halfthewords

My 15.5 year old Min Pin had a bout of pancreatitis last year, so she gets a sprinkle of Hills R/D with her cooked chicken breast (low in fat). My 6 month old Min Pin pup eats Taste of the Wild quite happily and a 6 kg bag lasts us forever

My six month old Min Pin girl got done last Friday and the vet said no exercise for 2 weeks so I have been wondering the same - she is super active and driving me INSANE despite training sessions, enrichment games, etc. She hasn't licked at her stitches at all either so I'm just going to bite the bullet and resume an on-leash, medium-paced walking schedule...

Growling at other dogs for getting in someone's personal space, being piggish in greeting, over the top play, etc, is all allowed here, mostly because Jag is so daft he never takes a hint :laugh: Same goes for when we're out. Carl and Mischa are well-adjusted, laid-back dogs, and they're allowed to react appropriately when another dog is being rude.

My 9yo(ish) terrier x just had a dental a week ago and I paid $320. His was just a scale and polish though, since he has had yearly-ish dentals since I got him. Mischa on the other hand is going to need fluids and pre-bloods so I'd expect to may more like $500

Both our girls are like cats and want cuddles on their own terms, sometimes ask to come up for a lap sit and a scratch but mostly are independent and like to sleep a good distance away while I'm working at the desk or watching tv or whatever. Carl and Jag on the other hand are total velcro dogs and just thrive off being on/near people, doesn't matter what gender

Carl and Jag eat them, way too big for the Min Pins, though. Takes them a few minutes each to eat so it doesn't do much in the way of their teeth, but neither of them scarfs it down :)

7am and 6pm, or 12-13 hours apart if I'm having a late sleepin day

Love that last one :laugh: Never met a cocker that wasn't this bouncy and happy!

Two bitches here, both desexed. I agree with the comment that two terrier bitches together is TROUBLE! They are related as well. One is 11, the other is 9. The younger one is definitely the submissive one and the bottom of the pack but she likes to eyeball the older one and often is looking for a fight...if she is on the couch and Mischa walks by, she will give her a "look" and depending whether Misch feels like disciplining her, it's on! The boys are sookie la las and I would probably not have two female dogs together again, unless it was a totally different type of dog.

Frenchies have exploded around here, and Bostons to an extent. Labs, GSDs, Border Collies and "English staffies" (no purebred Staffords in sight ) are everywhere too. The usual oodles as well, this is a big area of families.

With 4 dogs (and a deceased cat who ADORED the dog crates!), crates are sort of a necessity here! We have two, a soft and a hard crate. Only the soft is set up 24/7; the hard crate is usually only out during the summer. But the doors are always open on both, the dogs go in and out as they wish, and I use it during storms for the boys, who're both escape artists during storms. I find crates to be an excellent tool, esp for sick/rehabilitating dogs, but I wouldn't crate them for longer than maybe an hour or two (if it was desperate). Especially not during the day; e.g. 8 hours is way too long for any of mine to be locked up. At night is a different story. They have the option of the crates and they do sleep in them voluntarily, but the doors don't get shut. I would if I had a particularly destructive dog, though.

Some Bichon lines breed bigger dogs, our first bitch was around 10kg. Lovely soft dogs, but definitely need to be indoors with their family! And I wouldn't recommend them for someone who wants a clean dog; they get filthy easily. The coat is a b*tch to maintain! I've met two Lagotti. Both were lovely and friendly (to humans), but obviously very high energy and one of them was reactive to other dogs walking by - to the point he was screaming as if in physical pain. Almost hysterical! But both were young, like 6-8 months.

Carl and Jag have had some very, very minor scraps while playing - Jag has a tendency to get over-aroused easily and gets a little too insistent; Carl generally airsnaps and it's over. :laugh: Otherwise they get on fantastically. Mischa (older) and Cleo (younger) are both desexed bitches, and cousins. They tend to have scraps that are just a lot of noise, no blood or wounds yet (11 and 9 years). But it always starts over something dumb, like one walking past while the other is on the couch. Cleo (underdog) tends to start it, too, and Mischa (alpha) generally ignores her but she is in her grumpy old lady stage :laugh: Our old Bichon bitch, Jessie (RIP) nailed Mischa as a pup. I discovered it a few days later as a big flap of skin that was healing over on the back of her neck!

Carl seeks it, but only with me. Anyone else who tries he tends to shy away from. Jag *requires* it, the needy little bugger... and Mischa doesn't like it :laugh:

Min Pins are very yappy And they aren't good with children at all, and are far too delicate for rough play. Not to mention difficult to socialise with other/larger dogs.

A Bichon kept in a puppy cut? They're excellent with kids, can cope with being alone (will happily sleep in my experience), are not overly active and are most definitely lap dogs. Not yappy. Jag gets clipped back every 6-8 weeks

Most of it is kept secret. Just before I left there were 2 or 3 deaths - all explained away to me as if it was perfectly reasonable for these things to occur. I was very angry, I didn't find it at all acceptable and said so and it was one of the reasons I left. I'm sure there were far more deaths than I knew about - reading the comments above. I don't think they would disclose that kind of information to potential adopters which is terrifying.. Dogs that bite or are difficult to handle are described as "shy" in their magazine and in need of "love," rather than behaviour modification

It was my belief which I expressed regularly and vehemently that any dog that killed another, should be euthanased and not rehomed as it posed a risk to other dogs. I don't believe anyone would want to adopt a dog that had done this and don't imagine that this fact is disclosed. And that doesn't even account for the dogs who have repeatedly bitten handlers and staff and are almost unhandleable.

There were a few instances that involved the same bitch (corgi x) and she was not kept on her own until the third fight and third dead dog. After that, all the dogs involved in a fatal fight were separated from others for a number of days and then slowly introduced back into pairs (usually male/female with one clearly the 'boss'). Was she adopted out or PTS? (assuming she was the instigator in pack fights) I can assure you that she would not have been put to sleep. She may well be out there in the community, I don't know the dog. She was recently fostered (possibly adopted). It popped up on my facebook feed. Other dogs who killed acting on their own without pack involvement were also adopted out.

There were a few instances that involved the same bitch (corgi x) and she was not kept on her own until the third fight and third dead dog. After that, all the dogs involved in a fatal fight were separated from others for a number of days and then slowly introduced back into pairs (usually male/female with one clearly the 'boss').

Most of the dogs are small, the larger dogs are typically kept alone or in similar sizes. But there used to be dry food left in the yards which is what largely contributed to the deaths, as well as some dogs taking chicken wings/necks at feeding time and hiding them, thus causing fights later on...but the majority of kills happened overnight in the kennels where the dogs were unsupervised in groups of 4 or more for long periods of time.

Spot on sadly Since I quit a couple of years ago they seem to have implemented some training for certain dogs to make them more adoptable, have reduced their numbers somewhat and improved the conditions of the kennels and yards, but I cannot forget seeing sometimes 4 or more dogs cramped into 2 x 4 kennels for 15-17 hours a night. Carl came from that shelter and I'm still trying to undo the damage that seven months in those conditions did to him mentally six years later.

I worked there for years, too; many of the dogs are long-termers of 3 years or more, especially any of the ones with 'issues.' They have also adopted out dogs involved in killing other dogs.. It's really just hoarding dogs as if rotting in rescue for years on end in an overcrowded, noisy shelter is better than a peaceful end A lot of dogs developed problems as a result of institutionalisation.

We have 4 here, but considering that only two of them are "my" dogs, I don't think that's too many for us. Plus they're all 10kg or under, and two of them are 3kg :laugh: I find my 2 easy to manage, they're both low fuss and not demanding of time at all. Neither of them needs a lot of work with regards to training, just walking keeps them from bouncing off the walls now that they're older. I can't imagine 5, feeding time here with the dogs plus the cat AND the bird (who counts for 6 dogs!!) is too overwhelming!

Sometimes, if it's early enough, otherwise not, since people always want to stop and pat the two fluffy little dogs and the "chihuahuas" (Min Pins)... :laugh: Carl and Mischa will tolerate being patted by kids, but they don't like them and obviously aren't appreciative of rough handling, so I generally just keep them out of view. Jag will happily accept pats from anyone though. My bestie and I go regularly to a sushi bar with an outdoors area with her Jap Spitz and Carl, and they're always very accomodating