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Saturday, December 19, 2009
I know it's another dog food post, but I couldn't find anything in the tags about dogs in the UK. All the food which is mentioned in these posts (or well most) aren't available here - so I'm wondering what everyone feeds?
I've got Izzie on James Wellbeloved kibble which is supposed to be a premium brand over here, but in comparison to those available in America it's not too great. I also mix in raw (chicken/turkey bones etc), egg and some yoghurt. Not everyday but maybe once a week jst for some variety and a little extra. She is healthy and has a lovely coat so don't get me wrong I'm quite happy with what she's on, but if theres something else better then it's worth a try.
Also for Christmas, I was planning on making a doggy cake. Whats everyones thoughts on the ingredients in this one? It won't obviously all be for one dog, we have four dogs which come with us to my parents house on Christmas day. Or if anyone has any others they've tried/tested then that would be great
( And so it's not all text )
Friday, December 18, 2009
11:46PM - ♥
I just have to say I'm so pleased with Jingles. She hasn't had an accident inside since last week and she goes in her crate happily. Right now the crate is near the fireplace, Jingles inside and the door open. She knows when it's her bedtime and just makes me happy.
We're still working on the climbing onto people's legs when we're eating or when she wants to be picked up. I love to pick her up and hold her but when I decide.
I'm trying to get her to stop rushing to any door when it opens. Do you guys have any ideas?
A little background: My previous dog, Osita, would bolt out the front door if we weren't careful. That led to many frustrating days of chasing her around the neighborhood with a leash because she SO fast that no one could catch her. Again, my previous dog was something else! She had this craving to run and run LONG distances. We couldn't walk her because she would DRAG us so instead I would make her play fetch until she would plop down tired or take her to the dog park for a few hours every so often. She somehow jumped the brick wall, ran onto a main street and was hit by a car. She was my first dog as an adult and sadly I had to learn the extremely hard way the consequences of not keeping a dog exercised. That's how she died
I'm so afraid of that happening again that I'm trying to teach Jingles that the yard is GOOD place where she WANTS to stay. We're doing everything different with Jingles. We walk her for at least 30 - 45 minutes every day, play with her in the yard and in the house.
Jingles dislikes loud noises so if she follows me to the front door I stomp my foot and tell her "away" in a firm voice. I don't yell, scream or hit her. If she doesn't get the message I take her collar, lead her to the entrance to the kitchen, have her sit, down and stay. It last for all of 2 seconds and she's back at the front door. We have MANY dogs in our neighborhood so I can understand there must be many scents she would love to explore but I'm pretty sure some of these dogs would love to have her over...for lunch! Thanks for any tips!
Current mood:  happy Current music: Christmas Shoes - NewSong
I took in a stray pitbull and there have been bumps. My husband and I never owned a dog together and my last dog was 1987. Turns out that's the same year my husband had one, too.
Here's the main issue I'd like some help on.
After 4 weeks, the roommates have finally said they actually DO mind the dog on the sofa.
4 weeks of saying it was ok, allowing him to sit with them and even use my command "couch" (he can still enjoy the fire place without getting too close).
Do I even bother at this point to train him to no longer get on the couch? Seems rather mean and sadly it comes at a bad time. I've realized that I'm allergic to my dog's hair (I get hives if the hair pricks my skin) and he him plus the cats equal asthma triggers. So I must remake my bedroom a pet free zone and start teaching him to stay off the bed when before he was allowed at the foot. The "foot of the bed" thing he came with. Apparently someone let him stay on their bed, too.
I'd hate to think what's going through his head when suddenly he's not allowed on any furniture. Usually letting him on the couch is the only sure fire way to get him to calm down. He has a weird tic where it doesn't matter if he's been outside an hour or 5 minutes - he is super excited to be let in. Everytime. He even pops himself in the face with his own wagging tail. Saying "Couch" usually gets him to curl up, and simmer down.
Also a recent vet visit revealed he will be having hip problems in the future so his couch surfing days are numbered anyway. He's got maybe 2-3 years at the most before the hips start acting up seriously.
So - forbid him from all furniture in one fell swoop or let him at least keep the couch?
Ozzie is terrified of noises. When we got him, his former owners told us that they were rehoming him because he was afraid of the neighbor's peacock. Fair enough, that's easy to avoid! As it turns out, he has a severe phobia of any sharp, short noises, including gunshots, whistles, peacocks, fireworks, a clicker (we can't go to any classes that use clickers!), Snapple lids, or pen clicks. Any of these sounds send him over his threshold and he won't take a treat, even his very very favorite treats.
We live near a firing range, and he isn't afraid of the gunshots he hears when he's in the backyard, although clickers terrify him at home or anywhere else. He doesn't bat an eye at thunder, even window-shaking thunder. But a woman's whistle to her dog at the park today sent him into a terrified escape attempt. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense, and it's pretty bad. Any ideas to counter-condition him? He won't even take his very favorite treat.
Ok, so what is the difference between a snuggie and a regular dog coat/sweater?
Lately my dog, and my parents dog...has been aggressive about their food. Not towards people, I can take their food away, stick my hand in their bowl/mouth etc. No problems! But the last week or so, whenever Bea(my dog) or Bonnie(their dog) are eating, and the other dog gets to close they snarl and snap! They have never done this. I have started letting them eat in seperate rooms so they don't hurt each other. Any suggestions on how to correct this?
My whippet seems to have... misplaced... her outdoor coat. It was shaped kind of like a horse blanket with a waterproof outside and a fleece lining. So i'm looking for a warm, waterproof (hopefully, but not completely necessary as she doesn't spend much time outside when it's cold) that isn't too expensive. i've found a few for sighthounds but they're 75$+. i paid $30 for her other one. so if anyone know where i could get one similar to the one she had or something else that would work for the odd sighthound shape.
3:37PM
hola.
my dog has some kind of IBS/extremely sensitive stomach issue. i have gone through several different foods since i have owned him trying to get one that worked for him. the lamb and rice canidae was the last LID one i tried and it gave him explosive diarrhea problems. i went back to the store to exchange it thinking maybe a fish protein LID would work better.
i asked the pet store owner to suggest one and he asked me to list all the foods i had tried giving my dog, and i rattled them off. i told him the LID food i was thinking of trying, and he said, well i could try giving him that, or i could give him science diet sensitive stomach food.
i balked, and i said that i was under the impression that science diet isn't the best of foods. he gave me pretty much a 20 minute shpiel about science diet and how he had gone to a science diet conference and bladebla. i won't repeat the shpiel. i told him that i just wanted a food that worked and made my dog feel better, at this point, and if he thought science diet was the better bet, i'd take it.
to cut to the chase, the food did work, and i was pretty amazed. in all the time i have owned my dog, i have never seen a solid poo until now. additionally, it had come to the point that my poor dog has learned the sound of the immodium bottle. and finally, here science diet had come to save the day. my dog is feeling good, not barfing or crying to go out at 3 am because he has explosive diarrhea.
however, i still can't shake how guilty i feel over feeding him corn and byproducts.
is there a better food for a dog with this problem? or is it a matter of "if it ain't broke" and just coming to terms that my dog is finally not sick?
Just looking for some hope that this stage won't last!
Remy is what we call a "Voracious Chewer." We now only buy tough ropes, Nylabones, marrow bones, Okra chew toys, etc. because he will destroy anything flimsy. We're to the point where we probably won't buy ropes for much longer because it only takes him about 15 minutes (if that!) when he puts his mind to it and a rope is frayed and he's trying to eat the strings coming off of it. We also figured we'd purchase one of those dog chew tires to give him something a bit different, figuring that it held up to Snickers' chewing back when he had one. Well Remy started peeling the top layer off of that last night and, though he spit most of it out before we took it away, he did ingest some and we had vomit to clean up in the crate last night.
Any other good, tough chew toys you can suggest? We're planning to get some more Nylabones of different designs and flavors to give him some options. But anything else that can stand up to a 50 lb. Brittany with a mind to chew?
Also, is this just a stage? He's going on 11 months now, so I'm hoping he'll eventually grow out of it and we can go back to some cheaper toys and he'll listen when we tell him to "be nice" to his toys like Snickers will.
Darn dogs!
Thursday, December 17, 2009
A bunch of stuff I need opinions/advice on!
Today my min pin, Parker, went to the vet for his last puppy shots. The last time he went, there was no one else around... this time, there was 6 other dogs. He has been going to socialization classes, so he just wanted to meet all these dogs and play. But he couldn't... all the people there didn't want to do that... I was sitting near a black lab 4 month old puppy and he was very obedient. I felt embarassed... Parker would NOT stop whining and he wouldn't listen to me. I'm so frustrated.
How can I make him NOT whine? Around other dogs and in general? He whines and whines and it gets to crying and howling. When he's in the same room as me and he whines, I try to ignore him so he'll eventually stop and he never does. It's winter and below zero but we play fetch down a 20-30 foot hall in my room... He has interactive toys and I try to keep him occupied all the time that he's awake. Like, if I wanted to stay in bed all day, he would be right on my lap and be fine. He's really attached to me, he always wants to be by me and/or on me. He's crate trained and does fine in there all day, but if I leave him in my room for a few minutes, he whines and cries so loud.
My dad also mentioned that our previous dogs never bit like he does.. or else he just doesn't remember. I'm doing all the things I should be doing to curb the biting/nipping... putting him down, leaving the room (but when I walk out of the room, he starts whining and crying for me), yelping, telling him no, etc. So will that go away?
He also whines and barks while I'm making food and especially while I'm eating it. I've been giving him a toy where the treats fall out every time I eat, but that only keeps him occupied for so long, he still knows I'm eating. And he's never gotten table scraps before!
He gets super excited when I get out his food, and he starts barking, it's usually if he's super excited, it's not barking at everything, all the time, which is good! So what can I teach him so he'll stop when I say, or something?
I guess that's it for now.
I have two questions that are sort of related. I have gotten answers from my trainer for both, but I want to know if there are any other ways to go about what I need to do.
I have a Basenji, so while she's very smart, she doesn't always really care about what I want. I've had a lot of fun training her and finding out what makes her tick and she's learned a lot.
1.)However, I'm having difficulty getting her to do things outside of an actual training situation when treats aren't given freely. For example, I ask her to sit for either no reason at all, or to do something like go outside, she'll look at me and dash off the other way. Sit is her best "thing," she knows it really well. But it's like if I don't have a really good reward for her, she's not going to do it.
Now, I know I'm dealing with a hound and she's not going to be at my beck and call for every little thing. But how can I wean her off her desire for a reward for every little thing and still have her do what I want? I've used life rewards, and they work to an extent, but there isn't any real reliability. I would like to compete in Rally with her someday, so doing what I ask for no immediate reward is sort of important.
2.)Also, how is the best way to respond to the refusal of a cue? If I tell Jetta to sit and she just doesn't, what is the best thing to do? I know I can't let her get away with not following directions because she'll think she can blow me off whenever she wants.
This is what I've been told to do by my trainer for the above situations.
1.) I've been told that I need to be extremely consistent when asking for various behaviors. If I'm going to ask Jetta to sit before she can go outside, I ALWAYS have to ask her to sit to go outside until the behavior becomes automatic. By asking for a sit sometimes and not others, Jetta thinks she can "get away" with refusing because she knows the next time she goes out I might not ask her to sit. Thus, she knows that if she holds out long enough, she won't have to earn getting to go outside. I'm told I should do similar things in many different situations with different cues until they become part of the routine, then I can start mixing them up. My trainer has also has reminded me that just because Jetta knows "sit" in the kitchen, doesn't mean she knows it in the bedroom or the bathroom or with three other dogs all clamoring to go outside and that this is all part of the proofing process. I'm aware of this and I know I need to make sure she knows her behaviors in more situations and locations than she currently does.
Does that make sense?
2.) I'm told to never ask Jetta to do something if I'm not 100% positive she'll do it, or unless I'm able to enforce it. If I ask her to sit in a situation she KNOWS sit in, and she doesn't sit, assuming she's wearing a leash, I'm to pull up on her collar with slightly, with just a little pressure (not a pop) until she sits again and them immediately stop pressure and praise.
I know this doesn't hurt her and is probably not "damaging," and maybe I'm just worried about the term "correction," but is there anything else that can be done to ensure that the dog follows through on behavior that it already knows? I'm not talking about follow through when they're learning a behavior, I would never correct for that. I mean after they've already learned it and they are deliberately choosing not to obey. Any comments or suggestions or better ideas for how to think about these situations would be appreciated.
ETA: Sorry - I've tried adding paragraph breaks twice and the formatting keeps getting screwed up when I post it.
Current mood:  cold
6:54PM
Hey dog lovers!!
I have a new dog/cat website, http://www.youmakemehateyou.com, where people submit pictures of their dogs (or cats!) hating them (for things like brushing teeth, dressing up, making them get married, etc.) If anyone has any hilarious pictures, please submit them to this post and I will get them up on the site! we add funny commentary, and credit you for your pic! :)
Ok, I'm a vet tech student and I've never seen anything like this. I have a Wheaten Terrier Mix who has never had any severe skin problems. Occasionally during the summer he'll get itchy and I'll give him a Benadryl but nothing big.
But this year, weird things have occured. A few months ago he got a HUGE wart-like growth about an inch of his eye. I thought initially it was a puppy wart but it never went away. At the same time he got a big zit like growth on his back that oozed pus when I squeezed it. The vet dismissed it as an ingrown hair and removed the growth. It came back as a benign cyst and hasn't come back.
Then recently he's getting these zits ALL OVER his back and they're getting bigger and filling with blood if I don't keep up with them and pop them. He's got really soft thick hair and I'm scared to get him shaved cuz I fear they'll knick one of these and cut him :( but his hair is getting to the point where I can't wait anymore. These zit-like bumps are everywhere and have a ton of pus in them for their size and I'm about to take him to the vet again as we speak but I was just wondering if anyone has any experience with this type of thing??
And just so it's not text only, there he is on top of the Beagle, lol. I work at a doggy daycare. :-P
So I have a 10 year old rescue GSD.
Sometimes, he surprises the crap out of by doing things I ask him (sometimes I will jokingly tell the dogs to do something and I know they have no clue what I'm saying, and I don't expect them to do anything but look at me funny).
Last night, I was holding a toy. He usually does not play with toys. He looked interested in it, so I held it out to him and said 'Take it'.
Well, guess what he did! He did not keep it in his mouth and promptly spit it out - but he will take things. In fact, I figured out he will take ANYTHING I hold out to him. I tried pens, shoes, remotes, keys, paper, towels, etc etc. If I say 'take it', he will.
And then spit it out. He won't pick it up off the ground, though, and he won't carry anything.
Now because this is all kinds of awesome, how do I get it to be better, to the point where I can have him actually pick things up off the ground and bring it to me? I don't really need him to be able to tell what an item is, just if I point at something and say 'take it', he will. I'd LOVE to teach him to say, carry something, too, like a purse.
And how do I get him to not spit it out immediately? I'm afraid if I offer him a treat he'll spit it out faster just to get to the treat, heh.
And while we're on the subject, how would you teach a dog to 'take it' when they don't like to put things in their mouth? I'd love to teach the same to my Great Dane but I'm not sure how to get her started.
And so it's not all text. ( Cute photo of old shepherd )
I want my dog to learn something and I know it can be taught, I just can't think of how to go about it!
Darce loves tennis balls no matter what the season and now that we're under six inches of snow, fetch has turned into more "run run snuffle snuffle find! run back drop snuffle snuffle find! drop in-hand". Which is great because it exercises his brain too and tires him out that much faster. The only problem is when he shoots off in the opposite direction of the ball and doesn't see where it lands. In the other seasons this isn't a problem because he searches for it systematically and eventually finds it. But he never gives up and in the bitter cold, that can be a bad thing. ( So I'm trying to teach him one of two things: (plus a photo so it's not text only! )
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Hello. I posted a bit ago with a rant about how I was completely hopeless because dogs are expensive and hard work!
However, as an update, everything has been going swimmingly. My littlest guy who previously lived with my parents has mad fast friend with my roommate's husky mix pup. I'm pretty sure he's happier than he's been for years.
Nixie, the lab/heeler that my malamute mix bit healed PERFECTLY which i guess is super rare, even with antibiotics for a bite puncture wound.
And Kane, my malamute mix has been quite content and hasn't shown the least bit of aggression towards anybody (though he's been on tight supervision, just in case) I think he might have learned from his mistake. He seemed pretty guilty afterwards.
Anyway, onto my questions.
First, Kane has a serious bought of terrible breath. I know he's about due for another teeth cleaning but it ran me about $600.00 last time so I'm going to put it off for a couple months since my job is just starting this weekend. He doesn't appear to have any obvious abscess, and he doesn't appear to be in any pain.
I've stepped up his tooth brushing regimen - once a day, usually at night and it's always followed by one of those tooth/dental bones, which he loves (can anybody recommend a good brand of these, btw? Do you think they're all all effective?)
But anyway, I was wondering if you guys have had any experience with enzymatic tooth paste. I think I remember my vet saying that the toothpaste was mostly a gimmick and just the brushing was important. But another vet recently told me that the enzymatic tooth paste does wonders for bad breath. I just wanted to hear from some others before I go buying some because I'm trying to save money.
My next question is about this dehydrated dog food I saw the other day. It was in a box and looked like potato soup mix or hot cereal or something. It said it bridges the gap between raw and kibble or something like that. Apparently you just add water and cook it for 10 minutes or so. I didn't check the price and I was in a hurry so didn't really get a great look at the ingredients either. I was just intrigued. Any of you use this or know anything about it?
Thanks!
( Photos, just for fun )
"We're not doing anything wrong....."
( ...... )
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
I have a friend who recently adopted a basset puppy. This isn't her first dog, but it is her first puppy. Right now the pup's going through the teething/bitey stage and she's not sure what to do. I suggested the yelp/withdraw method, but I also don't have any actual puppy experience. I have several dog behavior and training books, but all of them are general or geared more toward fine-tuning adult dogs. Can anyone recommend a good puppy training book?
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