New here with lots of questions!

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kidspeak
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Feb 16, 2017 9:39 am

New here with lots of questions!

Post by kidspeak »

Hello everyone,

I'm Marcie, in Michigan in the U.S. I have two 8-year old chihuahua mixes and am looking for some advice with my new male whom I've had for 4 months.

My female is a pug/chihuahua mix who is the sedate old lady of the pair. I adopted Charlie, who we think is mostly rat terrier from a foster care situation that I didn't like. Charlie had been in a rescue shelter for 4 months and then with an elderly man in foster care with three other dogs. He is an abuse and neglect case and has no teeth. I witnessed him having to fight for food with other dogs and generally get picked on because he couldn't do any damage in return. He was very skinny and bones showing when I got him--no more! And it's clear that he has been hit in the head; it was quite awhile before he would let me come near his face.

To start with, I have two major questions and would like to hear what others have done in similar situations. First, Charlie has two obsessions, me and food. He starts barking about an hour before he eats (three times a day) and will not stop. For example, they eat at 5:00 a.m. and he wakes me up at 4:00 and nothing I do gets him to stop fussing.

Second, I made the mistake of letting him sleep with me. While when he knows I'm leaving and runs as fast as he can to his crate to get his kong, when he can see me he wants to be next to me. I'm not getting much sleep and let's just say he interferes with my being close to my partner. When I put him in his crate he barks all night long.

I am a 60 year old college professor who isn't gone for long periods of time. He does do pretty well in his crate when I'm not here, but he demands my attention constantly when I am.

Thanks for any advice!

Marcie
JudyN
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Joined: Tue Jul 26, 2011 1:20 pm
Location: Dorset, UK
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Re: New here with lots of questions!

Post by JudyN »

Hi Marcie, and welcome :D I've moved your post to the training advice section, where it should get more views - hope that's OK.

Could you please give a full run-down of your, your OH's and your dogs' routine, please? Include particularly walks (where, how long, on or off lead), other exercise, training, play, mealtimes and how long they are left alone for.

How do the two dogs get on? Is there any food competition between the two of them? What do you feed them (brand and variety)?

Also, has he had a full vet check for anything that might currently cause him discomfort, given his background of abuse?
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
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