Anything chemical that can calm and relax a dog?

Ok our Bingo has always been anxious and highly strung. He needs walking basically (no sorry not walking running with a bike) upto 20miles each day just to feel calm and chilled otherwise he has alot of energy (I guess like a working Collie?).

The difference is our dog is a large/well shaped West Highland Terrier and I don’t have the time to run him every day like that.

Is there anything at all we can give him to calm him down/chill him out?

He’ll just whine all day long whatever you do.

We are on the edge of rehoming him after 7yrs of ownership (since he was 12weeks old) however I worry that any new owner would reject him again so I am in limbo.

This is going to get interesting.

valium

DAP collars and some other meds like Kalm-aid or Zyklene from your vet may help but it sounds like a behaviourist might be more useful in the long term.

have you thought of asking your vet?

Hora, I think you know the answer. I think this kind of spells out why perhaps you should consider re-homing him, is there actually anything wrong with him, is he ill? I’m not sure he is, he is just a dog that needs to run his socks off, I think we all feel like that..

TBH you could get drugs to chill him out (one of my dogs as a kid was on diazepam) but I thinkt hat would be actually wrong, send him off to an owner who lives on farm or wants to do the 20 miles a day..

have you thought of asking your vet?

Sometimes walking into a vet is akin to dropping your secondhand car off at a main dealer and saying ‘could you find out why its making that noise and cure it’? So that they use your wallet to investigate and figure out at your expense throwing parts at the problem until the hit the source?

Rather than using a forum/google to cut to the chase.

Funnily enough hes getting ‘worse’ as hora junior becomes more active.

He probably has all this energy because he needs a bit of ‘how’s your father’…

Be a good Daddy.

Oooh yes TSY is right, has he been done? If not then get that sorted and all will be well.

Shut up Toys, I’m on about Hora relieving the sexual tension himself, none of this vet malarky.

Mind you… cutting his nuts off would probably see him less than chipper for a little while at least.

He was done at 6months.

Shut up Toys

Ooops sorry, I didn’t mean to get in between you and your manual relief/beast fantasy, wrong un..

TSY, it’s not clear; are you talking about the dog in your second sentence?

Be a good Daddy.

*voms*

I know nothing about the breed specifics, but could he need mental stimulation? Your comment about collies is a common misconception, but actually what most collies lack is mental stimulation – they need about an hour’s worth of ‘work’ a day or they can be a real pain in the butt. Lots of folk tend to up the exercise for their collies, which just leads to super fit, bored collies. I think it woud be unusual to find a Westie that needed 20 miles worth of exercise a day – most of ones around us get an couple of short walks per day and their owners don’t mention any problems.

Don’t know if that helps, but I hope you find an answer.

Cougar… I don’t even know anymore… sometimes I type on here whilst my brain is working elsewhere… ummm… yeah. Cut off Hora’s bits too I guess.

Hora
What food are you using? can make a huge difference, I have had Bearded Collies for 25 years now so know how active types of dogs can be!

Have a word in a food shop that has some knowledge (not a chain) and see if a change of diet helps

But you did get a terrier type so………..

Also have a look on doggy forums relating to terriers, theres lots of help on there

DAP collars

They also do it in a spray, works extremely well.

If he is that “busy” I would suggest trying to stimulate him mentally, try some dog training, you’d be surprised how tiring it can be for the dog. Dogs generally only need what they are given, so if he’s used to 20 miles running, then he will be wanting/need the 20 miles. Maybe try weening him off the mileage instead of going cold turkey.

Castrating him should also help, but this won’t happen overnight, maybe get the dog done too 😕

I know nothing about the breed specifics, but could he need mental stimulation? Your comment about collies is a common misconception, but actually what most collies lack is mental stimulation – they need about an hour’s worth of ‘work’ a day or they can be a real pain in the butt. Lots of folk tend to up the exercise for their collies, which just leads to super fit, bored collies. I think it woud be unusual to find a Westie that needed 20 miles worth of exercise a day – most of ones around us get an couple of short walks per day and their owners don’t mention any problems.

+1

ditch_jockey +1 on the mental stimulation

My springer can get by on a short walk a day if he gets plenty of mental stimulation ,

Reviewing his food is a very good idea – I’d forgotten that one of things we had to do with our collie when she was young was look for a food which had far less protein. Eventually we settled on Burns dried food, which we still use with a 50/50 mix of Wilson’s working dog muesli. I was amazed at him much more settled she was within a week or two of dropping the amount of protein in her diet down to around 20%. I have some information at home that I coud double check for you if you want to know any more.

Yep, there is now way a Westie needs 20 miles a day, and if it did its hips would be **** in no time.

Stop ignoring him as you have a new baby, play with him, do fetch and find it games and may’be hire a dog walker that can take him out with groups of dogs so he gets some fun, if you really don’t have *any* time to spend with him, bearing in mind you watching telly with the dog in the same room is not going to mentally simulate him.

The 20 miles is more to do with dedicated time with the dog rather than distance, and you have to remember that dogs aren’t like bike bits that you can replace once you are bored with them.

basically MTFU, give you dog some attention and stop looking for quick/lazy fixes, because you can’t arsed to play with your dog anymore.

The difference is our dog is a large/well shaped West Highland Terrier and I don’t have the time to run him every day like that.

So give him to somebody who can and get a pet that is better suited to your lifestyle. In all honesty, you should be legally prevented from having animals.

Space cake.

Just think of his poor kid in 7 years, when he’s bored of it.

Has anyone done the ‘not just for Xmas’ thing yet?

CHOMP. Three Fish, we’ve never had to cut our dogs claws, hes never had a skin allergy (which is common to Westies), the Vet can measure at least seven ribs, his weight is constant between annual check ups and he is a socialable and active dog normally.

Maybe I should feed him cake and walk him round the block in my slippers whilst smoking a cig?

Bachs rescue remedy drops in his water and mentally tire him out as well as physically. Leave him kongs full of difficult to get treats, even leave classic fm on very low in the background, worked wonders with our two when they were younger, even works in the car on longer journeys.

Bachs rescue remedy drops in his water and mentally tire him out as well as physically. Leave him kongs full of difficult to get treats, even leave classic fm on very low in the background, worked wonders with our two when they were younger, even works in the car on longer journeys.

So thats Hora covered. what about his dog?

I know nothing about the breed specifics, but could he need mental stimulation? Your comment about collies is a common misconception, but actually what most collies lack is mental stimulation – they need about an hour’s worth of ‘work’ a day or they can be a real pain in the butt. Lots of folk tend to up the exercise for their collies, which just leads to super fit, bored collies. I think it woud be unusual to find a Westie that needed 20 miles worth of exercise a day – most of ones around us get an couple of short walks per day and their owners don’t mention any problems.

Was going to post something similar but cut & past is quicker.

It does sound like you are using the ’20 miles a day’ to try and exhaust the dog into calming down rather than dealing with the problem.

20miles is abit of an exaggeration however he is worsening and its coinciding with hora junior becoming more active.

hora – Member
20miles is abit of an exaggeration however he is worsening and its coinciding with hora junior becoming more active.

Sounds like it’s an attention thing to me.

Oh, and that GIF of a dog being thrown out of a moving car up there is pretty sick. I bet it really appreciated that.

Oh, and that GIF of a dog being thrown out of a moving car up there is pretty sick. I bet it really appreciated that

+1

I think it jumped?

We had problems with our Springer when I was growing up…excitable, bitey. The vet wanted to put him down as he was ‘dangerous’…but my Mum took him to a respected dog trainer who suggested cutting his balls off and a specific training plan. He was a big softy after that.

I think you need Cesar Millan to be honest.

Oh, and that GIF of a dog being thrown out of a moving car up there is pretty sick. I bet it really appreciated that.

🙄

&

it jumped

It’s a pretty famous YouTube clip. But if you want to get all Grauniad about it, that’s fine by me.

I think the do jumped out of the car to join the other one.

Hora seriously; have you considered a dog walker taking him out for 90 minutes or so twice a week, you will need to find one that takes out groups of dogs though.

Also look at his food, and ensure that you give him a bit below the amount recommended on the bag. As if you feed him either too much or stuff with too much protein that energy has to go somewhere.

Also limit treats to the low fat/diet ones as they have less calories.

Mainly though you need to mentally simulate him, just sitting in the same room just doesn’t cut it, you need to play with the dog and make him work, so kongs, or even make him sit in another room wait, and then hide a treat somewhere and get him to search it out is a good start.