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Michelle K

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About Michelle K

  • Birthday 08/07/1976

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  • Website URL
    http://

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Female
  • Location
    TN
  • Interests
    Obedience, Agility, Herding, Fast Cat, Reading, Writing

Michelle K's Achievements

  1. It depends on which Purina, though, because Alpo and Mighty Dog are going to rate much lower than Pro Plan. That's just what I've always found. I don't like SD at all...never have. I feed Pro Plan, but it works for my dogs. As I've stated on other posts, 2 of my dogs have extremely sensitive stomachs. None of the high quality foods that I tried (Innova, Solid Gold, Canidae, Eukanuba, etc) worked for them. They had horrible diarrhea and vomiting (with some). Mine are doing great on this food...firm stools, beautiful coats, skin that isn't dry and flaky, good weights, etc. Something I was told a long time ago made sense. The vets sell SD, so naturally they'll promote it. If they don't promote it, then they get no money for their clinics. I know that my vet sells SD, but he actually feeds his own dogs Purina Pro Plan. I'm definitely not saying that Pro Plan is the best food, because it isn't. All I'm saying is that it works for my dogs. You have to find what works. Just because it works for mine doesn't mean that it will work for yours. It's just like with us, some foods agree with us and some don't. Seafood is supposed to be great for us, but I'm allergic to shellfish and don't like the taste of fish, so it doesn't work for me. Make sense?
  2. ^ What she said. Congrats! Glad to hear that you did really take in what everyone was telling you. Now, you know that we're going to be wanting updates and wanting to see pictures, right??
  3. This is a chart like the one my vet has hanging in his office... http://www.placervillevet.com/canine%20body%20condition.htm I've always gone by the "you should be able to feel the ribs and see a waist, but the ribs should not be protruding".
  4. OMG! I'm sorry to hear this. Erin, you be careful! There are too many crazy people out there.
  5. Hi! Welcome to the boards! Petfinder is great. You'll find a lot of terrific people here.
  6. Honestly, I don't see Aussie in her at all. I do see BC, but the hair around her ears and something about her face is throwing me. The hair around her ears almost reminds me of my Shelties. I'm not sure, though. I'd say BC mix. Anytime I introduce a new dog, I always do it through a fence and watch the reactions. If it's a tough introduction, I give each of the dogs blankets to sleep on, keep them separate of course, and then switch the blankets the next day. That gives them a chance to get used to scents. I don't have much time to post right now, but this might help until I have more time or you get more responses. Congrats on your new foster girl! Keep us posted!!
  7. One thing I wanted to mention, though. Of course, I'm not there, so I'm not seeing first hand what is going on. The only problem I have with this is that if you put her up when visitors are there, you're not fixing the problem. The way I've handled aggression and visitors is that I put the dog on a leash while visitors are there. Now there were times that I would have to put the dog up due to us trying to eat or participating in some type of activity, but I've seen what can happen by putting a dog up every time someone comes over. My parents had a Poodle years ago that they always put to bed every time someone came over. As he got older, he could not be out whatsoever when people came around, because he was very aggressive to visitors. I do agree with having her fully vet checked and talking with a behaviorist, but just keep in mind about what I mentioned. Good luck!
  8. I'll 2nd that! A lot of times the shelters are just so stressful that you may find a dog that is a total nutcase at the shelter, but then again there are times that dogs will be extremely shy and hiding in a corner. Once they're out of there, then the dog is totally different. I've seen it so many times. Good luck on your decision making!
  9. Amen to that. I just came back in here and I can not believe how this has turned. Jackieandryan, I've never had a problem with you, and I don't plan to start now. I do agree with Laurae in that maybe your posts just aren't coming across the way they're intended. That's the crappy part of internet use. We have no ability to use tone and sound, so we have to rely simply on our wording. Don't get mad, because that can hurt your credibility, as Laurae said. If it was me and something I said was taken completely wrong, I would probably post stating something like, "Whoa. Wait a minute, that wasn't what I meant...." and go from there. I'll admit that the posts about not paying if your dog injured another and bringing up something that was said in a thread that has nothing to do with this one did sound cold and uncaring, but I didn't say anything, because I figured that I was just reading the first one wrong, so I chose to stay out of it. The last one was uncalled for, but I understand how it is when I feel attacked by others (even if I wasn't being). Sometimes I spout off before thinking. All I am trying to tell you is that don't get upset if something you say is misunderstood, just try to clarify. For one, I hate what's happened for the OP. That had to be an extremely hard thing to handle. Two, if someone's dog attacked mine, then I would expect them to, at least, offer to assist with the vet bills. I know things can happen and you do it at your own risk, but I would hope they would have the decency to offer, which the OP took full responsibility, which IMO shows great character. She made a mistake and was willing to do whatever she could to fix it. This situation is why I'm still up in the air on whether or not to join our dog park. Too many things can happen. I wouldn't take Rain, at all, because she has shown signs of aggression. She was more than a handful when I started her in basic obedience training. I had never seen that from her before, but when I saw it, I still took her to class, but I kept her at a safe distance away and I made sure that there was no chance of her slipping her collar or Gentle Leader (which I resorted to due to her extreme pulling and lunging when she saw another dog). She has made improvement, but still isn't trustworthy when around other dogs. She's fine for the most part with the ones she lives with, but I have to keep an eye on her at all times. She's gotten into scuffles with the other girls and Nykie got a cut ear from her, so there is no way would I trust her in a dog park. I've dealt with aggression before, so I'm prepared to handle her in public situations that I can keep her at a distance from others (like in the class we took) until she shows that she's ok with them. Even then, it is going to take a really long time to get her to where I can work with her in more enclosed situations or off-lead. Back to the things can happen topic, Dream is a therapy dog, and there is something about him that sets other dogs off. I still haven't quite figured out what it is. He's extremely mellow and just a gentle boy, which makes him excellent for therapy work. Well, I've had him in 2 training classes and, in both, he has had dogs to go after him. We had a situation once INSIDE of a nursing home, that was totally unpredicted. We were with a group and standing outside of a resident's door, over to the side. Well, another therapy dog (a large mixed breed that looked to be maybe part Chow) walked out of the room and for no apparent reason at all, lunged at Dreamer and grabbed him by his mane. Dream panicked and yanked out of his collar and ran behind me. The owner of the other dog grabbed her dog, but he lunged again. If Dream so much as moved, this dog was lunging and snapping. The dog was 9yrs old and had been a therapy dog for 8yrs with no problems ever. No one knows what caused it, but we do know that the dog had always gone on visits with both of his owners until a few months prior to that when the husband passed away. It just goes to show that even the most trusted dogs can attack with no reason. Dreamer was fine, since his coat is so thick (the other dog just got a mouthful of hair...never reached the skin) other than very nervous the rest of our time there. Still no idea why dogs seem to go after him at times, but there is something about him that seems to attract them. Needless to say, I probably would never take him to a dog park situation. I know he would be fine, but I can't be sure another dog would come after him.
  10. Sorry to hear this. I do want to ask something to you and to others that have mentioned they've had similar issues. I agree about the stance or structure of Boxers, but what about tails? Are these dogs' tails docked? I'll never forget a story I read a long time ago. This lady had a Labrador that had gotten her tail stuck in the garage door, so the tail had to be amputated. The dog had never been in a fight before and was older (if I remember correctly, she was around 5 or 6). Well, after her tail was amputated very short, she was getting in fights every time she went up to another dog. It took awhile befor anyone could figure out what the problem was. Finally they realized that it was her docked tail causing the problem. A dog uses the tail for communication and this dog had always stood more rigid, but wagged her tail in a friendly manner, but when it was amputated/docked, she couldn't do that anymore, so all the other dogs were seeing was a dog standing rigid which came across as dominance/aggression. I've noticed that Koty has more problems than our others, but he's a Schnauzer with a docked tail. This may not even be the case in any of these situations, but I thought it was worth passing on.
  11. I'm PMing you, since I'm not sure on using names.
  12. Glad to hear it! Don't know how I didn't see this post before mine, but I was having some connection problems this morning, so that's probably why.
  13. Hi. I just wanted to wish you luck. I went through that with 2 of my Shelties. They have very sensitive stomachs, especially my male. I tried so many different high quality foods and none of them agreed with my 2. Now, I am not a fan of Pedigree or Puppy Chow at all. I've seen too many dogs with dry flaky skin, dull coats, etc that are fed those foods. I ended up resorting to Pro Plan. It's not the highest quality, by any means, but it's definitely not the lowest quality. My dogs do fantastic on it, and I'm always getting compliments on how beautiful they are. They're all healthy and it works for them. I generally tell people that you have to find what works for Maggie. Just because one food works for someone doesn't mean that it will work for another. That's what I ran into when trying to feed many of the high dollar high quality foods, like Innova, Solid Gold, Canidae, etc. I'm sure Maggie will be fine. It's probably just the food. When Presley was 8wks old and we brought her home, she started vomiting and having diarrhea. She literally dropped to 2lbs (down from 3.5lbs) which is a large amount for a puppy. I put her on a bland diet to give her system time to calm down. Now, she's a very active 18lb 2yr old. Keep us posted!
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