Obssesive Behaviours

[Ivory Skye]

Hi Again
Can anyone offer advise on stopping obssesive behaviour?
Skye is just two and she has COME A LONG WAY from being such an anxious fearful puppy thanks to a lot of fantastic advise from this site thank you so much. However she has some little quirks still that I am not 100% sure how to deal with, like chewing her front claws or chasing her tail, not all the time but often. The tail chasing more so when she is excited about to go on a walk, but I don't want it to get out of control. I usually just give her a firm no, but sometimes it is just not good enough until I fully distract her with something else.
She has also fully embraced sucking blankets now but I am not too concerned about that my last bitch did that too and was in a very content state when doing so.
Any advise would be appreciated once more.

 

[Ravenbird]

That's got to be pretty frustrating. I don't really know the answer to that, but I've got a mantra that I repeat often: don't let them rehearse unwanted behavior. Stop it before it starts if possible, like your doing with the excited tail chasing, but sooner. Leash her up in another place, like the bedroom instead of at the door, then if she starts spinning correct her with the leash. I'm assuming that she starts before you get the leash on in anticipation so you don't have control. I've never heard of nail chewing, is it angst or boredom leading to this?

 

[Kaiser2016]

I'd be more worried about the nail chewing than the tail chasing. With the Doberman OCD, any licking can lead to problems. Are her nails trimmed enough? Are they trimmed too much? Can you examine them to be sure there's no injury to the paw?

 

[Ivory Skye]

That's got to be pretty frustrating. I don't really know the answer to that, but I've got a mantra that I repeat often: don't let them rehearse unwanted behavior. Stop it before it starts if possible, like your doing with the excited tail chasing, but sooner. Leash her up in another place, like the bedroom instead of at the door, then if she starts spinning correct her with the leash. I'm assuming that she starts before you get the leash on in anticipation so you don't have control. I've never heard of nail chewing, is it angst or boredom leading to this?

I definitely think it is angst she has been a very anxious fearful puppy, a real challenge but she's come a long way. Both things we just try snap her out of it immediately.

 

[Ivory Skye]

I'd be more worried about the nail chewing than the tail chasing. With the Doberman OCD, any licking can lead to problems. Are her nails trimmed enough? Are they trimmed too much? Can you examine them to be sure there's no injury to the paw?

Well, this has been one of her majors, she has never liked being handled too much especially her paws so her nails are longer than they should be for sure and one of her dew claws gives her grief as it was not removed properly and grows outwards and upwards like a fish hook.
After a lot of work and perserverance she only just allows me to trim one or two paws at the most before she looses her cool and I never get to trim them as short as they could be.
We are just about to have her speyed, the dew claw removed and her nails trimmed all at the same time while she is under to avoid too much stress. Hopefully the dew claw being removed will removed some angst about her paws and me touching them. She's been a real challenge, but with a lot of excellent advise from this site she has come a very long way from a once very nervous, fearful pup.

 

[Kaiser2016]

We are just about to have her speyed, the dew claw removed and her nails trimmed all at the same time while she is under to avoid too much stress.

That's good! Maybe ask the vet to examine the paw pads at the same time, just to rule out any torn pad.