MaggieDog

Yaaay! Glad it went smoothly!

My last two rescues were adopted with performance in mind. They were both older pups/young adolescents. Ziva is now competing in agility and kicking butt in those shows we've gone to. Imagine a starters dog Q'ing and placing 4th in her height class in a USDAA Grand Prix Qualifier at her *2nd* trial - that's Z. She's everything I could want in an agility dog really. She was pulled into foster at my house at 5.5mo, adopted officially at 10mo. I chose her because she was already bomb proof, happy, not too soft but not too hard, had good toy drive, etc. I had preliminary hip xrays done at 6mo and they looked perfect according to the vet. I waited until 10mo to officially adopt so that I could delay her spay a bit. Kestrel isn't even technically mine yet (still need to sign papers), but he's just completed his first puppy agility class and looks like he will be a challenging, tough as nails, FAST dog when he grows up. He came into my house as a foster at 4mo and I got the go ahead from DH to adopt him a few weeks back when he was 6.5mo. I took him to foster because he's a red heeler mix and that's a fav breed of mine, he stayed because he's a *tough* dog and I like a challenge (most of the time lol), he is unafraid in the majority of situations - even more bomb proof than Z is, and he's a red speckled male which was what I planned on adopting before Z fell into my lap lol. My instructor and fellow agility classmates/competitors LOVE his structure and I'm planning on getting him xrayed in a few months just to be sure. I work for a shelter so it makes it really easy to pick out dogs I think might work and foster to see for sure, but I bet you could do something similar with a BC rescue - ask to foster with the idea that you're looking for a perfect fit. I do think it's very helpful to sit down and write out a "wish list" for your next dog. I did that before Z was in the picture and it really helped me evaluate her addition more objectively. She ended up having every trait I wanted except breed and gender. I didn't formally write out a wish list for a dog after Z, but I knew I wanted a harder dog and a male for sure, plus one that had the traits I liked in Z for performance and good structure to start with. Rescue gives you way more options and variety ime.

Kestrel thinks he's helping - his favorite thing (I'm almost embarrassed to admit) is to put his paws on the counter's edge when I'm doing something on our kitchen island or at my desk! Maybe he just likes to supervise lol.

Ick. Just ick. (And I wish she didn't have a dog with a name really similar to one of mine lol)

Maggie (BC/ACD) is 19.5" and 33lbs. She's almost 10yo.

I think we all know that there are a number of puppy mills run by people of amish background, but do you seriously think that all of them do that?! That's taking incredible leaps and quite offensive. Perhaps the question should be "What will a registry do if dogs registered with their organization are used in puppy mills as breeding dogs." It really has nothing to do with who exactly is running the mill, so why bring that into it?! (I can't let prejudice stand without comment, sorry) That said, I know that the legit registries around generally will try to do something if it is reported that dogs registered with them are mill dogs, but where their ability to actually fix the issue is, I don't know. I know ACK does kennel inspections and can suspend breeders, not sure about UKC, and ABCA has already been addressed well above. If there is a suspected mill, I'd be reporting them to the local AC, SPCA, etc. Your local resources are going to be your best bet vs registries which have no legal standing as far as I know. The USDA can step in on commercial establishments if animals are not directly bought at the location, but they are severely understaffed, so action is slow.

Ok I don't get the distinction between "peoples" and "eshs" as I have *no* idea what those words refer to - are you saying some dogs were originally in someone's hands that you know and then ended up at an amish farm and you're worried about the mill issue? If so, remember that not all amish are going to be puppy millers; that's a huge generalization. I wouldn't be surprised however if they allowed unaltered animals to procreate given that I'm not sure how up on s/n they are. Might be a great chance to educate them, though I'm not sure how open to surgical treatments they are due to their religious beliefs. I do remember my dad saying that the amish generally are good about vet care for animals although there are always bad apples in the bunch - he grew up in N. IN where there is a large amish population.

Scary with a capital S! Glad everything worked out as well as it did - thank goodness for nice neighbors. Guess it's a good reminder for me to get to work polishing everyone's "do not cross the threshold until invited" training here!

If I were you, I'd pick up a copy of Control Unleashed as it deals with this type of behavior in the very setting you need to control it in. It's a fabulous book for reactive/shy/busy dogs.

My coworker really swore by acupuncture to help her old dog handle pain from arthritis and side effects of vestibular disorder. It's def worth a try!

Anyone know anything about or who are planning to attend the above? I'm near Greenville and wondered if it would be something worth going to to spectate and perhaps meet some of the people I know from this board.

I've not seen any problems crop up from herding experiences in my agility dogs. If anything I think it's another great way to truly proof basic cues like "down".

Perhaps the puppy food is too rich? If they were on a crappy diet before they came into rescue, it's a possibility - my current foster was on pedigree for 2 months prior to coming into my house and it took a good 3-4 weeks for his poops to completely normalize on the high quality foods I feed. Perhaps try an all life stages food with limited ingredients like CA Natural, Canidae, etc..

And this is why I went with PetPlan - no limits per event, just per year. No actual use yet, but the fine print looked ok. Hope it all gets straightened out soon!

This looks a LOT like the small spot Maggie has on her wrist that my vet also said is benign. Like you, I worry about anything out of place with my pets, but decided to trust the vet on this one. I do periodically check if for changes and it's been the same for the last year or so, so I'm feeling ok about it. It's hard, about the same size as Jazzy's, but gray, likely because Maggie's skin is heavily pigmented there. It has a kind of calloused feel. (I did happen to get a second opinion on it a few months back because I took Maggie to work for something else and happened to ask our shelter vet about it then; she concurred with our regular vet.)

Great big good vibes headed your way - I can't wait to hear how it goes!

That's GREAT!

I remember all the trials you've been through with your boy and so am doubly happy for you. I'm soooo glad to know you've finally found a winning combination. I'll keep your protocol in mind for any of my clients with dogs with major vet issues - thank you for posting it!

Just an aside to pansmom - I'm thrilled to hear you're going to see Dr. Haug! She is an awesome vet behaviorist - she's very well respected in the field. I'm sure she'll be of enormous assistance!

I like how you think Kristine!! It would be rather amusing if the PAL program lost momentum because of the mixed breed program *and* they ended up with the dreaded mixing of mixes and purebreds.

The only caution I would have is that you likely should look at getting dogs a bit further apart in age for a couple reasons: 1. Two of the same gender *and* same age are more likely to have issues sorting out where they fit in the family. 2. They will both age at the same pace and in the end you will have two senior dogs and their related costs and loss. I generally try to get dogs at least 2 years apart in age and/or different gender. My current household is a 10yo female, a 2yo female, and a 6mo male. If we keep Laddy, we won't be getting another dog until a spot opens up, so likely a number of years.

To add to my original reply, all my animals eat in the same vicinity but are expected to stay in their designated spots while eating and not bug anyone else - this applies for all three dogs *and* the cat. Our set up is the following: - Dogs assemble while I make their food bowls up. Much of the time I ask for sit or down stays from all of them while this is happening (the 6mo pup is required to do a stay at all times currently). The cat generally steers clear of this prep work. - On cue, all dogs will run to their appointed spots (crates in my home office in their case); if the cat is roaming at that time he generally will follow them into the room. - I feed in order of seniority for the dogs, so Mags gets her bowl first, then Z, then I lift Laddy into his crate since it's stacked on Maggie's and give him his treatball of food. All dogs are taught never to approach the others while they are at their bowls. - The cat is fed last and then kenneled while he eats so the dogs don't push him out of the way to get to his kibble. Initially the cat would try to horn in on the dogs' food, but each time a dog growled at him, I removed him from the situation (no words, just calm removal) and he quickly learned that horning in = removal and confinement in his kennel, so he no longer approaches dogs eating. All my animals are fine with me removing food and toys from them and we've never had any issue with this, though Laddy does like a good game of keep away still lol.

It should be interesting to see if what you've noticed about Pan's growling will continue to hold true or if the novelty of your response will fade in time and the behavior will return. I'd be keeping an eye on what she does after she stops growling, though - if she's still super tense and her body language still appears "guardy" I'd be wary of what you're seeing as it may indicate that she's just supressing the growl (an important warning cue for you and others) vs. actually altering the whole behavior chain. As to the resource guarding issue, IME some dogs will guard food and not chewies and vice versa. Some guard both. Each dog has their preferences for chewies - we use GoodLife meal bones for evaluating resource guarding at the humane society and I see much more interest in them than did when we were using rawhide. That being said, I've had good success using trading games with student dogs to prevent resource guarding; the book "Mine!" has a great protocol for rehabbing resource guarders using a trading scheme.

I doubt it will affect flyball folks unless AKC jumps into that arena in the future. (whispers) lucky ducks! I got into a rather heated discussion about this with a fellow agility classmate on Thursday. She was trying to say this new mixed breed class is the same as USDAA separating out Performance and Championship and didn't seem to quite get the major difference: in USDAA you **choose** to be in either class. Bah HUMBUG!

I'd avoid the RD if you can stick to a tight diet for him; if that doesn't work then consider the RD. Whenever I've had a dog that needed to lose weight, I made sure I was feeding to ideal weight vs. current (using the bag as a rough guideline to start), used kibble from the daily ration for training treats, and added green beans (frozen) or canned pumpkin to the food if the animal seemed over hungry. The above worked to get my parents' dog, Oreo, from 78lbs to 56lbs! We also tried a diet food, but now I think that's a lot of hype and too many carbs and fillers, so all other weight loss needs went with the above plan and regular dog food. You could probably try a senior version of your current food if you want to cut calories but not feed any less. FYI here are the RD ingredients. There is a ton of filler stuff in there - the cellulose jumps out at me because it's indigestible by dogs so you're paying for something with limited nutritional benefit. At least with veggies they have some nutrition in addition to the fiber. I'd be asking your vet why she suggests this food instead of reducing current rations and adding veggies. Ground Whole Grain Corn, Corn Gluten Meal, Chicken By-Product Meal, Powdered Cellulose 10.4% (source of fiber), Soybean Mill Run, Soybean Meal, Chicken Liver Flavor, Dried Beet Pulp, Soybean Oil, Iron Oxide, DL-Methionine, L-Lysine, Potassium Chloride, Vitamin E Supplement, vitamins (L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement), Choline Chloride, Taurine, minerals (Manganese Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), L-Carnitine, preserved with Mixed Tocopherols & Citric Acid, Beta-Carotene, Rosemary Extract.