OurBoys

FWIW, that particular person is no longer with that particular rescue though it wasn’t for that particular reason. (Wow, 3 particulars in one sentence.) You weren’t the only one upset either. When I read your post in regards to Daisy still having her stitches in, not only did I contact someone on the BOD, I also posted a link to the thread as well. The rescue re-wrote their foster home policy to specifically state every foster home must keep their fosters at a minimum of 2 weeks to learn as much about the dog’s personality as possible before adopting out. You would think that would be a given but….. I’m sure when Jenn contacted you she suggested you could return Daisy so I want to thank you for working with her (Daisy). I knew you would be a good home but you went above and beyond. Beachdogz, I like your idea. I think you have it in you to be able to let the shelter(s) know you want to help without offending anybody. Give it a try.

Calming food? How often do you work Zena mentally? How many tricks does she know now? Make her work her brain. Does she heel? Does she take food gently from your hand? How good is her recall? Can she give you a paw when asked? Teach her to give you left and/or right. Teach her how to take a bow and say her prayers. If your backyard isn’t fenced in, put a long line on her, take her outside, roll a ball she can chase and teach her to bring it back to you. Is there an obedience instructor that offers puppy socialization classes? If so, enroll her. If not, do you know other people with puppies? If so, set up playdates. (Personally, I would avoid dog parks. I don’t think they are “structured” well enough and she could get hurt.) Puppies are a lot of work. That’s why I prefer older dogs. (Josie was somewhat of an exception. I was told she was 6 mo. old but at least she had all of her adult teeth.) But no matter what their age, a brain is a terrible thing to waste. Besides, just because a dog mature doesn’t mean their energy level will decrease. Example: The other day I gave our dogs a marrow bone apiece. (We always ask the butcher to cut 3 in half. That way we can get 2 "servings" but, and I could be wrong, I think Zena is too young for marrow bones.) Last night around midnight my Jake decided he wanted to play. We keep their toys put up so Jake decided to toss a marrow bone to get it to roll so he could pounce on it. Sometimes I think that boy is part cat. Oh, BTW, Jake is 7 yrs old. Even my 10 yr old, JJ, gets the zoomies indoors sometimes when the weather doesn’t allow us to take them out to burn off some energy. At least I think JJ’s 10. His rescuer told us her vet told her he was about 2 when we adopted him back in 2004.

Gary, I think you're confusing treats with kibble/meals. If you are going to give Zena only a few treats a day, yes, wheat flour, oats and milk are ok. If you don't feel comfortable giving Zena wheat flour, substitute rye flour. If you don't feel comfortable giving Zena cow's milk, substitute goat's milk. (I have a problem finding rye flour locally but I know the Walmart closest to us sells goat's milk in the dairy section.)

I agree with waffles. I wouldn’t buy it. (It would end up in the small appliance graveyard here. ) You can get a lower end food dehydrator for $40 or less and get more uses out of it. If you don’t want to invest in a food dehydrator, you can dry food/treats in your oven. Not only are cookie cutters inexpensive, for plain dog cookies/biscuits you can spread the dough on a cookie sheet and cut it with a pizza cutter before baking. (All bone shaped cookie cutters are larger than what I would feed my dogs for treats. I would have to break them up after baking if I used one.)

I had a problem finding the ingredients at first too until I ran my cursor over the picture. They are listed on the bottom of the bag. They don't sound bad though I would wonder where the rice flour is made (crunchy treats). You can also cut up some hot dog weiners and/or cheese for treats too. Keeping Zena guessing on which treat she'll get will help keep her interest. High value treats will help you get her attention if she's doing something you don't want her too.

Isn’t that the truth?! When my nephew was a toddler, I had a sheltie. Because I took Niki with me every chance I got, she came along with me to my parent’s house whenever my brother and his family came to visit. My then SIL wasn’t a dog person but even she knew her son needed to learn how to act around dogs. We all tried to teach him how to pet a dog but no matter what we did, he wouldn’t listen. His idea of “petting” a dog was hitting it. One day us ladies (my mom, SIL and myself) were in the kitchen talking and weren’t paying attention. All of a sudden we heard my nephew (2 yrs old) screaming at the top of his lungs in the living room. It so happened I was sitting in the chair at the kitchen table that allowed me to see into the living room. Niki had my nephew’s arm in her mouth. Naturally, we all went rushing into the living room. My nephew’s arm was red where Niki was holding him but she didn’t break the skin. It then dawned on us my nephew had tried to “pet” her. Niki was tired of being hit so she had turned her head to catch his arm when it came down. She hung on just long enough and just tight enough (so he couldn’t pull away) to put the fear of doG in him without actually hurting him. He never hit another dog again. Niki taught my nephew what the rest of us couldn’t. I was never so proud of Niki as I was that day. Will all dogs be that smart? Of course not. But even my SIL who really wasn’t that fond of dogs knew my nephew needed to learn how to treat dogs because, as my SIL said, there might have been a time my nephew would come across a dog that wasn’t as tolerant with kids and could have been seriously hurt if he walked up to them and hit them. Riley-dog, think about it. With no dogs around, how are you going to teach your kids to respect dogs? Are you and/or your husband going to forbid your kids to be friends with other kids if they have dogs? Would be teaching your kids to be afraid of dogs really be in their best interest? ETA: My ex-SIL was a cat person so my niece and nephew didn't grow up petless.

Good girl, Faye.

And yet.... I agree with Ancient Dog, you set Riley up to fail. Now, apparently, this incident is his fault. I hope you can find Riley a home that is more dog savvy and knowledgeable about dogs than his current home so he doesn’t have to pay for someone else’s mistake with his life. If you and/or your husband are unable to find such a home and decide to euthanize the dogs, you and your husband both should go together when having it done. If Riley really was your best friend and truest companion at one time, he shouldn’t have to make that last journey alone. And please, if you ever consider getting another dog in the future also consider taking the dog to obedience classes. Dog owners learn just as much as the dogs do in those classes.

A little late but that was great. Thanks for sharing, Jim!

The vet techs always tell me it's normal; no "chunkies", no infection, no thickness. Jake's not overweight either. You can feel his ribs good. In fact, when he was on stock, I had a problem keeping weight on him. He is a "nervous" dog. If we move anything, he paces. If it rains, he paces. (Rain = thunder) One spring a few years ago we had thunderstorms for a week and he gave himself diarrhea. I wish we had some livestock. I feel if I could work him often at home it might help with his nervousness. (Riding isn't one of his favorite things to do but doG forbid if he gets left behind. )

A dog will butt scoot across the floor or in the yard and/or will lick themselves back there a lot. If you have a dog that does either one of those, I would take them in and have their anal glands expressed.

Kristen, I looked back on a thread I started back in Feb. You mentioned stress back then. I believe stress has a major part in Jake’s problem too. He can stress over the least little thing. I’m still going to give him more turkey necks and keep a journal on when I feed him and how often I have to take him in but like you, I think I might always have to get it done or learn to do it myself. Hopefully, the turkey necks will at least minimize the number of times it needs to be done. There’s a possibility he ‘might’ be allergic to chicken but I’ve eliminated most of the chicken in his diet (1 or 2 mini Milkbones a day) so I’m going to start off with one neck/week and go from there.

Denice, he gets pumpkin with every meal but thanks for the tip. Gideon's girl, I'm sure you're right. It's the fear of the unknown.

I've always been scared to do it myself because I've read if you don't know what you're doing you can do more harm than good. I think the next few times I take him in I'm going to tell the vet tech I want to watch. After a couple of times, I'll then tell her I want to do it myself under her supervision. If they won't allow that, I'll find someone who will. Thanks you guys!

Today when I took Jake to the vet to have his anal glands expressed I was told the right one was empty but the left one was quite full. Does anybody have any idea why one would empty normally but the other one wouldn’t? His poop is obviously firm enough to empty the one and I’m scared to try to make it firmer in case he might become constipated. I don't know if it has anything to do with helping empty his right anal gland but I gave the dogs a turkey neck the other day. Because of that, I'm going to start a journal to see if feeding him more turkey necks will help empty his glands. (He's not a very good chewer. He swallows everything ASAP.) Does that sound crazy? Jake has had anal gland problems for so long, I feel I'm on the verge of desperation.

When I told DH he got the DVD for me he said "Umm, ok." (Short pause) "Can I watch it with you??"

I just went ahead and ordered it and told DH it was going to be a Christmas present from him.

I've never heard of ear licking being a dominant behavior but stress can cause humping. Josie used to hump when she would become overly excited and couldn't run/burn it off. JJ doesn't know how to play correctly and will try to hump Josie when they play chase and he "catches" her. (She always scoots out from under him, faces him and the chase is on again.) ETA: JJ doesn't have a dominant bone in his body. If Jake looks at him a certain way, JJ will hang his head and walk away. When Josie wants to go outside and I ignore her, she'll start licking JJ's face, teeth, eyes, etc to get him to growl and bark. It's not unusual to hear "Josie, get out of JJ's face!" around here.

Do you have any feed stores in your area? I don’t live in a town that is as small as the one you live in but the best place we have to buy kibble is at an independently owned feed store. They sell high quality kibble cheaper than the “pet boutiques” around here.

I believe in crating too. Along with all of the other reasons listed, puppies need to learn to rest. Josie was supposed to have been 6 months old when she came into our lives. I could tell when she would be “fighting her sleep” when she would start plucking on the boys last nerve. When she would start doing that, I would crate her with a stuffed Kong. Whenever I would check on her a few minutes later, she would be sound asleep with the Kong between her front paws. I believe it also helped to teach her an “off” switch. Another reason my dogs are crated is in case of a house fire. I’ve never heard of a dog running out of a house when it’s burning but I have heard of firefighters saving dogs and cats nowadays. Back in 1971 when I was 15, our house caught on fire. After my mom, brother and I were out safely (my dad was at work), I was in a next door neighbor’s home getting a shirt on (the one I was wearing had caught on fire, after dropping & rolling I had stood up and tore it off). Before the neighbor could button the shirt up, I realized my dog (a Chihuahua) was still in the house and took off running out the door yelling “OMG, get Princess!!” (Yes, back then I had a dog named Princess.) No one allowed my brother or me to go back into the house and later the firefighters wouldn’t look for her saying she was probably dead (remember, this was back in ’71). When my mom and I were at the emergency room, we got word Princess was found alive downstairs with her head under a couch cushion. Today my dogs have a bath mat and a sheet or blanket in their crate and they are located close to the back door. If this house catches on fire (ETA: At night after we've gone to bed), I’m going to know where my dogs are and get them out asap if we’re at home. If uncrated, JJ would probably run to his crate anyway, Josie would probably be in the same crate as JJ but Jake would run upstairs to find his safe place or behind the wine cooler or in the utility room or.... Writing this post reminds me I need to get one of those “Save my dogs” sign to put in a window.

Awwww, what a sweet looking face! Looking forward to seeing more pictures.

Happy Birthday, Twist!

Happy Belated Birthday, Dixie!

I agree with Gloria. Take him to the vet. Earlier this year my Jake came up lame. He would have a problem putting weight on one of his hind legs after resting after playtime. Naturally, I thought something was wrong with his leg. It turned out he had a pinched nerve in his back. After 3 laser treatments and following up with a few visits to the chiropractor, he's as good as new. I'm not saying Sam's problem is a pinched nerve in his back but like Gloria said, it could be something else.

We love the Nylabone Flexible Frisbees. They are also the only ones our Josie will catch. Well, except the for Squirrel but since she's a nibbler we don't use those.