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From: julie.ca
Subject: Scared Puppy
Date: 7 March 2004 17:45:52 GMT
To: sue.uk
We have a 3 month old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. After his needles last week, my husband came home and poured himself a drink of rum. Our puppy went running over to him to be picked up and whenever he smelled the rum he cried as if he had been hurt. Now he is scared of my husband and cries whenever he tries to pick him up. This is the first time that the pup would have smelled alcohol since coming to live with us. Any suggestions on how to get him over being scared of my husband? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
From: sue.uk
Subject: Re: Scared Puppy
Date: 8 March 2004 20:09:16 GMT
To: julie.ca
Hello Julie,
The first thing is to think of *why* the puppy is frightened.
Reading your email it tells us all we need to know. The pup has been to the vet, he puts spirit (alcohol) on the puppy's skin or, the vet may have used alcohol / spirit to clean the table the puppy was placed on whilst he had the injections and then the vet sticks a needle into him!!
Dogs have an excellent sense of smell, they can detect 1 drop of blood in a gallon of water. He smells alcohol and so an association is made between pain and that smell.
He comes home and soon after smells something that, to him equals pain. Right, so now we know why he is afraid - not of your husband but the smell of the drink.
You now have to de-condition the puppy. Do that by building an association with the smell of alcohol and something nice. Go very slowly, do not force the puppy at any time, never get angry or loose your temper with your dog.
Put a tiny amount of rum onto a cloth and place it about 3 feet away from the pups food bowl (if possible out of sight, up on a higher surface) whilst he has his meal. Trust me, it will be able to detect the smell. If he eats without any sign of being put off his food, after a couple of days put a few drops of rum on the cloth and place it on the floor, about 2 feet away from his bowl.
Don't move the cloth away even if the pup appears to be "spooked" by the smell at first. Don't reassure the dog if he responds to the smell - simply ignore the behaviour. Once he gets used to the smell when he is eating then put *one* drop of rum on your hands when your stroke or play with him - always make sure the smell is associated with whatever the pup enjoys and finds nice.
Don't ever force him to go to your husband until the pup is ready. Once he gets used to the smell and associates it with pleasant experiences he will quickly forget the trauma (as he sees it).
Whenever you take him to the vet in the future always give the vet some of pup's favourite treats and ask him to reward the pup frequently during the visit. Pup will soon get over it:-)
Don't forget - don't make a big deal out of his behaviour. Reward and fuss him well when he goes to your husband but if he acts silly and frightened *ignore it*, he will soon learn that he won't get any attention or fuss from behaving like that. Never tell him off, just ignore it and walk away.
I would love to hear how you get on or if you need any more help do let me know.
All the best,
Sue
From: julie.ca
Subject: Re: Scared Puppy
Date: 26 March 2004 14:31:03 GMT
To: sue.uk
Thank you so much for your help--it worked perfectly!! Our puppy is back to his original self again. It is amazing how such a small thing can affect a pup.
Thanks again!!
