spottychick

Hey jesterbelle, I havent much to contribute - I do have experience of something similar but my experience is not a happy one so I don't really want to go into it. But I just wanted to say it's good you've been able to do something about it quickly and I sincerely hope it doesn't recur and Missy has many more happy years ahead

My old girl got cataracts and skin tumors. I treated them both with natural remedies (she was too old for operations on either and they didn't think it would be a good idea anyway). Got rid of the tumors and helped her eyes (tho never cured it of course). She eventually got more and more blind but she was still as happy as anything, keen to go for walks, full of energy and enthusiasm for life. She developed clever ways of compensating for her loss of sight. She lived till nearly 19 still with no problems with her lack of sight. I used to marvel at her mapping out a new area - sort of doing a grid of it and finding the obstacles so that she knew where they were. Then she'd run around confidently. Once or twice she fell into unexpected holes or trenches on walks but it never seemed to worry her. I had nothing but admiration for her and never felt sorry for her - there was no reason to because she was so amazing and didn't let anything worry her. Oh and she remained the boss of the other two dogs right till the very end - but a gentle boss I still miss the beautiful lady.

Glad to hear she's recovering!!

Signed and added my own comment - I was number 400 and something.

Why is she shaky in her back legs?

I just had to post this even tho some people may not understand why I'm so thrilled A few minutes ago I was sitting at the pc and suddenly I heard all this barking and semi-snarling sounds and scuffling feet sounds in the kitchen. So I quietly peaked into the kitchen and there I saw Pepper and Tango PLAYING!!!! They were doing that bum up in the air thing at each other and Tango was making these sort of play-growl sounds and twirling around in circles then dashing out the back door. Pepper was doing the air bum and darting side to side in response but was only chasing as far as the door. This is PHENOMENAL! Pepper was still a bit reluctant to get into it with him but I was so happy to see Tango interacting playfully with Pepper and being so happy and carefree. I also wonder how often his "snarling" at Pepper in the past has been an attempt at play???? (Aside from the serious ones when he made her squeal etc). ANyway, I ran outside after Tango and Pepper followed and we spent about 5 minutes chasing a blissful delirously happy Tango around trees and stuff in the backyard. Then I saw that one of my blue crocs was half way down the lawn and realised Tango had grabbed it when trying to get Pepper to play and raced around the yard with it Hahahahahahaha. I called out "Hey wait a minute!!!!..... that's my shoe" and an electricity worker who's fixing the power lines outside started laughing

Just make it without the offal and add a piece of liver or whatever to their dinner a couple of times a week instead.

My theory, for what it's worth, is that if you sound aggressive (ie saying no in a deep strong voice or yelling/screaming at the dog as I've seen some people do) the puppy might interpret that as you also responding to a threat so it will encourage him to feel scared of people, noises etc. My 8 year old adoptee barked at everything when he got here. My response was to try and make him feel things weren't a threat. I used a light happy voice and called him to me - if he came to me I'd give him pats and sometimes a treat and keep saying "see - it's all right. Nothing to worry about" etc. If he kept on barking I'd just put a lead on him (in the yard) and take him inside or away from the distraction and still use a happy voice "Let's go over here Tango!! Look what's this" What's this?" etc. If it happened on a walk I'd sometimes squat down near him, look where he is looking and say something like "What is it mate?? Oh nothing to worry about. Come on - lets go". It depended on what he was barking at. I don't want to discourage him guarding but I want him to listen to me and let me decide if something's a threat. Walking past fences with barking dogs rushing the fence on the other side - I'd just pick up the walking pace a little and distract him and not let him engage with the dogs. In the first week I had him when we went for walks he used to bark at shadows on walls, murals, chimneys, horses, bright posters on walls, you name it. He doesn't now.

Yes, I was devastated that he was killed - he really didn't harm anyone and was just going about his own business. The only reason I wanted to relocate him was that he was just a bit too close to my back door LOL But otherwise I didn't mind him at all. And yes they are beautiful snakes around here. The one I almost walked in to was a gorgeous black creature with a red stripe up it's belly. It had the most beautiful shaped head and was very calm and cool. I think I was more fascinated and in awe (almost hypnotised) by his/her beauty than scared.

You're welcome *doffs her cap*

So show him you are in charge and being up here on the table/washing machine is serious business. If he mouths you then gently but firmly move his mouth away from your hand and say "no" in a gentle but firm tone. Keep doing that and treat him (like in the video) when he doesn't mouth you.

Isn't it amazing what happens when you stop and try to see things from the dogs point of view! Well done on sussing this out Sounds like he associates being put up on the table as "serious business" while grabbing his feet on the floor is "play time

Check this site out Dog Food Project

I live in the bush with a creek over the back of me and snakes use my property as a shortcut to the creek. I'm sort of used to them and just keep a close eye out when the dogs are let outside. I almost walked into one in the back yard once and the dogs were running around nearby. So I just called the dogs to me and grabbed them and told them to stay very still - which we did while the snake looked at us and went on it's way. For a while I also used to have a large snake that lived under the concrete slab near my back door. I could tell he was there because there is a strip of gravel next to the concrete and there was a hole at the edge of the gravel (next to the concrete) and a snake trail through the gravel leading from the hole. I used to check there every morning to see if the snake trail was there and if it was I'd know he'd gone for the day. Then I'd smooth it back over and check later in the day to see if there was a return trail. Then smooth it over for the morning check LOL It worked! He didn't hang around the backyard -not when there was that lovely creek just down the road a bit. I used to be able to see his trail travelling all the way from the back gate, weaving all through my back lawn, then through the gravel to the hole. If I didn't see a trail in the morning I'd let the dogs out for a quick wee and then bring em back in. If I did see a trail I knew the snake would be down the creek for the day and we'd be safer. But I always scanned the entire yard before letting the dogs out anyway, kept an eye on them while they were outside and never left them out for long in the "aggressive" season (Feb/March here). I was in the process of having the snake removed and relocated by a professional but sadly a neighbour saw him when he was outside my yard and killed him before I could get it organised. If I wasn't trying to sell the house and move I would install colourbond fencing that's dug deep into the ground at least for one area of the back yard. Snakes don't dig under fences and can't climb colourbond fencing (apparently) so I'd use this fenced area as a run for them when I'm not home. It would be too expensive to fence the entire property like this tho.

Hey Lucy Lots of people in here have more experience than me so I can only tell you what worked with my fella that I adopted a few weeks ago. He was also very skittish when I got him and bit me a couple of times when I touched him and he was attacking my other dog. He was quite the lunatic really. I started by not doing any of the things I did that caused him to bite me or caused him to freak out. Mostly that was around his bed. He clearly needed to be left alone when he was in his bed, so I did. He also didn't like having his back legs touched so I didn't do that either (although now I can touch the top muscle of his back legs with no problems) Secondly, I started doing the TOT (Triangle of Temptation) with him. I can't recommend this enough! Before I started this I had enormous trouble getting his attention but now he looks at my eyes often to see what I want him to do. With your friends dog they will need to sort out the food drive issue first tho because it depends on them wanting their food to work. I have read many times in here and on other training sites, there are practically no dogs who don't want food. You just got to get them hungry enough. That makes sense to me. One of the things the TOT has done is taught my dog not to cry when he's tied up or when I leave the house. He's better at this now than my other dog who I've had for years I agree with Persephone, they should just offer one kind of nice food and if it's refused after a few minutes put it away again. Eventually she will be hungry enough to eat it. Generally, I've tried to keep things very calm and not make too big a fuss of him. I've let him come to me for pats, cuddles etc rather then push them on to him and I talk to him in a happy voice a lot. In fact I used my voice to "pat" him rather than physically patting him. I don't baby him at all but he gets lots of love. He also doesn't get any food or treats without having to do something first, even if it's just sit or walk next to me. He has stopped being so skittish and is even coping with thunderstorms well - something that used to terrify him. And now he lets me pat him in his bed (still very gently and cautiously) and jumps up onto my bed in the morning for cuddles. Oh and out of interest, he wouldnt wee or anything on walks either for the first few weeks. Now he does. I'm sure that's just him feeling secure and confident now. Your friends dog has some great positives!

I hate hearing stories like this. Just glad I didn't see it - I probably would have started yelling at them...... I have a dog who wont go in the water - he's terrified of it - but all we do is lead him as close as he'll go without freaking out then we all get in the water (we have a long lead for him too) and show him how great it is. It's going to take a long time to break through his 8 years of "stuff" and get him in but so far we've got him to wet his feet at the edge and that's progress as far as I'm concerned. What those morons are doing will just make it worse.

Hmmmm interesting discussion I think you can draw a difference between "pets" and livestock when you're looking at licensing pet ownership. Farmers are subject to other regulations. And successful farmers should know how to look after their animals and I think, generally they do, it's their livelihood. You always get idiots of course, like the one in Tassie who had pigs in the most appalling conditions - but the regs for food production and various regulatory bodies SHOULD be looking after those sort of disgusting farming practices.

Yeah - and it would be great to have kids doing the test and understanding what's involved BEFORE they get a puppy. Bet lots of parents would appreciate that LOL

Yep, I can totally see the link between animal abuse/cruelty and child abuse/cruelty. And other crimes against people for that matter. I would support this bill - it just needs some tweaking and clarification.

Glad to hear she's all better!!

Well that's true of people who are banned from owning dogs or certain numbers of dogs under the existing system. Just because some people will break the rules doesn't mean they are not worth considering and perhaps implementing. You wouldn't advocate not having driver's licenses just because some people drive without one!! Having a license system would certainly make it more difficult for people to get a pet if they didn't have the required license. And you could have severe penalties associated with it (ie not just the slap on the wrist currently standard in dog abuse etc).

awww that's great! I like happy endings There's been a couple of these today!

Looks like they just bundled the dog up when they found it and took it straight to the vet. Then hurried to put something online. That pic looks like it was taken at the airport. Good on em!

Well whatever it was that's one lucky dog. So glad all turned out fine. I feared the worst!