niccru

Their role is to keep the tick preventative industry in business.

That is one big nine week old BC! My nine week old is 9 lbs. I'm guessing she'll end up between 35 and 40lbs at full size.

My nightmares have been confirmed. Last night a small bite mark ended up on my face. Tried to shrug it off and not make a big deal outta it. Well, this morning in the span of two hours three more bite marks ended up on my face. Now I start panicking. I go home for lunch, and come back to work and three bite marks end up on my leg. I am freaking at this point. It has to be fleas. And then I find a big, fat flea on my arm. Caught it and killed it. Haven't gotten any more bites since then. Aside from last night and today, I hadn't really been itching. Well, I was itching but I think it was all in my head as there were no bite marks on me. I've checked both of my dogs and see no fleas on them. The frontline and comfortis must be working. Nevertheless, I raced to a pest control store and bought a huge jar of this product called Flea Stopper Carpet Powder and a can of Ultracide. I am planning on bathing my dogs in dawn liqud soap when I get home, taking them out, spraying the ultracide, and then brushing in the carpet powder. I used both of these products two years ago when I moved into a flea infested apartment and they worked like magic. I know it was only one flea that I saw, but I do NOT want an infestation to develop. The only good flea is a dead flea.

That is so funny!

Have any of y'all used the flea combs? They really work, right? I mean, if she had fleas, I'd be seeing them in the comb. Wow, I sound paranoid.

Okay, no, she doesn't stop eating, playing, or sleeping to scratch. And I don't see any redness or bumps on her. That's a good sign. I even feel like I've been itching more than what is normal, but it's probably all in my head.

I'm a relatively new dog owner, so please bare with me. A couple years back I moved into an apartment that had a flea infestation. Since then, I am soooo paranoid about fleas. It was one of the worst experiences of my life, and I never want to go through it again. Well, last Thursday I was playing with Abby and I noticed a small flea on her tummy. I tried to grab it, but Abby was too squirmy and it ran away into her coat. I had just put frontline on her a week back, but I immediatly ran to our vet anyway and bought a Comfortis tablet for both her and Holly. Later that evening, I combed out the flea I had seen on her earlier, but it was dead. Since then, I run the flea comb I bought through her coat about three times a day. Nothing every comes out with it. She scratches herself every now and then though, and it freaks me out. I instantly run the flea comb over the spot she itches at, but nothing comes out. I even inspect her entire coat when she's sleeping and I never find anything. Even if I or my husband have an itch, I immediately assume it's a flea. We have not seen any fleas in the house, and I have not seen a flea on her since that one last Thursday. Am I overreacting? It's normal for puppies/dogs to have itches every now and then right? I mean, she's definitely not constantly scratching. Just every now and then, she start scratching at her neck or on her leg or back. My other dog is a chihuahua and has a pretty thin coat, and I haven't seen any fleas on her. She does, however, have demodox mites that I am trying to cure, so she itches every now and then but it doesn't worry me too much. Somebody please tell me I'm overreacting.

Interesting. I live right across the street from IAH. Anyhoo, what do I do with my dogs when I go on vacation? Well, I haven't gone on vacation or out of town since I've had my dogs (got Holly back in October). If I did have to leave, I would probably have my brother or someone stay over at my house and house/dog sit. Unless, of course, it was possible for me to take them with me.

Here's the pooper face. More pics in photo gallery forum.

You all are so insightful. Thank you for all the great advice. Some I will take, and some I will leave for other newbies. I'm a member of another forum (dogforum), and it seems that there is only one method of training allowed to be spoken of there (positive reinforcement and distraction techniques). Since I've had Abby, I've been using these methods, and while some of her bad habits seem to be improving, other are not. More specifically, this issue I was (yes!) having with my ankles and her teeth was not improving. Decided to look for guidance here, and found my solution immediately. Abby has reached for my pants twice again since yesterday's training, but hasn't actually latched on. An absolute miracle sent from BC Boards! Nicole

Wow, I just used the brief scruff shake method and it worked. Albeit, I had to do it three different times, but I think she got it the third time. We were outside for a potty break and, as usual, after she pee'd she started attacking my ankles. Scruff shake. Thirty seconds later she attacks again. Scruff shake. Sixty seconds later she did it again. Final scruff shake. I was out there with her for almost ten minutes after our third and she didn't once attack me. She just about always nips and tugs when we're out there! I can tell she was very tempted though! She kept playing around my feet and sliding her head against my legs. I just kept praising her (for not attacking me). And while I did the scruff pinch (no more than three seconds), I would say "leave it", since I'm already trying to teach her this command. Hope I'm doing this right.....and that this isn't considered abusive. :/ Thanks a bunch guys!

Thank you for all your replies. I guess I was hoping that there was one magical solution that would fix this, but everyone trains differents. I've never owned a dog from the puppy stage, so have never had to do much obedience training. There are about two or three different methods that I am very interested in, but they're all so different from eachother, I don't know how to choose. I didn't want to do any hands on discipline, but the jab in the scruff doesn't seem too bad? I also what I just started doing. Picking her up and removing her from the situation. The idea about carring her backwards is excellent! I also like the game over and time out session in crate. However, if I put her in her crate with a kong or treat of some sort, couldn't she possibly interpret that as "nipping at ankles=treat/toy". I don't want her to get the wrong idea. Not too sure what to think about the distracting her with a toy while she's in attack mode....couldn't she also interpret this as "nipping=treat". Sorry for all questions. I'm new at this and just want to make sure that I feel confident in what method I choose. I also want to be consistent.

She's eight weeks old. What I started doing today (since turning my back on her and ignoring her wasn't working) was immediately picking her up and saying leave it to get her away from nipping me. I then march inside with her in my arms and then put her down, and by then she'll have forgotten about nipping (usually, but not always). I do like the game over phrase for this scenario. Now, should I put her in her crate when I pick her up and do a "game over"? I read crate's shouldn't be used as punishment...or is this just to get her mind off of my poor ankles?

Abby knips my ankles and pants all the freakin' time. I heard I was supposed to yelp and leave the room, but how do I leave the room when she has a hold of my pants and won't let go? If I try to open her jaws, she starts growling and locks down harder, making it more difficult for me to get her off of me. It turns into a game for her. I've been training the "leave it" command, and it works when we're inside training, but once we're outside and she's in that fix on my pants, she won't leave it. If I bring a treat out, she'll leave it, but as soon as she's done munching on the treat, she starts again. She seems to attack my ankles/pants almost every time after she pees or poos outside, and sometimes inside when she's hyper. It's almot becoming routine for her. I am finding myself getting frustrated with her and have yelled at her a couple of times. I know this will get me no where. Somebody pleeeeease advise.

Awww, I just love puppy pics. So much I think I'll go dump a whole bunca my Abby pics in the photo gallery. Very sweet looking girls you got there.