A new level of obsession!

[melonie]

Wrinkles has been a real pain in the butt today with all the food prep, etc.
She had her treat, but that as usual, isnt good enough. She has now managed to open the fridge door multiple times.

her living room time has been cut short each time because she is too obsessed with the possibility of food that she wouldn't rest or settle, and kept barking for food.

I'm at a loss, and my fridge is duct taped shut.

[sharron]

I trust it is ok with you if I ask around for some enlightenment on what might be going on with her.

I'll see if anyone can shed some light on your dog's quirk behavior.

sharron

[melonie]

She's just a bit spun is all.
Today is better, no one is messing around with food, etc. She got riled up when I came home and ate, but she calmed down afterwards.

[sharron]

Just wondering if you have her on a routine or schedule ? Does she get walked often and is it a walk , or run that will get her exhausted to the point of total 'spent exhaustion " ?

Have you tried the Power Down with her ?

sharron

[melonie]

She's on a fairly routine schedule.
She gets up tues-fri at 5 am w/ my daughter and is let out, fed. I let her out again when i get up at 7. Sat-Mon she is up at between 7-8 am
My daughter walks her when she gets home from school at 3:30. I walk her on the weekends.
She is let outside multiple times in the evening to avoid accidents. She will pee/poo in the house if she has to go, so we just let her out often to try to avoid messes. She spends a couple hours in the living room in the evening, and once my daughter is home she has access to her bedroom and hangs out there with her,

I have walked her to the point she's tired. But it hasn't made a difference in her barking. i know that a bored dog can equal a barking dog, and vice versa. She is a very lazy dog and sleeps more than my others. my boys seek me out and engage me, pester me, and would not allow me to ignore them. Wrinkles doesn't seek out that attention so much. If she thinks you have a treat, you're her best pal. Once she realizes you have no food, she will go off and chill on her own. I can make her engage with me, and she's fine with it. We've had a lot of company due to the holiday, and she's really enjoyed having people around. But if she thinks there is food to be had she is a nut case about it and we have to remove her.

Medically she has been on prednisone consistently for almost a year. The last dog i was around that was on this med, acted like he was always hungry, no matter how much he was fed. I think that might be a leading cause in her obsession. She went from being a hungry/starved dog, to being fed consistently, but maybe the pred is just effing with her. That's my theory anyways.

I'm trying to find a combination of holistic ways to treat her so I can back off the prednisone.
Right now she's on 10mg a day.

I did remove my chest freezer from the kitchen last week. I watched her closely to see if that made a difference in some of her barking. It has slightly, and i think that is because she can't be startled by it kicking on and off.

My daughter will be having some friends over tonight... I've thawed out a raw bone for her. I plan on giving this to her as a distraction to see if that cuts down on her silly behavior.

[sharron]

Indeed prednisone will boost her appetite level , where he acts like she is starving.

May I ask why she is on it ? My female was on prednisone for a month . her appetite was greatly inceased . Prenisone is a very serious drug that must be tapered off slowly. I was happy when the vet tapered my dog off it.

This medication is a double sword for you. Dog is always hungry and obscessed with food. Seeing her acting hungry and wanting to help her, you feed her. However , with this medication , weight gain is the out come and you don't wantan obese dog.

sharon

[melonie]

She has really bad allergies. The list is very long, and its tricky keeping her body under control. I am currently trying alternative methods to keep them in check. She took allergy shots for a year and a half, and I have her on a LID.
She gets 1 3/4 cups of kibble a day, plus a bit of food to roll her pill in. Lately I've been able to hide it in her coconut oil.
I might give her a nibble when I'm cooking.

Sent from my XT881 using proboards

[sharron]

How old is she ? What is her current weight ?

It could be that the 1 3/4 kibble a day isn't enough , and she stays hungry, even with the food her pill is hidden in.

Beau was always hungry and his allergies were
extremely serious. It was trial and error with food and after a year I finally got his allergies under control. Then he experienced outside allergies and again it was trial and error. It went so far that I had to change cleaning products , shampoos , you name it...poor Beau had serious allergies to most everything.

May I ask what "LID" is ? Not sure I have heard that .

If your sweetie isn't very active , but gets enough exercise to burn off excess energy , I would increase her food intake to small meals a few times a day instead of one. You might see a difference in her 'obsessing' , as you say.
Just my opinion.

I have had success in increasing / decreasing food intake , depending on how active the dog is.

sharron

[melonie]

lid- limited ingredient diet.
She can't have a lot of the usual allergy replacement kibbles due to being allergic to sweet potatoes, rice, yeast, etc.
I cut her back to 1 3/4c of food because she was gaining weight. She used to be 45lb, now she's 50 or so. She does act the same way at 2c .

[sharron]

Thank you for the explanation Melonie.

sharron