The dog musing/vent thread

Thanks guys, that's helpful.

I'm looking for a 'big dog' Chihuahua, in short.

I'll check out Facebook groups, thanks for the suggestion! I hadn't thought of that.

And Southpaw, absolutely. My definition of 'reputable' has changes enormously over the last couple of years. Frankly I'm not particularly interested in most of the breeders showing conformation. I found a breeder I really liked that basically just bred for pets (the one dog I've met fromt hem is the reason I want a Chi) but they never responded to my emails, even when I followed up with a voicemail a few weeks later.
 
Took Mimi and the temporary girl to the farmer's market this weekend. Mimi handles the public like a boss, she's awesome. The puppy is a puppy, pretty good at sticking with Mimi, but prone to fits of happy leapy wiggles if someone makes eye contact for too long.

We do our first lap, scoping out what I want, and go back for the second lap to pick up a few things. We go out and around a poodley thing that was acting a bit suspect and had a bit too much lead. Poodley thing SHREIKBARKBARKLUNGES at the Whippets (who completely ignore him) and the owner (who hadn't been paying attention) comments "Oh, don't worry. That's his play bark!" I'm guessing those were also his play teeth and play hackles, and that he always looks stiff and stares when he plays. Grumble grumble.
 
I stepped out of the room for a second, and came back to find Glitch on the card table, happily drinking out of my soda cup. So I told him "off". Foolish me. He looked at me, looked down, looked at the drink, picked the cup up, and attempted to take it with him!

Naturally, he dropped it and coke sprayed everywhere, missing my laptop by a few inches.

Don't worry, though, Mr. Helpful was more then happy to help me clean up the floor. :rolleyes:

This ones a firecracker
 
StillandSilent said:
I stepped out of the room for a second, and came back to find Glitch on the card table, happily drinking out of my soda cup. So I told him "off". Foolish me. He looked at me, looked down, looked at the drink, picked the cup up, and attempted to take it with him!

Naturally, he dropped it and coke sprayed everywhere, missing my laptop by a few inches.

Don't worry, though, Mr. Helpful was more then happy to help me clean up the floor. :rolleyes:

This ones a firecracker
Click to expand...

Glitch is gold. And perfectly named, to boot :)
 
I don't know why Cajun has had to become so terrible at confinement. When we got her I'd bring her to work with me 3 days a week, and she'd be kenneled there for 11+ hours and was fine. Didn't bark, would lay down/sleep. I could keep her in the cages up front where we normally keep surgery/hospitalized patients, because she was quiet and didn't cause problems. It's been a year since I've stopped bringing her to work with me (routinely) and it's also been many months since we've crated her in the house, too. Now if I need to bring her to work with me, she spends the entire time barking and whining and pacing and jumping at the door. She doesn't lay down. She spends a minimal amount of attention to the food toys/bones I put in with her. It's loud and obnoxious and when I'm trying to work and I can hear her having her emotional meltdown, it's a little distressing! She was there with me for 4 hours today and she never stopped. I gave her a Xanax beforehand but I went low on her dose since sometimes it makes her a little weird, and the reason she came to work with me was because she had class right afterwards... so I don't want her to be messed up from it.

I just don't get how you can go from being PERFECT about being kenneled, all the way to being a complete panicked spaz about it. She's not just one of those dogs that likes to bark when they're kenneled. She is full blown FREAKING OUT. I don't even have the desire to work with her on it (and don't have a crate to use even if I wanted to), as far as I know she's fine when we leave her home alone loose. But I'm going to complain about it anyway!
 
Honestly not surprising at all... A year is a long time.

As with any dog training, you don't use it, you lose it.

Happens to a lot of my clients. Their dog outgrows the need for a crate, they stop crating it entirely, then wonder why the dog won't pick up where it left off 6 months later when they need to crate it.

You basically have to start those skills back over if they get used to a different routine. Patton sleeps with me most nights, but I still crate him a night or two per week to make sure he doesn't get weird about going into a crate a night since he rarely needs it.
 
It should be like riding a bike. You never forget. :p

I wouldn't be surprised if she had some weirdness about it, but it's the complete panic and inability to settle that I'm most surprised about. I guess that just seems like typical Cajun style, my expectation though would be that maybe she'd fuss a bit and then give up. I'm used to Juno. Easy Juno. Who might get kenneled once a year and does just fine with it.
 
Experience with rescues? I've been throwing my computer high and low at rescues for Malinois and Dutch Sheps, but I'm not on their priority list.. living in an apartment, there's a known extreme bias. T__T

I was THIS CLOSE to adopting a super sporty perfect temperament Golden Retriever actually... just for his temperament, really. I asked for photos, and they emailed me telling me that they'll get to it. I wait 7 days with no reply, so I email again for an update and get the reply that he has ALREADY BEEN ADOPTED...

um.. coughs slowly

I wish this could go easier LOOOL. I just want dock jumping. And flyball. And hyper handler-focused and fearlessness. That is all I want in this life. (also just overall preference for Mals and Dutchies but)

I might just go with my therapy dog first and go for greyhounds instead of the sporting dog, at the rate this is going. 3__3 oh apartment life. oh rescues.
 
Bleeeuuugh. I dremmelled the chihuahua's nails this morning and now my allergies are through the roof. Nail dust + stress shedding = plenty of dander, I guess. Yet another reminder why I don't cuddle with her often. At least I don't break out in a rash after touching her anymore.

And my allergy meds turn me into an absolute zombie, so I'm just gonna complain about it rather than taking any. :p
 
iriskai said:
I'm guessing those were also his play teeth and play hackles
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I know you were annoyed, and I don't blame you - but this quote made me giggle.

StillandSilent said:
I stepped out of the room for a second...
Click to expand...

He sounds like a character!

Southpaw said:
It should be like riding a bike. You never forget. I'm used to Juno. Easy Juno. Who might get kenneled once a year and does just fine with it.
Click to expand...

LOL I know what you mean! Kastle is the king of tantrums (where do you think he got all those broken teeth!), and he was loose in the house a lot where I used to live and now, but he ALWAYS gets crate time. Not only that, but we also incorporate crate time still when we are home now - because he was fine if he was in a crate and we were leaving for the day. But heaven forbid we be home and he not be allowed upstairs -> tantrum. Now he is crated sometimes just to practice, not because he needs to be. Eden is more like Juno. Crate, no crate, car, other houses etc and she just goes with it.

lancerandrara said:
Experience with rescues? I've been throwing my computer high and low at rescues for Malinois and Dutch Sheps, but I'm not on their priority list.. living in an apartment, there's a known extreme bias. T__T
Click to expand...

You'd have to pay shipping, but there are a TON of DS and Mals that come to this area to be fostered, from FL. If you can find a few you're interested in and then have them tested by someone you trust (utilize FB for this, seriously), and pay for shipping...there are TONS of them around. Loads go to sport/dock jumping homes too.
 
Perfect heeler boy at the rescue got adopted today. I don't know if I'm happy that he got a home or sad that it's not with me.
 
I love Roxie's prey drive. We have a chipmunk problem, and she found holes in the yard within minutes that I took her out there (usually she's only on the side yard, as we have a whole acre and a half and it's all unfenced).

The screaming kinda surprised me, lol. We're gonna have to find a better system to get rid of them though, because it seems like they keep going to other holes whenever Roxie and I try and flush a hole... would be nice to have a pack of JRTs right now lol.
 
One more reason I'm glad to have a very large, loud dog. It let's people know when they have the wrong house!

At 9 o'clock last night, pitch black outside, as I'm naked and about ready to get into my bubble bath after a super fun (not) day at work, the doorbell rings. Abrams immediately goes ballistic at the window by the door. After a few seconds of that, he calmed down as whoever was on the porch immediately left. Then I heard a truck start up and drive away.

Hooray for loud dogs. Saving their owners from awkward conversations late at night in a bath robe.
 
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