Hi everyone,
I need help. My family and I have a 4 yr. old German Shepherd with a lovely temperament. I have spent dozens of hours training him; he is 'my' dog rather than my husbands. My dad came to live with us after a 10 year relationship broke down in May this year. He has Vascular dementia; at the end of the mid stages.
Dad has become obsessed with the dog. Every time the dog comes into the room, Dad is calling him, clicking with his mouth and this is constant, especially when no-one is in the room with him. I can hear dad getting really frustrated and angry with him because Ziko ignores him 95% of the time. Whenever I have spoken to dad about it, he passes it off...I'm just playing with him...I'm talking to him...he's ignoring me, etc, etc. Dad also pats him on his back end / legs quite hard at times and I'm really concerned that dad may hit Ziko with his walking stick in anger and he will get hurt, then turn and bite him.
Can anyone give me any ideas on how to handle this situation? All ideas welcome.
CallyDG
I need help. My family and I have a 4 yr. old German Shepherd with a lovely temperament. I have spent dozens of hours training him; he is 'my' dog rather than my husbands. My dad came to live with us after a 10 year relationship broke down in May this year. He has Vascular dementia; at the end of the mid stages.
Dad has become obsessed with the dog. Every time the dog comes into the room, Dad is calling him, clicking with his mouth and this is constant, especially when no-one is in the room with him. I can hear dad getting really frustrated and angry with him because Ziko ignores him 95% of the time. Whenever I have spoken to dad about it, he passes it off...I'm just playing with him...I'm talking to him...he's ignoring me, etc, etc. Dad also pats him on his back end / legs quite hard at times and I'm really concerned that dad may hit Ziko with his walking stick in anger and he will get hurt, then turn and bite him.
Can anyone give me any ideas on how to handle this situation? All ideas welcome.
CallyDG