English Deutsch Français Italiano Español Português 繁體中文 Bahasa Indonesia Tiếng Việt ภาษาไทย
All categories

I rescued a boxer pup (well 1 year old) from euthanasia today, and am taking her to a rescue group tomorrow. But right now she is freaking the f*** out! Whining and hollering and yelping. I walked her until I was ready to drop, she is fed and went potty, she has toys and a chew bone....what can I do? Any safe medicine she can have that might be in my cupboard? I'm desperate.

Serious answers only!

2006-08-12 16:45:44 · 20 answers · asked by Christy 2 in Pets Dogs

20 answers

If you coddle and sooth her you will only reinforce her fears and anxiety. First, you must calm down. The dog may be feeding off your fears and anxiety. Take charge in a firm but respectful manner, use a calm but authoritative tone of voice. These things will let her know she is not alone but there's a competent leader in her life, perhaps for the first time, ever.

The most important thing is to remain calm and controlled and to take charge so that she doesn't think she has to. Put a lead on her, and give her a bit of a collar correction if she begins to spaz out and tell her to "settle down". The more firm and in charge you sound, the less she will be to freak out.

My advice may sound counter intuitive. But you should avoid using human psychology on a canine. She is wanting to know there's a competent leader around so that she can relax. If are stress and if you are soothing / coddling her while she is in an anxious state of mind, you are only reinforcing it.

If you have a crate, put her in it and tell her firmly, "go to bed" and relax.

2006-08-12 17:00:01 · answer #1 · answered by Tammie R 2 · 0 0

Does she know any commands? If she even knows sit, you can use this to calm her. Have her sit for you over and over again and give her a treat for doing it. This creates clear communication between you (one word you have in common) which will help calm her. Keep her on a leash, tie it to your belt if you have to. This will keep her under control. She will also be more likely to sleep tonight if she is near you. Put her in a crate by your bed if you can. Classical music will help. Another thing is turkey--the tryptophan in turkey that makes us sleepy on holidays will cause the same reaction in a dog. Don't give her too much or it will upset her stomach and make the night worse though.

She is nervous and excited about being in a new place, so this will be a rough night for her. It is this way to some degree with the vast majority of rescues, so try to be patient even though it is exasperating. The calmer you are (or appear to be), the calmer she will be. Good luck.

And be careful about the Benadryl people are recommending--this can actually hype dogs up.

2006-08-12 16:57:04 · answer #2 · answered by M L 4 · 0 0

It is not true that if you neuter boxers before they have pups that they could become nasty. Boxers only become nasty if they think they rule the household and can get away with it or if there is something medically wrong with them. You can help calm down your dog by starting the NILIF program. NILIF stands for Nothing In Life Is Free, and it means that your dog will learn really well that you control all of its resources, including food, water, toys, napping places, and so on. In addition, get a book called "The Dog Listener" by Jan Fennell. In that book, she describes Amichien Bonding, a way whereby you can convince your dog in a relatively short amount of time that YOU rule the house, not her. As for spaying her, it's the responsible thing to do. The reason you have a pet boxer is that she is not a show quality dog - she is a pet quality dog. That means that there is some reason the breeder decided not to sell her to another breeder or to keep her himself for further breeding purposes. You don't want to contribute to the pet overpopulation, which is the problem that sends many pet dogs to the pound to be euthanized. If you're not a breeder, please don't breed her.

2016-03-26 23:41:41 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

I worked in K9 for about 4 yrs. All kidding aside. I found beer will help the pup to relax around its new surroundings and with no ill side effects. Just put a little in a bowl. The pup will smell it, lick it, shack its head a few times, because the beer tickles its tongue. Then after about 10 mins. it will pass out.
Hope this helps.
P.S. The only thing you have to worry about, is if one day you come home and find an empty 12 pack on the floor and the pup is passed out in your bed. LMAO

2006-08-12 17:07:55 · answer #4 · answered by armytao2k3 2 · 0 0

You need to let her get used to the surroundings, so tonight you may not get a lot of sleep. What ever you do, do not baby or comfort her while she's showing the nervous/whiny behavior. Praise her and pet her while she's calm. You don't want to reinforce this upset feeling. Just let her roam and watch her, show her where she can lay down, if you have a crate you should put her in there for the night and cover it. But don't let her out if she's barking or whining, only when she's calm.

2006-08-12 16:58:20 · answer #5 · answered by niubutterfly 4 · 0 0

Put the pup in the bathroom with a BIG stuffed animal. If that doesnt work try and put peanut butter on 1 of her toys..it usually keeps a dog buisy for hours. If that doesnt work just have her in ur bedroom where she can see u...maybe get her on top of ur bed ad maybe she'll fall asleep. Its not safe to give ur pup ANY human medicine without not knowing if she is allergic to any of the stuff thats in it.

GOOD LUCK!!!

2006-08-12 16:51:55 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

give her some love. cuddle up with her, pet her, talk to her etc. the first night i've had dogs ever has always been stressful for them too and giving them some love to let them know someone is there as always helped since they are social animals. if all else fails, we had a yorkie once that was super scared of thunderstorms so we would give him a vitamin called kava kava. it smells yucky and he didn't like it but it worked. it is fairly inexpensive and comes in a liquid form. it is to calm nerves. it was recommended by our vet.

2006-08-12 16:50:57 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

Poor thing. How confused and lonely she must be! Can she sleep next to your bed so you can talk to her? Benedryl is generally considered very safe OTC. Dose is 1mg per lb. so a 50 lb dog would get 50mg. It may make her a little calmer and sleepy. No other products that contain benedryl, only benedryl by itself is safe.

2006-08-12 16:50:16 · answer #8 · answered by KimbeeJ 7 · 0 0

I used to give my dog one bendryl to calm her down in stressful situations. I got the idea when she was stung by a wasp and I called the vet and she told me to give her a benadryl, well she was being a brat because she was in pain, but after about 30 minutes she was out.

2006-08-12 17:08:08 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

You can give her some benadryl. It causes them to get sleepy. Not sure what dose for a boxer pup. I would call and ask the vet.

2006-08-12 16:50:29 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

fedest.com, questions and answers