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Looking for input on dogs with other pets here. The situation is this: I have decided that my life has lacked a dog long enough, and I am looking to adopt. The complication: Our house is already home to one and a half cats (the half is a stray who sometimes wanders in the cat flap looking for a handout and a snooze) and two rabbits. Because of how our house is laid out, it's entirely practical to block off the rooms where the rabbits live with a baby barrier or similar. My hope is that if I get a young enough dog (and not a terrier or any other breed that has an instinct to maul fuzzy hopping little things), it can get used to their presence as it grows up. Has anyone had to deal with a similar situation? Is it practical, or am I just going to have to get used to no dog?
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Aug 11, 2019 18:15
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| # ? May 26, 2024 08:19 |
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I have a murderdog and two guinea pigs and a rabbit in my house (and 40+sheep outside). It's totally possible to make work with planning and work. My small critters have their own room that's gated off and my dog is very respectful of barriers. If he was a gate jumper or extra crazed about indoor animals I would make sure a solid door was closed between him and them while working on training but that wasn't the case and it has been fine. I did a lot of rewarding for choosing to ignore the critters and now he doesn't even acknowledge their room. What I recommended for my friend who has 3 beloved cats and wanted a dog was to go to a breeder that raises their puppies around cats. She got an aussie that had spent its formative months being bapped by an old crabby persian and has never given her cats a sideways glance. Rescue is great but I've heard too many horror stories of people getting "cat tested" dogs from rescue that then wanted to eat the cats once home. If you can find a dog that has been fostered around cats that is a lot safer bet but I'd still be wary of rescues around small pets. Too much can go wrong too easily.
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Aug 11, 2019 19:44
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DizzyBum posted:Yeah, it's really stressing us out right now. She tried giving him a bully stick as she went to her computer today. He was interested in it for about a second before going back to flipping out, and now he's starting to act out by doing things like rooting through the trash or the stuff on the coffee table which he would never do otherwise. Quoting myself because he's still doing this. When my wife tries to give him a bully stick and then use her computer, he stops chewing it and then looks for things to destroy, as if he was actually alone and had separation anxiety. They are in the same room and we're not sequestering him anywhere. Nothing's stopping him from coming over and hanging out with her but he just... doesn't. We don't get it.  The last time this happened and I was at home, I was able to play with him for a bit while she was at the computer, and I actually got him to stay on his bed and he was totally focused on the bully stick! But it's not realistic for me to always be home so she can use her computer. DizzyBum fucked around with this message at 20:33 on Aug 12, 2019 |
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Aug 12, 2019 20:24
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That's just so weird. I'm trying to think what I would do if I was trying to work from home and my dog flipped out. I'd probably just kennel them.
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Aug 12, 2019 20:53
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Yeah, the nicest thing to do with him might be to stick him in a crate with his bully stick to chill out while she's on the computer. He might still be sad about being alone but it will keep him from destroying stuff. Seriously, the weirdest issue I've heard in a while.
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Aug 12, 2019 21:48
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If he doesn't crate well, tether him to your wife (assuming that can be done safely and he won't be in reach of more stuff to destroy) and have her intermittently drop treats on the floor to reinforce the smallest hint of chilling out.
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Aug 12, 2019 22:12
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Yeah, I was gonna suggest she sit in the chair, but not at the computer, and start handing him treats, then slowly move to the computer or something. Anything to kind of ease him into the idea of her being at the computer. Does her desk have room underneath where you could put a dog bed for a little bit? That might help, I have one under my desk so my dog can be close while I work, it also doubles as a tertiary safe space for him during thunderstorms.
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Aug 12, 2019 22:39
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Teabag Dome Scandal posted:Yesterday morning my leg was a little damp but I figured it was due to the paw licking/my own sweat since its been warmer than normal overnight :/ I'm glad it happened when it did though so now we know for certain it's involuntary. UTI hadn't even occurred to us and hopefully that's what it ends up being. Sounds like she's becoming incontinent  No crystals and pee was fine. The vet gave us Prion and we'll see how she does after a week. Anybody have experience with dealing with stuff like this? Kinda seems like it came out of nowhere. What's the difference between this and the hormone incontinence meds? How do they determine if one is better than the other?
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Aug 13, 2019 16:57
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Teabag Dome Scandal posted:Sounds like she's becoming incontinent My 3 year old female was spayed very young (8 weeks) and about 9 months ago started having incontinence issues, which was strange because she’s young and has never had an accident in the house since we got her at 6 months. Our vet tried a different med first but she had a bad mood reaction to it, like severe irritability from a dog who’s normally a snuggle bug. We tried Proin next and she’s been on that ever since with no incontinence or side effects. There’s more and more evidence that early spaying can cause issues later in life.
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Aug 13, 2019 17:05
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Yeah most vets are starting to discourage early spaying/neutering. 8 weeks is pretty extreme honestly, but my mother-in-law vet now feels like even 4-6 months is too early. She said there were a few papers out recently that recommended spaying only after about a year. Which would probably be okay for boy dogs but there's a chance an intact girl could go through a heat cycle before they're a year old and I could see a lot of owners not being willing to deal with that.
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Aug 13, 2019 18:13
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DarkSoulsTantrum posted:My 3 year old female was spayed very young (8 weeks) and about 9 months ago started having incontinence issues, which was strange because she’s young and has never had an accident in the house since we got her at 6 months. Our vet tried a different med first but she had a bad mood reaction to it, like severe irritability from a dog who’s normally a snuggle bug. We tried Proin next and she’s been on that ever since with no incontinence or side effects. There’s more and more evidence that early spaying can cause issues later in life. ohh, so the hormone one is likely for situations where it might be due to early spaying? Interesting. Lily is 9 so she's a little older which might be why they went with these meds first. Glad to hear it worked for your pup! MockingQuantum posted:Yeah most vets are starting to discourage early spaying/neutering. 8 weeks is pretty extreme honestly, but my mother-in-law vet now feels like even 4-6 months is too early. She said there were a few papers out recently that recommended spaying only after about a year. Which would probably be okay for boy dogs but there's a chance an intact girl could go through a heat cycle before they're a year old and I could see a lot of owners not being willing to deal with that. I have some friends that got two English Mastiffs and they weren't going to get them spayed until they were like 18 months and they definately went through multiple heat cycles. I guess it makes sense to wait to remove organs if the animals are still growing.
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Aug 13, 2019 18:39
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My boy dog was spayed at 8 weeks, the time he was adopted out from the shelter the first time. I feel the "when to spay/neuter" discussion needs to be handled carefully where there are an abundance of adoptable dogs. Petfinder has 1,900 dogs listed for adoption with 100 miles of my location. That does not include dogs for sale or any "looking for a good home" posts on every other site. Or any dumped, abandoned, or stray dogs. My location is different from a location with waitlists to adopt a dog.
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Aug 13, 2019 18:53
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GoodBee posted:That's just so weird. I'm trying to think what I would do if I was trying to work from home and my dog flipped out. I'd probably just kennel them. MF_James posted:Yeah, I was gonna suggest she sit in the chair, but not at the computer, and start handing him treats, then slowly move to the computer or something. Engineer Lenk posted:If he doesn't crate well, tether him to your wife (assuming that can be done safely and he won't be in reach of more stuff to destroy) and have her intermittently drop treats on the floor to reinforce the smallest hint of chilling out. Crating him: He's really good in his crate when we're going out somewhere; we trained him really well with that. However, he has a really hard time with the crate when people are around; he'll realize you're not going anywhere, and eventually starts barking until you let him out. We might have to train him to keep quiet in the crate no matter what. Tethering: a good idea. I'll mention that to her as an option because it's definitely better than having him run around the apartment trashing stuff. Bed: yep, we'll do that. He's got lots of extra pillows and blankets so we'll put one under the bed for him. We don't want to have to start buying baby gates and blocking off rooms. Thanks for the suggestions!
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Aug 13, 2019 20:00
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love how my pup (7m/o) is now getting worse separation anxiety than before! just what i needed
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Aug 13, 2019 23:31
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BraveUlysses posted:love how my pup (7m/o) is now getting worse separation anxiety than before! Dogs 7-12 months old are angsty-teenage level of rear end in a top hat.
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Aug 13, 2019 23:46
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BraveUlysses posted:love how my pup (7m/o) is now getting worse separation anxiety than before! Yeah leeloo has kinda ramped up the assholeness and is being more stubborn when i give her commands that she was handling fine a month ago.
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Aug 14, 2019 18:08
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Just over a month with our sweet angel puppy and she is adorable and I love her and have no idea how I've lived without a dog for my whole life. Kinda dreading her "teenage" phase in a few months, but so far she's super smart and trainable and really incredibly well-behaved.
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Aug 14, 2019 18:31
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Happy Noodle Boy posted:Yeah leeloo has kinda ramped up the assholeness and is being more stubborn when i give her commands that she was handling fine a month ago. Seconded. Thirded? Misery loves company
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Aug 15, 2019 22:25
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there's also often a fear period in the 7-9mo range, so on top of the teenager dog boundary-pushing and willful ignoring of commands, you can end up with inexplicable days of "this chair is now terrifying, I must growl at it for no identifiable reason"
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Aug 15, 2019 23:44
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Or strangers. My dog was super friendly and was a social butterfly. He developed a weird fear of strangers in that time and getting neutered didn't help either. He's now 4 and we've been working with all kinds of trainers to try and work on it to no avail. Once he's cool with you, he will love you to pieces and never look back. If he doesn't know you ... devil dog.
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Aug 16, 2019 00:35
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My hound dog doesn't get barky unless we stop and stand somewhere for a little bit. She's also more likely to bark at a new person if that new person shows up later. She stopped to take a dump on my neighbor's lawn and I was chatting with my neighbor a bit while she was thanking me for picking up her poop. Then her son showed up and my hound dog was not cool with that, especially when he gave his mom a hug. She also does this if I bring her to a friend's house. Everyone there when we show up is totally cool and must give belly rubs. Everyone who shows up late must be barked at then given the side eye for an unnecessary amount of time. Unless you have a dog to vouch for you. People who have dogs are automatically her friends. This was demonstrated hilariously well when I was walking her in my mom's neighborhood and met one neighbor with a dog. Automatically both are her best friends. Another neighbor walks up and my hound dog barks at them until the first neighbor hands their dog's leash to the other neighbor. Now my hound dog is cool with the second neighbor. Weirdo.
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Aug 16, 2019 01:31
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Sherlock is going in for a second Cytopoint shot on Saturday. His itching went for 8/10 to 1/10. It was an insane and immediate difference. He's only started scratching again within the past few days - over a month later. Highly recommended if you have an itchy dog and it's offered as an appropriate treatment. It was improved everyone's lives. W/r/t cost: he is a 30lb Boston Terrier and each injection is approx. $100.
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Aug 16, 2019 02:54
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We got Trill's Embark results back yesterday and...wow. https://embarkvet.com/dog/LNJCE4 Turns out he's half purebred husky and halfish chow with 10% eurasier. The Eurasier is from a single mixed grandparent. It definitely explains his appearance and mannerisms. But how the hell did a dog like this end up on the streets of Iran? We've also found multiple first cousins in the US, in places like Virginia (we're in LA). We're delighted but way more confused as to how he got to where he is. Also 0% interbreeding. Score! 
Edit: gently caress sigs I will never have a sig Zisky fucked around with this message at 09:47 on Aug 16, 2019 |
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Aug 16, 2019 09:43
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maybe he ran there
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Aug 16, 2019 13:29
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Mummy Xzibit posted:We got Trill's Embark results back yesterday and...wow. Cool! Chows really are in everything! There's an episode of the Dogs netflix series where a Syrian refugee is trying to get his purebred husky out of the country so clearly there are husky breeders in the middle east. This instagram chow is apparently in Iran too. I wonder if you spoke to the rescue they'd be like "oh yeah there's that husky having puppies constantly who lives near that male chow". I snooped around the shelter records where my dog came from and found a purebred saint bernard that was picked up running loose a number of times and figured that must have been my dog's mom. Turns out it wasn't because the saint was his dad but it did show that it wasn't unheard of to have purebreds just running amok in the area.
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Aug 16, 2019 20:00
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My poor dog, he's been licking and chewing his paws, so I've been trying to keep them clean but we ran out of the medicated wipes and he ended up chewing a quarter sized chunk of one of his front pads off. He's been a (somewhat) good patient, keeping him on antihistamines for now so he stops bothering with them (and it makes him a little lethargic so he's even less inclined to lick/chew). Gotta get to the vet to get more wipes, drat me for not taking some time off work to get it done
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Aug 16, 2019 21:36
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ask for steroids or the previously mentioned shot. It's ragweed season and one of mine will rub his chest and pits raw
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Aug 16, 2019 22:12
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Three months in, Giardia still sucks. My vet finally caved and gave Teddi a referral to an internal medicine specialist so hopefully they'll be able to help get rid of this for good.  At least the constant diarrhea hasn't hurt his spirit. He's still as happy and playful as day one. Doesn't quite understand how treats work yet, though.
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Aug 16, 2019 22:47
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I feel your pain. I feel like mine had it on and off for the first 2 years of his life. It was brutal. Sometimes worse than others but it led to a lot of anal glands not being expressed naturally therefore a lot of gland infections. Its weird how rewarding it is for me to see when my 4 year old dog has a healthy solid poop.
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Aug 16, 2019 23:42
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So my sister's puppy is 11 weeks now. Yesterday she was being looked after by my mum who is also looking after my cousin's dog. She decided it would be a great idea to put them in the kitchen while she went outside and the dog bit the puppy, i think on the muzzle. I went to see it this morning and it just sits behind the sofa whimpering. I couldn't even get her to do commands for a treats or play with her toys or anything. I'm pretty pissed that she left them in the same room unattended when the dog is known to not be particularly friendly with other dogs. I'm worried that the puppy is going to be scared of other dogs now.
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Aug 17, 2019 13:03
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So, potty training. Dexter is good about waiting to pee outside, but he doesn’t wait for poop - or signal, in any way, that he has to go potty. He’s lucky I work from home so I can take him out at regular times. But how do I break his indoor pooping habit, and get him to let me know he has to potty? He hasn’t had an accident in two months, not counting his diarrhea which was resolved with chicken and rice and an antibiotic. So, he’s normally very good - but hasn’t been these last two days.
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Aug 17, 2019 15:29
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CJ posted:So my sister's puppy is 11 weeks now. Yesterday she was being looked after by my mum who is also looking after my cousin's dog. She decided it would be a great idea to put them in the kitchen while she went outside and the dog bit the puppy, i think on the muzzle. I went to see it this morning and it just sits behind the sofa whimpering. I couldn't even get her to do commands for a treats or play with her toys or anything. I'm pretty pissed that she left them in the same room unattended when the dog is known to not be particularly friendly with other dogs. I'm worried that the puppy is going to be scared of other dogs now. Just keep socializing the puppy, obviously preferably with dogs you know to be friendly and/or the same age. They'll quickly pick up that was just a bad experience with one dog and not every dog is a threat to life or whatever. Don't pick up them up if they act scared when there's no threat.
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Aug 17, 2019 18:55
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Well, I have decided to give the dog thing a try again. Meet Elroy.  So far, he is confined to the living room so as not to freak out the other animals too much. We'll give him more space when they get used to his presence. He's a pretty laid-back dog so far, so I'm hopeful this will work out.
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Aug 17, 2019 22:18
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Selachian posted:Well, I have decided to give the dog thing a try again. Meet Elroy. Elroy looks like he’s got some hound in him which automatically makes him a good boy 
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Aug 18, 2019 22:34
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MF_James posted:My poor dog, he's been licking and chewing his paws, so I've been trying to keep them clean but we ran out of the medicated wipes and he ended up chewing a quarter sized chunk of one of his front pads off. Talk to you vet about Cytopoint! It was a game changer for Sherlock. He would spend hours (literal hours) licking his paws, leaving massive wet spots everywhere. Not to mention the constant scratching. It's not the cheapest, but if you're spending a lot of money on antihistamines and wipes / vet bills it will probably be worth it (plus the increase in quality of life).
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Aug 18, 2019 23:41
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luscious posted:Talk to you vet about Cytopoint! It was a game changer for Sherlock. He would spend hours (literal hours) licking his paws, leaving massive wet spots everywhere. Not to mention the constant scratching. Yeah went to the vet yesterday and got a shot of it, probably won't need more than 1 this year anyway, though we'll see how he does in 4-6 weeks when it wears off. So far it's been somewhat better, he's not laying down immediately after coming inside from a walk and licking for 20-30 minutes.
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Aug 19, 2019 04:37
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Selachian posted:Well, I have decided to give the dog thing a try again. Meet Elroy. Hi Elroy 
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Aug 19, 2019 19:10
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The groomer at my vet's office just told me my puppy is "horrible." Apparently she peed, pooped, tore up some kind of cushion they had, and tried to snap at him while he was doing her nails. He said he hoped it would go better next time, but honestly, even if he hadn't bitched about her (and a couple of weirdly unrelated things) to a pretty unprofessional extent, I wouldn't want to take her back there for grooming. It just doesn't sound like a great idea to associate those kinds of bad experiences with the place she goes for vet visits. She's had her nails done there before and not been in love with the process, but she'd never freaked out like this before. The groomer seemed stressed out and hurried even before he got to her, so I'm wondering if she picked up on that and then started acting out more and more as he got frustrated. We've handled her paws regularly since she was three months old, so it's not as if she just doesn't tolerate anyone touching her feet. She's also usually good with strangers. Does anyone have suggestions on finding a groomer that will go slowly with a puppy and maybe have better luck working with her?
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Aug 19, 2019 20:47
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MF_James posted:Yeah went to the vet yesterday and got a shot of it, probably won't need more than 1 this year anyway, though we'll see how he does in 4-6 weeks when it wears off. I didn't notice how amazing it was until the day that it wore off. I noticed the day that it wore off, because scratching for the first time in a month had become the abnormal occurrence. FWIW, I didn't notice an immediate change in Sherlock because I think he had gotten into the habit of scratching. I hope you see a huge difference!
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Aug 19, 2019 21:41
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| # ? May 26, 2024 08:19 |
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luscious posted:I didn't notice how amazing it was until the day that it wore off. I noticed the day that it wore off, because scratching for the first time in a month had become the abnormal occurrence. Yeah I have a feeling it's going to take a few days at least to really see a difference because: 1) He's used to licking/chewing a lot 2) His one paw is injured (has a drat chunk out of the pad!) so he's prone to licking it anyway 3) His paws are (really) irritated and somewhat raw from licking already, so they need to heal up a bit 4) This is a guess, but I think he also bored licks/chews, like if we're not entertaining him enough he'll lay down and go to town Like I said, there's already a difference and I'm sure over the next week it will only get better. His allergies aren't the worst I've seen, they (mostly) only affect his paws; I had another AmStaff that as soon as he laid in the grass his underside would (basically) immediately get pink/red, so far this guy does not appear to get any/much irritation anywhere but his paws.
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Aug 19, 2019 21:57
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