Puppy training for a friend, the adventure begins

[bevann]

My biggest fear that while they have him he will ingest something that will cause his demise.From what you say they are clueless and he chews on almost anything-rocks toys etc.I have known lots of situations where Labs have eaten nylon ropes,pantyhose,stones etc.Friend is a vet tech and they did surgery on a Lab only to find there was a thread attached to his teeth from an item chewed and swallowed I am really hoping that when he goes back home and all those other people move in he will come out of there.I can keep hoping.Keep posting your stories I love reading them.

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

Yep, those of us looking for fantastic working dogs for agility and obedience often turn to shelters or rescue because dogs of above average intellegence definitely make more difficult pets for those owners that expect the dog to lay around and do nothing bad. Folks People throw away their really really smart puppies and dogs every day for one reason... TRAINING.

Puppy was totally bored at their house and poorly timed corrections and forgive my word, stupid corrections were making him stress. What they see... Puppy running like maniac in house grabbing everything in sight... what I see is a pup with no sense of direction and what is expected, stressing out and going balistic because he doesnt know what to do and stupid poorly timed corrections just add to the stress....and that is why I wanted to bring him here to show them what a stimulated puppy could learn. One minute husband is throwing a ball and playing tug of war and grabbing his feet and initiating keep away and chase games, and the next minute he is surprised when pup jumps up and grabs his shirt sleeve. Setting pup up for failure. The one and only litter of pups I have ever bred for and raised were bullmastiffs. A guy down the road a piece was very excited to know the litter was coming. Wanted one of those pups so bad cuz mom was so bright (mom was well socialized and had learned some basics -bullmastiffs are not on the high end of the intelligence scale really) and he'd owned one previously. Seemed like a great home in spite of a few qualms. But he couldn't wait, wanted a pup right now! So he found a different litter and took one of those pups home. By the time my pups were 5 weeks old he came to me complaining that he had to get rid of his now 3 or 4 month old pup because it was biting his daughter, racing around the house and leaping on the furniture. He says "I should have waited for your pups, I know they would behave better." I asked him point blank how he was going to change the way his family interacted with a pup, he said they were fine, lots of experience with big dogs. So I asked him to explain just how he saw a different outcome for one of my pups and told him I couldn't in good conscience send a pup into his home if they couldn't see how they had created the problem . He hasn't spoken to me since, lol, no loss and I could sleep at night.

Here he climbs rocks and goes in ditches and goes on sniff festival and he loves it and he is calm when he gets home here. Give him 6 more months of permissive raising and he would be a challenge for me to train simply because he is going to be so big and he has soooooo much energy. They will never throw him away though, they will just complain and complain instead. Probably will blame me eventually.

I feel like asking where will zeus live when marriage breaks up? nah, won't go there.

I have my work cut out for me.. husband gave me 2 weeks to get zeus trained. 2 weeks!!!

to give him a life time of skills? The man is off his nut! Wonder how long it will take to get husband trained? Maybe if I can show them progress they will realise that 2 weeks of training won't fix it all and they need to learn good training habits so they can continue my work. As far as newspaper being used to smack the puppy for biting... Told husband to take newspaper and smack himself in head with it instead. Sometimes I just can't help myself. Known these folks for years, would have never thought I would see this side of them. Through the eyes of zeus I am amazed. hoping to get zeus trained enough so if they ever do throw him away, I can be there to catch him and he will remember his awesome fun time with the lady who doesn't yell or hit and takes him really cool places to play and learn. stay tuned..

I'm hoping you will be giving us a positive update rather than more sad news for Zeus.

 

[shorthorsemom]

Will do. Am hopelessly connected no matter what the outcome. Feel sorry for the wife. If she wasn't injured and jobless she would probably take the dog and start a new life for herself. She wants this to work so I am aiming to focus on helping her.

2 week comment on the time he was giving me to train his dog was off mark and ticked me off this morning. I am calmer now and ready to keep trying. Yep, off his nut. I heard him tell his wife she was fat and should eat salad and cottage cheese. Almost dropped my teeth. I said to him "my husband would never say that to me, I cant believe you just said that" and his response was, well.. you are mean and your husband is probably scared of you.... sheesh. my husband and I get along great and that was out of line.

I used to teach classes and folks paid me well for my training opinion and worked hard with their dogs and listened to my advice. Problem here is that I am helping these folks for free because I know they can't afford to go to a trainer. I think I lose some level of respect by them getting this for free. I feel like saying... Hey I am working my butt off here....have some respect and treat each other nicely... zeus is reading them quite well. they so underestimate the effect they have on him. I see it because he is calm and a joy and typical lab puppy and three seconds after they visit, he is so stressed out and hyper. Takes him a long time to calm down too. Hope to give some better news soon. venting here but this is a learning experience I think is valuable to share. Thanks to those of you who have commented and are giving me strength with your words, you are so kind.

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

Will do. Am hopelessly connected no matter what the outcome. Feel sorry for the wife. If she wasn't injured and jobless she would probably take the dog and start a new life for herself. She wants this to work so I am aiming to focus on helping her. Heading out right now with my daughter and my bassett hound to teach him to walk with other dog nicely. My bassett could use a nice walk too.

2 week comment on the time he was giving me to train his dog was off mark and ticked me off this morning. I am calmer now and ready to keep trying. Yep, off his nut. I heard him tell his wife she was fat and should eat salad and cottage cheese. Almost dropped my teeth. I said to him "my husband would never say that to me, I cant believe you just said that" and his response was, well.. you are mean and your husband is probably scared of you.... sheesh.

I used to teach classes and folks paid me well for my training opinion and worked hard with their dogs and listened to my advice. Problem here is that I am helping these folks for free because I know they can't afford to go to a trainer. I think I lose some level of respect by them getting this for free. I feel like saying... Hey I am working my butt off here....have some respect and treat eachother nicely... zeus is reading them quite well.

Sad fact is people do see cost as equating to value, free is seen as worth what you pay for it a lot of the time.

My hubby is far from afraid of me (he laughs at me when I get cranky lol, -of course that usually eventually makes me laugh at myself too) but he has enough respect for me that he would not talk to me like that either. Of course if he ever did he would hear about it. Too bad she feels she has no options, that only makes things worse if he knows she thinks she has to stay and tolerate his poor treatment. Lucky you, you get to be both Dr.Phil and The Dog Whisperer

 

[shorthorsemom]

yep,, will try to focus on zeus and try to push back the drama a bit and not depress all of you reading my thread. I just took zeus for a walk and had to laugh. His name should be tigger.. his top was made out of rubber and his bottom out of springs. haha, I discovered he can grab and tug my leash even when his mouth is full of an over sized stuffed toy that looks a bit like a bird with long legs. He came in and mugged a few of my very tolerant dogs. Will be getting in one more long walk even if it gets dark and we go by flashlight. It is a beautiful spring day here and this puppy in the dog sized body is showing me how full of life he is today. He is such a goober, he jumps up and he is all rubber body and incredible energy. Did I say he was calm in that last post... ha ha, delete that comment. snicker. Not today Today he is "super goober". All he needs is a cape with a big G on it.

At least he didnt eat any dirt or try for rocks. I saw an xray contest on line last month and was checking out all the weird items that dogs and cats ate and showed up on xray. Rocks were a popular item. Cant take my eyes off this guy for a second.

I remember a doberman puppy I once had that pooped out a yellow playtex rubber glove and I said.. "so thats where that went" he also pooped out a barbie dress. I watch my dogs like a hawk and still am amazed at their ability to grab and swallow something and you blink and miss it entirely.

A friend of mine was telling me about a $5000 pair of panty hose. Falling for her lead in I say "huh, how does a pair of panty hose cost 5K." She says... when your doberman eats a pair and you spend a week at U of Penn trying to figure out what is killing your show dog. Evidently the panty hose doesn't show up well on xray. A friend of mine had to have two surgeries on her lab puppy for items eaten, the weirdest being a whole bowl of lollypops set out for halloween. He ate them sticks and all and they bridged in his intestines and caused total blockage. I think her vet bill was more than my car cost. take care and thanks for reading

 

[Boss Mare]

I have enjoyed following this story! You're such a kind person to be doing all of this.

As a dog groomer of 8 years I see so many wrong matches between owners and pets. So many owners misinformed or uneducated. I always so my best to educate, educate and educate.

Remember, Spencer my Dachshund "puppy" - 1.5 years old that was reliant on wee wee pads?! The rest of my dogs; soilders and Spencer; I let her spoiled self fall through the crack.. She attended her first dog training class and was in an adult class full of bully breeds - made a dog aggressive German Shepherd submissive pee and take off crying due Spencer's pure intimidatin. Ironically, she got along perfectly with another adorable and small Dachshund in the class. Still in training class and I am noticing so much more focus and eye contact in every day interaction with her. She is starting to have the "look" as if asking what can I do for you.. Or she awaits praise when she has done good. She is going potty outside now and we are down to one wee wee pad by the door..

 

[shorthorsemom]

Boss mare that is sooo terrific that you are taking your little spencer to dog classes and you have made so much advancement. Proud of you! I laughed out loud when you described spencer taking on the GSD and making him submissively pee. I had a min pin like that, her first handling class she weighed less than 2 lbs and she pipped a rotweiler on the end of the nose for sniffing her and the 85 lb rottie backed off and I knew a miniature terror was born. So glad you are making such wonderful progress.

Obedience classes is what Zeus needs. Even though I have trained dogs most of my life, you cannot duplicate the learning atmosphere of a well run obedience class in your home. If Zeus was my dog I would have him enrolled in classes already. I am not willing to shell out the big bucks for classes when I am already working for free and this boy needs neutering and shelling out bucks for classes and neutering would probably be more than these folks would be able to do. sigh.

Took zeus out for an early morning long walk and did some attention exercises along the way. Took about 1/4 mile to find the brain and I am covered in wet foot prints, but I won and had good response by the time we got back to the house. Wish we could move back time two months when I was giving them private lessons and sending him home again and wish they had even tried to do some homework. He was so much easier to handle then and so much less rowdy and now I am working with the rapidly growing goober puppy that would have never gotten to this stage in my house without formal training.

Told his owners we were at the tip of the iceberg and we were going down like the titanic... Imagine their surprise when I told them it would get worse before it got better... they said "what?" tougher than this??? Two weeks is not enough time and I swear this pup grows an inch a day.

Going to call a friend trainer actively running classes locally and see if she would do any training pro bono for me and see if I can get some help saving Zeus.

I am thinking about sending Zeus back to owners for a couple of days. Maybe two days of puppy torture will open their eyes. Don't want them to get him back in two weeks and realise he is still raw dough and needs alot more baking.

If I could only get them to just feed him dog food so I could use the "special food" for treats and training. Very difficult to get puppy working for special food when he gets steak and eggs and sausage and everything under the sun lavished on him in addition to puppy icecream for dessert.

Husband and wife were fighting constantly about dog last three days with me training Zeus here at my home. Blame game is on. Doesn't help. Husband blames wife for all the troubles. Honestly I see hyper husband being much of Zeus hyper attitude. Husband has agitated body language, walks off while I am talking, paces constantly and every time zeus relaxes husband does something to agitate the pup. Its like he wants it not to work like he is using the dog to drive his wife crazy. I know neither of these folks would physically hurt the pup, but trying to make this pup into a human child is hard to watch.

I need one micro dot of cooperation from them and I am not getting it and my limitations put on me by the owners... two weeks, no classes, and husband not letting wife come see pup because he blames her for zeus not progressing and answering 25 text messages last night of wife crying herself to sleep because she misses sleeping with her puppy.

So folks, what do you think? Would you think I am awful to send him back and see what happens? Kind of like "tough love" experience. I want them asking me for help, not me suggesting and begging them to let me help them. Might change the playing field. Will think on it this morning.

Opinions? No, I cannot steal him. Thought of that already, chuckle.

Personally I would not add a lab puppy in my dog household at this point of my life. Much as I love and think this is an awesome puppy, if I were self evaluating my senior dogs I would be looking for an older dog to add to my home when my gabrielle collie passes on.

gotta run help hubbie with cows... thinking cap on. best wishes. will be chuckling about boss mares spencer and the german shepherd.

 

[shorthorsemom]

I just made the "when are you going to schedule neutering question." Can you imagine his energy level for the two weeks recovery when we can't do the long walks? Yikes.

I can see his behavior changing, hormones just starting to bud. He still squats, but squats multiple times and is using it for marking.

Owner is working today and Monday and doesnt want to take him home before the two weeks are up.

Update...20 text messages later...

Just chatted with owner and am going to send him home today not sure what time.. He isn't my dog, he is growing fast and I need them to get him neutered and recover him before their extra guests arrive in a month.

More important to schedule his surgery now. She says she will make the appointment to get him neutered. and I offered her bringing him over and take her walking with me and Fred here so I can keep an eye on him so you all know I am not quitting but changing the playing field a bit....

Judging from the 50-60 text messages I get daily I cannot keep up with the support, it takes less time to work with the dog than it takes to do the phone support of the owner and I can see this woman is stressing to the max and she has depression issues and even though this is good for zeus I cannot endure the extra baggage of her crying about missing her baby. What I did accomplish in the last few 24/7 4 days and in all the private lessons prior is a well housebroken nicely crate trained pup that knows there is one person on this earth that will make him listen and once you get over the hopping jackrabbit he walks nicely on a lead on both right and left side and he does the first two stages of attention exercises and he does a reliable sit and is working on down and he has gotten two toenail trims without incident. we r jumping into space... will keep you all posted. Sometimes owners can be so selfish.

its a crime. Ps found out he is older than they first told me. Closer to 5 to 6 mos old. No wonder he got so big so fast. They were wishy washy on age when I asked.

 

[shorthorsemom]

I have had the kenny rogers song the gambler in my head all day.. You gotta know when to hold them, know when to fold them, know when to walk away and know when to run. must be a sign.

Will try to mentor from a distance. Will take time off to get him neutered and recovered and still should have some working time before her extra guests arrive. Owner checked herself into a clinic back in february for depression she told me last night. Between that and the crying all night she said she did I am going to tread very carefully. Will keep you posted, I am sure I will be well aware of what is going on. If I were just doing dog training and helping willing owner learn it wouldn't be as hard, but the multi hour tasking of supporting the owner by phone is cutting into my ability to take care of my dogs here and I do want him neutered and don't want responsibility of the aftercare here. take care and thanks for listening. sigh, this is depressing me. I am not quitting him, but really need to step back and evaluate and see what they do.

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

You know I've been thinking about you and the Zeus situation all day and I can't shake the feeling there is no winning this. He is ultimately their dog and even if they make poor choices they are their choices to make. It sounds to me like deep down you are starting to feel like you are going to loose this one and I think you will. No matter how much you want to see Zeus reach his potential you have no real authority with them.

I think you are making the right choice, step back, hope you have given him enough that if somewhere down the road they are ready to honestly change things (in this case I mean their approach but also to do what it takes to change the dogs behaviour) he can draw on the lessons he has gotten from you now. The only hope I can see of the husband changing id if you were to video tape their interactions and point out to him each and every time he creates a problem. I don't think that is going to happen and if it did it doesn't sound to me like he'd be open to the criticism anyway. The wife's neediness isn't probably helping that pup feel secure either. He's not old enough to be the leader but they keep telling him he must be. 'sigh' I wish you luck, don't be too hard on yourself if the day comes when you feel you must pull back completely. Sometimes you just aren't given what you need to make the changes that are required. It is very much like banging your head on a brick wall. At least neutering is a positive step.

 

[shorthorsemom]

thank you Reignmaker. That makes me feel really good. I had her come pick him up this evening. I think my dogs will throw a "he's gone party", haha. The good news is this... He and I had our best training sessions ever today. He was focused and the lightbulb was on and the bonus was that he showed it all to his mom as a demonstration for me. He looked GREAT and quite frankly I thought she was amazed at how much he had learned. He did two levels of attention, some focused loose lead walking, some taking treats with a soft mouth with no teeth, he did clicker focus and he did a sit and down for me without mugging me on the way down.. Just used a treat for a guide and he went right into a down and stared at my face waiting for me to tell him what to do next. He did great waiting for the praise and he caught on waiting for the clic... All with her watching. whooooo hoooo. I felt good with all he learned in just 4 days and his owner knows what focused training and no spoiling can do for her baby. I warned her that he would probably challenge her at home because he will remember how much spoiling he had and he is going to challenge her for top dog position I am sure. She actually promised to give the dog food a try and skip the non stop human food and she tentatively agreed to get him out of her bed for the sleeping portion of the night and into the crate for safe keeping. I showed her how fast he likes to grab rocks and dirt and showed her how to remove from his mouth quickly and I told her how important the neutering was for him. I am proud of what we did and she is very interested in coming to the farm to bring him for walks with me and my guys.

Can't get any better than that.. Nothing like having the little boy show off his new skills to give owner a picture of how smart he is and what she can accomplish. Its the best I could do and I think its time to know when to back away. Like Johnny appleseed, you plant a little seed and hope something good grows. take care folks and thanks for giving me an outlet for all my thinking these last few days. cheers! Everybody wish little goober Zeus some good luck.

 

[chandab]

Wow. Guess that's all I can say. I read your first post or two, got side-tracked and just got back today to catch up; its been a fascinating read for me, and I hope you are able to give us good updates on Zeus.

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

thank you Reignmaker. That makes me feel really good. I had her come pick him up this evening. I think my dogs will throw a "he's gone party", haha. The good news is this... He and I had our best training sessions ever today. He was focused and the lightbulb was on and the bonus was that he showed it all to his mom as a demonstration for me. He looked GREAT and quite frankly I thought she was amazed at how much he had learned. He did two levels of attention, some focused loose lead walking, some taking treats with a soft mouth with no teeth, he did clicker focus and he did a sit and down for me without mugging me on the way down.. Just used a treat for a guide and he went right into a down and stared at my face waiting for me to tell him what to do next. He did great waiting for the praise and he caught on waiting for the clic... All with her watching. whooooo hoooo. I felt good with all he learned in just 4 days and his owner knows what focused training and no spoiling can do for her baby. I warned her that he would probably challenge her at home because he will remember how much spoiling he had and he is going to challenge her for top dog position I am sure. She actually promised to give the dog food a try and skip the non stop human food and she tentatively agreed to get him out of her bed for the sleeping portion of the night and into the crate for safe keeping. I showed her how fast he likes to grab rocks and dirt and showed her how to remove from his mouth quickly and I told her how important the neutering was for him. I am proud of what we did and she is very interested in coming to the farm to bring him for walks with me and my guys.

Can't get any better than that.. Nothing like having the little boy show off his new skills to give owner a picture of how smart he is and what she can accomplish. Its the best I could do and I think its time to know when to back away. Like Johnny appleseed, you plant a little seed and hope something good grows. take care folks and thanks for giving me an outlet for all my thinking these last few days. cheers! Everybody wish little goober Zeus some good luck.

You have every right to be proud of yourself. You gave him a real chance that he didn't really have before, and I certainly do wish Zeus all the best. I am ever hopeful that she will follow thro with her recent promises to you and will learn, during her walks with you, to be the owner he needs in spite of her self.

 

[shorthorsemom]

I have enjoyed following this story! You're such a kind person to be doing all of this.

As a dog groomer of 8 years I see so many wrong matches between owners and pets. So many owners misinformed or uneducated. I always so my best to educate, educate and educate.

You are so right boss mare... so many wrong matches. It is all we can do to educate. My mom is a good example of owners misinformed or uneducated. A number of years ago she expressed a desire for a dog. I told her to let me know when she was ready and I would assist her finding a nice older rescue dog. She came to my house and pointed to my white chinese crested dog Mikey and she says..."I want that dog". I said, ok, I can try to find you a rescue crested.. she says...no... I want your dog, you have so many why can't you just give me one. Oh lord.. what a sign that was...

Fast forward... don't hear any more...and think she changed her mind... Their situation at the time was two senior citizens, retired and my dad was blind and the only option in my brain was an older calmer dog. I found out after the deed was done that her neighbor got a yorkie poo so mom wanted one too, she went to the puppy mill lady (no adult dogs, just pups kept in a garage...sheesh) and she asked for a yorkie poo, but found out they were $400 so she sees a pen full of Bishon puppies for $350 and she decides that she could pay less for a pure bred puppy and that is what she chose so she came home with an 8 week old bishon puppy with out asking my dad first if he even wanted a puppy. She finally tells me what she did and I admit to saying "WHAT???" I then summed it up for her by saying..."you liked my chinese crested, so you went to buy a yorkie poo and you came home with an 8 week old bishon for two senior citizens, one of whom is blind?" Oh My... ... then she hung up on me. Guess I didn't show enough tact but I was quite a bit amazed, they did not have a fenced yard, had never raised a puppy on their own and my dad had failing health. My mom said the pup would be good for dad, and I reminded her that dad doesn't really like dogs..

She didn't want my help and said so. Years and years of torture and tears for mom, but bless her she didn't quit on the dog but her stories would make you laugh and cry at the same time. I gaver her calm advice much of which fell on deaf ears. He was very destructive and was so rude to folks visiting they dreaded coming. I finally talked her into a crate... It was always that the dog was stupid for chewing her socks, but when I saw a basket of rolled up socks in corner of her living room and said "what is that?" and she said... those are the dogs socks, but he always wants mine. duh. He pulled her down and she swore he pulled like a german shepherd. He weighs 15lbs and she weighs 155 but he was very clever on how he unbalanced her.

He ate 5k worth of hearing aids and many credit cards and wallets and all kinds of stuff. Then an opportunity arose. I had to keep moms dog for 3 weeks for her. hmmmmm.

Well, he learned to eat dog food, learned what a crate was, and learned to walk on a loose lead. I put him in boot camp here and my dogs also helped in his training. When he got home, my mom said "wow. He finally grew up and he is such a good boy now..." haha. Took 6 years for him to "calm down" and he did it in 3 weeks at my house. Smart dog... they are so misunderstood. cheers folks.

 

[shorthorsemom]

Zeus is still hanging in there... His mommy is trying and she says he is listening better for them. They are trying to get him exercised daily too. I think my planted seed is growing. She texts me every few days and gives me an update. She says he is still "bad" but what young lab puppy isn't so I am not concerned about his puppy antics, just happy they are trying to do some training. Sometimes you have to back away and do a little "tough love" with the owners rather than try to fix every thing for them. Works pretty well, they see the pup work for me, I show them what works, they don't listen until puppy starts getting wild again and then I see the wheels turn and they start doing some decent regular training. They do want this to work. The biggest WOW message I got was that she has already scheduled his neutering for May 30th!!! Huge break through from the owner that wanted to breed this puppy and leave him intact. I feel so good about convincing her that Zeus would be better off neutered. I feel so happy that I was able to get them to understand how important neutering is for their little boy. All the male dogs they have ever had have been intact for life and have had some aggressive issues... so the "neutering of Zeus" news is awesome. Stay tuned. happy dance...

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

Great news!

 

[shorthorsemom]

Zeus mommy checked in last night... said he now weighs 40 lbs. wow. Says he is a spoiled PITA (pain in the you know what) but she also said he is doing good and she loves him. Sent a photo and he looks like such a big dog now. Man those labs sure do grow fast. take care.

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

Thanks for the update.

I almost feel like I know Zeus and am glad to hear he is doing well.

 

[shorthorsemom]

Zeus is now NEUTERED.. Yippee. Still working with them. Husband was whining about Zeus keeping him up at night post surgery because of wearing the "cone of shame". Whining about his wife taking off the cone for Zeus to eat..and rather than work with the puppy and get him happy about his unfortunate cone experience, they called the vet and got a tranquilizer for Zeus.

Not my first choice to tranquilize a puppy just coming off of surgery and anesthesia but I didn't find out until later.

Husband was telling us how Zeus keeps jumping on and playing hard on their older dog and how he "lies in wait to attack the other dog coming up the stairs and knocks him back down"... My answer was.. How did Zeus do this while on a leash? Told them not to let pup mug older dog and to let older dog rest in house when Zeus was in yard and that they should always have zeus on a leash for now when in presence of other older intact grumpy male old dog. Its a safety reason but some folks just don;t get it. You really need to aclimate a new dog into the pack and expect scuffles and the best way to get out of trouble quickly is to use a leash and keep direct control at all times until they settle and puppy matures some. I have seen puppies with ruined tempermants because owner just expected them to "work it out" and puppy begins to get aggressive as a result. they are like little absorbant sponges as puppies... you are teaching even when you aren't aware you are teaching..

I gotta keep educating zeus's parents, even when husband stomps off in a pout because I didn't agree that the problem was all the puppy. Oh well, just can't help being blunt sometimes. Kind, but blunt. lol. thats me.

I went to the feed store after hearing the difficulty they were having with the cone and located a better cone for zeus and called them and will wonders never cease they went and bought one and 20 text messages later I received a photo by phone of zeus happily sleeping in his crate with the new collar on. baby steps. Moving the mountain and hoping these folks take away enough education for their puppy to have a decent life.

Our feed store carries the collars that look like an innertube on the neck. Dog can see around it, and eat and drink easier and the best part, they can go into the crate wearing the collar. The old style cone of shame really stinks....Glad they were open minded enough to try something new. hope zeus doesn't pop new collar, its inflatable and I told them they had to get it nice and tight so he couldn't get his teeth on it. fingers crossed Take care, stay tuned...