Is Your Dog High Maintenance?

[Lyzelle]

Zander isn't super high maintenance, but he can be extremely so in certain situations.

While he's great with kids and little animals, fantastic with dogs and generally happy to gogogo all day or just sleep until noon....he is a Sibe. He is an escape artist. He is a runner. And he will run. And run. And run. Nothing less than Fort Knox and extremely mindful handler will keep him contained. I hardly trust my husband to walk him.

He's also pretty skittish, and doesn't trust most strangers. Which might have him flying back at 80mph screaming, "OH HELL NO" at any given moment. Although since moving in with me, he's improved loads. So it isn't nearly as bad.

But other than those two things, he's pretty lazy and easy.

[AdrianneIsabel]

All of mine are, varying levels. Arnold is dangerous with dogs when not watched. Shamoo has no training. Sloan has high prey drive and a careful edge. Backup... lol

[Fran101]

Originally Posted by AdrianneIsabel

All of mine are, varying levels. Arnold is dangerous with dogs when not watched. Shamoo has no training. Sloan has high prey drive and a careful edge. Backup... lol

Shamoo has plenty of training.
she is a level 5 graduate of the school of cute.

Show some respect plz.

[Toller_08]

Keira: She is in the sense of how you have to live with her if you want a relaxed, well behaved dog. It's all about patience and only rewarding calm and polite behaviour with her, otherwise she paces, runs, races, whines and trembles in excitement. All day. But other than that, no, she's not. Anyone she's met once or twice could walk into the house and let her out, take her for a walk, take her to a park, etc. She's very easy going in that regard and pretty bombproof in most situations. She's also content with not going for a walk or a run anymore than once a week. You can poke, prod, do whatever yo her and she'll accept it with zero issues. But the thing that makes her high maintenance is a big thing: most people don't understand how not to reward the frantic Keira, and thus have a BarkScreaming dog who pushes buttons and runs everywhere.

Ripley: I don't find him to be in most regards. He nor Keira are kennel/boarding situation dogs, which is why they go to live with their breeder if we're away. That's stressful enough for them. An actual kennel would make their neurotic tendencies come out tenfold. But other than that, he's pretty easy going. Again, doesn't need a ton of exercise, if he's met you once or twice, he'd have no problem with you letting him out to play/potty. He can be DR on leash though, so I would be uncomfortable with others walking him. He's not at all extreme, but still, I wouldn't want another person to make it worse. But letting him out in his own home wouldn't be a problem. And again, he's super easygoing with handling. People can do anything to him and he'll take it. The only thing he doesn't like is people looming over him or strangers grabbing his face, but he just backs away. An experienced dog person could easily look after Ripley.

Dance: Well, she doesn't really like people, so in that sense, yes, she can be high maintenance. I'm sure almost anyone could come into my home and let her out to potty or something, but she'd probably be a bit freaked out. No way would I want anyone ever taking her anywhere though. They likely wouldn't know how to handle her, and could make her fears worse. Depending on how well she knows you depends on what sort of handling she'd be comfortable with in certain situations. She's not really a daycare sort of dog (she doesn't care about playing with other dogs), and she'd probably be very stressed in a boarding situation, but I actually think she'd handle it better than the Dobermans once she got to know the attendants. House wise, she's very easy to live with, and again, it doesn't matter how much exercise she gets. Anyone that takes care of Dance has to be someone I trust and someone dog experienced. She's not impossible, and for some people is rather easy, but she has her quirks and issues and that's reason enough for me not to want just anyone doing something with her. When she stayed with Zhucca (chaz member) last winter it didn't sound like she was any different from when she was with me, which was good. She took Dance places and did stuff with her and Dance was fine. So I'm more comfortable with dog people taking care of her now, but like I said, I couldn't let just anybody.

Journey: She's a go with the flow, easy going puppy. Anyone can do anything they want to her, she'll go anywhere happily, no SA, nothing. Super easy. I still wouldn't let just anyone take care of her, but so far I see no reason for her to give anyone any trouble and is not what I'd consider high maintenance. She does need an outlet for her energy though. She is very busy.

Originally Posted by Fran101

The one way he is HM? When I am around but not GONE. If I just leave, he has a minute of whining or worrying at whoever I left him with or in his crate..but he is fine.
But if I dare leave him behind the desk and go around the store. Or lock him out of a room I'm in. .. OH GOD!! IT'S A SCENE!!!

HOW DARE YOU LEAVE ME IN THIS ROOM WITHOUT YOU BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK I HEAR YOU OUT THERE BARK BARK BARK BARK

Ugh, that sucks. Have you tried separating him from you but within eye sight? That's the advice I was given for Journey's start of SA and now I don't have a problem at all. I locked her behind an expen where she could see me, which frustrated her, but she realized that everything was ok and she wasn't going to die. And I intermittently walked by and rewarded her for quiet and relaxed behaviour.

[milos_mommy]

In every sense of the term.

High maintenance exercise needs.
High maintenance in that we need to control and manipulate the environment to keep him functioning and safe.
High maintenance in that I would not be able to leave him with pretty much anyone except for immediate family, or really close dog-saavy friends.
High maintenance in needing medication (although it's easy enough to give him a pill, he takes it fine, and it's not like if he misses a dose it's life-threatening)
High maintenance in needing to be supervised and kept out of trouble.
High-ish grooming maintenance...not like a full coated maltese or something, but needs frequent bathing and semi-frequent brushing...moreso than a lab or husky.

Basically the only easy part is feeding him.

[Fran101]

Originally Posted by Toller_08

Ugh, that sucks. Have you tried separating him from you but within eye sight? That's the advice I was given for Journey's start of SA and now I don't have a problem at all. I locked her behind an expen where she could see me, which frustrated her, but she realized that everything was ok and she wasn't going to die. And I intermittently walked by and rewarded her for quiet and relaxed behaviour.

Ya, we worked on that and now he is fine within eye sight, which is great! I took your advice and gave him treats for calm behavior behind the desk, in the crate, at the ex-pen at work..

but behind a closed door? goodness gracious. so. ****. loud. Maybe I should try rewarding him under the door? getting him used to closed rooms? I dunno.. it's such a weird problem because it isn't often he needs to be in a room alone uncrated when people are out and about outside, but when it happens... oh boy.

[RD]

Eve is moderate maintenance? She has her quirks, she dislikes other dogs, and lots of loud noise stresses her. For the most part though, she is easy to live with.

[AllieMackie]

Finn's sort of in-between. In regards to daily attention, he's high-maintenance, plus he has some quirks that make him a difficult dog to kennel/board unless it's with someone who pays attention to such things. Otherwise, very low-maintenance. Great at the vet, loves everyone who looks after him/is at the house, and easy to get along with.

[Laurelin]

I dunno. I probably will give a cop-out answer in that I think Mia is high maintenance for SOME PEOPLE. For me she is not and fits in with my lifestyle very easily. She's got a lot of quirks that can grate on a lot of peoples' nerves. If you're like me though and are a lot more laid back (ie not having a fit of annoyance every time the dog barks) she's fine. She is very needy, very barky, very busy, and high energy. She's also not stranger friendly and not strange dog tolerant. But I think she's super easy.

Summer is not really high maintenance except for that whole pesky hates to be alone thing. Food and loves and any person and she's happy.

[Southpaw]

No not really.

Juno can be boarded and go to daycare. Gets along well with other dogs and cats. Easy at the vet, stands there and lets you do whatever you want, can be kept in a run and is quiet and well behaved. Pretty easily maintained on minimal exercise. Could probably have anybody walk into the house to take care of her if need be, but I'd definitely have it be somebody she's at least met before.

Lucy is super low maintenance. Just give her a bed and food and she's happy. Doesn't need or like exercise. Good at the vet, behaves well for handling. She's a dink to other dogs until she warms up to them (which takes a while) and she'd probably be terrified to death of being boarded, but I don't think that makes her high maintenance. Especially with us, since we never have a reason to board our dogs anyway.

I'd consider Happy low maintenance too. She's old. She likes being active but she's not bouncing off the walls without it, she's pretty content to just sleep or meander through the house. She had no problem adjusting to our house, so I think she could adjust to pretty much anywhere. Loves people. Tolerates handling. She barks if she's kenneled though.

Really though, I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have 3 dogs if any of them were high maintenance. They all for the most part just take everything in stride and aren't bothersome.