JRT won't let us near him to do routine health checks

Michael B

Our JRT is a rescue, we have him for over 2 months. Great little fella in most ways except he is terrified if we try to do anything routine like ear drops (he has to get ear drops occasionally as prescribed by his Vet), clip his nails (this is an absolute no go, he had to get sedated at the Vets for this he was so bad), clean his eyes....even if we lift his leg he jumps off the couch and runs a mile. Now he obviously has issues from his previous owners who treated him badly so we understand that doing these things triggers something bad for him. At the moment he has a small cut on his leg, it's nothing major at all but we can't even get a good look at it because he won't let us. Now we can't bring him to the Vet for every tiny little procedure like the ear drops for example so is there anyway of overcoming his fear? We've tried everything from giving him bits of chicken to holding him down (We hate doing this, it just stresses him out which we really don't want and we know it makes him worse )....and for a small JRT you wouldn't believe the strength in him when you're trying to hold him. Any tips? He looks at us as if we're murderers for hours afterwards, it's horrible and we hate upsetting him

CreedonsDogDayc

regarding the cut on his leg, if its not bad would you bring him for a swim in the sea (if he swims) as the salt water is good for cuts and nicks.

You could try http://www.petcareintl.com/Products/PetCalm/tabid/74/Default.aspx (like rescue remedy) to relax him and see if that helps.

You should also groom him every night on your lap. he should slowly get used to being handled then.

My JRT loves getting shoulder massages! I pop her on y lap and kind of sit her up. Then I massage her, rub my thumbs between her shoulder blades etc and she loves it!

Michael B

Thanks for that. We live next to the sea so I'll bring him down to the beach for his walk tomorrow and try that, hadn't thought of that at all, thanks.

Ok I'll try grooming him every night and see how we get on with that. Poor fella, it's a huge ordeal to do anything to him. He's an otherwise very easy going dog and loves being petted and cuddled, it's just when it looks like you're going to do something other than pet him he panics.

Thanks for your help.

Blueprint

You could try this:

http://www.lindatellingtonjones.com/whyTTouch.shtml

It's meant to really help relax animals.

My guy's a rescue too and he used to freak out when I tried to cut his nails when I first got him. The trick is to start slowly and gain his trust. Stuff like just touching his paw and treating him for it, so he starts to associate you touching him with good things. Clicker training would be very helpful for that too.

Try to do as little as possible by forcing him in the meantime, as every time you do that you're making it harder to gain his trust.

My guy will let me do anything to him now, even if he doesn't like it. (Although cutting his claws still involves a considerable outlay in dog treats!)

Michael B

Blueprint thanks very much for that. Patience and treats are the way to go it seems then. He's the worst my girlfriend (who works with animals) has ever seen so I think we have a long road ahead of us but we knew the risks with getting a rescue. TTouch looks like it is definitely worth a go too. Thanks for your advice.

CreedonsDogDayc

good on ye for taking him, and for not giving up on him, he is so lucky to have found ye!!


Do lots and lots and lots of petting and grooming on your lap at night time.

regarding the nails you could maybe try file them with a tough human nail file. if you do one stroke of nail file,then five minutes of petting he should be ok with it.

The ear drops, do they have to be administered regularly? maybe let him fall asleep on your lap then keep rubbing him and get your partner to quickly do the drops, when he immediately wakes up give him a really great treat.

If the vet has done his nails (while under sedation) if you walk him regularly on concrete, they shouldnt need clipping again.

Id suggest, if feasable, that you bring him into your vets regularly and get your vet and/or the receptionist to give him a treat, then leave again.

Pinning him down is a no no. What your doing is 'flooding' him with a stimulus he is afraid of. I would be against flooding, and for it to even work, you have to flood the dog with the stimulus until he runs out of energy and accepts the stimulus. Its very traumatic for the dog and only works if you get to the final stage of acceptance, so by flooding him with the ear drops, and then letting him go before he gives in to the fear, your just making him fear it more.

Do you have any pics of the little fella? I have a mini JRT too, what I love about them is they think they are so individual and have their own personality, but they are just like every other JRT out there (dont tell them that though!!)

Michael B

CreedonsDogDayc wrote: »

good on ye for taking him, and for not giving up on him, he is so lucky to have found ye!!


Do lots and lots and lots of petting and grooming on your lap at night time.

regarding the nails you could maybe try file them with a tough human nail file. if you do one stroke of nail file,then five minutes of petting he should be ok with it.

The ear drops, do they have to be administered regularly? maybe let him fall asleep on your lap then keep rubbing him and get your partner to quickly do the drops, when he immediately wakes up give him a really great treat.

If the vet has done his nails (while under sedation) if you walk him regularly on concrete, they shouldnt need clipping again.

Id suggest, if feasable, that you bring him into your vets regularly and get your vet and/or the receptionist to give him a treat, then leave again.

Pinning him down is a no no. What your doing is 'flooding' him with a stimulus he is afraid of. I would be against flooding, and for it to even work, you have to flood the dog with the stimulus until he runs out of energy and accepts the stimulus. Its very traumatic for the dog and only works if you get to the final stage of acceptance, so by flooding him with the ear drops, and then letting him go before he gives in to the fear, your just making him fear it more.

Do you have any pics of the little fella? I have a mini JRT too, what I love about them is they think they are so individual and have their own personality, but they are just like every other JRT out there (dont tell them that though!!)

Thanks. Yes we're walking him on concrete/playing ball on the patio so that he won't need to get his nails done too often hopefully.

Yeah pinning him down was just awful and not something we want to do again so thanks for your advice.

I'll try to get a pic up later. His ears stand up so everyone thinks he looks like a minature Doberman, my parents aren't convinced that he's a JRT at all but he is, just a funny looking one

CreedonsDogDayc

our little one's ears stick up too (and as you can see from the pic, she can fly!!)

Blueprint

Remember too that two months isn't really that long a time to have him and he's still settling in really.

When I first tried to cut my fellow's nails, I'd read somewhere that you should always follow through when doing it and under no circumstances let them wriggle out of it, which ended up in a mad wrestle and the nearest he ever came to biting me. I feel ashamed of it now...

Nowadays, he leads the way to the nail clipping spot when he sees the cutters!