Dog experts...care to chime in on Ace who has morphed into a difficult child?

H

HaoZi

Guest
Adding to some other thoughts - I know it's late in the season, but do you have any big or potentially big storms on the way? Or just a drop in barometric pressure in general? Any changes in the neighbors or neighborhood? If you're in the woods or on the fringes, it could be that some animal has taken up residence nearby. When I lived in FL the dogs were wacky about such things, from foxes and coyotes to bears, panthers, and hogs (mostly woods around us there).

Could also be that he's coming down with something that isn't evident yet. Could be the change in seasons. Could be allergies. I'd call the vet and ask, making a point of inquiring if other people are having similar issues.
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Hmmm.

For the doggie adolescence......he'd be a tad old, but stranger things have happened. Mine usually hit that stage around age 2 1/2 sometimes as late as 3. But usually it's resolved around 3. I think it can depend on breed too. And no you're not crazy. I've noticed adolescence type behavior in my dogs clear back when I was a kid. lol
 

DDD

Well-Known Member
I'm about to get ready for work. We'll see how he reacts to the shut bedroom door...sigh.

He went to bed normally last night in our room. Unfortunately difficult child#1 came home around three and wanted to talk with me. I went to difficult child's bedroom for a few minutes and WHAMMO Ace comes in his room and jumps up on his bed. Good Grief. difficult child told him "down" he settled in the covers. I got up and said "come on Ace", he jumped down and followed me out of the room...and that bedroom door was shut.

Fingers crossed for today. Nine adolescents is too much for this old girl. Later, DDD
 

Star*

call 911........call 911
I am chuckling......first because I have a 140 lb. thunder chicken so I can see YOU throwing bits of liver in the hall and saying "Go get it boy!" and slamming the door shut. Despite the best attempts at re-training? His hearing due to seizures has gone very bad and the echo sounds now are enormously painful. The sounds he hears today are not like the great hearing he had when he was a pup. His ears are hyper sensitive and a simple motorcycle going by? Now causes him to be scared and behave irrationally.

Something I did learn recently I will share with you that is not pleasant. Boxers, boxer mixes and some bully breeds (this is us) but expecially Boxers are prone to brain tumors. Some times these start off as what appears to be hearing loss. This is where we were a year ago with Casper. Simple commands ingored, panting heavily, restlessness and finally siezures. The choices? MRI, surgery, chemo and at that; you prolong quantity of life not quality. The tell-tale signs are not coming when called, startling easier when they didn't used to at noises like thunder storms, motor cycles, loud crashes (because the sounds are altered in their heads), dopey head hanging, lethargic head hanging, uneven gait,(as if drunk) staring off as if (not kidding) stoned.

I'm not saying that Ace has this. Not at all. Boxers have unusually short life spans for dogs - average life is 7-9 years. A lot of people will say "Oh I have a boxer that lived to be 12 or whatever." I say Good for you. Average is 7-9 years.

The other thought I had which is decidedly less morbid is he's bored. You had said a few months back he was digging and had thought about putting in a sand box for him to really bull-doze in. If you did that? Good for you. IF not? Does he get at LEAST an hour a day of chasing a ball, or frisbee, swimming, running, bicycling? In addition to the digging? If not???? He's a very young 4 year old who is /could be (Auntie Star thinking out loud from a dogs perspective) depressed and just have a huge case of the BLAHS. Like - Oh BLAH - another day to ??? WHAT.....DO WHAT? THIS AGAIN? WHAT AGAIN? See what I mean? Tread mill could be helpful and it's easy to train him on it. It gets his heart rate up, exercise and activity for his muscles, endorphines,,,,,,,,and keeps him busy. If he's not listening it could be because he figures WHAT is the USE?

Another thing - and it's petty-----but when you tell him to get from the bed.......TELL HIM " ACE - OFF" and whisk your hand and arm in a sweeping motion with a snap........of your fingers......before you do this....and don't laugh....Make yourself as tall as you can, square your shoulders and THINK in your mind........I AM THE BOSS......and stare at him as if you were just FED UP...then snap that arm out, and in an authoritarian style voice - say "ACE OFF" not (DOWN) because down is lay down and well - if he's laying down? He's thinking - YEAHman......I'm a GOOD DOG....liikit here I am sssssssuch a smart guy.....I'm already down. HAHAHA....and he really may not get what ACE DOWN......expects from him. For all that matters - you could say any word......FARFEHNEUGHEN ACE - point, snap ....and point to the floor..

If he does NOT ....GET OFF the bed ......only say it ONCE........DO NOT keep repeating the command......(he's smarter than a 5th grader) Go get his choker and a leash......put that on his neck....and as you say ACE OFF.....snap the leash down towards the ground and with a pulling motion - pull him off the bed....and when he is on the ground....SAY .......GOOD ACE. OFF GOOD. Walk out of the room, give him a sit command ....then a reward biscuit. NO BISCUIT in the room. Maybe you would want to give the biscuit in his kennel? Or in his spot......You could even say------ACE SPOT......take him to in.....then ACE DOWN....when he lays down - hand him the biscuit. Or if you are opposed to treat rewards, scratch the small of his chest and say GOOD ACE, GOOD DOWN......or GOOD ACE GOOD SPOT. Or hand him a favorite toy....whatever your thing is....with him? That's his reward. We have a 3 gallon glass cookie jar and in order to get something from the cookie jar? Everyone has to be sitting - EVERYONE.......until all are sitting.....NO ONE gets a treat. 4 dogs in one tiny kitchen? You have to be creative. Especially when they are 140, 70, 55, and XX (pootie refuses to give her weight) lbs.

Everyone else probably covered this.....and you may want to just check the inside of his ears for mites or ticks. I think Steely covered that....other than sorry to be the bearer or the tumor news.....hope something here is helpful.
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Star is right about the standing tall, and doing the snap thing. I never learned to do it. For some odd reason, I just do. (I also will do it with kids when the situation calls for it lol )

Molly will follow a snap, point, snap with no words, she's so good at it. When she was young she went to lunge at someone out the front door (mail man, they touch her house) I stopped her with a snap sit command, snap finger points toward the floor. Mail man was impressed, and very grateful.

I'm working on it with Betsy, she likes to play dumb, but mom doesn't buy it.

And Rowdy who has never been "formally trained" at all? Will respond to the snap / command thing.
 

Star*

call 911........call 911
well i am sure after a few years of mothering>>>>>>d# has the authoritarian thing down to a science with kids _ but with our furbabies _ we tend to be a little less fed up with their behaviors and allow them certain privledges that we didn"t allow our difficult child ALTHOUGH>>>>>>>(STUPIT TYPEBOARD HAS GONE difficult child HERE SO I HAVE NO PERIODS) I CAN REMEMBER ALLOWING DUDE ON MY BED AND SAYING DUDE GET OFF MY BED>>>>GET OFF RIGHT NOW AND HIM NOT LISTENING EITHER>>>>>IT"S NOT FUNNY WHEN YOU WANT TO LIE DOWN AND SOMEONE WILL NOT GET OFF YOUR RESTING SPOT> WITH DUDE THOUGH? I THREW OREOS INTO THE HALL AND SLAMMED THE DOOR>
 

DDD

Well-Known Member
I'll incorporate the sweeping motion if it happens again. After raising eight kids I do have the "power voice" down pat, lol. I am not a screamer or yeller so when I speak with authority it gets attention.

So are you curious about what happened yesterday and this morning? LOL. Yesterday morning I closed the MBR door, got dressed for work, closed (and double pull checked) the door and then gave Ace some pleasant words, a few pats and a cookie before I left. I was the last one out of the house.

TaDa! When difficult child#1 got home Ace was snoring on his comforter in our MBR. How to heck he bumped his way into the room I don't know. Today I am taking a "baby gate" home to add to the doorway tomorrow. This morning I decided to delay his breakfast until I was ready to leave. Then I put his bowl down with a few tablespoons of fresh
browned round sprinkled on the top. He had no interest in the MBR.

His attitude seems to be getting back closer to normal. I'll update tomorrow. Swing arms, swing arms. DDD
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
How did he get in the bedroom? You have a Houdini!

Ya know, all this talk about mice and snakes and spiders...maybe you have a mouse in the house and Ace is after it! Or a ghost and he is gonna be a Ghosthunter for halloween...lol.

With boxers I dont think he would actually catch a mouse but he might watch it with wonderment and find it quite amusing.
 

DDD

Well-Known Member
SO...I ask husband if Ace was or was not in the MBF when he came home. He replies "I don't think so." Geez, their are too many "issues" for me to deal with lately. If it's not difficult child. If it's not Ace. It's husband. Yeah...aging is not a pretty process.Tonight I wish I were 30 or 40 and could go out and drown my stress. Alas, it is not a possibility and I'll just have to learn to deal with it. On a positive note, Ace is not trying to stare me down. I'll take whatever I can get that is on a positive note this week. Sigh. DDD
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
Well, either Ace did stay out of the bedroom or husband let him out or Ace has learned to go in and out of the bedroom and take husband with him...lol.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
LOL...DDD, I dont have a clue about dogs. I have one who is either autistic or developmentally delayed. Im not sure which. She wouldnt leave my side for the first year but even then she wouldnt train at all. She has yet to let me put a leash on her but I just bought a new type of harness that she actually likes and is wearing 24/7. Maybe we will actually get a leash on her at some point. Now she actually is letting Tony pet her and going up to him if I am no where around.

My other dog is the evil genius. The other night he actually chewed through one of Tony's pockets to get at a pink lighter...a simple plastic lighter...and when Tony got up to put his pants on in the morning all his change fell to the floor!
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Um. DDD......... you might not want to know this but Molly can open doors. And if she really wants somewhere, a baby gate has never stopped her. lol But as I've said before, Molly thinks she's a person and does LOTS of things she shouldn't be able to do.

If you try the baby gate, try to get one of the metal ones that opens like a door with the metal slats (like jail bars). The other kind with mesh ect they can just climb over if they won't just jump it. I have the metal one in the livingroom doorway. It has a locking mechanism.........and if I don't lock it, Betsy will use her nose to open it. (which is not really easy) I'm thankful she is too short to jump it or I'd have all sorts of issues.

If he continues to get in, put him in his crate when you leave with a nice blanket and a chew bone.
 

DDD

Well-Known Member
Hound, if I get around to taking the baby gate home I plan to shut the door (double check it) and then place the baby gate outside the door attached to the jamb. It might not stop Ace but it will scare the heck out of him when it crashes and I'll have "proof" that he is, in fact, a Wonder Dog.

No problems last night and no defiance this morning. Probably plotting now I'm at work, lol. DDD
 
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