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Rough Lobster posted:I've been to six or seven pet stores and they all seem to stock the same harness, a pretty basic looking and cheap adjustable nylon one. I was just curious if any of you pet wizards had a recommendation for a slightly 'better' brand one, if such a thing exists. Preferably not leather. These ones looks functional, but they're so inexpensive that I'm a little wary. It's for a 5 month old Jindo puppy, probably not 20 lbs yet, with a 20 inch chest diameter, so it's good if it's something she can grow into. Just get this one: http://www.amazon.com/PetSafe-Harness-Large-Black-Silver/dp/B0009ZBKG4 For some reason most pet stores don't have front clip harnesses which kinda defeats the point.
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Apr 4, 2015 09:45
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ImplicitAssembler posted:For some reason most pet stores don't have front clip harnesses which kinda defeats the point. They do but they hide them away with the training stuff next to the prong collars.
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Apr 4, 2015 14:45
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Easy walk is about the worst front clip on the market and fits a lot of dogs terribly. Freedom or sensation harness is a better bet if you're gonna go that route. If you don't care about no pull options, the perfect fit harness is awesome
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Apr 6, 2015 20:21
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So we're having some barking issues with Sherlock. In general, he's a quiet dog. When he's out with us, he NEVER barks without reason. He has a cute little warning "woof" that hardly qualifies as a bark when he sees something out on a walk that he's uncertain about, but even that's rare. We've even had a downstairs neighbor move in with a little yippy dog that barks all the goddam time (including at 4 in the drat morning) and he can hear it, but he doesn't respond to it. But, it seems like he's either got some separation anxiety or something because he likes to bark in his crate. But now he seems to do it as a matter of course. And it seems a pitiful sort of bark with a large range in vocal sounds coming out...from barks to howls to whines. But it definitely seems to be a, "pay attention to me" sort of bark. To be sure, we have NEVER given him any reason to bark...at least not knowingly. Since day 1, we have been extremely careful to not give him any attention whatsoever when he barks...none at all. To this day, we are militant about waiting at least 15 seconds after he stops making noise before we let him out of his crate. When he barks while we're home, we'll either continue what we're doing if we're moving about, or if we're taking a nap or sitting and watching TV we'll be very careful to not move or even make a sound for a while...just in case he gets the idea that his barking causes us to get up and move around. Or something... His weekday schedule is: 6:15: Let him out of his crate and take him outside, then he stays while we eat, 6:40: he goes to his crate for about 30 minutes while I leave and my wife takes a shower. 7:15: Wife lets him out, plays with him, feeds him, lets him out one last time 8:00: Crate before my wife heads to work. The issue is that at the 6:40 crating, he will wait until I'm long gone and my wife is in the shower and he'll bark for a minute or so. Almost without fail. Then he'll stop and act like nothing's wrong. I witnessed this last Friday since I had the day off and my wife didn't. She followed the normal morning schedule while I stayed in bed and while she was in the shower Sherlock was barking. Then after she left for work, he started barking again... The funny thing is that he KNOWS the routine. By heart. At 6:35 when I screw the lid on to my coffee caraffe, he'll bound off to his crate on his own without even being even being asked. The problem comes on the weekends when we're trying to sleep in just a little bit. We'll get up at 7:30 or so to let him out, and then he'll go right back in to his crate and try to sleep a bit more. Usually he's OK for about 15-20 minutes then he will start barking. Not non-stop...for maybe 2-3 minutes, then we'll get a 10-20 minute break, then he'll start again. He'll keep this up, on and off, for a while. If we're persistent, after maybe an hour he'll let up, but it'll turn in to occasional whining and scratching at his crate. We know it's not a "poo poo I gotta pee" thing because most of the time he'll take care of #1 and #2 on the first trip out. And when on the weekend we crate him for afternoon naps or other breaks, he'll start barking again if we wait too long. Depending on how tired he is, he'll be OK for several hours, but if we hear him getting up and moving around and we don't let him out after too long, he'll start barking. The other big issue is that we live in an apartment. He pretty much never barks between 6pm and 6:30am, so it's not like we're a total nuisance (unlike a certain neighbor's yippy dog), but we don't want to piss off our neighbors. We don't know how much he does this over the course of a day while we're gone. We come back in the middle of the day to let him out, but he's going at least 4 hours with nobody home. So any ideas? We feel like the issue is that we haven't reinforced "quiet = good." We have done NOTHING at all when he barks, so he doesn't know it's a bad thing. It gets him absolutely nothing, but he doesn't know he shouldn't do it.
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Apr 7, 2015 12:35
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What do you guys use to keep your puppy occupied during the day? I'm gone between 10am to 6pm and she has taken to chewing on door frames and stuff but is fine otherwise. No barking/howling or peeing/pooping just chewing I know I can just spray it with bitter apple but I'd rather fix the problem rather than the symptom I tried one of those treat dispensing puzzle toys but she tends to get them stuck somewhere or empty them in like ten minutes. I've heard of dog TV and stuff but I'm not sure if that actually works or not or if music will help She's a nine month old Corgi if that helps hatty fucked around with this message at 18:00 on Apr 7, 2015 |
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Apr 7, 2015 17:56
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hatty posted:What do you guys use to keep your puppy occupied during the day? I'm gone between 10am to 6pm and she has taken to chewing on door frames and stuff but is fine otherwise. No barking/howling or peeing/pooping just chewing I know I can just spray it with bitter apple but I'd rather fix the problem rather than the symptom Yeah man, Netflix actually has a Dog section now, just like the kids one. It'll take you a while to figure out which channel she likes best but after that it's all smooth sailing, no more chewing. Postess with the Mostest fucked around with this message at 18:08 on Apr 7, 2015 |
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Apr 7, 2015 18:04
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A few weeks ago I bought a pork shoulder to make sausage. I carved out the bone (raw of course) and gave it to our dog who loved it. After a few hours of chewing, he had somehow eaten half of it. I promptly took the bone away and tossed it because I'm a crazy worrying dog owner. Coincidentally he had a vet visit already planned a couple days later, vet did not seemed concerned at all and detected no issues. Is it safe for me to let him at a raw bone and not be worried about him eating it? For some info, our dog just turned 1 and is a 57lb border collie mix.
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Apr 7, 2015 18:28
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hatty posted:What do you guys use to keep your puppy occupied during the day? I'm gone between 10am to 6pm and she has taken to chewing on door frames and stuff but is fine otherwise. You are leaving a puppy alone for 8 hours every day. Of course she is going to get bored and get into trouble. If you can afford it, try to get her into doggie daycare. If you can't, then at least see if you can have a friend/relative/neighbor check in on her during the day and maybe play with her a bit. Dogs don't need constant entertainment, but they do need some. Even if it's just a 20 minute walk around noon, that would help break up the long stretches of boredom. Older dogs do much better alone at home all day. Puppies need stimulation and I don't think a TV is going to do anything to help.
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Apr 7, 2015 21:11
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I only leave her alone on Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays so I could probably afford to pay have someone walk her. Though last time I let a dog sitter into my house they broke my surround sound, maybe a daycare would be better. Thanks
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Apr 7, 2015 22:02
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This is my first springtime with dog. He's shedding a lot and at the same time he's started scratching himself with his back legs quite a lot. Is this a normal part of the shedding process our would it be worth taking him to the vet? We brush him regularly already, if that makes a difference.
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Apr 8, 2015 12:05
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St Evan Echoes posted:This is my first springtime with dog. He's shedding a lot and at the same time he's started scratching himself with his back legs quite a lot. Is this a normal part of the shedding process our would it be worth taking him to the vet? We brush him regularly already, if that makes a difference. I don't think scratching is part & parcel of the shedding process. Spring often signifies the reemergence of fleas.
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Apr 8, 2015 14:03
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Should he be okay if we apply Frontline or similar defleaing drops and hot wash his bedding, or should I take him to the vet to be sure?
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Apr 8, 2015 14:20
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St Evan Echoes posted:Should he be okay if we apply Frontline or similar defleaing drops and hot wash his bedding, or should I take him to the vet to be sure? Get the vet recommended flea meds. They are usually safer and actually effective.
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Apr 8, 2015 15:23
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Yeah Frontline is what the vet gave us before for him
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Apr 8, 2015 15:33
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St Evan Echoes posted:Yeah Frontline is what the vet gave us before for him A quick call to ensure they are still using that couldn't hurt. Sometimes a vet will change brands based on how it's been working in the area.
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Apr 8, 2015 15:50
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This is likely going to open a can of worms but here we go. Pet Insurance, best scam or not a scam? They started offering it through my employer and it is $15 a month for the new puppy and that claims to cover vet exams, flea/worm treatment etc. Sounds a bit too good to be true so wondering about peoples experiences. It is through http://www.petinsurance.com/ which is part of Nationwide which sadly doesn't mean I get Peyton Manning to sing to my chicken parm sandwich.
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Apr 9, 2015 15:09
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I did 3 months with pet plan when I got my 1.5 to 2 year old rescue for $54 which is around $18 a month. I did the highest deductible with 80% reimbursement on the lowest tier of service. It was pretty much just to cover anything catastrophic the vet might find and it seemed like a reasonable 1 time fee to not immediately have my dog cost me $1000+. Of course I forgot to cancel it so I just got billed for another month, but now that I have set aside a few hundred dollars for dog medical expenses, I don't really think I need it. Apparently there is a credit card you can get that covers vet and personal bills at 0% APR for a year or six months or something. I figured I would sign up for and use this card if she had to have an extremely expensive surgery just so I don't have to keep a few thousand dollars on hand. I'd rather earn some interest on that money knowing I can cover $2-3 grand easily in 6 months, not to mention a year.
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Apr 9, 2015 17:28
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Care Credit is nice if you can find a vet near you that you can trust that also accepts it. It just so happens that I had it for dental bills and then found out my family vet accepts it too.
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Apr 9, 2015 21:27
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rant: Two days ago , I went down to our regular, underused, super chill dog park. 2 dogs already there, 1 of them a mature male pitbull, wearing a muzzle. However, he came up and greeted me very nicely and happily, so I petted him and he went over to greet my GD, which also looked ok and then he just flipped and started attacking Hana. Stupid owners went "It's ok, he's wearing a muzzle", but Hana was definitely not ok with it and neither was I. They then just stood their clapping to get to their stupid dogs attention. I managed to drag Hana away (by grabbing her rear legs and pulling her back), but the pit owners failed to hold on to their stupid dog and it attacked again. Second time was better. They left the park, I spent some time there calming Hana down (luckily some of her playmates turned up afterwards), but she sustained a number of bumps and scratches and now has a major swelling on her shoulder that we need to go to the vet to get checked out. Ok, so I understand the need to try to re-socialize reactive dogs, but A: Stay close to your loving dog and keep a leash on it B: when it does flip, be ready to get dirty. (And C: get your wallet out, because I will need it after tonight). In addition, Hana got into our rice container (Korean wife, we have a lot of rice!) ate a ton of it and have been having rice diarrhea for the last 24 hours. The only good thing is that all the undigested rice actually soaks up all the liquid and smell, so it isn't too bad to clean....(And that was a lesson I never expected to learn). /rant.
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Apr 9, 2015 22:10
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ImplicitAssembler posted:
Pits have no place at a dog park. ESPECIALLY if it's already shown a degree of dog aggression. That's cool that you think you understand, but it's really loving dumb of them to have done that.
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Apr 9, 2015 23:07
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My dog is just a jerk who yells at other dogs and we don't go to dog parks because he's an rear end in a top hat. If your dog attacks other dogs you DEFINITELY shouldn't be at a dog park. WTF people. Is it just a regular public dog park or is there a certain organization that runs it? I encountered some really negligently dangerous behavior (parents dropping their elementary school aged kids off at the dog park to pet the dogs while the parents hosed off somewhere) at our old dog park that was run by a vet clinic so I sent them an email and they cracked down on the rules for a while.
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Apr 9, 2015 23:14
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Aquatic Giraffe posted:I encountered some really negligently dangerous behavior (parents dropping their elementary school aged kids off at the dog park to pet the dogs while the parents hosed off somewhere) What??? Seriously, I would have called the cops/ CPS and reported them as abandoned in a park. Those shenanigans would have ended very quickly.
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Apr 10, 2015 01:38
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So, one drained seroma and $125 later....(and we might have to get it drained again). At least she's not in any obvious discomfort. The park is a public park. It's placing is slightly awkward so not many people use it and most people from the apartment building in front of it. (Who all have chill dogs). I use it because it's fenced in, so even when Hana is being a jerk and steal toys and play keep away, it's limited where she can run to. We have a un-official dog owners association for the area (A facebook group, really) and I posted the story there in an attempt to find out the owners and it appears that the same dog may have attacked two other dogs over the last year (without wearing a muzzle). At least she's stopped pooping rice.....
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Apr 10, 2015 05:38
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The insurance is cheap enough that I will keep it ticking over as it all helps, thanks for the input. Having moved now and can start setting up for dogge invasion I am not sure on having the day time area with a crate for sleeping setup in the living room but at night having her sleep in the bedroom so she is close by again in a crate so she in theory won't pee and poop without letting us know and we are close enough to get up and take her outside. Is it worth it or just keep her crate in her pen I will setup in the living room? I am also planning to go on a bit of a socialisation crusade the first few days we get her so she is used to travel, people and other dogs. Is this sensible or give her that weekend to settle in? Bonus 3 week old pic 
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Apr 10, 2015 16:30
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Our jack russell puppy is 9 weeks old today and over the last few days seems to have gone into bite the gently caress out of everything mode and my knuckles and forearms are getting scratched up and cut like crazy. I look like a walking self harm warning. We're following the advice in the OP as far as "if he bites me, playtime is over and leave the room for a minute" but this so far just seems to result in "well I'll just bite the poo poo out of something else instead until they come back!", obviously he's not going to switch overnight but is there anything else that can be done along with this to discourage trying to eat people? Currently you can't get a limb anywhere near him without him taking a snap at it unless he's just woken up, ready for sleep or he's looking to be taken out for bathroom time. One more week until his last vaccinations and then he can go out, I'm hoping some long-rear end walks will chill him out a little bit if nothing else will.
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Apr 11, 2015 15:39
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BigPaddy posted:The insurance is cheap enough that I will keep it ticking over as it all helps, thanks for the input. Is that an english bulldog? A lot of insurances don't cover breed specific or genetic conditions and just being brachycephalic might count as a pre-existing condition. Also I think a cat owning goon used VPI and they didn't pay poo poo towards her cat's extensive cancer treatment. Make sure you have a good emergency vet bill account set up for that little trainwreck! Fake edit: Here's the explanation of benefits they sent her. ChickenOfTomorrow posted:
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Apr 11, 2015 15:51
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I had VPI pet insurance on my horse. Their schtick is to cover the least amount possible on the first claim since most people will just look at it and go "aw shucks" and fork over the remainder of the bill with question, but if you get the vet to go to bat against them they'll usually fold pretty easily. My horse had five figure vet bills a few times and every time without fail VPI was like "haha nope we're not paying out!" then the vet would call them and set them straight and we'd get a check a week or two later for the full amount. He's since aged out of being insurable (they only cover horses up to 18, I'm sure there's a similar policy for dogs and cats) so we're SoL for any future vet bills. I don't have insurance on the dogs, but we have a large enough emergency fund that it's not a huge financially ruining deal if one of them incurs a big vet bill. I would definitely recommend insurance if you're running a tight budget and don't have an extra stash of cash to dip into. HOWEVER, every pet insurance company requires an exam before they'll write you a policy and they will exclude every possible pre-existing condition, real or imagined. We briefly had insurance on Max and since his initial checkup mentioned he'd need a dental the insurance company excluded any and all dental work ever for the rest of his life which is what 90% of his large vet bills have been so it was pretty much useless.
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Apr 11, 2015 16:27
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I've only had positive experiences with insuring my two dogs. We got the insurance from 8 weeks old, so no pre existing conditions mind. Ludo chomped on a gumnut last year and had to have a tooth removed and that was all covered. Then last Christmas Day Ludo and Argus both ended up in intensive care for 3 days because of a mycotoxin... $12000 later and boy were we glad we had insurance. Paid up no questions asked.
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Apr 11, 2015 16:56
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I've got Sterling on a pretty low grade of insurance, I think it's about $20/month and it covers up to $5,000 for a specific incident/accident. It doesn't cover him getting sick but it will cover stuff like a dog attack or being hit by a car or whatever. We managed to get our money's worth pretty quickly because he pushed a heavy gate over onto his leg about 3 weeks after we got him, so needed an xray and pain meds etc. The only hiccup I had with the whole process was that 2 weeks after the initial incident he jumped off the couch and landed poorly on the sore leg, which made him start limping again. When I took him to the vet they wrote down that he was lame in his other leg, so my claim for the consult to check his leg wasn't hosed up further was declined. When I asked them about it they said that it was the other leg so it was a new incident and under the $100 that they won't pay for. I can't remember exactly but I think they also said that even if it was the same leg they wouldn't cover it because he was aggravating an existing injury and it didn't count as an incident or something. Anyway, I still got $350 out of $400 paid for and I couldn't be bothered fighting for the last $50. I'm pretty sure I could have spoken to the vets about recording the wrong leg and they would have cleared that up but 
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Apr 12, 2015 12:21
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Instant Jellyfish posted:Is that an english bulldog? A lot of insurances don't cover breed specific or genetic conditions and just being brachycephalic might count as a pre-existing condition. Also I think a cat owning goon used VPI and they didn't pay poo poo towards her cat's extensive cancer treatment. Make sure you have a good emergency vet bill account set up for that little trainwreck! It is an Olde English Bulldogge http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olde_English_Bulldogge So similar but have had most of the worst issues corrected to a point since the 1970's and can be if given the correct lifestyle quite athletic. The insurance company I went with through work asked for the breed and quoted based on that. They have some potential hereditary problems but these are covered under the health contract from the breeder. While this is nice I don't really fancy having the conversation with the breeder that his dogs are sickly  The cancer thing is shocking, surely the point of having insurance is for those kind of things, I am not surprised that an insurance company pushes back on paying out so yeah I am expecting the fight and since she is covered from 8 weeks old the only issues would be inherited ones which on my policy they claim to cover. Good thing I like a good argument for when the time comes. Bonus puppy pic from visit to the breeder last Saturday 
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Apr 13, 2015 14:50
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MAKE WAY NEW STARS posted:Our jack russell puppy is 9 weeks old today and over the last few days seems to have gone into bite the gently caress out of everything mode and my knuckles and forearms are getting scratched up and cut like crazy. I look like a walking self harm warning. Keep a lot of tug toys around and teach him to bite those instead of people. Ideally you should whip out the tug and get him interested in playing with it before he goes cujo on your arms. If he's being really wild put him in time out for a minute or two (not in his crate, somewhere else like the bathroom), if he comes out biting put him back in time out for a few seconds. repeat until he chills.
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Apr 13, 2015 16:17
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Does anyone have any experience with doggy backpacks? I feel my dog does not really get tired even though I walk with her twice per day. I plan to take her on runs soon but she just got spayed. Still, I know I'll get tired long before she does. I have heard that putting a backpack on a dog is a good way to tire them out, but would it make her enjoy her walk less? She is 100% tan mutt. It's really hard to identify any breed to see if carrying things might be natural to her. Thanks!
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Apr 13, 2015 19:25
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Mathematics posted:Does anyone have any experience with doggy backpacks? Sometimes physical exertion isn't what a dog needs. Have you tried training sessions or toys that stimulate their minds instead? My Lab/retriever could play catch for 8 hours straight but if we do some training with her or give her a kong wobbler with treats in it, she'll usually be napping in an hour.
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Apr 13, 2015 19:36
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Anyone got any good recall resources. We really need to start from fresh on it with Hana. Looking at potentially doing a dedicated recall class, but it doesn't start until June.
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Apr 13, 2015 20:01
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If you want to take a class on recalls Susan Garrett's recallers course is p much the gold standard but it's pretty pricey. The Fenzi Dog Sport Academy's Raising a Performance Puppy focuses primarily on attention building, engagement, and recalls and is quite affordable. If you've got a dog who's into toys or fetch, consider using that as your recall reward. It tends to produce a much faster, more reliable recall than food rewards.
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Apr 13, 2015 20:48
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Triangulum posted:Keep a lot of tug toys around and teach him to bite those instead of people. Ideally you should whip out the tug and get him interested in playing with it before he goes cujo on your arms. If he's being really wild put him in time out for a minute or two (not in his crate, somewhere else like the bathroom), if he comes out biting put him back in time out for a few seconds. repeat until he chills. He's smart to the tug toys trick (i know you'll let go if I bite you fucker, then I win!) but time out is something we haven't tried. I'll dogproof the bathroom and give it a shot, thanks.
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Apr 13, 2015 22:03
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Then you need to teach him proper play skills. Biting to win the game isn't appropriate and you certainly don't want him to continue doing that as he gets older. As long as biting you works, he'll continue doing it.
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Apr 13, 2015 22:23
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Spray some dog-chew repellant stuff on your arms before you start playing with your puppy?
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Apr 13, 2015 23:08
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Mathematics posted:Does anyone have any experience with doggy backpacks? I got a backpack for my dog for the same reason but he just gets upset and confused when I put it on him. A good way to tire out a dog is to mix mental and physical exercise. For instance I'll throw the ball, then make him do something he has to think about before I'll throw it again like having him put it down in a certain spot before I'll pick it up again or sending him through his weave poles.
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Apr 13, 2015 23:10
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cyberia posted:Spray some dog-chew repellant stuff on your arms before you start playing with your puppy? When I was teaching my pup not to mangle me during tug I just put on gardening gloves and a sweatshirt. The puppy can try and bite you but it won't do poo poo and you won't give him an entertaining reaction. Paired with ending the game as soon as his teeth come at your body taught him pretty quickly that things are a lot more boring if you're an rear end in a top hat
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Apr 13, 2015 23:15
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