moabams

My boy is 13" and my girl is 14". She looks smaller than he does, though, so I re-measured several times, much to her annoyance.

I have two rough coated border collies and they don't shed that much. They both live inside, though. One of them hardly sheds at all, but he requires more grooming because the soft hair behind his ears tends to knot pretty badly. He also has some rough hair on his hind end which tangles pretty good. We have a huge cedar tree and everytime he runs under it we have to pull out a bunch of dead tree pieces. He's like a magnet for foliage "jewelry." My other BC sheds a bit more, but requires less grooming so far (we got her from a rescue at 7 months and she's now only 13 months so we haven't seen the full adult shed cycle yet). However, neither of these shed at all compared to our Siberian Husky! You can practically see the hair leap off him when he walks by. The border collies' shedding seems like nothing.

Ha! I thought I was the only one who heard whining about this. My guy constantly reminds me that my dogs get more kisses and hugs than he does. He doesn't like it when I tell him that's because the dogs do what I tell them to the first time and they don't complain about it.

Good wishes for Vala. Hope she gets better soon! She can't have dairy at all? When I took doxycycline (not for heartworms!) they advised me to not take it with milk and to avoid dairy products/calcium supplements for 1-2 hours before and after taking (and I had to take it 2x a day), but I'm sure I could have dairy in between. Poor Vala.

Perhaps I wasn't clear. I know what is meant by "critical window." I don't understand the thinking that if something is missed during this period the dog is forever lost, can't be helped, and won't get better--which is the impression I got that the OP had been worried about. Of course it's preferable to expose puppies to as many varied positive experiences as possible! We, and Aspen's breeder before us, did that. We got a solid, happy 10 week old puppy who was exposed to as much as we possibly could, who never reacted badly to anything during this "window", and who still ended up an obsessive-compulsive reactive dog that is scared of strangers and other dogs (and yet, oddly, fireworks or other loud noises don't even faze him). And yes, with the right handling we have gotten him through a lot of issues. He's now a demo dog at our busy county fair each year! The OP had stated, "I'm becoming increasingly nervous about her lack of socialization [during the critical window period]." My post was meant to let the OP know that while others had posted about their rescues who hadn't been socialized and are now doing well (it can happen!), that even had Daisy had the proper socialization during this window everything does not necessarily turn out rosy. Daisy can still be a lovely dog who just needs more time to become comfortable in situations.

I just don't understand this 'critical window' thing. Yes, pups should be socialized--but if they're not, and the window is "closed," they could never be rehabilitated. If that were the case, how on earth are all these rescue dogs doing so well? Anyway, I'm on the opposite end from most of the posters. I got Aspen when he was 10 weeks old. He was very friendly and we took him with us wherever we went. He met adults, kids, other dogs, cats, went to puppy kindergarten, etc. Then between 4-6 months (after the so-called "critical window") he started to change. Nothing 'bad' had happened to him, he just started disliking people he didn't know. He'd go nuts. At the age of 2 he stopped liking other dogs he didn't know. We now know he has some neurological issues (and is on meds for them), so maybe this contributed to his behavior. I don't know. He's now 4 1/2 and really a wonderful dog. He goes to agility classes and we even take him to demos at the County Fair, Humane Society events, or wherever else our trainer wants an adorable dog to "show off." He's very good at these venues and is very quiet. His preferred method of dealing with scary things in the world now is to back away rather than stand his ground. Distraction (in the form of a treat, squeak of his ball, or softly calling his name) works wonders if he's getting antsy. He still doesn't like strangers and takes awhile to warm up to people and other dogs, but if given enough time he does eventually. Exactly like others stated above, we tell people to ignore him. Yes, at home he'll approach you barking and carrying on and then dash off--but don't look at him, don't talk to him (and for pete's sake don't try to sooth him by telling him it's all right!), and don't try to pet him. This has never failed. Don't give up! Your dog may never be a "butterfly," Aspen certainly won't, but they can learn to deal with things. Very well, in fact!

Maybe Talon isn't done pottying? In her excitement she may be going just enough to not feel the pressure anymore and get back to playing. Then once she's played a bit she realizes she still has to go. Our newest dog, Twig, used to do that. Once we started making sure she was outside long enough to actually be done we stopped having accidents in the house (she'd always go in front of us, too--she wasn't trying to hide or anything, she just still had to go and in her excitement to get back to playing she'd wait so long that she just couldn't hold it anymore). Also, our siberian husky always has to pee twice. If you let him outside and he pees once, and then you let him back in, he'll make a mess. If you wait until he's walked around a bit and pees again he's fine.