The dog musing/vent thread
- Thread starter Laurelin
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Did a barium series on Juno today, everything moved through nice and quick so we're crossing off obstruction on the list of possibilities. After being loaded up with a liter of sub-q fluids and some Cerenia and famotidine, we are continuing to just cross our fingers. Poor girl weighed 48lbs 2 days ago, and today she weighed 44.5lbs. I hope we're done with this. 
On a lighter note, I came home tonight to find one of our Kongs in the kitchen, broken in half. The 2 usual suspects would be Cajun or Juno, and obviously it couldn't be Juno since she was at work with me all day. So it must be Cajun. But no, it wasn't the doberman puppy who destroyed it.... it was freaking geriatric Happy. :lol-sign: Leave it to her to be the only one of my dogs to have ever destroyed a Kong.
On a lighter note, I came home tonight to find one of our Kongs in the kitchen, broken in half. The 2 usual suspects would be Cajun or Juno, and obviously it couldn't be Juno since she was at work with me all day. So it must be Cajun. But no, it wasn't the doberman puppy who destroyed it.... it was freaking geriatric Happy. :lol-sign: Leave it to her to be the only one of my dogs to have ever destroyed a Kong.
Having a tough day today. Astro is great, I've realized that it's just stressful having a dog HERE. He can't bounce around indoors because there are downstairs neighbors; our "leave it" is constantly getting sabotaged by litterers who leave out entire chickens, pieces of cake, loaves of bread, full boxes of rice...things that are so numerous and tempting that I've barely called him off one thing before he'll have a different one in his mouth.
Of course, the solution is to do focused, shorter loose leash walking, but I want him to have the outlet of sniffing around! He has a fantastic focused walk now, but sometimes I want to just let him sniff around without having to worry about the 8 million things people have left on the sidewalk. I just don't understand why people throw their food out on the ground, like they don't have any respect for their community and the way it looks - I would NEVER just throw my stuff on the sidewalk and leave it there. And people don't pick up after their dogs, so I'm constantly having to sidestep poop piles...
And the noise. THE NOISE. I can barely even give commands to Astro because there are a million sirens going off all the livelong day, and he can't hear me over them.
I love my dog, and I'm glad I got him when I did, but I wish I had a big old house with a yard for him and I both, somewhere far away from here In particular, I'm missing England like crazy (rural to smaller city England where I spent more time, mind, not London!).
Of course, the solution is to do focused, shorter loose leash walking, but I want him to have the outlet of sniffing around! He has a fantastic focused walk now, but sometimes I want to just let him sniff around without having to worry about the 8 million things people have left on the sidewalk. I just don't understand why people throw their food out on the ground, like they don't have any respect for their community and the way it looks - I would NEVER just throw my stuff on the sidewalk and leave it there. And people don't pick up after their dogs, so I'm constantly having to sidestep poop piles...
And the noise. THE NOISE. I can barely even give commands to Astro because there are a million sirens going off all the livelong day, and he can't hear me over them.
I love my dog, and I'm glad I got him when I did, but I wish I had a big old house with a yard for him and I both, somewhere far away from here
In particular, I'm missing England like crazy (rural to smaller city England where I spent more time, mind, not London!).
Quinn has been so cuddly and clingy today. Just in a really nice, quiet, sweet way. I'll just catch her staring at me and then she'll come over and put her head on my lap. She could be anywhere right now (including the other 3/4 of the couch), but she's curled up in a little ball against me right now, sleeping.
Love this puppy. She is the most perfect dog for me <3 It hurts to imagine ever not having her.
Love this puppy. She is the most perfect dog for me <3 It hurts to imagine ever not having her.
Another frustrating day....I was doing loose-leash walking practice with Astro, he was doing great (focused on me even when a snarly little white dog came yowling by!), and I let him "out" on the line for a sniff/reward. Whereupon he devours a giant chunk of DRYWALL on the sidewalk. I ordered him to drop it, but it was basically already halfway down his throat so he couldn't/wouldn't. I tried to fish it out of his mouth but he'd swallowed it, and in my complete rage, I gave him a collar pop. For literally NOTHING - the drywall was already swallowed, it wasn't a useful correction, it was just pure, unadulterated frustration, taken out on poor Astro.
I just hate myself right now. I feel like I'm failing. It doesn't matter how much "leave it" and "drop it" we master (and he is SO GOOD about it if it's something he can spit out/I catch him before he actually makes contact), there's always some new thing in his gullet. He has loose stool now and I have no idea what it's from - could be from any number of things because of what he picks up on walks. Which makes me feel like a terrible owner.
I'm seriously considering just ordering a traffic/2-3 foot leash and being done with it. But he'd never get to really sniff around, in an already very confined life, and that breaks my heart. But I don't know what else to do, I'm basically on a hairtrigger now when it comes to walks; I spend the whole time feverishly making sure he's not going to swallow that chocolate bar on the ground, that broken glass from a beer bottle, that splintered wood, that cooked chicken wing....worst of all, it's making me make his resource guarding worse, because every so often I react so poorly/angrily and try to snatch things away from him, rather than trade with him. I don't know why I get angry with him for being a dog and following his nose, I think I'm just so overwhelmed by the entire process (and if I were to vent to anyone in real life, they'd tell me he's spoiled anyway for getting positive-centered training and that challenging him is a good thing). ERRRRRRRRRRGH
I just hate myself right now. I feel like I'm failing. It doesn't matter how much "leave it" and "drop it" we master (and he is SO GOOD about it if it's something he can spit out/I catch him before he actually makes contact), there's always some new thing in his gullet. He has loose stool now and I have no idea what it's from - could be from any number of things because of what he picks up on walks. Which makes me feel like a terrible owner.
I'm seriously considering just ordering a traffic/2-3 foot leash and being done with it. But he'd never get to really sniff around, in an already very confined life, and that breaks my heart. But I don't know what else to do, I'm basically on a hairtrigger now when it comes to walks; I spend the whole time feverishly making sure he's not going to swallow that chocolate bar on the ground, that broken glass from a beer bottle, that splintered wood, that cooked chicken wing....worst of all, it's making me make his resource guarding worse, because every so often I react so poorly/angrily and try to snatch things away from him, rather than trade with him. I don't know why I get angry with him for being a dog and following his nose, I think I'm just so overwhelmed by the entire process (and if I were to vent to anyone in real life, they'd tell me he's spoiled anyway for getting positive-centered training and that challenging him is a good thing). ERRRRRRRRRRGH
Agreed, try the Baskerville Ultra muzzles. They are comfortable and allow panting, drinking, and you can even feed treats. Granted that means if he tries hard enough he can still cram something smaller into his mouth through the muzzle, but it should still give you some time to react. And you'll be able to train with it on and reward with food.
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How am I suppose to train Talon to relax around other dogs while he is on-leash and get him to not freak out every time one comes near if I can't even take him potty without being harassed by off-leash dogs!?
Argh, he's been doing so well, we've been walking around seeing dogs and he's remained calm and somewhat relaxed (for him lol) and he's been improving. But the last two weeks 3 dogs have been running around this area. Luckily they are all friendly, but it doesn't matter. Two of them aren't too bad (lab and husky/shepherd/mix), they come over and than just leave if I huff at them a bit. But this little white bichon runs in circles doing play bows and growling/ruffing in a very friendly manner. I try to shoo him away before Talon get's too anxious, but it will not go away! Runs around like a maniac amping Talon up and if we try to leave it just follows us. IT's getting to the point Talon immediately get's frustrated as soon as he see's it because he knows how the story plays out.
Today on the way home from the park it followed us 5 blocks all the way home barking and bowing and running up and than away and just oh so happy while I'm trying to keep Talon calm and collected, unsuccessfully of course. I keep trying to shoo it and throw a bit of snow but it just thinks I'm playing. The darn dog even followed us up the first set of stairs to our apartment! It made a nice trip out a lot more stressful. Argh!
We can't even take him potty outside without a huge chance of one of the dogs running around. If it was just taking him somewhere else to play, than that would be one thing but I can't get him in the car every time he has to go pee just to avoid this! I'm just at my whits end and don't know how to help him at this point.
Argh, he's been doing so well, we've been walking around seeing dogs and he's remained calm and somewhat relaxed (for him lol) and he's been improving. But the last two weeks 3 dogs have been running around this area. Luckily they are all friendly, but it doesn't matter. Two of them aren't too bad (lab and husky/shepherd/mix), they come over and than just leave if I huff at them a bit. But this little white bichon runs in circles doing play bows and growling/ruffing in a very friendly manner. I try to shoo him away before Talon get's too anxious, but it will not go away! Runs around like a maniac amping Talon up and if we try to leave it just follows us. IT's getting to the point Talon immediately get's frustrated as soon as he see's it because he knows how the story plays out.
Today on the way home from the park it followed us 5 blocks all the way home barking and bowing and running up and than away and just oh so happy while I'm trying to keep Talon calm and collected, unsuccessfully of course. I keep trying to shoo it and throw a bit of snow but it just thinks I'm playing.
The darn dog even followed us up the first set of stairs to our apartment! It made a nice trip out a lot more stressful. Argh!We can't even take him potty outside without a huge chance of one of the dogs running around. If it was just taking him somewhere else to play, than that would be one thing but I can't get him in the car every time he has to go pee just to avoid this! I'm just at my whits end and don't know how to help him at this point.
Um you know, I don't have the most mannerly dogs, but if you're cowering and backing away from your own dog when I bring her to you from daycare because she's THAT out of control, maybe you should train the ****ing thing.
And it's NOT cool that because you wouldn't take her leash, she turned around, raked her nails down my legs and muzzle punched me in the teeth. Guess what? Working here doesn't mean it doesn't hurt, and it doesn't mean I have to let your dog beat the crap out of me either. Don't you dare give me a weird look when I grab your dog by the collar to keep her from flailing around. If you won't control her then you leave me with no option. If you think it's ok for her act like an asshole then she can do it YOU, not me.
UGH. So disgusted.
And it's NOT cool that because you wouldn't take her leash, she turned around, raked her nails down my legs and muzzle punched me in the teeth. Guess what? Working here doesn't mean it doesn't hurt, and it doesn't mean I have to let your dog beat the crap out of me either. Don't you dare give me a weird look when I grab your dog by the collar to keep her from flailing around. If you won't control her then you leave me with no option. If you think it's ok for her act like an asshole then she can do it YOU, not me.
UGH. So disgusted.
