[Lorelei]

So, Adalwolf went to the vet recently, and all went well, but the vet said that he is dramatic! lol. I knew he was a bit on the drama-queen side, since he yelps if he just thinks you are about to step on his foot, but to have a vet say it just makes it that much more strange!

He was absolutely fine getting his shot when he couldn't see the needle, but anything else that was in his line of sight, and that he didn't like, he was a complete baby over.

Do you guys have 'dramatic' dogs too or is this just an Adalwolf special?
Should I try and help him get over it, or ignore it?
Its pretty funny most of the time, like when I accidentally stepped on his foot and he limped over to me like he would never be able to walk again, until he saw I was about to open the door to go outside, and then he ran out that door and completely forgot about his foot, which just moments before was most definitely broken and needed instant attention and sympathy! lol.

However, my sister (vet tech for a long time) said that dramatic puppies can sometimes become nippers later in life when they are stepped on/accidentally hurt , so should I be correcting his behavior somehow?

Sigh...he sure is a goofy little drama king though, and I sure do love him!

 

[Vinnie]

How old is Adalwolf?

 

[onyx'girl]

He is adorable! What a cute face :wub:
I would take him to the vet for fun visits/weigh ins and treats,pets. He may become reactive and fearful at the vet if he is feeling vulnerable now. If he feels confident at the vet, he will be better off than fearing or worrying about getting a correction.
NO corrections, just make it fun. The vet tech and vet's body language should also be non-threatening, hopefully they are aware of how they approach him.
Make his visits fun and he will look forward to going there vs hackling~ fearing what is behind the front door.

 

[Lorelei]

We believe he will be about 4 months around November 4th. He actually is fine with going to the vet, but he is just very dramatic when it comes to doing anything he is uncomfortable with, so I can see how eventually he would come to associate that negative feeling with the vet, so that is a good idea to try and make it as much fun as possible.

Should I do something different at home though, when he starts to act like that? It is so strange, I've seen him body slam into things when jumping, and I've seen him running so fast that he trips and falls and slides a good couple of feet on his face, and he acts like it was the greatest thing ever, but then when I tried to hold him to check for a tick, he sat there and cried, and all I was doing was gently holding him in place.

I don't want him to feel such fear that I might hurt him somehow, whenever I have to do something to him, and I'd like to try and make him understand that. My old girl was always a rag doll when I needed to do something to her, and she would lie there and relax while I did whatever it was, but I can't, in retrospect, figure out how I got her to trust me like that. Should I just continue being gentle with him and hope that he catches on that I am not going to do something horrible to him each time I have to do something?

 

[onyx'girl]

When he is in a relaxed state, massage him, all the way down to his toenails. Get him use to you touching him all over. Don't force yourself on him or that will make him balk. But on the other hand, he needs to know you are not going to hurt him and are the one that he needs to submit to. A fine line, so make these experiences positive with high value treats and lots of praise.
Karlo is much the same about things, males seem to be full of drama!

 

[Vinnie]

Have you been socializing him to new sounds, situations and experiences?
The suggestion from onyx'girl is a form of socialization. I would recommend more things like this but in many different situations besides just the vet.

 

[doggiedad]

oh yeah??

Karlo is much the same about things, males seem to be full of drama!

 

[selzer]

He is adorable. How could you step on his little pawsie or let the mean vampire doctor stick needles into him????

Believe it or not, my first GSD, the dominant, aggressive, drop-eared, high energy, high drive WL/BYBL, hard dog would yelp and cry and carryon whenever I stepped on him. HE was CONSTANTLY underfoot. I suppose you could say he was full of drama.

 

[Zoeys mom]

Zoe was a drama queen at the vet, nail trimmings and ear cleanings big time!!!I would just sit in bed with her with my clicker and treats and touch her foot and ear briefly, click, and treat. I would go through 20+ treats with just brief light touches and then moved onto holding the paw and ear, click, treat, and so on until she didn't react anymore. Then I broke out the cotton balls and clippers. Touched the ear/paw with them briefly, click, and treat. Then hold them on the ear/paw, click, and treat until finally I could clean one ear, click, treat, clip one toe, click treat. He is young and those things are rightfully foreign and scary- take it slooooow, make it fun, and treat/praise a lot

 

[Wolfenstein]

Should I do something different at home though, when he starts to act like that? It is so strange, I've seen him body slam into things when jumping, and I've seen him running so fast that he trips and falls and slides a good couple of feet on his face, and he acts like it was the greatest thing ever, but then when I tried to hold him to check for a tick, he sat there and cried, and all I was doing was gently holding him in place.

As the owner of a VERY dramatic husky, I know exactly what you're going through. Like everyone else has mentioned, it's all a matter of getting your dog used to odd situations while keeping him calm and happy. The biggest thing I struggled with, with my dog is his nails. We adopted him when he was 4 years old, and he was already in full swing ready to fight tooth & nail to have them done. Huskies tend to be dramatic as it is, too, and if you let it go on long enough, they realize that screaming like you just lobbed off a foot will get them what they want, so it only gets worse! I'm assuming it would be the same for your guy.

The best time to work on things like manipulating paws, ears, etc, is after a nice walk or play session where your dog's good & tired out. Then you need to hold on to paws and move them around, hold on to legs, etc. Something a lot of people forget is that while at first just touching them and holding them is a good start, you need to eventually be able to really, firmly grasp whatever you're working on, so things like getting a good grip to cut nails or draw blood is the norm. Also, always see if you can keep your dog under his threshold for freaking out, and if he starts to tug a bit, give some reassuring talk to calm him down, but don't actually let go of the leg until he's ok with it again. It's easier said than done, and it takes some time to get the timing right (resist him TOO much, and he's going to freak out, making it worse).

This is also something you want to work on every single day if you want to make progress. It's also something you should keep working on for the life of your dog, because it helps keep them accustomed to weird things, and calm and happy in odd situations.

 

[KZoppa]

haha my pack is dramatic about various things. Shasta intentionally gets her back foot caught going into the crate just so she doesnt have to go in. But she's also learned that i'll check to make sure nothing is broken and still shove her in. I'm not allowed to do laundry if she cant be there so she sits at the baby gate and just whines and gets all kinds of dramatic. Riley is very talented at hurting himself. He could be totally healed and STILL be milking it or trying to. Shelby get so excited about meal time that she dances and prances and just gets herself so worked up she cant eat. Just make the positives stay positive and he'll probably grow out of it only to find something else to be dramatic about.

 

[onyx'girl]

I tried to do Karlo's nails myself, he is over 90# of muscle. I did the puppy foot massage as he grew up and he is just foot ticklish or something.
There is no way he was going to let me trim or dremel his nails, so instead of battling him and reducing our relationship/bond, I took him to a fellow club member who did the dirty deed for me. She was excited about the challenge!!

I was there(out of K's sight) and he was so vocal, you thought she was "lobbing off a foot!" He was on the grooming table and I had put the muzzle on him before she led him into the grooming room.
When it was over, she brought him out, I took off the muzzle and he was just fine. He even went back into the grooming room with no hesitation~he just absolutely hates to have his feet messed with. I won't make him submit to me on this, I am picking my battles and he will have them done by someone I trust.

 

[Jax08]

Every vet I've ever spoken to tell me that GSD's are the biggest babies they see! :rofl:

 

[Lorelei]

Haha! I love it that Adal isn't the only one! There was some great advice in this thread, and I plan on trying out some of these ways of conditioning him to be relaxed while I 'horribly mutilate him'!

He is very good in new situations, believe it or not. I've never had such a good dog when it comes to not being afraid of people or strange sounds, etc. There have been many instances when things have fallen off of counters, or weird stuff like that, and I thought as it was happening, "Oh no, he is gonna panic!" and then I'll look at him, and he will just be curious and happy, and running over to see what new thing just made that noise. However, this does NOT apply to the vacuum for some reason. The extremely loud blender is fine, but the quiet little vacuum is apparently a psychotic demon out to maul his tiny butt, and under the bed is the only safe place when it comes out hunting for puppy-souls!

So, I suppose these specific moments in time, when he is feeling vulnerable, are what I need to start really working on.

He is so odd though, because when we are relaxing, I can do just about anything with him. I rub his feet all the time, and he is completely okay with it. He lies on his back and lets me rub his belly while I study, or stick my feet under him to keep them warm (heehee) and I can pull him around to reposition him, and he never gets upset. But, the moment there is something important I have to do to him, he gets upset. THere must be something in the tension I feel when I have to 'do' something to him, like when I found a tick on him and had to remove it, and that tension must relay to him.

Thanks for all the advice, and the good drama stories! I love the personalities that come through the stories!!

 

[KZoppa]

Every vet I've ever spoken to tell me that GSD's are the biggest babies they see! :rofl:

its funny too! We have these dogs that are supposed to be these big tough ferocious scary dogs and they're freaking drama queens!!! lol. I love it! It cracks me up so much. Riley starts freaking out and carrying on when we have to take him to the vet because he thinks they're going to shave him again to get to his most recent act of stupidity resulting in the vet trip. He's such a wimp. lol.

 

[Dainerra]

yes, Rayden has done it before. I once cut a nail too short and he milked it forever! It wasn't until my husband pointed out that the foot he was limping on wasn't even the one hurt that I realized he was faking!

 

[KZoppa]

yes, Rayden has done it before. I once cut a nail too short and he milked it forever! It wasn't until my husband pointed out that the foot he was limping on wasn't even the one hurt that I realized he was faking!

i have to ask, did you name Rayden after a mortal combat character? if you did thats awesome if not thats cool too. I'm just curious! lol

Riley does that OH YOU HURT MY FOOT!!!! and will limp around too when its not even the same foot. I just tell him to stop faking it and he goes and pouts cuz he got busted. lol

 

[Dainerra]

yes, he is Blackthorn's Lord Rayden. Rayden (technically spelled Raiden), Japanese god of lightning, though most people know him from Mortal Kombat

If they didn't sound so similar, I would name my second dog Raiju - Rayden's companion, a beast made of lightning or fire. He is often shown as a wolf

 

[KZoppa]

yes, he is Blackthorn's Lord Rayden. Rayden (technically spelled Raiden), Japanese god of lightning, though most people know him from Mortal Kombat

If they didn't sound so similar, I would name my second dog Raiju - Rayden's companion, a beast made of lightning or fire. He is often shown as a wolf

see i would have gone with Raiju simply because i love wolves lol. thats pretty cool though. I actually would probably name our next male Scorpian and Raja (cuz i love Raja from Aladdin!).

 

[Dainerra]

Raiiju is a name I learned recently. Rayden was 7 in Aug. I love mythology names as well as those that connect me to something I like. Our first dog as a family was named Connor - hubby is a HUGE Highlander fan!