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Max, the dog that NEVER barks (up until now I could count on one hand the number of times he's barked in the past month) was barking his head off last night at 2:30 AM and we had no idea why since everything we could see inside the apartment and just outside our window was fine. Turns out the house behind us was on fire. I think I'll pay more attention to his barking now.
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Aug 26, 2012 20:47
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2tomorrow posted:Yeah Bandit is an rear end in a top hat who takes things to extremes. I expect most of my dogs to be basically obedient to anyone and they are (particularly if I'm not there) but never managed to accomplish that with Bandit. He will listen to one person and one person only. Lola is pretty much like Bandit, I think. I'm the person who walks and trains and plays with her; she will listen to or try to be with me over anything else. She's even blown off high value rewards to come screaming down the stairs because she thought I was sneaking away  If I'm not here she'll pretty much obey my mum without much of a problem. It's weird because my mum is very much low-intensity with her; she just wants to cuddle and play with her. I guess Lola values my love high intensity stuff more than cuddles, like a True Terrier.
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Aug 26, 2012 20:55
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A few months ago some of you might remember a thread I posted here about my friends cat. The skittish former stray who hides from strangers. Well I stumbled on a trick to get him out of hiding without flushing him out. When I've been going over there I reach my hand down and pet the side of the couch, and usually in a minute or two he decides he wants some of that petting and comes out to soak up the attention. My friend recently went on vacation and I volunteered to come over and feed the cat. So for 4 days I came over, gave him fresh food, fresh water and played with him for 20-30 minutes. On the third day he came out on his own and just wouldn't leave me alone.  I went over there today, wasn't planning on playing with him, but he came out on his own with no prompting from me, and soaked up some more attention. Apparently since my friend came back, he's been super clingy and doesn't want to leave her side.
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Aug 26, 2012 20:56
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NatashaQuick posted:My cat hasn't touched the turbo scratcher in months and has just rediscovered it and it is a NEW TOY. This was Chaplin recently. I have one of those fancy cat-it ball tracks. It's been sitting there, untouched, by the cat tree for a long time now. Few days ago I moved it a few inches to the left. Chaplin's been playing with it a couple times a day now. :| WolfensteinBag, I went ribbon hunting. I decided I'd just post them in here in case anyone else sees something they like. Here's what I found: Some pretty standard ones. Owls, skulls, trees, and more! That black one on the bottom is 1.5" wide, fyi. Some really thin ribbons and ~*glittery ones*~ too. Someone's requested I make them a cat collar which is why I included the thin ones. And of course, some Peanuts ribbons. And some thicker ones. Some of them don't seem that Halloweeny, but they were in with the Halloween ribbons, plus they have the bonus ability of wearing them year-round. I haven't tried making collars out of fabric yet, but I want to make a big 2" one out of this fabric so bad.
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Aug 26, 2012 21:26
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Aquatic Giraffe posted:Max, the dog that NEVER barks (up until now I could count on one hand the number of times he's barked in the past month) was barking his head off last night at 2:30 AM and we had no idea why since everything we could see inside the apartment and just outside our window was fine. Weird how that works! Our dog never barks either unless I'm either having a panic attack (at which point he'll bark at people he thinks caused it I guess? Maybe I'm anthropomorphizing him) or when he sees a cat off the screened-in balcony. Turns out one time when he was barking at 4 am for "no reason", our ex-roommate had come by and was trying to force the new lock. 
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Aug 26, 2012 22:34
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Somebody fucked around with this message at 02:08 on Aug 27, 2012 |
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Aug 26, 2012 22:53
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Think of the tables, man.
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Aug 26, 2012 23:33
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Went to the zoo today, got some nice pictures. Once I'm back from holiday I will try to upload some of the better ones. I tend to be of the way of thinking that it's better to just take a million pictures and then some of them should be good.
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Aug 26, 2012 23:39
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Through A Dog's Ear is giving away a ridiculous amount of song samples today from all of their CDs including their noise phobia series. They're really relaxing even if your dog isn't crazy like mine and it's not like you're missing lyrics because its just a sample. Edit: Seriously, I put it on and both of my crazy anxious dogs passed out and now I'm falling asleep. Check out all these sleep dogs at an animal shelter listening
Instant Jellyfish fucked around with this message at 01:37 on Aug 27, 2012 |
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Aug 27, 2012 01:07
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Radio! posted:My kitty is okay
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Aug 27, 2012 01:36
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For the past couple weeks we've been enjoying a family of birds that moved into a nest outside on a small speaker attached to the house. It was nice to see the mom and dad flying to the nest and hear them peeping like mad. My dad had the bright idea to stick his face in the nest because he wanted to see them. He scared the poo poo out of the mom, who flew out, and a baby bird fell out of the nest to hit the concrete. My dad hastily replaced it, but here's the result.    This was yesterday. It looked like the parents had fled the nest, along with the two other babies...I wonder if they picked them up and flew them away? Either way, I'm pissed. RIP little guy. 
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Aug 27, 2012 01:41
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Aquatic Giraffe posted:Turns out the house behind us was on fire. I think I'll pay more attention to his barking now. I've had a cat act extremely out of character - and shortly after I spotted the horizon a shade of orange it really shouldn't have been. A call to the fire department later the cat was considered a local hero for a few days. Then again, cats and dogs having a better sense of smell than humans isn't exactly a surprise.
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Aug 27, 2012 02:05
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2tomorrow posted:I had a bit of a lightbulb moment this weekend when I was working with a police dog trainer who gave a clinic to my SAR team. I learned a ton about drive and about raising and handling a working dog. He suggested that I stop making George socialize with new people and dogs, because George it stresses him out (based on his submissive behaviors and body language as he interacted with people other than me). Instead he should be in his crate at team trainings or leashed up and obedient to me. I of course have been doing the opposite and encouraging George to socialize with everyone, because he is nervous about new people and I thought it was helping. I'm not sure that I would agree that most dogs cannot be socialized after their proper puppy stage (though I'm not an expert), but I definitely agree that not all dogs should be forced to endure certain types of interactions until they reach some sort of golden standard of being socialized (i.e. are happy to frolic with everyone!). For some dogs, certain interactions will always be stressful and a dog can live a full, happy life without having strangers run up and hug them or frolicking in a dog park with tons of other dogs. My trainer once described Psyche situation like this: left to her own devices, she makes lovely decisions and reacts disproportionately to everyday things. So a big part of my job is to teach her to let ME make the decisions and in return, I have to keep her safe by always being there for her when things are happening that she can't handle on her own. So yeah, I'll be managing her forever and I have accepted that there are just some things that she will never be comfortable with and that we can live without those things.
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Aug 27, 2012 02:15
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Maximusi posted:For the past couple weeks we've been enjoying a family of birds that moved into a nest outside on a small speaker attached to the house. It was nice to see the mom and dad flying to the nest and hear them peeping like mad. Something was likely wrong with that chick to begin with. If the other chicks left the nest then they must have been much further along because those pictures don't look like it is anywhere close to being ready to fledge/fly. If they all were about the same as the remaining it is more likely a predator (a snake, maybe) got into the nest but did not eat that one for whatever reason. Yeah it sucks but it happens pretty darn often in nature. Keep an eye out. If they fledged in a week you will likely see the two parents flying from tree to tree in a desperate attempt to get away from the two immature birds which will keep following and squawking at them. In new cat news... I think he may be part scarf. He keeps jumping up onto my shoulders whenever I lead down and draping around my neck purring extremely loudly.
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Aug 27, 2012 04:00
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The other chicks were in the same state. I was thinking the parents must have moved the birds. I don't know about a snake.
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Aug 27, 2012 04:25
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The parents can't move them until they fledge. It certainly sounds like a predator got them. It is hard to tell but that looks a bit like a house finch and this website has a good image of what one looks like right when they fledge (search for "Picture taken a few minutes later about 20 feet from the finch nest"), but also shows a good example of how a nest can be fairly quickly attacked by a predator (a blue jay).
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Aug 27, 2012 06:10
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I'm visiting back home for the first time in about a year and a half. Shawney was excited!!!  And then she wasn't.  And kitty got a bit pudgy. 
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Aug 27, 2012 07:09
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I went hiking in Yosemite for two days. I came back tonight and Sully was so excited that I was home that he got the zoomies. He zoomied so hard that he ran into a door.
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Aug 27, 2012 08:08
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Hey so while walking home tonight I saw what looked like a hooded fancy rat running around outside. I make a tsk tsk noise at him and he seemed to react with familiarity, but as soon as he saw me he shied away and ran behind a gate. Uhhhh, what were the odds of him being a wild rat that happened to be familiar with humans vs someones pet that managed to slip outside? Is there really anything I can do if it's more likely to be the latter, I don't like the thought of a helpless pet rat slowly starving or getting eaten by a feral cat or something
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Aug 27, 2012 09:05
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Our dog Orbit has been terrified of the stairs since we moved to our house last November. The house was built in 1750 and the stairs are original- winding and very steep and slippery- definitely not corgi friendly! Yesterday he decided he had to come up the previously Way Too Scary Stairs for the very first time and be with us.  
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Aug 27, 2012 13:45
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Plus_Infinity posted:Our dog Orbit has been terrified of the stairs since we moved to our house last November. The house was built in 1750 and the stairs are original- winding and very steep and slippery- definitely not corgi friendly! Yesterday he decided he had to come up the previously Way Too Scary Stairs for the very first time and be with us. That face! He's all "that was the scariest thing I ever did OMG I'm freaked out!!!!"
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Aug 27, 2012 14:01
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Amberlyn posted:That face! yeah I know! We had to help him up that last stair because he just froze at the top and lost all his bravery.
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Aug 27, 2012 14:02
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Did... did he manage to make it downstairs?  My cousin's maltese gives no fucks about stairs, she will just run up and down to wake up late sleepers every morning.
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Aug 27, 2012 14:18
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He refuses to even attempt to go down the stairs, so we have to carry his 38lb butt down there ourselves. I guess it's better than having to carry him both up and down though....
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Aug 27, 2012 14:27
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Plus_Infinity posted:He refuses to even attempt to go down the stairs, so we have to carry his 38lb butt down there ourselves. I guess it's better than having to carry him both up and down though.... I don't blame him at all. Every time I come across those kinds of narrow, slippery stairs at someone's house, I wish someone would carry ME up and down them. They're the worst when you're wearing socks with no traction...
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Aug 27, 2012 14:34
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Kiri koli posted:I don't blame him at all. Every time I come across those kinds of narrow, slippery stairs at someone's house, I wish someone would carry ME up and down them. They're the worst when you're wearing socks with no traction... I have fallen down those stairs like 4 or 5 times. I grab the handrail every time I go down. I have to hoist Orbit onto my shoulder like a fireman's carry and then go down the stairs very carefully while grabbing the handrail. Our house is amazing but I do wish the stairs were better.
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Aug 27, 2012 14:37
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If anyone buys stuff from equinecaninefeline.com, they've got a discount code at the moment (ABR733) for 10% off. Not sure how long it lasts for. They are (as far as I know) UK based, and have a bunch of different pet stuff that you can get for pretty good prices even without the discount.
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Aug 27, 2012 15:00
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Dabbo posted:Hey so while walking home tonight I saw what looked like a hooded fancy rat running around outside. I make a tsk tsk noise at him and he seemed to react with familiarity, but as soon as he saw me he shied away and ran behind a gate. It's definitely a pet rat; wild rats don't come in hooded and are all solid brown or black. If you can, spend some time in the area with some sunflower seeds/dog treats/etc and see if you can coax it out. People do just let their rats out loose all the time. It's sad as hell, because apparently they usually try to run right up to people. I hope you can grab him.
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Aug 27, 2012 15:50
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Good boy Orbit! Sigma is scared of wooden bridges, especially when there is space between the slats. He makes that exact face I love when dogs are scared, they are so cute. But then I have to act like the whole thing is no big deal, I don't get to coddle them and tell them how cute they are. Edit: Here's a picture of Siggy crossing a bridge. This is the 3rd time across so he was no longer crouched down, but his feet are all snowshoed out. Silly doggy. 
adventure in the sandbox fucked around with this message at 16:09 on Aug 27, 2012 |
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Aug 27, 2012 16:01
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adventure in the sandbox posted:Good boy Orbit! Sigma is scared of wooden bridges, especially when there is space between the slats. He makes that exact face We throw a big party for him if he does something scary and give him lots of encouragement to keep making the choice to carry on. He is generally pretty scared of things so it's always A Really Big Deal when he pushes himself a little bit.
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Aug 27, 2012 16:09
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Plus_Infinity posted:We throw a big party for him if he does something scary and give him lots of encouragement to keep making the choice to carry on. He is generally pretty scared of things so it's always A Really Big Deal when he pushes himself a little bit. Oh yes, I do this too! When Sig crossed the bridge as seen above, we threw a big happy party because he was so brave and awesome. I just don't get to be all sympathetic to him, its more "Lets go." *dog goes across all scared* "Good boy Siggy!!! You did it!!!"
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Aug 27, 2012 16:11
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Captain Foxy posted:It's definitely a pet rat; wild rats don't come in hooded and are all solid brown or black. If you can, spend some time in the area with some sunflower seeds/dog treats/etc and see if you can coax it out. Speaking of, I saw a loose dumbo rat the other day but I couldn't catch it. Setting a live trap today. I guess some people don't understand that domesticated rats =/= wild rats? It's like when people set their dogs "free" and they end up in absolutely awful condition. edit: Actually thanks to Science, here's a thing about how rats revert easily to being "wild" again: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7746085357822333003&hl=en So at least I know not to worry too much. Hardwood Floor fucked around with this message at 17:30 on Aug 27, 2012 |
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Aug 27, 2012 16:31
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Well, it's also like those two piggies I found in the bushes! I don't understand the people who just *~*sets them free~*~! I mean, I guess I see the logic behind it, but still. Found an awesome home for the piggies (where the girls wanted to name them Ariel and Rapunzel and the mom convinced them to name the boys Prince Eric and Prince Eugene, heehee.) Hope you can get those loose rodents, guys.
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Aug 27, 2012 17:31
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I think Purrcy likes me... I need a cat tree for the office right now though because he keeps jumping up on the desk to see what I'm doing. Giving him a high perch to watch from should cut down on that a bit. Sadie has been much friendlier lately too. I think just the smell of another kitty is making her feel more at home, even if they are not allowed to meet without a screen in between them.
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Aug 27, 2012 17:51
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Shifty Pony posted:I think Purrcy likes me... Purrcy is adorable. A perch will help but not that much, you'll always be more fun. How did I read through the whole Dad Pony thread and not realize that you are a dude?
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Aug 27, 2012 19:45
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Shifty Pony posted:The parents can't move them until they fledge. It certainly sounds like a predator got them. It is hard to tell but that looks a bit like a house finch and this website has a good image of what one looks like right when they fledge (search for "Picture taken a few minutes later about 20 feet from the finch nest"), but also shows a good example of how a nest can be fairly quickly attacked by a predator (a blue jay). Wow, that's crazy. I didn't know jays ate other birds. Those definitely look like the birds I saw. It was even put in a similar spot.
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Aug 27, 2012 20:11
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I usually lurk, but it's been a hell of a week and I need some advice. Eight days ago, my sister's dog Skylar was diagnosed with lung cancer. She's 11 years old and has been prone to cancer since she was about 8, so this isn't too much of a surprise. Still, she's my sister's first dog and Skylar and my dog are very closely bonded. Because of my sister's current living situation (college) and Skylar's bond with us and my dog, my partner and I are keeping Skylar with us for the duration of her life. We've all decided to manage her symptoms for as long as she is happy and enjoying herself. Here's where I need advice: what would you do to spoil a dog when long-term health is no longer a concern? Right now, Skylar is getting at least one new food to try a day because she's kind of a glutton. She gets walks in new places with my dog whenever the weather allows it. I'm trying to think of ways to allow her to meet more new people (with their permission), because she loves saying hi. Additionally, how can we make this easier on my dog, Beck? Although she doesn't have the same problems with anxiety that Skylar does, they have been together for Beck's entire life, and she seems to think of keeping an eye on Skylar as part of her "job". Here are some photos to keep this from being too much of a downer. As you can see, Skylar is still very happy, and we've been taking pictures almost every day when she gets a special trip or treat.  About to get a slice of bacon and pepperoni pizza from my sister.  She isn't usually this grey in the face- she'd been burying a bone earlier, which for Skylar involves using her entire face to try and push dirt over it.  Her dignified Roman nose. Skylar is the dumbest dog in the whole world but suddenly we're having to plan for life without her while she's still here.
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Aug 27, 2012 21:50
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When my parents aren't home, I am bad.   I do bad things that they ask me not to do like "teaching dogs to tolerate each other so no one gets killed when poo poo hits the fan rather than perpetually rotating and praying no one ever fucks THAT up."   ^^^This is growling. This is amazing because Moses has never attempted to communicate a thought to another dog other than Frankie ever: he is either completely ignoring them and focused on me, or he is silently death staring them while praying for them to deliver themselves into his mouth. The puppy nibbled his feet, he growled. The puppy stopped. Then he started again. Moses growled again, a little louder. Puppy got the idea that time, and left him alone. That is just the biggest thing ever. Normally, unless I have him in a sit/stay/LEAVEIT/LOOKATME, he would immediately take that as an excuse to attack the other dog. The fact that he actually gave the puppy a warning rather than exploiting it as a loophole is just the biggest breakthrough thing. I've never formally introduced him to another dog before, (as an adult, I mean) so I've never known really what he's capable of as far as learning to tolerate individual dogs. The fact that I got a growl out of him blows my mind. I've been doing this for about a week. When we started, he could not see the puppy in the yard without death staring through the window forever. He wanted to soundlessly, unceremoniously grab the puppy and shake him, and it was all exacerbated by the fact that my mom had given him such a bad experience with her horrible ideas of how introductions should work. constant rotation with no attempt to address the fact that there was a strange new dog there was making Moses crazy and he was beginning to ignore "leave it's" and even try to break through barriers when he heard the puppy, which he has never done before. He's really smart and wants to be involved in poo poo and couldn't handle the fact that we were just expecting him to pretend there wasn't suddenly another dog in ~HIS HOUSE~ and it was making him completely melt down. By yesterday evening, we could do this:         I keep sessions short, and completely ignore the puppy except to verbally correct him for antagonizing Moses (which Moses likes, because "lol that guy got yelled at but I'm still cool " He really does keep score like that.) Because Moses had begun to resource guard me, intercepting the postures and expressions he would start to exhibit when he was about to visit crazyland by distracting him helped a ton. He gets tons of treats, puppy gets nothing. My ultimate goal is to teach him to come get me if the puppy hassles him so that I can deal with it, but we're a long way off from that. I'm just so amazed he was able to chill out that much with just a few days of work, and so relieved because I've been panicking about how he was getting with the whole "lol ignore the problem, total separation!!" deal my mom is enforcing. Those pictures are the first time he has ever sat relaxed near a dog that wasn't Frankie. He's not in a sit/stay/anything- he's got total freedom to do what he wants and I haven't given him a single command in those. Hopefully, with enough work, I can get him to the point where he will more than likely not eat the puppy if they ever cross paths accidentally. If my mom found out she'd poo poo a brick, but she'll thank me when her dog doesn't get eaten after she ~forgets~ to make sure the relevant dog is put up before the other goes in or out for the 10 billionth time.  edit: spellin Supercondescending fucked around with this message at 23:16 on Aug 27, 2012 |
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Aug 27, 2012 22:32
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Good job stepping up and working on your dog problems super. Too many times at crazydog classes I've heard people who had let things go on and on for years until something terrible happens or they hit a deadline and suddenly have to fix things real quick. Hopefully all your dogs will be able to coexist until you're able to move away from your crazy family. Seriously, if I hear one more person telling the trainer that they've let their dog chase and snap at kids for 3 years but now they want a baby so the dog needs to be fixed right now I'm going to lose it.
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Aug 28, 2012 00:41
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Wheats posted:Additionally, how can we make this easier on my dog, Beck? Although she doesn't have the same problems with anxiety that Skylar does, they have been together for Beck's entire life, and she seems to think of keeping an eye on Skylar as part of her "job". Would it be possible for Beck to see/smell/touch Skylar's body after she passes? I dunno if there's any scientific evidence that this helps, but... damnit if that last chapter of "The Other End of the Leash" didn't get to me. 
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Aug 28, 2012 02:27
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