My Dogs

[Annie7]

Apr 26, 2023 9:28:23 GMT -5 Opti said:

Apr 26, 2023 7:32:26 GMT -5 Annie7 said:

What kind of dog Annie7? I know when my XH and I contemplated getting a dog when we were young working professionals, we planned to build a kind of a doggie gym/obstacle course in part of our yard that would be fenced off. Dog agility training could have been in its future. 

Now having seen so many dogs by working at the hybrid care facility, I would try to have two dogs instead of one, so they do not get bored. Some of my fave dogs are working dogs so I don't know if I do finally get dog(s). What I will choose. Probably medium sized ... 

And as a non-dog owner I know you asked Pink not me, but I am unfortunately opinionated on this topic as I want all dogs and pets to live their best reasonable lives. Check out the dog thread for a YouTube video I posted. The husky rescue would be a dream for me, but I'd probably only be up to it for under a month as I'm past 50 now.

Nala's a German Shepherd. She loves sniffing and we play the "find it" game where I hide treats around the house and she finds them. 

I did consider getting another dog but I'm not sure I can handle two dogs financially. I go to my home country every year or two for 3 weeks. I also want to do other travel. It gets expensive boarding the big dogs. 

She liked having her doodle friend Simba here for 6 days but by the end they were both ready for private time. They are both only dogs in their homes. I think she would do well with another dog - she's good with big and small dogs and is always gentle with the little ones. She lies down to be smaller when she's playing with the small ones. But I can't do it for financial reasons.

She was going to daycare twice a week. However, they told us to stop bringing her for 2 weeks because Nala was constantly barking at other dogs and their trainer was out of the country until mid-april. I will start back next week and see how she does.

I will check out the video.

[Pink Cashmere]

Apr 26, 2023 7:32:26 GMT -5 Annie7 said:

Apr 25, 2023 17:30:35 GMT -5 Pink Cashmere said:

Mr. T said you were probably going to want to stop using it when you saw her reaction. I trust his advice because he is very involved with dog stuff and very knowledgeable. But I understand his perspective is probably a little different from people like us that just see our dogs as pets. He loves his dogs, when people kept trying to steal his wife’s car, even though his dogs are trained for protection, he didn’t use them to protect the Jeep by parking it behind his fence at night, because as his wife said, he’d be devastated if the thieves hurt or killed one of his dogs.

But they are also part of a business for him, so even though he loves them and takes excellent care of them, I am guessing some of his work with them is strictly business, where he doesn’t let his emotions affect his training and handling them. If that makes sense.

And Mr. T HAD to do something about his dogs barking, because the neighbors behind his house were constantly harassing him and sending the police, animal control and code enforcement to his house. It is possible that the dogs were barking because they’d just moved to a new environment, where squirrels, raccoons and other critters were running around. The barking might’ve stopped once they got use to all of that, but they weren’t given a chance because those people immediately started calling folks on the T’s, instead of just coming around and talking to them.

Anyway, Nala is YOUR dog, and you have to do what you feel is best for her. I wish I knew more about bark collars myself or had the knowledge to advise you.

Thanks Pink. I appreciate your thoughts. I hear what you are saying about your neighbor. When Nala was in her land shark phase as a puppy, I would not even swat her nose to stop her from biting. My mom would tell me to swat her on the nose a couple of times and she'll learn - that's how she had taught our GSDs we had when I was growing up. I didn't spank my kids either. 

I am a bit sad that she is now avoiding sitting on the bench to watch the world outside because she thinks she'll get zapped. However, it is true that she is calmer and more focused on me. I also feel that I should not stop now and have her suffering be for naught. I will keep at it for a few more days and see how she is. 

What do your dogs do throughout the day? Mine used to sit on the bench watching outside and barking when she saw a dog. But otherwise just watching and lying around. Now she is avoiding the bench so she's just lying around. I feel that's such a boring life. It might be fine from a dog's perspective - just seems boring to me. I do go pet her between my meetings, play with her in the backyard a couple of times during the day, give her snacks, etc during my work day. She comes to me and paws at me and I follow her and give her water/snacks/play as she asks. Just that watching her lying down with nothing to do makes me feel bad. Maybe I'm just projecting my feelings on her and she's totally fine.

Newbie is a true couch potato. She’s usually on the sofa in the den, whether we are home or not. Mister leaves the tv on in the den in the mornings for her, because he swears she watches tv. She only seems to come to life when she is outside.

Boy follows whoever is home around a lot, but he also slips off and gets into mischief. We don’t leave him loose when we aren’t home. We have a crate, but we just leave him in the laundry room and close the pocket door between the laundry room and the kitchen. There’s no telling what he might get into if we left him loose all day when nobody is home. Plus, he pesters Newbie so much and doesn’t know when to stop, so I’m afraid of leaving them together and Newbie decides to make him leave her alone herself.

I do think he sometimes knows when she means business though. A couple weeks ago they were out in the yard, Mister and I were sitting on the deck. Newbie had that damn blue ball (which finally got shredded enough that Mister threw all the pieces away), and Boy was trying to take it from her. I can’t remember exactly what she did, growl or bark, but it was different and Boy hightailed it to the deck with us. He stood at the top of the steps watching her. As soon as Newbie walked away from the ball, Boy flew back out there and snatched it and ran off with it. I’m almost positive that whole deal meant something, and I’m guessing he knew to leave her alone because she wasn’t playing that time. I don’t want to chance him ignoring her warnings and they start fighting for real and no one is home to stop them.

[Deleted]

Ms. M lays on the couch as I write this.  She moves from the couch to the bed, with little activity in between.  When she is feeling especially energetic she likes to go up and down the stairs.  She may benefit from a second dog, who could teach her how to dog, but with how expensive and challenging she is, we aren't able to do that. 

On the weekly Ms. M front, not much has changed.  She still lives in our house, almost like a cat. She watches us, but never interacts.  Leash is still a work in progress, though now we have both a harness and a collar she can't escape.  DH has decided that he doesn't like her and she will never be a normal pet.  

[Pink Cashmere]

Apr 26, 2023 14:26:29 GMT -5 @pooks said:

Ms. M lays on the couch as I write this.  She moves from the couch to the bed, with little activity in between.  When she is feeling especially energetic she likes to go up and down the stairs.  She may benefit from a second dog, who could teach her how to dog, but with how expensive and challenging she is, we aren't able to do that. 

On the weekly Ms. M front, not much has changed.  She still lives in our house, almost like a cat. She watches us, but never interacts.  Leash is still a work in progress, though now we have both a harness and a collar she can't escape.  DH has decided that he doesn't like her and she will never be a normal pet.  

Oh dear! I hope once she gets settled in your home, he’ll start liking her.

Mister and I call Newbie a catdog, because she just likes to lay around and sleep in the sun on the deck. She does interact with us though, if we try to play with her or she wants some affection. Mister also says Boy doesn’t know how to be a dog because Boy doesn’t like being outside unless it’s outside the gate where he and Newbie can run around the yard chasing each other.

And yes having 2 dogs is expensive, and it’s not guaranteed they will actually like each other either. OG wasn’t fond of Newbie. At first Newbie would try to get OG to play with her, but OG mostly just ignored her. They ended up just doing their own thing and not interacting at all. 

As you all know, Boy is a pest, so he and Newbie do interact a lot. This morning Newbie hadn’t gotten out of bed yet, and Boy laid in front of her, licking her face until I told him to leave her alone. She was awake, but didn’t react at all to him pestering her.

When I had my 2 big dogs, the one I bought was expensive by herself, because the vet charged for a lot of things by weight and she weighed 120lbs. Then I was given a standard poodle that weighed 55lbs. Every time I planned to travel, a few hundred dollars in boarding fees was always included in the costs. But they were great buddies. The Poodle was kind of high strung, and acted a nut the first couple of times I boarded them. The vet asked me if they could try putting them in a huge run together to see if that would help the Poodle be more calm. I said yes, and it worked, so that’s what they always did after that. I left them both loose in the house while I was at work, and there was never an issue. I got lucky with those 2 lol.

I hope Ms M finds her groove in your household soon and starts trusting and interacting with you all. How long has she been with you now?

[Deleted]

We have had Ms. M since February 19th.  She really is the sweetest thing, but really scared.  Her cat like behavior is that she hides and likes to watch us from around corners to make sure everything is safe before she will come out and lay on the couch.  But at least she is coming out now and choosing to hang with us.  She tries so hard to be brave, but sometimes it falls apart and she just shakes.

DH never really wanted to go the rescue route, so Ms. M's difficulties are just proving him right.  But she really is a good dog.  Potty trained, she doesn't bark, doesn't beg for food, doesn't chase the bunnies in the yard, isn't aggressive no matter how scared she is, doesn't resource guard.  

[Pink Cashmere]

Apr 27, 2023 13:16:49 GMT -5 @pooks said:

We have had Ms. M since February 19th.  She really is the sweetest thing, but really scared.  Her cat like behavior is that she hides and likes to watch us from around corners to make sure everything is safe before she will come out and lay on the couch.  But at least she is coming out now and choosing to hang with us.  She tries so hard to be brave, but sometimes it falls apart and she just shakes.

DH never really wanted to go the rescue route, so Ms. M's difficulties are just proving him right.  But she really is a good dog.  Potty trained, she doesn't bark, doesn't beg for food, doesn't chase the bunnies in the yard, isn't aggressive no matter how scared she is, doesn't resource guard.  

She does sound like a good dog. Hopefully with time, she will realize she is always safe with you and the family, and get to be more comfortable. 

Newbie was kind of timid when we first got her. Before we got her, she had been passed around to a few homes, and at one home, she was kept tied to a tree in the back yard with heavy chains around her neck (I guess to try to make her stronger, idk what the hell), and they tried to breed her even though she was still a puppy herself.  She would also take off running if me or Mister got the broom to sweep for a long time after we brought her home.

She eventually got comfortable with us and more confident about her place in our home (and stopped running away when she saw us with the broom). She’s still different from any dog I’ve ever had, not in a bad way, just different. But she’s a good dog, very obedient and eager to please if she understands what we want her to do. She loves children and is very patient with Boy The Pest. She does have a very strong prey drive, but she’s never been aggressive with people, my son’s tiny dog, OG, or Boy.

We kind of rescued her and Boy both, not formally, but just taking them in and giving them a good home. Boy came from a litter of 9 puppies that the owner ended up giving his litter mates to anybody that saw them outside and said they wanted one. She gave me the pick of the litter, then a couple of days later set his siblings outside in a crate to try to get rid of them.

Mister took OG in when he found her as a tiny puppy under a church he was doing some HVAC work for. 

It sounds like Ms M has been through a lot and you are an awesome person for helping her and sticking with her and trying to give her a good home. I am seriously rooting for you all that it all comes together for the good, and soon.

[daisylu]

Apr 27, 2023 13:16:49 GMT -5 @pooks said:

We have had Ms. M since February 19th.  She really is the sweetest thing, but really scared.  Her cat like behavior is that she hides and likes to watch us from around corners to make sure everything is safe before she will come out and lay on the couch.  But at least she is coming out now and choosing to hang with us.  She tries so hard to be brave, but sometimes it falls apart and she just shakes.

DH never really wanted to go the rescue route, so Ms. M's difficulties are just proving him right.  But she really is a good dog.  Potty trained, she doesn't bark, doesn't beg for food, doesn't chase the bunnies in the yard, isn't aggressive no matter how scared she is, doesn't resource guard.  

It takes a long time for dogs to get over the trauma of abuse but it sounds like she is improving. She sounds like a lovely dog to me.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

I read it usually takes up to three months for abused dogs to trust again. Sometimes longer depending on severity and duration of abuse.

DH was convinced we made a mistake with Charlotte at first because she behaved the same way and would run anytime he tried to touch her.

I caught her rolling in the grass one day but she stopped when she saw me. I figured we were starting to make progress and I was right.

DH can't imagine life without her now.

She still has her issues. She does not trust men outside of DH but she at least doesn't cower now when my dad comes over she'll glare at him from the couch.

She will also still drop and roll to expose her belly if we approach a tad too fast or take what she thinks is an aggressive stance. Especially DH.

She was raised to be a hunting working dog so she's excellent with commands. She has a prey drive but has good recall if we say stop or drop it she does.

But because of that she doesn't know how to be a pet. Toys are pointless and she doesn't really play.

Wilbur has been good for that. He has puppy energy and won't leave her alone. She finally started rough housing with him a couple days ago.

[wvugurl26]

I think it can take a long time for animals to recover. It does seem like M is making progress. I believe mich has said it took a long time for their dog to trust TD.

My aunt has a retired racing greyhound. He 100% didn't know how to be a pet. She missed like 4 meetings the first full day she had him because he didn't know how to go up and down steps. Even now I'm not sure he really plays with toys.

My dad's girlfriend took their dog to the vet yesterday. It was the same vet that chipped and spayed her. She remembered and sat under the girlfriend's feet hiding the whole time. She was a model dog. Which is probably good bc she needs more training and I've seen her drag the person on other end of leash along.

[TheOtherMe]

I adopted a kitten who had been found in a dumpster in a paper bag.  Later on he needed x-rays and he had a BB pellet in him.  So he had definitely been traumatized.

He was afraid of all men.  During his entire life, he never got over it.  He would hide whenever a man was around.  I did make it a point to take him to female vets.

[Deleted]

Thank you everyone who has responded about Ms. M.  I greatly appreciate it and it gives me a lot of hope that she will continue to improve.  

[Deleted]

Is anyone else's dog shedding like crazy?  I am having trouble keeping up with it.  The shedding seemed to start about 2 weeks ago.  I am now brushing her every other day, to keep the shedding manageable.  I never had a double coated dog, that lost their coat like this.  

Ms. M had a pretty good week.  I have found that she is not food motivated (tried hotdogs, steak, cheese), but responds well to praise.  This is helping with the leash.  Take a couple steps, crouch down and lavish with what a great girl she is.  Rinse and repeat.  If I see she is about to roll, we stop, crouch down, tell her how great she is, and continue.  It isn't pretty or fast, but it is progress.  There has been a lot of tail up and wagging as well.  She seems to like being out in the yard, working on learning to walk.  

[Pink Cashmere]

May 1, 2023 20:56:01 GMT -5 @pooks said:

Is anyone else's dog shedding like crazy?  I am having trouble keeping up with it.  The shedding seemed to start about 2 weeks ago.  I am now brushing her every other day, to keep the shedding manageable.  I never had a double coated dog, that lost their coat like this.  

Ms. M had a pretty good week.  I have found that she is not food motivated (tried hotdogs, steak, cheese), but responds well to praise.  This is helping with the leash.  Take a couple steps, crouch down and lavish with what a great girl she is.  Rinse and repeat.  If I see she is about to roll, we stop, crouch down, tell her how great she is, and continue.  It isn't pretty or fast, but it is progress.  There has been a lot of tail up and wagging as well.  She seems to like being out in the yard, working on learning to walk.  

You are doing great continuing to work with Ms M to try to figure her out and what she needs.

We have dark wood floors that were driving me crazy before Mister even bought OG home. We got a Roomba, which did help with the constant chore of trying the keep the dark wood floors presentable. We upgraded out Roomba a few months ago, and dog hair from our 2 current dogs might make me lose it if not for the Roomba,

[TheOtherMe]

Spring is shedding season.  My cats are shorthair cats and there is cat hair everywhere, much worse than normal.  

So they are getting hairball medicine daily, which they don't like.  It's better than hairballs everywhere.  They won't let me brush them.

[weltschmerz]

Rolled around in freshly-cut grass.

[raeoflyte]

Puppy is so, so, so much easier training wise then devil dog. That said she is also so high strung. I set up a private session to talk with the trainer about anxiety.

They switched up the intermediate training class and I love it. It's really proofing existing behaviors with distance and duration, but way more dog distraction in class and a lot of fun games to practice with.

[Pink Cashmere]

May 20, 2023 18:20:00 GMT -5 raeoflyte said:

Puppy is so, so, so much easier training wise then devil dog. That said she is also so high strung. I set up a private session to talk with the trainer about anxiety.

They switched up the intermediate training class and I love it. It's really proofing existing behaviors with distance and duration, but way more dog distraction in class and a lot of fun games to practice with.

What does she do that makes you say she is high strung? Just curious.

Boy “cries” more than any dog I’ve ever had. He still cries sometimes when Mister leaves for work on my days off, until I guess he finally realizes Mister is not going to open the bedroom door again, then he’ll hop on the bed with me. He’ll also cry sometimes if he’s outside but confined to the small fenced area around the deck, and I’m outside the fence and he can’t get to me. I didn’t realize that until several days ago when DS and I were working on my project. 

I would’ve been comfortable letting Newbie run around loose while DS and I were working, but Boy’s recall isn’t that great, even though he does better with Mister than he does with me. So I just kept both of them confined in the fence. I can’t even remember the last time I had Boy out in the yard with me, because I can’t trust him to always come to me when I call him.

[raeoflyte]

May 20, 2023 18:36:09 GMT -5 Pink Cashmere said:

May 20, 2023 18:20:00 GMT -5 raeoflyte said:

Puppy is so, so, so much easier training wise then devil dog. That said she is also so high strung. I set up a private session to talk with the trainer about anxiety.

They switched up the intermediate training class and I love it. It's really proofing existing behaviors with distance and duration, but way more dog distraction in class and a lot of fun games to practice with.

What does she do that makes you say she is high strung? Just curious.

Boy “cries” more than any dog I’ve ever had. He still cries sometimes when Mister leaves for work on my days off, until I guess he finally realizes Mister is not going to open the bedroom door again, then he’ll hop on the bed with me. He’ll also cry sometimes if he’s outside but confined to the small fenced area around the deck, and I’m outside the fence and he can’t get to me. I didn’t realize that until several days ago when DS and I were working on my project. 

I would’ve been comfortable letting Newbie run around loose while DS and I were working, but Boy’s recall isn’t that great, even though he does better with Mister than he does with me. So I just kept both of them confined in the fence. I can’t even remember the last time I had Boy out in the yard with me, because I can’t trust him to always come to me when I call him.

This is what I sent to the trainer when she asked:

I'd say it's generalized anxiety. She's always been high strung and we joke that I'm her emotional support human. But she calms down when I'm not home (which isn't a ton, but walking devil dog, running the tween carpool express, errands, etc), and then will whine when I come home. She lost her mind last week when the street sweeper drove by (3x) when I wasnt home and nothing dh did helped much (she quietted a bit but was still growl-barking). She was ridiculously stressed this morning at class with no reason that I could tell. She's very vocal, but whines more than barks so the bark collar rarely helps. She will freak out about getting in the car, has just barely started sitting or lying down in the car (and only with me, never if shes in the car with dh). Similar in the yard - mostly patrols, rarely lays down until we bring her in. I don't think it has gotten better or worse, just constant.

[Deleted]

We have now had Ms. M for 3 months. She started her heartworm treatment 2 weeks ago, so she is on some meds and has moderate exercise restrictions. We haven't gotten to the really hard stuff yet.  She is tolerating everything well so far and is the best pill taker!

There is still slow but steady improvement.  In the last 2 weeks she has started eating in front of us (Finally!), and waking DD up in the morning by putting her face inches away from DD's and breathing on her until she wakes up.  The shedding has finally stopped! I don't think I have ever vacuumed so often!  

[Annie7]

Hello everyone. 

I'm going to resurrect this thread since I need some suggestions please.

I have been mandated to go into the office 3 days a week since September. My Mom has been visiting me since Aug. So, Nala is not alone at home when I'm gone. The first few weeks she wouldn't go out via the doggy door into the fenced in backyard when I was not home. She would just lie around the house. Then the next couple of weeks she started going outside in the afternoon and not coming back in until I got home. She would come to the patio door, peep in, see that I wasn't there and would go back to walking around or lying in the backyard. One day it was raining and she still wouldn't come in inspite of my mom opening the door and calling her in with treats.

I started sending her to daycare the 2nd of the 3 days I would go in to work. However, she still has continued the staying outside. Now, when I'm not home (errands, going to friends' houses, etc), she is outside and barks and barks. I tried talking to her through my outdoor camera, but that just seemed to reward her barking and it increased. On Friday, I had to go 2 hours away for a cousins' get together. I sent her to daycare and had a friend drop her home around 4:30 pm. I was thinking she'd be tired and just sleep. However, she went out to the backyard at around 7:30 pm and was intermittently barking until 9 pm when I reached home. I had to text my neighbor and tell him that everything is ok and she is choosing to bark and stay outside.

I'm worried that my other neighbors might call animal control if she continues this. I'm planning on getting a device to remotely control the patio door so that I can let her out or not depending on how long she's been by herself. I can't have it be closed all the time since I will have to work for 8 hours a day and with commute it'll be 8.5-9 hours. She will need to go out to do her business.

Today, I came home from work after just 4 hours because I wasn't feeling well and am working from home. She is now my shadow. She hasn't slept in my study since about april 2021 even though I've been working from home all the time until Sept of this year. Today she's sleeping right next to me. 

I'm worried about what to do about her separation anxiety. My Mom will be leaving end of December and she'll be alone. I used to leave her for 6-7 hours occasionally before and she was fine. I don't know why this has started now - maybe 3 days is too much for her?

Should I send her to daycare the 1st and 3rd day to tire her out more? She knows I will come back - she doesn't whine when I'm leaving. She'll just come to the door and return back to her window. Sometimes she doesn't even come to the door. So, she doesn't mind my leaving. I think it's the 8 hours that is the problem. I don't know if coming during my lunch break will be good for her or will it cause her more anxiety since I'll leave again?

Any suggestions on what I can do to help her?

[Opti]

I only read the very first paragraph but I have suggestions. In my first marriage my XH and I were trying to figure out how to have dogs but yet give the dog a good life when we had to be at work. So our thought was we would create an entrance into the garage and lock it down when we left. There also would be a fenced in yard with agility type stuff to play on and practice.

We did get divorced b4 we got a dog. We both careful animal & critter lovers, and back then perhaps tried too hard to be perfect so we did not cause any problems if we could plan around it.

[raeoflyte]

Hi Annie - I'm not a fan of doggie daycare. I think most adult dogs are fine to hold it for 9 -10 hours during the day but if she really isn't I'd look for a dog sitter/walker to let her out mid day.

I also use bark collars and would for nuisance barking. The dog controls the correction. I need to get one for devil dog. He's started barking at the neighbor dog through the fence and blocking access isn't working.

Good luck! I'm not a fan of the back to office initiatives.

[Annie7]

Nov 28, 2023 18:33:24 GMT -5 Opti said:

I only read the very first paragraph but I have suggestions. In my first marriage my XH and I were trying to figure out how to have dogs but yet give the dog a good life when we had to be at work. So our thought was we would create an entrance into the garage and lock it down when we left. There also would be a fenced in yard with agility type stuff to play on and practice.

We did get divorced b4 we got a dog. We both careful animal & critter lovers, and back then perhaps tried too hard to be perfect so we did not cause any problems if we could plan around it.

Thanks Opti. She does have an entrance to the fenced in backyard.

[Annie7]

Nov 29, 2023 8:57:58 GMT -5 raeoflyte said:

Hi Annie - I'm not a fan of doggie daycare. I think most adult dogs are fine to hold it for 9 -10 hours during the day but if she really isn't I'd look for a dog sitter/walker to let her out mid day.

I also use bark collars and would for nuisance barking. The dog controls the correction. I need to get one for devil dog. He's started barking at the neighbor dog through the fence and blocking access isn't working.

Good luck! I'm not a fan of the back to office initiatives.

Raeoflyte,

Yes, she's ok to hold it for 9-10 hours. She does that overnight.

I think she's just bored. As I was trying to explain to someone, it dawned on me that she's not exhibiting separation anxiety since she lets me leave without any issues. It's only after 4-5 hours that she starts to get antsy. So, it's boredom. She is too lazy to work on kongs. She is not very food motivated, so gives up after a few minutes.

She does enjoy daycare since she likes to play with other dogs. I send her for a half day - 6 hours, once a week and that seems to be the right amount. I have been sending her from 7:30-1:30 since I would like to be in office by 8. I think I should start sending her from 10-4 which seems to tire her out more. I can go to work, login for a couple of hours and then come home and take her to daycare. Then leave work for the day and pick her up. 

I did try bark collar on her for barking at the front window. I just felt bad to hear her yelp. I might do it if I can't control it any other way.

I'm also thinking of coming home during lunch time to play with her for 15 mins so that she can last a few more hours on the days I don't send her to daycare.

I am not a fan of the back to office initiatives either. No one in my immediate team is co-located. They are either offshore or in different states. So, I'm just on the phone whether I'm at work or wfh. Doesn't make sense.