The dog musing/vent thread

Dogdragoness

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Whenever I'm feeling especially sad or anxious Wilson comes up to me and rests his head on my shoulders and puts one of his paws on my arm. As if to tell me "hey, it's alright". This is usually followed by him throwing a toy at my face, as if he's trying to tell me "now stop being sad and play with me!". Which usually makes me laugh so I guess it works.
My dog does this, OH's dog (I raised her and trained her) wants nothing to do with me when I am stressed, or having an anxiety episode or ADHD meltdown. I can't put into words how valuable a dog who does this is.
 
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Tonight Venice killed a squirrel, which itself is no big deal, she's managed to catch one before.

Except apparently the ol' grab and shake is too mainstream, so this time she just grabbed it and squeezed, HARD. Picture stomping on a full tube of toothpaste, except it was eyeballs and brains squirting on to her right cheek, and guts slipping down her left shoulder. Now I'm left mopping her up and going "just break it's neck next time, lady". Stuff dog people say...
 

Samsonyte!

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What do you guys do after walks in the winter time if your dog is really wet and dirty? Do you bathe them every day? Since it's gotten a little bit cooler and rainy here in Seattle Wilson suddenly has ALL THE ENERGY, so since I have the time I'm trying to hike with him for a few hours each day. Problem is he obviously gets very, very muddy since it's usually raining. His fur is pretty wash and wear but mud gets stuck to his belly and tail and I obviously don't want to just leave it there but I also don't want to give him a bath every single day if I can help it?
 

Southpaw

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I use baby wipes on them but that might be easier with my short coated dogs. But yeah I'm certainly not bathing them daily lol.
 

stardogs

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My crew all seems to have a teflon coat so they get tossed in a crate to dry off and by the time they are dry, the dirt has fallen off as well. :)
 

amberdyan

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My crew all seems to have a teflon coat so they get tossed in a crate to dry off and by the time they are dry, the dirt has fallen off as well. :)
This. It's actually kind of magical. I don't even know where the dirt goes. Once it was nasty sticky mud that he got in up to his shoulders. We ran around in a field then he napped in his crate and we stepped outside 40 minutes later and literally just dusted him off. Maybe you could let it dry and then brush him? I've never had a long haired dog though, so I'm not sure if they would work or just tangle/make him hate you.
 

Melle

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I just saw a police dog and handler walking by at the transportation center while I'm waiting for my bus, and the dog got suspicious, excited, whatever it was and jumped at a mom and kid (didn't see that exact moment but it wasn't at all aggressive) and the handler snapped the leash hard, yelled at the dog, and then the rest of the way up the block snapped the leash.

I just...ugh. So much leash snapping. I see enough people at my job resorting to lead snapping the ponies to. There are other ways.
 

Beanie

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One of the breeders I talked to earlier this year just offered me her keeper pup because it went over size.

It's a female.



WAITING. BREEDING SHOULD HAPPEN NEXT MONTH. I CAN BE PATIENT. I CAN.
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF.
 

pinkspore

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My husband likes to tease the dogs by acting as if I am arriving home and pulling into the driveway. "Is she here? Is that her?! Go get her!" I'm told this used to work on everyone, but the heelers just roll their eyes now. Ru still falls for it every time, he'll even jump off my lap to run to the door whining in anticipation.
 

Slick

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My husband likes to tease the dogs by acting as if I am arriving home and pulling into the driveway. "Is she here? Is that her?! Go get her!" I'm told this used to work on everyone, but the heelers just roll their eyes now. Ru still falls for it every time, he'll even jump off my lap to run to the door whining in anticipation.
Haha, that's hilarious!

Leo isn't QUITE that bad, but...he gets SUPER excited when my car comes into the driveway whether or not its actually me in it.

Leo is great about car sounds. He knows all three cars from our household (mine and my housemates) but won't react to any other car parking near our house. My car is by far the most exciting, and he reacts with a lot more excitement.

Lately, I've lent my car to my brother a few times, and everytime he parks to return it to me, Leo gets soooo excited, even if I'm in the room with him :rofl1:. Overall, he really doesn't care about my brother that much. Only when he is driving my car.
 

Southpaw

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I just really love how fit this dog is.

IMG_4314 by cinSun9, on Flickr

I was also like a year behind on her wellness exam (whoops...), so finally brought her to work and everything there was good - teeth look great, no heart murmur, blood work looks great, she didn't pick up any of the parasites that Sawyer had, and her lump that she's had for about a year is nothing significant. She's getting to an age where I'm going to start worrying about her a lot so I'm glad that for now everything is normal. :)
 

pinkspore

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Admittedly herding with very green dogs (second and third time on sheep) isn't particularly impressive. All the flag thwapping doesn't seem to diminish their enthusiasm a bit though. "Can I bite them this time? Well how about now? Maybe now? I just really want them all in my mouth right now." The very green Aussies and BCs I see don't seem to be nearly as optimistic about the prospect of biting some heels.
 

Dogdragoness

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Admittedly herding with very green dogs (second and third time on sheep) isn't particularly impressive. All the flag thwapping doesn't seem to diminish their enthusiasm a bit though. "Can I bite them this time? Well how about now? Maybe now? I just really want them all in my mouth right now." The very green Aussies and BCs I see don't seem to be nearly as optimistic about the prospect of biting some heels.
Yeah, my MAS boy is all too eager to have some beef in his mouth, so he gets flagged a lot lmao.
 
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I've never really had a big problem with excess biting from my dog during herding lessons. The first time he was allowed to work freely he kind of went AWOL and definitely wanted to be mouthy, but aside from that not much of an issue - which surprised me because I kept getting told that Catahoulas will be too rough for smaller stock. We did a lot of long line work initially though, and I know the trainer I use seemed to think that his size/presence might have something to do with his lack of biting because supposedly underconfident dogs are the ones that will generally want to grip unnecessarily, and he's almost too big to feel as if he isn't in control in a sheep pen. The Corgis I've seen started do seem to be pretty nippy, so there might be something to that.

Getting him to hit "downs" as quickly as he needs to without a fight is our biggest sticking point.
 

Dogdragoness

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I've never really had a big problem with excess biting from my dog during herding lessons. The first time he was allowed to work freely he kind of went AWOL and definitely wanted to be mouthy, but aside from that not much of an issue - which surprised me because I kept getting told that Catahoulas will be too rough for smaller stock. We did a lot of long line work initially though, and I know the trainer I use seemed to think that his size/presence might have something to do with his lack of biting because supposedly underconfident dogs are the ones that will generally want to grip unnecessarily, and he's almost too big to feel as if he isn't in control in a sheep pen. The Corgis I've seen started do seem to be pretty nippy, so there might be something to that.

Getting him to hit "downs" as quickly as he needs to without a fight is our biggest sticking point.
This is Lincoln's problem, wanting to be too aggressive, the stock in general is very obedient (they are corriente cattle, bred for roping, steer wrestling etc ... so they are quite biddable and easy to handle, this bunch is actually getting TOO complacent so I imagine they will be cycling through them soon LOL). Lincoln is also the same in when he was on a line, he was a perfectly behaved gentlemen LOL, as soon as the line came off ... oh boy lmao, as soon as the line goes on, once again he is behaved.

He LOVES to work, so I have been using that to my advantage, if hew blows me off, runs through the flags, or runs at the stock without listening to commands ... we leave, that's it, no more for that day. It didnt take very long for him to learn that if he behaves and listens and keeps his head, he can work, and do WELL at it.

Pretty good for us being on our own and me learning from instructional videos on you tube LOL (I have looked and looked and there is no one in our regional area that does herding training, the nearest to us is in OK and that is just too far to travel week after week, especially with me and hubby in school full time).
 
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He LOVES to work, so I have been using that to my advantage, if hew blows me off, runs through the flags, or runs at the stock without listening to commands ... we leave, that's it, no more for that day. It didnt take very long for him to learn that if he behaves and listens and keeps his head, he can work, and do WELL at it.
I wonder if this method won't work for us once we actually get some ungulates of our own, because Indy definitely loves doing the work too (I get comments on how he comes out of the field with a slap-happy fool grin on his face)... but for now we're just using ducks at home, and while he likes working ducks he doesn't lose it over them the way he does sheep, probably because they're so slow. I actually think that his issue might be that getting down makes him worry he'll lose control over quicker stock and that he might respond better if I put a standing stop on him, which I've read can be a thing with some upright-working dogs... but our trainer likes "down" and she's the teacher/her sheep her rules.

So for now I'm stuck shaking a cow paddle at him, because I feel it's better for him to get the time in with sheep while he can as long as he's being pretty manageable (if not perfect). We're there once a week at maximum.

Ideally he'll make a useful dog for helping with the dairy goat herd I plan to build. And I mean, he is making headway despite my complaints and we get compliments from the other people attending occasionally, so he evidently does have some ability buried in that thick noggin. :p I'm really pretty proud of him overall, just trying not to push him too hard because he's still pretty puppy-brained and I don't want him burning out on me.

I don't envy you not being able to find someone close enough to you to teach you though! Herding is complicated stuff, I honestly feel dead lucky to have found an all-breed trainer within two hours of me.
 

Dogdragoness

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I wonder if this method won't work for us once we actually get some ungulates of our own, because Indy definitely loves doing the work too (I get comments on how he comes out of the field with a slap-happy fool grin on his face)... but for now we're just using ducks at home, and while he likes working ducks he doesn't lose it over them the way he does sheep, probably because they're so slow. I actually think that his issue might be that getting down makes him worry he'll lose control over quicker stock and that he might respond better if I put a standing stop on him, which I've read can be a thing with some upright-working dogs... but our trainer likes "down" and she's the teacher/her sheep her rules.

So for now I'm stuck shaking a cow paddle at him, because I feel it's better for him to get the time in with sheep while he can as long as he's being pretty manageable (if not perfect). We're there once a week at maximum.

Ideally he'll make a useful dog for helping with the dairy goat herd I plan to build. And I mean, he is making headway despite my complaints and we get compliments from the other people attending occasionally, so he evidently does have some ability buried in that thick noggin. :p I'm really pretty proud of him overall, just trying not to push him too hard because he's still pretty puppy-brained and I don't want him burning out on me.

I don't envy you not being able to find someone close enough to you to teach you though! Herding is complicated stuff, I honestly feel dead lucky to have found an all-breed trainer within two hours of me.
That's my angle, too. make him manageable enough for something as soft as goats or flighty as sheep, or even something like chickens (because thats probably the animals we will likely have) but it's nice to know he *could* do cattle as well, in case we ever have some of those, too :)
 

amberdyan

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My puppy want is SO bad right now. We're looking to add either a BC or Aussie pup in the next 2 years but that feels like forever away. It's probably a good thing though because Hugo still needs more work and I don't want to take away from that, especially with the bunny struggles we've been having.

But... but... ppppuuuppppyyy!
 

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