They have been researching ways to deal with barking dogs and all too often this is the blanket solve all advice received from pet shops, dog friends, Dr Google or their own Veterinarian. Whether it be collars puffing citronella into a dog’s face when they (or another dog, trust me I’ve seen it!) bark, or those delivering an electric shock, owners look at them as an effective way to change the problem barking.

But do they really work? Will they fix the issue? Well first we should consider why dogs bark in the first place.

Why is my dog barking?

Adult wolves, the ancestors of our furry friends, hardly ever bark. It is a communication that is nearly always the sole haunt of their pups. During domestication studies have concluded we have selected for wolves with ‘baby’ like characteristics. Meaning we have selected for dogs that bark! On top of this, we have developed dogs with different barks as well as some that seem to bark with little or no stimulus!

Barking is a form of vocal communication, of which dogs have many forms – including whining, howling, whimpering and growling. It is used in a number of different situations, including:

• Being excited or playing
• When stressed or anxious
• During hunting or herding
• Sometimes it can mean there is a medical problem (such as cognitive dysfunction or doggy dementia, pain or a neurological problem)
• Attention seeking
• Because it has been reinforced in the past (e.g. when scared by someone approaching who has subsequently left).
• Territorial protection

Some dogs bark during play

So why is barking such a big problem?

Increasing urbanization has brought people into ever closer confines. With close living comes new problems, including the need for neighbourly consideration. Many people (especially neighbours it seems….) unreasonably expect dogs never to bark!

However for some dogs barking changes from something that happens every now and again to something that becomes more of a problem behaviour and can lead to distress for the dog, neighbours, family members and in severe cases council complaints.

So what can be done?

In short, usually a lot! But exactly what depends on the situation! As we have seen barking happens for a number of reasons. Therefore ‘problem barking’ is never a diagnosis only ever a symptom and so there is no one thing that can help each case – the approach needs to be individual. A bark collar (even a citronella one) placed on an already anxious or stressed dog could make matters worse not better, so please think twice before automatically reaching for it!

Using a bark collar on an already stressed dog could make them have a face as sad as Callie’s!!

Is your dog receiving enough playtime or walking? Is it bored? Would a change in location help? – for example if the dog is barking in the back garden when you are out – could you leave it somewhere else? Could your dog be in pain? Is it suffering from separation related distress? Once you figure out why the barking is occurring you will be much more successful at stopping it! For some dogs the answer may be as easy as teaching a simple ‘quiet’ command, however for others, a more complex look at it’s mental health may be in order.

If your dog is barking excessively, then please contact Dr Julie, your local veterinarian or trusted dog trainer for advice on the next steps to solving the issue.

Dr Julie Ashton is a qualified veterinarian. She runs Life on Four Legs, a Veterinary Behaviour Consultation service, based in Sydney, Australia.

Do some dogs have a negative outlook on life?

In 2008, I undertook research at Bristol University as part of my Bachelor of Science degree to identify whether dogs suffering with separation anxiety exhibit longer-term effects in how they view the world. This was published in 2010 in Current Biology (under my maiden name of Brooks).

The question we wanted to ask was that we know people that are happy are more likely to judge ambiguous situations as positive and vice versa but do dogs have that same glass half full vs half-empty mentality?

                                                  This pug definitely seems to think his glass is always half empty 🙁

Working with dogs at the RSPCA in Bristol, they were trained that a bowl in one corner of the room always contained food and that a bowl in the opposite corner never did. Bowls were then moved to 3 ‘ambiguous’ locations – straight down the middle, nearer the ‘always full’ and then nearer the ‘always empty’ location.

Dogs that ran slowly to the ambiguous bowls were labelled ‘pessimistic’. Interestingly, there was a strong correlation to pooches suffering with high levels of anxiety when left alone.

So what now?

This week I was very excited to read that further studies have been carried out by the University of Lincoln to investigate whether anything can be done about this pessimistic outlook.

They adopted the test structure we designed and recruited two groups of dogs – those with separation anxiety and those that were ‘normal’. To start with they found the same as we did in 2008, dogs with separation anxiety were more pessimistic.

Banishing the ‘black dog’

However, here is the great news. They treated these dogs with a course of antidepressant medication (fluoxetine / Prozac) and undertook a programme of behaviour modification. After just 2 weeks of treatment, these anxious dogs showed a similar response to the “normal group”. The “black dog” was being banished!

This scientific study emphasises that separation anxiety is a real welfare issue. Pets that panic when left alone don’t just get stressed at that time, but suffer from the effects in their judgement of day to day activities too. But it is not all doom and gloom. Structured behaviour modification and medication can make a huge difference, something I see clinically every day.

Resources:

Mendl, M, Brooks, J, Basse, C, Burman, O, Paul, E, Blackwell, E & Casey, R 2010, ‘Dogs showing separation-related behaviour exhibit a ‘pessimistic’ cognitive bias’. Current Biology, vol 20., pp. R839 – R840

Christos I karagiannis, Oliver HP Burman and Daniel S Mills, 2015 Dogs with separation-related problems show a “less pessimistic” cognitive bias during treatment with fluoxetine (Reconcile™) and a behaviour modification plan. BMC Veterinary Research 11:80