So im new to borzoi parenthood, and am loving life with one. I have an almost 10month old male borzoi. Neutered. 32" at the shoulders. His name is milashka and he is like a child to us. However we have had some problems... unfortunatly at 4 months old, we took Milashka to the vets for a check up and they told us he was really underweight and that the reason being was the food he was on was too full of fillers and additives that there wasn't enough good stuff in it for him to get the nutritional content he needed. That was a shock to us since the brand of food was a good well trusted brand. But we changed his food and he started to rapidly gain weight and energy. All was well however just over a month ago we took the the vets for a regular weigh in just to check and the receptionist told us he had actually lost weight since last time and it was quite alarming considering we are on a journey to bulk him up.. so we took him in again and had to do a fecal test. Turns out my boy had picked up a parasite and a chronic bacterial infection. Thats why he lost the weight. He is still a loving boy and listens to us as much as a borzoi is willing. But with his weight issues and sickness, came behaviour problems. He was understandably constantly hungry, so would eat anything and everything. Even non edible things..now i know this is fairly common in a lot of dogs, but it became a habit with some risks. He has eaten, and entire tennis ball, a kitchen sponge, a toilet roll, the handle of a mini shovel, pizza with onion on it, a chocolate bar and the wrapper whole, a bag of chocolate and the wrapper whole, our carpet, cat litter, cat food, bird seed, a button, cardboard.. the list goes on and he will try his luck with anything he knows he shouldnt have. This obviously has resulted in high vet bills, but more importantly a habit thay now means nothing is safe. Whats really strange is if you drop food of the floor, even his food, he will leave it until you tell him to get it. We trained him to do this and knows to do it. But if its something non edible, he has to have it. He has never taken food from our plates, the table or the kitchen. But will eat non edible items from anywhere!! Unfortunately, as a result of all of his eating things he shouldnt and weight issues and constantly being hungry, he started to gaurd his food a bit. We were always having to take things out of his mouth and i think it put him on edge now and he doesnt trust us too much. We started to work on his food gaurding,by offering yummy treats when he eats so he knows thay theres nothing scary about us. And he was fine with it for months, but without any warning what so ever, not a single glance, snarl, growl or anything, he did lunge and manage to bite me. Which was a massive shock since he is such a sweet and loving boy all the time. When he has bones to chew on he brings them to us to hold them for him so its easier to chew. He has never been too bothered. We tend to leave him alone at the moment so he can gain confidence with his food and not be scared or feel pressured to eat. Since he is quite a nervous dog sometimes we think he is just scared that we will take it away and that he isnt trying to be aggressive. If anyone has any ideas to build his confidence up around us with food that would be great. Our other current issue is that all of a sudden, barking has become the best thing in the world to Milashka. He has always been a quiet and relaxed dog besides the occasional crying for attention. But if we are eating he barks relentlessly. We know hes nervous so we dont shout or tell him off, insteas we turn our backs so he knows we arent interested. We keep eating and show him no attention what so ever. he stops after a while and we turn around praise him and keep eating. But as soon as we praise him he starts again sometimes. And he does it every time!! Its strange to us since we have never fed him from the table, our plates or even given him stuff that we are eating. So it seems like a form of begging, without really knowing what hes begging for. He also seems to be barking at other dogs. In his litter he was the alpha, but he is quite scared/nervous/anxious around other dogs. Up close he is okay with them. Its obvious he isnt over enthusiastic about being that close to them, his tail hangs and his ears drop. If hes nose to nose,hes nervous,or of they go behind him to smell he tries to run away. If you are a few feet away he desperatly pulls and wags and gets over excited to say hello. And if they are more in the distance he goes into a barking frenzy. Its such a strange combination of bark from far away, then get excited, then be terrified? Its confusing us since he seems to have every emotion about dogs. The barking is getting worse though. It looks aggressive to everyone, but we know thats not what hes doing. His ears are up and his tails wagging. We find that since he id a big boy, people think he is a fully grown adult dog who is aggressive. No one is familiar with sighthounds where we live anyway. But people dont realise is he is only a puppy. So as soon as he barks people put their dogs on lead or walk the other way. And generally avoid us. So then we cant even get a good interaction with any dog, because nobody wants to come near milashka. When he has his sights set on a dog and has already started barking,nothing can break his focus. Not any amount of food,you could even hang a steak in front of his face and he wouldnt blink. However, if we go on a dog walk with another dog after the initial shock of seeing another dog, he barks and whatever for 5 minutes ish,and then once he realises the dog isnt going away he starts to show some interest and has had a little play by chasing eachother before, but normally just walks on and does his normal thing and isnt even bothered by the dog anymore. unfortunatlyn the only person we are close with a dog that will let theres off and be relaxed and everything is a 2hour drive away and we only see them once every few months. So its not really an option to walk with them refularly. We think it might be the medication he is on that has been throwing him off a bit recently. But we think it also boils down to the fact that hes sick, and he knows it. So when he is around other dogs he knows hes the weak one and either gets defensive or scared knowing he is the vulnerable one. It does make think difficult. We live in an area where there are loads of dogs! But no dogs people..theyre people that have a dog,and like dogs, bbut they arent true dog people i dont know if that makes sense to anyone. But no other dog beside theirs matters, they dont know anything about other breeds, they dont care to and are more interested in getting the family dogs daily walk done and home so they can relax. We see lots of dogs being improperly handled where they dont really know what theyre doing but like to think they do,and it makes it really stressful when people judge us for our dogs behaviour, when he is a puppy, is sick and is on a few medications for it. All in all he is quite well behaved and quite responsive for a borzoi. He knows basic training and responsed to basic training really well if theres food involved. Theres sit,stay, lay down, up,down,spin, paws,high fives, to bed, drop it, kisses and look at me. He also sits and waits for his food until we tell him to. Sits and waits at roadsides to cross until we tell him to. Is well lead trained and has incredible recall for a borzoi. We have him off lead everyday at the local river, walking fields and lake. We play fetch and chase and even hide and seek and he comes back everytime. We understand they are a stubborn breed and are fully aware, prepared and patient for this factor. But we are worried about complaints from neighbours for barking and are concerned about his slight agression at his meal times. He is such a sweet and loving young boy. He is so handsome and so friendly towards people. Hes so attatched to us, he comes everywhere with us! Hes a real little explorer pup! He loves full attention,is a real lap dog. Hes a total goofball and loves any sort of attention. Maybe hes a little too attatched. But any advice would be so so helpful!! Im a self employed dog walker, so i deal with lots of dogs regularly and see so many different issues with every kind of dog and severity. Theres so many dogs that you cant touch theire paws, toys, treats, food, collar, tail or they bite. So so many dogs that are other dog aggressive and love to steal food. We know Milashkas problems are kind of common issues but we want him to live the best best life possible,and the less issues we have with him early on the better for later. We were advised by a dog trainer that every dog has an issue with something even if they arent showing it. Some dogs arent other dog sociable and never will be. Some just dont want to. And that resource gaurding is a natural instinct that doesnt have to be corrected unless theres children in the house. Thoughts? And ideas would be helpful?
