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GoodBee posted:My hound dog had a note that she had a bladder adhesion when she was spayed. That turned out to be a non-issue. She was at least a year old, probably closer to 1.5 years. She'll hold her pee forever if the weather is bad. The regular Proin has been working fine so far. She was on Estriol (I think) for a few weeks when she was first diagnosed but it was giving her aggression issues. She’s normally very sweet so it was obviously the medication. But yeah, we first realized something was wrong when she would just be laying down or even standing getting pets and just start peeing. She didn’t even realize she was peeing. Our vet said that it’s very common with females that were spayed early. Something with the hormones that would normally help develop sphincter control aren’t present after the spay so it never fully develops. In any case I’ve just accepted that she’ll take a pill every day for the rest of her life.
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Aug 24, 2020 01:27
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Dango Bango posted:My first time fostering a dog I plan to adopt if things go well. He's a 3-year-old lab mix from a county shelter. He's underweight and the shelter told me they were feeding him "whatever kibble was donated" but weren't specific. I wouldn’t worry too much right now. Rule of thumb: 3 days, 3 weeks, 3 months for milestones. In any case, he should have a vet checkup relatively soon; shelter dogs often end up with giardia or other parasites.
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Aug 24, 2020 01:33
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Do any of you have dogs that you can have a meal in front of without them getting stressed out? My puppy is always antsy and barky during our meals. Is there any specific training she should be doing for this, or is it something that puppies will grow out of, or are we just gonna get barked at during meals for the next decade+?
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Aug 24, 2020 01:55
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Dango Bango posted:My first time fostering a dog I plan to adopt if things go well. He's a 3-year-old lab mix from a county shelter. Housebroken and knows a few commands. Seems to be really smart too. That said, he's underweight and the shelter told me they were feeding him "whatever kibble was donated" but weren't specific. Sounds like a reasonable adjustment behavior, laying low and trying to avoid causing a ruckus. I’d guess after a week or so he’ll start to warm up and unwind, and then the play comes out. kalthir posted:Mine goes after birds and lizards and digs for mice, and is occasionally reactive towards people. Well, I ran him up and down a dang mountain yesterday on top of his exercise session today, so it’s hard to say exactly how it may have impacted him. This afternoon he’s been more quick to go bananas at a delivery person or some such, but was also way more chill on our walk, like he’s especially protective of the home while being worn out enough to relax out and about. In summary, dogs are a land of contrasts and I have no clue.
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Aug 24, 2020 02:24
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Thaddius the Large posted:Sounds like a reasonable adjustment behavior, laying low and trying to avoid causing a ruckus. I’d guess after a week or so he’ll start to warm up and unwind, and then the play comes out. This makes sense given he's been giving me a lot of sheepish looks. He actually just ate a bit more and did play around a bit!
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Aug 24, 2020 02:50
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For pee removal I used to use Nature's Miracle but they changed the formula to have an overpowering perfume aroma. It still works but in my opinion it smells awful and gives me a headache, so I'm switching to Rocco and Roxie brand. I recommend putting it in a spray bottle.
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Aug 24, 2020 18:01
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Stringent posted:Do any of you have dogs that you can have a meal in front of without them getting stressed out? My puppy is always antsy and barky during our meals. Is there any specific training she should be doing for this, or is it something that puppies will grow out of, or are we just gonna get barked at during meals for the next decade+? I assume the association here is with food, you could try positively reinforcing the pup with treats for increasingly longer periods of calmness. Maybe pair it with the command "stay" and just make a habit of telling the pup to go stay before dinner. Not a dog trainer of course, but I have had decent success with positive reinforcement and trying to enforce a routine with commands. My dogs leave us alone during mealtimes unless the newer puppy is feeling extra spirited which I assume is also just a puppy thing.
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Aug 24, 2020 18:26
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Is there a benefit of getting a puppy at 10 weeks vs. 8? My family has a three year old dog now, and we are thinking of getting a new pup since we think our current dog would benefit from having another pup in the house (and, I mean, who wouldn’t want two dogs??)
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Aug 24, 2020 20:26
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The ankle biting is getting ridiculous. Redirecting doesn't seem to work, as our ankles are way more interesting than her toys. We yelp and walk away if she keeps doing it, but she thinks it's a game and chases after us when we walk. Any ideas?
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Aug 25, 2020 01:08
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apologies for probable repeat but looking for good info on grain vs grain free food
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Aug 25, 2020 05:33
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Can anyone recommend a good food/treat based toy that can keep a husky/akita occupied for a while? We've tried Kong toys in various sizes but he's become too good at getting the stuff out of the smaller one piece rubber ones and he's broken the plastic two piece one.
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Aug 25, 2020 19:27
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Extensive Vamping posted:apologies for probable repeat but looking for good info on grain vs grain free food I didn't check that this link was still good. GoodBee posted:This explains it pretty well. It looks like FDA page has been archived. GoodBee posted:... aside from grain allergies, there's no evidence that a grain-free diet in general is better than a diet that includes a moderate amount of grains.
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Aug 25, 2020 20:00
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Anjow posted:Can anyone recommend a good food/treat based toy that can keep a husky/akita occupied for a while? We've tried Kong toys in various sizes but he's become too good at getting the stuff out of the smaller one piece rubber ones and he's broken the plastic two piece one. Stuff the toy with food/a bit of peanut butter, keep it in the freezer. If you're looking for something a bit more chew focused, yak milk bones were great for us. Our dog never really took to rawhide, and yak milk bones are pretty long lasting.
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Aug 25, 2020 20:11
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My "shut up" toys are the Kong Genius toys: https://www.kongcompany.com/genius-mike https://www.kongcompany.com/genius-leo stuffed with some combination of: https://fruitablespet.com/dog-treats/baked-treats https://fruitablespet.com/dog-treats/skinny-minis https://www.castorpolluxpet.com/dogs/recipes/organix-organic-cookies-peanut-butter-flavor?id=93 I never plan ahead to freeze a regular Kong and I hate cleaning them, even though I know I can run them through the dishwasher.
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Aug 25, 2020 20:26
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GoodBee posted:I didn't check that this link was still good. Thank you
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Aug 25, 2020 23:02
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GoodBee posted:My "shut up" toys are the Kong Genius toys: Thought these looked great, and one happened to be on sale at the store. 5 minutes after first loading it,  I swear, he does these things just to spite me.
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Aug 26, 2020 01:28
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Posted earlier about the dog I'm fostering in hopes of adopting. I'm really bummed but it doesn't seem like a good fit. Kind of asking for a more experienced / expert opinion here to be honest. He's got serious separation anxiety where he follows me everywhere and gets stressed within seconds of me closing a door between us (circling/pacing, whining, and panting). I thought we were making progress yesterday with getting him to lay down in the room with a line of sight to my home office (staying for 5, 10, then 15 minutes with a treat each time he made it). But I might have pushed him too hard today after wearing him out with a morning run. He's followed me even closer and has seemingly been stressed all day - ears pinned back and sad look in his eyes. (Like he's being scolded or punished - no matter how cheery my tone is.) He did play a bit, but right back to the sad look once we came back inside. Any thoughts from the thread? I'm willing to work with him but I'm worried I'm out of my depths and his issues are getting/going to get worse.
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Aug 27, 2020 04:11
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It’s something I need to work on with my boy too. I’m hoping he’ll grow out of it, but he hates being away from me (unless it’s his choice to go into a different room and sleep). He gets so worked up if I have to go to the store or something, it’s so lucky that I’ve taken him into work from day 1 and he’s become a fixture of the office now. I can’t blame him, he’s just over 3 years old and I’m his 7th owner. I took him to the groomers and he probably thought it was going to a shelter due to the dogs in crates and he was utterly heartbroken and crying.
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Aug 27, 2020 04:20
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The first day I brought my foster home, I realized the shelter had forgotten to give me a bag of dog food like they said they would. Not wanting to leave the pup at home by himself on his very first day in a new environment, I took him with me when I drove back to the shelter. He was very sad the whole way, especially when we pulled into the parking lot and he recognized the surroundings. He calmed down a bit once we started to drive away but I knew that he 100% thought he was getting returned. Fortunately his mood improved once I shoved some peanut butter in his mouth after we got home. That said, it has been two weeks now, and he still cannot spend any time apart. He follows me from room to room — even if he's sleeping next to my computer desk, he'll bolt upright immediately whenever he hears me get up from my chair, and he'll follow me to the kitchen, sit and wait as I prepare a quick meal or refill my drink, then follow me back to my home office. The only time he stays in the room he is in when I walk away is if he's hyper-focused on getting treats out of one of his toys. But sometimes he'll just pick up the toy and bring it with him to the room I'm in and continue working on it there.
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Aug 27, 2020 05:06
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My new rescue is showing some separation anxiety as well. So I'm all for talk about how to train him to handle this better. I'll mostly be home with him 100% but as Covid wains I will eventually have to be gone for up to 4 hours and it would be nice to get him to a place to handle some of these absences
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Aug 27, 2020 05:49
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Dango Bango posted:Any thoughts from the thread? I'm willing to work with him but I'm worried I'm out of my depths and his issues are getting/going to get worse. He's been with you for three days, right? I think the recommendation is to give an adopted dog at least two weeks to acclimatize to the new environment. That said, there's no guarantee that the separation anxiety will go away or even lessen in that time period. As for general advice, I used the safe word method and it's been working fairly well so far. But it's a very slow process for us (a couple of months of 3-4 repetitions a day to get to about 30 minutes). The idea is to have a word or phrase that tells the dog that you'll be coming back, starting with minuscule amounts of time (and distance), and building up very gradually. For example since my pup also followed me from room to room at first, we started with just leaving the room, coming back immediately and treating. Then extending the time spent out of her line of sight. Then closing the door after leaving. And only then actually leaving the house. However the dog should be calm all the time, so if they get up to follow you at any point (except when you return), you need to roll back the amount of time you're away. And vary the time you're away so they don't start anticipating your return. The trainer I worked with also discouraged using any commands when leaving since a stay/lay down in that situation coerces the dog into staying in place, whereas the idea is to make them ok with you leaving and choose to stay where they are in that situation. kalthir fucked around with this message at 13:00 on Aug 27, 2020 |
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Aug 27, 2020 12:57
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The guide recommends short play, followed by outside time, followed by a nap. What would "short" mean for an 8 week old Springer Spaniel? Re: crate training, our little Nova will play near and in the crate with treats, but when left alone in the crate she cries (only a couple of days in). Should I let her cry it out?
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Aug 27, 2020 13:02
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For those with Separation Anxiety dogs please get Patricia McConnell’s booklet “I’ll Be Home Soon”. It was a big help with our SA dog but it takes a lot of patience. Remember that getting left at the shelter and living in that environment is very traumatic and can take years to get over. If left alone, poor Noodle would freak out and break her teeth on the bars in a crate, so that solution was out. In the house she’d rip down the curtains and chew the window moldings, in the car she chewed the seatbelts and seats... it took a year of training before we could be gone for a half hour. She had a bad case but she did improve with a lot of training. What ultimately “fixed” her was getting another dog buddy without that problem. She takes her cues from him and he doesn’t worry when we leave so she doesn’t much either. We are occasionally gone for 8 hours during the day and though she does get pretty rambunctious when we return, we don’t come home to total destruction anymore. 
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Aug 27, 2020 15:28
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Are there specific things to look out for with dogs playing with each other? My new puppy (labradoodle, 18lbs at ten weeks) and my older dog (8 yr old, 45lb jack russell mix) are playing with each other a lot -- which is great! -- but the energy levels keep escalating and I find myself worrying they might hurt each other accidentally.Omne posted:The ankle biting is getting ridiculous. Redirecting doesn't seem to work, as our ankles are way more interesting than her toys. We yelp and walk away if she keeps doing it, but she thinks it's a game and chases after us when we walk. Any ideas? We had the same problem. I've been keeping treats in my shirt pocket and encouraging him to sit instead when he wants attention. That coupled with exaggerated yelping and "no" seems to be working, but it's ongoing.
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Aug 27, 2020 17:45
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TimWinter posted:The guide recommends short play, followed by outside time, followed by a nap. What would "short" mean for an 8 week old Springer Spaniel? I believe the rule of thumb is 5 minutes per month age (twice a day) for exercise. Based on the dog's disposition during both play and outside time (i.e. if they go zooming about when outside and also like intense play), you may have to judge that across both activities. Hieronymous Alloy posted:Are there specific things to look out for with dogs playing with each other? My new puppy (labradoodle, 18lbs at ten weeks) and my older dog (8 yr old, 45lb jack russell mix) are playing with each other a lot -- which is great! -- but the energy levels keep escalating and I find myself worrying they might hurt each other accidentally. The main thing to look out for is whether either one of the dogs is trying to genuinely get away or end the "fight". Play fighting often has a bouncy, floppiness to it. A playing dog will cut corners and pull punches. They'll inhibit their bite, purposefully "lose" mini tussles (even when in the dominant role) and flail their head about like a drunk. If either of them have (or develop) a pointedness about their actions it's worth keeping a closer eye and consider stepping in. The main thing I watch for is whether the submissive* of the two still seems eager to engage once the playing is interrupted (which is not neccessarily you physically intervening, but could just be shifting their attention briefly with a command or distraction). If either of them likes "throwing paws", I'd just make sure their nails are trimmed/filed to reduce the chances of any accidental eye scratching/poking. In my experience (not with mine thankfully), a real fight gets very loud very quick. *I dont mean submissive overall, just within the context of the play fight. I have two 11-month old Patterdales (Puppy and Smudge) and when they fight, Puppy always takes up the submissive role (by rolling over, getting "caught" when chased etc.) while being the more dominant one outside of playing. Some other dogs will swap roles throughout play. My pair (Pup left, Smudge right): 
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Aug 28, 2020 18:59
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TimWinter posted:Re: crate training, our little Nova will play near and in the crate with treats, but when left alone in the crate she cries (only a couple of days in). Should I let her cry it out? It's a really delicate balance. You don't want to let her out when she cries, because you're teaching her "crying leads to escape." On the other hand, you don't necessarily want to let her cry it out because keeping her in a distressing situation for extended periods runs the risk of poisoning the crate, making it an intrinsically bad place to be. Standard advice is to build up the amount of time she's locked in there. The smallest steps are, like, latching the door and treating her through the bars. Then you get to latching it and standing next to her, then staying in the room, then leaving the room, for the barest amount of time - if 10 seconds is all she can take, start there. And just build up from there. When you inevitably overshoot and she becomes distressed, you wait a beat to see if she'll calm herself (again, you don't want to reward crying). If you do need to let her out, wait right outside for any break from the crying at all, then come in right when that happens. If possible, don't open the door until she's calm again, sitting, watching you. She'll paw at the door and maybe bark with excitement, but again, you don't want to reward being high energy in the crate. Commiseration, we badly hosed up crate training with our girl. We had some semblance of it, but then we were leaving her for too long too often, including letting her cry it out overnights, and it poisoned the crate for a while there. We had to reset completely, and it took maybe 2-3 months of work for it to be a place where she's happy to stay for a while.
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Aug 28, 2020 19:29
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Speaking of crates I've been seeing two bits of advice on crate positioning and I'm wondering which I should follow. On one hand, I'm reading that I should setup the crate alongside a pen in a high traffic area (e.g. my living room) to help associate the crate with just being the place to be. On the other, I'm seeing I should have the crate either in my bedroom or nearby (which would be a different floor from the living room) so I can hear if the puppy needs to go out at night. What should I be doing? Setup in the living room and have the puppy sleeping there and set some alarms to wake up and check? Setup a pen in the living room and the crate in the bedroom area? Move the crate between the two areas? This one seems like a pain, having to drag a metal crate up and down a flight of stairs...
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Aug 28, 2020 19:37
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Question: We have always had neighborhood cats that like to pass through and even lounge in our back yard. As poundcake, our now 7 month old labrador, kept getting bigger, faster, and developing her Beefy Bark, I kept thinking eventually the neighborhood cats would stop their habit. But as Poundcake has gotten worse and worse about chasing madly after them, I'm getting more and more worried I'm gonna get the nightmare fuel of my dog catching and killing a cat. For the record,, while id like to teach her not to chase cats, idk if that's even the issue We HAVE a cat. So I don't think it's Cats per say. Any advice? My current thought is its a prey thing PLUS a territory thing. Thoughts?
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Sep 1, 2020 14:30
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The Bananana posted:Question: I've got neighborhood cats that have hung out in my backyard. I just have the dog sit and stay while I go out and make sure one is not around. I'd close the door and scare the cat away first, then let the dog out. But that cat hasn't been hanging around since I got the dog.
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Sep 1, 2020 17:32
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Yo, taking the puppy for his first vet appointment today. Any general advice on what to ask them about? We’re apparently not even meeting face to face because of COVID shenanigans.
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Sep 1, 2020 18:25
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Goodpancakes posted:Picked up this super chill amazing foster dog. He supposed to be house trained but he's taken to peeing on a wall in my kitchen. He's probably 2 years old, and since he's moved in yesterday, has maybe marked that wall three times. It's not a physical issue, I know he can hold it for a while, but he's obviously a street dog without training. I'm taking him out and celebrating and treating him if he eliminates outside. This is my first foster. Is there more to be done? I've got a pad down now to help keep this floor from staining but I don't want this to be a solution Since this post he hasn't eliminated in the house, even over night as long as 7 hours. It feels like he gets it and saves it up for his many walks. I verbally celebrate his peeing outside but I don't treat him anymore since he marks 20+ times on some walks. He does, however, pee all over the PetSmart. Is there something more I should be doing other then walking him frequently and positive training when he goes outside?
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Sep 3, 2020 03:07
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Goodpancakes posted:He does, however, pee all over the PetSmart. Is there something more I should be doing other then walking him frequently and positive training when he goes outside? PetSmart is completely rotten with dog scents and pee. It's a weird environment and I wouldn't worry too much about unusual dog behaviors there so long as they don't transfer to other, nicer places.
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Sep 3, 2020 03:13
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Any particular recommended dog nail trimmer? Are the grinders worth it / do they work? Puppy claws are just *so sharp*
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Sep 4, 2020 21:03
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I got a set of clippers as well as a grinder. My understanding is (please correct me if I'm wrong!) you don't take off much length with the grinder, its more about making them not be like sharp knives attached to their paws.
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Sep 4, 2020 22:15
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My puppy is six months old. When he is in the back yard he likes to pick up and chew pieces of much. He does this every time he goes outside, like some kind of fixation. When I see him do it I wrestle the mulch out of his mouth because I am afraid it will harm him if swallowed. Annoyingly, this means I feel that I can't let him into the yard without very close supervision. I'd like to be able to let him out to go to the bathroom without having to watch him like a hawk. He doesn't like giving up the mulch so sometimes this devolves into me following him around the yard while he tries to shield his piece of mulch from me. I don't yell or run after him, I try to be calm and matter of fact. I do not want him to associate me closely with uncomfortably grabbing his mouth, scarily chasing, etc. (It's actually kind of funny to watch me slowly follow him around asking politely to take a toy instead of his mulch.) 1) Am I correct in assuming this is potentially harmful? 2) What suggestions do you have to abate this behavior?
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Sep 5, 2020 21:23
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Welp, my foster has diarrhea. The nightmare scenario (him letting it go inside the house) hasn't happened yet but he wakes me up twice a night now for potty breaks. The shelter said I should start feeding him white rice to "settle his stomach", and I don't know what that means or whether it will actually help, but I also don't know what else to do at this point. It has been 48 hours...
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Sep 5, 2020 22:27
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enraged_camel posted:Welp, my foster has diarrhea. The nightmare scenario (him letting it go inside the house) hasn't happened yet but he wakes me up twice a night now for potty breaks. Bland diet is instead of his food, feed him a mix of 1/3 boiled chicken and 2/3 boiled white rice (equal to the amount of regular food you'd give) until the diahrea goes away. If it doesn't go away in a day or two, he probably has giardia or some other parasite and needs a vet. Then phase his food back proportionally into the mix slowly over the course of a couple of days.
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Sep 6, 2020 01:01
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Deceptive Thinker posted:Bland diet is instead of his food, feed him a mix of 1/3 boiled chicken and 2/3 boiled white rice (equal to the amount of regular food you'd give) until the diahrea goes away. If it doesn't go away in a day or two, he probably has giardia or some other parasite and needs a vet. Then phase his food back proportionally into the mix slowly over the course of a couple of days. Yeah, I'm worried it might be a parasite. I'll email the shelter if he still has diarrhea tomorrow.
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Sep 6, 2020 01:32
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enraged_camel posted:Yeah, I'm worried it might be a parasite. I'll email the shelter if he still has diarrhea tomorrow. My puppy had a parasite after adoption, needed to go to the vet. It wasn't too expensive. Vet said this is incredibly common and harmless as long as it's treated. Since he was going every few hours, I set up his playpen next to the couch and put pee pads all over the floor. I slept on the couch and let him outside every time he woke up at night, and all the time during the day. It wasn't hard, just required vigilance. I also gave him chicken broth to make sure he stayed hydrated, since it's mostly water with a little chicken flavor to keep him interested enough to drink lots. Good luck 
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Sep 6, 2020 07:43
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Chimp_On_Stilts posted:My puppy had a parasite after adoption, needed to go to the vet. It wasn't too expensive. Same. My most recent pup had a bit of coccidia when we adopted him. They gave me a weeks worth of anti parasitic pills and it was only like $30 for the visit and pills. Cleared right up after starting the chicken and rice plus the anti parasitic.
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Sep 6, 2020 14:04
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