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Just got a rescue dog yesterday. I've had dogs as a kid before but not since I'm a grown up. He's a 5 month old male Cocker Spaniel/Shih Tzu mix (no good portmanteaus for that mix). His prior owner was a middle aged lady who is caretaker to three grandkids and her elderly mother. Not long after getting him, she got in a major car accident and spent a month in the hospital and has some lingering mobility issues, so they decided that it's best to rehome him. He loves it here so far. Big backyard, two work-from-home adults, and three gradeschool aged boys who are obsessed with him. Gonna take him in to the vet as soon as I can find one that is taking new clients. He's energetic and very sweet, appears to be in good health. I have lots of questions, in no particular order. He's not neutered yet, and this is probably about the right time to. Any ideas on good timing for that while he's still settling in? He's had a few shots (per prior owners). They used an at-home kit and there's a little thing with stickers, but it's not clear to me what's what. Hopefully the vet can tell us. He stinks. Little fella was not well groomed while his people were sick, and the lower parts of his fur appear to be pee stained. Lots of matting on the underside and some organic debris that we picked or cut out. We have a bath/cut/grooming session scheduled with a groomer for early next week. Am I correct to assume that they're going to clipper cut all the matted hair patches off anyway? Should I try to snip off the ones I can safely and comfortably get to before then? He allowed us to give him a quick bath, but kept trying to escape and wouldn't go for a second round. I don't want to overbathe him and make his skin dry, should I just leave it until his grooming appointment in a few days? Got him some dry food from Costco (puppy sized chunks because he's just a little guy). Bag said for his weight he should be eating about 3/4 cup a day or more "depending on energy levels". We gave him that last night and he wolfed it down. Fed him again in the morning and he also ate it quickly. In my experience with other dogs, we just sorta filled the bowl every few days and the dog ate as much as he liked and didn't have weight issues. I wonder if he wasn't getting enough to eat and is just real hungry as a growing doggy. Should I just fill a bowl and let him go nuts? Also, he's got a weird tick when he pees. Instead of lifting a leg and spraying, he sorta stretches out and planks and then pees. Is that normal? I wonder if that's related to his past grooming and hygiene situation. What kind of brush should I get for his coat? I see lots of options and don't know what kind to use and when.
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Apr 20, 2022 22:35
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Sherlock was such a poop fan that we had to start feeding my father's cats chicken free food in order to accommodate Sherlock's allergies.
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Apr 21, 2022 01:00
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Pongo got into a fight today that he didn’t start but definitely had the last word. We were waiting at my daughter’s bus stop this afternoon and talking with the neighbors right there, they love Pongo and give him treats. Another neighbor was walking by with her dog across the street so they called her over to give that dog one too. I kept Pongo basically inside their garage while they were down by the sidewalk for a minute and he behaved extremely well, no barking and stayed chill. In all of that, the lady somehow dropped/let go of her dog’s leash and it came over to pongo. At this point I’m holding on to Pongo’s collar for maximum control already, and the other dog just goes right in and takes a chomp of Pongo’s side. Keep in mind that Pongo is 82lbs of nothing but muscle and the other dog is a good 1/3 his size. My male neighbor came in to help get them separated and finally the other dog sklpped off Pongo’s skin, didn’t even break it. As the other dog was getting pulled away, Pongo whipped his head around and gave the other dog a single chomp on his right paw. Connected perfectly with his one good canine and drew a good amount of blood. My neighbors got bandages and rubbing alcohol and the bleeding finally stopped. It turns out that this dog apparently has a thing about attacking bigger dogs. Well what the hell, then I don’t feel sorry about it at all, you’re the one that let go of your dog. This just shows me just how drat good a boy Pongo really is, because I know what he can do with his jaws and could have seriously hosed their other dog up if he wanted to. That is the first time he has ever injured another dog, any other incidents he’s ever been involved in he has been the victim and didn’t retaliate. 
devmd01 fucked around with this message at 02:01 on Apr 21, 2022 |
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Apr 21, 2022 01:57
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Jarvis likes to play with dogs twice his size and 4x his weight (he's mostly floof), but has never been aggressive, fortunately. Pongo is a good boy indeed.
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Apr 21, 2022 02:24
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the dog has tasted blood..... i fear for the future.
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Apr 21, 2022 02:47
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canyoneer posted:He's a 5 month old male Cocker Spaniel/Shih Tzu mix (no good portmanteaus for that mix). Shitcock
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Apr 21, 2022 17:12
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Our pupper got attacked by a neighbor dog yesterday, send good vibes our way! After an expensive emergency vet she looks to be on the road to recovery. We'd been working on getting her and a new rescue lab in the neighborhood familiar (trading smells and seeing each other without contact), and the first on leash greeting had a little growling and teeth baring, so we backed them away at which point the lab's leash broke and all hell broke loose. Got her away from the other dog but not without a trio of notable bites on the abdomen and butt. She's got drains in two of the wounds, but thankfully nothing penetrated the inside of the abdomen. Here's our sad but recovering pup... 
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Apr 22, 2022 16:03
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drat, I’m sorry, that’s horrible.
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Apr 22, 2022 16:05
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We had a rough night last night. Early in the week, our dumbass got into a bottle of her old carprofen we'd forgotten about on a lower shelf, and after she puked a few times we finally got her in to the emergency vet. The veterinarian was mildly surprised at how little damage she seems to have done herself-- the exposure was enough to have caused stomach ulcers and potential renal failure, but she appears to have gotten away with merely severe GI inflammation and some relatively minor kidney damage. Still waiting on a follow up urine test to know for sure, but it seems that she avoided the worst of the possible damage. I feel lovely that we didn't get her in earlier, but glad that she's as unkillable as she thinks she is. Pictured: the dumbass, feeling queasy probably
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Apr 22, 2022 16:41
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I’m sorry Alucard. Good vibes for healing.
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Apr 23, 2022 02:06
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Quorum, glad to hear your pica-beast avoided major issues! Also I know for certain I'll be back here in like 5 days complaining about how my gremlin's brain thinks she's ready to go full tilt when her body most certainly is not.
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Apr 23, 2022 02:48
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Hey cone buddy She's not having a great day.
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Apr 23, 2022 16:58
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Sherlock is also in cone-zone but he's so high that he 100% doesn't need to wear it right now. They have him on 40 ml of Tramadol. He's probably good with like. 10.
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Apr 23, 2022 19:19
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She's in better spirits, watching a YouTube squirrel video. 
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Apr 23, 2022 21:03
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Alucard posted:Quorum, glad to hear your pica-beast avoided major issues! Likewise, hope your cone burrito's on the mend!
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Apr 23, 2022 21:14
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Say hi to Lumi! He's a rescue and has been with us for 1.5 years now, and he's short one paw. He was very likely born that way, but no one knows for certain. Anyways, he's rocking a badass prostethic these days, and it's working great. He's not using it at home though to avoid chafing and skin irritation.  Any suggestions on long-term preventive care for a tripawd or experience with prolonged use of prostethic limbs? Running around on three legs obviously puts strain on the back and the remaining joints, and we want to make sure he stays healthy and pain free. We're taking him swimming regularly, and once he's old enough we'll probably get him massages too. Iwasted10bucks fucked around with this message at 10:31 on Apr 25, 2022 |
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Apr 25, 2022 09:39
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My hound is a big nervous crybaby sometimes. She also gets heartburn (I assume based on google) and will occasionally want to go outside just to eat some grass and then yak it back up. Typically this happens in the morning since her tummy will be empty and the acid has a chance to build up. I know if she eats grass she'll feel better, she'll also feel better if she just eats anything else as it will neutralize the acid, sometimes I can get her to eat a cheese stick or something and that will settle her stomache. My question is, some days she does both. Her stomach is upset so she won't eat her breakfast, but she's such a big nervous baby that she won't go outside and eat grass either and get's too upset/anxious when she tries. So now she's been hiding in the bathroom all day on an empty stomache despite me taking her out several times. It's about dinner time so I'll scrape out the uneaten breakfast and replace it with fresh food but I don't expect her to eat it. Anybody have any tips for dealing with this behavior? Is she going to have any problems if she does this more than very rarely?
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Apr 26, 2022 23:40
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If it can be anything why not a dental chew or something?
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Apr 27, 2022 01:02
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Iwasted10bucks posted:Say hi to Lumi!
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Apr 27, 2022 01:03
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Agent355 posted:My hound is a big nervous crybaby sometimes. How often does she eat? Might be a case where smaller more frequent meals could address the issue more generally.
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Apr 27, 2022 02:55
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I feed her twice, once right when I get up, typically between 7 and 8, and once in the evening around 6. I did get her to eat her dinner eventually last night, she got hungry enough that she ate in spite of her tummy being upset (which immediately made her tummy not-upset). And then she was all happy and peppy for an hour before she went to bed. Silly girl.
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Apr 27, 2022 14:01
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Does anyone know why a dog that loves to go for walks might suddenly stop wanting to walk? My dog's about 3 years old. She used to love going for super long walks all around the neighborhood or at parks/trails, but recently she refuses to leave the area around the house. She'll go to the edge of the front lawn, then stop and decide to go back inside. Now that the weather's nice, she spends almost all her time in the backyard, but she still doesn't want to walk. If you put her in the car and drive her down to a park, she might walk for a few minutes but she'll quickly head back to the car. She doesn't seem physically unhealthy in any way. She's perfectly active at our house. We drive her down to my sister's house where she plays with other dogs and she has no problems with them at all. She just refuses to go walking. My father thinks she's afraid of something in the neighborhood, but it's strange that she doesn't seem to feel comfortable walking anywhere anymore. Anybody know what might be causing this? It's a bit of a shame cause she was a good source of exercise
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Apr 28, 2022 18:24
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Couldn't tell you, but if you do figure it out I'd be interested to hear about it. Can dogs be agoraphobic?  I would agree with the "maybe something spooked her" but it's weird she'd be afraid everywhere rather than where it happened. Like my dog definitely remembers "traumatic" locations, but only acts up when at said location.
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Apr 28, 2022 18:44
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Casey Finnigan posted:Does anyone know why a dog that loves to go for walks might suddenly stop wanting to walk? Did anything happen recently on one of these walks that would have spooked her?
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Apr 28, 2022 18:45
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BAGS FLY AT NOON posted:Did anything happen recently on one of these walks that would have spooked her? Yes, but I wasn't present for it. My dad was walking her and said that when they were behind some houses near peoples' backyards, a beagle in one of the backyards started barking at her. This particular beagle has a crazy, really weird-sounding bark. Apparently, this really freaked my dog out and she wanted to get away from it. It's odd, because I've walked my dog near that beagle's house before without any real issue besides a bit of annoyance from the loud barking.
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Apr 28, 2022 18:48
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My dog started suddenly hating walks and it turns out she has severe neck arthritis now she gets an Adequan shot every month and loves them again. So there’s a fun possibility for you
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Apr 28, 2022 18:49
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Casey Finnigan posted:Yes, but I wasn't present for it. My two cents is that it’s either this and she’s connected it in her head with walking in general or there’s something physical going on that’s making walks uncomfortable.
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Apr 28, 2022 19:29
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 Our silly little puppy is now starting to look more and more like a dog! Five months this week. He is so unlike what we were told Shibas are like that it's crazy. He's so sociable and loving and adores meeting new people and dogs. He remembers people he's only met once and gets frenzied at seeing them again. He loves being in his crate and has learned to jump straight in as soon as I get his treats out. He's also a hyperactive, yappy, bitey little scrote but this side of him is getting better each day. We're starting to consider when it'll be time to neuter him. Our excellent local vet is pushing for this to happen as close to six months as possible but feedback we've gotten from other Shiba owners is that you should wait for at least a year, or longer if there's no signs of aggression. What do you guys think? edit: The poor thing has an ear infection and my wife took him to the vet this morning; everyone within a 1 mile radius very much got their first experience of the Shiba Scream 
Adrianics fucked around with this message at 12:42 on Apr 29, 2022 |
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Apr 29, 2022 12:05
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Just realized we have a subforum for pets and will have to read up on the OP as I have a 13 week old puppy I am co-parenting. She is really smart and has been learning really well, so far we've only noticed two "problems". 1) She wants to shred clothing and some other stuff and I don't really know how to teach her not to do that. 2) She's a total trooper about peeing, but she seemingly randomly pees into my flat sometimes. I think this is normal, but my partner (who is the primary caretaker) sometimes gets pretty mad at her for it and we don't have a good strategy for dealing with it actively. We just discourage her if we spot it in time and clean thoroughly. Why I came here? I'm looking for some sort of pet cam to make training lone time less nerve wrecking. Is there some brand/ecosystem that is the goto in the pet world? I kinda always liked the idea of the feeder/laser toys. But I remember some controversy about the brands all failing and taking the cloud it dependet on with them. I am fine with a techy solution, doesn't need to be easy to set up, a partner friendly UI would be nice though.
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Apr 29, 2022 14:40
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The advice we have been given about potty accidents is that they are inevitable from time to time and you should always always always praise for going in the right place but never ever ever scold for going in the wrong place; they don't have the cognisant ability to differentiate being told off for peeing *there* as opposed to for peeing *at all* and it will just result in them going when you're not looking and where they believe you can't see them. Just clean it up immediately and move on with your day. Cosmo has been going through a biting phase since basically the first day we got him. Literally the only thing that works is making sure he has a constant stream of toys and chews (make sure they're age-appropriate) or as previously advised to me in this thread yeeting him into the crate if he really doesn't get the message, doing the "OW!" thing just seemed to amuse him and drive him to do it more. Adrianics fucked around with this message at 15:26 on Apr 29, 2022 |
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Apr 29, 2022 15:05
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Adrianics posted:We're starting to consider when it'll be time to neuter him. Our excellent local vet is pushing for this to happen as close to six months as possible but feedback we've gotten from other Shiba owners is that you should wait for at least a year, or longer if there's no signs of aggression. What do you guys think? I personally would not be in a hurry to neuter a puppy without a reason. It's good to have those hormones on board until joints are closed and neutering provides relatively few behavioral benefits despite how much some folks say it fixes every behavioral problem. I've only had girls recently but I don't plan on neutering future males until I see a reason, either medical or behavioral. There's a paper out there looking at breed statistics and recommending specific ages for spaying/neutering based on that but they don't include shibas so I'd just go with whatever you're comfortable with/your breeder suggests. SEKCobra posted:Why I came here? I'm looking for some sort of pet cam to make training lone time less nerve wrecking. Is there some brand/ecosystem that is the goto in the pet world? I kinda always liked the idea of the feeder/laser toys. But I remember some controversy about the brands all failing and taking the cloud it dependet on with them. I am fine with a techy solution, doesn't need to be easy to set up, a partner friendly UI would be nice though. I would avoid any sort of laser toy because it can trigger obsession in some dogs and they start chasing light reflections. The only camera/treat situation I've heard people use is the furbo but people have pretty mixed experiences with it.
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Apr 29, 2022 15:54
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Instant Jellyfish posted:I personally would not be in a hurry to neuter a puppy without a reason. It's good to have those hormones on board until joints are closed and neutering provides relatively few behavioral benefits despite how much some folks say it fixes every behavioral problem. I've only had girls recently but I don't plan on neutering future males until I see a reason, either medical or behavioral. There's a paper out there looking at breed statistics and recommending specific ages for spaying/neutering based on that but they don't include shibas so I'd just go with whatever you're comfortable with/your breeder suggests. Yeah, my understanding is that the major tradeoff is in females, where you are potentially improving joint health but at a heightened risk of certain cancers - the joint health benefit I do think suggests that the larger the breed, the more likely the tradeoff favors waiting.
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Apr 29, 2022 16:47
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Adrianics posted:The advice we have been given about potty accidents is that they are inevitable from time to time and you should always always always praise for going in the right place but never ever ever scold for going in the wrong place; they don't have the cognisant ability to differentiate being told off for peeing *there* as opposed to for peeing *at all* and it will just result in them going when you're not looking and where they believe you can't see them. Just clean it up immediately and move on with your day. One of the books I have says to give a clear stop command and immediately pick them up and carry outside, I probably phrased it poorly and implied we are scolding her. It's just a clear "Stop!", pick up and run. But I am really bad at catching her, she gives no indication prior and does it really sneakily. I've had three occassions where I only realized much later that she had peed (once on the hardwood 🥺). Regardless, it's getting better and she has amazing bladder control for just over three months of age. Biting isn't that bad, she is learning not to bite people real quick and already ceased most tendencies, she barely tries to chew on furniture (which I always redirect to toys when I can), but fabric just kinda really haunts her and right now all I know to do is using our spit out training routine (which is also improving slowly), but it doesn't really discourage her love for those things. The toys we have don't really work as a distraction there either. You can totally occupy her with chew snack thing stuff for hours, though. She basically only stops to ask for water.
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Apr 29, 2022 19:21
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Instant Jellyfish posted:I personally would not be in a hurry to neuter a puppy without a reason. It's good to have those hormones on board until joints are closed and neutering provides relatively few behavioral benefits despite how much some folks say it fixes every behavioral problem. I've only had girls recently but I don't plan on neutering future males until I see a reason, either medical or behavioral. There's a paper out there looking at breed statistics and recommending specific ages for spaying/neutering based on that but they don't include shibas so I'd just go with whatever you're comfortable with/your breeder suggests. Gotcha, that's really secondary for me anyway, I just kinda like the idea of being able to interact remotely, but right now I just want to be able to monitor her once we start training alone time for even longer stretches. When tired, it's working really well already, but I am afraid she might go a bit overboard if we leave her too long and she wakes up, and I want to be able to intervene in that case.
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Apr 29, 2022 19:23
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So we've had our application accepted at a local rescue agency for Goldens and Labs, which is rad. I've had dogs almost throughout out my whole childhood (including a black lab) and had a hellhound Jack Russell/Pomeranian mix (he was awesome, but an endless furry source of energy) probably 10 years ago until my then-gf and I broke up and he went with her. So basically, dog-haver for the majority of my life, but it has been a while since my last one. Fast forward, I'm now married and have 5 kids, with ages ranging from 16 down to 3yo twins. This particular rescue seems awesome and trying to find a match for our family situation (big kids and toddlers). We've matched with a few on paper, but have had meet appointments canceled since these dogs go super fast and we can basically only go in on a weekend. That aside, it seems that if we will probably be taking home a dog in the near future. I'm now furiously trying to buy all the poo poo we need. So for my question. I have a teenager that has been (keeping it vague here) diagnosed with severe depression, and by her request, she thinks having a family dog would help her out to feel less 'alone.' Her doctors/therapists agree that this would probably be a positive thing for her. A companion that she can be with when she's having down days. We can't afford a $20,000 Golden Doodle that comes with 2 years of emotional support training that you take with you everywhere, nor is that our intention either, which is why we're looking into the local rescues. We're more going for a family dog that everyone would help to take care of, but kind of sort of loosely her dog, so to speak. We've found some trainers in our area who offer cheaper versions of emotional support training that we'd have her do with the dog, but I'm honestly not really sure what we should be looking for. Any ideas on what we should look for, and what we should avoid?
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Apr 29, 2022 21:59
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Emotional support animals don't need any specific training but also don't have public access rights like a service dog does. If there are specific tasks your teen needs then they may benefit from a service dog which will take additional training to do those tasks and trainers familiar with training service dogs. Those tasks can include preventing self harm behaviors like skin picking, providing deep pressure therapy, alerting to upcoming panic attacks, creating space between the handler and the public, and getting help for their handler (just some examples). An emotional support animal doesn't need to do anything but be their good dog selves.  A well-trained dog is easier to live with either way and I at least find dog training to be really fulfilling so I'd suggest finding a trainer that uses positive reinforcement training methods. Here's a website with some good guidelines. You're not going to want a board and train situation, you're going to want to be part of the training. Personally, I always want to sit in on a training class before signing up because some people say they're positive on their website but you go and the entire class is tiny puppies on prong collars and that's not a class I'm going to be comfortable in. There are also lots of online training options these days if going to classes doesn't work for your schedule, I have the most experience with the Fenzi Academy Online, which I've used for years for tons of different training classes.
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Apr 29, 2022 22:49
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So I am stupid and gave our puppy two grapes before realizing that this is indeed a new fruit and I should check if it's even allowed. Queue a weekend date with the emergency vet. I was just in my morning haze and eating a few grapes after walking her when I did it, not thinking very much. She has been enjoying some other fruits before so it was just a moment of 'hey, do you like this?' So far (about 10 hours) we have not seen any adverse reaction, the vet actually said to just monitor but we decided on a consult anyway. Got some charcoal tablets, which she has already passed judging by the black poop. The internet is not a great ressource on this, as it just suggests immediate death and/or renal failure and is scarier than finding out you have cancer when you google your own symptoms. The vet did not recommend induced vomitting or other means of extraction, which makes all the stuff online even more unnerving, as they all suggest it. I suppose luckily the dosage is rather small in any case, because at least my brain started functioning after a little bit. Guess who will be googling any new plant or food in reach of the dog religiously from now on. In a way I am glad (as long as she doesn't start suffering in the next 60 hours, which the internet mentions as the possible timeframe. In that case I'll probably die from guilt) to have found this out now, because there is a vineyard nearby and we have been walking her there regularly and no one ever mentioned to me that this is potentially poison all around.
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May 1, 2022 17:02
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Well, I'm no vet, just telling my experience. Once I took my dog (around 10 Kgs) to a friend's house and her mother gave our dog a grape (she said their old Labrador loves them). I didn't see it at the time but my girlfriend told me later and I got really worried. But I called the vet who said that it shouldn't be a cause of concern given it was just one, it shouldn't cause problems for a dog of this size. In fact if I didn't know she ate it, I wouldn't have noticed, there were no effects.
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May 1, 2022 18:08
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Our whippet growing up would get a grape here and there because none of us knew any better, and he lived a good long life worth at least one ACL surgery and no renal failure. Even chocolate which everyone basically says is rat poison for dogs, a lot of vets will take a wait and see approach if it's not like, a whole bar of chocolate or a bunch of grapes.
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May 1, 2022 18:20
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Even that, "a whole bar" isn't actually that dangerous of an amount unless your dog is pretty small My 50 pound hound got 2 chocolate glazed donuts half way through a 400 mile road trip. Vet just said she might get sick from one end or the other. Nothing ended up happening. Another time I accidentally left out a container of cocoa powder, no clue how much Bonehead actually ate because so much of it was all over my couch but again she was totally fine. For that one though the vet did actually direct me to some sort of poison control hotline.
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May 1, 2022 18:28
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