DogPaddle

Gigi - What general area would Jon be willing to go pick a dog up from? I agree - shelter dog will probably be fine, all of our dogs except one were from the shelter and true there is no gaurentee the dog won't be gunshy etc but all of our shelter dogs were game to at least try anything that might make us happy.

Sounds like things could work out just fine. One word of advise though - I'd switch to a different pizza company :D

Yes that is it exactly I think, a fashion thing or a matter of personal taste. Unless of course someone does have livestock their dog is protecting.

We only got a spiked collar for one of our dogs - actually my mom's dog Joe. Now I know some people may disagree but I think that every dog like my mom's Joe should where one of these huge spiked collars - it completes their image. After all what 25lb snugglewuss cockaterrpoo mutt is complete without a nasty spiked collar. :lol: We actually only put it on him for Halloween, it was very cute. Joe tolerated this with his usuall patient stoicism.

BUMP again.

I'm still feeding kibble, researching what noncanned nonbagged food will work for us. Right now the Solid Gold-Millenia is working pretty good though. I've started exposing the dogs to a variety of raw and cooked foods so the transition to whatever diet I choose will be easier.

I could be wrong but: If your dog enjoyed the company of your sisters dog, even in his own home, he probably would enjoy company. If your a two dog person I'd go with it. As for the second dog being lonely when BJ gets older . . . you could also adopt another dog to keep yourself at the 2 dog level or prepare the 2nd dog by having him spend time alone/apart from BJ as BJ gets older. This will also give your aging guy a bit of respite from a more energetic housemate.

Hmmm, no a cruise is probably not the place for a puppy. Sounds like fun. It's great that your mom is close by and can stop in.

Kindergarden is such a great place, you learn the best things there. Isn't there some poster or poem or something about that - everything I learned I learned in Kindergarden or something. I think anyone who wants to should be in our Kindergarden. Even if they weren't allowed to attend elsewhere. [color=red][size=6]Crayons, cookies and milk for everyone![/size][/color]

We have fostered one dog so far - Tyr, very hard to let him go but also worth it. We think we will start looking for our next foster when Zaphod is at least 6 months, that way he'll have all his shots and we'll have finished his first obedience class. We hope to foster at least one dog a year, maybe two depending on how long each foster stays. It was great helping Tyr come out of his shell and teaching him basic obedience and housetraining so he would be ready to go to his new home. I think that should be a major role of foster homes. Dogs from bad homes or who have been in shelter for too long start reacting to it, they behave in ways that fool people into thinking they wouldn't be a good per - excessive barking (they desperately want attention) or ignoring people (their dejected) or messing inside (they live in dog runs, nowhere else to mess), etc. Get a dog out of a shelter or bad home so you can work through whatever issues you can so possible adoptive homes can see what a great dog the foster could be.

If possible I would leave your guy at home. Loosing a pal and then being sent to a strange place with a bunch of strangers would possibly be stressful. Have your mom stop buy as often as she reasonably can and stay for a bit each time, even if its just to watch a tv show, having someone hanging around for a bit and doing normal stuff is reassuring if your dog knows your mom and she acts normal the dog may presume everything is fine. Have your mom leave out favorite toys, leave classical music playing while she can't be there, play or go for a walk at least 1x per day. Other possible options: 1. Talk to the kennel you want to use, see if its ok to take your guy out there a couple times a week for a month or so for a play session, lunch, whatever, let him get used to the place, also see if you can leave him there for an hour or two just so he gets the idea you'll come back. 2. Where are you going on vacation? Can all appropriate arrangements be made so the dog can safely come along?

Every dog is different. Your dog might be rejuvinated and very happy to have a new pup/freind in the house. On the other hand your dog might be an old crumedgeon and not appreciate little wippersnappers disrupting his routine. Do you have a freind who has a youngish dog who might bring it over to visit and see how your dog reacts?

courtnek - I thought dogs could see limited colours - blues, greens, yellows, greys, blacks, whites and they can colour differentiate for the colours they "can't see" based on the shade or intensity of blue/green/yellow/grey/black/white it shows up as for them???? sheesh - A freind of mine has a GSD who used to have a fear of black dogs after a very rough experience with a big black dog as a pup. (He outgrew it with a little help.) How have your dogs socializations gone, any bad experiences? I agree on the dominance issue, no matter what the issue or cause, you dog needs to know your the boss. It doesn't have to be a struggle of wills or a grrr thing. We just made Kavik do something before he got a treat, went out, played kong etc. For example to go out to play kong Kavik had to "sit" at the back door and let us go out first, then when released he could come out in the yard, then when I put my hand on the gate latch he had to sit in his spot (paticular spot for going out) and wait till I was outside the gate and said ok, then he could come out and play. The whole process just keyed him up more for the kong game, it was a trick, something fun. That worked just fine for us, good thing too, I would have hated to give up letting him sleep on the bed :) .

Well whatever the case, it sounds like your still making progress so keep up all the work you've been doing and congrats. Its great to see especially given how precarious your pups positions was less than a month ago.

I viewed a few sites before I joined this one. Reasons I chose this board: [color=green][size=6]1) People are freindly and knowledable.[/size][/color] 2) There were few flamers or trolls. 3) People expressed there opinions well. 3) The site was well organized and covered a variety of topics. People here answered my questions, helped me, didn't flame me, asked questions if I didn't explain myself fully. They didn't become my bestest freinds and flock to me for guidance just because I joined this forum. K is a valuable member of this site, almost everyone here knows that, nothing else to say on that topic. Anywho I think we should all have cookies an milk now, who's turn is it too read the storey?

There could still be a problem or it could be a learned behav. to manipulate you. To be safe you could rule out any physial problems and then work on the behav. If it is puppy manipulation you may have to ignore the screaming to ensure your not rewarding behaviours you want to eliminate. You could reward her after she's stopped for a bit and give her whatever she wanted before.

Maybe something in your home is exaserbating (sp?) the behaviour problem? Change in your behaviour? Other people in the house? Paticular training? Paticular scents? Some perfumes or "scented" products (many colognes/perfumes/scents are actually volitile organic compounds) can have neurological, respiratory, or other effects on humans including headaches and moodiness so I presume the same is true for dogs, perhaps more so.

Duck will be fine. Perhaps beefore you chip Duck just inquire with the company or vet, they'll probably have further info for you about relocating internationally.

Be very careful with plastic, if the dog consumes it it can make him very ill, paticularly if the plastic is at all flexable. Plastic is naturally rigid, they add polyvinyl chlorides to it to make it flexable, this is very bad for dogs and people.

I think all pups are different. Kavik was 14 weeks before he began to grasp sit, Zaphod sat at 9 weeks. Kavik learned down as soon as we brought him home, I despair of Zaphod ever learning it. Like others said, make it fun for both of you, keep at it. :) PS I think that the strange poster is just trying to make a pest of themselves, perhaps we should avoid feeding the wildlife.

Kavik is very kong motivated and we just wouldn't throw it till he brought it right to our hand. We did hold our hand out to him, below his mouth and say drop to start. Unfortunately we started this training in doors. Kavik will return to hand freqently (paticularly if I'm watching tv) in the house but never outside. :roll:

Really . . . you want 10 pits . . . :o wouldn't that be a bit much for anyones sanity Sasha. 10 bouncy, playful, get anywhere, get into anything tightly packed bundles of high high energy in your house, you must [size=6][color=blue]REALLY[/color][/size] love them.

Thanks, will try the clicker and treat method. If he never takes to swimming so be it but he has such a good time retreiving from the water when he can wade I've just gotta try.

Oh they grow so fast. Last week Zaphod was running into the chairs. Just now he stole Kavik's bone ran under the seat, neatly hopping over the chair rung while pulling his head down to avoid being brained and made a sharp turn to escape upstairs. Very nice, of course Kavik has his bone back already but still. Hmmm anyone ever take two dogs too agility with just one handler, maybe my brother will help.

Anyone got any tricks to help me encourage Kavik that bouyancy is not a bad thing. He will wade but not swim, loves to retrieve items from the water and will actually put things in the water himself so he can retrieve them but will not swim for them. We have tried going out into the water passed where he will wade and calling to him but he just cries on shore and makes me feel like I am a cruel momma.