Vomiting/Barking Dog ...

Hi ...

We have a very playful 8 month old brindle male dog called Domino.

He has been treated with fuciderm gel for a contact dermatitis, which seems to be working fine.

He is also being given an oral suspension called Metacam, about 2.5 ml once a day with food as well as half a Ceporex tablet every 12 hours or so, both are for the same problem.

Twice yesterday he vomited about 3 or so hours after being given the Metacam, and he has again vomited about an hour ago at 06.30. The vet said the Metacam may cause vomiting, he is due another dose this morning, which I am not going to give him as this may be the cause. I will continue to give him the half a Ceporex tablet. He has never vomited before.

I may have added to the problem by looking after a friends 4 year old pug for the night called Malia. They get on quiet well, but this is the first time that we have had another dog in the house. Domino seems to swing from constant barking at the front door to being his normal playful self with both me and Malia. I have read on line that Frenchies can vomit when they get stressed out and I suspect that the constant barking at the front door is a sign of stress. Prior to arriving in the house I walked both dogs for 20 minutes as well as letting them both off the lead in a park together to do there thing. This all went without incident.

Malia will be leaving in the next couple of hours.

I am also having trouble with Domino's barking ... he seems to bark at things he can't get access to, like other dogs as he just want to play. I also think he barks when he hears things I can't. I don't mind a couple of barks and he also barks to let me know he wants to go to the loo, which is great, and I can now tell the difference, but what I can't seem to do is to get him to stop the constant barking, which usually happens when I or my partmer walk out of sight. We tend to reward positive behaviour and ignore the negative and this has worked brilliantly with toilet training but not the barking.

Is this something he will grow out of? All the books I have read say things like you need to "take control and tell him who is boss" ... but they don't seem to tell you how!

This is the first time we have owned a dog and a Frenchie and Domino is a HUGE part of my and my partners life, we are both smitten big time and want the best for him, but accept we may not be getting it right so any advice will gratefully be received, especially regarding the vomiting as we would like to avoid additional vet bills.

Thanks for any help

James