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Per the recommendation of another poster, I am crossposting in this thread with some questions about a dog we may be adopting. They're about an old Alaskan Malamute. I recently had to put down my cat that I had for the last 14 years. I rarely get "good vibes" about animals, and any animal that I have a good vibe about I really feel like I need to take them home. I love all animals, but there are a rare few that really steal my heart, if that makes sense. I've been volunteering and visiting shelters for the last six years, and I've only had good vibes about five animals. I ended up adopting three of them. Anyway, yesterday I went to the local shelter to cheer myself up and be around animals, and I fell head over heels with an Alaskan Malamute X named Goliath. I've got really good vibes about him. He is eight years old and a very handsome man. I'm not sure what he's crossed with, but he looks like a Malamute with longer hair. The shelter hasn't done their behavioral assessment or the vet check up yet, he was an owner surrender. He is reported to be really mellow, gets along well with other mellow dogs, and is "fine" with cats. They also didn't crate him so he's used to roaming around the house while the owners are away. He is basically my dream dog, and I put down a small holding deposit today. I have been wanting a dog for a while now but was waiting until my old man cat passed, which came much sooner than expected. We have to wait until the shelter does the behavior assessment before we are allowed to take him out of the kennel and walk him and play with him, but he already has my heart. Hopefully once we can interact with him more than looking at him through the kennel, it will go fine, and we can bring him home. On to the questions. -We have a house with a front and back yard, and we have a huge clothesline that stretches across nearly the entire yard. I was thinking of rigging one of those dog zip line things between the two poles so he can still run around the yard with some slack. Would that be appropriate for a big dog, or do we need something else? We have the time to take him for walks every day and we live right next to a park and in a city that is full of parks and a beach (in the summer), but if he needs some additional time to run around, would that be adequate? -I have read about their intelligence, and how they need to be stimulated or else they can turn destructive. However, he is eight years old, and super chill at the shelter. We work mostly night shifts, and dogs sleep at night, right? Any experience with this? -This is a really dumb question, but I've never owned such a hairy animal before. When it's raining and you let a big fluffy dog outside to do their business, do you go out with an umbrella or something? Do you towel them off once they come back inside? -In this thread and elsewhere, I've read about their loyalty and how they like to be one-family dogs. This dog is eight and has had previous owner(s) (don't know his full history). Has anyone ever adopted an old primitive breed dog? What was your experience like? Did the dog eventually bond to you? Sorry for all the questions, but this dog has really grabbed me and I want to be sure we can give him the best life possible for his remaining time on earth. Edit to add: I worked as a dog groomer in college and did blow outs on a lot of big, double coated dogs, so keeping up with good grooming is not intimidating to me at all. We also definitely have the time and money for a dog, and I would like a senior dog because I don't want to deal with raising and training a puppy. Koivunen fucked around with this message at 05:39 on Nov 4, 2012 |
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Nov 4, 2012 01:35
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paisleyfox posted:Obviously every dog is different, but I don't see you having a problem bonding with an 8 year old. Thanks for the reply, I hope things work out. I had a ton of free time this weekend and spent it reading through this entire thread from start to finish. Took forever, but there is so much great advice in here. After finishing this thread and doing my own research, I think we would be a really good match for primitive breeds. I have visited Goliath the last three days. Still no behavior assessment so I can't take him out of the kennel, but it should be done on Monday. The shelter is closed on Monday, so on Tuesday I set up a time that we can go take him out and play with him and walk him. He will be on a hold for me until then. He seems like a very shy dog so I'm a bit nervous that he won't be the most interactive boy at our get acquainted meeting. As far as I'm concerned he can come home with me any time, he just needs to win the heart of my boyfriend. Boyfriend has been supportive but still isn't totally convinced that we need a dog. However, in the past, he has made some comments about how he would one day really like a husky-type dog, so hopefully his chill personality will make it impossible for my boyfriend to say no. I am very curious as to what he's crossed with. He's a big boy and although he looks very Malamutey with the brown almond eyes and coat coloration and markings, his hair is longer and he's got an enormous fluffy head. He is so adorable I wish he were here right now so I could smoosh his face. Also found out more about his history. The previous owners had him for two years, so he has had multiple families (which is all the more reason to give him his forever home with us). The first sixish years of his life are unknown, and his eight year old age is an estimate. The previous owners surrendered him because they got evicted. I'm wondering if it was financial because they could not tell the shelter when he was last at the vet. He gets along well with cats, kids, and strangers, but has to get to know another dog before he likes them (wasn't clear if he was aggressive or just scared). My dog park play date dream might not be a possibility, but that's okay. He is shy, quiet, obedient, gentle, and friendly according to the prev owners. It sounds like he had free range of their house, never crated, allowed to sleep wherever, which is fine with me. Also housebroken and will sit by the door if he needs to go out. I really like the shelter and have adopted a cat from them, and I trust that if there were any behavior issues they would be upfront about it. However, when I've visited him, he's just sat there and looked at me through the bars and sniffed my fingers. He hasn't eaten any of the treats I've given him, but I wouldn't want to eat if I was stuck in a kennel all day long either. Tuesday needs to hurry up and get here so we can decide if we'll go through with the adoption. Sorry about all the  , I'm just really excited about the possibility of owning this magnificent beast.
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Nov 5, 2012 03:24
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/\Thanks for the reply, I'll have to more thoroughly investigate the sturdiness of the clothesline. Today we finally got to take Goliath out of the kennel and interact with him. I got a call this morning saying they just discovered he actually was not neutered like the previous owner said he was, so before we bring him home they will have to snip him, and they don't know how long that might take before he's ready to go. It gives us more time to think about it though, which is good. My hold will stay active until he is deemed adoptable.  Running around the fenced in play area, sniffin like a big old sniffy dog. He didn't respond to treats or toys, just interested in running around and sniffing. He looks at you when you call his name but didn't follow any commands, but I don't care if my dog won't sit when I tell him to. Also, at this point we are still strangers, so who knows if that would change after getting to know him. He pulls while he's on the leash but it's not out of control. The shelter doesn't have harnesses so they wrap the leash around their sides and loop it through a metal piece. My boyfriend tried to run with Goliath, but the dog interpreted that is ALL OUT FULL FORCE TOP SPEED, which my boyfriend couldn't keep up with. The leash pulled too tight around his middle and he yelped, and I felt soo bad. He did accept some apology kisses though and was fine after that. Would definitely look into a heavy duty harness or one of the leashes that goes around their muzzle.   He is such a handsome man! He's a bit smelly so one of the first things I'd want to do is give him a very thorough grooming. When he walks he looks a bit stiff in his hips, I wonder if he has arthritis. Do you think he is a mixed breed? I think the first encounter went well. There are only a few things that are still on my mind though. This is my only concern: We have a 7 lb adult cat. She is really relaxed and adaptable and I think after the initial shock stress she would be fine, I just worry about her safety. We would do a proper introduction with isolation and scent swapping, I'm just concerned and would want it to work out perfectly. I've got this awful fear about finding her guts ripped out. The previous owner said he gets along well with cats, but they also said he was neutered, which he is not, so I don't know how reliable that info is. This is my boyfriend's concern: He has owned dogs in the past and believes that when they get older, they start to lose control of their bladder and are incontinent all the time. He's also concerned that his health will decline and we'll just end up owning a sick old dog. This doesn't worry me because right now he appears healthy, and we don't have carpet so pee cleaning wouldn't be too difficult, and I'd rather a senior dog spend his last days with us since we would be able to provide and afford vet care should anything happen, as opposed to going to a family that isn't mentally and financially prepared to take that on. He is also concerned about the size of our yard. It is in no way a huge yard and we have neighbors on either side, but we live in a very dog friendly neighborhood and two blocks away from a big park. There are also several parks throughout the city and many state and forest parks within an hour's driving distance. This is taken from Google Maps, the red lines are our property lines. Unless we were having a huge storm or something, I don't think doing two walks a day would be a problem, but boyfriend thinks he might need more space to run around. He is getting old, though. Any thoughts? Edit: Nione posted:If the cats got in the sink, she'd turn the water on them because cats are not allowed in the sink or on the countertops it's a good thing the malamute dog police is here to take care of this situation or cats would get away with murder. Edit II: Added a picture of his curly little tail (sorry, he's peeing). 
Koivunen fucked around with this message at 09:57 on Apr 25, 2017 |
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Nov 7, 2012 00:40
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Thanks for the replies! I will be looking into other options for securing a dog outside, I've just seen people use dog zip lines and the dogs look pretty happy being able to explore larger parts of the yard. However I've never seen a dog of this size on a zip line before, so I will do plenty of research before making a decision. And yes, he would be supervised at all times when outside. I can ask the shelter about the cat thing, even if he could just look at them behind some glass or something... I'd like to have a better idea if at all possible. He seems like a super gentle little man but we won't know until we try an introduction. Again, thanks for the replies, they have been very helpful!
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Nov 7, 2012 05:03
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We went back to the shelter tonight to go for another walk with Goliath. I was the one who initially had him on his leash and he seemed much happier tonight than last night. His tail was up and curled and he kept looking back at me with a goofy smile and he wasn't pulling as much. Then my boyfriend took the leash and petted him, and his tail went down by his legs and he seemed much more timid, and when my boyfriend brushed against a tree branch and it rustled, Goliath was really jumpy and startled. Also, when my boyfriend excitedly went "Here Goliath!" and made a sudden movement to crouch down and pat his legs, the dog quickly lay down on the ground and put his head on the ground, kind of like he was trying to get as low as possible. We think he's afraid of men. This is pretty disheartening to both of us. I mean, I am still totally in love with this dog, but my boyfriend isn't too excited about getting a dog that is scared of him. I've never had experience with dogs that are afraid of a specific gender before. Is this something they adapt to once they live with their new owners for a while, or will he always be afraid of my boyfriend? I would feel badly about having a nervous dog whenever my boyfriend is around, but at the same time, it's pretty unlikely that he would go to a home where there is zero male interaction. My heart was absolutely melting when I had him on the leash, he is such a good dog. Koivunen fucked around with this message at 01:51 on Nov 8, 2012 |
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Nov 8, 2012 01:38
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c355n4 posted:
Hahaha this is adorable. What a goofball. After reading replies in this and the general animal question thread and doing a ton of research on my own, I think we can work with Goliath's man-fear. Maybe my boyfriend was coming across as too aggressive, so the next time we see him he will try to be more gentle with his posture and the way he speaks. We are both willing to work on it and shower him with positive reinforcement until his doggy love is equal between us (though I wouldn't mind if me love me just a little bit more). I went back to the shelter by myself today. He is going to be neutered tomorrow morning, and will be available for adoption on Saturday. There were very few people at the shelter tonight, so I had the entire grounds for just myself and Goliath. He did such a good job on the leash, I was really amazed. No pulling, followed my commands to keep moving, tail curled and wagging, made a lot of eye contact with me, let me snuggle into his face and hug him a bunch, and even accepted some treats from me, which he hadn't done yet. I am so in love with this dogge. So much so that I will be adopting him at 3pm on Saturday. Boyfriend actually seemed pretty excited about this, which makes me so happy. I measured him for a harness and new collar today (34 inch chest!), and as soon as my boyfriend gets home from work, we'll be going to the pet store and spending a ton of money on doggy things. We're going to slowly change his diet to Blue Buffalo and pick up a Kong and a puzzle toy as well as a bunch of stuff that we probably don't need. More pictures! Sorry they are blurry, I was trying to aim the camera while he moved.   Such pretty eyes!  Accepting some head pats. I absolutely cannot wait until Saturday. Goliath is going to be my new puppy dog!
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Nov 9, 2012 00:43
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We brought Goliath home today! Not regretting this decision for a second. He has been exploring the house, running up and down the stairs, had a good sniff around the backyard, and is currently sleeping on the twin mattress in the spare bedroom after his big day. He did so well today. There was an adoption event where they brought a bunch of animals into a warehouse and there were free treats and pictures with Santa, etc. We put him into his new collar and harness and he stood with us while we filled out the paperwork. There were a bunch of other dogs around, and he actually seemed excited to interact with them. He would sniff their muzzles and when they walked away he would bark excitedly. I'm not sure why the previous owner said he was afraid of other dogs, he did really well today. I think the amount of people there might have been a bit too much stimulation, but he did very well when other people petted him, and several small children petted him and he did just fine. He was just looking for attention and pets, it was pretty cute. He did SUCH a good job in the car, too. I sat in the back seat with him but it wasn't really necessary. He hopped in and laid down, and he would occasionally sit up to look out the window, but he was completely calm and stayed right where he was supposed to. He's been going up the stairs, lying down on the bed, coming back downstairs, looking at us, and going back up. We've gone up and cuddled him and sat with him on the bed. Doesn't seem to be a fan of his rawhide or his Kong yet, but I'm sure he'll accept treats once he's feeling more comfortable. We live in an old house, and we can hear him walking around upstairs, it's pretty cute. :3 Anyway, PICTURES. (Ignore the state of disrepair that our house is in, we bought it as a fixer upper and are currently in the process of remodeling the entire place.)  How did this giant bear-wolf get in my kitchen?  New favorite spot.  So handsome! Edit: I just spent about 45 minutes grooming him. They must have brushed him recently at the shelter because I didn't get a whole lot off his back or sides, but quite a bit from his haunches and leg tufts. Anyway, he was such a good boy. He lay down on the floor and let me brush his side while drifting off to sleep, and then by himself, he turned on his belly so I could do his back, and again by himself turned to the other side, and finally he flipped belly-up and let me brush that. He fell asleep a couple times while being brushed. I also did a quick waterless shampoo since we can't bathe him for ten days and he was a bit stinky, and he did a very good job. Now he is clean and groomed and smells good. I feel like he has been my dog all along, it just took us a little longer to find each other. Koivunen fucked around with this message at 10:00 on Apr 25, 2017 |
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Nov 11, 2012 00:50
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Thanks for the tips! I think I'm going to have one more day of treat showers since he's not eating much right now from all the commotion, but the next day he will have to earn his treats. Is that okay? I'm cross posting some pictures from the Wake Up Your Dog thread (since I can post there now!). More photodumping, basically.  Big sleepy dog.  Hurr.  Fast asleep.  Can barely open his eyes.  "No more pictures."
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Nov 11, 2012 07:45
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RetroVirus posted:Your thread and all its pictures of yourself and your cat really made me cry. Hell I am tearing up just thinking about it. Congrats on your new friend, I'm so happy for you! Thanks  I had absolutely no intention of adoption another animal so soon after my cat died, and my boyfriend and I regularly make rounds at the Shelter just for when we want some cheering up, and Goliath just happened to be there. I do think it was perfect timing though. Putting down my cat was the hardest thing I've ever had to do, but meeting Goliath and thinking about him for a week before bringing him home gave me something else to focus on, which I think was good for my mental health. This morning we went for a long walk through the park in our neighborhood, it was a beautiful snowy day and I should have brought my camera. Next time. Then we took a small road trip down to my boyfriends' parent's house so they could meet their grand-doggy. Also took a walk in the woods down there. He did excellently on the leash today, both with me and my boyfriend leading. We think he may have kennel cough. He will be going to the vet sometime this week for his first check-up, and we'll address his sore hips too. They look stiff when he walks but he doesn't seem to mind, but when he's at home it's like he can't get comfortable, even when he's lying on a mattress. Anyway, we need some advice. We live in a house with a basement, main level, and upstairs. Goliath won't come downstairs to the main level, even with treat bribes. His food and water dish are down here, but I've only seen him drink water twice after walks. He has only eaten a small bit of kibble. If we get him on a leash he will follow us downstairs, but we spend most of our time down here and wish he would come hang out with us on his own. As soon as the leash is off he is running upstairs again. Is this something that he needs to get used to and do on his own, or is there a way we can get him to come spend time down here?
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Nov 12, 2012 03:33
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Have you all seen this? It's the dog that howls to comfort a baby, but set to auto tune: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISt31VBUSK0 Goliath update: We've had him for a week now, and he's doing really well. He's opened up a lot, more to me than my boyfriend, but he's getting there. He has come downstairs now and follows us around for head pats, and when we're out on walks he does playful things like bouncing around and downward-facing-dog. He's getting along well with the cat, and she lets him sniff her, she'll run in between his legs, and they both come to the door when we get home. It's adorable. He's afraid of loud cars and sudden noises and men strangers, but he just shies away, nothing aggressive. He's been approached by many small children who have patted him and he's done wonderfully. Hardly ever pulls on the leash either, so we ended up getting him the 30 foot retractable kind for when we go to the park. Basically the perfect dog. We brought him to the vet for his first check-up and he's been put on antibiotics for what might be kennel cough. I took video of it and the vet said it's "reverse sneezing" but the antibiotics are seeming to help. He also has really good range of motion in his joints for being an old dog, so what we thought was hip stiffness may have been related to his recent neutering and soreness in the area. He looks better now. How do you all feed your dogs? I've read anywhere from a cup and a half a day to five+ cups. He's getting Blue Buffalo for senior dogs. He's at a perfect weight right now so we just need to maintain it. We go for two or three 30 minute to 1+ hour long walks through the park every day, and he does a lot of stair climbing at home. He weighs 70 pounds (a lot less than I thought he would). Right now we're giving him two cups in the morning and two cups at night. Is that too much? PHOTODUMP:  So majestic. This is in the park that is next to our house.  I wanted to get his curly tail but he put it down for this picture.  Lil' explorer.  Beautiful dog. He loves being brushed, so that's a huge plus.  You have a word? Koivunen fucked around with this message at 10:02 on Apr 25, 2017 |
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Nov 18, 2012 00:49
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Yet another Goliath update (sorry, I have been flooding this thread recently). I can't believe how perfect of a dog he is. He is such a good boy, I can't begin to describe how wonderful he is. No luck with teaching him to sit or lay down or whatever, but he is so mellow that I don't think we will actively pursue trying to teach him new tricks. He listens to his name and he comes when he is called, and if we use the right tone for "no" he leaves stuff alone. We had to rig up a storage bin retreat for the cat's food. She is free fed, and Goliath was eating her food in the middle of the night. We turned a plastic box on its side and taped the lid halfway down so she has to go inside to eat. It's working out so far. It looks like the snow is here to stay, so we have been taking him to the park just to run around in the snow. He loves it. Have a shaky <30 second video! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPIlr2DepfM It was "shelter pets take over Facebook" day on Tuesday, so I tried to get a picture of the cat and the dog together. Harder than it sounds. Could also be titled "drunk pets."  So silly.  Do you have no modesty?  Edit: Forgot to add that we gave him a bath last Friday. Lots of gray water in the initial rinse. Now he is so soft and silky and smells much better, and we can pet him and not get a film of oil on our hands. He didn't like it very much but he did way better than I thought he was going to do. Some whining and trying to get out of the tub initially, but he did a good job overall. I love him... Koivunen fucked around with this message at 01:16 on Nov 29, 2012 |
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Nov 29, 2012 01:07
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Question about Goliath: When we first brought him home, he seemed to enjoy going for walks, and we would get in two or more hours total a day between morning and night. He never used to pull on the leash. This has completely changed. He refuses to go on walks now, and when we do, it's miserable. The weather is colder (between 10 and 30 Fahrenheit) and we have tried all kinds of interventions like feeding him before versus after, bribing with jerky treats, dragging him to the parks to run (which he used to love but won't do any more), doing it right when he wakes up versus a little later in the day... he still refuses to walk. What happens is, I will put on his harness and leash, we will go outside and he will pee in the yard, and then he starts to pull towards the door. Being a Malamute, and me being 5'6" and 115 pounds, this isn't a good combo. I will say "come on" and he will bounce towards me, but then plant his feet in the ground and not move. I have been forcing walks around the block which means he pulls so hard that I can barely control him, sometimes he is pulling to the point where his front legs come off the ground and I am nearly squatting to pull against him, and today he pulled so hard I nearly face planted and have a very sore back. It makes no difference if it's me or my boyfriend walking him, but 3/4 of the time it ends up being me. Why is he doing this? Is he too cold? I do brush him on a regular basis, is this something I should stop? He seems perfectly content just lying around at home, but he has to go on walks to not turn into a lard ball. What do I do PI? We used to have a great time going on walks but lately it's become an awful experience.
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Dec 6, 2012 23:19
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That's definitely a possibility. The last vet check up a couple weeks ago, he had his joints checked and the vet said he actually has pretty decent range of motion in his shoulders and hips, the only thing that seems to be mildly arthritic is the lower area of his spine. Since then I have started him on glucosamine supplements. I can give the vet a call about it, though. Do pain meds usually seem to work? The problem is that it gets much, much colder here as winter progresses, like -20 and -30 F at times. For the sake of his comfort, should we not try walking at all in that kind of cold? Is there anything I could try to get him moving inside the house?
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Dec 7, 2012 04:04
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rebounded posted:Your dog may just be comfortable with you now and finding boundaries. Best of luck! I'm wondering if this might not be more the case (does that make sense? English is hard). Yesterday, after I had posted my last reply, we drove him to the park to walk. He resisted going from the porch to the car, but once he saw that we were going for a ride he was wagging his tail and hopped right in. When we got to the park, he had a blast. There was a huge leaf pile and he spent a solid twenty minutes jumping around in it and digging and rolling. Adorable. I wish I had my camera. He also dug in the sand pile and trotted all around in the woods with his tail curled and wagging. When we tried to take him out that night, it was the same stubborn routine, a struggle to get halfway around the block. I worked overnight and this morning around 8am I took him in the car to the park again, and it seemed like he had fun again in the leaf pile. This time I did take my camera. The video I took is super shaky and is hard to watch without getting motion sick, so I won't post it, but I took some pretty nice pictures. We will continue to assess the situation and I will still give the vet a call, but even in this short span of time, I'm wondering if he's just not trying to exercise his independence with us. Anyway, pictures... (I just got Photoshop Essentials two days ago and have no idea what I'm doing with editing, so lots of these are way too over-saturated and dumb.)  Can you see me? (He's leashed, I just edited it out.)  Taking it all in. Wow.  Super saturation leaves.  So humble.  Shoulder deep in leaves.  This one is unedited, but look at dat tail   Also unedited, SO SPEED.  The only disadvantage to using an extend-o leash in a wooded area... tree tangles.
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Dec 8, 2012 17:56
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Oh my god... I wrapped up most of my presents and put them by our fireplace. The unwrapped presents (which included birch bark chocolate squares) went in a plastic bag next to the wrapped ones. They have been there for a week with no incident. Tonight I left for four hours, and when I got home at 4am, there were two empty bags of chocolate squares, wrappers all over the place, and a previously wrapped book with the paper ripped off and the cover ripped in half. Goliath!  I called the e-vet in a panic, and she told me that since there was only a small amount of milk chocolate in the actual square, he would most likely be fine. He will probably have some diarrhea from eating all the white chocolate, and we might see some wrappers in his poop (currently ten are unaccounted for), but the worst thing will probably be diarrhea. That dog. He ate about twelve ounces of chocolate total, and less than half of that was milk chocolate. He is 70 lbs. I'm a bit concerned about the wrappers that I know he ate, but hopefully they will pass with no issue. So much for going to sleep tonight, I will be staying up on diarrhea patrol and letting him outside frequently. I hope this passes quickly. 
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Dec 15, 2012 12:49
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Wow, she is gorgeous! How is her behavior? Can I ask the story behind the broken arm? More Goliath post flooding. I am seriously in love with this dog. Over Christmas we had to travel out of town for a gathering, and we brought the dog with since it was just an overnight trip. He was such a good boy. He stayed calm, he didn't try to eat off anyone's plate, and he basically stayed by my side the entire time (minus when he had to stay in the basement at my boyfriend's uncle's house, but he did a good job there too). The leash pulling issue hasn't really resolved. I've tried doing the thing where when he pulls, you stop walking with a "stop" command, and you don't start walking again until he isn't pulling. However, the second you start walking again, he is pulling, so it doesn't give much of a chance to reward good walking with a treat. He doesn't do this when we put him in the car and drive him somewhere to walk, but when we walk around the neighborhood, it's pull pull pull all the time. I mean, there are worse things to worry about than pulling, but it doesn't make walk time very fun when you're trying not to fall on your rear end on the ice while he's pulling. It also doesn't help (but it's kind of funny) when you slip, he gets excited at the sudden movement, so he'll pull even harder and you slip even more... Oh that dog. I've found that holding the looped end in my left hand, then wrapping the leash around my wrist once with the right hand and holding it across my body seems to give more control. When he starts to pull I bring the leash in close so he won't knock me over. In regards to the last post, he ended up vomiting out most of the chocolate, so diarrhea didn't become an issue. However, his next two poops had a bunch of wrappers in it. We've been extra cautious with things that are within dog reach now. I put up another video. This is when I was looking at dog videos on Youtube, he came over and was very interested. He was doing those super adorable head tilts and I wanted to get it on camera, and he scared the poo poo out of me when he decided to tell me what he thought of the video, which he does twice. The cat doesn't care. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhqWyI1e-rQ Aaand, more pictures.  Bone from the butcher shop from Grandma. (Don't call me grandma! It's a dog!)  Goliath in front of a second hand Christmas tree.  Wiped out after a long couple of days.  So wiped that he can't keep from nodding off.
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Dec 28, 2012 21:54
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Citizen Rat posted:Have you tried a harness? That might give you more control over him and a bit more stability. But mals man, they pull. It is a Malamute Thing. We have a harness that he steps into and then it buckles on his back, you can kind of see it in the Christmas tree picture and a few pictures that were posted earlier. It's the weirdest thing how he will be fine when he understands that we are traveling somewhere to hike versus when we are just walking around the neighborhood. He does this thing in the yard when he doesn't want to go for a walk where he will jump a few times and plant himself in the ground, like really stomp all four legs into the ground, and look at you with a mischievous face, pretty much saying "If we go on this walk, you're not going to enjoy it." I've never owned a dog before, and when people commented on pictures or videos with "Oh look at his face, he's happy!" or "That look means he's testing you." I thought people were nuts. To me, dogs looked the same all the time and certainly didn't have facial expressions. Now that I actually own a dog, it's totally clear that dogs are extremely expressive, both with their face and with body language. I honestly never thought I would want a dog until I met Goliath. My boyfriend says I'm too morbid for saying this, but I don't think I will want another dog after he's gone. He's too perfect.
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Dec 29, 2012 00:26
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More Goliath pictures. They just keep on coming. We've (I've) been trying the leash training, when he starts to pull, doing a u-turn and saying "no pulling." Sometimes he gets it and sometimes he doesn't, it depends where we are. He has the neighborhood mapped out in his little doggy head, and he knows when we are walking towards our house versus away from it. He does fine walking away, but the closer we get to the house, the more excited he gets and wants to pull. We are having uncommonly warm weather for January, so I took him down to the lake. The sidewalk was covered in ice, and he was pulling and slipping and sliding and ice was flying everywhere, it was pretty adorable. I also discovered he doesn't like Native American men. This nice old guy came up to me and started talking, and Goliath actually barked at him several times. That's the first time he's ever barked at anyone. Then he stood behind my legs and whined. I'm wondering if he had a past owner that looked like that guy who maybe wasn't so nice? Anyway, still working on the leash stuff. Goliath doesn't know any commands like "sit" or "stay," and we've tried to teach him, but there's no getting that dog to sit down at all. PICTURES.  Lil Explorer  Deep in Thought  BLINK  Boopable nose.  Little hairy hands.  Ice dogge. Koivunen fucked around with this message at 10:04 on Apr 25, 2017 |
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Jan 11, 2013 01:10
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I think I am going to die by the end of the day from a cuteness overload. The dog and cat have been doing laps around the house, side by side, all day long. It's the cutest thing I've seen in my entire life. Last weekend we went to my friend's birthday party in the north woods. We brought Goliath with since she has a bunch of dogs, and he got lots of frozen elk meat for being cute. Anyway, we were shooting off fireworks, Goliath got scared, and he managed to open a door and run off into the woods, taking my friend's pomeranian with him. We went out into the woods on foot in the middle of the night trying to track their foot prints in the snow, but there were so many deer tracks that we lost their tracks. We found the pom about half a mile out, and it took nearly an hour of searching for Goliath before he came trotting back to the house on his own. It was so scary, I can't even imagine what I would have done if we hadn't found him. He was really scared too and spent the rest of the night right next to us. Bonus schnoz picture:  Love this dog.
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Feb 19, 2013 02:01
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Saint Darwin posted:Do they ever like to be pet by their owners? A fluffdog who could sit there while we watch TV and get pets is basically a perfect dog. If all you want is a really chill dog, would you consider adopting a more senior dog from a shelter? We adopted our eight year old Alaskan Malamute last November and he is the best dog. His front teeth are pretty worn down and he has mild arthritis in his back, but otherwise he has a clean bill of health. He and the cat are best friends (see my post on the last page for an adorable picture), he is super chill, he loves pets and he loves jumping up on the bed for full-body cuddles, and while he is shy around strangers he has never been aggressive or bitey, and he almost never barks. If I'm being boring, he will go do his own thing and lay down in his favorite spot, but the second you want to give him attention, he loves it. He's super calm, he is able to stay loose in the house while we are at work with no problem, and he's just the best. The end. And just look at how cute...  It's amazing what you can find at the animal shelter.
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Feb 21, 2013 00:10
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paisleyfox posted:
Hahaha oh my gooodd they are so grumpy! This is an adorable picture.RE obedience. Goliath knows no tricks and no commands besides "come here." When we got him, he liked to pull when walking, but I took the time to try to train him to stop pulling by doing a 180 and walking the other direction when he pulled. He was actually getting the hang of it, but my boyfriend never took the time to try to train him, so I ended up getting a front-clipping harness since my boyfriend would set back any progress Goliath made with me. The point is: It was harder to train my boyfriend than it was my new-to-me eight year old dog. Don't think you can't train an older animal, they can learn! And honestly, if you're really wanting "calm," if you get a puppy, it's going to be years before you get it.
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Feb 22, 2013 01:09
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Goliath loves treats. So ferocious.  Love this face.  Derp.
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Mar 10, 2013 18:31
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Goliath photo dump incoming... (Sorry a lot of them are instagram.) Happy pup, this is what I wake up to most days.  Malamute cuddles on a cold night.  We hooked him up to a sled with a three year old last weekend, and he LOVED it. I'm really wondering if he was a sled dog at some point because he loves to pull in the snow, or if that's just his breed instincts. Anyway, he pulled this kid for over two miles and had a blast. He was in front of our "pack" (three people and two other dogs), his tail was curled the whole time, and he kept looking back at me and smiling. It was so cute, I almost exploded.  Derpin around.  We had 42 inches of snow in the last two weeks, the pup doesn't know what to think of it. This was during blizzard #1 of three with more to come. It's been almost six months since we adopted him and I really can't imagine life without him. Sometimes he has accidents inside, but he's probably older than eight, so you can't really blame him. Good thing we have hardwood floors! He is so sweet, loving, tolerant, calm, and awesome, he is really the best dog I could ever dream of. I won't go into details because it makes me really sad, but it's obvious he has been abused in the past. This sounds cliche, but I really can't remember life before having a dog. He is the best and we love him so much!
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Apr 20, 2013 05:26
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It's been two pages since I've posted pictures, that's enough... right? Our six month adoption anniversary was mid-May. I really can't imagine life without this pup. Strange how that works. Before we adopted him, I didn't understand why this thread was titled what it was, but I know now. However, I wouldn't change a thing. I think I was meant for primitive breeds. (Again, sorry a lot of these are Instagram, but we just got cell phones (iPhones nonetheless) two months ago, so... there.)  This was at the beginning of May when we still had snow. I have some videos on my phone of him rolling around in the snow, I have to figure out how to get it on the internet. It's very cute, I can assure you.  Walking into the sunset.  This was at the end of April, we were watching a ship come through the harbor, and even though we live about a mile away from the harbor I forgot just how loud ship horns are when they go through the canal. Well, they blew the horn, and it startled Goliath so bad that he took off running and literally dragged my body fifty feet over ice and snow before slowing down. He's a very strong dog. Someone took my picture too... Embarrassing.  Taking it all in. From two weeks ago. (Someone hasn't lost their winter coat yet!)  Edit to add: Compare that luscious coat to the fur he had when we adopted him in November! He weighs nearly the same in both pictures. Don't mind our gross kitchen.  This is from a few days ago. It was finally warm enough to go outside without a jacket, but since Goliath still has all his winter hair, he got pretty hot and had to cool down in the creek. We were at this particular shore for about twenty minutes while he went in and out, in and out. Question: What do you folks do for tick protection when you have a super hairy dog? Spring has literally just sprung this week, and we need to figure out a tick plan pretty quick. I've never owned a dog before so I'm very much in the dark, and Google can only do so much. Goon opinions and experience matter far more than an internet search. Koivunen fucked around with this message at 03:30 on Jun 11, 2013 |
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Jun 11, 2013 03:09
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SynthOrange posted:Oh my god, did you get them to send you the picture? Unfortunately no. They were taking photos of the ship that came through the canal that day with a "real" camera and I didn't want to disturb their photography mission. Many ships go through the canal every day, but I went down there with the pup because the blizzard had finally stopped and I had just got off a night shift, and sometimes I try to be creative with my tiny little Sony camera.  This was (part of) the ship, if anyone is interested.  And the fairly unusual sunrise that made me want to go to the harbor in the first place.  I've forgotten if I've posted this before or not, but my Malamute and my Malamute-cat (both adopted last year) are best friends. They don't particularly care for flash photography, hence the title of this masterpiece, "Drunk Pets."
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Jun 11, 2013 03:45
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TheDon01 posted:But yeah, looking those pics in the link she definitely could be a wooly. Did someone say woolly!?!?! Using this as an excuse for more photo dumping. Behold, my woolly malamute.  Dug a hole in the mud and sat in it. Extra hair means extra dirt collection.  One of the cool things about having a woolly dog, you can play with their hair.  The extra hair makes for good action shots.
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Jul 8, 2013 18:14
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Careful Girl posted:This has been quiet for some time now!  Sorry, been too busy getting belly rubs.
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Aug 15, 2013 05:04
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Went for a walk yesterday with the pup. Drool drips.  Dug a hole and sat in it.  Happy dogge! In a month we will have had him for a year. Time flies when you've got the best dog in the world.
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Oct 1, 2013 04:26
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Yesterday was Goliath's one year adoption anniversary! We also are calling it his 9th or 10th birthday because you can't own a dog and not celebrate a birthday.  Little dog party hat.  We went for a walk in the park as well. Today it's snowing - his kind of weather. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HN8HvGQ9Ds We sang him Happy Birthday, which I think he liked. Bonus cats in the background. You can see his *silly tail too. (Don't mind the extension cords and mess, our house is constantly under renovation.)  This is a picture from one year ago! His fur was really short back then. Can coats change drastically or do you think he was shaved at one point? For us, that's the only time his fur has been that length, normally it's much, much longer. *I posted this thread in a rage a while ago, he is doing alright now. (TL;DR: We took him to a groomer for the first time and they completely stripped his undercoat and he ended up with a bad hot spot, so we had to shave most of his tail and he went on antibiotics and a topical steroid for a while. Now he looks goofy.) http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3575421
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Nov 9, 2013 00:07
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How horrible of an idea is it to get a second older Malamute? Look at this sweet girl... When I called the shelter they said she was 8, but it doesn't really matter. We got Goliath when he was estimated to be 8 and now he's maybe 9 or so. She looks so precious, she's got that sad look on her face just like Goliath had when I fell in love with him, like all they need is a big hug and a belly rub. She's also been at the shelter for a really long time. I know that since we're all prim breed lovers the natural instinct is going to be "GET HER TODAY," but I really need some outside, objective opinions. PROS: She's beautiful. Boyfriend is also kind of excited about the thought of having another Malamute. Can you imagine two beautiful fluffy dogs cuddling on your bed in the winter? She's been there forever and is likely having trouble finding a home because she's old, she's big, and she's hairy, and we already have one of those things running around our house, what's the harm in getting another? CONS: Our house is already full of animal hair even though we clean regularly. Even with a routine toileting schedule Goliath still poops/pees inside a few times a week when we are working the same shift. Not sure that I want even more poop/pee accidents, and not sure that I want even more dog poo poo in our extremely tiny back yard. Also, two dogs and two cats is kind of getting into crazy animal person territory. UNCERTAINS: Goliath is very indifferent to other dogs. When he sees them from a distance he perks up and acts interested, occasionally he whines and pulls to get closer, but when we're close, he will sniff for a few seconds and then walk away. He's a very passive dog and I'm not sure if he would like having another dog companion around or if he would be jealous. Also due to our schedules and especially in the winter when it's dark all day long, we go on walks about three times a week, sometimes less if the weather is bad, and while Goliath is totally fine with this, I'm not sure than another dog would be. (We walk almost every day in the summer.) Our yard very small and not fenced in, and since they're Malamutes they can't just run around and come back inside. With Goliath that's not a problem because he doesn't like going outside unless he has his harness on and knows he's going for a walk, but I'm not sure how another Mal might handle that. We can definitely afford it, our house is big enough for two Mals to have their own space, but Goliath is my first dog and he's so perfect and wonderful that I don't want my emotions to say that I need another old Malamute just because we've had such a great experience with him. Then again, she looks so cute and sweet and she's been there for 44 days... We will probably visit her in the shelter and bring Goliath with for an introduction just to see what she's like, but I want to make sure that we make a rational, well-thought out decision before we make a choice one way or another. I'd love to hear other people's experiences owning two prims.
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Nov 26, 2013 02:44
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TVs Ian posted:Well, we have the full assortment of dog personalities in our house but since taking in his brother, Nori has a playmate who is better suited than the others so that's a plus. It's extra fun when Ghost the Sibe visits. So much rooo-roooing and ignoring us We live in northern Minnesota. When we are out walking Goliath I see a lot of Huskies and Prim-X looking dogs, but I've only seen one other Malamute "in the wild." That's why I'm so excited about her. There was one time when we were walking Goliath and some people pulled over in their car and asked if he was male or female, and I guess they were looking for a female dog to breed with their male Malamute? It was really weird. Anyway, I would love for Goliath to have some company when we are at work or sleeping at odd hours. Zenithbliss posted:I have 6 cats and one Samoyed (3 gerbils and multiple fish don't really count). We also have a lizard but he doesn't really count, and I want to get some fish but the boyfriend doesn't like them for some reason. Many years ago I got a gecko from someone I worked with who didn't want it any more, and my old cat loved sitting in front of the gecko cage and watching him eat and run around, and the gecko seemed to respond to my cat as well. The gecko died so I got a bearded dragon for my cat's entertainment, and then shortly thereafter my cat died unexpectedly. The cats I have now don't care about the lizard at all. Long story short we also have a lizard but I don't really count him as a pet. Citizen Rat posted:How much of a pain would be making a fence be? I think that would take significant stress out of the situation. I keep agitating for another malamute and I have one malamute and 3 cats. So I can't give an unbiased answer to that question. Our backyard is about 40 feet by 20 feet. We do have a front yard but it's basically just a steep slope to the sidewalk. I wouldn't want to put up a fence in the back yard only because I feel it would be unfair to our neighbors since our property goes up to the foundation of both of their houses, and on the west side we can touch our house and their house at the same time, and on the east side there's about six feet between our houses. It would feel like a dickish move to put a fence in our yard because it would make their property feel that much smaller. Avshalom posted:Mannamutes, if you will. I have seriously considered this. When we fill an entire trash bag with this luxurious, soft, fluffy fur, I have an urge to keep it just in case we find a spinning wheel at a thrift store or auction. Zenithbliss posted:I'd say if you have the finances take her, at least on a foster/trial basis. The thing is, if I take her into my house, that's the end. I would never return an animal after they have been in my house for a while. If she comes home with us, she's staying. We plan to visit the shelter tomorrow with Goliath. We will see how it goes.
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Nov 27, 2013 00:35
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Well, we got Sheba today. She's very sweet, friendly, seems pretty mellow, totally indifferent to the cats, and at this point, she and Goliath are indifferent to each other. She was an owner surrender from a person who apparently didn't have any heat or electricity so they had to give up their dogs. I was surprised at the place we adopted her from, we drove for an hour and a half out into the woods to get there, and nearly passed it, because it's at some guy's house that had a bunch of old trucks out front and a motor home parked on the side. There were many kennels in the back yard, all the dogs are outside all the time, and apparently they tried to kennel Sheba with a smaller dog and the small dog bit her in the face. Both her eyes are extremely red, and the guy said "Yeah, a vet's going to have to look at that." It's a place that I've heard of before and apparently they take good care of their animals, but I definitely won't be returning there again, and if things don't work out with Sheba, I'm not taking her back there. Anyway, she's been home for a few hours now, and I'm a little worried that she's never been kept inside before. When we first brought her in the house she sniffed around for a while and then went to the back door and pawed at it. I took her for a walk/jog around the neighborhood hoping to wear her out a little, and now we're back home and she's just been pacing and pacing. I'm not sure if she just needs to get settled in or if she doesn't like being indoors. If that's the case we might have a problem... I mean, we could put her in the back yard several times a day but she would have to be tied to our laundry pole or put in a kennel, and I wouldn't feel right about that. Maybe I'm getting too worried prematurely. In a few hours I'm taking her in to Petco and am going to attempt to give her a bath. She's extremely smelly. I've got a vet appointment for 8am on Friday to get a look at her eyes. I sure hope this works out and that she and Goliath get a bit more comfortable with each other, she's a really sweet, nice dog. Tried to take some pictures but it's hard to capture a dog in motion.   
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Nov 27, 2013 22:14
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As the evening passes I'm starting to feel worse about this poor dog. Like I said in my previous post, the place was a little sketchy, and was basically run out of this guy's back yard. Before we went there I looked up online reviews. The place is a part of a spay/neuter support program and uses some of the profits to help people in the small town community get their pets spayed and neutered if they can't afford it, and they also have a thrift store where all the profits go to the animals, apparently. There aren't very many reviews online, but the few I read said very positive things about it and the owners. The only bad review was that one person called and a woman was rude to them, so I didn't think twice about it. The first thing that made me have a bad gut feeling was the fact that all their dogs, big and small, regardless of breed, were outside, and a lot of them were sharing kennels. There's already snow on the ground and I couldn't see any kind of shelter, and I doubt they take all the dogs in their house when it's cold. The second thing that made me kind of angry was that he told us she had been bitten in the face by another dog but that it would be our responsibility to take her to a vet. I could tell that her eyes were red, one worse than the other, but I couldn't get a good look at them until we got her home. In retrospect I should have looked at here eyes more closely and refused to take her until she was treated, but it's too late now. Her left eye looks fine but it's really red, and the right eye's third lid is inflamed and covering part of the bottom of her eye. I let the vet know this so I've got the first available appointment on Friday. It really upsets me that he never told me when this happened, so who knows how long she has been sitting outside in a kennel with an injured eye. She also had some dirt caked on her belly, which didn't impress me at all. Finally, the paper with her rabies shot and tag says absolutely nothing else about her. It's obvious she's got some sore hips, and her face makes her look a lot older than eight, and the vet papers say she's eight but the website says she's seven... I know that third lid problems can be really serious and may require surgery. Hopefully we can just treat it with ointment or drops, but if the vet says she would need surgery, I'm not sure what I would do since she's a high-risk dog. I also wouldn't want her to endure the pain of eye surgery at her age, especially if she's got other problems. I really hate to say it, but the thought has crossed my mind - what if we have to put her down? I know I'm worrying way too much right now but I'm feeling literally sick because of worrying and being upset with the "shelter." She did so well while I was giving her a bath tonight (better than Goliath), and she is so sweet and gentle and beautiful and well-behaved, I really am upset at the way she was treated at this place. She looks like a new dog since her bath and now she actually smells good instead of stinking. Since we've been home, Sheba and Goliath have walked around the house a few times together, they took treats really nicely side by side, and now Sheba is lying right by my feet and Goliath is in his usual spot by the stairs. She's just the sweetest thing and I know that I'm blabbing and rambling now but I just feel... bad. I want to be happy and excited that we have this new dog but I'm worrying myself sick. Edit: sitting at the e vet right now because she was pawing at her eye and there was blood on her arm... I am really upset. Koivunen fucked around with this message at 05:10 on Nov 28, 2013 |
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Nov 28, 2013 03:05
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Turns out Sheba has some serious food aggression issues. This morning I was feeding her and Goliath wandered a little too close and she turned around and jumped on h]m and was snarling and snapping and managed to pull out a few tufts of his hair. I had to pull her off him by her harness, and I am not sure how far it would have gone if I wasnt there. Needless to say she will be fed away from anyone else. It worries me a lot that this happened, and even more so that she apparently got in a fight at the rescue too. Last night we kept her in the basement. I feel awful about it but I don't trust her around my other animals without supervision at this point. I think a good solution is crating her for feeding and when we are sleeping or at work. Boyfriend thinks I am overreacting and crating is mean, but I would be afraid of something happening when we aren't there, especially since Goliath sometimes gets into the cat food or recycling if he's being naughty. Thoughts? Turns out her eyes don't have any scratches or punctures and it's conjunctivitis that might be secondary to an upper respiratory infection although her lungs sound good and she's not really sneezing or having any runny noses, so she's on eye drops and pain pills and antibiotics now for a few weeks. She came with us and Goliath to thanksgiving dinner tonight and was very well behaved and sweet, and besides the food aggression incident and some random growling she is really good. I've been under stress for other reasons lately so I'm having a hard time gauging my feelings, but today I've found myself second guessing if this was the right thing to do. The aggression stuff really scares me. She is a really nice, sweet dog otherwise and was in a bad place and needed medical attention, but I'm wondering if this is a good fit for her and us or not. Again boyfriend thinks I am overreacting, and I probably am, and he wants us to try for at least another week before making any decisions. I feel terrible for feeling terrible.
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Nov 29, 2013 09:03
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Like Walking Dad said, last night went fine with the baby gates. He's completely against crating so we settled on baby gates in the stairway since Goliath and the cats sleep with us at night anyway. I would still rather crate but whatever, we spent the money on the gates so that's what we're going to use. Took Sheba and Goliath for a really long walk today. Sheba is fat and out of shape and was worn out long before Goliath was. They are definitely pack animals, Goliath insists on being in front but most of the time they were walking side by side. It was definitely adorable. Goliath has always favored me, I think because initially he was very afraid of men, but it seems like Sheba is favoring Walking Dad, so that's a nice mix. We have found that Sheba will only go potty if we leave her alone outside, so the new routine is to tie Sheba outside, feed Goliath, and when he's done eating, let Sheba come back in, and feed her in the basement landing with the door closed. It seems to be working well so far. Also took some pictures today, so here you go. Her eyes look so much better today than they did when we first got her.  Posing like a doggy model.  This is the second night we had her, she came with to Walking Dad's work for a while.  Waiting at the e-vet, squinting.  Walking side by side like good dogs.
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Nov 30, 2013 22:29
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We are having mixed feelings about Sheba. Still. And still feeling horrible about it. We had Sheba for about two weeks, then I was out of the country for two weeks, and I've been back for a little over a week. Walking Dad has been with Sheba the whole time. She has attacked Goliath three times, and has shown aggressive behavior a few more times, the last attack being a week ago. The first two didn't cause any physical damage apart from ripping out hair (but easily could have if we didn't immediately pull her off), but the last attack gave Goliath a deep puncture wound to his shoulder, a nip to his ear, and Sheba bit Walking Dad and WD's dad deep enough to drip blood all over the floor and cause a great deal of pain. Goliath actually fought back this last time, and I don't like that at all. So far she has left our cats alone, but she nipped at WD's dad's cat, and she is capable of killing them if someone got in her way. We have been doing everything we can to avoid food aggression, but this last attack was when Sheba was drinking water and Goliath passed behind her in the hall. Sheba is outside when Goliath eats, and Goliath is kept upstairs when Sheba eats. Sheba is also outside when there is any kind of food around, especially people food. However I don't know what to do about water. I can't restrict water access for two dogs and two cats. We already have several water dishes at various places around the house. Also, she has taken it upon herself to cover our house with pee and poo. Initially she was very well trained and would ask to go outside, but cleaning up after Sheba has been a near-daily headache. Goliath has actually been really good, no accidents in a few weeks, but that Sheba... She has gone pee/poo in literally every single room in the house. At least Goliath used his puppy pads. There have been times where Sheba has just come back inside and then decides to pee/poo. The only time she asks to go outside is when we are sleeping, and she will bark and whine and bark and bark and bark until we get up and let her out. I've lost a LOT of sleep because of this since I have a hard time getting back to sleep, especially when it's -30 out so I am blasted with arctic air every time I open the door. I'll admit I'm scared of Sheba. I know she picks up on that because even though I try to be friendly and playful, she goes out of her way to avoid me. She seems to get along okay with WD, but she is much more distant and a lot less people-engaged than Goliath. She doesn't interact with us on her own will, it's only if there's food involved. I'm probably projecting big time, but I'm worried that she's not happy with us. She is super friendly with strangers, but she doesn't like me at all, and I feel like I need to be on guard for the next attack. She is a sweet girl and she's pretty much the most adorable dog ever, but I'm still having doubts. I want this to work out but it is a serious source of stress. I would feel absolutely terrible giving her up but at the same time, how many more attacks are going to happen, how much more sleep can I lose, and how do we know what the right thing to do is? When I took Goliath to the vet after he was attacked, the vet said that we need to be very careful because if she has attacked that viciously once, she will do it again (and it's actually been more than once). Immediately after the last attack, we both felt like we were at the end of our ropes and were fully prepared to surrender her. But now that we have all cooled off a bit and there haven't been any more attacks (yet), this yucky feeling of uncertainty keeps coming back. It's stressful. We don't know what to do.
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Jan 1, 2014 03:46
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Thank you for all your thoughtful replies. WD and I both agree that an only-dog home would probably be best for her. I want to stress that I wouldn't be happy about giving her up because I really wanted her in the first place, but this situation is not what we expected. If the shelter we got her from had indicated that she had aggressive tendencies at all, we would not have brought her home. The guy said she seemed like a nice dog and it was the other dog that started the fight at the shelter and that Sheba was the victim. The whole reason we went to see her was because she was an eight year old female malamute. We got Goliath when he was eight, and he is the best dog in the entire world. We were hoping that another opposite sexed mal of the same age would have a similar mellow, easy-going personality, and they would get along well. Obviously that's not how things have gone, and it's a sad situation for everyone. The nearest behaviorist is three hours away. The nearest Husky rescue is three hours away, and she's a Mal. The nearest Malamute rescue is seven hours away. At least we know that the shelter we would bring her to takes really good care of their animals and they seem to have a fast turnover with dogs. The three animals we have adopted from them have all been wonderful. I am a little worried about Sheba biting people, though. In our moment of weakness we talked to the shelter, and when they asked why we were thinking about surrendering, we explained that she didn't get along well with our previous dog. They asked if she had bit people before and we couldn't lie about it. They said that even though they are a no-kill shelter, any time a dog has bit a person, they may consider euthanasia if the dog is aggressive during the assessment. This has me very afraid for her if they test for food aggression. I've been too afraid to get anywhere near her while she's eating, but if they do that rubber hand thing I'm sure she will bite it. I'm not sure if that qualifies since she is perfectly fine with people in every other situation, and when we brought her to the e-vet they said she was very well behaved, but if she somehow got euthanized I would hate myself forever. TVs Ian posted:Just because a rescue is seven hours away doesn't mean they won't take a dog. Contact the mal group first. Sent them an email. Koivunen fucked around with this message at 02:49 on Jan 2, 2014 |
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Jan 2, 2014 00:33
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Sheba update. The Mal rescue group doesn't have any room but said they will post a petfinder ad for her through their organization, so I sent some photos and a bio. I also found a rescue group that is closer to us that takes in dogs that are difficult to place, and they hooked me up with a lady who is experienced with malamutes and huskies and wants a dog with issues. I spoke with her at length tonight - she currently has one other husky and said she was interested in Sheba. She's going to think it over and call me back sometime next week. I really, really hope that she decides to take Sheba, it sounds like she knows what she's doing and it would be a great environment for Sheba to be in. Also, I mentioned where we got her from and she said "Why would you ever get a dog from there!?" Apparently it has a worse reputation than I ever knew. I really hope it works out.
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Jan 3, 2014 03:47
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Sheba update: The Alaskan Malamute rescue group that posted the Petfinder ad came through for us. They found someone who lives in our area that has owned female malamutes for over 20 years. They lost their last Mal in December to bone cancer. I talked with them on the phone at length and they were so excited about Sheba. They had been having a really hard time finding another Mal and were thinking about making a tri-state drive just to look at Mals. When we met in person they brought photo albums of their other dogs, they had professional pet photos of one of the dogs, and they said they had two laundry baskets full of toys. Their living situation also seemed quite fitting. I felt a lot better about these people than the other woman, especially since they really knew their stuff about Malamutes and the other woman kept calling Sheba a husky mix. We said goodbye to Sheba on Sunday. We brought Goliath with since they wanted to meet our other Mal, and Sheba seemed to walk well with them and hopped right in their car. They had already set up a vet appointment for her as well. The guy added me on Facebook and sent me a message on Monday that she was getting used to the place and had been on a couple walks that day. It was tough letting her go but it seems like she's in a good, experienced home with people who are really going to love her. She's also going to be an only-dog and won't be around children. We miss her, she's a sweet girl, but to be honest it's like the tension has lifted and I don't feel like I constantly need to be worried.
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Jan 14, 2014 14:29
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cryingscarf posted:Speaking of photos... I think we are well overdue for some more Goliath photos. TVs Ian posted:I might post Nori pictures if you post Goliath.... Well... OKAY. If I get any Sheba updates I will for sure post them here. We've been having some awful weather here (three day blizzard, -50 degree stretches, ice storms, etc) and haven't been walking Goliath as much as we normally would, plus I was out of the country for a while, so I only have a few photos, all from the same day.  One of his favorite activities is rolling around, which results in a lot of static electricity.  After a good belly rub.  Smiley face.  Bonus malamute-cat Pikkukoira mid-yawn.
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Jan 15, 2014 13:48
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