kiesha09

I spoke to the vet today and he didn't think her behaviour warranted medication. I disagree so a little annoyed with him. I can get access to a thundershirt. This may be a dumb question but since we're about to experience a heat wave here in SA will she get too hot with it on? I will put her inside with the air con on but it doesnt work that fantastically.

Thanks for the ideas! I would love to be able to get a thunder shirt between now and NYE but I'm pretty sure that for us in SA the only place they are available is online. So I wouldn't get it in time. I will give the vet a call tomorrow & see what they say. I've never given her anything like that so to be honest it makes me a bit nervous but I guess I'm willing to do anything I can to reduce her anxiety. What effect will the Valium have on her long term ie will she be groggy the day after? I think she probably would be better off with me. Grrrr stupid fireworks!

Over the New Year period I'm heading to our shack to do some relaxing and waterskiing. The dogs are coming because all my family are going to be away. They come with us most times but my girl doesn't particularly enjoy it I don't think. There are no fences at the shack and due to some issues another neighbour had with my neighbour re dogs on his lawn I make sure that my two are tethered at all times unless inside (this is the part my girl dislikes!). My brother is at the shack at the moment and called me to let me know that there is a shack down the road that has been letting off fireworks each night this week. No doubt they will do it when we're there particularly on NYE. My girl hates fireworks and loud partying so I'm quite worried how she will go. Where is the best place to put her during all this? Should I put her inside the shack with her bed, keep her outside with me, crate her inside? She is crate trained but I wouldn't really say she loves it as her safe place. I don't want her to end up hating it either. This has made our short holiday seem quite stressful for me and I kind of wish I didn't have to go anymore. But unfortunately I have 15 others coming so I can't uninvited them now.

I hate to say this but from my experience I've found smaller dogs are much more jumpy that bigger dogs. I have two maltese x's who were both incredibly jumpy. I've trained them out of this mostly but they're still not perfect. I'm just saying that expect to do alot of training even with a smaller dog. Also, my two could easily push my nieces over when they were 3 so a 1 and 2 year old would easily be pushed over by a schnauzer. I'm not trying to put you off at all, just don't want you to have unrealistic expectations just because the dog is smaller

How did things go with Kenzie Ness?

Oh phew!!! I thought you meant the snake had been in their house they were living in. I lost my mind at the thought... am a tad scared of snakes

Had they been living with it in there house for a few months?

Oops sorry I didn't read too far back on todays comments

If he's happy inside during the day and is safe, if it were me I would just accept defeat and keep him inside It's better to be safe than sorry and who knows what ingenious ways he may create to go wondering.

I have two resues... my boy is turning 6 in January and is a maltese x lhaso apso and I noticing him slow down approx a year ago. He does have a condition similar to arthritis so thats probably why. My girl is 4 turning 5 in May and is a mini poodle x maltese. I'm yet to see her slow down but these days instead of using her energy for evil ie. chewing up my couch, she uses is for good ie. entertaining zoomies around the garden and house I am looking forward to the calmness of two grown up dogs one day

I just don't understand why the groomer couldn't have called Blonde first and tell her she would have to clip his legs? It's not like this dog was matted all over he simply had matting on his leg due to a bandage from an injury. Some of you could really cut Blonde some slack! If I was a groomer and one of my clients (especially a new client) had spent 20 minutes with me expressing exactly what they wanted I would definately give them a call to let them know I couldn't give them what they asked for and why. I'd also ask if they want me to continue, it is their dog afterall. This is called good customer service.

I voted but the thing I want most of all is a hydrobath that doesn't cost an absolute fortune

Maybe try a DAP diffuser for a few weeks before you move and then a couple of months once you move to decrease any anxiety she may be having... not sure if it would work but I'd give it a go just in case it did.

I ended up getting the diffuser... the collars only last for a month (same as the refills for the diffuser) and the refills are cheaper than the collars.

Has anyone used the DAP collars? Are they as effective as the diffusers? Would it be overkill to use the diffuser and the collar (although not a likely option as it's expensive).

I did the last recallers course... it was AWESOME!!! I wish I had the cash to do it again but the lessons learned from the first time are just invaluable.

I know this thread is a bit of fun but I hate to say it guys I actually think it's the owners that create fussy dogs by anthropomorphising about it My girl would be fussy if I let her be... but she gets her food and if she doesn't eat it well too bad that is all she is getting. If I give her a bone on her mat and she takes it onto the dirt and gets it dirty, well she'll just have to eat it like that. They are scavengers afterall so it won't hurt them. I'm a big fat meanie when it comes to their eating habits... through sheer consistency they know that if they don't eat their dinner I won't make them a different one or pander to their fussiness. It's eat it or go hungry round here.

We have two dogs at the moment but I've been thinking alot about this and I actually think that I would go down the road of having a solo dog. For me it would be much easier in terms of training, exercising, if we go away only one dog to find a babysitter for etc. I would really devote so much time and energy into one dog rather than it being spread over two. I think it would just be more managable. BUT... then I think about leaving one dog home by itself all the time when I go to work. The thought breaks my heart and every day I would feel guilty. So I'm not sure if I could actually do it

Happy Birthday Daisy! If I were to ever get a beagle I would want one that looks just like Daisy....she is super cute!

Could you ask her? Just say that you're worried about the situation. Better to do that and risk her getting upset about it that to regret not saying anything if something happened to her because of her reactive guide dog.

Mason_Gibbs I think he will aclimatise eventually as his coat will thin out if you keep him inside with you over night. He will shed coat for summer anyway. In the meantime do you have tiles in your house? I would put a puppy pen on the tiles with his crate inside the pen. That way he has access to his crate but if he gets hot then he can lie on the cool tiles. Or if you have an ensuite I'd put a baby gate on the door so that Gibbs can go in there and you could hear him if he stirs to take him out to toilet but he also has the option of the crate or cool tiles in there. If you can't have this set up close to your room (because no tiles close by)I would set my alarm to take him out to toilet over night if he needs it so he doesn't start peeing in his puppy pen.

Can you do them while he is standing up? My two are much more comfortable having it done standing up. They freak out if I lie them down. I've been doing more work with my boy and can clip 4 nails for one treat now. Yay!!! The quick is very long in his nails so trying to clip a tiny bit frequently to get them to retract. Really hoping it will work!

Are you 100% sure he is hot and not stressed in his crate? I only ask because panting is a sign of stress. Have you don't lots of conditioning him to the crate before locking him in? I actually had the same problem with my dog who got hot and so bought them both a cooling mat for 1/2 the crate. But because he's a puppy could you get a trampoline bed to fit in the crate so there is airflow beneath him? Might be worth covering 1/2 of the trampoline bed with a blanket or something incase he gets cold.

For those of you who don't compete with your dogs do you train your dogs every day? What things do you train? I do train my dogs every day. At the moment I'm working with one to accept having his nails clipped and the other I'm backchaining a retrieve so she actually puts things in my hand. I NEED to also train them not to jump on people at the door (lacking motivation for this though). These are just a couple of things as I'm also working on building a reliable recall with SUsan Garretts program. Just interested in what other people train their dogs to do when they don't have a specific training purpose (like a dog sport)

Here it is I think it is showing that even though the second dog didn't take the treat it still acts guilty when our body language accuses them of being guilty. They are reacting to our body language not the deed.