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Husker was straining to poop late yesterday, and he kept licking his butt and whining. I was all out of pumpkin and it was too late to go to the store, so I gave him a little bit of Metamucil mixed in with some of his wet food. It wasn't very much, but he has been out to take a poo poo like six times today. At least he doesn't seem to be uncomfortable anymore, as he craps his guts out...
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Jul 22, 2012 23:35
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I may or may not be moving and transferring jobs so that I don't have to get rid of my cat. I mean, to be fair, we were heavily considering it anyway, but were planning to wait a few months to save up a bit more money. But then it came down to "Well if you stay Mouser has to go." and thus the decision was made. Now my family is all "Who cares about the cat, what is wrong with you". I feel a bit irrational but I'm not getting rid of my kitty, dammit!
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Jul 23, 2012 02:14
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If I had to make a huge life change or get rid of Ooka, I know exactly what would happen. Stay strong!
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Jul 23, 2012 02:32
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spixxor posted:I may or may not be moving and transferring jobs so that I don't have to get rid of my cat. I moved in with my parents last year while my divorce processed and to look for a job. I found a decent full time job in less than a month and can afford my own place. Instead of moving out, I am paying my parents rent (more than what my old apartment cost, even with utilities factored in) and living in my old room from high school until my partner's k-1 visa goes through and she gets here late this year....all so my dogs do not have to be crated for 8 hours a day while I work. Seriously, I live with my parents almost exclusively so that my dogs won't be alone all day and crammed in boxes. TO BE FAIR, my stepdad had a ton of medical bills last year due to an injury that insurance only partially covered, so part of the reason I'm staying is because the buttload of money I pay in rent every month helps with those bills....but really, living with my parents sucks and if I didn't have the dogs, I'd have been out of here months ago. As it is, they get to play and have attention and do dog stuff all day. If I moved out, they'd sit in a box from 8-5, five days a week. All my friends think I'm insane but they're just so much happier than they would be if they had to be crated and ignored all day and it's just until my partner gets here hnnnnnnghgghghghg Multiple friends have offered the following advice: "Wait, so you don't want to keep 2 dogs in an apartment while you work full time without someone there with them a bunch. Why don't you just get rid of them and get new dogs when your fiance gets here duh!??!?"
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Jul 23, 2012 02:47
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Is she not going to have a job (eventually or whatever) and be..gone too? e: I need a dog in my life again, but I also worry on how people manage dogs with full time jobs and living on their own. Living with family = they get to take it out multiple times per day. Dogwalkers are.......expensive. In my opinion anyway, since normal rates are more than I make per hour. Living with the family would be the BEST time to get a puppy because I'll never be able to do that once I'm on my own, right PI. Right!? /puppy blues. Malalol fucked around with this message at 03:07 on Jul 23, 2012 |
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Jul 23, 2012 03:04
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Oh man, poor Ooka. With a new baby and my wife starting residency, we've all gotten so lazy. He went on a 2 mile walk/run today and he is feeeeeelin' it. He refused to go out on the deck tonight because he knew he'd have to go down the stairs to pee. So I tried to coax him down to the ground-level door inside, but he wouldn't go down THOSE stairs either. He just laid there at the top of the stairs, giving me those eyes. I caved and literally carried his busted rear end down to the ground level where he hobbled outside, peed on a couple things, and then wandered back in. Something about watching a dog try to limp on all four legs...I let him up on the couch, I felt so bad. It seems pretty clear he's not actually damaged, though, just real stiff. I think maybe some doggy yoga would do him some good. 
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Jul 23, 2012 03:18
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Malalol posted:Is she not going to have a job (eventually or whatever) and be..gone too? She works from home, her poo poo is all online so she can work anywhere. I mean, if she didn't we'd hire a dog walker like most people do and we'd deal, but if I can avoid full days of crating I'm def gonna
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Jul 23, 2012 03:51
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Superconsndar posted:She works from home, her poo poo is all online so she can work anywhere. Agreed. Crating isn't a BAD thing, but having the chance to make it so the dog gets to be out of the crate and move around and Sniff A Thing or w/e is superior, in my mind. Also woke up today to see bruises on my legs from where that Pit lovingly slammed himself against them in his version of 'playing.' Not sure I'd want a dog that can use it's body like a furry wrecking ball AS well as bite and shake it's head.
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Jul 23, 2012 04:10
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so, like you see all the red on this rear end in a top hat's neck:   He had a stick up his butt today for some reason and wouldn't stop body slamming, slapping, and trying to hump Frankie. Frankie had enough and gummed the poo poo out of him. He got underneath him and just latched on and there was nothing Moses could do because he couldn't reach any part of him. He'd had it coming all day and it was beautiful. He got completely and utterly owned by a boston terrier.  A Friend Indeed  Frankie then proceeded to lift his leg on the entire yard for the rest of the day while huffing and puffing and sneezing at everything because he was a man now, and very important. Moses sulked and chewed his tire while occasionally yelling at nothing because I had my eye on him and he wasn't allowed to retaliate. 
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Jul 23, 2012 04:55
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I won't be happy until one of you has reached this level of crazy dog lady, please and thanks
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Jul 23, 2012 05:31
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Skizzles posted:I won't be happy until one of you has reached this level of crazy dog lady, please and thanks My two guesses are: A Life Less or Super. They're dangerously close already! Also good for Frankie. Showed that hippo-mouth who's boss. 
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Jul 23, 2012 05:39
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Malalol posted:Is she not going to have a job (eventually or whatever) and be..gone too? Puppies are overrated, just saying. I work full time, am self-sufficient and have 5 dogs. One of them, George, is young and in training to save lives, which needless to say is extremely time-consuming. George is also the most devoted dog I've ever met. This is despite that when I first found him I gave him away to another owner. My first dog as an adult was Dan, a super high-energy ACD/Border Collie cross. At the time I was working a poo poo job in a restaurant that required at least 50 hours a week to make ends meet. Dan did just fine because I spent my free time giving him things to do. Dogs are what they are, and if you're not meeting their needs you'll have problems, but if you are then nothing else really matters. At least that's what I've learned living in pretty extreme situations (from totally urban to 45 min to the nearest major town). edit: Though now watching that Crufts video I'm beginning to suspect that I am that weird dog lady.  Is it bad that my first reaction was to think how much better George would be at an Austin Powers routine?
2tomorrow fucked around with this message at 05:45 on Jul 23, 2012 |
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Jul 23, 2012 05:39
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2tomorrow posted:edit: Though now watching that Crufts video I'm beginning to suspect that I am that weird dog lady. There is not a thing wrong with it and you should prove it.  I would also be happy if Gar and Trophy did a routine. Preferably to the song Single Ladies, since Trophy is already familiar with that one.
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Jul 23, 2012 05:58
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Random weird question, is it possible to develop an animal-related allergy later in life? I'm 20 and I've been around cats a ton when I was younger, but now I can't be around them without sniffling and sneezing and irritated eyes. Wonder if that's a pregnancy related thing?  I hope it goes away though, there were some adorable kittens I couldn't hold at Petco yesterday (some sort of adoption event).I don't seem to have this issue with any other animal, just cats.  e: I'll probably post this somewhere else if no one really knows. It's probably more medical than pet related.
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Jul 23, 2012 08:41
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Skizzles posted:I won't be happy until one of you has reached this level of crazy dog lady, please and thanks I think this is what the inside of my head looks like pretty much.
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Jul 23, 2012 12:09
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Bear Rape posted:Random weird question, is it possible to develop an animal-related allergy later in life? You can develop allergies at any age. A friend of mine suddenly became allergic to almonds not to long ago and she's in her mid/late 20s.
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Jul 23, 2012 12:11
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Greycious posted:You can develop allergies at any age. A friend of mine suddenly became allergic to almonds not to long ago and she's in her mid/late 20s. I have had rats since I was about 6 and suddenly became allergic to them when I was like 18 or 19, so yeah. Cats in general, and dogs with a lot of undercoat who shed a lot, started making me itchy and my eyes watery at that age, too, when they'd never bothered me before.
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Jul 23, 2012 12:16
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2176437/Man-jailed-lion-hunter-dog-Tyson-brutally-savaged-face-schoolboy-6-leaving-scarred-life.html Aaand the picture of a ~rhodesian ridgeback~ they chose to accompany the article?  
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Jul 23, 2012 13:10
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notsoape posted:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2176437/Man-jailed-lion-hunter-dog-Tyson-brutally-savaged-face-schoolboy-6-leaving-scarred-life.html "- bred to hunt lions -"? How the gently caress is that even relevant? How the gently caress is the notes on the breed even relevant at all how is that picture relevant what is going on. Also thanks for the responses about allergies, guys. It only seems to be cats I'm allergic too. My lab mix sheds a ton and I've never had a problem with that, and my rats/guinea pigs/rabbit don't set it off either. Nope, just cats. Speaking of which I saw this cat on craigslist just now.  Whoever gets it better name it Half-Tail. 
Hardwood Floor fucked around with this message at 15:48 on Jul 23, 2012 |
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Jul 23, 2012 14:09
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Yesterday someone brought their little female beagle in to "play" with Bailey at the dog park. Her body language wasn't fantastic, but her owner seemed really intent on it. We let the dogs off leash, and Bailey was actually being pretty polite while sniffing and investigating her. (A lot of times he gets over excited  and tries to hump the other dog.)He stopped, sniffed near her face, she growled and then immediately went for him (I was getting ready to step in when she growled). Bailey pinned her, but didn't bite or anything. She definitely got a few mouthfuls of fur from him. I apologized to the other dog's owner, but I don't really think things would have gone any differently if they had been introduced differently. The dog seemed to not be a huge fan of other dogs and I kinda wonder what it thought would happen when it picked a fight with a dog twice its size. Oh well. No one got hurt.
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Jul 23, 2012 17:31
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Re: the earlier conversation about CGC certification Cohen has her CGN certification (the Canadian CGC equivalent), and the test was a bit of a joke. I kept hearing stories of super strict, fail-if-you-make-one-wrong-move tests, and then when I got there it was just a joke. We did it at a local public dog building, so the evaluator was letting people who walked in off the street who had no idea what CGN was participate if they tossed in their $5. Most of the off the street dogs did not pass. Cohen did fine, even though she was a bit more out of control than usual (she was 8 months old at the time, and had puppybrain). I feel like the greeting a strange dog portion should be done by a very benign, passive dog - not one who ever strains to go up to say hi to passing dogs. It would be completely inappropriate to have to sit there and let a strange dog invade your dog's personal space while you simply had to sit back and watch. If I remember correctly, when I did it that portion of the test was rolled into walking through a public area with the other dogs who were taking the test - it was nothing formal. Basically, there's way way way too much leeway afforded CGC/CGN evaluators these days. Maybe they'll make them more strict now that the AKC will be recognizing the certification as an actual title now. I would hope and expect for the greeting strange dogs portion to be respectful and well controlled, but... there are no guarantees.
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Jul 23, 2012 18:17
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I found George's hidden squeaky toy. Fortunately he didn't pull a Snatch and had simply buried it carefully in the vegetable garden. I didn't notice because he didn't make much of a disturbance, but he also didn't bury it very deeply so when I was weeding this morning I stepped on it and it squeaked. I am very relieved that I was not just maddened by guilt over taking his toys away and hearing The Tell-Tale Squeak. I still feel very guilty over taking them away though, even though I'm doing it for a reason and also I work with him multiple times a day so he gets a lot of toy time. He just loves his squeakers so much. 
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Jul 23, 2012 19:15
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Our CGC class and exam was pretty true to the official description, and relatively few dogs passed. The dog-dog (non) interaction reminded me a bit of stylized dance in how we practiced it. Walk towards each other with dogs in a loose heel on the outside, so that their parallel paths are 3-4' apart. Ask the dog to sit by your side as you get close to the other handler, 10 second handshake and inane greeting, then continue on. If your dog is good at not breaking the plane of your body (not diving behind or in front of you) they should be fine. Most dogs were fine for that piece of the test; they usually failed when asked to interact with the evaluator or general loose leash walking.
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Jul 23, 2012 19:38
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2tomorrow posted:I found George's hidden squeaky toy. Fortunately he didn't pull a Snatch and had simply buried it carefully in the vegetable garden. I didn't notice because he didn't make much of a disturbance, but he also didn't bury it very deeply so when I was weeding this morning I stepped on it and it squeaked. I am very relieved that I was not just maddened by guilt over taking his toys away and hearing The Tell-Tale Squeak. Ivan also loves his squeaky toys. This is his theme song. We limit his time with them simply because it's maddening when you're trying to watch your programs and your dog is laying next to you, idly poking his Squeaker Snake with his nose, presumably just to make sure it still squeaks. I never thought about using them as a reward, we might try that. My husband is A TYRANT about food treats.
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Jul 23, 2012 19:48
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2tomorrow posted:I found George's hidden squeaky toy. Fortunately he didn't pull a Snatch and had simply buried it carefully in the vegetable garden. I didn't notice because he didn't make much of a disturbance, but he also didn't bury it very deeply so when I was weeding this morning I stepped on it and it squeaked. I am very relieved that I was not just maddened by guilt over taking his toys away and hearing The Tell-Tale Squeak. haha, I called it! That sneaky dog. Don't feel too bad. It's not like you're taking the squeaky toys away for no reason. Plus, him not having access to them 24/7 makes the toys EXTRA special! Superconsndar posted:I think this is what the inside of my head looks like pretty much. You need to teach Frankie to do little dance routines with you. Then film it and post it here.
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Jul 23, 2012 19:53
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Haha, George perked up immediately when I clicked on that link and the first squeaks sounded, then when he realized I didn't have a toy in my hand he laid down with the biggest groan. I know what you mean about the annoyance factor. George will sit there with a mouth-sized one and just squeak it endlessly. I mean like 20-30 minutes at a time, constant squeaking. And that's on top of him actually playing with them. My girlfriend's roommate once couldn't remember what our search and rescue training was called as she was drunkenly trying to ask me something about it and so called it "catch and kill," so it's become quite the joke. George has to go to his catch and kill training, and his endless squeaking was just conditioning his jaws to be like steel traps. I'd never used toys as a reward either, mostly because none of my heelers are that toy motivated for some reason, plus I mostly am used to general obedience classes that use food rewards or herding work that (the way I was taught anyway) relies a lot on older dogs teaching younger ones the ropes. We just used verbal praise and food to teach basic commands to direct the dogs, but the herding work is pretty much its own reward. I'm still not sure how well toy rewards work with basic obedience, but I've never seen anyone do it before either. When I work on that with George I usually use food rewards because they're motivating enough for that. Toy rewards are preferable for SAR though for a few reasons: they're cheaper (SAR is a pretty expensive hobby already because of all the gear/time off you need so every bit helps), you don't have to worry about the dog not being hungry (the way one trainer I've worked with put it, if your dog is food driven to the point of it being an eating disorder because they never get full it is fine, but if they ever ignore food you're better off with toys), and it excites the dog rather than quieting them down. SAR is basically hunting, except for people instead of animals, and on a mission you might be out there for hours. You want your dog really excited and motivated until the end. Since dogs' play drive is basically just a recreational version of the hunting/prey drive, it can be useful for reinforcement. Plus, if you're finishing up your training session and the dog is really wound up (in a good way) and having fun, he'll be left wanting more. There are some people on my SAR team who use food though and it works, it just depends on the dog. And while I do feel guilty for taking George's toys away, I have to say he really does seem happier with them as a reward. I think it's more that I'm just working with him so much now, but while he loves his toys he's a lot more chill when we're just hanging out. There's no nervousness or chewing like I was afraid of when I took my trainer's advice to only use them as rewards. edit: Bash Ironfist, you posted while I was typing. You did call it! I just wouldn't have guessed he would be so careful burying it because subtlety is not his specialty. And you try not feeling guilty when you watch him systematically search the backyard for 10 minutes after every training session there, just in case a toy was left behind. Actually, I think that if he could speak English he might be a good incident commander in search missions. He is very good at narrowing down the most likely locations of his toys and then using a grid pattern to search the rest of the yard if an investigation of those likely spots doesn't turn anything up. 2tomorrow fucked around with this message at 20:37 on Jul 23, 2012 |
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Jul 23, 2012 20:11
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Bear Rape posted:Speaking of which I saw this cat on craigslist just now. My half-tailed cat is named Ford. Deal with it.
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Jul 23, 2012 20:14
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I knew a dog who was mad for squeaky toys. There was this great thing you could do with him when he had one. You'd get another squeaky toy and squeak it, he'd think it was his squeaking, and drop the one he was holding. He was a silly. George sounds great. Wonder if he's got another one hidden somewhere?
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Jul 23, 2012 20:15
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McDragon posted:I knew a dog who was mad for squeaky toys. There was this great thing you could do with him when he had one. You'd get another squeaky toy and squeak it, he'd think it was his squeaking, and drop the one he was holding. He was a silly. Thanks, and probably. He is one clever dog. This morning I was also looking under my bed for something I was pretty sure I'd kicked under there, and I found one of his squeaky balls that had rolled there. George can't physically fit under my bed (only my arm can, it's quite low) so he couldn't retrieve it, but as soon as he saw me reaching under there he got excited. OK, that might just be because I'm laying on the ground fishing around. But then as soon as I had hold of the ball and squeezed it, he went nuts. The only thing is that the squeaky port was gone (they're the like $4/4-pack spiky balls from Petsmart, super cheap and the squeak comes from a little port shoved into a hole in them and it comes out super easily, especially if the seam between the two halves of the ball comes apart at all) so all that came out was this vague whistling noise. Even just from that he literally jumped on top of me and started whining. He knew one of his toys was down there.The game you describe with the two toys is actually part of our training, believe it or not (seriously, SAR training is so much fun). George has a tendency (which apparently is common in GSDs) to get really possessive over his toys and run off to hide them once he gets them. We don't want that, so we're working on keeping him engaged with people (as his handler I don't reward him much right now, though I will when we begin teaching him an alert, but right now the "victim" rewards him). We use those Petsmart squeaky balls because they're his favorite and also interchangeable, and so when he gets a ball I immediately start squeaking, tossing in the air and catching, etc. another one. He drops the first one by me and gets a click then I toss the second ball for him, pick up the first and do the same thing over again. It's a surprisingly effective way to teach fetch. 
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Jul 23, 2012 20:33
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Oh man, goat ladies may be even worse than dog ladies. I'm on the colored angora goat group on facebook and some of the discussions on there are insane. A bunch of people have been discussing getting new goats from a big angora goat auction in Texas and a vet (who happens to be the vet that sees my dog) asked everyone what their biosecurity protocols were like and if they were testing all the goats they were buying for CL, a highly contagious disease that causes terrible abscesses, because it's known to be fairly prevalent in Texas herds. Everyone lost it. They said since she had only been involved with goats for 5 years she shouldn't be "pointing fingers", they said since she is a vet she should be providing free CL tests to everyone because no one can afford them otherwise (they cost ~$20), that since she is a small animal vet she doesn't know anything about goats, and some were only a breath away from shouting "DONT MESS WITH TEXAS" and shooting guns in the air. One lady even brought up a terrible barn fire that killed the vets whole goat herd this spring, saying that her not being able to save her animals despite having taken all the necessary fire precautions was the same as them not bothering to test animals they sell for contagious disease somehow? The only good thing about this conversation was that it reminded me to tell the person I'm hoping to buy goats from this winter that I need them tested before I pick them up. I will just pay the $20, I am not sticking my head in the sand and just hoping I don't spread infectious disease to my whole flock.
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Jul 23, 2012 20:44
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So in my house, we have two litterboxes for the cat. My mother takes care of the one in the basement, I take care of the one in the upstairs bathroom. For several months, we've both assumed the cat has been choosing to defecate in the other litterbox and only urinating in our own. Last night we realized this isn't the case. Somewhere in this house there is a stash of cat poo poo and we can't find it.
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Jul 23, 2012 20:57
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Maybe the cat can get outside somehow?
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Jul 23, 2012 21:09
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The basement is this giant catch-all of my mom's leftover crap from moving house earlier this year. I'm thinking the cat found a nice little spot that I can't work my way through to find.
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Jul 23, 2012 21:16
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Official Bizness posted:So in my house, we have two litterboxes for the cat. My mother takes care of the one in the basement, I take care of the one in the upstairs bathroom. For several months, we've both assumed the cat has been choosing to defecate in the other litterbox and only urinating in our own. Last night we realized this isn't the case. And you're sure that all the clumps you take out are urine? If she has soft stools/diarrhea, the clumps can look pretty similar. Just a thought. If not, good luck finding the poop stash.
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Jul 23, 2012 21:39
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Oh, definitely urine. I use a mix of World's Best/Blue Buffalo's litter and she's fed Orijin and Weruva canned. I'm just more amazed that with two giant litterboxes cleaned daily, my cat decided the best place to poop is some dark crevice that we will NEVER FIND. 
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Jul 23, 2012 23:23
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Official Bizness posted:Oh, definitely urine. I use a mix of World's Best/Blue Buffalo's litter and she's fed Orijin and Weruva canned. I'm just more amazed that with two giant litterboxes cleaned daily, my cat decided the best place to poop is some dark crevice that we will NEVER FIND. Oh, you'll find it, eventually. I was housing several of my daughter's cat rescues in my basement for a time. (she was a Vet Tech back then) The laundry room was also in the basement and I told her I'd be happy to scoop out the litter daily, as I was down there anyway. I am not a cat person, and it didn't really register that there just wasn't that much poop on a daily basis for the 3 cats who were there. The short story is that when it was time to move from that house (it was a rental, an interim housing situation for us) I discovered a huge poop-fest under the workbench down there. I mean HUGE! We're talking several months of cat poo poo upon cat poo poo. I had to get a snow shovel to clean it up with, there was that much. You have my condolences.
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Jul 23, 2012 23:32
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Yeah, I have left soo many doglady listservs and forums because of that poo poo. I feel bad for that vet.
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Jul 23, 2012 23:34
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paisleyfox posted:Yeah, I have left soo many doglady listservs and forums because of that poo poo. I feel bad for that vet. Me too. She's a really nice person who is putting together community dog parks in the area and fund-raising for a small animal pavilion for kids at the county fair. The fire killed all of her goats, many of which were her children's 4h pets, and all of her son's 4h bantam chickens. What kind of heartless bitch brings that up in a stupid facebook argument?
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Jul 24, 2012 00:31
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Instant Jellyfish posted:What kind of heartless bitch brings that up in a stupid facebook argument? Every crazy bitch with pets ever
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Jul 24, 2012 01:07
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Instant Jellyfish posted:Me too. She's a really nice person who is putting together community dog parks in the area and fund-raising for a small animal pavilion for kids at the county fair. The fire killed all of her goats, many of which were her children's 4h pets, and all of her son's 4h bantam chickens. What kind of heartless bitch brings that up in a stupid facebook argument? I swear there must have been some memo I missed indicating the important thing in many internet arguments is not to actually have things such as logic, facts, or even a modicum of respect in play but instead to merely attack your opponents until they just say to themselves it isn't worth responding. As soon as they started saying she should give the tests for free it was all downhill from there. I turned in my kitty adoption paperwork to shadowcats today! I hope I am judged worthy of having a floofball in my life.
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Jul 24, 2012 01:18
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