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I’ve spent some extended time with the breed, both younger and older dogs. Seems like exercising them appropriately mixed with early training is a winning combination. I will ask to see their breeding conditions and try to visit them in the next couple of weeks.
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Jul 5, 2019 22:04
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Sure, but that's a lot of exercise  ...But then again..there's a reason I chose a Great Dane...
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Jul 5, 2019 22:17
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i took my old pup to the vet on monday so he could be prescribed medication for his arthritis but before that can happen they need a blood test. next day the doctor calls and says my poor pup has advanced renal failure based on the blood test and he's probably not going to be able to take rimadyl because of it. they want to test his urine so they can figure out a bit better where he's at but between the arthritis, daily incontinence issues and now this i dunno how much longer he's gonna hold on 
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Jul 5, 2019 22:42
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here's a pic of him with our stink butt puppy
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Jul 5, 2019 22:48
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I'm so proud of my boy! He's not doing a great job of letting me know he has to go potty, but I'm picking up on the clues better and he hasn't had an accident for 3 days now.
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Jul 7, 2019 23:04
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People wanted to know how the sileo worked for noise phobia so here's an update. I did a dry run when my dog wasn't too anxious and he really didn't like the applicator so when I needed to actually dose him I used my finger and that worked much better. It took about 15 minutes to kick in but then my dog was totally zonked out and slept through the rest of the night. He wasn't groggy or anything, he was just chill. The only problem was that it's a blue goop and it stained his lips blue for a little while. He's a big dog so he needs a big dose and its a little expensive so I'll probably save it for times he's really upset but I'm glad to have it in my toolbox!
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Jul 8, 2019 20:07
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So this morning I noticed a pretty bad mark on the side of my dog's face.  To me it looks more like a bite than anything, but I'm not entirely sure. There would be three possible culprits; I left my dog with a sitter from Thursday to Sunday who had two dogs of their own. The other would be my girlfriend's dog as we usually leave them both out together while no one's home. My girlfriend's dog is pretty mellow so I wouldn't think he'd do something like this, but the redness of the mark seems like it'd from something more recent than Sunday. I also feel like I would have noticed this sooner if he did come home with it. Should I take him to the vet to get the mark checked out and make sure it doesn't get infected or anything? Is there anything I should be putting on it to help it heal? He's never been injured before so I really don't know what to do right now.
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Jul 10, 2019 18:03
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Get to the vet, I don't want to say otherwise and get blamed if it's a flesh eating disease.
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Jul 10, 2019 18:25
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^^that too I can't really tell what's up in the photo. It kind of looks more like a rash than a scrape or puncture when looking at it on my phone. I'd take my dog in for anything I suspected of being a rash.
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Jul 10, 2019 18:31
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Since I made that post I went ahead and started calling around. All of the places I've tried don't have any openings until tomorrow at the earliest. Is something like this urgent enough that I should take him to an emergency vet or should he be fine until tomorrow?
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Jul 10, 2019 18:38
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Do you have a regular vet? Can you call and see if they can squeeze you in? My big dumb idiot got himself an abscess that got pretty huge before I found it, on a Saturday. They didn't have a full appointment so I brought him in on Monday. At that visit, the vet said something like that could probably be squeezed in, since he was a regular patient and it hadn't been that long since he'd been in.
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Jul 10, 2019 18:50
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My regular vet doesn't have an actual veterinarian in on Wednesdays, they're only open to fill prescriptions. I've calmed down a bit from the initial shock of noticing it and cleaned up the wound. I think you may be right that it's a rash or something similar. After I washed off the bit of blood on the surface of the skin it looks very irritated but not punctured or anything. He's constantly trying to scratch that one spot which seems to be what's bringing the blood out, so I'm doing my best to stop him from doing that for now.
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Jul 10, 2019 19:10
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You might try some Benadryl, and a cone if you have one.
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Jul 10, 2019 19:21
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Jul 11, 2019 00:17
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Out of curiosity, is that pup a BC mix?
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Jul 11, 2019 20:01
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Dexter got his Lepto booster today. The first shot a few weeks ago was rough on him, couldn't even touch the injection site. The vet gave him some diphenhydramine ahead of time this time, and it seems to help a bit with the pain, but he just looks so sad all the time now.
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Jul 11, 2019 20:55
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wilderthanmild posted:Out of curiosity, is that pup a BC mix? His paper says he's a Lab and Border Collie mix. He definitely has the look of one from what I've seen in pictures, but he weighs about 85 pounds which is quite a bit more than what the internet says that mix usually is (~50). The energy level matches for sure, though.
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Jul 12, 2019 02:52
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I dont really post about her but I love my dog, a lot, and I have watched her go from energetic ~2 year old to slow, and frustrated about it, ~7 year old and I want to cry. She is getting xrays tomorrow for what seems to be a painful back leg and I hope everything goes well and it isn't a tear or hip dysplasia because I hate seeing her in pain and I am scared this will be a long-term pain needing expensice surgery to maybe fix
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Jul 12, 2019 10:24
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How the gently caress do I get this big rear end dog to take his medicine capsules? I got the first two doses down yesterday by holding him down and having my girlfriend open his mouth and shove it back there, but she left for work this morning before he was due for the next dose so I've been stuck trying to do it myself. I can't get his mouth open enough to get it down his throat on my own because he thrashes around too much without another person holding him. I've tried pill pocket treats, peanut butter, hot dog bits, and cheese. He just eats around it. He's destroyed 3 caps already biting into them and spitting them back up, so I've stopped trying until my girlfriend gets back. It's a 3 times a day/10 day treatment so he's now missing a full day of it, so I'm going to go back to the vet and ask if they can replace them.
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Jul 12, 2019 15:54
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 This lovable idiot has a tendency to get in trouble the second I’m not looking. Yesterday, his troublemaking led him to the cord to my box fan. He got a good jolt, but the vet says he’s fine. Not even a burn mark or anything on him. He’s a little out of sorts today though. I told you to stop chewing that drat cord, Dexter!! I even gave you a new chew toy. But I turn my back for 3 seconds and suddenly my fan turns off...
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Jul 12, 2019 17:52
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i vomit kittens posted:How the gently caress do I get this big rear end dog to take his medicine capsules? I got the first two doses down yesterday by holding him down and having my girlfriend open his mouth and shove it back there, but she left for work this morning before he was due for the next dose so I've been stuck trying to do it myself. I can't get his mouth open enough to get it down his throat on my own because he thrashes around too much without another person holding him. I've tried pill pocket treats, peanut butter, hot dog bits, and cheese. He just eats around it. He's destroyed 3 caps already biting into them and spitting them back up, so I've stopped trying until my girlfriend gets back. It's a 3 times a day/10 day treatment so he's now missing a full day of it, so I'm going to go back to the vet and ask if they can replace them. Its tough and partly a matter of conditioning. I use Vienna sausages. Feed him a few empty ones first, then ones with pills in the middle. Hold jaw closed till swallow if necessary.
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Jul 12, 2019 18:53
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:Its tough and partly a matter of conditioning. I use Vienna sausages. Feed him a few empty ones first, then ones with pills in the middle. Hold jaw closed till swallow if necessary. Also, it might help to tip his head back and stroke his throat downward while holding his mouth closed. That should trigger him to swallow faster.
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Jul 12, 2019 19:42
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Is this a capsule you can pop open and mix the powder in with food? My guy had some capsules I could do that with so he got wet food for the course. He was pretty happy with the situation. He probably would have just eaten the capsule if I just handed it to him though.
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Jul 12, 2019 20:22
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i vomit kittens posted:How the gently caress do I get this big rear end dog to take his medicine capsules? I got the first two doses down yesterday by holding him down and having my girlfriend open his mouth and shove it back there, but she left for work this morning before he was due for the next dose so I've been stuck trying to do it myself. I can't get his mouth open enough to get it down his throat on my own because he thrashes around too much without another person holding him. I've tried pill pocket treats, peanut butter, hot dog bits, and cheese. He just eats around it. He's destroyed 3 caps already biting into them and spitting them back up, so I've stopped trying until my girlfriend gets back. It's a 3 times a day/10 day treatment so he's now missing a full day of it, so I'm going to go back to the vet and ask if they can replace them. I've found liver wurst (liver paste?) effective. Hide it in a big chunk and make a game of it, where you make them all excited and give it as a reward. Give like 4 of them and hide the medicine in the third one.
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Jul 12, 2019 21:08
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Drug resistant giardia is a thing apparently. Just my luck moving to an apartment complex apparently known for that being an issue by the local vets before getting my dog.
MadFriarAvelyn fucked around with this message at 21:21 on Jul 12, 2019 |
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Jul 12, 2019 21:18
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i vomit kittens posted:How the gently caress do I get this big rear end dog to take his medicine capsules? I got the first two doses down yesterday by holding him down and having my girlfriend open his mouth and shove it back there, but she left for work this morning before he was due for the next dose so I've been stuck trying to do it myself. I can't get his mouth open enough to get it down his throat on my own because he thrashes around too much without another person holding him. I've tried pill pocket treats, peanut butter, hot dog bits, and cheese. He just eats around it. He's destroyed 3 caps already biting into them and spitting them back up, so I've stopped trying until my girlfriend gets back. It's a 3 times a day/10 day treatment so he's now missing a full day of it, so I'm going to go back to the vet and ask if they can replace them. can you dog catch treats? Sherlock eats around poo poo but I just shove it into a piece of hotdog and throw a bunch of hotdog pieces at him (which he catches and basically swallows) and then toss the pilldog in there too followed by more hotdog. Works like a charm!
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Jul 13, 2019 01:13
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So, we're having some serious doubts about our ability to deal with our dog. I briefly posted in here before about integrating a dog with a couple cats. That process is actually going decently. She's also very reactive on a leash, which is something I hadn't dealt with before, and we immediately sought out professional help. We had been keeping her in the guest room when necessary, and I was sitting back there to try to calm her down when I found out that the shelter may have been exaggerating a bit when they described her as housebroken. She had been for a walk less than two hours prior, so we weren't stressing her bladder. I'd thought I smelled something in the past, but chalked it up to my imagination/some dog funk/the accident she had that led to a diagnosis of hookworm. But now, I suspect she's using the corner as her bathroom. Game plan right now is to sort of hope it was a one off thing, but cut back on water before bed and start praising more effusively when she does her business outside. We're really fuckin low here. I realize this might get me yelled at in PI, but this feels like just one issue too many to keep a sunny disposition. We're making progress with the cats, we were prepared to work on walking without losing her mind at other furry things, but the idea of housebreaking an adult dog during all of this makes me want to curl up in a corner. We were told she's crate trained, so if we jam her in her kennel, she probably wouldn't have an accident, but she also hates being locked in there. It's a safe enough space for her to happily eat and take toys in there, but she makes plenty of noise when we leave her alone. Proper crate training was going to take a back log to cat introductions and being able to walk on a leash. But now that may not be an option. Just venting, I guess, maybe looking for some encouragement? Obviously there's no hard and fast rules for this, but (for those of you who did it), how long did it take ya'll to deal with a reactive dog? To potty train an adult dog who's probably physically capable of holding it?
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Jul 14, 2019 01:37
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Boxman posted:Just venting, I guess, maybe looking for some encouragement? Obviously there's no hard and fast rules for this, but (for those of you who did it), how long did it take ya'll to deal with a reactive dog? To potty train an adult dog who's probably physically capable of holding it? You're working with the problems I've had spread over my 3 adult rescue dogs all in one, including the two cats. The first one wasn't crate trained but she was housebroken. She had a couple of accidents before she got with the new schedule. The other two came crate trained and that made everything so much easier. I didn't have a crate when I got the first dog but I got one soon after. She didn't like being in a different room than me and whined about it a bunch. Eventually she chilled out in the kennel and just looked sad about it. I really think getting the kennel worked out will help a lot. After two years the second dog still wants to fight every neighborhood dog she sees. She's not very big though. I haven't been working with her as much as I should since I've got a yard now. Plus I just scoop her up and carry her home if she's being a little poo poo about a dog across the street. I got the third guy last September. He was kennel trained but he just couldn't get the hang of not peeing in the house when he was out of the kennel. It wasn't so much peeing somewhere when I wasn't looking, he would just pee right in front of me. He doesn't lift his leg or squat or anything like that, he just stands there and pees. I was hard to tell when he wanted to go. My solution was he stayed in his kennel when I was gone or sleeping and I took him outside every two hours when I was at home, like he was a puppy, and I stood there, told him to potty, then he went inside, sat in his kennel and got a cookie. He had to go in his kennel every time, even if I wasn't locking him in.
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Jul 14, 2019 02:26
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We adopted an adult dog and I'm currently about to schedule his first visit to my vet and I'm looking into a behavior consult with a trainer. He is a really good dog except that he has this tendancy to nip. I'm not completely sure, but it seems to be either playful nipping and/or territorial? Unfortunately he is only nipping at children. (We have a 6 year old and a 4 year old comes over every other weekend.) So this has made me sort of think worst case scenerio. I'm getting a trainer stat, but I'm so anxious about this maybe being a *very bad* sign. I googled it and some article claimed adult dogs nipping at children is a sign of aggression and that I should consider rehoming??? I know I need professional opinions and not the internet, but it is freaking me out. I really enjoy the dog and he is a very good boy otherwise. I'm crate training and also training him to be ok with a muzzle occasionally. He is doing well with these and he is also perfectly house broken. He respects adults, it just seems to be children that set this nippy behavior off. For what it's worth he is part blue heeler and part "pitbull mix." He tends to nip at the face though, not anckles.
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Jul 14, 2019 05:59
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And yes the shelter claimed he was perfectly fine with children 😑
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Jul 14, 2019 06:00
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Goobish posted:We adopted an adult dog and I'm currently about to schedule his first visit to my vet and I'm looking into a behavior consult with a trainer. He is a really good dog except that he has this tendancy to nip. I'm not completely sure, but it seems to be either playful nipping and/or territorial? Unfortunately he is only nipping at children. (We have a 6 year old and a 4 year old comes over every other weekend.) So this has made me sort of think worst case scenerio. I'm getting a trainer stat, but I'm so anxious about this maybe being a *very bad* sign. I googled it and some article claimed adult dogs nipping at children is a sign of aggression and that I should consider rehoming??? I know I need professional opinions and not the internet, but it is freaking me out. I really enjoy the dog and he is a very good boy otherwise. I'm crate training and also training him to be ok with a muzzle occasionally. He is doing well with these and he is also perfectly house broken. He respects adults, it just seems to be children that set this nippy behavior off. For what it's worth he is part blue heeler and part "pitbull mix." He tends to nip at the face though, not anckles. Your dog should no longer have access to children. Like at all. "Nipping" kids in the face is not ok even if he is playful about it and he shouldn't be allowed to practice it. If he's anything like my heeler mix the face biting is a way to get space in uncomfortable situations and it is now your job to not put him in situations where he feels the need to do it. It's up to you and a vet behaviorist to decide what that looks like and how comfortable you are with doing that long term. If you find a trainer that wants you to "correct" the dog for nipping with punishment like a prong collar or shock collar or rattle can find someone else. This isn't a behavior you want to just mask and heelers have a habit of ramping up behaviors when corrected with force. You really want a veterinary behaviorist in this situation, for the kids' sake. If keeping the dog completely away from the children isn't a possibility while you work on the problem and potentially forever then maybe finding a home without children is appropriate but that's for you to decide with a professional helping you. Boxman posted:So, we're having some serious doubts about our ability to deal with our dog. Rescue dogs are totally different at 3 days, 3 weeks and 3 months into their adoption. As they get more comfortable with their environment new issues tend to make themselves known and others fade away. Sometimes in that process you realize that is just too much for you to deal with and that's alright. If this dog just is not what you were expecting and not what I feel prepared to handle that's really ok. It's supposed to be a pet, you don't need to be a martyr for sad, sad dogs. The rescue I got my sad, sad dog from has a 2 week trial period and always accepts dogs back saying that if they come back its just an opportunity for them to find their perfect home, even if it wasn't that one. That being said, I adopted a loving bonkers dog and I have spent the last 9 years making him work in my life. I've spent thousands and thousands on a good veterinary behaviorist, medication, and training. He still would happily murder another dog or chomp up a kid if I were to totally gently caress up his management and training. I can take him to the vet and on hikes and things safely but he will never be the dog I wanted him to be. I decided I was ok with that and have a lifestyle that lets me take care of him but its not an issue that is ever going to be completely resolved. Ask yourself if you are ok with managing your dog for the rest of its life. Do you have the ability to get her the help she needs and really work on it? Are you able to manage her in a way that keeps everyone in your life safe? I love my dog more than anything and can't imagine not having him but its a lot of work and stress. The peeing thing may be a medical issue. She could have a uti or spay incontinence so you should talk to your vet about that and make sure the piss corner has been cleaned super well with an enzymatic cleaner. Treat her like a new puppy for a while and see if that helps. Frankly, peeing inappropriately is the easiest thing to deal with in my mind but that's just me and my acceptance of grossness. I will say that my dog peed inappropriately a few times and just getting his anxiety under control made it totally clear up on its own. Also, you're in a tough situation and your working through it and asking for help so you're already doing better than like 80% of dog owners! You're not a failure you're just in a rough spot. Either way you will get through this.
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Jul 14, 2019 19:52
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Instant Jellyfish posted:Your dog should no longer have access to children. Like at all. "Nipping" kids in the face is not ok even if he is playful about it and he shouldn't be allowed to practice it. If he's anything like my heeler mix the face biting is a way to get space in uncomfortable situations and it is now your job to not put him in situations where he feels the need to do it. It's up to you and a vet behaviorist to decide what that looks like and how comfortable you are with doing that long term. If you find a trainer that wants you to "correct" the dog for nipping with punishment like a prong collar or shock collar or rattle can find someone else. This isn't a behavior you want to just mask and heelers have a habit of ramping up behaviors when corrected with force. You really want a veterinary behaviorist in this situation, for the kids' sake. If keeping the dog completely away from the children isn't a possibility while you work on the problem and potentially forever then maybe finding a home without children is appropriate but that's for you to decide with a professional helping you. Thank you so much for this response. I'm going to check in with the professionals first, but I'd hate to make everyone's life, including the dog, miserable because suddenly I want to be a dog martyr. Tbh 80% of that will depend on the cost of being a dog martyr. And the other is how it affects everyone. My son loves the dog enough to work within his limits. But I'm not sure about everyone else. Luckily it is a no kill shelter, but i kind of question how effective of a shelter it is if my one request was "good with children" and I literally got the opposite. This will suck either way but I am interested in working with the dog as much as i can, and would definitley want what is best for him. What is so strange is that he acted like an angel for the first few days then bam, seemed almost out of nowhere this extreme poo poo happened.
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Jul 14, 2019 21:47
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I'd be willing to extend to the shelter the benefit of at least some doubt. They don't get to see dogs in a normal home situation. Now, if the dog had been surrendered to the shelter because "he keeps biting my kids" then that'd be a different matter of course.
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Jul 14, 2019 22:42
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Goobish posted:What is so strange is that he acted like an angel for the first few days then bam, seemed almost out of nowhere this extreme poo poo happened. My dog lived at a rescue where he was loose with dozens of dogs every day for 5 months without fighting at all. He was adopted out briefly to a family with a young kid and wasn't returned for eating the kid but for being "too big". After a week or two at my home I found out that he super hates other dogs and is really not safe with kids. When they're in a shelter or rescue situation a lot of the time they're shut down and just trying to make it through each day. It isn't until they feel comfortable and safe that they start to express these behaviors in some cases. The rescue or shelter can try to give as much info as they can but the environment a dog is in can make such a difference in their behavior that it's really hard for them to be as accurate as you need to make informed choices for your family.
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Jul 14, 2019 22:45
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That makes a lot of sense. I am glad he feels safe with us, at least. Even if that means acting out I'm glad we at least help make him feel safe, even if temporary I just gave him an entire room to himself with his crate. He can have the whole room, hopefully that helps while I wait to see the vet/specialist.
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Jul 14, 2019 23:08
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Goobish posted:Thank you so much for this response. I'm going to check in with the professionals first, but I'd hate to make everyone's life, including the dog, miserable because suddenly I want to be a dog martyr. Tbh 80% of that will depend on the cost of being a dog martyr. And the other is how it affects everyone. My son loves the dog enough to work within his limits. But I'm not sure about everyone else. Luckily it is a no kill shelter, but i kind of question how effective of a shelter it is if my one request was "good with children" and I literally got the opposite. This will suck either way but I am interested in working with the dog as much as i can, and would definitley want what is best for him. I got a dog from a shelter. I was actually more into a different dog due to energy levels but they realllllly pushed this one on me. The main reason I was getting a second dog was to be a buddy to my super intense and high energy Boston Terrier. The dog I brought home had severe separation anxiety, severe anxiety, major reactivity problems, issues with barking... it was a mess. She was also the sweetest loving dog that I have ever met. Actually. I tried to make it work for so long. I put her on medication. I got training for her. I put Sherlock in daycare so she had downtime during the day without him (he made her anxious). Eventually I just could not do it anymore. I contacted the shelter and they were dicks about me giving her back. A week later, she was up for adoption again, listed as "great with other dogs" (nope.) and "not a barker" (lmfao nope.) it really sucks that they weren't just being straight with people about her needs. Who knows what would have happened if I was working with a shelter that was realistic about the needs of the dogs that they were trying to adopt out!
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Jul 15, 2019 00:45
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I had a much better experience with the two different shelters I adopted from. Nobody made any definitive statements like "good with others dogs" though. My first dog got to meet and approve of the other two first before I brought anyone home though.
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Jul 15, 2019 03:28
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I have a little bit of hope because since we have crated in his own room, upped exercise even more, and banned him from being on all furniture, he seems to be doing better. Don't wanna get too hopeful though (was just one day of doing these things) and will be hopefully talking with some pros today or asap. I think part of the issue was he gets startled very easily and crating him in his own room I think gave him a full nights rest finally.
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Jul 15, 2019 13:05
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 loving puppy claws, man. Must be time to trim already.
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Jul 15, 2019 19:14
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I ended up taking Dexter to our regular vet for a follow-up on his electrical burn. Because, as I had found out, he did appear to have a burn that the emergency vet missed completely. I'm not a vet but it looked like a burn to me, so I scheduled this follow-up. It was a good idea, because they agreed he had a burn and gave him some antibiotics to prevent the wound from getting infected. So I guess there's only one decent emergency vet in my town now, considering this one basically killed my cat - and then missed a very obvious burn.
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Jul 15, 2019 22:52
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