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Do you guys have any advice for dog owner's remorse/anxiety re: the massive change in my life? I adopted Apollo Tuesday, it's Saturday now, and he's the best possible dog. Mostly obedient (doesn't pull at the leash unless he's chasing a frog, knows his name now, only chews on furniture when bored), quiet, friendly with people... He's a one and a half year old german shepard/husky(?) mix and I love him... ...but the massive change to my life is freaking me out. 5+ walks a day, feeding him at 6am/pm, keeping an eye on him the rest of the time, walks at midnight, worrying over when he'll poo poo... I feel like I need to put him away for a day and recuperate. Or give him back to the shelter so my life can go back to normal. But. He's so good and good for me (walks are amazing exercise) that I don't want to let my broke-brain give my dog away. Tell me it gets easier? Or at least tell me crate training will be easy, because I need to do that or I can't leave the house without locking him in a bathroom or finding out if it's okay to put him on a long lead outside in the yard and leave him there.
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Sep 16, 2017 20:35
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GoodBee posted:I don't have any tips but I was horribly anxious after I adopted my very first dog back in October. I wondered if I made a terrible mistake for a couple of weeks. My buddy got a puppy a couple weeks after I got my dog and he felt the same. I guess it's fairly common and perfectly normal. Thank you. Hearing that it's relatively normal does help - I've been googling around, and it's just.... broken anxious brain hates change, and Apollo is a big furry bundle of change. Submarine Sandpaper, I'm afraid I don't have access to Xanax or weed :P but I did get some hot chocolate since that post and had a long bath and I feel better. Have a dumb dog story that taught me some things this morning: So I keep some caramel creme candies in my room on a bookcase for occasional treats for myself. Someone found them last night and stole a few so discreetly that I didn't notice until we found wrappers on the floor this afternoon. The bag was up pretty high on the bookcase, but someone is pretty tall when he stretches himself, and I found distinctive marks of doggie paws up there. Someone also threw up this morning outside. I submit a picture of my primary suspect for the jury to inspect:  (The candies are gone, and the only human food Apollo gets is hotdog bits for training purposes and carrots for chewing purposes!)
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Sep 16, 2017 22:58
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Petting status: Apollo has been petted, belly-rubbed, and loved. I am finally turning in for bed and I feel a lot better. Thank you, thread.
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Sep 17, 2017 01:11
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Main Paineframe posted:It gets a little easier, but you're gonna have to get used to having responsibilities that have to be dealt with every single day no matter how tired or sick you are. Just as you adapt to the dog's lifestyle, though, he'll adapt to yours, so he'll meet you in the middle on some things eventually. We're already getting used to the whole shower thing / I can't walk him 24/7 so sometimes he just needs to be bored in the house. I have an inane question for the thread, though! What advice do you have for handling separation anxiety? I have a dental appointment Wednesday, he's not crate trained yet, and he, well, hasn't left my side since I got him. On the first night, when I was an idiot and tricked him into the crate and closed it, he freaked out - I even left the room and he freaked out more. (I let him out ASAP) That was the stupidest thing I've done for this dog and I swear it will never happen again. ...Which leaves me needing to do slow, proper crate training to show him that it's okay, and I also have to figure out how to, well, leave him at home alone.
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Sep 17, 2017 14:19
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Dennis McClaren posted:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-qnqaajTk6bfs3UZuue6IQ -Kikopup I now own a clicker, and I've been watching a bunch of these. Thank you! ...Also, oh my goodness, I've had Apollo for a week. I'm feeling more confident, and I'm sure I'll get even better once I've got clicker training up and rolling.
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Sep 19, 2017 18:41
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Bobby Deluxe, it sounds like either you need to get to training him ASAP or send him back. You're going to be stuck with him for at least 5+ years if not longer, and this sounds like a recipe for disaster, especially given that you're going to be his primary person. e: I know you feel awful about it, but you need to have a sit down with your wife and seriously lay out your problems here. Please protect yourself and your space before something goes terribly wrong. StrixNebulosa fucked around with this message at 15:28 on Sep 25, 2017 |
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Sep 25, 2017 15:25
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sneakyfrog posted:Best course would be just go get a nice lil terrier or microdog or just a bunch more pigs and make them a playpalace. Then you can breeze along and not have to worry about loving up around a dog that can take your arm off. I'd argue that a lab or golden retriever would be a better beginner dog for them. Far more friendly, and easier to train, and usually not made 100% of muscle.
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Sep 25, 2017 18:43
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sneakyfrog posted:but goldens are dumber than rocks We had a pair of black labs 10+~ years ago and they were sweet, lazy creatures who liked several walks a day and not much else. Very easy to care for, and they were great around visitors. I have to say, going from them to Apollo - a husky/german shepard mix - has been a shock, but we're getting along a lot better now that I'm used to his walks and fetch and my god he loves clicker training. 
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Sep 25, 2017 18:50
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cant say i have ever had a lab either, I dont pick dogs though they just show up.
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sneakyfrog posted:Thats a pretty intense dog, make sure you get soft mouth down, we had some folks in here that did a lot of work with GSDs (I think ausrotten) but haven seen her in here for a while. He's one year and a half~ old, and very gentle. When he's excited and wants to play he'll mouth at my hand, but it's all mouth open, no attempts to nip or anything. His previous owners apparently taught him to be good at that, and the commands sit/drop/down/shake, so they did a good job before dropping him off at the shelter. I'm fortunate in that I'm at home all day, so he gets plenty of walks, has toys, and I'm getting used to having him here... which means sooner or later I'll be ready to use clicker training on more than reinforcing what's already there and some light "stop pulling at the leash" click/treats. My one complaint with him at the moment is that he's managed to decide that it's okay to poo in the music room, and that's.. not okay.....  So I'm limiting the time he spends in there a ton, but man it's aggravating to come out and realize that yep he's made another mess.
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Sep 25, 2017 19:11
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Yeah, for real. Sit her down and tell her what's wrong. Don't try to be subtle about bringing it up, this needs to be addressed now.
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Sep 26, 2017 12:21
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Bobby Deluxe posted:It has, but she had to go to work. Leaving any E/N considerations aside, at least it's said. Alrighty. Good luck when she gets back. On my doggie note: Apollo still isn't perfect on the leash - he wanders and likes to stop and sniff and my god he wants those chickens - but he's WAY better at stopping and looking at me, and generally obeying when I say come or gently tug on the leash to indicate that I want to keep moving. Also, he loves his new kong, and how we're feeding him half of his breakfast/dinner in it now - he eats a bit of food in the bowl, then has to work for the rest. And then he runs around with the kong, drops it so it'll bounce, chases it, and drops it by me so I'll throw it. 
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Sep 26, 2017 13:00
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Put Apollo into the hallway (in lieu of any rooms because there's nothing to break in there if he freaks out, and he often lies in there while I'm taking baths), gave him a rope toy and a pig's ear to chew on, and closed the doors and left him alone for ten minutes. He barked, he whined, he did eventually go quiet, but oh my god he came out of there and reacted to me as if I'd died and come back from Heaven. He'd also dropped his pig's ear pretty quickly and began to bark, so... it's mostly intact and now nearly a full reward for surviving that. Gonna repeat that again tomorrow for a bit longer, see how he handles it. Any general advice/warnings? I don't want to be doing something wrong that's obvious to another more experienced owner.
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Sep 26, 2017 23:05
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I'm an idiot!  I put Apollo into the hallway for his temporary isolation, gave him a ropetoy and a kong full of his dinner, and left him there for ten minutes. Came back to a hall full of poo poo. Guess who forgot that oh, right, DUH he goes poo around this time so I usually feed him, wait half an hour and take him for a long walk. So put him into stresstown instead and I got a mess to clean up. Great. Okay. Next time don't do it at that time, or walk him first. Thank god for odor neutralizers. On the plus side: he seems to get quiet around the nine or ten minute mark? Which is great! I want to get him in there for longer - I mean in several weeks when he's used to it - but yeah! The other plus side is that I don't have to take him for a long walk now: instead of getting me tired too I took him for a quick hose-down to make sure he wouldn't track poo poo everywhere, then played fetch and he's sprawled out next to me resting now.
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Sep 27, 2017 23:05
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sneakyfrog posted:nah you seem like you are doing fine and not being a dipshit and blaming the dog. you just keep on being you and youll have a real good pal here in a bit Thanks! I just wish I could get to that point without the horrible, smelly messes.
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Sep 27, 2017 23:23
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I'm back with another question about Apollo! ...What's the best way to teach him to drop things? He's decently good at dropping things he finds on his walks and his tennis balls, but trying to make him drop his toys while we're playing tug of war is basically impossible, and it's a bummer. I have to kind of distract or trick him to his the toy away when it's time to go inside and well, I don't like doing that. Payment, and a picture of the toy in question:    
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Sep 30, 2017 18:20
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ImplicitAssembler posted:I taught my dog by having two identical toys and always making the one in my hand the more interesting one. I don't have a second stick on hand, so... I went googling - yeah I know, shoulda done this first - and they recommended touching the collar and holding the dog still as you tell them to drop, and lo and behold: Apollo figured this out fast and now drops the stick whenever I just touch his collar. It helps that I'm rewarding him for obeying with fetch and tug immediately afterwards. ... Between the walks and the tug my poor body is going from lazy lump to overwalked, overtugged pain town and I need my stamina to catch up with my puppy fast. Which is good - one of the reasons I got a dog was to get myself to actually exercise - and also bad because my arms are now noodles.
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Sep 30, 2017 21:27
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amotea posted:Edit: or yank his collar I guess lol. I am not yanking his collar. I want to be clear here, I'm just holding it and not letting him back up to keep playing the game. ...Sorry for the defensiveness, but I've been real sensitive to yanking on his collar due to how much he's been pulling on the leash today, what with how much he desperately wants to go down into the woods and dig up dirt around the fire hydrants and...  Puppy's gotta puppy and I'm working on finding that balance between letting him sniff stuff and also not pulling me into the next county.
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Sep 30, 2017 23:54
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A brief overview of Apollo: - The reason I need to teach him drop is that he'll drop everything except for whatever he's playing tug with, and in this case it's a big blue stick that he loves. He's so focused on getting me to play tug that drop doesn't work. In fact drop actually makes him get into the down position and drop the toy long enough for me to touch it, which is when he grabs the other end of it and re-initiates tug. I'm no longer indulging this behavior, and instead hold the toy and touch his collar and say drop, and he goes "oh you want me to DROP it I getcha" and he lets go and doesn't chase it... until I'm a few feet away in which case he'll try to get it and get the game back going again. I'm pretty good at beelining to the toy chest and putting it away at that point, though. - Walking outside - he behaves if I have treats and the clicker on me, but god help me if I don't. I mean, he'll be okay but there's more pulling. At this point when he pulls I either quit moving entirely or keep walking in a straight line, and he usually gets back to me pretty quick. That said, all bets are off if there's something to chase. A deer this morning made him go bananas and when I wouldn't move he ran in circles around me whining, and lunged whenever I tried to inch back home. When he finally began to let go of the dream of chasing that deer we... saw a cat and it was stop moving entirely / inch back home all over again. - He has a very soft mouth, is very good at letting go of anything, and frankly my biggest problem with him right now is that he has been wanting to play for the last three hours and I love him and I've played with him but I need to eat food and rest and cope with a family situation and him constantly bringing toys to me is getting... phoo. Puppy I love you please stop looking adorable at me....... amotea, a harness is a good idea. I'll check that out. Engineer Lenk, thanks for the info. Thankfully Apollo doesn't resource guard or get mean or anything - he just wants to play more tug, damnit, and he doesn't understand why I would ever want to stop playing. e: Ignored him long enough and he finally went "playtime's.... over?" and huffed and went to curl up nearby. This pupper. 
StrixNebulosa fucked around with this message at 22:30 on Oct 1, 2017 |
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Oct 1, 2017 22:24
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Engineer Lenk posted:This is a textbook situation for a play driven dog, and the best training solution for your problem is to get a duplicate blue stick toy and retrain drop it as described a while back. I'll give it a go as soon as I can get another stick, thanks!
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Oct 1, 2017 23:19
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Wrecking Ball posted:Is this the thread (is there a thread) where one can ask "hey does anyone here have this sort of dog, tell me about your dog breed!" kind of thing? I wouldn't mind seeing it! That said, do look around PI for the breed-specific threads - I know there's a Corgi one, and a Primitive Breeds one.
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Oct 2, 2017 22:15
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GoodBee posted:My small dog is so mad about being in her kennel tonight. It's getting colder - at least here in NY it is, so you might want to make sure she has enough blankets. Apollo's graduated to sleeping on the bed with me as it's warmer up here and I finally decided that I'm willing to have him up here forever.
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Oct 3, 2017 12:37
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GoodBee posted:It's no where near cold here and it never gets NY cold. Dogs. Gotta love them. Apollo's a sweetheart who sleeps in his own nest - I've got a big bed and multiple heavy blankets - and we both toss and turn a bit, but he doesn't try to sleep on me.  
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Oct 3, 2017 13:35
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Bobby Deluxe posted:No I was not successful at saying we should get rid of him. Then you need to get on training him ASAP. Change is going to be hard, but make sure he learns not to be aggressive.
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Oct 4, 2017 19:08
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  Apollo is now legal!  Got his dog tag on his collar this morning and engraved the phone number on the back.He promptly spent some of the morning doing somersaults in his attempt to taste and sniff the tag.
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Oct 7, 2017 18:23
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Pro-tip: don't get a bad head cold if you have a dog. Dog still wants to walk and play and have fun but you just want to lie around and sleep.
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Oct 15, 2017 12:37
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enraged_camel, try reading this article on separation anxiety. We're slowly working on it in my own dog, and it's a process. I don't know enough about the other issues yet to advise you, though. Apollo looooves to eat grass when we go on walks, and while I don't let him eat too much of it, it's apparently a Thing dogs do, and can indicate stress or a sore stomach... or that he likes the taste of it.
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Oct 22, 2017 23:31
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Do you guys have any recommendations for good chew toys? I'd like to get Apollo another toy, and I'm thinking something he'll want to just chew on - but I understand that antlers are not good for teeth, and he's already got a kong. What's good?
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Oct 27, 2017 23:10
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sneakyfrog posted:how big? what breed? 40 lb Husky/German Shepherd mix  Apollo is the pupper on the right, the other two aren't mine e: Also no worries! I'll happily take any excuse to post pictures of him
StrixNebulosa fucked around with this message at 17:29 on Oct 28, 2017 |
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Oct 28, 2017 17:26
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priznat posted:What’s a good treat for a puppy that they can have when they go in the crate that they can chew on for a while? I think they make kongs for puppies, and putting peanut butter in 'em is the single best way to occupy my pupper for ages.
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Oct 28, 2017 17:32
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sneakyfrog posted:well hell 2 questions one stone. Aha, nylabones has turned up some promising looking toys on amazon - thanks! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002ASMT4/ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0052SPB6S/ priznat posted:Oo yah that is a good idea. I have a larger kong (not too big, and the pup is about 15lbs) which may work. I haven't tried it yet, but I've also read that you can try freezing the peanut butter in the kong, which makes it last longer!
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Oct 28, 2017 17:41
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Waroduce posted:I give my dog a deer antler when I leave the house and it takes her a month or two to go through 1 My concern with that is that I hear it's not great for the dog's teeth - i.e. it'll wear them down.
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Oct 30, 2017 21:04
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Apollo just got his new nylabone chew ring and he's taken to it as if he hasn't chewed anything in a hundred years. Thanks for the rec!
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Nov 2, 2017 19:53
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Tell me about it. I took a bath today and Apollo expressed his displeasure at how long it was by finding my Gengar plushie and bringing it to me. It was a threat. Finish up in there or the pokemon gets it. (He normally has no interest in my plushies or shoes or anything, but if he's mad oh ho he will let me know.)
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Nov 9, 2017 04:09
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GoodBee posted:My other dog doesn't lick, she nose boops everything. Well, either that or she punches people for attention. Can you redirect her to roll over or something else?
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Nov 13, 2017 15:12
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Acidian, here's some links to youtubers I trust and articles by them on dog walking. http://www.simpawtico-training.com/loose-leash-walking-101/#prettyPhoto https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjBg5Nlx1HM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcJEQ8p7uNs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFgtqgiAKoQ <---this Kikopup one is really useful As for puppy behavior - I'm of the opinion that you should try to instill good habits into your dogs early, with more tolerance for learning mistakes because, well, puppy. But I'm not a professional, so watch the videos and listen to sneakyfrog.
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Nov 29, 2017 12:30
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numerrik posted:Sorry if this has been covered recently but our puppy (rat terrier dachshund mix) is reaching adulthood and we were looking for a chew that she would like. She doesn’t seem to care for rawhide much and my wife thinks she has too hard a bite for antlers, any suggestions? Have you looked at nylabone stuff? I got one of their textured rings for my 40lb husky/gsd mix and it's perfect. I know that's a different size from yours, but nylabone's a good brand, look at what they got. Also kong!
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Dec 1, 2017 00:51
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sneakyfrog posted:bunnies i dont want to give out poo poo advice whats the deal with nylabones? Echoing this - Apollo loves his nylabone and I don't want to accidentally hurt him 
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Dec 2, 2017 00:55
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It sounds like I'll be good doing what I've been doing - keeping an eye on Apollo and his nylabone.
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Dec 2, 2017 01:47
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Acidian posted:Should I just serve breakfast, then remove any excess food if she doesn't eat it within a time limit? If she isn't eating enough, will this not affect her growth pattern and energy needs? Yes. Keep an eye on her as she eats, so you know how much she's having. She should get the idea quickly that she has to eat all of her food in one go. If she's still not eating all of it within a few days, well, then you'll have a problem.
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Dec 9, 2017 11:50
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Warbird, for the love of god, take care of yourself and your home. If you must have Fuckface, then treat yourself to something real special for putting up with the world's worst husky.
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Dec 24, 2017 17:20
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