RobbieRules

i would appreciate some advice please. I am currently overseas for the next 10 days and we left our 3 dogs ( 2 oldish schnauzers and a staffy puppy) in the capable but young hands of our 19yr old daughter. Anjelica our runty 12 yr old Schnauzer had hurt 'her foot' the day i left, or that's what it looked like to me. she was limping around at home but did rise to the occasion and come to the park for a run with the others so i assumed it would get better and left our daughter with instructions to go to vet if required. She had been playing on our bed, left the room for a moment and when she came back was limping. i didnt hear anything, i didnt see her do anything so i thought she must have twisted something but then palpation didnt really pain her either. so, she's not got better and the vet has said she's got a cervical spur causing her grief. i'm told she's on antibiotics ( they took some teeth out under surgery whilst they looked at her) and pain killers and will be reviewed next week. I"m so frustrated this is happening from afar, especially as Anjelica will be pining for me anyway even if she was well. Poor little foo. i'm also frustrated i cant ask the vet 50 questions! i'm anxious the boisterous puppy is going to aggrevate things but separating them is not really doable whilst i'm not home as this is a working family and the staffy has Never been separated from the girls. i would like to suggest to daughter that we add some glucosamine into Anjelica's diet?? i'm just not sure of the dose. we also have fish oil at home that she could use too. i'm thinking also a chiropractor would be useful? i'm SO not inclined to go down a path of surgery if that's entailed. I love my dog dearly but i recognise she's already old so am not sure how much intervention would be useful ... We live up Epping way in Sydney so if anyone had any contacts i would much appreciate it. And any advice on how to make her more comfortable. Massage? heat packs? ice packs?

Update on Charlie and Molly - No more fights thus far, but plenty of near misses. we've taken to putting charlie outside when the cat comes in ( glass doors so she can see everything and everyone behaving inside), putting her on a leash whilst inside (SO not impressed, lol). The cat seems to have moved her territory from the back yard ( where dogs also live) to the front, so that's a start. Distraction is also working; she's coming ( sort of!) when she's called when she's stalking the cat in the garden and she gets lots of praise for that. However last night the cat looked ready to launch herself into the attack off the dining table as Charlie discovered she was there so she's really not helping things.. my next question is; how do you seperate a duelling catdog?? ( Catdog, because they literally become ONE) Ii've got too many cat scratches to want many more. We thought a spray bottle of vinegar?? might work. It's sitting on the bench waiting for a work out. It needs to be an indoor remedy for the most part. i'm in Sydney unfortunately, the Ausdog people look good. Shame.

thanks for the all the advice thus far. i will do a search for 'AusDogs', and that's the second advice i've had to teach the dog the word 'gentle'. Also, another question. Do puppy teeth do lots of damage? Tilly the Schnauzer has little blood marks on her shoulders - i heard her getting very cranky with Charlie early this morning outside. But generally they play 24/7 even if they are a very mismatched pair. I can only assume it's nasty little sharp baby teeth and not a change in approach?

What confuses me is that after being targeted by the dog, the cat continues to walk into the house morning and night ( her routine) seeminlgy forgetting that Charlie is around. I just took Charlie for a run at the park this morning and when we got back she was lying on the cool kitchen floor. Molly the cat saunters in over to her food bowl, and i crouched down and held Charlie by the collar. Her body was so tense, and i darent let her go. I'm trying to use the time out rule. i put her outside and she can see the other dogs and the cat, so i'mhoping she will feel left out and choose to behave. We're trying distraction techniques, which did work yesterday afternoon when she was stalking and ready to pounce; and timeout. She's so eager to learn i just hope this will be enough for this seemingly innate behaviour. Other people have just told me to get rid of the dog, and why do we have a staffy amongst such gentle dogs as Schnauzers, but the situation is a little more complicated than that. Daughter aged 19 paid her hard earned cash for her just after christmas and bought her into the home without consulting us. banking on the fact that she knows i am a dog lover. When Charlie arrived i was speechless with all the implications - 3 dogs=pack , wrong breed for working family;content middle aged schnauzers;walkies everyday; etc etc but 19yr olds maturity levels couldnt see the big picture. Said 19yr old has low self esteem ( 2 high achieving siblings),poor attitude to responsiblities etc and openly stated she wanted a staffy one day for a long time . My +1 and I have seen that this little dogga is a good thing for her, we cancelled her skiing holiday o/s this past 8 weeks because she needed to be responsible for the puppy's care; she's had to find money for vet bills and be committed to walking and training her etc. In parenting terms, this is great for our daughter. So, i'm just not prepared to give up on her just yet. Fingers crossed i can find the skills to alter the behaviour ( I had a bossy boxer as a child that was my responsiblity so i learnt a lot of puppy schooling stuff) and not come to the decision that her breed traits will never be able to be altered *sigh*.

as of this morning, ( another seek and destroy attack on the cat) i've made a couple of observations. Principally, the cat is not getting hurt. lots of fur and noise and scratching returned to the dog, but no damage that i've found on the cat even if she is being jaw locked on her neck. Thus i can only assume Charlie's playing.??? It's still not appropriate behaviour. I had the cat perched imperiously on the dining table this morning, and tried some distraction and reward techniques on charlie, who was coiled and quivering in anticpation. it sort of worked. better than i had hoped for too.

Help. This puppy stuff is wearing me out. I got home from o/s 2 days ago to discover 4 month old Staffy has had little formal education continued by daughter and after a previously cordial relationship with the 12 yr old cat this has rapidly disintegrated. Our middle aged schnauzers have always chased the cats that cross their paths. They're all bark and no bite and this is their 'thing' that makes them feel really cool. However, adding Charlie the Staffy has obviously altered the status quo. 3 dogs now makes a pack *sigh* and their chasing has made her quite ? aggresive ( not sure) but determined yes.Yesterday for the 2nd time she caught up with our cat and they proceeded belt the carp out of each other. Molly the cat was held in a death grip by Charlie around the neck , jaws locked, slathering and growling. Trying to drag them apart was no mean feat, and both ended up with nasty scratches. I suspect it was me that gave the Charlie the haematoma in her eye from belting her so hard, and that is unheard of from me. 'NO' and 'Bad' had no impact on her at the time, although she is learning these. ( well, she is only a puppy) She has scratches all over her from Molly's attempts at self preservation. This is one determined dog that has bounded her way into our previously happy lives and is treading on everyones proverbial toes. I'm frightened i'm going to come home one day and find my cat in 10 different pieces. She deserves a more dignified death that this! HOw do i get into Charlie's head and teach her some respect.? i'm clueless. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At the moment she has a kennel, and they have their chair, and she has had her 2nd vaccination, we've just got hte 3rd to go. i think you're correct. i think she's confused. I'm not likely to be buying a crate either, but i'll follow your advice and read up on the crate threads.

Charlie 10 weeks. She taught us that not only could dogs fart, but they are also mighty burpers!

hehe. i did just try to put photos up, but i need to resize them. that takes a bit of thinking on my part.

Help! Our nice little nuclear family of kids, hubby and 2 middle aged girl schnauzers was blasted apart 2 weeks ago when daughter no.3 brought home from the pet shop ( unnanounced *sigh* ) a 9 week girl staffy. Unfortunately.... We LOVE her. Unfortunately, we also love daughter no.3 or she would have been out of a home!! The 'girls' ( the schnauzers ) are thankfully fairly patient with this little bullet. but i have some issues i'm not sure about. 1. Charlie ( the staffy ) sleeps outside with the girls and i've not really had an issues with that. However, toilet training her to piddle outside is different. As the girls are predominantly indoor dogs, so by default is Charlie. We;ve got paper in places for her to toilet on, and she is good. she's trying really hard, but how do i get her to go piddle outside. I know she copies the girls with a lot of things, but it seems she's 'learnt' to piddle inside. She sniff's their poos outside, and i've taken her to the local oval at 6 am when no other dogs were about to try to get it out of her system, but it seems she holds untils she's back home and then dashes inside to the paper. She's REALLY susceptible to 'good dog bad dog' talk and i've got her sitting on command already, so she's readily teachable but i'm not sure what to do about the toileting. 2. When daughter no.3 bought her home, the pet shop papers had the breeders names blanked out. This seems dodgy to me? Surely paying all that money entitles one to know the bloodline? It smacks of just a back yard breeder and the price being trumped up to suit the pet shop. I'm not happy, because we went to a lot of effort with the girls to get well bred dogs that were healthy. Do i have any recourse of action? 3. Tilly the Schnauzer is the non dominant dog. She's quite timid, but also very patient. but there's only so much she can tolerate of having her beard pulled and toes nibbled. I"m allowing her to jump to the highest point on sofas at present ( not usually allowed) just to be out of reach. She occasionally initiates a game with the puppy but gets intimidated by Charlie's boisterousness. I'm trying to line them up ie Tilly 2nd, Charlie 3rd in all things - is this correct? I'm just not sure of intervening in the potential bullying by Charlie. i suspect it would be the right thing to do to give Tilly some support in this. ( the top dog and the cat have NO issues. lol ) any help would be good. p.s. I have discoverd, after using soapy stuff to clean up dog wee, that metholated spirits is sensational. It lifts all the wee and the colour straight off the carpet.( not the carpet colour) I suspect people would know that here i guess, but i was excited to find that out by accident! thanks RobbieRules