Raskolnikov2089 posted:

Any opinions on travel kennels?

I know a kennel isn't as good as a seatbelt. My dog will not wear a seatbelt. I've spent at least $300 in varying seatbelt harnesses and he's able to either slip out or wrap the belt around his neck in every one. It's not a question of fit, he just will not sit still, nor will any amount of training induce him to calm down in the car. Believe me, I've tried. He's just not that type of dog. He's excellent everywhere else, but something about going in the car flips a switch in his brain, no matter how much I've tried to normalize/despecialize it.

I still want to take road trips with my buddy, but I don't want him loose in the back seat. I'm fine with (and planning to) pay premium for a kennel that won't crumple. I've been looking at the Gunner kennels and they seem promising: https://gunner.com/

The Locator posted:

Maybe I'm a bad pet-owner, as I never actually thought about restraining Lupe in the car.

I bought one of these backseat things: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CHYJ6N6N?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_7&th=1

It gives Lupe a nice flat surface and she actually just curls up and sleeps back there when I am on the highway.

Raskolnikov2089 posted:

Any opinions on travel kennels?

I know a kennel isn't as good as a seatbelt. My dog will not wear a seatbelt. I've spent at least $300 in varying seatbelt harnesses and he's able to either slip out or wrap the belt around his neck in every one. It's not a question of fit, he just will not sit still, nor will any amount of training induce him to calm down in the car. Believe me, I've tried. He's just not that type of dog. He's excellent everywhere else, but something about going in the car flips a switch in his brain, no matter how much I've tried to normalize/despecialize it.

I still want to take road trips with my buddy, but I don't want him loose in the back seat. I'm fine with (and planning to) pay premium for a kennel that won't crumple. I've been looking at the Gunner kennels and they seem promising: https://gunner.com/

Instant Jellyfish posted:

I travel with my dogs a lot but also need to get crates in and out of my car by myself regularly, so I went with rufflands. They're a lot lighter than the gunners or lucky ducks and I feel like they have better air circulation, which is important because my dogs are frequently crated out of my car all day (I also have reflective car covers and battery powered fans). In crash testing the door of the ruffland occasionally failed so I got the extra door locks and they feel really secure to me. I can fit two side door intermediate ones side by side in my CR-V with room for potentially two more if needed or plenty of stuff.

If I didn't ever move my crates and the gunners fit my dogs/car better I'd look into them but for my situation the rufflands work the best.

I have a newer model CR-V now but here's kind of what my setup looks like.

Flesh Forge posted:

very noteworthy is the plastic grate door, most consumer dog crates you see will have metal and if a dog is confined to one and bored or stressed out they may chew on the metal and break their teeth so these are extremely good.

Raskolnikov2089 posted:

Yeah those are great, but you should really look into a decent seatbelt for your dog. If not for their safety, for yours, as you do not want a 60 pound dog turning into a cannonball if you get into a wreck at 45mph.

Even a 35mph crash turns that dog into a 2700 pound projectile.

Same reason I'll yell at my friends if they don't wear a seatbelt when I'm driving. You may not care if you die, but I care if you kill me.

modern design slut posted:

other one https://www.chewy.com/furhaven-waterproof-cat-dog-blanket/dp/316007

modern design slut posted:

thanks! so if your dog pees on them, nothing seeps through?

i own every Bionicle posted:

Yikes, hope she heals up quickly. It’s so hard when they are hurt, but see nothing but the red mist and need for speed.

Ragnar Gunvald posted:

Your dog sounds like an adrenaline junkie.

Nitrousoxide posted:

My parents gave me their dog a couple of months ago because they didn't want to be on the hook for taking care of him anymore. He's doing fine generally, even if he's unusually skittish around other dogs. My main issue with him is how he basically refuses to eat his food out of his bowl. He'll leave it untouched all day out in the bowl, but if I pour it into my hand bit by bit he'll immediately chow down on it. He's also otherwise well (and not overly) food motivated as he eagerly obeys commands with a treat on hand and will quickly gobble it up.

Anyone else have issues with their dog just not eating enough unless you hand feed them?

Edit: He's 5 so he's not a puppy.

Instant Jellyfish posted:

Speaking of, my beloved beasts* are having babies!

a strange fowl posted:

excellent news, those puppies are going to be stunning and great ambassadors for their kind

do you have any vague idea how many she's got stashed away in there yet, or is the answer just "lots"?

GlyphGryph posted:

I keep considering whether I should get a dog bowl and then keep not bothering. I have the one puzzle feeder she hasn't solved by ripping it apart, and the kongs, if i really want to put the food in a container, but I think she's happier with me just tossing it and having to find all the bits. Keeps her busy for a couple minutes instead of the 10 seconds I imagine the bowl would.

Flesh Forge posted:

this is a little bit of a red flag. stop doing this, put the food down for 15 or 20 minutes and if he doesn't eat it, pick it up and put it away. let him see you doing this. you can do this a few different times out of a day at first but make them several hours apart. stop hand feeding him except for small reward type training, and for that you should be using really small stuff like the size of a pea.

if he's not eating food that is out and available all the time he's obviously not going to starve, you're likely over feeding him. is he at all over-weight? figure out exactly how much food he really needs because this behavior makes it sound like he's simply not hungry at all, he comes to you for hand feeding because the personal interaction is more valuable than the food - this is very good, don't get me wrong, but it still sounds like he's eating too much.

Nitrousoxide posted:

I’ll keep trying the “put food out and if he doesn’t eat it shortly after take it away” thing. Hopefully it continues to work well like it did yesterday.

i own every Bionicle posted:

Hope he has a great life with you now in any case. Even the most well-behaved dogs are a lot of work but seeing progress is super rewarding.

Feeding stories: I used to mix Newton’s frozen wet food and dry food. Then I kept finding kibbles of dry food on the floor near his dish, and was wondering wtf was going on, was I spilling it? Then I noticed him eating the wet food and spitting the dry food out on the floor next to the dish like cherry pits. Now he gets wet and dry on different sides of the bowl like a toddler who will eat lettuce or a hamburger but not lettuce on a hamburger. He eats it all, they just have to be separate.

Nitrousoxide posted:

Taking it away and putting it in the fridge for a few minutes seems to be working, at least yesterday.

He’s not being over fed. In fact he was losing weight. He was sliiiiightly overweight by like 2 lbs (at 22 lbs) when I got him. He lost some weight initially due to anxiety over not having my parents around but just continued to not really eat the recommended amount each day and was slowly continuing to lose weight.

I’ll keep trying the “put food out and if he doesn’t eat it shortly after take it away” thing. Hopefully it continues to work well like it did yesterday.

Instant Jellyfish posted:

I can easily see 4 on one side so somewhere between 6-8? I'll take her in for an xray once they have real bones and get a count before they're born.

You can see 4 of them here. I went crazy and bought myself a cheap (ish) ultrasound. I like to peek in and see how they're doing in there and how much they change so quickly

MockingQuantum posted:

IIRC you're an experienced breeder so I may be telling you something you already know more about than I do, but just in case you haven't done ultrasounds on past litters, just know that they can re-absorb fetuses even when entirely healthy, we've seen it happen once even in the small handful of litters we've been a part of whelping.

I have no idea how likely that is to happen at, what, 38ish days into gestation? I am not a dog doctor.

Instant Jellyfish posted:

This is my first time breeding dogs, but I'm both a huge research nerd and work for a vet. She's at 42 days tomorrow and generally 45 days is the cut off for when they can resorb a fetus instead of expelling it, but usually happens before day 35, so I'm feeling pretty good about it. I have regular access to an ultrasound and peep in there frequently. If she's resorbing any it's not the majority because I can still find at least 4 at a time every time I put the probe on her and they're starting to wiggle around in there (). Plus, she has gained almost 8 lbs already despite not really increasing her food yet so if it's not jam-packed in there, I'd be surprised.

I live fairly close to one of the best repro vets in the country so I'm going to be doing a pre-natal exam there when I go for a puppy count just to be prepared.

Sir Sidney Poitier posted:

This is my dog, a husky/akita cross:



He has a loving massive neck with loads of loose skin:



It seems absolutely impossible to brush because when you draw the brush (we use a Furminator) across it, the skin just moves with it or bunches up in the path of the brush. You can try and hold the skin in place a bit, but it doesn't work very well at all since you'd have to use more force than would be comfortable for him, even though he loves being brushed. The only thing I've really been able to do is get him outside and just rub his neck loads so the hair flies everywhere, but as winter approaches this is even less practical than normal.

Is there some trick to brushing an epic dog neck that I don't know about?

Sir Sidney Poitier posted:

The Locator posted:

Maybe pay a groomer to show you how they would do it?

Gangringo posted:

Have you tried an undercoat rake?

It seems to work pretty well on floppy dogs with a thick undercoat and a heavy guard coat.