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I have a quick question about playtime with my dog. We have a 1 1/2 year old corgi and he's still very playful, so we spend time playing games like fetch and tug-of-war and we have this toy that's sort of like a flirt pole too. Sometimes I wrestle with Wrigley and he gets very excited and growls. I'm not that concerned about it because he's always been a very vocal dog - he growls when we play any sort of game with him. He also has a soft mouth so I'm not worried about biting either, plus we sort of combine wrestling and tug of war so he always has something in his mouth. I haven't had to redirect him in a long time. But my husband is always getting onto me for being too rough with him. He complains if I push Wrigley or if I thump him with my hand during play. I don't think I'm being too rough because he doesn't stop playing and he doesn't escalate any aggression. Am I doing something wrong here?
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Jan 1, 2008 22:53
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maplecheese posted:Didn't your husband ever have a dog when he was a kid? Geesh, whenever I'm petting a medium to large dog I know fairly well and they seem playful, I'll start slapping them on the sides, and they love it. He had a dog, but it was a dachshund so I guess he's not used to playing with a medium sized dog. I told him I would ask PI to see what you guys thought, and I was open to changing how we play with Wrigley if there were potential problems. I guess the consensus is our play is ok, thanks for the advice.
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Jan 2, 2008 06:29
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Corridor posted:If your husband is worried about aggression, then you might find this sorta useful... we had a command we'd use to immediately calm the dog down. If we said "gentle!" then he'd instantly stop what he was doing and start acting like he was on eggshells. Very useful when he was around small children or animals, or when accepting bits of food from someone's hands. Saying that word would change him from acting like a big slobbery excited clumsy beast to freezing and then very slowly licking a tiny baby chickie in my hand, or delicately taking a biscuit from between someone's fingers. Heh, I have a kind of angry mom voice I use with Wrigley when he takes things too far and he calms down right away. Sometimes I feel bad because he looks so sad, but I only use that tone when something's really the matter. I was thinking the other day about children, though. We don't have kids and Wrigley isn't around children very often. Unfortunately the experiences he's had with children have been mostly negative so we should probably work on that aspect of socialization. Right now I'm comfortable with how we play, but I wouldn't trust him around kids.
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Jan 2, 2008 17:59
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I have a question about nail trimming and being restrained. I know everyone emphasizes playing with puppy's feet so they don't go apeshit when their nails need to be done, and I have tried playing with my dog's feet but he still doesn't really like getting his nails done. However, he'll be perfectly civilized about it as long as he's not tightly restrained. I just put him on the couch or bed and he lays there and lets me do his nails. The worst he ever does is pull back a bit or try to put his nose in my face so I can't see what I'm doing. I took him to the vet for his annual rabies vaccine and they noticed his nails were a bit long and offered to clip them, so I said sure and just told them not to restrain him - just let him sit or stand on the grooming table. They took him to a back room and when they brought him back he was shaking and one of his feet was bleeding. Personally I think that's inexcusable because he was white nails and it's very easy to see the quick. They said he was very misbehaved and that's why they had the cut the nail too short. If he was being that bad I wish they would have just brought him back, because I can do it easily enough at home. I realize I probably shouldn't have let them take him to a separate room and I'm not going to let them do his nails anymore, but should I worry about him being more used to being restrained? I wish the vets were more open about dealing with him and not holding him so tightly but they say it's their policy. He fusses when he's restrained for shots and having blood drawn too. I don't know how to train him to accept it - I can hold him in the same way they do at the vets but he doesn't really care if I do it. He just stands there sort of confused and after a while he'll start squirming a bit, but if someone else holds him he almost seems to panic, even if I'm present. EDIT: For reference, Wrigley is a corgi. I've heard people say that corgis are picky about their feet but he doesn't seem any more fussy about his feet than any other dog to me. TheGreatFezini fucked around with this message at 00:01 on Jan 12, 2008 |
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Jan 11, 2008 23:56
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Dr. Housecat MD posted:Some animals do just fine with a tight restraint...it's just important to tailor the technique to the animal, which obviously didn't happen for poor Wrigley. I'd probably mention something to the office manager or vet, just so that hopefully the people involved could be retrained a bit. Thanks for the replies. I'll try mentioning it next time I'm at the vet, but I'm not sure how it'll go over. I am shopping for a new vet right now for various reasons, although this is definitely one incident I'm not happy about. I like the idea about the muzzle too though, so I will keep that in mind for future reference. Notsoape, they specifically told me that they wanted to clip his nails away from me because they seem to think that animals freak out more when they're around their owners. Although they do have me help hold Wrigley when they do things like give him shots or draw blood - and he got very agitated when they drew blood, but I think he was more upset about the tourniquet than the needle.
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Jan 13, 2008 17:26
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Stregone posted:On the quicked nail, it happens. I look at it as you aren't doing it right if it doesn't happen every once in a while. Some dogs are hyper sensitive about it, others don't even notice. It should not have been bleeding when they brought him out to you though. Styptic powder stops it pretty much instantly and should always be on hand when trimming nails. Can you elaborate more about quicked nails? I've never cut Wrigley's nails too short since I've had him - does that mean I'm doing something wrong? I just always try to err on the side of caution so I'll leave a little extra nail if I'm not sure how close I am. I do have the styptic powder at home just in case there is an accident but so far I haven't had any issues with bleeding. The worst thing that happened is that he yelped once but the nail wasn't bleeding so I'm not sure why he did that. I agree with you about the vets having other things to do than to clip nails. I feel really bad for accepting the vet's offer to clip them just so it would be one less time I had to do it. From now on I will be the only one clipping his nails and I'm really glad that he hasn't gotten spooked about it since then.
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Jan 15, 2008 00:06
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I've been looking for healthy, long-lasting toys for my dog to chew on. He's severely dysplastic on both hips so we've been working to get his weight down. I used to give him rawhides quite often but I read somewhere that they have a lot of fat and salt in them. We also used to give him a cow hoof about once a week, but they smell awful. They didn't seem healthy to me but I could start buying them again if they're good for him. I went to the grocery store to see what kind of bones they had, and they have some smoked beef bones for sale. Are these a good thing for him? I noticed they still have a bit of meat on them and they aren't raw. Should I just ask for raw bones instead? And is it safe to let him eat the whole thing? TheGreatFezini fucked around with this message at 03:14 on Feb 18, 2008 |
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Feb 18, 2008 03:11
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Thanks! I went ahead and signed up ... I don't own horses but I used to ride and I still like reading and learning about them.
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Mar 4, 2008 15:25
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A few weeks ago I was talking to one of my friends about my dog Wrigley. For those who don't know, Wrigley was recently diagnosed with bilateral hip dysplasia. So this friend of mine started talking to me about how I should look into "natural cures" and that I was doing my dog a disservice by "pumping him full of medicine he doesn't need." That was bad enough, she really made me feel guilty. I've looked everywhere and can't see anything bad about glucosamine supplements. Anyway, the conversation turned to other types of medicines and she told me that her dogs only get their shots every two years instead of one, even the rabies vaccine. I know that there are some vaccines that are supposed to last longer than a year, but she specifically said she gets the one year vaccine every two years because she read somewhere on the Internet that it really lasts two years and it's bad for the dog to have it yearly. I don't really believe her, but sometimes I take Wrigley over to her house to play with her dogs. Now that I know they aren't always up to date on their shots, I'm a bit nervous taking him over there. I'm very diligent about keeping his vaccines up to date, but still I worry. Is it ok to let him play with these dogs or am I putting him at risk for contracting something?
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Mar 7, 2008 12:10
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Infinite Might posted:Wrigley might benefit from a food like J/D (I hate science diet but that works, they've also done some formulation improving with fibre and the like) j/d has an omega ratio that acts as an anti inflammatory and also will help the fella lose some weight. My dog has two luxated knees and instead of everyday full dose metacam, we are going to give him this for a few months and ease down on the metacam. I hadn't considered a prescription food, but I'll definitely bring it up next time I'm at the vet's office. I knew that Science Diet had prescription foods but I didn't know that there was a specific one that could benefit him. I'm definitely going to keep Wrigley on a yearly schedule. These dogs that he plays with are young too - I think they're around 2-3 years old. I'm just concerned about him being around them if they're vaccines aren't always up to date, but I would hate for him to lose his playmates.
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Mar 7, 2008 22:45
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I'm going to have to take my dog to the vet tomorrow because he's scratching his ears again. Last time we took him in for this, the vet said that he had a yeast infection and he got a shot and some medicine to squirt in his ears and massage in. They said he has environmental allergies which cause the inside of his ears to become swollen, which in turn exacerbates the yeast infection. Does anyone have any ideas on things I can do to help Wrigley? I don't have any idea what to do for environmental allergies. I'm not sure what exactly he's allergic to but I know the pollen and mold counts around here have been high lately. I just wanted some ideas to nip this in the bud so he doesn't keep getting yeast infections.
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May 3, 2008 19:09
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sucks to ur assmar posted:Yay I can answer this one! Bridge has the exact same problem, or had. I'm sure the fact that her ears are wide open to the elements doesn't help either. Try some Solid Gold Seameal in his food. Sachiel directed me towards it a few months ago after it worked for their cat and she hasn't had a yeast infection since. Buy the smallest jar and give it a try. Thanks so much!  Good to know I'm not the only one with this problem - Wrigley has big tall ears too so I get what you mean about open to the elements. I'll go out and see if our local stores have any of this in stock.
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May 4, 2008 11:16
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I have a cat question for a change ... I live in a duplex with my landlord, but we share the basement because that's where the laundry machines are. The landlord has a cat that has a horrid reputation. It bit his cleaning lady and she had a pretty bad infection in her leg. Anyway tonight when I was doing laundry, the cat was in the basement. I didn't see it because it was behind some boxes, but when I walked by he pounced on my leg and bit me. Lucky for me he didn't break the skin. After that he sort of backed off but he had his back arched and his tail was lashing and he was hissing. I said "be nice Buddy" in a soothing voice and backed up slowly but he kept growling and coming forward. So I just backed up to the staircase and went back upstairs. I'm going back down in a bit to get my laundry so I hope he's nicer then. But is there anything I can do to make him stop being such a little poo poo? I don't want to be his friend, I just want him to tolerate my presence without attacking me. He's been in the basement before but normally I see him first and put off laundry for another time. It would be nice if I could do laundry without him dictating my schedule. I've asked the landlord to keep him somewhere else but he's in the basement periodically anyway.
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May 24, 2008 02:59
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ChairmanMeow posted:Does he seem like you scared him? or like he might want to play? Has anyone made your landlord aware of the fact that Buddy is a bastard? In all seriousness it's not fair to the other tennants. Playing with him 15 minutes at a time twice a day helps with kitty aggression but it's not your cat so it's kind of an odd situation. I don't know much about cats but he certainly didn't seem playful. He really looked kind of like those cat cut-outs people stick in their windows on Halloween - hissing face, back arched really high, tail all poofed out. I guess he was either very scared or very pissed off. I might have scared him - I was just carrying some clothes from the washer to the dryer and when I walked by some boxes he pounced on me from behind them. I suppose I would be willing to play with him but I'm not sure if he would play. Every time I've seen him in the basement he's like that - if I make eye contact he poofs his fur and hisses. Even if I just open the door and look at him, or come down the steps and look at him. The only time he's nice to me is if I see him looking out the window, he'll meow. I don't know much about Buddy. According to his mom, the landlord got Buddy as a kitten and Buddy has always been bad. I'm not sure if I believe that, but he's certainly bad now. The landlord knows Buddy is a bastard as far as I know, and I'm the only other tenant. Unfortunately he's not a very good landlord, and there are other problems that he's not addressed either so I don't see him really doing much here. Sometimes he gets completely smashed and either leave his door open so Buddy gets out and goes into the basement, or he may kick Buddy out, I'm not sure exactly which it is. I guess I will try the spray bottle route. I remember reading somewhere that vinegar is a very effective cat repellent. What is the appropriate dilution?
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May 24, 2008 06:41
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My vet recently recommended a certain bed for my dog Wrigley. He has hip dysplasia and the bed is supposed to help support his joints and keep him more comfortable. Unfortunately he wants nothing to do with the bed! He prefers to sleep on the carpet or under some of our furniture. I've tried rewarding him for sitting in the bed but he's basically turned his nose up at it. Every once in a while he'll walk up to it and sniff it, but that's it. EDIT because I forgot to actualy ask a question! Any ideas on how to get him to sleep in the bed?
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Jun 15, 2008 21:58
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I live by a pond and several of our neighbors have ducks. This morning I noticed one of the ducks had a large wound sort on the lower part of his side, underneath the wing and in front of his leg. I told the owner but he just said "Well, it's not like I can pack him up and take him to the vet, so we'll just see what happens. It's sad though." I went to check on the duck later in the day and he had died. One of our other neighbors thinks a turtle killed the duck because of the placement of the wound. But I also know there are kids around the neighborhood with BB pistols. Is it possible to kill a large duck with a BB pistol, or is it more likely that a turtle killed the duck? I know there's many large turtles in the pond but I've never seen them try to bite a duck before. Also, if it is turtles, is there anything we can do to make sure the turtles don't get my parents' two ducks?
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Jun 23, 2008 02:14
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AR posted:You suspect fowl play?  quote:Sorry. I would doubt that a BB would cause a wound large enough for you to see like that. That is what I suspected about the BB gun. Well, I guess it most likely a turtle then, or possibly a raccoon or coyote. Are turtles really dangerous to other animals? We have two ducks and I let my corgi swim in the lake sometimes. I don't know if I should be worried about them or not.
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Jun 24, 2008 22:48
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I've heard a lot of people say they don't want to take their small dogs outside in the winter, but I don't think there's a reason not to. If necessary you can put a sweater on them and shovel off a patch of grass for them, but it's still possible for them to go outside. They're still dogs, just smaller. You may have to fight to get the dog to realize that it has to go on snow/ice when the time comes, but with consistent and firm training, it can be done. I think it would be easier on you and the dog to go with traditional potty training. I'm not even sure if it's possible to train a dog to reliably use a litter box but maybe someone has done it. Still, it makes more sense to just suck it up and take the dog out.
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Jun 25, 2008 03:22
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Pineapple posted:snapping turtles will happily eat ducklings and make a try at larger birds if they feel like it. There's a one-legged canadian goose at the local pond who will attest to that. That sucks. I assume if they'll go after a goose they might try to bite my dog too. And I was really happy I finally found a place for Wrigley to swim. 
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Jun 25, 2008 21:10
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