Stop chewing your nails!

[TomJoe]

That's something I need to tell my GSD every single day. It's an odd habit. They're trimmed, if a little on the long side, but not unsafe at all, and she keeps it mainly to chewing on her dew claw. The vet says it's a nervous habit, and Casey my GSD is a nervous pup. The sound of a truck, helicopter or plane is enough to set her shaking off the calories at a breakneck pace.

I can take her to places like PetSmart without much problem. When I take her to obedience class, the first 10-15 minutes is spent shaking uncontrollably, though she'll go through our exercises without a hitch ... she just shakes the entire time. Does anyone else have a dog that is a nervous wreck? She's been like this since I acquired her (I adopted her from a military base family which was moving overseas), so I really have no idea about her history prior to me. I know I can be a pain in the ass to live with, but really ... :)

[freemonkey]

My dog isn't nervous the way Casey is, with the shaking, but she does have some issues that we've never been able to resolve.

One is about riding in the car. A car ride turns the contents of her bowels into liquid, and the process seems to begin at the mere suggestion of going for a ride. The thing is, she likes going places, because the places she goes are fun for her.

Another major problem we have is her jumping on the doors when anyone comes to the door, or even into the yard. Even when its someone she knows. She's a big dog, and this is a big deal (she's scratched the glass on doors, and has destroyed a slider screen by knocking it out of its frame). I'm pretty sure she's just being super protective and thinks she's just doing her job, but damn. The UPS guy has made it a game to see if he can sneak up the driveway, leave the package on the porch and leave before she hears him. :tiptoe:

Our dog also chews her toenails, but its not nerves, its allergies.

[TomJoe]

One is about riding in the car. A car ride turns the contents of her bowels into liquid, and the process seems to begin at the mere suggestion of going for a ride. The thing is, she likes going places, because the places she goes are fun for her.


See Casey, is the exact opposite. She loves going out. I grab her leash and she runs right to the door and waits for me. When we go out, she goes right for the car door. Then, when we get where we're going ... the shakes start.

Our dog also chews her toenails, but its not nerves, its allergies.
Hmmm ... does your dog exhibit any other symptoms?

[freemonkey]

Our dog also chews her toenails, but its not nerves, its allergies.
Hmmm ... does your dog exhibit any other symptoms?
Yes! She scratches, and licks her belly raw. She began getting infections from that, and then the skin infections became systemic.

Our regular vet told us she had some sort of immune deficiency disorder and put her on steroids. It turned out she's allergic to pine, cedar and certain grasses, not good for a doggie in the Pacific Northwest.

[pescifish]

Our dog also chews her toenails, but its not nerves, its allergies.I had a dog (the one in my av) who chewed on his feet and nails. I thought it was a nervous habit. He sometimes got ear infections, but it wasn't until he kept getting impacted/infected anal sacs that a vet finally suggested it was allergies. He went on medication and that really helped those chewing behaviors all around.

You might want to try Benadryl in 25-50mg doses before taking your dog to the sorts of things that are nerve racking. It is also good for the allergies (and rattlesnake bite on-the-spot emergency care). The Benadryl calms dogs down, just as it does for people. My dog was on Hydroxyzine which cost oodles more than Benadryl and required a prescription, but it also served to calm his hyper nature.

For help with dog behavioral issues, I'm a big fan of The Dog Whisperer (shows on National Geographic Channel), Cesar Millan. You can buy DVDs of his shows and his first training DVD at his website (http://www.dogpsychologycenter.com/).

My current dog, a 3.5 year old greyhound-GSD mix, is very nervous. Or was very nervous, but I've had her almost 1.5 years now and she's much less prone to getting spooked. One thing that I have found effective is to make sure I never try to console her (affection=reward) when she is exhibiting that behavior.

[freemonkey]

Our dog also chews her toenails, but its not nerves, its allergies.You might want to try Benadryl in 25-50mg doses before taking your dog to the sorts of things that are nerve racking.
Oh yeah, we've been that route. She gets lots of Benadryl now. For awhile we were giving her shots, too, but it was expensive, hard on her and hard on me (giving her shots she feared).

As for her behavior, she's much better when hubby is home and able to talk to her while I'm outside with whoever is in the yard.

[TomJoe]

One thing that I have found effective is to make sure I never try to console her (affection=reward) when she is exhibiting that behavior.

Doh! I'll stop doing that.

Of course, atm Casey isn't the biggest concern of mine. It appears that she hid a rubber chew toy in Max's kennel earlier when I was out with him. When I put Max back, Max decided to eat half of it (it's got two knobby latex balls about the size of my fist connected by a 3" tube of latex rubber) before I even realized what he'd done. :sigh:

Can you say "expensive vet endoscopy visit in Max's future"? :sadcheer:

[freemonkey]

Of course, atm Casey isn't the biggest concern of mine. It appears that she hid a rubber chew toy in Max's kennel earlier when I was out with him. When I put Max back, Max decided to eat half of it (it's got two knobby latex balls about the size of my fist connected by a 3" tube of latex rubber) before I even realized what he'd done. :sigh:

Can you say "expensive vet endoscopy visit in Max's future"? :sadcheer:
Oh no! :sadcheer:

[TomJoe]

Of course, atm Casey isn't the biggest concern of mine. It appears that she hid a rubber chew toy in Max's kennel earlier when I was out with him. When I put Max back, Max decided to eat half of it (it's got two knobby latex balls about the size of my fist connected by a 3" tube of latex rubber) before I even realized what he'd done. :sigh:

Can you say "expensive vet endoscopy visit in Max's future"? :sadcheer:
Oh no! :sadcheer:

I know. :(

He's already pooped some of it out, thankfully.

[pescifish]

He's already pooped some of it out, thankfully. :phew:

I hope it all comes out without problem! Those things are supposed to be pretty good about that, but I never trust 'em, especially when I look over and suddenly half of the item is gone. :unchick:

[TomJoe]

He's already pooped some of it out, thankfully. :phew:

I hope it all comes out without problem! Those things are supposed to be pretty good about that, but I never trust 'em, especially when I look over and suddenly half of the item is gone. :unchick:

I know. I'm going to have to take a picture of that thing ... it was big.

On the way to Max's graduation (he graduated from puppy class last night, so the rubber in his gut certainly wasn't slowing him down) I bought him a Kong as a present. Those things are supposedly indestructible ... but I don't doubt he'll ruin it, it may just take a while longer. I need to keep a closer eye on this mutt.

[Slokenin]

I have two English Bull Terriers; a dog and a bitch, the dog regurlaly bites his nails and keeps them very neat, the nails on the bitch grow the shape of cashew nuts and we have a nightmare time trying to cut them, it takes two people to hold her while somebody else cuts them, Grrrrr :wolf:

[ChuckF]

It appears that she hid a rubber chew toy in Max's kennel earlier when I was out with him. When I put Max back, Max decided to eat half of it (it's got two knobby latex balls about the size of my fist connected by a 3" tube of latex rubber) before I even realized what he'd done. :sigh:

Can you say "expensive vet endoscopy visit in Max's future"? :sadcheer:
I hope Max is ok; I'm sure he'll be fine. This reminds me of a dog we had when I was a kid. It was HOT one summer, and the dogs just kind of declared the basement their own. They could come in the house if they wanted, but they were pretty stinky most of the time, so we just let them run and go cool off in the basement at their leisure.

Anyway, one of them got curious and started poking around the various boxes stored down there. He managed to eat quite a bit of one of my old GI Joes, with no obvious ill effects. We didn't even realize it until later that afternoon when I went down to the basement to discover a little pile of doggie turds...with a tiny hand sticking out the top.

[pescifish]

We didn't even realize it until later that afternoon when I went down to the basement to discover a little pile of doggie turds...with a tiny hand sticking out the top. :undead:

Kongs are pretty darn indestructable. I was going to suggest one of those, but went off to get a link, got distracted and never came back. My bone snapping parrot gnaws on her Kong and has never managed to do much more than wound the thing.

[freemonkey]

He's already pooped some of it out, thankfully.
How's Max doing? Anymore of that toy been pooped out?

[TomJoe]

He's already pooped some of it out, thankfully.
How's Max doing? Anymore of that toy been pooped out?

Little hard plastic nodules scattered across the backyard. Which is a good thing. However, he didn't eat a lot tonight (I had to coat it in peanut butter to chow down) and he turned away from me when he took his dump outside tonight, so I'm worried about him. I need to see him take a huge healthy shit (to count out intestinal blockage) ... but he's been good for a week so far with no problems.

He did cough up some bile (indicating stomach irritation) but he coughed up a few rubber chunks along with it, so until he starts coughing up bile alone, I wasn't going to worry too much. If he starts that, I'm putting a call in to the vet so they can endoscope the last few chunks out of him.

He never gets another chewtoy as long as he lives though. Unless it's a Kong. He's had that thing for a week now, and it looks brand new, and he's gone to town on it.

[TomJoe]

He took a huge healthy poop this morning, and aside from peeing in his kennel (here we go again) he's acting fine.

[livius drusus]

:cheer: Max's bowel movement!

:sadcheer: Max's bladder.

[freemonkey]

That's good news (about the poop). I hate to tell you all the times I followed my dog around for days, looking for various stuff. :stwitch: