Has Layla gone crazy?

[Laylas Mom]

I am at my wits end with Layla and I need some advice....

I rescued Layla about 4 months ago and I knew she was a difficult dog but she got better. I got her house trained, she didn't dig in the trash anymore, she was really coming along. Then 2 weeks ago she had her puppies. She was a great mom. Now suddenly within the past week she is regressing back to her old ways and starting to ignore her pups.

Here is what happened... She has started using the bathroom in the house again (even coming in from the outside and immediatly going down the hall and relieving herself) she has torn into my fish tank and killed my fish, ate all my fruit, stealing food from the hands of my children, digging in the trash(which is in a wooden box she has to open), and lastly won't take care of the pups like she was.

I try to punish her by scolding her but I can't spank her because she was beaten most of her life. I put her outside for punishment but it dosen't help. I show her what she did wrong and she does it again( I showed her my half eaten cantaloupe and told her NO and she went for another bite!!!)

My husband thinks we should muzzle her at night and when she is doing wrong but won't that prevent her from taking care of the babies when she decides to? I want to try to work with her as much as possible but I don't want to damage her any more than what she already is?!

Thanks for any help!!!

 

[gmacleod]

You got her four months ago, or two months ago? In your previous posts, you've said two months, and that she came to you already pregnant...

What it sounds as though you have there is a bitch that is desperately searching for food. She's attacking the trash, stealing fruit, trying to steal food from your kids, etc. Quite possibly, she is just hungry. What are you feeding her? A nursing bitch should be eating a high quality food, and roughly double the amount she would get normally.

I don't think muzzling her is appropriate at all. Keeping her shut in one room at night with her pups, where she can't get to the trash, is a better idea.

For the toileting - take her out frequently (don't send her on her own, go with her) and make sure she potties properly. That should stop her using the house.

As for chewing things up, it is quite clear that she doesn't understand what the problem is. There is no way showing her what she did is going to help (dogs don't think that way), as evidenced by her trying to take another bite of whatever she chewed. You need to catch her in the act for that to be effective. Bottom line here is that you need to dog proof better, and keep a better eye on her.

 

[Laylas Mom]

In this post I said about 4 months. I was typing in a hurry sorry. When she came to us it was apparently just a few days after her mating. I did not think she was pregnant because she was still in heat and bleeding. Her pregnancy was 67 days and her pups are now a little over 2 weeks. So that makes it almost 3 months. Seems like forever to me. I do take her outside and I go with her most of the time. My children and I go outside to play as much as possible and Layla goes with us. She has a huge bowl of food at all times in the house it is what my vet sold me and said it would be best for her. She eats as much and as often as she pleases. She isn't just hungry. Her old owner wouldn't feed her for days and she would dig in their trash. They also fed her table scraps (when they did feed her). We do not give table scraps on a regular basis. As a matter of fact the only time I have ever given her table scraps was when she was having her puppies I gave her some hot dogs. She does not go unattended except at night and she never gets into the trash when I am around. I haven't had to dog proof my house any more than I have had to kid proof it. I guess I didn't explain that Layla opens my pantry and takes the top off of my fish tank and opens my trash bin all on her own. I can't lock her in a room by her self unless I move my children into one room and put her into one but she isn't allowed into my oldest sons room because she tears up all of his stuffed animals( they are on the top bunk) I have no clue how she gets them?! Layla can open the fridge to but we put a lock on it now. I am in the process of locking all of my cabinets but we are having a bit of a problem there to. I am just at a loss of why she is regressing we were on such a good path.

 

[Laila/Cujo]

May be the food is not filling her. The food that vets can recommend is not usually a high grade food. May be you can look into this issue and see if that may help you at all. Hopefully she will come back around, please keep us posted.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

It's so sad that Layla was mistreated by her previous owner. I hope someone will have good advice to help you with this. At first I thought she may not like her food, but she's getting into things where she shouldn't. Gee -good luck, and follow up- I'd like to know how this is resolved.
Even though it's wrong- she's pretty amazing if she can open the fridge. On the other hand I think of how desperate at one time she must have been.

Maybe this is more Psychological, like she feels like she can't take care of feeding her pups and herself, and is overwhelmed.


Ellen
& Maggie

 

[Maggie'sMom]

I am curious of what's happening with Layla?

 

[mmichaelson]

Me too - is she doing any better?

 

[Laylas Mom]

Progress?!

Well I have gotten into the habit of checking the house before bed time and rubberbanding all of my cabinets closed. It helped for a little while until she broke the rubberbands off of my pantry. Layla has some fasination with Jasmine rice and seems to favor that now I have tried putting it into a sealed container and its been 2 days now since our last "pantry shopping" incident.

I think I might have our problem figured out though. As I said in my intro the old owners ex wife beat her well right before this all happened the old owner came to visit (not the wife though). Maybe this threw her into a depression or took her back to her past again?! Even though the guy didn't beat her it might have been to much to handle seeing him again. He has asked sevral times to come back and visit her babies and her but I have declined and he won't be back here for a while. Another thing I think might be a problem is she seems a little jealous of the pups?! She has been the center of my attention since the day she came into my life and when the puppies came I think I might have payed to much attention to them. I still praised her and loved on her but unintentionallly I think I hurt her. I have made every effort to change this now and we are making slow progress again but we will get there again I am sure we did it once right?!

The biggest problem now is still pottying in the house but it is down to a minimum so I will just keep shampooing my carpets everyday and scanning the house each morning. Please send us your prayers and thoughts we sure do need them.

Candice and Layla

 

[Laila/Cujo]

Well sounds like you are making some progress. I think that you are right, having the former owner come and she how she is doing may have stirred up some memories for her, that she would rather forget. Hopefully she will settle once she knows forsure that no one will hurt her. I will keep sending prayers your way, be sure to give Layla some hugs from me!!!!!

 

[TheBoxerCrew]

obviously, whatever you are giving her food-wise is not filling her, and her body is telling her to find more. Kelly was doing this when she was first rescued, but now that we give her 3 meals a day with "extras", she has settled down on the trash-picking. Her body is telling her she is missing something, and her bad behaviors may be a way of trying to get YOU to see that too.

Just like humans, nursing moms need a LOT more calories in their diet. I don't know if your free-feed or measure her food, but you might try to put her on puppy food, add a little cottage cheese to it, or toss in some ground up or leftover meat. I was giving Kelly 2cups of dry food, 1/2 can of food, 1 Tblsp of Cottage Cheese at her noon meal, 2 cups of dry in the AM, and 2 cups of dry in the PM with either some raw organ meat or raw meat (about 1/2lb), to give you an idea - she was about 35lbs under where she should be, and had just the 2 pups who still nursed at times. If I remember right, your girl had a bigger litter. I also have fruit from time to time that I feed also as treats mostly. My vet has been happy so far with the progress on Kelly, (he and his wife have adopted her now) so I guess that was the diet she needs.

I feed mostly dry kibble, but supplement mine with raw organ meats or raw meat on occaision. This is a personal choice, and I by NO MEANS say this is for everyone. Some swear by raw diets - mine don't care for raw all the time, and actually went on hunger strikes for days and days. (besides, not all adopters are going to want to continue raw feeding.)

I would first make sure she doesn't have some kind of infection (I have known of moms who get UTIs or uterine infections after delivering), rule out worms, and then take a look at her food intake. She is being naughty for a reason.....and I bet it will be one of those 3 things. If she doesn't feel good, she may not feel up to taking care of her babies.