ADVICE URGENTLY NEEDED! PLEASE HELP

Hello all please have a read...fingers crossed someone out there can help us
About Ralphie
First owners kept him behind child gates and just genrally didnt look after him, they ended up taking him to the blues cross, then he was rehomed by a man who then dumped him on the motor way so poor ralph went back to the Blue cross, back in Dec 2010 me and my other half rescued ralph and two and a half years later we still have him...Ralph is now 6 years old.
Ralphs issues
Ralph has bad seperation axciety where you cannot put him behind a child gate or in a crate or even shut him out in the garden without him constatly barking, he will wrip a child gate clean of the wall, he is obssessed with doors opening and closing and will attack the bottem of the door when you try and close it, when somone comes to teh font door he will dig at it as if he is digging a hole, he is obssesed with rocks and balls, he wont let go of them once there in his mouth and will lick and paw them constantly like hes in a trance.
The situation we are in now
Forthe past year we have moved out of our place to save oney and moved in with my mother in lawso ralph has hardly been left on his own as she doesnt work but now we have moved back out Ralph has had a few long days where hes been left alone due to us both working and in the last few days he has started to bite chunks of wood out of thedoors and fram work which he has never done before, we do understand that this is because hes unsettled due to a new home and the fact that for the past year he has had alot of comany and now all of a sudden hes on his own but hes never chewedlike this...and we live in a rented place so we cannot risk leaving him where he may or maynot distroy the house...im having a baby in 7 weeks so there is some urgencey in getting these issues sorted...the good news is i have now finished work early on puropse to spend time with ralph to try and sort his issues but what i need help with is knowing the correct way when i have a dog with so many issues with gates and doors ie i cant use a crate or shut him out in the garden because he gets very distressed and barks continusley...i cant use treats as he has a very bad allergy and suffers with colitus so only has one type of food...is it possible to train a dog who hates cages to go in crate! ...i cant contain him without himeither barking, distroying the doors or getting very distressed...time is ticking and i need some help...im not prepared to give up on my dog because i love him dearly and no one else would understand him lik ewe do...PLEASE HELP!!!!! X

sorry I don't understand , you have issues with Ralph , I can see that but what is the relevance of you having a baby in 7 weeks and now the clock is ticking ??
Surely if you are having a baby and are now off work to spend time with Ralph then that's great as you are going to be able to spend lots of time with him whilst you introduce him to the little one and he is happier as you will be at home , I assume for a decent while after having baby , so this is a good thing not bad ????????????

You say no one will understand Ralph like you do and it's great you will now be able to spend time with him while you are at home to work with him. May I ask, does he get exercise before and after everyone leaves the house?

Just a few general questions that I hope you don't mind me asking.. What have you done so far in regards to training Ralph's separation anxiety? For example, leaving for short amounts of time building up to longer. And what is he fed/how much exercise does he get? How long is he left for at the moment whilst you're out? And has he had any desensitization to the crate?

Sounds to me like he may be panicking, I think you may have, without meaning to, put him into situations that he can't quite cope with yet due to lack of training and desensitization and he doesn't know how to cope, so he's coping with quite drastic behaviours. Tackling separation anxiety can be a long, and complex process but it can be done. But he needs patience, and a miracle fix is never going to come about.

Most dogs that have been in kennels or rescues are severely under exercised and take out their frustrations by barking and chewing. I think you have been giving in too easy to not have to listen to the barking which is bad.

Is he being exercised enough?

Dave wrote:sorry I don't understand , you have issues with Ralph , I can see that but what is the relevance of you having a baby in 7 weeks and now the clock is ticking ??
Surely if you are having a baby and are now off work to spend time with Ralph then that's great as you are going to be able to spend lots of time with him whilst you introduce him to the little one and he is happier as you will be at home , I assume for a decent while after having baby , so this is a good thing not bad ????????????

Sorry to chip in and be controversial here, but I can see the connecting worry of having a new baby and a dog with the understandable problems that Ralphie has. And that is that a new-born baby takes up a tremendous amount of time, effort and emotion to deal with, especially if it's a first baby, and at feeding and nappy-changing times in particular Ralph will just have to keep his distance - for hygiene reasons and that the baby needs needs some me-time as well - so Ralph on occasions may well need to be restricted from access to the baby and to Dee.

Most dogs have fortunately not had the past unhappy associations with gates and crates that Ralph has had so can cope with being restricted in this way when neccessary, but Ralph can't cope and his howls and barks are going to be upsetting to both Dee and the baby.

Dee, you have given good advice above about desensitising Ralph to gates and crates and the importance of sufficient exercise and that is the way to start.

Do keep in touch

I have a friend who rescued a Staffy, he's a 3yr old. Gorgeous boy. But, barks....at everything.. For every reason !

It's tough to rehabilitate a 'mentally damaged dog'. He's is craving his humans to love him and terrified you will leave him.
Seperation anxiety is gonna be a tough one to fix....and will take a long time. There is no quick fix.

The crate/cage = safe zone.
The dog must see the crate as a fab safe place to chill - get peace n quiet and feel safe when the door is closed (I.e when ur out)

Only way to sort this is to re-introduce the crate in small increments of time - 5mins. Lots of praise/treats. (I give mine a tasty bone or stag bar in their crate)

After he's coping with 5mins u can increase it. (And so on)

It won't be easy - and u need to stick to it every day.


Exercise is key for a Staffy. Ideally at very least 2 walks per day 45mins each min. A happy Staffy is a tired one !

You will get there, make him feel secure, when ur baby arrives, dong alienate him, - have the pram/buggy in the house for him to sniff, and blankets etc.

Seems like ralph has had bad experiences with being kept behind bany gates etc aa you said in his precious home which is probably why he hates it now. Have you inteoduced a crate to him already? You said he hates cages so have you one already? If so, he probably doesnt see it as a safe place yet, more of a punishment. Try feeding him or giving him treats in there to start with, but introduce it slowly, he needs to feel comfortable in there.
As said above, how much exercise is he getting? A tired dog is a happy dog.
Also, does he have toys; a kong or stag bar for example?

Very understandable the way he's acting, a dog never forgets and he knows that doors and gates is what use to make him upset and that being out in a crate means no one will spend time with him and that he's going to be on his own, this is "very easy" to work with.

Lets take the crate for example, he's doesn't like it as in his mind it means bad things (for example that he's going to be left there, no one will pay attention to him), then he learnt that if he barks you will take him out so therefor that's what he will do to tell you "take me out of here", all you need to do is create a good time with the crate so that he realises going in the crate and staying there means good things, a good way of doing this is by putting a treat near him and lead him into the crate, one he's in praise him and give the treat, let him out do not just leave him in there... Do this for a while so he starts to understand.
After a few days lead him in and give him a treat close the crate slowly while you give him a treat once the crate is closed praise him and give him a few treats every so often so he learns to stay in and that by staying in he will be rewarded.

After a week or two he should know that a crate is good. I never tried this myself but it would be the way I'd do it and create a good experience for him!

Don't be scared about Ralphie, you have had him for 6 years and done ok. He and you might need some help due to change in circumstance. We are all here to help so don't hesitate to ask. How much exercise is he getting and what is he fed on?

I forgot to say excessive your dog for at least an hour if you can before you go work and put him in his crate or leave him in the house by itself because then he will tired and go sleep instead of chewing. There's also a spray to stop chewing never tried it but its worth a go.

Also just read that your dog is allergic to treats, it doesn't have to be treats it can be his favourite toy or some chicken, basically something that he loves so the reward is something that he loves!

DragonTheStaffie wrote:Very understandable the way he's acting, a dog never forgets and he knows that doors and gates is what use to make him upset and that being out in a crate means no one will spend time with him and that he's going to be on his own, this is "very easy" to work with.

Lets take the crate for example, he's doesn't like it as in his mind it means bad things (for example that he's going to be left there, no one will pay attention to him), then he learnt that if he barks you will take him out so therefor that's what he will do to tell you "take me out of here", all you need to do is create a good time with the crate so that he realises going in the crate and staying there means good things, a good way of doing this is by putting a treat near him and lead him into the crate, one he's in praise him and give the treat, let him out do not just leave him in there... Do this for a while so he starts to understand.
After a few days lead him in and give him a treat close the crate slowly while you give him a treat once the crate is closed praise him and give him a few treats every so often so he learns to stay in and that by staying in he will be rewarded.

After a week or two he should know that a crate is good. I never tried this myself but it would be the way I'd do it and create a good experience for him!

This is the way i did it. Alfie never leaves my side so i sat by the crate and encouraged him into it with a treat and once he was in there i gave him lots of fuss so he eventually went to sleep in there. I stayed with him and left the door open so he knew he was safe. I did this a few nights and voila, he now loves his crate

Ellie wrote:

DragonTheStaffie wrote:Very understandable the way he's acting, a dog never forgets and he knows that doors and gates is what use to make him upset and that being out in a crate means no one will spend time with him and that he's going to be on his own, this is "very easy" to work with.

Lets take the crate for example, he's doesn't like it as in his mind it means bad things (for example that he's going to be left there, no one will pay attention to him), then he learnt that if he barks you will take him out so therefor that's what he will do to tell you "take me out of here", all you need to do is create a good time with the crate so that he realises going in the crate and staying there means good things, a good way of doing this is by putting a treat near him and lead him into the crate, one he's in praise him and give the treat, let him out do not just leave him in there... Do this for a while so he starts to understand.
After a few days lead him in and give him a treat close the crate slowly while you give him a treat once the crate is closed praise him and give him a few treats every so often so he learns to stay in and that by staying in he will be rewarded.

After a week or two he should know that a crate is good. I never tried this myself but it would be the way I'd do it and create a good experience for him!

This is the way i did it. Alfie never leaves my side so i sat by the crate and encouraged him into it with a treat and once he was in there i gave him lots of fuss so he eventually went to sleep in there. I stayed with him and left the door open so he knew he was safe. I did this a few nights and voila, he now loves his crate

Glad that it worked for you I never tried it myself but that's the way I'd do it specially with a dog that has had a bad experience with crates, create a good moment over the bad moment and they will eventually stop being scared.

I might actually start a course on being a dog trainer or something and learn more and help people who need help

I can't add much more to the advice given above - I think it is all very sensible and with patience and consistency should help you with the issues you are having with Ralphie chewing and having issues with the doors/crates.

I do note though that you have stated some concern about your baby coming along in 7 weeks and I wonder if this is adding to your anxiety regarding the dogs behavior? If it is, that is fine (with your recent living changes and upcoming new baby it is completely understandable that you would be anxious and a little stressed!), however dogs pick up on our anxiety and I wonder if perhaps you were able to find a way to work through some of your concerns if this may help to alleviate some of Ralphie's.

Talking with those on the forum is a great first step Might it also possible for you to attend a pregnant family training class (these are for expectant parents with dogs and help guide you through what to do and not to do to help with the changes in your household and allow you to discuss any concerns you have)? Or perhaps organising some time with a trainer or at an obedience class would be another option, especially now that you have some time off work to commit to this?

Morning all! Thank you so much for all your help and advice...i currently have a pen and pad to hand taking notes and im going to put a training plan together & stick to it. Looking at some of your questions i think i may need to change the way i feed and exercise ralphie. Ralphie gets fed once a day and its always at the end of the day, he has Beta dry food mixed with wainwrights wet food ( both of these foods agree with him in terms of his a diet issue and its the only dog food that seems to keep his issues at bay, but i dont know what the food is doing to him mentally, maybe it makes him more exciatable?) Ralphie gets walked once a day for an hour...and not before hes left on his own so i definatky need to start the two walks a day and give him a big walk if i need to go out for a few hours. We havent put him in a crate before but i will be getting one today along with a kong and will very slowly at short periods of times intrduce him to this and will ensure its all positive with lots of reward and cuddles and will never use the crate as a place of punishment etc...i noticed one of you mentioned how you felt me being pregnant and having a baby should have any relevence etc...i think you may of mis understood my point, when i said time is ticking that wasnt aimed at Ralph at all it was aimed at me knowing what to do before and to have some consistent training methods in place ready for when my little one is here, and as others mentioned its going to be very stressful time and i want to put as much time into ralphies training as i can before i give birth...thats what i meant by time is ticking. Any more advice is always welcome please be brutally honest. Thank you all Dee & Ralphie x

I'm going to be honest, I don't have much experience with Staffy's... Being Nitro is my first & only 7 week 5 days old.

I do have experience with having a large dog (Bull Mastiff) with new born babies though. And yes, it can be hard. Especially seeing you have a dog there with a few problems. I must admit, I used child gates. It was invaluable when I needed me & baby time. Or I had to leave the room. It's a tough one for sure!

Have you considered one on one training sessions? I've heard they are worth their weight in gold. Try not to give up . We are all here to support & reassure you.

Keep in touch. Best wishes.

Sarah.

Once a day really isn't enough, so up the exercise as much as you possibly can, the more the better, really (as long as he can handle it, of course). If his recall is good, let him off the lead to have a run around, or buy a long line so he can run around but is still on a lead, so he has even extra exercise (if you don't already do this). This won't get rid of his issues, but the more tired out he is, the less likely he is to get stressed out

Dee, I hope you don't mind me saying this, but very soon you won't be able to exercise Ralph at all, maybe even before the baby's birth and certainly not for a good few days afterwards. I didn't have a dog when I had my babies, but I know I couldn't have done it, so I'm hoping you have plans in place for someone to exercise Ralphie for you when it becomes necessary?

My knowledge here is very little...
But I echo everyone's advice in that you need to keep the training positive and consistent. Maybe just put the crate up and leave it open, make it comfy and let him investigate it at first... Maybe put some tasty treats in and let him go in, in his own time at first and investigate curiosity will win over. It all has to be positive though, which I am sure you will make it.
I hope everything goes well and keep us informed, there is always someone to help.

Hi all! i brought a crate yesterday and have just put it up and left the door open...im not going to start the training for a few days so he can get used to the smell of it etc...he has a couple of times walked in the crate then back out again...im just going to take baby steps as i want the crate to be a positive thing! Im sure that it will get more and more difficult for me to exercise ralph but im very luck in where i live...5 mins away i have a beach or a big field and luckliy i can let Ralph of the lead and he loves to fetch a ball so i even if i just take it easy and have a slow walk to the field i can take seat on one of the benches and continusley throw his ball to tire him out fingers crossed it all works out! i will for sure keep you updated thanks again xx

Dee86 wrote:Hi all! i brought a crate yesterday and have just put it up and left the door open...im not going to start the training for a few days so he can get used to the smell of it etc...he has a couple of times walked in the crate then back out again...im just going to take baby steps as i want the crate to be a positive thing! Im sure that it will get more and more difficult for me to exercise ralph but im very luck in where i live...5 mins away i have a beach or a big field and luckliy i can let Ralph of the lead and he loves to fetch a ball so i even if i just take it easy and have a slow walk to the field i can take seat on one of the benches and continusley throw his ball to tire him out fingers crossed it all works out! i will for sure keep you updated thanks again xx

Maybe as you get closer to having baby you could think about enlisting family / friends to help you with the walking to keep up the routine or perhaps a dog walker . Once you've had baby then it's going to be great for you all to get out and get some fresh air . Since you're having a summer baby then the timing is perfect imo

Glad to hear he has been confident and gone in the crate which is great As you said keep it positive and fun. Definitely do what you can with the exercise for him, within your limits obviously. Pleased to hear progress has been made

Great news, try and make it as snuggly and compfy as possible so he likes to go in there

Great news, taking baby steps is the way forward, he'll hopefully grow to love it

It's fantastic that with all the traumas poor Ralph had that he has walked into the crate voluntarily - that is a giant step on it's own!

If he's the sort of dog that likes snuggling into enclosed spaces (like under the duvet with you!) then you might find that hanging an old curtain over the crate will make it into a comfy den for him.

You are indeed very lucky that you have a beach and a field close by, with seats that you can sit on. But please consider what Dave said above (and I kind of hinted at) and try to enlist the help of family, friends or a dog-walker to give Ralph his exercise on those days when you will not be able to - that will give you peace of mind and lessen the chances of having a hyper-active dog bouncing around gasping for a walk at a time when you just don't need it!

Do keep in touch Dee and let us know how you are getting on - we are always here! >< to you both