Tucker - Staffie, Dog (2 Years) FOSTERED IN TENBURY WELLS

We've had a some interesting days.

On Thursday I was working from home for the day as I was expecting a viewing of the house, and also the alarm maintenance engineer to call. Phil had gone off to Leeds to see a customer for the day, so the dogs stopped at home with me. As Phoebe is a typical terrier when we have unknown visitors, with a bark that could shatter glass, and Tucker hasn't learnt his off command around people yet, I dug the extra large crate out of the garage and set it up in the lounge. I put Tucker's favourite bed in there, and when the viewers arrived, I put both dogs into the crate. As we progressed around the house, I was very aware of Phoebe's incessant barking. When we arrived back in the lounge, by which time the alarm engineer had also arrived and was tapping away on the control panel and setting alarms off right, left and centre, I noticed a cloud of bed stuffing strewn around the outside of the cage. Tucker had literally demolished his bed and an extra pad I had put into the crate. Little sod!! I was afraid that he was going to start eating the pad stuffing, so let him out of the crate, whereupon he launched himself at both viewers and the alarm engineer in his boisterous, excited way. Fortunately, they all thought this was very endearing, despite nearly being knocked flying- being dog owners themselves, they were very understanding! I told them all to completely ignore him, and within 2 minutes he was totally calm. I managed to restuff the pad, but the bed is a goner.

Tucker's coughing has been variable, from constant to very intermittent. Yesterday at work I gave them both a rawhide cigar, and watched him carefully as he has a habit of downing food in one, which can also irritate his cough. About an hour after eating the rawhide, he started to cough and retch, and I was expecting him to regurgitate part of the rawhide, when suddenly he vomited his breakfast(strangely, no rawhide), including the whole chantenay carrots! Everyone in the office went, "Oh lovely!!" at the loud sound effects, and I rushed out of my office as Phil shouted, "Ria, he's just puked up!" (funny how I am chief puke, crap and wee clearer-upper!), and as I grabbed a box of tissues and got ready to mop up the vomit, I was just about to shout, "Okay, which wally has left a packet of elastic bands out that he's eaten?" when suddenly said 'elastic bands' uncurled and started to crawl across the carpet. I was caught between screaming my head off in horror and not making a sound, not wanting to totally freak the staff out!! You have never seen anyone move so fast to pick up the vomit and run down to the toilet to flush it. I was absolutely mortified, and now have no doubt why he has failed to put on any weight despite me feeding him more each day. I rushed over to the vet to get an emergency course of Drontal and was advised to repeat the treatment within the month. Fortunately, the worms are appearing out the other end now, thankfully quite dead. Chow mein and spaghetti bolognaise is definitely off the menu for the forseeable future! It could also be a reason for the coughing not clearing up (although there is no doubt that his original cough was kennel cough). I tell you, I have never felt so goose bumpy as I did last night! Ewwwwwwww - everything was making me feel itchy, it was horrible!!

LET THIS BE A LESSON TO ALL - NEVER LET YOUR DOG'S WORMING TREATMENT LAPSE!! WORM YOUR DOG AT LEAST EVERY COUPLE OF MONTHS.

I have been working hard on Tucker's manners around toys. It works in the house when he brings a toy and is pretty chilled, and will hand it over, albeit slowly, but it is the furthest thing from his mind when he is outdoors and all excited. I am also concerned when he sees people when we are out, because if they have anything in their hands that he thinks is a toy, he will make a beeline for them and jump up.

His walking on a short lead is brilliant now. He walks incredibly well to heel in town, although if he gets excited, I just stop, correct him and wait until he settles.

The one thing we are not progressing at all is the car travel. I have tried putting him in the car five minutes before the journey, sitting for five minutes with the engine running before setting off, and sitting in the back with him, but it makes no difference. The strange thing is that he is extremely keen to get into the car, so he obviously doesn't have a reluctance to enter the car. Once in the car, he spins, even when he is restrained, and makes very strange noises whilst bouncing around as much as he possibly can given the restraint. It generally lasts around 10 minutes and then he lies down, but is still not entirely quiet, although he isn't too distracting at this point. We are going to try a crate in the hatchback of Phil's Jeep (I can't fit a crate in my car) to see if it makes a difference.

I had a call from the kennels today to say there was interest in Tucker, and the prospect would like him to meet their female beagle. I have advised waiting a few days to get the worms out of his system and to see where he is with his cough. I have still not socialised him with other dogs, as I would not risk them picking up what he has. I hope they can hang on a few days. He's worth waiting for!

To finish, here are a couple of vidoes. One is him and Phoebe having fun around the house. It cracks me up watching them hit the hardwood floors and running on the spot!! The second is his snoring, with sound effects from Phoebe in the background having a dream. Enjoy!!

Indoor Playtime

I don't snore!!

Poor Tucker, hope the worm problem is soon behind him. I am absolutely amazed how well his eye is healing! The difference is amazing and in the Snoring video you can hardly tell there is anything wrong with his eye at all. That's the way to go Tucker, keep up the good work. I am sure your forever home is just around the corner, you lovely boy.

...and the behaviour is becoming challenging at times.

The great thing about fostering is that we thoroughly road test these dogs for would be adopters, and hopefully the chance of any unknown behaviour is reduced. It also means that we can start to work on the solution to the problem and at the very least, highlight known probelms so that they don't come as a shock.

Yesterday was not Tucker's finest hour. We had to pop out for some shopping (more dog food to be precise), so left him and Phoebe in the kitchen. Whenever we leave the dogs in the kitchen, we make sure there is nothing on the worktops that they can steal, foodwise, and with Tucker we also remove any soft toys as, unobserved, he will rip them up if he is bored. We were out for about an hour and a half, and when we got back he had done three things:

1. taken a toy rabbit with a straw hat off the windowsill, removed its hat and shredded it, but left the toy intact
   
2. pulled a car sponge down that was hanging in a net bag on the back of the utility door and trashed it
   
3. chewed on the architrave of the boiler cupboard door, managing to cut his nose and around his mouth on the splintering wood

The first two are not so serious, but obviously the third is very serious as he has done structural damage. He has also scratched away at the wall, breaking the paint alongside the door. We think he was probably wanting to get into the conservatory as it was alongside the patio doors. Perhaps the heap of dog toys on the other side were the draw. We will put our second application of wood filler on tonight, and hope that we can make a decent repair job.

He continued a bad day with his dreadful behaviour in the car. Having tried sitting in the back with him while Phil drove, and it having no effect, we set the crate in the back of the car and popped him in. Nightmare!! For the whole journey from home to Mortimer Forest (about 20 minutes) he didn't stop spinning, screeching and throwing the crate from one side of the car to the other. If you stop at traffic lights, he stops. When you pull up at your destination, he stops. We had a lovely long walk around Mortimer Forest, which tired him out, so we thought perhaps we would get a quieter journey home. No joy!! We stopped at Countrywide and bought him a nice meaty bone, which he chewed on for about three minutes, and kicked off again. He is actually quieter clipped onto the back seat than in the crate. We tried again in the crate this morning in the back of my car - it fitted with the parcel shelf removed. Again, no better, so the crate has got to go. I even tried putting a mat in the crate because I felt sorry for him being on the bare plastic, and he had trashed the mat within seconds. My next step is trying some DAP spray.

So, all in all, not the best weekend. Other than in the car and being left alone, he is a dream dog. He is lying at my feet at the moment as if butter wouldn't melt. So we need a home that is within walking distance of fantastic walks and the vet, where he won't be left for long periods! Any takers?

Top of the agenda is working on his car travel. Immediately after my last post, I took Tucker out for a wee at the back of the office. It is an ad hoc private parking lot, and I often take him out there without putting a lead on him, as he is very fast to have a wee and come back inside. It was pitch black, but the sensor light came on at the back of our office, and I spotted an acquaintance who was just unlocking her car door across the car park. She called out hello, and that was Tucker's invitation to rush over and jump in her car. He then proceeded to spin on her passenger front seat, jump into the back and spin, then jump over the back seat (it was a BMW estate car) and spin in the back. I ran over, called him out, he came out, ran around the car, jumped back in and repeated the whole thing again.

I was mortified!! Thank goodness the ground was frozen and his feet weren't muddy (the car park can be a quagmire if it rains). We finally got him out, she shut her door and I took him back inside. As he had sooooo much fun, he went into hyperdrive and it took a few minutes of completely ignoring his behaviour until he calmed down.

Our journey home that night was the usual calamity, so when I got home I dug out the second seat belt restraint, and the next morning we clipped either side of his harness into each seatbelt clip on the back seat. Less than a minute down the lane I had to stop the car, because he had managed to spin and get himself completely tangled up, and was attempting to chew his way out. Back to one restraint, and an attempt to ignore his behaviour for the rest of the journey whilst trying to tempt him with the bone still had our nerves jangling by the time we got to work. Much the same going home.

Right, dig deep and have a really good think about this, because it just can't continue. He obviously doesn't dislike the car, because he literally bounces off it if the door isn't open and from his behaviour on Monday night, he doesn't mind whose car he goes in - any car will do. So, is it the restricted space that makes him go nuts? He will spin if he is put in his crate and he is excited. What is the major factor that makes him spin? Excitement! So, we need to reduce the excitement, or the anticipation of excitement. I thought back to my time with Kate, the behaviourist, who was working with me when we were trying to rehabilitate Vik. The key to reducing his excitement (in Vik's case it was other dogs when he was on the lead) was to stand very still, with a firm grasp on a short lead, and just wait. I didn't believe Kate when she told me that Vik would settle down, because he would be bucking and rearing. Wait for the change in demeanor, she told me - the 'melt'. So, I stood with the car door open, holding firmly onto Tucker's short lead, while he twisted and turned and bounced, and I told him to sit and wait. It took a good two full minutes, but he 'melted'. I let him jump into the footwell of the back seat, and told him to sit, and I waited a little while, and then I allowed him to jump onto the back seat, still holding him extremely firmly on a tight lead. I clipped the seat belt restraint onto his harness, and gave him a Kong filled with peanut butter.


We got to work with just the smell of peanut butter and a lot of slurping noises. I can't tell you what a difference it made to our stress levels!

That was yesterday, and today I added putting his harness on as soon as I had fed him so that he had half an hour in the house without him thinking he was going straight out, so by the time we were ready for the off he wasn't anticipating the excitement. I also got my car out of the garage while he was having breakfast, so there wasn't the time for the excitement to build before we got into the car. Touch wood, we are seeing massive improvements. I think another week of this and I might feel inclined to remove the Kong. Small steps though, but I can tell you, this is a MAJOR breakthrough.

We are off to see the vet tomorrow evening because I am concerned about the coughing not clearing up. After his episode with the roundworms, there is a fear that he could have lungworm too, so we need to be absolutely sure we're covering all angles. Fingers crossed everyone!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=barWV7RWkq0

That is brilliant news Ria - I am so pleased to read this - well done!

great news. Well done Ria and well done Tucker!

The normal journey to work is going really well. Tucker has now associated the car with the Kong, so is very quick to settle and be clipped in.

Tonight we were off to see the vet, Anne. What I forgot to do was replenish the Kong, and also I forgot how winding the back roads, to avoid the bridge closure in Tenbury, are. A few times the Kong went on the floor, and he couldn't reach, and in the end neither could I. The vocals started up again, but then I passed the alternative bone and he was happy again. When we got to the vet he was on top form. Licked the radiator top to bottom, bowled the vet assistant over, snatched Anne's stethoscope and refused to give it back, and had a few mad spins. We managed to calm him down and Anne checked him over. He's lost a kilo in ten days, which is worrying. He's also got a new pastime - eating his own poo . He was violently sick last night (but so would I be if I ate my own poo!). He is eating well - the same amount of food that I was feeding Baz, who is 9 kgs heavier. He certainly loves his food.

The first stage of his treatment is to apply another worm killer, this time for lungworm as well, and also an anti-inflammatory for his coughing. I'm to take him back in ten days with a poo sample (if I can get to it before him ). I now have to take him out in the garden on the lead to stop this new pastime.

The journey home wasn't too bad. I am going to put his proper bed on the back seat to see if we can stop the kong rolling off the seat, and make him stay in one place. I also got the DAP spray today, so I'm going to spray the interior of the car 15 minutes before the journey each morning.

In himself he's a happy chappie. At home and work he's chilled. Let's hope we get to the bottom of this quickly.

...you little....bad boy!

What a weekend. Trying, to say the least.

Saturday we were out for lunch with friends, so put him in the extra large crate with his Kong and he settled well. When we got back after a couple of hours, he was lying in the crate quite calm until I opened the door, and then he went into absolute escalating excitement. Unfortunately, we had come back with two friends, which when Tucker is in a state of heightened excitement means four more hands to jump up and grab, or two more laps to launch himself onto. Despite everyone ignoring him, he continued to be really overwhelming with his behaviour. I put him outside, and after running to the lawn and back, he stood at the French doors and just barked and barked. I can't ignore a barking dog, as I consider myself a thoughtful neighbour, so in he came. We put him out of the room, but then he goes and gets anything he can destroy and starts barking again, so back into the room. The behaviour continued, so I put him in his crate in the room. That is just frightening when you see him spinning at the speed he does. Within seconds he had a bloody nose from bashing the side of the crate. Out of the crate, and on with his harness and lead, and he was sat between me and Phil on the sofa until he calmed down. It took a good 30 minutes before we could let him off the lead.

Here's what we will try next time:

If we enter the house with friends, we will not acknowledge him in any way and will immediately put him on a lead and keep him sitting at our feet or between us until he settles down. We will make sure that all toys are removed. Once he has settled down, we will give him attention, but this will be withdrawn if his excitement starts to escalate.

If friends come to the door, we will put him on his lead before they enter and not allow him to greet them and vice versa.

This might seem harsh, but we have to stop this escalation of excitement because he cannot control himself when he is at his peak.

On Sunday, I had to go out and do two home checks for other rescues, so we ummed and arred for a while as to whether we should leave him at home, or make it an afternoon with him out with us - almost a baptism of fire. We want to try to rehabilitate Tucker in the way we treat our dog - as a real part of the family, so we decided on the latter. We put his bed on the back seat, loaded his Kong and took a banana to refill it if it ran out. He took no notice of the bed at all, so took his Kong on the other side of the back seat and managed to stay quiet for about two minutes. The Kong rolled onto the floor, he couldn't reach it, so immediately kicks off and starts screeching and spinning. We got the Kong back and tried to entice him into his bed, where at least the Kong couldn't roll far. No joy. The action was repeated again and again and again. In the end we stopped the car and I got into the back with him (and Phoebe breathed a sigh of relief as she jumped onto the front seat). The behaviour continued, with short breaks of trying to get the food out of his Kong, but on the whole no real improvement. In the end, I had to pull him alongside me and make him lie down with my arm around him keeping him from getting up and spinning.

In between the two home checks we took him for a lovely walk in a beautiful Nature Reserve. Back in the car waiting for me while I did the home check, Phil said he was fretting and crying for me, so he took him out for another walk. Fortunately, the home check didn't take long as I had done most of the interview by phone, so we were able to head home. The whole journey home (around 40 minutes) he alternated between panting heavily, spinning and barking with short spells of taking an interest in his Kong filling. Once we got home, after he had his tea, he lay on his bed and slept solidly until we let him out before we retired to bed ourselves.

The journey to work is short enough that his attention is mostly captivated by the Kong. I have started to stuff it with some of his meat from his breakfast as I don't want him constantly having peanut butter. He is still not without incident in the car, and I think he is never going to be an easy dog in the car. I have tried the DAP spray on his collar and in the car, but there is no recognisable improvement.

We now have a routine of getting ready to go out in total silence, with no acknowledgement of him whatsoever, so that we don't start the excitement. I am researching the best approach to this on the internet, and have read a lot of stuff from recognised trainers such as Cesar Milan and Victoria Stillwell. This is definitely a work in progress, and it could be some time before we have a sustained breakthrough.

If you took out his escalating excitement and car travel, which is less than 10% of his life, the other 90% is pure fabulous dog. A lot of his excitement could purely be down to his youth. It's interesting that at work, he doesn't get excited around the staff as they arrive in the morning, so it is something that is perhaps related to the general air of calmness in the office. That calmness is what we have to replicate all the time until he can bring himself under control.

In the meantime, if anyone knows a Billy no mates who walks everywhere, doesn't have a job and doesn't have a car, but wants a fantastic companion dog - please let them know I have the most fantastic dog for them!

I so admire your patience Ria, this latest little soul is really having a go ! Ben is the first dog we've ever had ( and in nearly 40 years,we've had a few, all rescues) that has been happy in the car. We eventually only took the others to the vet as it was too upsetting for them. We're loving the freedom of taking Ben out with us and wish we'd been able to do this with the others.

It's funny, isn't it? Tucker is the only one of all the fosters that hates the car to the point where it's just horrible to be in there with him. I remember my first dog, Tosca, a lovely tri-coloured miniature poodle that I had for my 8th birthday. She used to pant very hard, but every outbreath was the most excrutiating high pitched scream that would set your teeth on edge. Nothing would placate her, and we just got used to it - she didn't spin or bark, so you just had to turn the radio up really loud!! She would go off every six weeks to be groomed, and the girl would come and collect her in the car and drive her quite a distance to her grooming parlour. When Tosca was about six years old, we said to the groomer, "I bet you've never heard a dog like Tosca before!!" and she replied, "What do you mean?" It turned out that whenever she went off to the groomers, she never made a sound!! We put up with it until she died at 12. I can put up with the screaming and the barking, but it's the movement that Tucker does behind you that's just so distracting, because you can't make out what he's doing, you can just feel the whole car shake. I spoke with Lisa in the local pet shop at length today about various harnesses, but she said when a dog is that determined, no harness will stop him from spinning. She did, however, highly recommend a product called Zyklene (she's a senior vet nurse). I've Googled it and have read a lot of feedback, so it might be worth trying. However, the down side is the expense. The cheapest I can find is 56p a tablet (one a day), plus postage, and sadly my budget for a foster dog doesn't quite stretch that far. I'll have a word with Anne, the vet, when Tucker goes back next Monday and see what she thinks of it.


I did manage to get a really short lightweight lead today, so have attached it to his harness, and he doesn't seem to be distracted by it at all. It should do very well for when we have visitors.

I love your brutal honesty, Ria. That is the only way to find the perfect owner for Tucker. Looking forward to your next posts. They are funny and I can learn a lot from them, too.

....but only because we did all our walks from home!! No car journeys this weekend, so things were definitely more relaxed. We had to pop over to Hereford so we decided to go without the dogs. We went for a long walk first, taking Tucker's ball, and ran him absolutely ragged. Phil was complaining of a stiff shoulder after throwing the ball so much. Mind you, the stiff shoulder was probably from picking up long, heavy branches to try to knock the ball out of the trees numerous times! After an hour and a half of constantly running after balls, we got home and thought he would be absolutely knackered and wanting to sleep. No such luck! So, I put his Kong in his bed in the crate and popped him in there. We decided to cover his crate to hopefully induce sleep and a sense of calm. Phil and I had an argument about leaving the bed in or taking it out. I won, saying that he would be too tired to trash the bed and would settle down, particularly as he was in the smaller crate that the bed completely filled. Three hours later, and I conceded the mistake I had made, as we were greeted by a cloud of bed stuffing and a very defiant looking Tucker. Hard plastic tray and zero comfort it is next time, then.

His cough is still not finished, although his anti inflammatories are, so it was back to the vet this morning. I spent a good part of the weekend cleaning the car interiors (mud from the dogs everywhere, and snotty nose impressions on all the windows), and I had bought a new seat cover for Phil's car, as the ties had all broken from one of Tucker's mammoth spins on the back seat. It turned out that the new seat cover was too small for Phil's car, so we swapped covers with mine and I put the new cover on. I clipped Tucker in, gave him his TWO kongs (long journey!) and set off. Within a minute he had lost one Kong on the floor and started spinning and whingeing, then suddenly I could hear him spinning and the two clasps from the seat belt restraint clattering together. Then suddenly Tucker jumped onto the parcel shelf trying to spin. Stop the car, lock him back in again, pick his Kong off the floor and we're on our way. We had a few spins and cries by the time we got to the vets, but he was pretty well behaved once we got in. He did manage to grab Anne's stethoscope AGAIN - why do we both forget what he's like? Wrestled it out of his mouth eventually and Anne examined him. He had put on 0.45kg, and now weighs 16.6kgs which is still too light by a long way. His ribs and backbone are showing, but he is looking a bit better. There were so many options, but by the end of the consultation, we decided to bite the bullet and go for the exploratory op with the camera down his throat, not least because I asked what side effects there could be from the next course of medicine (bronchial tablets) she was going to prescribe and the top one was hyperactivity. NO THANK YOU!!!

On the way back to the office, the Kongs were empty, so he was getting bouncy and vocal again, and suddenly there was this horrible tearing sound. I glanced round quickly and could see that he'd grabbed the new seat cover and put a six inch gash in it. Sorry, but all my positive reinforcement went straight out the window, and I bellowed at the top of my lungs, "STOP IT!!!!!", and do you know what, for a full three minutes he lay straight as a corpse and didn't make a single sound. Didn't last though! He got up after that, and although he didn't spin again for the rest of the journey, he did pant and whinge, and alternate between chewing on his Kong and lying down.

So, tomorrow he is nil by mouth and I have to get him to Bridgnorth for his examination. Great!! No Kong fillings and a long, long journey. I am keeping everything crossed that we get to the bottom of this and start to find a reason why he still has this persistent cough and lack of weight gain. We will also probably have to do poo analysis and repeat his lungworm treatment in 3 weeks to rule out parasites. Phil and I will no doubt argue about whether to put him in the cage in the back of the car for the journey tomorrow, but for the sake of him not bashing his nose and making it bleed, I do think he is safer on the back seat harenessed in. Whichever way, it is not going to be a good journey.

I ordered 40 days of Zylkene online, and the tablets arrived on Saturday, so he's on his third day. No noticeable change so far, but I don't expect miracles overnight. Anne said that some of her clients report absolutely fantastic results, but some report no difference. I am praying for the first outcome, but I'm not holding my breath. I am still trying to teach him to run on my treadmill at home, because if I can fully discharge his energy before car journeys, it might make things better. In the meantime I will continue researching different suggestions.

Tucker and his kong - the only toy he will give up, in the hope that you will refill it with peanut butter!!



He absolutely loves to play with your feet, and one of his favourites is to be picked up under his arms by your feet (hmmmm - perhaps he really does have a mental problem!).

Tucker on the treadmill

Baz licking his boomer ball clean

Good luck for tomorrow!

Good luck from me too. I know you will need it. But hey, miracles do happen! x

Well, in the end I thought about the fact that it was a 25 mile winding journey, plus the fact that there would be no filling in his Kong, so decided on the crate on the back seat of the car. I put the front seat back as far as it would go to wedge it in nicely, with the harness restraint clipped to it for extra security. I also put his nylabone in the crate too. Off we set at 7.30 this morning, and to be fair, it wasn't too bad. I think I am getting a bit de-sensitised to his spinning, barking and crying now, but I think the fact that he was restrained in one spot where I could quickly turn my head and see him did give me a bit less anxiety. He actually spent a lot of time gnawing on his nylabone, but even that went through the bars of the crate onto the floor before we reached our destination.

He was booked in for his procedure, with the warning about his spinning. The nurse said, "Oh, don't worry, we'll give him a nice big kennel with a cosy bed." "Lose the bed!" I warned her, "unless you want it to plaster the walls when you leave him." Point taken, she said they would give him his pre-med first to calm him down.

I asked if I could wait for him, as it was a 50 minute journey home, so I went off to discover the delights of Bridgnorth. It isn't very often that I can mooch about the shops, so I made the most of it, and even managed to lose myself in the ex-catalogue shop (yes, Phil, I'm sure the £2.50 I spent on yet another toy for Tucker was a bargain!!).

I went back after a couple of hours and was asked to wait 30 minutes, as the vet was now working on another dog, but wanted Tucker to come round properly. As I waited I could hear a dog starting to cry, then howl, and as it got louder and louder, I thought, "I recognise those dulcet tones!!" Finally, the vet called me in. I was expecting Tucker to be all woozy - not a chance! The x-rays and camera down his throat revealed some minor things - something about an enlarged heart which was no real cause for concern in staffies, apparently. A bit of scar tissue on his lungs. No obstructions. I was given a course of steroids to help with his breathing and coughing and told to report back to Anne at Cleobury in a few days (telephone conversation should suffice). I was very relieved. I asked why he was not putting weight on yet, and told that now that he'd been treated for the roundworm infestation, and possible lungworm, he should start to pick up on all fronts. If his weight doesn't start to increase in a couple of weeks, then we might have to do the poo analysis route.

The journey back was worse that the journey going. I thought he would be all sleepy and had put a nice blanket into his crate. Within 2 minutes of putting him into the crate, I realised it was a bad move. So, out it came. We set off, and even in his half drugged state he still managed to start to spin, albeit at half of his normal speed. Then we turned a sharp corner and the combination of the turn and his spinning, and the crate toppled over, so I had to stop again, and put it right. I took him home en route to the office to give him his belated breakfast and he was a little bit unsteady on his feet, and even took his food at a slightly slower pace. He is now fast asleep in the office. At one point, he was behind the child gate and Phil and I were downstairs talking to the guy who had come to fix the boiler (no heating for two days - brrrrrr!), and the pitch of his crying was unbelievable. I thought he was in pain, and raced upstairs, but no, he was just feeling his bit of separation anxiety and stopped crying immediately and was happy as long as he could see us.

So, now that he is on the road to recovery, we need to put 100% into his training and rehabilitation. I don't think we are ever going to get over the car issues, so the best we can do on that front at the moment is settle him with his Kong, make sure that he is comfortable and basically try to ignore the behaviour. I was pleased that on both the journey to the vet yesterday and today, he was a lot quicker to calm down once he was out of the car, so that definitely is an improvement.

The main thing we need to work on now is the introduction to visitors. We had another incident last night where he was unable to contain his excitement, and used his mouth on the hand and sleeve to greet the visitor, despite being calmed first. Fortunately, he was on his harness, so no harm was done, but had it not been a dog savvy person, or if it was a child, there could have been a bigger issue with his behaviour. We have a baptism of fire this weekend - four friends round for dinner. We are discussing managing the situation in advance so that we are prepared. I will probably dismantle the child gate from work and take it home for the weekend, and do some more work using it for the introductions and also work on the separation anxiety.

In the meantime, despite these issues, there is a home out there somewhere for Tucker. At this stage of his life, it definitely needs to be a calm house, with no children and not too much excitement. The fewer car journeys, the better. Perhaps an older couple like Phil and myself, who love the great outdoors, and who perhaps work from home, or will only leave him for short spells. I can't emphasise enough how wonderful Tucker is when he is calm, and what a delight he is to have around. My greatest fear is that we cannot find a suitable home for him, or that we cannot get this excitement under control, because he would not bode well in kennels. It won't be for the lack of trying.

We had a fabulous walk on Saturday in Queens Wood with Baz. It was snowing like crazy, freezing cold, but hey! who cares? Karen, thanks so much for making the journey in that awful weather. It was so wonderful to see Baz again. He just lights up my life.

Tucker was pretty well behaved in the woods. He had two altercations with Baz, the second was slightly more serious (Tucker found the tree branch, Baz tried to help himself) but we managed to split them up and peace was restored. Neither Tucker nor Baz are natural fighters, but like with a lot of dogs, jealousy and toys/bones will give them reason to ruck. Tucker met other dogs really well, and was happy to stay close. Baz and Phoebe had some good playful banter, and Tucker was happy to follow them round.

Yesterday, we had four friends over for dinner. We had planned the strategy with Tucker in advance. First, we took him and Phoebe for a long walk and basically ran him ragged. We stood at the top of the hill and threw his ball right down to the bottom repeatedly and he was in his element. When we finally took the ball away (which wasn't easy as he is not one to hand over his goods while he is in a state of heightened excitement), he then decided that the nearest tree was going to be the next plaything. He launched himself at the tree and was swinging from the branches by his teeth. In the end, we had to walk away before he finally left the tree - but we were a good 50 metres away, calling him constantly. In the end, despite his fun, he just couldn't bear the separation, so came running to us, constantly looking back longingly at the tree.

We had a pretty chilled afternoon preparing dinner, and while Phil cleared the driveway of snow and ice, Tucker and Phoebe had a good twenty minutes just chasing eachother around the garden non stop. While we were in the kitchen, he would take himself to his crate, which is made up like a den with a blanket covering it, and sleep.

Before our friends arrived he was put on his harness and lead. We had asked our friends to completely ignore him, turn their backs on him if he jumped up, and not give him any attention whatsoever. I kept him on the lead for the first ten minutes, until everyone had settled down, and he seemed reasonably calm, although still excited by the voices and laughter. Immediately I dropped his lead, he went into complete hyperactive behaviour, running from one to the other, jumping up, trying to get attention. He was completely ignored and it seemed to work, slowing him down slightly. We moved into the lounge, but people sitting at a lower level with no immediate ability to ignore his behaviour seemed to give him the opportunity to put himself right in their faces. We had to restrain him again, and Phil sat pretty much for the whole time holding on to his lead and making him lie at his feet. The minute he seemed to relax, the lead was dropped, but he would immediately jump up and become a tornado again. It ended up with him being restrained pretty much for most of the evening, with periods of freedom being spent running non stop around the room, running into his crate and spinning and barking, licking the wall and trying to get the attention of anyone who was interested. When this failed, he would simply turn his attention to his tail and start to spin non stop and bark.

As soon as we closed the door when our guests departed, he completely changed into a chilled dog, lay on his bed and went to sleep!

I can't tell you how much research I've done on his behaviour, and how many different techniques I have tried to overcome it. If he knows you are in the house when you put him in another room, he will bark incessantly and throw himself at the door. When it goes quiet, it's because he's found something to trash and it's almost as if he knows that this behaviour gets a reaction, and that's all he wants. When you crate him, he spins. We have gone out of the house and recorded him on the video, and although he is reasonably quiet after ten minutes or so, he still doesn't stop the spinning altogether. He cannot be left with even the most basic crate tray covering - even a flat canvas cover was ripped.

It's now time to call in the experts, because we need to have a proper assessment of this behaviour. I could honestly cry when I think of what his prospects are, because when he is calm and with you, he really is the most wonderful dog. The problem is that none of our friends so far believe us, because they just don't witness this behaviour. At work, he sleeps for most of the day, takes no notice whatsoever of the comings and goings of the staff, and is the happiest dog as long as he is within ten feet of you. We laughingly say he needs an owner who doesn't drive, walks everywhere, is home all day with him, and never has visitors. Really, it is no joke. His homing prospects are so limited. A life in kennels will send him into meltdown, and he would have absolutely no quality of life. You really do wish he was human and you could sit him down, take him by the shoulders gently and say, "Tucker, listen mate. You really do need to change this behaviour for your own good, because otherwise the outlook is so bleak."

If anyone has any experience of this type of behaviour and can give any advice, please let me know. I can honestly say that none of the 'complementary' medicines are showing any signs of working, although it is early days and we has only been with us for five weeks. So far, we've tried valerian and skullcap, DAP and Zylkene, without the slightest effect.

With all my heart, I really want to help this dog, and I am not one to give up easily. I know that if he had been rehomed from the kennels, he would have bounced repeatedly. A lot of people could not, or would not, put up with this behaviour, and when there are so many decent dogs in the world without issues, who would honestly choose to take a dog like Tucker? I hope the experts will have some ideas and possible solutions. At this point in time, however, I am very, very concerned about his future prospects.

Ohh Ria,

I feel for you and I wish I could write someting that makes you feel better. I think it is fair to say that you are probably the best thing that has ever happened in Tuckers life and you ARE doing an INCREDIBLE job. I know you will not give up and Tucker deserves every help he gets from you. I wish you good luck with what you're up to next. It will be very intersting for all of us to read what an expert says.
Fingers crossed, toes crossed, paws crossed ! xx

Well said La La I am sure too that Tucker is being given the best chance he has I am sure that I for one would not have taken him on or explored so many avenues...it would seem that Tucker does need the help of a professional to give an assessment of the best course of action in the next stage of Tuckers life...It would be so good if there was an easy solution as it seems underneath all the insecurities & abnormal behaviour there is a lovely boy just waiting to surface let's hope that together you can find the key .. PS I'm surprised you have any friends left!! it must have been an exhausting evening lol

.. but we were actually glad to see the back of our friends because we knew that it was the only way to stop Tucker's behaviour. That's not right, is it? It put me on edge all night, because at times we were talking over his spinning and barking and pretending it wasn't happening, and it was really draining. Phil is so laid back, and says, "Ignore it!" but when you can see your guests being jumped on and you're constantly worried about what he's going to do next, it's just not relaxing.

Tucker is such a lovely dog without the triggers that make him an absolute nightmare. Is it enough to find him a home though? Without those triggers he is 100% sound.

Last night I was on the phone for over an hour and Phil was busy on his laptop. Tucker started to pull on my trousers and I had to reprimand him, so he took himself off. I thought he had gone into the lounge to sit with Phil, but instead he went to his 'den' (the crate in the kitchen) and ripped the bed apart. There is such an element of pouting childishness about him! It's almost like it is revenge for not making him 100% of your attention.

Do you know what? If I could find the lowlife previous owners who have turned this dog into what he is now, I would line them up against the wall and shoot them. It makes me so angry that this poor dog is probably beyond redemption because of their initial neglect and lack of proper training.

Click to see how Tucker finds his own entertainment

I sent an email to the trustees setting out my concerns with Tucker, and requesting a proper assessment of his behaviour. One of the suggestions was to try a marrowbone! So, as well as writing a complete outline to the behaviourist and sending it by email, I also went off to the butcher in search of a big meaty marrowbone. Well, my wish was his command, and I came back with what I can only describe as the best part of a bull!! And all for the cost of a pound in the Air Ambulance collection tin! Wonderful!! The minute I got into the office, both noses were twitching (making me wish I had asked him to cut it in two, but I was trying to be as co-operative as possible and not wanting to put the butcher to work for no money!). Anyway, home time came and I unwrapped the marrowbone and lay it on the back seat of my car. Tucker jumped up, and got stuck in. We didn't hear a peep from him all the way home!! Don't tell me we've been going through hell for the past six weeks just for the sake of a bloody marrow bone!!!

The next day, I had the plumber calling, so I asked Phil to just take Phoebe to work and I would see how we got on with a visitor and the marrow bone. I popped the bone into his crate and he shot in after it. The plumber turned up, and I opened the door before he rang the bell, and Tucker was so engrossed in his bone he didn't realise there was someone in the house! So far, so good. The plumber got on with servicing the boiler, and eventually I could hear some rumblings from the crate, so I went to have a look and Tucker was sat at the door, with his head cocked to one side as if he was trying to make out what was going on. I brought him out of the crate and kept him on the short lead and let him see the plumber. He got quite excited and was dying to jump all over him, but I said no, and went back to my office with him. He stayed close and was easily distracted. Again, I thought don't tell me we've been to hell and back with this dog and a marrow bone is the answer!! Anyway, my hopes came crashing down when the plumber started packing his gear up. The copper wire in his hand was too much of a temptation and Tucker flew at it and jumped up, almost sending the plumber flying. Then we had the full tail chasing, spinning, wall licking, barking episode. The plumber was quite co-operative when I asked him to just ignore Tucker and push him away if he jumped up. I was hoping that Tucker would lose interest and calm down, but it was not to be. In the end, I had to crate him again and listen to the barking and crashing around until the plumber left.

We then walked the two and a half miles to work, with me carrying this lump of bone in my rucksack!! The last mile of the walk was on a short lead, and he walked so well. A lady was coming towards me with such a smile on her face, and she stopped and said what a well behaved dog he was. I agreed that his walking was brilliant. She went on to tell me about her two female staffies, mother and daughter, and how they went into ridiculous heightened excitement with visitors. She said it was fine with people she knew, but very embarrassing with general callers. She said she would have to put them out of the room. However, hers do not bark or rip things up when she puts them out, and that is what I would like to aim for with Tucker as a first step.

In the evening when we left work, the love affair with the marrow bone was well and truly over in the car, and it held no interest for Tucker whatsoever. So, on the one hand, I didn't feel so stupid that a marrowbone was the answer to my prayers, but on the other hand, I wished that it had.

If I haven't heard back from the behaviourist this weekend, I will chase her. We have plans to go up to the kennels tomorrow and collect some Advocate for his next treatment, and also walk some dogs and do some socialising with some of the dogs in kennels. No doubt we will need our ear defenders in the car for the journey and we will probably crate him and pop him in the back. I will swap the crate for the one that doesn't have hard plastic clip locks, because he is nearly all the way through them, and would probably burst out of the crate just as we are on a road where you can't stop.

I have put a plea onto the FDR facebook wall asking for the loan of childgates. I think a first step would be leaving the door open but stopping him from coming out. This works really well at work and reduces some of the separation anxiety (Sarah kindly gave me the long term loan of a child gate last summer when I was fostering Vik, and I can't tell you how useful it has been for training Denzel and Tucker with the separation anxiety at work - and also stopping the pair of them going on wastepaper bin duty in the hope of staff leftovers). I am hoping for some similar results at home, but with so many doors I need at least two. If anyone knows anyone who is selling them cheap, let me know. My budget just doesn't stretch to all the extras. I'm still coming to terms with the cost of three more Kongs and a new coat (for Tucker, not me)!!

I had the great pleasure to meet Tucker today. Dear me, what a sweet boy he is.

I then got to see him live in the car, also. Good griev, this dog has a serious problem. I had read it thousand times in Ria's treads, but it is different seeing it for real.
Poor poor tucker. He goes absolutely mental and just won't stop spinning around in his crade, trying to chase his shortened tail, which of course he can not reach. As soon as he is out of the car its all over. So strange....and he is so happy to get INTO the car, too. Mysterious. I realy hope that the behaviourist has an idea how to free Tucker from this curse.
Good luck little Tucker- such a lovely lovely boy. You should al meet him, he is so so cute.

We went over to FDR on Saturday with Tucker to pick up some worming meds for his next dose, and to socialise him with a few dogs.

He and Ruby walked side by side without any problems, and were fine together in the playpen until they had a ruck about a toy that had not been put away. If dogs are to be socialised in the pen, then toys need to be put away first. A lesson for next time.

He and Ali, a sweet dog currently being looked after in Kim's bungalow, got along famously. He also met sweet Annie, and gave her a few growls and gentle mouthings when she became a little too familiar, too quickly. He is actually very good with young dogs, putting them in their place. We stood at the playpen while the puppies were being exercised, and they were very excited to meet him through the wire.

We had changed the crate in the car for the one with slide locks, but unfortunately Tucker spinned so much that they vibrated loose and he got out of the crate. We ended up having to lock it with the lead clip. He did his best to escape again. He took absolutely no notice of his marrowbone or his kong. I thought I would try him in the footwell of the car, not least because he had managed to pull a couple of things through the bars of his crate and trash them, and after we had done the shopping the boot was rather full and it was impossible not to have things up against the crate. He was better in that there wasn't the room to spin, although he did give it a go. That in itself was less distracting. We only had to put up with the heavy panting with the vocals on each out breath, but at least he was pretty stationery, until the windscreen wipers came on automatically and he tried to lunge for them. I did have to keep quite a firm hold on his harness for the whole journey, so it wasn't ideal but at least he couldn't do himself damage with the spinning.

We picked up a couple of chidgates from Lucy (thanks so much!), and managed to install one on the lounge door. It was interesting that when he tried to follow me to the kitchen I said no, and he sat on the other side of the gate without it actually being closed. He obviously has associated the gate at work with short separation, and he was happy to sit by the gate in the lounge until I got back (it was a very short space of time, but nevertheless it was a start).

Kate, the behaviourist, is coming to assess Tucker next weekend. It will be fantastic to have her input into his behaviour. At least she won't have to wait to observe it - I am sure that he will display his problem behaviour as soon as she arrives.

I doubt that we will be able to address the car behaviour, which is not such a dealbreaker if we can find the right adopter who does not need to transport him. Sadly, we can't avoid the use of the car as we have to use it to go to work, and in some ways I feel guilty for having to put him through this stress twice a day. Fortunately, it is a short journey to and from work, and once he is out of the car, he settles immediately. The sad thing is that we love to go rambling in the forest at weekends, because it is the only place we can trust Phoebe to be off lead (on a trailing lead) without feeling on edge if she takes herself off (from farmers with shotguns). Since having Tucker, we have cut down on forest weekends and done most of the walking from home. This in itself is not a bad thing, because we are surrounded by countryside, but it does mean we have to keep Phoebe on the extending lead at all times, and she certainly doesn't get the same level of exercise as running in the forest or, more importantly, the enjoyment. We went to the forest again yesterday, and decided by the time we got home that it is so exhausting having to put ourselves through Tucker's behaviour, that we will not do any more trips with him in the car other than work and vet trips. For this reason, we will have to put a timescale on our fostering of Tucker, so I am really, really hoping that Kate can come up with some techniques where we see some improvement, even tiny improvement.

If anybody knows anyone that does not drive, and spends a lot of time at home, or works from home, and is looking for a wonderful companion dog, please get in touch.