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The vicious circle of health issues and behaviour issues
Today we had our first session with Lennox the Rottweiler cross American Bulldog.
I’ve been called in to see Lennox for quite a number of reasons.
These are:
Redirecting frustration by nipping
Over arousal
Lennox was hit by a car around a year ago and had some serious injuries from this. After this, he had the chemical castration implant.
His pain mixed with the drop in confidence-boosting testosterone has clearly exacerbated some of his issues. He is currently on several different pain managing medications.
He is very frantic and unable to stop moving and is clearly very stressed while doing it and I’m confident the pain is causing this but then his behaviour is causing pain - so we have a vicious circle going on.
Here is what we did:
Figure 8 walking at the start of walks to reduce arousal
Reinforcing calm behaviours at home
Timed walks to coincide with the departure of one of the guardians
Started applying the premack principle by reinforcing still behaviours with movement
Increasing basic obedience training
Lennox has some real potential and I will be working with the vet and guardians over the coming months to bring out the best he can be
If this case sounds like your dog and you are having a similar issue, or a different issue entirely, book a FREE assessment call with us by clicking HERE.
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