The Puppy & Dog Owner Thread: Dog owning for dipshits

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Pet Island > The Puppy & Dog Owner Thread: Dog owning for dipshits

wtftastic: Jul 24, 2006; "In private, we will be mercifully free from the opinions of imbeciles and fools."

TShields posted:

Look, I can't keep coming back here to defend myself. I'm a lovely animal owner, apparently. I can't afford thousands a year to get a walker, I can't skip out on an hour of work every single day to walk him, and I can't make his bladder bigger. So I'm going to continue to love him and feed him and care for him the best way I can, because that's all I can do. We're done here. Move along.

Yes, that was the point of what people have been saying. Stop being defensive and understand we're trying to help/ inform.

# ¿ Jul 16, 2013 20:52

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# ¿ May 15, 2024 18:06

wtftastic: Jul 24, 2006; "In private, we will be mercifully free from the opinions of imbeciles and fools."

Topoisomerase posted:

I'm sorry but I will never understand people who come here asking for advice about dealing with a problem and then just say "nope, won't do [thing that will help solve the problem] because currently I do [thing that does not help solve the problem]..." to every single thing people offer and then become really defensive when people get frustrated with them.

TShields you need more help than this forum can realistically give you, if you need some solution that is 100% tailored to the exact hours of every single day that you can devote to solving dog-related problems. You need to have a trainer or someone come to your house and talk to you. This costs money. I'm sure that will be your excuse as to why you can't do it. Or there will be a different one. I don't know what you want to hear here...

I just wish he'd get probated. Why come into the training advice thread, ask for advice, get several nice, well reasoned replies, which he ignores and then continues to poo poo up the thread with more OH I KNOW I DIDNT LISTEN AT ALL BUT SERIOUSLY YOU GUYS I NEED HELP.

TShields, Get a loving dog walker and go to a dog training class and stop being a stubborn dipshit.

# ¿ Jul 24, 2013 03:46

wtftastic: Jul 24, 2006; "In private, we will be mercifully free from the opinions of imbeciles and fools."

I've heard a lot of similar stuff from people who breed/ work with breeders, in as much as they really like Pro Plan. That's what my mom and dad's Finnish spitzes were raised on prior to living with us. They were kind of skunky when we got them, but I think that wasn't really the food. They've both turned out nicely and have wonderful coats/

# ¿ Aug 27, 2013 12:39

wtftastic: Jul 24, 2006; "In private, we will be mercifully free from the opinions of imbeciles and fools."

Beef posted:

We removed the pad from her pen and now she did her pee on the morning walk, only to leave a big dump on our floor the second we got back. Still, improvement!

We also live on the second floor. Any tips for house training in an apartment?

It's still pretty much the same. You just need to be more diligent about getting the dog out after naps, play, and food.

# ¿ Sep 19, 2013 13:22

wtftastic: Jul 24, 2006; "In private, we will be mercifully free from the opinions of imbeciles and fools."

Sab0921 posted:

Ok, so every time I take the puppy out to go, which she is pretty good at, however, when we are outside she eats everything.

I mean anything and everything, we live in an urban area so there are stones from the street, leaves, berries from trees, cigarette butts. If there is anything on the ground she tries to eat it, and it's got me worried. The rescue said she's only had one round of boosters, and she won't get her next until 12 weeks (she's about 9 weeks right now) and to be very cautious and to avoid dog parks, grassy areas in general and the like as a preventative measure until she gets that worked out.

Anything I can do in the meantime?

Do you have access to a small, relatively controlled area where you can walk the dog to eliminate? Say like a small yard or something like that or a quieter part of a park? If you can try to anticipate what's on the ground it can help you be on the look out for her foraging. I understand that that's not always possible, especially when you are walking to or from a potty destination, so maybe either carry her (I know that's very fur mommy-ish, but its the easiest solution) to the area, or walk fast enough that she doesn't really have a chance to scout out whats on the ground.

You could also start clicking for eye contact while on leash, basically teaching you pup that looking at you or making eye contact is very rewarding- she'll be more likely to look to you for some tasty treats after a while than looking at the ground for tasty treats. You can try this at first at home or in really boring environments so she's really likely to succeed. This will also build good leash behaviors for her later in life. Basically, initially you want to click for her looking at you even for a very short time, and then making eye contact, etc. It should be a snap to teach! Use some really high value (stinky/ tasty) treats.

# ¿ Sep 23, 2013 02:44

wtftastic: Jul 24, 2006; "In private, we will be mercifully free from the opinions of imbeciles and fools."

ButWhatIf posted:

You could have just said this part, you know, without saying "you're doing it wrong." I've found my clients to be more compliant and responsive when no blame is being placed for things not happening the way they want.

Stay is especially difficult, and it often feels like you hit a wall at certain points - adding disappear and going directly behind the dog seem to be the most challenging by far. If you hit a wall, go back to the last place where it was still able to happen, then baby step it toward the new goal.

Also important to remember that you need to make small changes in what you are asking for. If you want the dog to stay when you go behind them, start by initially asking them to stay when you move to the side, and reward for that until they seem to have that down. Basically you want to slowly raise your criteria for what you want in the stay. Also, try to have your dog practice the stay in a really really boring location so that there's no reason for them (outside of you!) to get up and move around.

# ¿ Sep 24, 2013 18:31

wtftastic: Jul 24, 2006; "In private, we will be mercifully free from the opinions of imbeciles and fools."

Martytoof posted:

I've been asking her to sit, then down, then stay, all while sitting in front of her, rewarding after each command. She's fine with sit and down, and a rudimentary stay works, but the second I try to introduce any movement at all, gentle rocking side to side, any sort of distraction, she just up and starts in for my lap. If I try to hold stay for a long period of time without any feedback after the initial reward she also seems to get bored and just puppy-ADHD noses around.

Have you tried asking for those behaviors while standing? Typically you'll be standing when you ask her to do those things anyways and it might be easier for both you and her to get used to that now. Since dogs are not good at generalizing, it might take a little for her to get sit and down again, but you'll thank yourself later that you moved on to standing sooner rather than later. If she's taking movement as a cue to jump in to your lap, she can't do that if you are standing.

If she's getting bored, work on short stays and get those down and keep training sessions short to keep her from getting bored or frustrated.

# ¿ Sep 24, 2013 18:47

wtftastic: Jul 24, 2006; "In private, we will be mercifully free from the opinions of imbeciles and fools."

Martytoof posted:

I'll do that for sure. Part of it is that I've only just started working with her so obviously I'm asking for a lot in a short amount of time. I don't doubt at all that she'll get it, it's just hard to transition to remembering that a puppy is a dumb little babby dog when you've had grown trained dogs for the past 10+ years

Good feedback, thanks everyone!

That's okay- I didn't want to say that I think you are asking for too much too soon since dogs ( a lot like people) can have different learning styles/ learning speeds. Good on you for starting early and working hard!

# ¿ Sep 24, 2013 19:00

wtftastic: Jul 24, 2006; "In private, we will be mercifully free from the opinions of imbeciles and fools."

Spengelbeiser posted:

No, no. That's okay. You made the rules, you need to apply them consistently. Name the dog Cat.

It's for the best really- there will be few to no other dogs named cat.

# ¿ Sep 27, 2013 19:36

wtftastic: Jul 24, 2006; "In private, we will be mercifully free from the opinions of imbeciles and fools."

Most people I know use a yelp and time out (getting up and walking away) to great effect. If the yelp riles your dog up, just walk away and be inaccessible to let your dog calm down.

# ¿ Oct 9, 2013 21:43

wtftastic: Jul 24, 2006; "In private, we will be mercifully free from the opinions of imbeciles and fools."

Beef posted:

Thanks for the pointers McFurious.

To be clear, I'm not emulating a dog yelp, just saying OW and walking away.

So, if I understand correctly, it's ok for the puppy to do some soft and playful biting, with the aforementioned discouragement when she bites too hard. I'll remember the butter trick for when it gets out of hand.

Chill out over the butter thing, sweet jezus. It is probably next to vinegar the most commonly used household product for all kinds of little tricks.

The real issue is that the butter method isn't really the most useful way to handle this- no one hates butter or is anti butter. We just think that you are more likely to see success with the "ow" and then walk away method, rather than smearing butter on yourself.

# ¿ Oct 10, 2013 13:59

wtftastic: Jul 24, 2006; "In private, we will be mercifully free from the opinions of imbeciles and fools."

Kiri koli posted:

I agree that the 'ow' and walk away method is often successful, however, you will occasionally run into a dog who is undeterred by it. Psyche was one such dog and our solution was to do shaping sessions where she was rewarded for not going after hands, no matter what we were doing (waving hands around, reaching behind her, etc). We did in conjunction with two other things: 1) we did encourage licking, but not with butter (sounds messy, inconvenient, and I'm not sure phasing it out would be all that effective). We simply put our hands flat on the floor such that they were less fun to bite and encouraged licking when she switched to that and 2) after she had gotten good at the shaping game, we reintroduced hand biting in the context of 'game time' where it was allowed only under specific circumstances.

I know the original question was about a young puppy, so the solutions may differ depending on WHY your dog is mouthing. Psyche was a combination of over-excitement, communication (that was how she learned to let people know she had to pee), and stress (which is why we encouraged licking, it is stress relief to her).

Here is a kikopup video demonstrating the shaping exercise. She does it with a pretty young puppy.

Also it can be useful to teach your dog that some level of pressure is okay, especially if they're just generally kind of mouthy.

My dog (an australian cattle dog mix) has a very hard mouth and is generally not particularly mouthy, but when he takes treats he can be very rough. I had to teach him that light pressure only got him treats and that hard pressure didn't work. It was painful (having a dog gnaw on you isn't great fun), but worked well.

# ¿ Oct 10, 2013 15:12

wtftastic: Jul 24, 2006; "In private, we will be mercifully free from the opinions of imbeciles and fools."

Goonicus posted:

Interesting, I didn't know dog parks could be a negative thing. My pup gets picked on sometimes by the more aggressive bigger dogs but he'll be A Big Dog soon enough and I figured it was all part of dog socialization dynamic.

Sometimes I do want to punch smug dog owners though when they make smuggy remarks.

Honestly if your dog loves other dogs, and you have friends with dogs who your dog gets on well with, have play dates with them. Your dog still gets chances to socialize, play, and have fun, but you can avoid bully dogs and smug lord owners!

My dog is socially awkward and loves to play dog police- he's decent with other dogs, but even for him, a dog park is just too much. I now only allow him to interact one on one with other dogs, and even then I usually take a pass if the other dog seems spastic or rude.

# ¿ Oct 19, 2013 21:42

wtftastic: Jul 24, 2006; "In private, we will be mercifully free from the opinions of imbeciles and fools."

Asnorban posted:

Our one and a half year old pup has had 3 seizures over the past few months. We went to the vet again after his most recent and they say it is probably epilepsy. They have suggested putting him on Phenobarbital, which my wife and I will do if the seizures worsen. However, as we researched the side effects of it we've been pretty disheartened at how strong they can be, specifically that it looks like there is a decent chance of it altering his energy and enthusiasm to a pretty extreme degree. We've been trying to do as much research as we can to find out what environmental factors, diet factors, etc may contribute to seizures as well as to see if there are any other possible remedies before we go with the Pheno. Are there any suggestions any of you have for what we can try before putting him on Pheno? We are getting back with our vet later this week to discuss this, but I figured I would check here since you are always so helpful. I work from home, so one of us is around the house / him most of the week.

I want to stress, again, that we will not hold back on the Pheno if he needs it, we will do whatever we have to for his health and safety. We would just like to research in to possible alternatives before going to what seems to be a potentially extreme medication in terms of side effects.

Phenobarbitol or another vet prescribed medication is probably the best choice (IANAV)- other alternatives like herbal or alternative treatments are unlikely to help and a lot of the other stuff that might cause the seizure might be hard or impossible to pinpoint. If you work with your vet and explain that you are concerned about the side effects, I'm sure he can work with you to either adjust the dosage or discuss other medications that will treat his seizures. Please be open and frank with your vet about your concerns- seizures are scary for dogs and owners and can have long lasting effects, so the sooner you get to the bottom of this, the better!

# ¿ Oct 30, 2013 17:43

wtftastic: Jul 24, 2006; "In private, we will be mercifully free from the opinions of imbeciles and fools."

Eegah posted:

Just need to redirect its playful tendencies. An hour or so at the giant death robot park should tire it out. Just make sure its up to date on its shots -- a giant death robot with parvo is just the saddest thing.

They end up making GBS threads and puking oil everywhere.

# ¿ Nov 16, 2013 16:51

wtftastic: Jul 24, 2006; "In private, we will be mercifully free from the opinions of imbeciles and fools."

Engineer Lenk posted:

Not ALL, but have ideas about this.

101 things to do with a box is a good shaping game, and the introduction of the prop is sometimes novel enough to get dogs offering behaviors.

Otherwise, drop your initial shaping criteria to 'look anywhere but at me', and don't make direct eye contact. Give him a release word if it looks like he's put himself in a stay.

101 things to do with a box is a good start- if he's too used to orienting on you and likes to be lured, you can always cheat and initially throw a kibble into the box to get him to interact with it. I did this with my dog- one low value kibble inside of it, and then I c+t the second he touched the box. Smooth sailing from that point on.

# ¿ Dec 12, 2013 19:01

wtftastic: Jul 24, 2006; "In private, we will be mercifully free from the opinions of imbeciles and fools."

Kong wobblers are fantastically easy to fill and feed from- Bailey has been using his for every meal for ~1.5 years. I also give him kibble in other small treat toys for when I leave in the AM.

# ¿ Jan 3, 2014 19:43

wtftastic: Jul 24, 2006; "In private, we will be mercifully free from the opinions of imbeciles and fools."

LeftistMuslimObama posted:

Got a chance to watch that video on fading a lure. I will try that out, but I don't know if Thor is actually smart enough/used to training enough to get it in 3 tries like that. I tried really hard to get him to follow my treatless hand after a couple with treats and he just stared at me like I was an rear end in a top hat.

Also he is terrified of clickers. We tried a clicker for a while, doing the click-treat click-treat thing and everything, but if you're not actively shoveling food in his mouth the sound of the clicker makes him flinch and hide. Is just saying "Yes!" a good marker instead?

You could even use one of those "check if button is depressed for freshness" lids if it makes a noise thats audible but not startling. Or you could click using your mouth?

# ¿ Jan 9, 2014 21:45

wtftastic: Jul 24, 2006; "In private, we will be mercifully free from the opinions of imbeciles and fools."

Psychobabble! posted:

Quick question: I have a 3.5 month old shiba, and we're working on crate training to deal with budding SA issues. We've fed her her meals in her bowl in there in the past, but she eats so fast(and doesn't get very much, ~2 tbls per meal) it's gone instantly. We've tried stuffing a kong w/ kibble and PB, but she'll stop going after it once it gets a little farther into the kong because .

Basically I'm trying to find recommendations for a slower feeder that'll work okay in her crate. Would a kong wubba work? We were concerned she wouldn't have enough space to really utilize it. Mind you, her crate is sized to fit her as an adult and a couple weeks ago we took out the divider because we aren't worried about her soiling it(she's been holding it through the night since she was like 6.5 weeks old!), so she has a good deal of wiggle room. If not, suggestions for other feeders? I like the look of the maze ones, like this one: http://tinyurl.com/lxckpcz, but I can only seem to find them in large.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Edit: here's a pic of her current crate set up. Laser doge for scale:

There are slow feeder bowls, and you could also try freezing her kibble into a kong (with PB or broth or something) or freeze some really stinky smelly wet food into the kong.

# ¿ Feb 21, 2014 15:39

wtftastic: Jul 24, 2006; "In private, we will be mercifully free from the opinions of imbeciles and fools."

Kerfuffle posted:

Could you expand on this? Is it an issue of price, efficacy, or something else? We need to resupply for our dogs and were thinking about hitting up Amazon or something similar instead.

quote:

It's fine to get brand names from the store or amazon. Avoid hartz and other "bargain" brands. There is one generic that is safe that came out a couple years ago but I've completely forgotten the name of it.

The generic for Frontline is Sentry Fiproguard (http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=24295). I've used this and the non generic Frontline with no problems. Its made from the same active ingredients, so it should be just as effective.

wtftastic fucked around with this message at 21:12 on Feb 27, 2014

# ¿ Feb 27, 2014 20:53

wtftastic: Jul 24, 2006; "In private, we will be mercifully free from the opinions of imbeciles and fools."

Rurutia posted:

Do you have any recommendations for heartworm meds?

I just buy regular old heartgard, the stuff you get from your vet, because its cheap and works. I would talk to your vet about this, since heartworms are nothing to mess with.

# ¿ Feb 28, 2014 17:31

wtftastic: Jul 24, 2006; "In private, we will be mercifully free from the opinions of imbeciles and fools."

Steve Yun posted:

Honey is my first puppy so bear with me here, sorry if I'm going to post a lot of questions

In order to better reinforce peeing on the peepads, I've started giving Honey some treats (Little Jacs) every time she does. She's tiny so I give her a fraction of a piece

Now she is attempting to game the system. She pees more often but smaller in order to get more treats. Sometimes she will even just walk into her peepad and walk out, and come up to me expecting a treat. I've started giving her treats only some of the time now.

She's also lost her appetite for her regular food. She's gone from 2 lbs to 1lb14oz.

Is this normal when you start giving them treats? Should I just let her get hungry so that she eats her food again?

Why don't you start working on having your pup eliminate outdoors instead of inside of the house?

# ¿ Mar 21, 2014 17:56

wtftastic: Jul 24, 2006; "In private, we will be mercifully free from the opinions of imbeciles and fools."

You need to build a positive association with the room and going into his crate. Make it seem like the coolest thing in the world- everytime he goes in there asked or unasked, throw a praise party and shower him with cookies. Do this just through out the day or randomly, and also when you get ready to leave. That way its not always "people are leaving, I have to go to this lovely room/ crate by myself" but rather "loving SWEET TREATS".

# ¿ Apr 1, 2014 14:28

wtftastic: Jul 24, 2006; "In private, we will be mercifully free from the opinions of imbeciles and fools."

The Bunk posted:

This is Louie. He's a little over a year old bassett-beagle mix whose owners returned him to the shelter after they let him get too fat. I think at his heaviest he was pushing 45 lbs, but as of 3 weeks ago he was down to 38. Interests include flopping on the kitchen floor after walks.

Overall he's adjusting to his new environment really well. No accidents since the first couple of days & he's sleeping through the night, though I did have to get some plastic channeling for my speaker cable after he chewed through it while I was at work.

I did want to see if anyone had tips on calming him down, though this might be better for the training thread. Last night he saw a rabbit in our back yard (he was inside with us) and got really keyed up for an hour or so. I know it's probably unrealistic to expect him to not bark at rabbits, but no matter what we tried (toys, treats, attention) he kept going back & howling through the door even though the rabbit was long gone. He had just gotten back from a long walk. It hasn't happened before -he actually saw one on our walk this morning & pulled a bit but didn't bark once- but I was wondering what the best course of action would be if it happens again. Should I have let him outside so he could catch the scent? I've done that before and he sniffed and barked for a few minutes but not nearly this long.

You can eventually teach him to calm down and you certainly don't want him thinking any time he sees a thing outside you let him out- he'll start probably asking to go out and or expecting it. If you can block his line of sight while you work on that, it might be good. Taking him to another room and doing something distracting when he gets wound up, or just putting him somewhere he can't see or howl at it might also work.

# ¿ May 14, 2014 18:09

wtftastic: Jul 24, 2006; "In private, we will be mercifully free from the opinions of imbeciles and fools."

Downhome posted:

We have yet another issue with Betty, our Boston Terrier pup. We noticed some scratching and small patches of hair loss and long story short the vet diagnosed her with demodex mange. He gave us a shampoo to use once a week, a pill to fight infection, and a liquid to give her directly by mouth using a small syringe.

What else can I do outside of the instructions fro our vet? She is on a diet of lean raw beef supplemented with BLUE Wilderness Salmon Recipe. What can I do to help boost her immune system? Have any of you guys ever dealt with this before?

I used to think only filthy strays got this sort of thing, not a little puppy that we completely and totally baby. I'm sure it's because of the idiot Joe-blow breeder we bought her from. Our vet said she was likely born with a weakened immune system which has triggered this now.

I've had dogs get mange in the past because a mangy fox went through the yard. They never came into contact directly with the fox, but he must have been shedding mites as he walked through the yard. You never know. Also from what I've read your dog probably just doesn't have an immune response to the mites.

I'd recommend making sure the diet you are feeding is nutritionally complete. Why feed lean raw beef? If you want to feed raw, just raw meat isn't going to cut it. Sure you supplement with kibble, but that may not be enough. Also make sure you are feeding puppy food- it provides all the calories and nutrients rapidly growing dogs need.

# ¿ Jul 15, 2014 17:12

wtftastic: Jul 24, 2006; "In private, we will be mercifully free from the opinions of imbeciles and fools."

Downhome posted:

I do not have the ability to send or receive PMs.

To answer a few people before, the raw we give her is from Blue Ridge Beef, a pretty popular raw provider in this part of the country. See here...

http://www.blueridgebeef.com/index-home.html

We do supplement it with the salmon recipe from Blue Buffalo. We are open to anything we can do to help her with this. I just want to get her healthy and do what we can to keep her there.

Okay, but is that salmon food "for all life stages"? A puppy formula? A "maintenance" (for adult dog only)formula?

# ¿ Jul 16, 2014 00:52

wtftastic: Jul 24, 2006; "In private, we will be mercifully free from the opinions of imbeciles and fools."

beefnoodle posted:

Who said anything about sharing my dogs's diet? I only mentioned supplements. As for whether you think it's complete, what are your qualifications?

Give me a bit, and I'll put a list together here.

The FAQ on that site does seem to indicate that supplements are a good idea. Plus the fact that the beef is just meat, no added vitamins or minerals. I didn't look at the salmon.

SailorSign is a vet so I would imagine he's a little more qualified than most of us.

Downhome posted:

If that is the case then what brand and how much would you recommend I give her right now as we deal with this?

Go to a pet store, look at different brands of kibble or canned that are labeled either puppy or for all life stages, and pick some up. You can figure out what brand. Read the bag for feeding guidelines.

# ¿ Jul 16, 2014 13:17

wtftastic: Jul 24, 2006; "In private, we will be mercifully free from the opinions of imbeciles and fools."

Because my dog is an annoying hound mix who is more stubborn than I am, I got baby gates to keep him out of and away from my kitchen. I did this partly to prevent counter surfing (which he started trying) and to stop him pestering me while I cook. He's since gotten to the point where I can occasionally take the gate down and he won't instantly become annoying and underfoot. If you stop him from practicing the "paw at fridge" behavior via barriers, just be prepared for him to pick it up again if you take them down or allow him to continue.

# ¿ Jul 21, 2014 03:46

wtftastic: Jul 24, 2006; "In private, we will be mercifully free from the opinions of imbeciles and fools."

ImplicitAssembler posted:

We got a Kong Wobbler this weekend for our puppy and apart from having to spend an evening trying to convince her that it wasn't trying to kill her, it's been a revelation. Once she figured out how to get food out of it, she's clearly been more relaxed and while I've changed a couple of other things, she's become a lot more sociable in a good way (not biting all the time).

Kong wobblers and food dispensing toys are a godsend. My dog has a bunch of kong style purple ones that roll around for when I leave in the AM and a wobbler for meals. It helps with his weight and helped to teach him to be more adaptable.

# ¿ Jul 21, 2014 17:59

wtftastic: Jul 24, 2006; "In private, we will be mercifully free from the opinions of imbeciles and fools."

Dong Swanson posted:

Thanks for the advice, besides a hamster about fifteen years ago he's the only pet I've ever had and I'm pretty worried about screwing him up somehow.

Did try the suggestion in the OP, though honestly not very consistently - when I do leave the room just after it happens, beyond a rather confused look he doesn't seem to care that I'm gone. Sometimes he's pretty affectionate licking and following me around and he enjoys the clicker training and going out for walks but for the most part he just lounges around and seems quite happy for me to be doing stuff in another room.

Also tried the high pitched yelping but other than feeling like a bit of a twat it didn't have any effect. I suppose I never really gave the leaving the room thing a fair shot, hopefully if I'm more consistent with it he'll pick up what I want from him.

Sometimes trading him a toy, redirecting his biteyness toward and appropriate outlet, or leaving the room as you've been doing can work. You can also praise or reward him for different degrees of biteyness, like licking or gentle mouthing so that eventually he learns "hey mouthing with no teeth is okay!". Its a gradual process and its going to take a while.

# ¿ Aug 14, 2014 20:43

wtftastic: Jul 24, 2006; "In private, we will be mercifully free from the opinions of imbeciles and fools."

Muttonchips posted:

My 4 month old pup has no problems coming to me when I call her inside the house. But when I let her run free in my backyard, she won't come to me. She used to come running to me when I'd call her name even in the backyard, but I'm assuming she stopped because she associates me calling her name with bath time and having to come inside. She has a tendency to get caked in dirt and mud and I have to give her a quick water bath before she's allowed back in. What kind of things can I do to stop her from associating a name recall with a bath? I know the alternative is to always keep her on leash, but I'd prefer to let her run around and get all the running out of her system. I do give her treats after her bath, but she hates the bath so much that she's stopped coming.

Spend time making recall for super happy fun time, and use a different cue. Instead of "come", which you poisoned with the whole bathing thing, use "let's go!" or something like that and when she comes over, give her a bunch of awesome treats and then send her on her way. Do this for a while, and then slowly add in some times where she doesn't get released to go back to play. Once you have a solid foundation of "when I go to my owner on cue X, I get great stuff AND I get to go back to playing", then add in the stuff she hates slowly. In the mean time, go get her, and try to work on making baths less stressful. (Something like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_uqzGbXscc)

# ¿ Aug 21, 2014 04:17

wtftastic: Jul 24, 2006; "In private, we will be mercifully free from the opinions of imbeciles and fools."

Teach your dog to poo poo outside and learn how to read their cues for "I need to potty". If you live in an apartment, potty training (taking it out for a quick pee in a grassy area and providing chances to poop) a dog is entirely do-able. Plenty of other people have done it.

# ¿ Aug 25, 2014 13:21

wtftastic: Jul 24, 2006; "In private, we will be mercifully free from the opinions of imbeciles and fools."

Also catahoulas are really not a dog for everyone. They have high prey drives, need a lot of mental and physical stimulation, and can be hard to handle. Have to considered that this might not be the right dog for you?

# ¿ Aug 27, 2014 15:30

wtftastic: Jul 24, 2006; "In private, we will be mercifully free from the opinions of imbeciles and fools."

If parvo isn't running rampant your dog is not going to die from touching the ground outside. For like the tenth time, don't let her eat or roll in dog poo poo and you are probably golden.

Walking her outside now is going to save you a lot of problems in the long run.

# ¿ Aug 28, 2014 12:56

wtftastic: Jul 24, 2006; "In private, we will be mercifully free from the opinions of imbeciles and fools."

It also might help to cover her crate with a blanket at that time so it stays dark once she goes back in.

# ¿ Sep 4, 2014 20:27

wtftastic: Jul 24, 2006; "In private, we will be mercifully free from the opinions of imbeciles and fools."

a life less posted:

Take the dogs out on a leash, or be prepared for a big cleanup in the spring.

Technically you can teach them to eliminate in a particular area, but I've never bothered following through.

If you have a child, time to teach them pooper scooper duty.

Or, you know, be prepared to do it yourself.

# ¿ Sep 17, 2014 21:03

wtftastic: Jul 24, 2006; "In private, we will be mercifully free from the opinions of imbeciles and fools."

IANAV but you can also use claritin (make sure with no decongestant) depending on the weight of your dog. I find it makes my dog less of a mess. Also, if you can prevent the dog from licking application sites, some topical cortisol on UNBROKEN skin can help if its an allergic reaction.

# ¿ Oct 30, 2014 19:50

wtftastic: Jul 24, 2006; "In private, we will be mercifully free from the opinions of imbeciles and fools."

BigPaddy posted:

I think this is the right thread so looking for an advice:

This weekend my girlfriend and I are going to a breeder for Olde English Bulldogges, long story why but the jist is wanting something mid sized, healthy, active but friendly and playful, I am drawing up a list of questions and other things to check such as:

Parent healthy certs
Environment puppies are raised in
General breed knowledge and attitude to the dogs
Kennel Club registration
Time with the parents to judge size, temperament etc...
Breeder input on whether or not they think the breed will fit in with our lifestyle

Is there anything else I should be checking? Apparently the breeder already has a waiting list for next spring of 4 people so what happens if the litter is only 4? I assume that I would be either first for the next litter or could get my deposit back and look around at other breeders?

If you are looking for healthy and active, an English bulldog or any brachiocephalic dog is a bad bet. Your questions seem good though.

# ¿ Oct 31, 2014 13:50

wtftastic: Jul 24, 2006; "In private, we will be mercifully free from the opinions of imbeciles and fools."

Fraction posted:

OEBs are still real unhealthy like any other brachiocephalic breed tbh

How active do you need or want the dog to be? If you outline exercise plans to the breeder they will hopefully know their dogs enough and be honest enough about whether that'll be too much or w/e

Yeah I know they're "different" (haha) but I was on my phone, lazy, and my point still stands. Can they whelp without significant human intervention?

I get your s/o wanting something specific, but maybe something different, especially if the breeder is giving you a song and dance.

# ¿ Oct 31, 2014 16:35

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# ¿ May 15, 2024 18:06

wtftastic: Jul 24, 2006; "In private, we will be mercifully free from the opinions of imbeciles and fools."

BigPaddy posted:

goons

Yeah they can fertilize and whelp naturally. That was one of the most important things when I was doing my research into breeds.

I would just go to a shelter but she has a number of criteria that led to the current train of thinking. There are three of them near me and if they all give me a song a dance then yeah they can go pound sand, one of them at least does seem at least to want to talk about the dogs at great length which is better than stone cold silence. One did give me the whole I don't want to spend time on your queries as you might be a time waster run around so I doubt I will even go visit them... thus making me a time waster.

Yeah if they pull the whole time waster bull poo poo instead of being excited someone gives a gently caress and doesn't just go GIMME PUPPY PLZ K THNX, then gently caress them. If you like what you see, then go for it. I guess just be prepared to squirrel more away in your rainy day vet fund than you would if you had random heinz 57 mutt with no clear prepropensity to health problems.

Also, when you talk to the breeder, try to see if she keeps in touch with people who buy her puppies. How are they doing in their new homes? Any health issues in other pups? She/he might freely offer that info, but its nice to know that if your pup developed problems the breeder would want to know about it.

# ¿ Oct 31, 2014 20:12

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Pet Island > The Puppy & Dog Owner Thread: Dog owning for dipshits

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