Problems with doggies

He was a smart guy and I needed to help him with these reactions because they were dangerous for him.
He got so scared of bangs that he ran away as hell. And with motorbikes, he got excited and run against them. Very dangerous for him and the biker.

But, I never treat him bad, just the opposite. He was so kind and clever. Sociable and so smart with other doggies. It was as if he knows everything about canine socialisation. 😀 He taught Perla a lot at this issue. And Perla helped him a lot in the first months of his adoption. 😀

César Millan is super famous here in Spain. He even recorded a TV serial here to encourage people to adopt dogs.
All with all this wage of popularity, maybe it’s only my feeling but I saw doggies’ owners reacted in the street negatively to their doggies behaviours.
Some seemed embarrassed, others overreacted. I guess because they didn’t see themselves as the leader of the pack.

There were comic gags on TV that questioned his overacting.

This is all just conversation, no hate or malice, just educating.

Humans are not the leaders of the pack. Domesticated dogs do not live in packs, and pack theory, which was dominance theory has been debunked. No one is the leader of a pack of domesticated dogs. That's the problem with Milan: his foundation is spreading misinformation and it's sexy misinformation. I mean, who wouldn't want to be the "pack leader"?

The truth is that he just had no understanding of actual dog behavior as studied by real animal scientists. Dogs aren't misbehaving because they aren't following the "pack leader". Dogs don't know they are misbehaving. Dogs do dog things until we teach them how we want them to behave in our human homes.

Take Eskie's pup, Cote. He doesn't know that taking the scissors is wrong. He just thinks it's a toy, and puppies explore the world with their mouths. So Eskie has to teach him that he's only allowed to have his toys, the ones she actually gives him.

Dogs learn and do very well when they are trained with clear criteria and expectations and their humans are consistent with them. But my dog doesn't think I'm their pack leader. Do I provide leadership to my dog? Yes, by taking responsibility for them and training them and caring for them, etc. But I'm still not a dog, not a pack leader, etc.

There is a lot of nuance in animal behavior theory and it's a faulty foundation to base dog behavior off of wolf behavior (debunked theories on wolf behavior at that) because dogs and wolves, while wolves are ancestors, dogs have developed distinctly enough along domestication that their behavior is entirely different than wolves.

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Oh my gosh.....I love Susan Garrett's videos. Love her training methods. Going to spend much more time watching as many as I can to learn new methods.

Nope, not leader of my "2 pack" just guidance counsellor, conscience, comforter & "food lady" that has "sit rules" to get breakfast & dinner & go figure, Cote sits for his water too. He loves to explore & figure most things out on his own (except for with the scissors or anything dangerous).

Last night there was a wedding at the barn venue down the road (a couple of farms away) They were shooting off fireworks (against their contract) that initially sounded like just guns being shot. A new sound for Cote & he was a little scared & didn't even come close to the front door when I went outside to see what was going on. It stopped & I came back in & sat on the floor with my big lap puppy to just show him all was ok. A few minutes of mom loving & all was great again. He has never been traumatized by anything & has a very exploring & curious personality I just want to reinforce when the curious is safe. He has so much personality it is fun to watch it develop.

Seemed like I was always trying to train my first eskie's (Excell) personality but strong willed eskies are who they are too & I wasn't in the best place in my own life as it was filled with frustration & anger.....not a good place to train dogs from

Well, I texted the vet that does house calls. He didn't answer yesterday and I thought maybe he didn't want to come see Cujo. But he said he can come tomorrow. Even though Helmut was well-behaved the last time this vet vaccinated him at home, I'm still going to put the muzzle on just in case.

Well, the vet was sick, so he couldn't come until today. My husband has his work Christmas lunch, so I hope he can get home in time to stay with Bruni while the vet and I handle the vaccinations. It should be okay. He usually has to go into the city to see most of his clients and then stops off here on his way home. He lives in the municipality to the east of us.

Good luck Rechu. Please let us know how it went.

Well, unfortunately, that didn't go well. The vet came into the house and he started barking. I got the muzzle on, but he took it off. In the end, my husband and I had to both restrain him again to do the shots. We sent him to the bedroom while the vet filled in the certificates. He barked for a bit and then started to whine. At least it's done for a year.


I had ordered some really good wines from a vineyard in this area. I gave the vet a bottle of it to thank him for his bravery! I imagine Helmut like a criminal keeping a list of his victims. Making note of the vets he terrorized.

Good idea to reward the vet. As you say, at least those shots are done for a year.

Thanks for the update Rechu. Bottle of wine for hazzardous pay was a good idea.

Off the cuff idea. Would Helmut let you or you husband give him his shots? In the States it is possible to buy the meds either from the vet or through cataloges. Maybe you could buy the meds and stick him while petting him?

Anyone can buy the octuple vaccine at a pharmacy. However, the rabies vaccine is only available to vets and the vet has to sign and stamp a rabies certificate.


I realized that with the whole show, I didn't have him give the cat her shots. Since she doesn't go outside, it's not so pressing. I think if it's just her, we can get her into the carrier and take her to the clinic. The problem was more trying to bring two cats at once.

Speaking of the octuple vaccine, this happened during the pandemic here:

Chile's Health authorities on Tuesday started investigating two veterinarians who were accused of inoculating over 75 people with the "Octuple" vaccine used in dogs.

The accused administered the canine Coronavirosis vaccine as a preventive treatment in humans at risk of contagion in a vet clinic in Calama city.

"The veterinarians assured us the drug was previously tested in Argentina," a victim said and mentioned that her husband and son were also vaccinated.

Chile: 75 People Inoculated With Corona Vaccine Used On Dogs | News | teleSUR English

Oh, and I forgot to mention what happened with my husband. He had to go to the Christmas lunch for his work at a restaurant in the central part of the capital. He decided to use public transit rather than drive. Anyways, yesterday, there were protests along the main avenue. Then, there was an operation to remove illegal street vendors that are right near the train station. It got violent, they even set the Christmas tree at the station on fire. So, the Metro shut down various stations and the train service to our town was suspended. He went to the place where you can get a shared taxi to here, but the line of people waiting was huge and taxis weren't arriving. Finally, he was able to use a combination of buses to get home, but it took almost three hours.

So, he was already stressed out from all that. Then he had to deal with the Hell Mutt Show.

Rechu, give your poor hubby a hug from an internet strange if he wants it. What a day!

Thanks, Liz.

I've been reading that in extreme cases, giving sedating or anti-anxiety medication can be advisable. I am going to look into this further. He's getting worse rather than better with each visit, so it's pretty extreme. I've had many dogs over the years and I've never experienced anything like this.

I swear he was walking around with a smirk on his face for a day after the vet visit, like he was proud of what he did!

Rechu, I found gabepentin works wonders for dealing with anxiety related problems.

The vets giving people animal vaccines makes me think of people taking horse wormer for Covid. Won't wear a mask. Won't get the human vaccine. WILL consume a wormer for animals. The stupidity of some humans continues to amaze me.

Thanks, I will ask about gabapentin before we have to go through this again. I'm really at my wits' end. I had been pretty sure he would behave better at home because the last time that vet vaccinated him here, he was fine.

Poor Helmut, I just hate that vet visits are so stressful for him and I can't explain to him that they are for his own good.

I'm a bit nervous again, because we are planning a vacation for early March. We would like to send them to the dog hotel. He went once with Jade and did okay - and that place was a vet clinic that also offered boarding. He even let the groomer give him a bath. The last time was when we were moving houses we boarded both him and Bruni there while we wrapped up the move. They had to share a larger kennel because there weren't two kennels available. Apparently they got kind of crazy because they were very young at that point, with a lot of energy. But, they were otherwise okay. The last time we went away was right before COVID and a friend stayed at the house with them. We were going to try and take a trip soon t after the near-eternal restrictions here were lifted, but we ended up both getting sick!


So, they are both kind of out of practice with being boarded. I just hope his behavior at the vet doesn't translate into issues at the dog hotel. There are a few places around here that just offer boarding. I'm thinking that would be the best bet. My friend used one, but it belongs to the vet Helmut bit before his neuter. I'm not sure how on-hands the vet is at the hotel. He still has his clinic in the capital, so he probably has someone managing the hotel when he's not around. I should ask my friend if she knows. I don't think Helmut would appreciate running into the vet that neutered him, especially with clinic smell!


I really think that the really strict pandemic restrictions did a disservice to both dogs. They got so used to just being at home with us all the time. My husband is hybrid at work now, and they get so sad on days he goes to the office.


The case where the vet gave dog vaccines to people happened before we had vaccines available here. I guess they thought they were getting ahead of the curve!

Rechu, is there something like Rover where you are? It's a service that has contractors cone to your house to feed, walk dogs, clean litter boxes, etc. Maybe Helmut would do better in that kind of situation.

I haven't seen any services like that here. There are individuals that do it, but I don't think I'd trust giving my house keys to someone I don't know that hasn't been vetted. Plus, I don't know how the dogs would accept someone unknown on their turf.

The husband of the friend that stayed with the dogs here last time does dog walking and pet sitting. But, all of his clients are in the capital. He can't make the trip out here just for these two. When we lived next door, we often paid them to watch the pets. Last time, she was able to come out here because she's a teacher and was on break. She actually enjoyed the peace and quiet and I paid her what a dog hotel would cost. But, she'll be back in school by March.

I'm checking out a dog hotel in town that has good reviews. The kennels have indoor and outdoor spaces and you can choose to have them walked twice a day or exercise with other dogs. Mine would prefer the walks, I'm sure. I am looking into those anti-anxiety collars to maybe use during their stay. It's close, so we could go check the place out first.

We want to go to Pichilemu, a beach about 3.5 hours away. I guess the other option is to find a dog-friendly cabaña or Airbnb there and take them with us. Fortunately, neither of them has destructive tendencies, so we should be able to leave them alone while we go to the beach or out to eat without issues.

Yay, we are done with the annual checkups/vaccines for the pets. We took Loka the Cat and Bruni the dog in on Saturday. I reserved the first appointment of the day, because the clinic is quieter and we can get in and out quickly.


The main challenge with Loka was getting her into the carrier at home. Fortunately, in the exam room she's completely submissive and just wants to get back into her carrier. Back at home, she wanted a lot of head scratches and pets.


When we entered the clinic with Bruni, she barked at another dog that looked like she could be Helmut's sister that was going to be seen after us. But, once in the exam room and on the table, she behaved perfectly. The vet and assistant gave her a lot of attention and pets, which she loved. It was so much better than a vet visit with Hell Mutt.

Bruni came into our lives because some kids were giving her away at a transit terminal my husband was passing through. He could tell she was full of worms and worried what would have happened if someone else that didn't know that took her in. He took her directly to the vet. She was so tiny, they estimated her to be only about a month and a half. She had to go back for various follow-up visits to treat the parasites and get her immunity up so they could vaccinate her. She was like a rock star. They always made such a fuss over her and gave her treats. She definitely has better associations with vet visits than her little buddy.