mbc1963

Cricket is a destroyer of toys. So, I've been trying to find things that will keep her occupied but don't cost me $10 or $20 a week! I don't know the forum consensus about Nylabones, but I find that Cricket loves to chomp on the ends of those. They last a really long time and she doesn't seem to be able to destroy them, except for small flakes that come off here and there. Softer for her teeth than normal bones, but I think they do a pretty good job of buffing the teeth, too. For tug of war and fetch, I've found those Bumi toys last a very long time. They're an S-shaped toy made of something rubbery and soft. I have played many hours of tug and fetch with one, and Cricket is a DEMON of a terrier mix who will let me pick her up and swing her when she's playing tug. She doesn't seem to be able to rip it or bite pieces off it, though she's tried.

I won't repeat what a lot of others have said, but I agree that for THIS dog, the dog park stimulation is too much. My old boy could play with a single dog, sometimes, on a good day. But once it was a group of three, he turned into the "dog police," trying to stop the others from enjoying what looked (to him) like greatly excessive roughhousing. Ditto with any situation - one might be fine, two might be a bit fear-inducing, three might tip him over the edge. You can have a rich, rewarding life with a dog who is never let loose with small children, never goes to the dog park, is not unsupervised when meeting others.

So sorry! The well-loved dogs leave such a hole in our hearts. You're in my thoughts.

I might be an outlier here... but with all my dogs since my teen years, I've just taken them to a safe field or wood... and then let them go. None of them has ever run off for more than a few minutes, and they've all intentionally come back. I wouldn't try this near a road or in a city location - and not until I have some sort of bond with the dog - but they do seem to understand who they belong with. My little dog has made friends with a pretty Chesapeake mix, four months. The first day, they ran and played. The other day, we let the Chesapeake off leash to play again, but my girl took off into the woods after some scent. She came right back, as she always does, but the Chesapeake pup was off like a streak. Still, she was only gone maybe 3 or 5 minutes before she came charging back at us, happy to have had her little adventure. The owner was plenty glad she came back; I'm not sure his wife would have let him come home without the dog.

I never gave much thought to hoarders until I brought Cricket home. She came out of a house where a man was evicted, leaving 50 dogs in the care of the local shelter. I think 31 of them made it to rescue, Cricket being one. She came up on a transport in June with 10 or 12 of her relatives, many of whom were adopted but a few of whom are still in foster homes, awaiting adoption. Everyone assumes Cricket suffered in the hoarding household, but I'm not sure that's true. She probably didn't have the best diet... but I think she was relatively happy living with a canine family. She jumped right in my car when I went to pick her up, and obviously understood before she met me that it's more fun to ride in the front seat than the back seat. ;D I have a feeling that the hoarder in this case was an older man for whom things just gradually got out of control. It's very sad. I think of him, and wonder if he thinks about what happened to all his dogs. I would like to send him a letter, letting him know how happy Cricket is, and wishing him well.

I have a fabulous blanket that's fleece on one side and thick plaid something (cotton/acrylic sweater like stuff?) on the other. Got it at a yard sale for $1. It's meant to be a human blanket - looks like something you'd use on a sleigh ride - but it's the best car dog blanket ever. Maybe look for something like that? In human stores? In the house, my dog does well with those cheap fleece fuzzy throws they sell at all home goods stores. I make a donut out of them, and she snuggles right into the middle. So easy to wash and dry, too.

My old boy Buddy was fearful and reactive. Meeting other dogs was a problem his whole life, and meeting people was difficult, then tolerated, then accepted. I used to feel like Buddy walked around with body language that said, "Stay OUT OF MY FACE!!" I'd be so happy when we met that one in a hundred dog that he chose as a friend; seeing him play and have fun was such a joy and so rare, especially in his early years with me. My new dog, Cricket, came from a hoarding case (50 dogs removed into a local shelter after the owner was evicted from his property). The first few weeks with me she was very fearful of other dogs - would pull to the end of her leash to get away from them. But living with 50 dogs, she obviously learned dog mannerisms and behaviors. As time has passed, she's shown that she loves meeting other dogs, and I feel like her body language says, "It's cool, guys! I just want to be friends and play chase!" We met a pitt bull mix yesterday. Her owner was really tense because the beautiful young dog is fearful and reactive to most dogs and people. Cricket approached and then backed off, slowly moving in until she did a play bow. The other dog was nervous, then relaxed, then playful. They had a game of leash-tag. Best of all, the other dog came to me, and eventually gave kisses and cuddles. The other owner was so happy and excited that her dog had been able to make a dog and a human friend. It feels like the universe has given me the exact inverse of the dog I had before - a perfect complement - and that my experience with Buddy lets Cricket be a little joy in the lives of dogs who are anxious and fearful. It's been a really lovely gift these last couple months!

Good luck! Buddy had Lyme early on and always tested positive for it after that, but it didn't seem to cause any long-term problems. I've never had a smooth-coat dog before this one, but I must say the coat makes tick issues much simpler.

My sister's dog was doing a little better this morning at the animal hospital, but my sister got a call this afternoon that she'd had a downturn and was dying. They're driving to the vet now to have her PTS. Such a crazy, fast thing! Thanks all for the information. I'm better educated, if nothing else.

I bought a shredded memory foam bed for Buddy when he started to get achy, but he would not set foot on it. Literally. I put it on Craigslist for free and a very happy dog owner came and got it. Cricket will lie on anything fabric that is on the floor. After she gets wet, I put a towel on her folded up blanket and she rolls all over it; then it stays on the floor for a while and she treats it like her second bed in the living room. I'm thinking that since this dog seems content with blankets, I'll buy one of those microfiber bath mats I see everywhere as an "anchor" for whatever blanket I lay on top of it. She tends to tug her blanket around while wrestling with her toys, and I think a bath mat will soften up her area and hold the blanket in place. These are always available at Marshalls and TJMaxx for something like $10: http://www.aliexpress.com/item-img/New-Arrival-Microfiber-Chenille-40CM-60CM-bath-mats-mini-Mats-for-doormat-carpet-non-slip-in/32467699127.html (I've never had a small dog before, but I've gotta say: her ability to squeeze into small areas and lie on small things is highly convenient!)

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1678248989088510.1073741851.1589851137928296&type=3 I continue to follow this Facebook page; the woman has multiple athletic dogs of her own that she shows, and she takes in multiple fosters for both border collie and cattle dog rescues. (It's worth following her just for the beautiful photos of her dogs on the farm!) Anyway, a couple of really, really lovely border collies popped up this morning as "available soon," if anyone happens to be looking right now. ;-)

They have run blood tests for tick-borne stuff - around here (NE), our first thought with almost any illness is Lyme disease, because it's so prevalent. They said the tests came back negative for TBD, but they started the dog on doxycycline anyway, just in case. Also has had two blood transfusions and was stable as of this morning. Not sure how today went. So weird. This can be triggered by eating a penny (zinc poisoning), onions... so many toxins... and then by apparently nothing at all. (My guess is doctors say "idiopathic" when it's been triggered by something they don't understand.) Thanks Mara for a good story.

My sister lost her old dog about 4 years ago, and she got two puppies that summer. One of the girls was fine on Sunday, and lethargic on Monday, and deathly ill yesterday. She's at the emergency vet clinic, diagnosed with IMHA, and a very grave prognosis. Has anyone ever had a dog with this disease and a positive outcome? The disease is horrible, and the treatment is expensive and damaging in itself. After losing my Buddy last February, I felt like we were going to have a long run of young and healthy dog time together between my new girl and my sister's two dogs.

I don't live in the city proper, but a city-ish neighborhood. My old BC was very frightened of thunder and fireworks and guns... but despite being very reactive, he did eventually get used to the constant sounds of trains, cars, and people passing by. Even though I have a yard, he wouldn't stay outside without me, so all his good exercise happened when I took him to wooded parks where he could run. Later, he got enough exercise walking on leash with me through my neighborhood. I may as well NOT have had a yard for that dog, because he didn't utilize it, and he was fine with what stimulation and exercise he got.

So sorry for your loss. Lovely tribute.

My old dog was terrified of thunderstorms and fireworks from the time I brought him home. He would bark, loudly, as long as the noises were happening. The only thing that would quiet him would be for me to sit and have my hands on him. (He was still scared, but would settle that way.) I gave up, and let him come into bed with me on thunderstorm or fireworks nights, and he would sleep as long as I was touching him. Eventually, when he'd hear the noises, he'd just go up to the bed of his own accord, jump on it, and settle - whether I was there or not. I figured he'd learned that the bed was a safe spot during scary times. I was happy to let him have it - this method of comforting himself was much better than his not having any way of coping. I'm all for comforting and giving respite. I hate that your dog has to live near horrible people who predictably act like that.

My trainer's main point on things like this is to teach the dog that she doesn't get the rewad she's seeking when she does the inappropriate behavior. The trainer leashes the dog to a doorknob (tree, whatever), and starts to approach to give the dog attention (the reward). As long as the dog is sitting, he continues approaching. As soon as the butt comes off the floor to begin the jumping up, he turns around and walks away. Repeat, repeat, repeat. I've seen this trainer consistenly stop puppies from jumping up to greet - have them waiting patientily with butts on the ground - after five minutes. The trick is to do it consistently and not let strangers or other family members reward the dog by praising and petting when the dog jumps up. If the reward comes from the behavior, the dog learns that he behavior is OK. My new little dog had a period where she was barking at me to demand play and attention about 4:00 every day. Obnoxious! It got to the point that I had to take myself away and shut myself in the bathroom so she would learn that her barking made me disappear. Took a couple weeks, but she got the message.

Hi, http://deafdogsrock.com This group does a lot for deaf dogs, has a network of people who know a lot about them, and also keeps a very active Facebook presence. They might know of some resources or foster homes for the deaf ones until permanent homes can be found.

I had a BC who was fearful but was also the "fun police." Like other dogs described here, he could NOT allow rough play from other dogs. If two dogs got rambunctious, he tried to break it up immediately. Doggie day care would have been his worst nightmare: lots of strange dogs PLAYING ROUGH! AIIEE! Reading stories about how poorly some daycare owners read dog behavior always makes me reluctant to think about it.

Thanks for the replies! I spoke to the vet on the phone; they're prone to think this is a matter of the glands expressing too quickly/easily rather than being impacted, but I'll keep my eyes open for scooting or chewing. I'll also work on adding fiber; her poop is largish but has never been particularly firm. Yes, it's very unpleasant. She's an utter delight but this is a black mark on her perfect record.

My new dog came up from the south on a transport; one thing I noticed was that she smelled disgusting! Gave her a bath the first morning she was with me, because I couldn't bear the smell. Since then, I've seen at least three incidents where her anal glands just suddenly squirt fluid. Once, two neighbor dogs (big) charged us, and I picked her up, and when we got home I realized she had expressed her glands on ME. Two other times, she's been lying on the couch and bed, and acted rather surprised and started licking her butt... and the stuff was on my blankets. (So disgusting in the middle of the night!!) It could be related to fear or nervousness, but the most recent events didn't seem to happen at scary times. I've never had a dog whose glands just squirted before. Any previous problems have been related to NOT being able to express the glands. I've never seen evidence of the fluid before - just took the dogs to the vet to have the glands expressed. I've seen her scoot on my father's rug once or twice, which might mean she's uncomfortable. But in general, she seems fine. Any info in similar experiences? Products that help with this? Such a disgusting problem!

And on a side note: My new, 20-lb dog came out of a hoarding case. In the first few weeks, she was overwhelmed and scared of this entire new world. She literally shook for 2 days; I thought she might have Parkinson's. Big dogs charging at us at the park is an issue. And I came off 10 years of having Buddy, and my behavioral and emotional responses to the world are shaped by his "normal," which was very different from real "normal." But! My new girl? After four months, she's learning to love greeting other dogs. Plays rough with the 85-lb labrador up the street. Greets friendly Great Danes. Went up and down my street during trick-or-treat the other night: not a yip or bark or withdrawal. (Talked to a man with a giant pumpkin on his head. Casually watched the guy on the 12-foot-tall unicycle riding around.) This dog's resilience has shaped my internal landscape. When I see a stranger or in-control dog approaching now, I fully expect the interaction to be happy and exciting. My leftover wariness of the world from my old dog doesn't seem to have touched my new dog's adjustment. She's gonna be the feisty, happy dog she's wired to be, despite a bad start and despite my being initially far more cautious than I needed to be.

I am another person who owned a fearful and reactive dog and had NO emotional reaction or lead-in that might have caused uneasiness in the dog until after I'd seen a few (naively allowed) bad interactions that could have gotten extremely bad. I blithely took my old boy Buddy out into the world expecting him to act normal. Upon the first visit to my sister's house, he nearly bit my brother-in-law. Upon the first visit to my father's house, he nearly bit my father. Upon meeting several dogs over the first weeks, he flew into reactive mode (reacting to a bounding young dog as if the dog had attacked him). After that? Yes, I'll be happy to report that I grew uneasy when strangers with bouncy dogs approached us, and especially when they allowed their dogs to charge at mine. But I will categorically deny that I caused my dog's reactivity. MY reactivity was a direct response to his behavior, which was well established when I brought him home from the shelter. I learned over many months that I needed to train Buddy to look to ME to see how to respond in situations. So, I taught him to step off the road and do a 'lie down' or 'sit' in situations where previously he would have gone forward, defensively growling, as other dogs approached. I'm very proud that after a few years, people told me how good I'd been with Buddy - how much a changed dog he was, happy in the world and apparently normal to outsiders. The trainer who had worked with me early on met me at a park years later and told me that Buddy was one of those "miracle cases." I feel a strong implication here that people with dogs who are fearful are the CAUSE of the dog's fear, and while this may be very occasionally true, I don't think it's true for many of us on these boards. Those of us who are so annoyed by the rude behavior of others' dogs are annoyed because we are working SO VERY HARD to bring our fearful and reactive dogs to a better place in the world - and because our efforts can be so easily derailed by the ignorance of another dog owner. With a fearful and reactive dog, generalizing that the world is safe takes a very long time. Dogs aren't good generalizers, from what I understand. So, for my dog to start to believe he was safe meeting other dogs - after coming to me believing otherwise - could take hundreds and hundreds of safe meetings. A single bad meeting could reset the reactivity button, retrigger the original fear. And one thing I learned so very well: it's one step forward, two steps back. My trainer had owned challenging dogs. He told me once, "Until you've owned a dog like Buddy, you can't understand what it's like to own a dog like him." His point was that other people had no clue the difficult situation they put you in when they let their young lab charge at you. I'm willing to give people the pass on the basis of ignorance. OK: if you've never been in my shoes, you can't understand how I feel. But here are numerous people with reactive dogs describing their remarkably similar experiences, and these experiences are valid, and I hope they are not being dismissed.

That's a fanatastic update! I'd love to see some photos of Odin and his kitten.

Having previously owned a reactive dog, dog parks aren't something I could even consider. (And by dog parks, I mean the small, enclosed area for dogs to run and chase - not the beautiful parks with hiking trails where you might let your dog off leash.) My new dog is getting to be kind of dog-friendly, and LOVES to play run-and-chase with other dogs. She'll try to engage play with most dogs we meet, including a Great Dane we saw at the hiking park yesterday. But I've seen lots of dogs at the dog park nearby running roughshod over other dogs: big huskies humping small dogs with oblivious owners nearby, domineering dogs chasing after smaller dogs whose body language was clearly screaming, "Get AWAY!!" So, unless it's one dog and I carefully vet the interaction, I'm unlikely to take my dog to a dog park. I would be reluctant to have an on-leash dog in the dog area... just because I do FULLY expect other owners to free dogs who are large, young, and socially inept, and would most likely pounce at my dog, who'd have no escape route.