DOGS

As a new dog obsessive parent I've been trying to get him used to everything. Brushing is going ok (it's managing his determination to see brush as chew toy rather than any aggro), we're ok around the mouth so far and I've done a bit of paw/claw handling but I'm a way away from a proper clip.

No vaccinations yet, so he hasn't seen much of the outside world - turns into a wriggler and moaner if I try to walk him out in my arms or a sling & clearly wants to be down and sniffing about. We've got a bit of a garden for him to play around in, but the sooner I can get him seeing the world, the better.

But he's a pretty confident & trusting little beast - just hope that I don't screw it up over the coming months.

Nominative DogtermiNism !

hah dogs have been near the front of my mind for a long time!

Widget at nearly six months is happy to be left for a couple of hours if bribed with some kind of bone, a scatter of treats, or (his favourite which he knows by name) BLUEBERRIES. I can do one or two claws at a time - he doesn’t mind his feet being handled at all but if the clipper comes out, he won’t cooperate.

I don't think I've ever met a dog that doesn't love blueberries.

Our AmStaff Canela's favorite meal? Beef and peas. We serve it to her every year on her adoptiversary.

Our young one is an annoying little shit and we're all still getting used to each other. He just doesn't have any goddamn manners, so it will take a bit...luckily he's very smart and still young, so very trainable.

(Also strawberries, if they're sweet. God Nela loves strawbs)

Heeeeeeere's Josie!

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51102126801_c1a8e21b63_c.jpg

is that even a dog???

idk I think she's her own species

or a gremlin

She is so damn fluffy and cuddly and fun. Still working on the whole come-when-called thing though :P

adorable

"Still working on the whole come-when-called thing though"

my dog is 2 and a three quarter years old and am still working on that project, but at least now when I call him he'll stop and wait for me and wait for me to put him back on the leash which is some progress I suppose.

"just hope that I don't screw it up over the coming months."

it's just like with human kids, you should never be too hard on yourself about your failures - because no matter how hard you try they will embarrass the fuck out of you one day and that is where the unconditional love is needed most!

I'm thinking bout castration at the moment and am very conflicted, been through all this before but this time it seems a much tougher decision. I mean wtf gives you the right to surgically mutilate your best friend? I just don't know anything anymore tbh.

Very consistently-voiced "come" commands, coupled with consitently-delivered treats on arrival, was all it took to get out dog to come when called. Then again, she'd probably run through a brick wall for food.

Re: castration/neutering, if you’re not planning to breed from a dog, the stats on canine testicular cancer in lads and pyometra in female dogs suggest it’s a good idea to have a dog fixed. With larger dogs and sighthounds, it’s supposed to be advisable to wait until they’re two to let growth hormones do their job.

yes I've emcountered a dog before where the owner told me he was castrated too early and the poor lad had a very unfortunate shrill whistle of a bark. I probably would have got him "done" by now and would have done if it wasn't for the lockdown. Thanks for that bit of perspective, Suzy - it probably does probably make a lot of sense to get it done for various reasons.

probs probs!

Also with sighthounds, early neutering basically hands them arthritis due to aforementioned growth plates not closing properly. My beloved Wilf was fixed around six/seven months and at 10.5 has started arthritis meds - early for a whippet. Poor Wilf is also experiencing early dementia and macular degeneration and I well up whenever I think about it.

Widget is pedigreed (granny, aunties and mum owned by breeder all show locally and at Crufts) and I’m thinking of letting him sire a litter before having him fixed because the stud fee can be one of the pups, who would go to Wilf’s family as a gift if they lose him before Widget turns three.

I reckon I could pimp Douglas out even though he's bit of a rough diamond. When I bumped into a kennel club type he told me in quite eugenic terms what a magnificent specimen he is and the matriarch from a local farm hinted that she would be quite happy if *something happened* between him and her golden retriever. But alas I think his nuts are going to go before he gets that chance ;;

I'm very negative about dog breeding and puppies, but even I wouldn't begrudge someone a Douglas pup.

There's a setter called Cooper who lives near us who normally hangs out in front of his house near the beach and comes down to play with his dog pals as they go by. He is one of Kittser's best pals for running about with, and Kitt has even got to the stage of going all the way up to Cooper's yard to see if he's around for a run. But today we met Cooper out on his actual walk with his human man, on a lead. Poor Kitt just couldn't understand it. He ran up to Cooper and shouted and shouted at him from every possible angle to get him to run, but no joy. He was so dejected when I clipped him onto his own lead and dragged him away.

Good boy is seeing Darth Vader for the first time... pic.twitter.com/KMDvY8mBBG

— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) April 8, 2021

OMG that poor puppy!

I totally wish I could adopt Prancer, but I think he would hate me:

This is the best thing I’ve read in awhile. pic.twitter.com/rdn3X6GeWH

— Hot Little Mongoose (@HLMongoose) April 9, 2021

We are having a lot of trouble with our young one. Had to really convince my partner not to just immediate surrender him today. It’s going to take a shitload of money but i love this little fucker.

That sucks. I hope you're able to get it sorted, whatever it is.

how old is he?

He’s about 3. Sweet as pie with our other dog, incredibly affectionate and wonderful with people— and seemingly wants to kill every other dog he sees.

Sorry table, that's a horrible stress and hard work. Good luck to you and the boy.

It really is. God, it's so common nowadays, too. Every other dog I see in rescue has this problem. Funny enough, one of our little dogs has a very slight version of it, in that you would definitely describe him as "dog reactive". He shouts and bares his teeth at other dogs when he's on the lead on the street, and has to be dragged away from them. He will not focus on anything else if he sees a dog in the distance he wants to go over to. He will struggle to slip his lead and get away from you to go and see a dog he wants to see. But it's all because he actually loves other dogs and wants desperately to spend his days in a big dog gang. When we are with dogs he knows and they are all off the lead together, he is so happy. But we rarely get that opportunity. I'm very lucky that he's small enough for this not to be a real issue. If he was bigger, I would not be able to handle him and we would need to really address it. I hope you can get it sorted with time and training.

i have this exact same issue with my rescue dog too, except it is only half the time. my partner and i joke that she has 2 very distinct personalities. it is impossible to predict which one she will be each time we go out so i always have to be very vigilant about other dogs approaching. when she does go for other dogs, she particularly seems to want to go for bigger dogs who generally just laugh her off as she is so small, but i do worry one day she will meet her match and a dog will fight her back (it almost hppened one time). my brother in law has her brother and he is exactly the same with other dogs but is significantly bigger and stronger and therefore it is much more of an issue. working on it with training but it seems to be a very slow process.

It's so hard to deal with, too, because one of the big factors is YOUR nerves and tension, so trainers always say "just relax" and you're like "how can I relax when I'm waiting for some terrible thing to happen?"

Did you guys ever see Dog Borstal? It was great

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006mkcy

I went looking for uploads on youtube and found Dog Borstal (1962) instead

Jesus, that poor retriever. If a child did that to one of my dogs I would simply let the dog eat the child.

yeah my dog used to be unpredictable and reactive with other dogs, he was a big guy and walking him could be a pain in the neck. his body would tense up if there was a dog approaching from 2 blocks away! which is always because we live in manhattan 😂
he mellowed out a lot in his old age though, and was finally able to socialize. by then he'd developed a "reputation" in my building and nobody wanted to let their dog near him, of course. but he got to play with every dog he met in the park.

hope there's a happy ending to this story too 🐕♥️

xp yeah sorry probably should have put a 'cheerful 60s dog torment' warning on that.

we are getting with a dog behaviorist and doing training, too— we cannot have what happened happen again. he really is the sweetest guy, and incredibly smart and driven to please, so i think we just need to be consistent and confident as we go through the process. in the meantime, i am reinforcing all his basic training and commands, and he is doing so well.

I really hope it works out for you.

my dog seems to alternate roughly 50/50 between friendly and playful Labrador charm offensive and very annoying, dog reactive shouty thug. It's really annoying because I can't predict how he will react to other dogs apart from certain friends of his that he has played with since a puppy. I used to think he only he only get's aggressive with big dogs as a lot of his play buddies are cocker spaniels and the daft fucker kept trying to start on a Great Dane (a really gentle and lovely one as well) but sometimes he acts like a dick with smaller dogs as well. I was in denial about this problem at first and his behaviour was getting me into trouble. But now I only let him off the lead when I'm out in remote places where I can see other dogs approaching from a big distance.

The only thing I have really learned about when dogs get into it is that the humans have to stay calm and keep it casual. Years ago one of my dogs was attacked. I got into a shouting match with the owner, and the dog that was attacked never liked to stop on a walk after that. If I stopped to talk to anyone, he would get really anxious and start barking loudly until we walked on. And with Kitt, who chases big dogs and won't come back, I used to get extremely frustrated and annoyed, until I realised that this was what had caused Bruno to start attacking big dogs, where he never used to. He obviously just figured if he could drive the big dog away, Kitt wouldn't get into trouble and I wouldn't get angry. So now I'm very careful not to get angry, even if everyone is being a dick, and it has helped. Kitt got chomped by a narky dog about a year ago, and neither I nor the other dog's owner got thick about it, and now Kitt stays away from that dog, but he isn't traumatized or anything.

yeah it took me a long time to learn about the value of calmness in fraught situations with humans and dogs not acting civil, lol. You need to remember that if you get angry yourself even if the other dog owner is acting like a prick then it still isn't a proper response and isn't going to do any good for the outcome at all. It's always so good when another dog owner is calm and not a complete dick in these situations. Someone who understands that not all interactions between dogs can be perfect, and there is no need to start yelling as a first response.

when I say it took me a long time, my last dog was such an angel I never had cause to think about this stuff.

RIP to our Lulu Baloo, she was the best dog. She came when we called her the first time we walked her and never had to be on a lead after that (except beside the road, obvioulsy). She never ever chased horses or cats, and once got such a fright when a rabbit ran past her that she had to hide behind me for a minute. She never wanted anything more out of life than a ball and some other dogs to run around with, maybe a bit of a swim, and then a sofa to cuddle up on when the day was done. She never cared about children, just treated them like tiny adults. She accepted every foster, cat or dog, who came into our house. She became arthritic quite young, which then led to her falling and having a bad back injury when she was only seven, and her mobility has been deteriorating steadily since then, with her pain levels increasing year on year. Recently she started falling down a lot, and for months now her "walk" has been me driving down to where we used to walk, taking her out of the car for a five-minute totter and a sniff (timed to get a few biscuits from passing dogwalkers, of course), then taking her home again. She had been pooping in the house for a long time because she had no nerves in her back end, but lately had started wetting her bed too. Once she stopped eating anything but chicken, we knew it was time. She was just the greatest dog.

rip lulu. ;_;

aw RIP ♥️

just gave my dog some pets in honor of Lulu

it's such sad news, she sounded like a grand old dame.

She sounds lovely, I'm so sorry!

Our Sally is getting to that point (my parents almost made the decision on Monday), so this is going to be a tough time for us.

just gave my dog some pets in honor of Lulu

It's definitely what she would have wanted.

Thanks, all.

this very pissed up guy who is normally quite placid was walking past my house and asked if he could come into my garden and say hello to my dog. I know his mother and know he has been suffering from depression since his 17 yr old Springer Spaniel passed. It was all awkwardly ok until I noticed him pinching my dog's paw until he whimpered. I said what the fuck are you doing to my dog here, dickhead?. Got no response and he carried on talking as if nothing had happened. I thought, right - it's time to get this fucking weirdo out of my space. I started with polite hints that he ought to fuck off now, but then he started being reasonable for a few minutes and then after a short period pinched my dog's paw again until he whimpered again and I seriously warned him this time. That was the closest I've got to punching someone in decades.