Canis erectus
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Posts posted by Canis erectus
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I took Zoey with me to work a couple weeks ago to get her hw test and vaccine updates. Her vet came up to let me know she was finished after doing her blood draw and vacc's, and she told me Zoey had gained 7 pounds. *GASP* I was horrified, especially after the years of cruel jokes about China's figure. During the three years we've had her she's always been about 57 pounds and now she was over 64 pounds, my dog was becoming a porker!!!
The only rational explaination I could come up with was from the reduced amount of excercise last summer being due to Hannah and I having a new baby. That, combined with the even more reduced excersise in the winter (Michigan is nasty), and maybe a slight metabolic change due to age HAD to be the reason. Of course, an immediate cut in rations was in order, and with the onset of spring walks are becoming more regular. The walks must be quite a sight, in one hand I've got two sixty-some pound dogs, and with my other hand I'm towing a toddler along in a wagon. And when it gets a little warmer there will also be a cockatoo riding on my head... oh the humility.
Anyway, I was getting ready for work this morning and noticed that Hannah had already taken the dogs out and fed them. Hannah had a schedual change in February and had taken to feeding the dogs about five times a week where before it was just me feeding them (I bet you can guess where this is going now). So I'm looking at the food dishes and they're almost full to the brim!
I asked Hannah how much she fed the dogs. She says "Only a cup". Well the thing is, the measuring cup is 2 Cups and she was filling it up and thinking it was only one! ARGH!!! I swear I must have pulled a fistful of grey hairs out of my head..
Oh well, Hannah meant well, and now that I know why my dog had put on a few pounds I can make some progress in taking them off. I think our goal is going to be 3-4 ponds in 4 weeks. -
Allowing your dogs to dig is a good idea, though I suppose this depends on the dogs in question.
China will pick a spot under a tree bough or bush and excavate a burrow, but she won't dig anywhere else. If I didn't let her have her burrow there'd be dozens of little 'starter dens' all over the yard.
Zoey occaisionally puts a hole in the lawn when she's digging up a grub, but otherwise only digs in China's hole.
If I ever decide to stop being cheap and get a new camera battery, I'll take a picture of the burrow. It's really quite impressive up until it collapses and she has to start over again. -
First I'd like to point out that many dogs simply do these sorts of things because it's fun, like picking up a new hobby. Because of this there are alot of dogs who are diagnosed with separation anxiety who are not nervous but are actually just finding something to whittle the time away with while you're gone. Many a folk say or are tols their dog has seraration anxiety because it's the easiest, most cookie-cutter answere for any of a number of actual problems (kninda like how ADHD has something like quadrupaled in the US in the last 10 years, but interestingly enough nowhere else in the world).
Now, not knowing your dog may have separation anxiety and maybe not. Either way crate training is probably your best bet. One way or another you've got a problem on your hands, and at age 13 it may not be simple to do, but it's never too late to crate train. Another alternative, one that most people don't have, is to bring him with you everywhere you go. This doesn't fix his newfound destructive tendencies, but you will be able to curb it by supervising him all the time. Yet another thing you can do is to get him more active. Of course a senior dog isn't going to play ball all day long, but you can get Scrappy some interesting toys (like a treat filled kong), or invent some fun games (like hide and seek).
I'll stand behind crate training as it was the only thing that worked for me. When we first adopted Zoey she actaully did have separation anxiety. Of course we never even would have suspected until after we came home after leaving her for the first time. My house, very literally, looked like someone had thrown a hand grenade into it. This scene was repeated every time we left the house until we got a crate and were able to crate Zoey for the day. Gradually her anxiety eased and after a couple of months, we stopped using the crate and eventually put the crate in the shed for storage.
I should note that normally crate use should be an ongoing thing throughout a dog's life. It should be a comfortable, secure place for a dog to hang out in while it's humans are away. Zoey is deathly afraid of kennels, crates. and anything of the sort, so we used for only as long as we had to.
I hope this helps to get you pointed out in the right direction, and good luck! -
Similar stories here. There is a woman who lives on the street behind us and we almost always go past her house during our walks. A couple times a day she lets her great honkin' shorthair pointer out the front door and he goes bombing across the neighborhood before doing his buisness (probably in someone else's front yard). Normally there's no problem, our walks typically don't concunt with his 'going outside time'. Also, he's a decent enough dog (just exuberant) and my girls are typically rather indifferent to other dogs, so even if he were out while we went by- no problem.
Except that one day his owner thoughtlessly let him let him outside just after we'd gone past her house. While China and Zoey were busy watching what the squirrils were doing the Pointer ran up from behind us unnoticed, turned around and stopped on the sidewalk just a few feet in front of my dogs. They were rather startled, as was I, and before I could react I could tell that my girls were getting ready to let the unsuspecting fool have it. As luck would have it the Pointer's owner called to him and he was thankfully responsive enough to take off before the girls made their move.
Uh, anyway the lesson here being that no matter innocuous the situation may seem, no matter how friendly or 'just curious' any dog may be, and no matter how in control of the situation you think you are... put your dog on a leash!!!
I also find it interesting to note that China and Zoey have hated that dog ever since. -
Hmmm, intersting to note that the little dears seem to learn what we deem the 'bad habits' so much more readily. Go figure.
China has taught Zoey several things:
- She taught Zoey to find her voice- Trust me a hound voice pretending to be a husky is not easy on the ears.
- Taught her to pick at her meals- Neither dog will eat their meals regularly now
- Taught her to destroy any and every tennis ball on site.
- To eat my fiances socks- No underwear, just socks.
- And of course digging- No shallow little ditches in the ground, this is serious buisness- they dig tunnels
China has not learned anything from Zoey. She is crotchety, set in her ways, and not really the sharpest knife in the drawer. -
Oh! Oh! I know the answere!
It's pretty simple really. Alot of people believe that a dog's metabolic rate slows down slightly after it's been spayed or neutered. Whether this is true or not, I don't know. I'm not even sure what, if any research has been done on this subject, Either way I don't really have an opinion.
So some folks who want their dog spayed, but want to still have their show/ field trial/ agility dog in top notch form, will request a fallopian tie-off rather than a full OVH. I'm pretty sure that most evry vet think this is nonsense, but there are some who will just comply with the dog owner's wishes for the sake of avaiding some aggrevation, making some extra money, or to not risk losing a client.
I think there might be more to it than that, but it's been a long time since I'd been told this so I've likely forgotten a bit. -
I've decided a while back now that I'm no longer going to take the responsible approach about educating the mentally incapacited about petting strange dogs. Instead I offer these flipant alternatives:
Just tell the little buggers your dog had just been running through poison oak/ivy. This of course won't work during the winter months, so during the cold season tell them your dog has rabies instead. :D (Note: This tactic won't work well with children under age 8, whom typically aren't yet able to understand english.)
And for adults who can't seem to keep their hooks off of strange dogs (yes, there are plenty), just say that your dog has ringworm. This will usually elicite a 10 foot jump backward on their part, and perhaps a snicker from you. -
Sure dogs know who are dog people. If they can't smell any of the various doggie scents on a dog person's clothes (not all dog people own dogs), they can definately tell who might like them just from the most subtle nuances of body language.
I also think it's interesting to look at the various people that dogs like/dislike based on general physical appearance. Zoey hasn't ever met anyone who she didn't think was her best pal, but China certainly has her preferences. Being that she was once a nearly feral dog it's granted that she'll have some 'personality quirks', the only preference that she seems to show toward liking someone are toward quiet, soft-spoken people. China definately shows a dislike/mistrust toward men in general, loud people, blondes, overweight people, and anyone who is abnormally tall or short. Some, if not all of these things, have something to do with her past life, but it interesting to see how differently she reacts and behaves towards various different people.
Oh, and I'd also gone into a house once that was owned by a rottweiler who didn't like people wearing hats. And you should have already guessed by now that I just happened to be wearing a hat and I almost got mauled for it. I asked the owners what the dog's reasoning was behind this behaviour and they told me that they didn't know, they had the dog since puppy-hood and she's never had any bad instances with hat wearing people. I'm told that this isn't an entirely uncommon personality trait dogs. -
Aw crow, I'm really sorry to hear about this HorseFeathers. It's never easy when one of our friends go...
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Sorry Debbie, I don't think it was anyone's intent to 'bash' on Jack Russels. I was trying to get across that Jack Russels are a 'game' terrier and that they can get quite aggresive when they have an owner that doesn't actually understand the breed.
Now don't get me wrong, I rather like the little hooligans, but I feel that they often end up with the wrong owners. Espescially where I'm from, Jack Russels probably give mixed breeds an close run for their money when it comes to being the most common small dogs. It's just that it seems alot of folks think they're getting a clever, playfull little lap dog (which they are), but it becomes a problem when they don't realize that they're also getting a hunting terrier with high exercise requirements. -
Sounds like quite a good Petco, Courtnek. When I lived in Calif, the Petco I had there was similarly exemplary. But the one by where I live now... Well the last time I went there (and beleive me it was THE last time), all I wanted was a new food dish because my cockatoo had broken his (again). After twenty minutes of searching the entire store for an employee to man the register, I finally marched into their stock room where I'd finally found someone. Sheesh, I coulda looted the place and no one would've been the wiser.
I think maybe some Petco stores could be franchises, which may explain why some of them are such nice places, and others are rather horrible.
Glad you had a geed experience Courtnek. -
Hey, I taught 'drop it' to Zoey as well, she learned that command pretty quickly. It also serves well for when an item is too tempting for her to obey the 'leave it' command.
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Hogan is a handsome fellow, I doubt he'll have any trouble getting a new home, I'll keep my fingers crossed for JackieMaya :P . I figure that once you've crossed the line from having one dog to two, it'd be an easy transition to have more from there.
Again, he's a good lookin' dog, but I think it's kind od silly to assume that he might be part Leonberger. It's just not a common enough breed in the States to be running around having illegitemate children, though I'm not saying it's impossible. -
I'm glad to hear that you'd gotten Tabitha back. It's a shame about her injuries, but she should probably heal well enough given time and some spoiling.
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The vets at the clinic I work for are getting ready to gear toward the once every three year distemper booster. I for one will probablt still choose to vaccinate annually. I'm not saying that I think it's neccesary to do so, I think it's great that more vets are gearing to the new vaccine regiment, I'm just saying that I like to play safe rather than sorry. I or my family never experienced health problems with annual vaccines, and I guess I'm a little paranoid of all the little bugs that I may incidently track home in my clothes or on my shoes from work. A three year regiment will definately be best of all for animals with a sensitivity to the vaccines.
As far as the vets go who aren't with the program, I doubt that money is the real factor. I think it has more to do with many of them not wanting to be blamed by their clients if their dogs happen to come down with something that they 'should' have been vaccinated against but didn't. Again, that's a better safe than sorry policy on the vets' part.
The only legistlature about vaccines that exists only concerns rabies. If I'm correct in the U.S. all 50 states require you to have a rabies vaccines every three years. However, there are some county ordinances that requires dog owners to vaccinate against rabies every two years or even annually. I doubt that there are many vets out there telling folks to vaccinate against rabies annually just to get your money, word of something like that would travel quickly and the veterinarian would soon be out of buisness. Also, in my experience clinics don't make their real money from vaccines anyway, most of it comes from medical cases. -
You can get it at most any pet or feed supply store. But be fore-warned: it doesn't work for every dog.
I'm not an expert in behavioral training but I did go through an extensive chewing phase with Zoey. It started out with as an anxiety problem when we first got her from Animal Control but then turned into a fun hobby for her. Bitter apple spray didn't work for her, indeed I think she beleived it to be a nice 'seasoning' for wicker and wood items. We tried several different training tips to stop the problem but the two things that worked best for us us were, one: to keep anything of value out of reach. Secondly we used crate training to finally put more or less an end to the problem. When Zoey was caught chewing something she ought not to be she got a half hour 'time-out' in the crate. I know that's not proper training, nor is it the way crates should be used, but it worked, and it was the only thing that did.
Oh yes, and patience, you'll need alot of that :) . -
Getting a little off-topic, I think different diets will work for differnt dogs, I think it's kind of crazy to think that one brand of food can be called worse or better than another for an animal with such a variable physiology.
You want to talk about unpopular foods then hear this: My fiance's mom owned a Great Dane named Elmis. Magnificent animal, he weight something around 160-170 lbs in his prime, he turned eleven a little while ago and is soon at the end of his days but arthritis had only caught up with him about a year ago and he's been without any health problems.
Want to guess what he ate? Aside from the occaisional bit of people food or raw bone, the only thing Elmis had eaten all his life was... OLD ROY!!!
Couldn't believe when I heard that. -
I saw your last post and was hoping that you'd finally found her, but no...
My best guess at this point would be that seeing as how she's such a cute little thing someone would have picked her up by now, as long as you're not in a rural area. I'd go with Rowie advise and go searching with your other dogs, it's worked for me before with my own dog and when searching for other peoples' dogs. It works best if you get get them to make some noise while you walk, barking, howling, baying, even the jingling of tags will catch the attention of most dogs.
I hope that the next time you post will be to say that you've found her. Best of luck. -
I talked to the woman again today, she has started to really feel guilty about the whole situation. She installed a runner in her backyard (which is also fenced) for her remaining dog whenever he goes outside to play, even though she doesn't have any immediate neighbors with dogs she doesn't want to take any more chances.
I haven't really been able to reason as to why the Pit Bull owner put his dogs down. Maybe he just felt really bad and perhaps partly responsible for the the neighbor dog being killed. Then again I also live in a relatively afluent city where there aren't very many Pit Bulls, also I'm in Mich where there is alot of anti-Pit legislature (Detroit mostly). Matbe he felt like he had to be rid of the dogs before some righteous anti-dog people leveled their sights at him, who knows?
As far as Jack Russels go, I'm now thinking that aside from the all the Pits killed in illegal dog-fights, Jack Russells must be the number one breed of dog to be killed by other dogs. I've known Jack Russels that have been killed or seriously injured by starting fights with dogs such as Pit Bills, German Shepherds, Borzoi, Huskies, Wolf Hybrids. All of these are somewhat aggresive dog breeds in their own rights, but in all these cases the Jack Russels have started the assault. And here's the real kicker, I don't know that this is true, but I've been told about an instance where a Newfie had mauled an attacking Jack Russel. Don't know any of the details, but I have a hard time imagining a proper Newfie ever attacking another dog, even out of self defense. -
Don't know what could be the reason behind the problem, but all the dietary changes certainly can't be helping. Perhaps an intolerance or allergy to an igredient in the food could be the reason, but I'd consult his vet about the problem if you hadn't already as diet may not be the problem.
*Edit* Oops, I'm a little slow on the draw. I guess you'd already seen the vet. -
Yoladybug, I'll agree with pretty much what everyone else has said. And I also think that MajiesMom is also right in that you can't actually rely on your dog protecting you in a given situation, though I doubt Abby needs any specific training to actually protect you for when it might actually be needed.
Both my girls would be considered among the worst 'protection' dogs to ever exist, but they've both come into their own when they thought it was needed.
China has a fear of strangers (which applies to everyone that is not me or my fiance) and at the most she will sit as far across the room as possible from a strange person in the house and howl at them. At one point my fiance had an argument with an ex-boyfreind (this was before we had met and she was still dating this jerk) and this guy actually worked up the nerve to slap her. Now China was actually HIS dog, but she knew what was wrong and bit him in the calf for it.
Zoey thinks that most every creature on this planet was put here to be her friend. I used to take her to work with me at the clinic where she would hang out behind the counter with me. One time a client's dog was ready to take my face off when I got too close and Zoey made one of the most horrific threat displays I'd ever seen (Darn good thing I kept her tied down). I couln't believe what just happened and thought it was a fluke, but after it happened again with another dog in a similar situation I stopped taking her to work.
So don't worry about Abby being too sweet, because I'm a firm believer that even the sweetest dog will protect the person thy're bonded to when they percieve a real threat. Hopefully you'll never have to find out . -
I spoke with a client today who'd told me her Jack Russell Terrier had been killed a couple days ago. Apparantly the dog had squeezed through a fence in the neighbor's yard and promptly attacked by a pair of Pit Bulls. The woman's other Jack Russell then rushed into the yard to help his mate but she was killed before the neigbor could come out and retrieve his two dogs. The second Jack Russell had come out of the fray untouched, but the owner of the two Pits had both of his dogs euthanized (at his own discretion) that next day.
So sad that three out of four dogs should lose their lives in this incident, and I feel so sorry for the woman I talked to. Well, I feel bad for both dog owners really, but I never got the Pit Bull owner's take on the situation. I definately give the woman credit for realizing that her dog was 'in the wrong', especially when so many other people would start talking law suit if their dog was killed while trespassing into another dog's enclosed area.
I've heard similar stories many times before and it all sounds about the same, 'Jack Russell Terrier bombs over to the neighbor's yard and picks a fight with a bigger dog or dogs'. I think most Jack Russell owners see their dogs as cute, hyper little bundles of joy (which they are for the most part), but sometimes some of these folks forget just how tough these little dogs think they are.
Anyway, just a bit of news in my life, thought I'd share. -
Hey this thread is alot more fun than it started out being :D !
I'm a little bit on the tall side, somewhere right about 6'1" or 2", does this make me the tallest? -
Ha! Most of the old folks in the senior community next door to me hate my 'big' dogs when they see them "lunging and salivating and trying to get their dogs" when we're out for a walk. It seldom crosses their minds that my girls just want to play :P .
Book Recomendation
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A couple days ago I finished a book called "Good Dog, Bad Dog" by Mathew Margolis. Training books don't rank on my list of exciting reads but I was at the library and happened to notice and recognize the author's name on the bindings of several books. He was a client at the clinic I worked at in Calif. so I decided to check out one of the books and give it a read.
The book was written many years ago and is subsequently rather old school, but it was rather well written and much different than more modern training books. It provides a nice alternative to clicker or treat based training (neither of which I am fond of), and functions on the ideal that your dog performs on the basis of communication and praise rather than a food bribe.
I enjoyed the book and thought I'd share. If anyone is not having much luck with treat or clicker training, then it might be worth checking this book out.