Koda, amazing dog, extremely high maintenance

[sierra_moonlite]

Good morning!
We are a family in rural Nevada who came upon a dog that was scheduled for euthanasia at a nearby pound. For some reason, the matriarch of the family made a command decision that the dog must join the family at once. He is now known as Koda, the cocoa bear dog. Koda had been placed in the pound after a long strange trip that began in a different part of Nevada. This was his second time on death row. Koda had been accused of biting a young boy so was taken to a vet for euthanasia. The vet tech asked if the owner would just surrender him to be given to "someone who trains dogs for the military". Previous owner said yes and Koda went to the supposed military trainer. Supposed military trainer gave him to yet another "military K-9 trainer" who had young children. At some point, Koda decided he did not like to be ridden like a pony and threw "some boy" off of him and growled. Off to the pound for Koda, where he displayed such aggression at being kenneled that it was determined euthanasia was the best outcome for the situation. His story was found on a facebook page where someone was talking about how sad it was that the dog could not be rehabilitated.
That is where we come in. I called the rural pound and asked about the dog, explained that we live in a very rural area and don't try to ride our dogs like ponies. The rural pound explained that they would release him to the person that had brought him in and we could do the hand off as they did not want liability.
We went to get Koda and all was well. We learned from the "military K-9 trainer" that he did not like to be "flanked", whatever that was. We also learned about his issues with being caged.
Koda likes to bully our other dogs and because he is much bigger (86 lbs) he intimidates them. Koda also thinks it is fun to sometimes bully the husband by grabbing his pant leg and pulling him to the ground. Husband is very inexperienced with dogs and does not state "No!" in a commanding fashion but pleads with Koda to stop. Koda listens generally to only me and my daughter. He does not seem to think males are worthy of his attention, unless he is bullying them.
Koda also seems to have issues with shadows, he chases them incessantly. I have been researching laser pointer syndrome in dogs and I think he may have it.
He also has epilepsy or something that causes seizures. He will be going to a canine neurologist in the next few months.
The picture shows him with an ice pack on his back, there was a hot spot in that area and he was acting like it was sore.
So, this is our first time with a Dutch Shepherd but we have had Akitas. We are learning how to cope with his issues and each day find that he is teaching us about patience.
We have learned that Koda was given some sort of bite work training because he knows what the bite arm is for but he does not release. We stopped using that trainer because we did not want Koda to be doing bite work, my goodness, we are trying to stop him from thinking using his teeth is ok! He has been evaluated by a behaviorist and will be going back for some intensive therapy once his neurological scans indicate his issues are not organic in nature.
If anyone has any thoughts about how to help with the shadow chasing, we sure would appreciate it.
He also still has kenneling aggression. He will go into his kennel but man he does not like it and we have to get it closed quick before he eats the Dasequin treats or he will try to burst back through the door. He growls and snarls like a vicious beast and will snap at my fingers if I put them through the bars. (don't ask, I was sleepy when I thought that was a good idea.) But, he will go in willingly if begrudgingly which I call a win because we do have to kennel him while we are at work. He tries to "play" with the cats....sigh.
All in all, as I read this, I can see that it may sound like the dog is more work than anything but we love him and feel that it will just take patience and time to teach him to be the great dog we know he can be.

[Tim91118]

Seems like you could try and get more info from the last K-9 trainer that had him. Hopefully you have his number and he said “call anytime” and that he knows the dog reasonably well. You also could use some hands on help.

[sierra_moonlite]

The last "K-9 trainer" only had him for 1 month and was the person that allowed his kid to ride Koda like a pony. We found out later he was not the official K-9 trainer for the military installation near us.
We are going to be taking him to a canine rehab center near us, he has had an evaluation with them.
I was just hoping someone had a quick fix to the shadow obsession, lol.

[centrop67]

How long have you had him? When I first got Radar he was obsessively pulling palm fronds off our backyard trees. After 6 weeks he just stopped. My guess is he finally felt comfortable in our home.

Don't get me wrong. Behavior issues rarely solve themselves, but he may need some time to build trust.

[sierra_moonlite]

We just went over a year with him. We have been slowly fixing things in the house that we noticed caused him to be more stressed and chase shadows, like we spray glazed the windows where the most lights would come in to bother him.
If we can keep the house muted enough that there are hardly any shadows, he won't get wound up. This has been what we have been trying but it is hard to get rid of all shadows. He even chases his own shadow relentlessly.

[Mark77]

Sounds like the dog was abused and perhaps suffered some type of slipped disc in his back. Head injury likely from beating him with a blunt object would cause seizures. Rescues are difficult as you never know what kind of abuse the animal went through before you got it.

[ladyjubilee]

I have been hesitant to post because my view point is a little different.

First, all but 1 of my dogs was a rescue....and all but 1 of those was from kill shelters. Basically, we knew zip about the dogs before they joined our household. One of my dogs was fear aggressive, one had epilepsy and another a progressive degenerative "disorder" that may have been related to trauma. One was on the kill list for biting shelter staff and another had been returned 5 time, including once by an experienced pet foster parent.

I don't know dog behavior, I'm not a trainer or even a good pet owner who is experienced with training. However, human behaviors works much like dog behavior....and as a foster parent and special needs mom, I know behavior.

Just like humans who join our house, our dogs have house rules to follow in the now. What came before might inform, but never excuses the behavior in the now. We live in the now.

So my caution would be not to focus on what happened to the dog in the past, but address what is in the now. A good physical with a well qualified vet. A good trainer. And no biting.

A dog in our house that doesn't like one of our family members, would be fed and watered by that family member only. They'd walk about on a leash with that family member. The thing with people and to an even greater extent dogs is that when we're in crisis we struggle for control. Boundaries and rules provide that control. Leadership provides those boundaries and rules, which leads to a more secure basis for positive behavior. Knowing what is expected allows good behavior (aka choices in human terms ).

Continuing my rant...I think sometimes when we're dealing with either a person or an animal that has experienced trauma, we get caught up in the trauma and pull back from offering those firm boundaries. In trying to rescue, we end up withholding what is life saving.

And, yeah, with a rescue, particularly from kill shelters where the staff is struggling just to care for the animals, you don't know what you're getting. But let's be honest, you don't really know what you're getting from a breeder either. Every offspring is going to be unique and different.

[Tim91118]

Have you ever failed when you rescued a troubled dog ?

[ladyjubilee]

Me? I don't see how I got my dogs as rescues. It's just how our dogs joined the family. But, no, I've never had to surrender an animal. I was worried I wouldn't be able to handle Bramble but it has worked out

[sierra_moonlite]

Koda and my husband are about to get a month long bonding experience. I am going on a Panama Canal cruise so they will have no choice but to be together. I am just hoping that I don't come home to my husband on the leash and Koda in charge! lol
In all honesty, I can see where we have been more delicate about his issues because of knowing part of his story. I have planned to take him to the canine neuro doctor to see if his issues are all organic or just a personality issue, this will be happening after I return.
I do appreciate everyone's comments and thoughts, sometimes we get tunnel vision an it takes someone else to point out alternative ideas.

[ladyjubilee]

I'm glad they will get sometime establish their relationship. Food is where the heart is

[Mark77]

We just went over a year with him. We have been slowly fixing things in the house that we noticed caused him to be more stressed and chase shadows, like we spray glazed the windows where the most lights would come in to bother him.
If we can keep the house muted enough that there are hardly any shadows, he won't get wound up. This has been what we have been trying but it is hard to get rid of all shadows. He even chases his own shadow relentlessly.

I read up on this the other night. They chase shadows when they were so completely isolated that they had no other mental stimulation. Someone got that dog and likely left it in a room or perhaps a small yard without anything else for it to do so it made a game of chasing shadows because it had nothing else to interact with. I heard about this before only with a german shepherd that someone bought as a puppy then put in a shed and it played with bugs because that is all it had to play with. It took that dog a long time to learn to bond with people and other dogs but eventually it seemed to come back about half way. You need to help the dog refocus on something else, perhaps get some kongs, a ball, toys that are more interesting. The more things you expose the dog to, especially the more places you take the dog, the better it can maybe find it's way back to a normal life.

[sierra_moonlite]

Oh my goodness, that is such a different way of looking at things! Thank you so much, I will try to make sure I get him mentally stimulated by something other than shadows. I wish I had thought of that! Thank you so much!