grace302015
New member
My dog is a ACD/ Pitt mix. He’s 10 months old and overall he’s a great dog. Obedient, kind to strangers, kids and other dogs. He’s getting better at not reacting with cats.
I walk him 3 hours / days and train him everyday.
I’ve seen such an improvement since he got here 3 months ago.
Here’s my issue : he’s a rescue. So altho I don’t think he was abused (he doesn’t show any signs) I do believe he had to fend for himself.
At first he was eating EVERYTHING he could find on the floor (glass, plastic, food… etc).
I have taught him to “leave it” and I reward him with a treat everytime which has worked wonders.
But… we live on an island. And island dogs (most of them anyways) have ONE obsession : iguanas. Preferably the ones that have been dead for a few days (which is dangerous and can cause botulism. Lots of dogs around have their back legs paralyzed because of it).
Anyways, so I used to let him off the leash in certain areas but I can’t anymore because he is now looking for dead iguanas and once ran away and came back so fat, we had to make him throw up (he could barely move).
Now I have a very long leash (10 meters) but still… he ate three iguanas in 1 week. The issue is, when he spots one, he jumps and won’t let go.
The first time this week, there were two of us so we managed to make him let go after 10 minutes of wrestling.
Second time, I was alone and had to pick him up with his head facing the ground and shake him lightly until he let go.
The third time : I couldn’t do anything. He swallowed that awfully stinky corpse without even chewing. It was so gross - borderline traumatic as Id hear the bones breaking and I was powerless. And he STANK so bad after. Obviously I had to take him to the vet again to have her make him throw up which he did and thank god that vet was patient because he threw up the whole damn thing and you could still see the intact head of the reptile.
What sucks is that he’s so good when there are no iguanas around. Great recall, etc.
But when that happens, it makes me pay a lot of money, I have to bath and disinfected his coat with apple cider vinegar cause the smell doesn’t go away, I have to disinfect everything (leash, harness etc) and it sa lot of stress.
I don’t want to keep him constantly on a short leash because the long one is part of his training. Next option is leaving this island (which is what we plan on doing anyways) but if you all have some advice please share.
You have to know he’s SO bad when there are iguanas that he once snapped at another dog that approached the corpse of an iguana (whereas my dog isn’t usually ressource guarding at all). It’s like he’s possessed and can’t control himself at all.
I walk him 3 hours / days and train him everyday.
I’ve seen such an improvement since he got here 3 months ago.
Here’s my issue : he’s a rescue. So altho I don’t think he was abused (he doesn’t show any signs) I do believe he had to fend for himself.
At first he was eating EVERYTHING he could find on the floor (glass, plastic, food… etc).
I have taught him to “leave it” and I reward him with a treat everytime which has worked wonders.
But… we live on an island. And island dogs (most of them anyways) have ONE obsession : iguanas. Preferably the ones that have been dead for a few days (which is dangerous and can cause botulism. Lots of dogs around have their back legs paralyzed because of it).
Anyways, so I used to let him off the leash in certain areas but I can’t anymore because he is now looking for dead iguanas and once ran away and came back so fat, we had to make him throw up (he could barely move).
Now I have a very long leash (10 meters) but still… he ate three iguanas in 1 week. The issue is, when he spots one, he jumps and won’t let go.
The first time this week, there were two of us so we managed to make him let go after 10 minutes of wrestling.
Second time, I was alone and had to pick him up with his head facing the ground and shake him lightly until he let go.
The third time : I couldn’t do anything. He swallowed that awfully stinky corpse without even chewing. It was so gross - borderline traumatic as Id hear the bones breaking and I was powerless. And he STANK so bad after. Obviously I had to take him to the vet again to have her make him throw up which he did and thank god that vet was patient because he threw up the whole damn thing and you could still see the intact head of the reptile.
What sucks is that he’s so good when there are no iguanas around. Great recall, etc.
But when that happens, it makes me pay a lot of money, I have to bath and disinfected his coat with apple cider vinegar cause the smell doesn’t go away, I have to disinfect everything (leash, harness etc) and it sa lot of stress.
I don’t want to keep him constantly on a short leash because the long one is part of his training. Next option is leaving this island (which is what we plan on doing anyways) but if you all have some advice please share.
You have to know he’s SO bad when there are iguanas that he once snapped at another dog that approached the corpse of an iguana (whereas my dog isn’t usually ressource guarding at all). It’s like he’s possessed and can’t control himself at all.