IvorHambitt

We did give this a go at the very start, wiping him down with a wet cloth every time we came in from outside. Tbh it seemed to make him more uncomfortable!

He was at the groomer for his first bath after our vet visit. It helped with the dry skin but didn't make much difference to the itching. It did make him lovely and shiny though! I'm not sure we could wrestle him into the bath in our tiny bathroom, so i'm hoping that we can get a spray or supplement that helps! Thank you, will take a look at 4legger

Does anyone have any recommendations for topical itch relief sprays or creams? For background- Ivor has been nibbling and scratching at his skin for the last few months (it started when he was shedding in the spring) He had a lot of dandruff while shedding so we upped his grooming and added sardines and coconut oil to his diet, and that cleared up the dry skin. However he still seems to be itching a little, and now has some thinning hair on one thigh and his tail. I'm a bit confused because most of his coat is lovely and shiny and his skin isn't dry or broken anywhere, just a little pink all over. The vet said it was probably a mild allergy to pollen or similar and tried steroids and apoquel, neither made a very marked difference so we've stopped all for now. I think maybe he just needs something to soothe the skin a little, but there are a LOT of options out there, so any recommendations are appreciated!

Here he is! 20200603_163542 by Zoe Hamill, on Flickr 20200603_163504 by Zoe Hamill, on Flickr

This is so true! We fully understood that resource guarding and food in particular could be an issue when we were doing our research on adopting. We definitely got too comfortable too quickly, looking at what happened now on both occasions I think 'what was I thinking?! I KNOW not to do that with any dog' We are working with a trainer who is guiding us through some leave/drop exercises and we are hopeful that we can work around the issue. After speaking to the rescue centre we also realised that we had exacerbated the problem. Ivor was bolting his food so fast that he was choking and regurgitating so in an effort to slow him down we were feeding him a scoop at a time. It seems so obvious now that this only have stressed him out more and made him eat faster! 😳 He gave me quite a scare and I still get the fear every once in a while but we're taking it one day at a time right now. I'm really hopeful that we can work on the issue and be the home that he needs, time will tell. Thanks again for all the advice, its such a help to hear from people who have overcome similar problems. I'll post some pics of him if I can figure out how to do it!

Thank you both so much for your responses. What has worried me is that it feels like an escalation, with much less of a warning before snapping this time. Although I'm starting to doubt my memory now, I think there was a brief freeze but no growl and the bite caused punctures and bruising. I'm going to speak to his rescue about any guidance they have. I'm trying to keep in mind that both incidents were around food and were not out of the blue. I'm so worried that we're just not the right home for him :-(

I'm sad to say we've had another bite. We've been working on Ivor's resource guarding and doing really well, so well that I got careless :-( He snapped at me as I refilled his bowl and connected, two punctures to my forearm that needed a trip to minor injuries last night. I fully understand that once again this was my fault, but I'm looking for advice on how to rebuild trust with him. And a bit of reassurance, has anyone else experienced this kind of bite? Does it mean we are the wrong home for him? We've already contacted a trainer who is confident we can work through the problem and that such a bite doesnt make Ivor a problem dog. I think I'm struggling with my confidence because I've always had dogs raised from puppies that I have never feared would bite. It seems like this is unrealistic and maybe I just haven't had experience of enough dogs! My husband has been walking and feeding Ivor since the bite and says he is his usual silly self. Although I also wanted to mention that we took him to the vet as a precaution and he does have a high temperature, he's on antibiotics and painkillers until going back for a check up next week. Same as me!

Absolutely, I can see now that we reacted badly and ignored his signals, I was so freaked out about him choking on the pit that I got tunnel vision! Lesson learned, we need to stay calm in emergencies instead of making them worse. He's such a sweetheart usually that we totally took him for granted instead of paying attention to what he was telling us. I'm really glad to hear that its not as serious as it felt at the time, I think it gave us all a scare!

Thank you so much for the reassurance, it's really helped put my mind at ease. I'll have a look at trading up, and I think it was a timely reminder that we need to work on our basic obedience and manners as well. It's easy to forget that he is still a dog and we need to respect that, despite the fact that most of the time he's a big cuddle bug!

First time grey owner here! Apologies for the long post but I'm a bit desperate... We've had Ivor for 3 months and he has been an absolute star throughout. Friendly with dogs and strangers, a gentleman at the vets and can't get enough of cuddles with us. But today, he managed to get hold of an avocado stone and I panicked about him choking on it so tried to grab it out of his mouth. He growled and I ran to get some treats to distract him (hoping he would drop it) but before then my husband also tried to get hold of it and Ivor snarled and lunged at him, biting him in the arm. It almost broke this skin, but not quite. He then dropped the stone and I was able to call him into his crate. He quickly calmed down and seems to have forgotten the whole thing but it scared the life out of me. I'm trying to tell myself that he did everything right (growled to warn us, only snapped when we didnt back off) and I know it was our fault for panicking and crowding him. But I'm terrified it will happen again, or that somehow we're ruining him and will turn him into a 'problem' dog. I've had a few dogs before (not rescues, from puppies) and I've never had to deal with aggression, so I'm finding this really scary. Am I over reacting? Is it possible for this to be a one-off or is it a sign of a serious problem?