Hi everyone,
Long time lurker, hello! My husband and I are having some issues with our hound Ellie that are progressively getting worse. Wondering if any of you have any thoughts before we enlist some professional help.
Ellie is 4.5, and we've had her for 1.5 years. Overall, she's great- very outgoing, loves people, has lots of pep in her step on walks but is nice and lazy when she's home. For context, we moved from a small condo into a three story house a year ago, and also had a baby 6 months ago. So I know she's had to go through some big changes, aside from the adoption itself.
I think I can summarize the problems as Ellie is getting more and more insistent on doing only what she wants to do. And she seems more insecure. Examples include:
-No longer getting up for walks with our dog walker(s) and growling/snapping. At first it was just certain walkers, but now she is refusing to get up for a walk for even her favorites walkers. If they get close to her while she's on her bed, she sometimes even growls or snaps. Treats aren't helping anymore (smart girl takes it and runs away or just refuses to get up for the treat since she knows it's a bribe). I've been home to observe the walkers with her, and it seemed to have started with one who just wasn't very good around dogs- he was nice, he just didn't know what he was doing. Same problem even if I'm at home with or without baby, and a walker comes by (I work from home sometimes but don't always have time to walk her in the day).
-She's getting harder for me even to walk her. I come home in the early evening before my husband. However, the second my husband comes home, she is jumping and all over him, whining and begging for a walk. When I try to get her to walk, it takes TONS of positive, high-pitched encouragement and treats for me to get her up.
-She's freezing up on walks now, which she's never done before. She is more obsessed with sniffing around than she used to be in our old neighborhood, so if I or my husband try to keep moving past the 1000th sniff, she's now just freezing up and seeming like she wants to keep going her way.
-She is so picky about her food- often she doesn't eat it all day. We're using KS lamb and rice. She also now takes mouthfuls of it to her crate, the back door entrance or even our son's nursery- usually only the first mouthful, then she'll eat the rest at her bowl. We never approach her when she eats and she's never shown food guarding before. Our son sometimes sits in his car seat in the kitchen with her and I as she eats but otherwise has never even come close to her bowl (or her bed in the living room).
Speaking of our kiddo, he's not mobile yet so he's never gone over to her, or her bed or her toys. Ellie shows interest in him by sniffing/licking and likes a lot of his toys, but she never walks on his playmats and leaves his toys alone. We always try and praise her profusely when she walks away or around his stuff. I watch the two of them closely and encourage her paying him some attention (I want her to be curious and not just ignore him) but also try and redirect if she's getting too enthusiastic in her licking. She has been very, very good at sticking to this boundaries around the baby.
-She hates getting her Frontline Plus. She will run away the second she detects it's out. I'm wondering if it hurts her when we apply and it's ruining her trust in us.
I will say that I suspect my husband's treatment of her may be contributing to this. He LOVES on her like she is the second coming. He doesn't really enforce commands with her (I make her wait/release at every door opening and before eating food, use "off" and turn my back anytime she jumps up, make her do "down" before getting a treat). He full body cuddles her (whereas I don't do this very much- I just think that's too close for comfort!) She clearly prefers him lol and yes maybe I am a little jealous.
Thank you for reading my wall of text, and any ideas you might have. Clearly we have room for improvements re: reinforcing rules and boundaries but hopefully there is something else we are missing that can help.
