DazzleKitty

Hey again guys! I got the results from the vet today. He examined her closely. He took two xrays and took extra care to look at her spine. He also didn't notice much of a limp (which my mom and I noticed wasn't as prominent this morning). He looked for bruises and checked all around her rib cage, according to my mom. He couldn't find anything wrong with her at all. He gave us two prescriptions - one for pain and one for inflammation. I'm relieved at this but I still wonder why she was doing it. If she isn't better in two weeks, the vet told my mom that we should bring her in again for another examination. So with this news, he went ahead and gave her the shots. So hopefully nothing more will happen and whatever it is will go away on it's own and the pain will be lessened by her medicine. Thanks again guys for all your help and input!!!

Just wanted to let you guys know that I made an appointment for Dixie to be at the vet at 11:30AM tomorrow. I'll let you know what's up after I get the news when I get off work tomorrow. Oh, and about the vaccinations. I'll have my mom ask the vet whether he thinks she should have her vaccinations or wait until the problem is figured out. I am sure he'll probably know without asking anyways and tell us if we should wait. Thanks again, guys.

My thought too. I live in Missouri, USA in the St. Louis area. I don't want to give out anymore details than that, though. I'm kinda uncomfortable giving out too much information of my whereabouts on the net. Anyways, my mom says she'll take Dixie to the vet on Wednesday for me if I can manage to get in. Please wish Dixie and I luck and that nothing major is wrong with her. She's due for her shots again about now, so I can kill two birds with one stone in this visit. I'll let you guys know what's up after the visit. Please hope for good news. I really appreciate you all trying to help me. You're a nice bunch.

If that's not the case, what other things could possibly be wrong? I am so worried! I thought about begging my vet to stay a little later. I have a long drive to work (at least a good 30-40 minutes depending on how bad traffic is). The vet is about 3/4 of the way home. Maybe a caring soul will stay late so I can pick her up. Even if the vet is there half an hour early, that is not early enough. I'd be late for my job. About my mom being paid to take her to the vet...well, she doesn't like going. She isn't good with prepping her for going and just doesn't want to be bothered with it. She says it's my responsiblity since Dixie is my dog, and I can understand her view on that. She and my dad both claim she'll be fine and I should just let her heal on her own. I vehemently disagree with this. I just want to get her there so I can find out what's wrong. That's the only thing that'll ease my worries in this case. I figured if I slipped her some money, that'll be an incentive for her to go. There is a chance my mom may call into work tomorrow (she's had stomach sickness all day). If she does and she's feels better later, she may try to convince the vet to let her in. However, if tomorrow doesn't work, she WILL get in on Wednesday no matter what measures I have to take. Or perhaps Tuesday, if I can wing it. I want there TOMORROW, but I dont' forsee a possiblity to do it. I also need to make sure they can take me. Hopefully if my mom feels up to it and her stomach isn't bothering her, she'll make the call and try to get her in. Maybe someone at the vet will stay later and I can have my mom drop her off and I can pick her up. My vet is really loving with animals so hopefully he'll understand. I'm starting to feel like a bad person. I mean, I am putting my job before my best friend, yet I cannot be jobless. I have lots of bills to pay. Yet, she's my best friend and like my child. I dunno....I've fighted months to get this job, but I don't want her to suffer either. Frankly, I'm just at a loss. I feel like waiting an extra day or two is an eternity for her. I seriously just don't know what to do or think. I suppose all I can do is make her feel as comfy as I can, make her stay calm, and bust the crate out. Even in her state, she's been lively. She's a laid back dog that likes to just sleep and cuddle on your lap. She gets her bursts of energy though, and I'm surprised how lively she can be with her limp. It's a relief she doesn't seem to be in pain though I'm afraid she'll get hurt more. Yeah, I need to calm her down and just get her there asap. I will keep you all updated on this. Thank you for listening to my worries and for the offered help. And sorry my messages are so verbose...when I'm upset about something, my fingers don't know when to stop typing.

Yes, but it just now started to get to the point where it set off alarm bells. It's been the last several days when she's started to yelp often when picked up. She may have done it a couple of times before then (and we then figured it wasn't something major, like just a bruise from the fall), but now it's starting to scare me. After last night is when I finally realized she needed to go. I can see where some may have taken her to the vet at first yelp. However, we didn't associate it with the fall. You know how you can pick any animal up and maybe accidently touch something sensitive, get a bad grip, pinch them, etc. If I had known it would lead to this, then I certainly would have taken her then. I really wish it had done this sooner so I could have gotten her in sooner. I know I probably haven't been the best pet parent in this case but I honestly, truly didn't think it was something like this in the beginning. If it was like this, she would have been on her way to the vet. What I don't understand is why it's worsening now. Wouldn't it be logical for it to hurt worse in the beginning? I am rather afraid that maybe one of the times I picked her up that maybe I made the injury worse and slowed down healing. Anyways, I totally forgot something. My mom is off work on Wednesday. She may be able to take her in for me if I pay her to do it for me. I'll keep you updated. Thanks for the input, guys.

Hey everyone, I have a concern about Dixie, my Chihuahua. Back during late November my dad was taking her outside for me. She had a nasty fall when she was coming in. She has a habit of always running back inside after her potty. We have a concrete step that goes up to our back door, which is the way she always goes out. Well, when she reached the step, the slipped and fell, and banged the ride side of her chest on the corner of the step. We didn't notice anything wrong with her afterwards. We figured maybe it scared her or didn't give her all that much pain. But lately whenever I pick her up in certain ways, she screams in pain. It's mainly when when hook my thumbs under her front legs and use the rest of my fingers to grap her around the chest and back. She's yelped a few times from that, so I've learned that picking her up by putting my palm on her sternum and my other hand supporting her side doesn't bother her. I also was petting her once and accidently touched a spot on her right side on her rib cage, and that made her cry out too. Though lately, we have noticed a slight limp. It's like she limps sometimes, but not all the time. Well, last night she was on my bed with me. I was getting ready to go to sleep. She was lying on my side of the bed so I gently moved her by grabbing her the 'wrong' way (it was an accident out of habit, I was stupid and wasn't thinking). She screamed quite loudly followed by a whine that went on a few seconds. She started shaking as out of fear. I flipped out after that. I thought I hurt her even more, but she was fine afterwards. However, today she is limping more than usual. I'm wanting to get her into the vet asap, however I start a new job tomorrow. I work 9:00AM to 5:30PM Monday to Thursday, and those hours entirely clash with my vet's hours for this week. I can't call into this new job already, yet I am worried that Dixie's condition will worsen. She doesn't seem like she's in pain - no whining, she's playful and happy. Just a little limp and a holler whenever you pick her up the wrong way. My parents and I suspect a cracked rib. I want to find out for sure, but with my work schedule and Christmas, I cannot get her in until Saturday, and that's only if my vet has an opening. I also have no family members or friends that can take her. I also don't trust anyone else to handle her right without hurting her. I'd rather be the one to take her. I am so freakin' worried over this! I came here just to share my frustrations. I am wondering if anyone went through anything similar and can add some input? Also, let's say it is highly suspected to be a broken rib - how long do they take to heal? Any precautions I should take? Thanks to all who read this!!

I'm curious....do dogs really do that? If so....that's pretty hilarious!

Thank you once again, KittyCat, for your help. I appreciate the time you dedicated to helping me. I have another update on this....it's probably rather funny to you, but not to me right now....though I am sure in the future I will look back on it and laugh. ;) I went to a bookstore tonight and spent over $100....I left the bag on the floor for a bit, only to come back later and see that Jimmy peed on it. Yeah...I'm pretty sad over this, heh... I think some of it is marking, too. I don't want to neuter him because I am considering breeding in the future (the very distant future, might I add). I may breed someday, so I need to learn to do this the right way with unfixed males. I will certainly take your word and take him outside more at night. I am sure he probably was up during the day at his old home, as not a lot of people are vampires or the night like myself, haha! I'm gonna start praising him like mad when he goes outside again. He was getting into a routine so I stopped the major praising, so I'll start it up again. Wish me luck in my quest for housebreaking success!

Sorry my response to this is late. Thank you so much, KittyCat. I know his previous owner said he only went out three times a day. Who knows if she's being truthful, though? Plus, I think that's kinda unfair to the dog to only let him outside three times. Maybe he can do it, but I at least like to let them go 4 or 5 times. Jimmy knows the phrase 'go potty'. I taught him it and he usually pees when I do it. I'd say about 85% of his accidents are poop related, and almost all of them happen at night when I'm at home. I am not sure if my schedule affects him. I go to work later in the day, get off at night, and usually go to bed in the morning (crazy, I know!). Whenever he lets me know he has to go out, I take him. Sometimes, he gives no warning. I am not sure if he KNOWS that he must hold it, or he just goes when the fancy strikes him. Sometimes I think he just can't hold it that long, but I'm not sure what the deal is. As mentioned before, he went almost 2 weeks with no accidents. He's still having them,usually one a day or every other day. I'm starting to lose heart, but I know I must persist. I wonder what happened to start the accidents again. When we got him, he'd be crated when I was gone. I'd also crate him sometimes at night, but he never messes on the bed anymore (it's been months since he's done that....he was very new to us when it happened, and I knew why and that I was wrong to let him sleep with me so quickly). But lately, he's been in bed with me. He always wakes me up when he has to go outside and does his business quickly, usually. We actually stopped crating him since he started to have accidents less frequently. He hasn't been crated in weeks now. I am pretty sure that's my mistake, but I want some second opinions here. I hate crating him, because his cries tug at my heartstrings. Based on what I've said, do you think he understands he must go outside but can't hold it, or he's totally not housebroken? Should I start the crating again, or should I stick to a more strict outside schedule? I'm hoping I can breach this soon. This is my first time housebreaking a dog all by myself. He's gotten so much better, but he's still not 100%. Ah, and I did read something interesting about Cresteds recently! I have a book that goes into depth about each dog breed. Apparently, Cresteds are very stubborn and can be difficult to train. My dog calls the dog stubborn but I didn't think that could really apply to dogs with their way of thinking. Perhaps I was wrong.

He was probably due again ;) When training puppies it was always recommended to me that you take them out for toileting after they eat, sleep and play as they are pretty regular when only a few weeks/months old. But these times are usually a good indication of when dogs need to go - my girl usually does a lap or two around the yard before she sqats for poos. Thanks for the help, I appreciate it. One thing I forgot to mention is that he is a year and three months old, so he should have full bladder/bowel control by now. We got him about 3 or so months ago. He was housebroken in his previous home but had a little bit of a relapse at ours, so we had to start from point one. It took us a while, but we got him to the point where he almost always goes outside. And for several days (around 10-14), he didn't even have one accident. We thought he'd finally understood. But since my last post here, he's had quite a few more. He's peed on the couch and on his bed. He is also starting to poop in the house again. I think he's learned to stall time when he's outside with me. I took him out this morning, and the first thing he normaly does is find a place to poop. I was out there with him for a few minutes, and he wanted to go back inside. Only minutes later, he pooped on the floor. I don't know why he didn't do it when he was outside. The same thing happened again tonight. I was outside with him, and he didn't go. About an hour later, he went in the house. I am scared he will never get it. I thought we finally had a breakthrough. I just hope one of my attempts will succeed. I'm afraid to let him out of my sight again, because I don't want him to pee on something like my own bed. I alwalys praise him verbally when he potties outside. He got the point where he'd let me know when he had to go, like my insistantly scratching at my leg or running around urgently. The past couple of days, he hasn't been doing that. He also seems to have to pee alot. I am wondering if he may have a urinary tract infection. I rather doubt that because I feel he may just have another relapse, but I may take him to the vet on Monday just to rule it out.

Anyone?

I have another question and an update, kinda. Since my last response, Jimmy has only had ONE accident,which happened again. Though being myself, I am really paranoid. I am trying to analyze why he went. I had just taken him out about 1.5-2 hours ago. He peed and pooped. He comes back in and starts to play with my other dog, Dixie. They were getting kinda 'rough' and were chasing each other around the house like mad. He got really thirsty and I heard him lapping up water. Not too long later, he tried to get my attention, though not as much as he does when he normally needs to go out. He is usually insistant. I started to smell something like pee, and saw that he went a little bit on his bed! I took it to the washroom, to come back to see that he had peed on the other dog bed, too! It was soaked! Does playing rough dogs have to potty? Or could it be from drinking up a lot in a short time? He's been so good these last 10 or so days. I'm really scared he's gonna relapse again! He almost always is good about letting me know he has to go outside.

Thanks everyone! I haven't heard of any of those brands. I'm looking for natural stuff but my grocery store doesn't seem to have that. They do have a store brand kind that is unflavored and they do have vanilla (among others). I bought the unflavored one to try. Is unnatural more healthy, or is it the only safe kind? I'd kinda like to know before I feed it to them. If it's unsafe, I'll just eat it myself.

Hey everyone, I just had a quick question about giving yogurt to dogs. I recall some people saying they'd stuff their dog's Kong toy with yogurt, freeze it, and then let it have it as a toy/treat. What kinds of yogurt is okay? What brands do you use? I live in the USA, so I may not have all the brands you Aussies have. Anyone here in the States have suggestions? Also, my dogs are a Chihuahua and a Chinese Crested. Not sure if that makes a difference. I don't think either of the breeds have yogurt allergies, though. Thanks in advance.

Haha! I'll be that accident wasn't fun to deal with. I know for a fact I am doing two things wrong, though. I usually don't crate Jimmy when he hasn't pooped outside when I think he may have to go. But as I said, the poop schedule is inconsistant. My mom claimed he pooped this evening, so I figured he wouldn't have to go again when I got off work. Wrong. He had another poop accident tonight. And the other reason I don't crate him is because I am silly and too softhearted. :rolleyes: I know I should be monitering him closer, too. He'll go several days without and accident and then I get super optimistic. And then, BOOM. Here comes the poop and pee again! I guess he needs more work. We used to praise him like mad when he went outside. Now I just let a simple "Good doggy" in a soft voice suffice. Maybe I need to put more into my praises again. Hopefully this will work. Thanks for the encouraging words.

Hello, everyone. This is kinda my first real post here. To make a long story short, I got a Chinese Crested a while back named Jimmy. He had a relapse on his housebreaking and we had to start from point one. This is my first time ever housebreaking a dog. Oh, and some info on Jimmy: in his old home he was housebroken. He just needed some review, I guess. Also, he's a little over one year old. He broke his leg a little bit ago and had the splint removed last Thursday. While the splint was on, he had accidents every now and then. But he started to gradually get better. Tonight he had his first accident in a while, but a whole bunch of questons popped into my head. I know the regime of housebreaking. Watch it constantly, keep accidents from happening, and that positive reinforcement is the best. I have been doing my best to train Jimmy to go on command, and I think it paid off. Tonight, he pooped when I wasn't looking. Normally now, he lets me know when he has to go. He usually does this by scratching at my leg or getting a little antsy. He's been good at doing this lately, and I'm proud of him. There were a bunch of people walking down our subdivision tonight. It sounded like a bunch of young people chatting and wanting to have fun. I discovered this whenever Jimmy let me know he had to go outside. I think the people distracted him from going, as his full attention was paid to them. He peed, but that's it. That's why I believe he pooped when I wasn't supervising him. I figured he'd let me know, once again. Or maybe I am overestimating my training results? But, only two or three hours after I took him out that time, he got into his doggy bed and I saw him peeing in it out of the corner of my eye. I was shocked! I could unstand the poop, but there was no warning of the pee. Is my housebreaking results bad, or could it be a territorial thing? He and my other dog Dixie barked a bit tonight because they could hear the people. Maybe this sparked it? Or I could be seeking excuses. :p Someone told me that if a dog has one accident in the house, even if from being upset, it's not housebroken at all. Is this true? It seems a lot of dog owners have trained dogs that have the occassional accident. I on't see how that's true. Sometimes accidents are not the dog's fault at all but the owner's fault. This also makes me ask the question....when do you know you can fully trust your dog is completely housebroken? I've taken some gambles on mine and gotten lucky and some points, and unlucky at others. Perhaps I should have crated Jimmy when he didn't poop outside when the people where out there? I heard it's an effective way. Then again, Jimmy's poop schecule is wacky. Some days he'll poop up to four times, and then other days once. Very, very random. You never know what to expect with this little guy. I'm seeking some advice and enouragement here. I was thinking I'd done it right, but tonight kinda shattered the condfidence! Thanks in advance.