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Millie & Jackson
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Millie & Jackson are King Charles Cavaliers; they live
with Carol and her family. Millie is two years old and is very well
behaved. However, Jackson is 9 months old and has caused a few problems
since joining the household. He had no housetraining at all, he was
urinating and defecating all over the house – upstairs, downstairs, when
he was left alone, when Carol was there and had even managed to pooh on
the kitchen table. To add to this Jackson suffers from a condition called
Copraphagia – where dogs eat their own faeces. The whole family agreed
that they all loved Jackson very much, but were stressed out and at the
end of their tether with his behaviour.
We began by going right back to basics with
housetraining, giving Jackson frequent opportunities to go in the garden
to toilet and heaping praise on him when he performed, ignoring any
accidents completely. We also introduced a crate for the times that
Jackson could not be supervised; the crate was big enough for Millie and
Jackson to go in together. The dogs were given a 'Kong' toy for times when
they were left in the cage – when the family were out or at bedtime, this
helped reward their behaviour in being in the cage and entertained them
until they were ready for a sleep. Carol soon found that the crate became
Millie and Jackson's den, where they went by choice for a lay down or
quiet time – which is great!
We gradually changed both dogs on to a complete dried
food to help with the Copraphagia. Dogs tend to need a smaller quantity of
these foods, so there is less waste, which is firmer and easier to clear
up. Carol and her family also had to watch Jackson very closely and clear
up after him as soon as he toileted – to try and break the habit he had
formed.
The results here have been fantastic; both dogs have
lost a little weight and improved their coat condition on the new food.
Jackson is no longer eating his excrement, and in two weeks had only two
housetraining accidents, both of which were little wee's by the door when
no one was there to let him out.
Everyone in the family agrees that they feel relaxed
and enjoy Jackson’s company more. |
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