Cheetah

I have yet to see this pizzle! Where do they sell it? Because I didn't see it in Petsmart or Petco, so I don't think it's something that the large chain stores do.

I think that as long as he's not actually eating the little pieces, but only chewing - he'll probably be fine. Although it would be bad if he accidentally choked on a piece...it really would be better if you could try to find a toy that's more durable but also interesting.

I posted this a long time ago - actually (just checked), on Dec.1. Luka-pop just replied to it (as a newbie, I don't think she realized that it was an old post) and now it has had a resurgence (oohh big word!) of interest! The reason that the links didn't work is because I deleted the pics awhile ago to save more room. But, here are a couple of new pics that I've taken of her recently. [img]http://image1ex.villagephotos.com/pubimage.asp?id_=1385423[/img] [img]http://image1ex.villagephotos.com/pubimage.asp?id_=1385424[/img] wow, her chest looks really wide in this pic - wider than it usually does. I think it's because she is panting hard and straining at the leash a little (she doesn't usually go to Petsmart, and she was a little overstimulated that day) Well, the Pit Bull (or other bully breed) in her is very obvious, but what other breeds do you guys think she might be made up of? I'm not even 100% sure about Shepherd, but it's a definite possibilty.

Luka-pop - for info on posting pics, go to the Pictures form, then click on "Sticky: Tutorial from Sasha" Actually...here's a link to it to make it easier [url]http://forum.dogomania.com/viewtopic.php?t=1643[/url] If you have further questions about how to post a pic, I'll talk to you tomorrow or email you! Also, the people here (although some might sound a little negative), are only trying to give you their honest opinion on what they think would be best to do with Luka based on the info you gave them. I don't think that they mean it would be better for you to just flat out ditch him back at the shelter - but they all have varied opinions on dealing with this; some think drugs would be best, others recommend different training methods, and others recommend professional help. From what I've gathered (from different sites and people's opinions), I think that you should keep working with him on slowly leaving for longer and longer time periods possibly combined with valium or some other drug to keep him calmer during training. Also, valium is not a permanent thing, you only use it while Luka is being trained to make it easier for him to deal with the stress of you being gone. I think that you'll have a much better idea of how you're going to deal with this (medication wise) after you talk over the pro's and cons of different medications with the vet. A professional trainer might eventually be needed if Luka doesn't improve...I agree with gooeydog - at least a consultation would be a good idea, so that at least you might have a better idea of what you're dealing with, if you can even afford a behaviorist, and how likely it is a behaviorist can actually help Luka. It might actually be a better idea to contact one or several behaviorists before you decide whether or not to use drugs.

sorry, that was me, forgot to login :oops:

hmm...I don't know anything about doggie valium, I guess that's something that would have to be talked over to the vet. :-? Also, good news - it looks as though my friend's family is committed to making the training work. My friend's mom was obviously not happy about changing her schedule around - but the point is that at least it seems that Luka now has a good chance for a permanent home! Besides the anxiety - he is a very NICE dog, fairly well behaved, good with people, and blending in well with the family so far (besides the fact that he is mostly attached to my friend in particular) Also, instead of leaving him home today, my friend's mother took him in the car with her. However, he got sick twice! Do you guys know if there are any medications for car sickness or does it work better for the dog to just get used to frequent car rides? I've mentioned dogo to my friend and she's thinking about joining - maybe then she can ask all her questions herself, and I'm sure she'll have a lot of them within the next few months!

One of my friends who has never owned a dog before, but has been looking through shelters for the past month or two for one - has finally gotten a dog! Problem: this dog (Luka, a labX) has severe separation anxiety. When my friend got Luka, the shelter did say that he had separation anxiety; however, they did not make a huge deal of it. Since Luka had been there for a few weeks, I think they were happy to finally get rid of him. He is a great dog (both my friend and I volunteer and interacted with him at the shelter before she got him); however, my friend's family was unprepared to deal with such a huge behavioral problem. This dog is a true "velcro dog" and he will get up from a dead sleep in the middle of the night to follow my friend (Yuki) to the bathroom. He will also panic and destroy everything if he is left alone for more than 30 seconds! I sent Yuki a bunch of information (that I found online) about teaching a dog to overcome separation anxiety; however, all of the methods described appear to be extremely time consuming and difficult for a first time owner to handle! Yuki's mom is home all day, and she has been attempting to use some of the methods I found online to teach the dog that it is okay to be alone. After about 20 minutes, I think he was able to increase his time from 30 seconds to 2 minutes! But...it will be much longer before the dog will be able to be left home alone! In order for the training to work - the dog can not be left home alone at any time, under any circumstances, while it is being trained! My friend's family did not truly understand what they were getting themselves into when they got this dog (they only got him two days ago) nor did they realize how severe the anxiety was. I also don't think that the shelter should have given them the dog until they explained all the time that would be required to help him overcome this behavioral problem. After my friend got Luka, she called the shelter for help in dealing with his separation anxiety. That was when she found out that Luka had been owned by a single (I assume older) woman who almost never left her house - that explains how he got such severe separation anxiety. They also said that she said that he could be left alone for up to around 3 hours....right... My friend is worried that this poor dog is going to wear his teeth down to the nerve the way he chews at the kennel bars. He also will bark within 2 minutes if he is put in the crate - even if someone is standing right there. I think the shelter also said that he could possibly resort to self destruction (chewing on his legs, etc) :o I don't think that Yuki's mom is going to be able to put up with this much longer - her family was prepared to deal with a dog that would require moderate training - but not a severe behavioral problem! My question is this: Would it be better for Yuki's family to persevere and keep working with this dog for another couple of weeks, then see where it gets them? OR should they just return the dog to shelter instead of allowing it to bond with them, then be even further traumified when it is send back to the shelter? I honestly don't think that this is the right dog for them...and I think it will probably end up back at the shelter either way. I feel so bad for this dog because he is such a loving dog, but can't bear to be left alone! I think that he will most likely end up being passed from shelter to shelter until he is eventually euthanized....

LOL! That is hilarious! :lol:

Maybe your spot is just warm when you get up?

That's great that Hazel's improving! Also, its probably a good thing that she hasn't been presented with a situation where she needs to act out - you wouldn't want a disaster and then more trouble with your parents!

[quote name='eggrolyn1223']Oh!And I read somewhere that if you take the thing that your dog is chewing on that is not allowed and hit it(NOT the dog), say bad "whatever it is", then the dog will probably not chew it anymore..I'm not sure if it would work though :-?[/quote] I read that too in "The Idiot's Guide to Choosing, Training, and Raising a Dog". I tried that at some point...it really didn't work. Roxie looked very confused and after I put the object down, about a couple minutes later she proceeded to (cautiously) walk over, sniff the object, then pick up. :lol: Although that idea sounds good in theory - it really doesn't seem to work!(at least in my case it didn't!) They had the rotating toys suggestion in that book too. I find that idea works very well because some people have a gazillion toys laying around and then they can't figure out why the dog chews on everything but the toys! Besides the fact that the dog becomes bored with all the toys, it also becomes very confused as to which toys belong to it and which are YOURS. What worked best with Roxie was to teach her the "leave it" command and whenever she chewed on anything (whether it be hers or mine - I didn't want her to start to pick up forbidden objects for attention) I would just tell her leave it, then switch it with one of her toys or sometimes give her a treat and praise. She still chews on things sometimes - but not furniture anymore, just little things like gloves and napkins. She can't help herself! Although I know that she definitely understands what belongs to her and what is mine because she immediately puts down a "forbidden object" and looks guilty when I walk into the room.

wow, I'm really late...but WELCOME ANNSLEY! :D This place is great, within a week or two you won't be able to leave your computer!

The dog must not be left unsupervised with an electric fence. Besides the fact other animals can get to your dog, if your dog sees a squirrel or cat, no matter how well trained it is, it will most likely chase after it anyway. Once the dog goes through the fence even ONE time, you have to start back from the beginning training them. I have an electric fence in my front yard as a re-enforcement if my dog gets loose (she has a fenced in backyard to play in). However, I'd say that fence was more trouble than it was worth. Although Roxie appeared to be trained after the required 2-week training period, the first time she saw a cat and was offleash, she ran right through it. Once she figured out that she could run right through it without the shock really effecting her, she really didn't care about the shock anymore. It would have been impossible to re-train her to it, except that we bought a new $80 Stubborn Dog receiver which has 3x the voltage of a regular receiver. All it took was ONE time to feel a shock from that thing and she never left our property again. I felt so horrible and guilty because I felt like I was almost abusing my dog the first time I saw her try to go through it, then YELP and run back to the front door shaking. :o However, I kept it because I found that she never had to experience the shock again since she refused to leave our yard again offleash. Basically, although the fence eventually solved my problem of my dog bolting out the door after cats, it was a very frustrating and expensive experience. I highly recommend that you get a good, secure fence rather than an underground electric fence that is more trouble than it is worth.

I thought I saw a commercial on Animal Planet for the same kind of thing. It looks really cool and fun to watch :) Too bad my dog can't do anything really special.

I fed Iams puppy food, I don't know if it's a scam to make extra money or not...but I thought puppy food was supposed to be richer in some type of vitamin/protein/whatever to feed growing puppy bodies...but that could be a scam too! What do I know!? I don't think it really matters one way or the other if some of us fed puppy food and others fed adult food (and of course, others feed the BARF diet) if all of our dog's seem to be in good health now!

Hazel - think about this for a second, Rott'n'Pit does a poll - how many vistors are male or female - then Mei Mei replies: [quote name='Mei-Mei']<----checking I don't have a male pizzle![/quote] Put 2+2 together...and ohhhh... :wink: get it now?

ahhh! now I get what pizzle means!! people use that word all over the place on this board and i'm always like pizzle? huh? wha? But I think I get it now...

Both of those poems were really good! I really understood what you meant in "Fallen" when you said "I saw what I didn't need". I've learned the only way to heal and move on after losing a friend or someone close, is to understand that you don't need them to live - you can make new friends. (I don't know what your situation was, but I get your point) Eventually, you really just don't care as much...and losing that person starts to matter less and less to you because you learn to live without them. Maybe i'll send you some of my poems sometime, don't have time now...but sometime...

OUCH! SEVEN brothers? Geez! I only have two younger brothers (11 and 14)- cannot stand them (immature little freaks who's mission in life is to drive me crazy :crazyeyes: ) They're at a bad age, actually worse than they were when they were younger...the older one brought home his first girlfriend a few weeks ago...(who promptly broke up with him after 2 weeks, lol) They're also constantly sneaking Roxie very unhealthy people food (its getting increasingly harder to feel her ribs), and when i'm not around, they encourage her to play rough games and nip at them, especially when they have their friends over. I also walked in on them and their friends the other day encouraging the dog to hump their legs - laughing hysterically. :o Of course I freaked out at them, giving them one of my dog "lectures", but they never listen...after about a minute they just start saying "whatever, whatever, go away". Do they listen? No. They'll probably later go try to steal something from my room to get me more pissed (they think its funny). My mom talks to them too...but it doesn't get much better because although they'll pretend to listen to her, they don't, they just get more sneaky(well...I guess I do the same thing sometimes...but about totally different things, what do you expect, I'm a teenager too!) Thing is, they do this kind of stuff usually when they're in the basement or somewhere where I or my parents aren't around. I don't get home until 5:00 every day (track after school), so I can't "supervise" them, and i'd probably have a nervous breakdown if I did. If I am in the same room as them, Roxie tends to try to ignore them and act "good", but as soon as I disappear...fair game. This kind of stuff only started happening in the past year...they just got to a certain age....and i've only used the examples of how they treat my dog...there have been a number of other "incidents" that have occurred that have nothing to do with dogs...won't go into detail on these things... I hope they'll get better with age, because this "stage" they're at is wearing thin on my nerves. I rambled again, but I had to get that out, sorry! I just had to get out some of my frustration! :mad: :mad: :mad: By the way, I have tons of respect for you Marble, growing up with SEVEN brothers!

I like the poem, Hazel :) It's simple, but makes a good point. I'm the same way, I write mostly when I'm upset to vent feelings. I don't have many good poems on dogs though...I have to get worked up about something first...like if I went to a puppy mill site and read until I am in tears - probably get a good poem out of that, except that I really don't feel like going to one right now to intentionally depress myself so I can write a good poem! It really has to happen more naturally...like if I see a depressing story on the news and a poem starts to form in my head...that's how it happens. I know what you mean about the writer's block, you just can't force writing -it just happens! Most of my poems are really personal and have to do with friendships gone bad and such, but some are more general. Actually, I was going to post a dream poem on another post...but then I kept reading, and the post umm...went to a whole different level - couldn't bear to post my dream poem after that...(if you don't know what i'm talking about, look around at the posts...) hmm...sorry, this probably should of been a pm - a little offtopic

That's hilarious! :lol:

oh oh oh :cry: [size=2]I sound like a dance song - ironic huh?[/size]

[quote name='Hobbit']You can tell by looking as his teeth.[/quote] Umm...how? Sounds a little difficult for the common person to determine (unless there's an easy method to figuring it out) I would think it would be easier in this case to have the vet look at the dog's teeth and estimate how old the dog is (you can have him do this while you're asking the vet about the best flea treatment for your dog :) ). When I got Roxie, the shelter said she was 3 months old (although even I thought she looked a little older) When we took her to the vet for vaccinations, the vet looked at her teeth and estimated 4-5 months! He just kinda glanced in her mouth, so I guess it really isn't a very difficult thing for a vet to determine!

I'm not sure about Christina Aguslutta(thats a good one :lol:), but a lot of rap videos have pit bulls on chokers and stuff, I hate how they use pit bulls to act as though they're all touch and macho!

I agree 100% Smidgen dog! There would be far less dogs going to shelters and pounds or being put to sleep because of behavioral problems if people weren't so stupid and figured that the puppy would mostly take care of itself. If people actually researched the different breeds they would find that every dog - personality wise - is definitely not the same as every other! I bet at least half of those people would realize that none of the dog breeds were right for them because they really just aren't ready for the time and committment that a puppy/dog takes! Also, because we're on the subject of Min Pins, I figured I should mention that on Sunday I was volunteering at my shelter and they had 5 eight week old Min Pin puppies (the pregnant mother was surrendered to the shelter) who were about to go up for adoption. I got to play with them for about an hour and although they were very very cute and equally entertaining; they were also a handful! Feisty little guys, they definitely have attitude! 8) Actually, one of the females did seem a little more of a cuddler, happy to rest in my lap for a while - but the rest of them were high energy, tearing up the room and each other - little balls of dynamite :D They were fun to watch, but I definitely don't think they're the dog for everyone.(no dog is) Basically what i'm saying is people can't expect to get a small dog like a Min Pin and leave it kenneled in an apartment all day.