General Dog Chat Part II

[BiteyShark]

A place for nattering about our canine friends.

Old or new, feel free to come and chat any time

Welcome Yoga. Mine doesn't like lorries and tends to jump behind my legs when they pass which is fine until you end up both tangled up and tripping over each other

I am too sick of the rain. I know this is a controversial subject (much hatred on the threads discussing it) but we have just had artificial grass laid in a section of the garden for a dog play area and we have only just had the chance to use it and it's a blessing. I have to throw a towel over him as he gets wet but I can tire him out throwing a ball without him being covered in mud.

Although we live pretty rurally, we have enough passing cars, lorries, tractors, joggers and horse riders for Cocodog to be very used to them. Motorcycles she finds hard and jumps a bit if one roars past. I walk her in the village a couple of times a week, mild traffic but opportunity to learn sit at every kerb before crossing, she now does this automatically.
Bitey, glad you are finding your artificial grass beneficial. We have two acres so wear and tear is spread evenly but the exit gate from the patio to the paddock, where Coco mostly goes because it is securely fenced, is a mud fest. DH has put a plank of wood across and for the first time done some training with her and taught her to trot across it, I nearly died from shock😁

What a neat trick for your DH to teach Cocodog

I am trying to resurrect our real lawn with grass seed as he has killed it with pee burn but the area which we have replaced with artificial was never good anyway (no sun) and with him running on it just ruined it completely so it's nice to have it back in use. I really wish we had more land.

Yeah we are getting wee burns but I thought that mainly happened with females

I've heard tomato ketchup can help neutralise it but it's not something I want madam to eat really.

I have heard those dog rocks that you put in water works aswell so might try them

Soubriquet BiteyDog pees like a girl hence the burns .

I think the issue with the dog rocks is they only work if that's the only water source and BiteyDog will drink water from anywhere other than his drinking bowl .

I am trying to get him to pee on the artificial grass but he likes to pee in different spots each time

Poor blueskydog - hope she’s got plenty of painkillers

We had an inflatable cone for teatimetoller post neutering and it lasted ooh about ten seconds.... he punctured it and looked very pleased with himself (until he realised that meant the cone of shame was back ...)

Feeling sad for all poorly dogs wearing their cones☹️
We bought cocodog 2 medical t shirts when she was spayed , have reimagined one as a rain suit today with all the poppered bits tucked up. Worked really well, her head and ears were sopping as were feet and backside but main body was dry. In particular her chest because that is always the bit of that can stay damp all day and matts easily. Need to get my sewing machine out now to make a permanent alteration. She has got an equafleece but I only want to use that in very cold weather cos she gets hot running around.

@Yoga Not quite the same thing, but you may be able to apply the same principles. PestDog has a major hatred of motorbikes, and likes to lunge and bark at them. Over the last week or so I've had a major breakthrough with helping him to cope with them better in that
a) he's praised constantly unless / until he stops barking, at which point the praise immediately stops
b) if the motorbike whizzes past without any barking, he gets a high value treat (e.g. dried liver)
The key thing is that he's now starting to associate a motorbike coming past with a treat coming his way, to the point that he's at least glancing at me when a motorbike comes past, and so long as the motorbike doesn't linger (e.g. at lights) he's managing to control himself with about 90% of bikes.

Try giving your dog a treat every time a car comes past. It's a new fear, and shouldn't be hard to overcome before it gets entrenched.

Good use of the medical shirt for Cocodog. Unfortunately we have had to use ours since his neutering when the inflatable ring doesn't stop him getting at wounds as he is quite a contortionist.

DH and I were discussing what cocodog gets from reading her pee-mails, sniffing every blade of grass, bramble etc at the entrance to the woods. He reckons just “ I woz here” but I think maybe they get more information than that, does anyone know?

Maybe checking her 'marking' to make sure no one else has done any since?

BiteyDog often inspects his pee/poo patches just wish he would stick to one area

SquirrelDog has definite spots around the village that he likes to pee on, and some where he’ll go past and then suddenly stop and go back.

Do you think they can recognise the dogs that have peed there when they meet them in real life??

We've recently moved and our new garden is partially gravel and block paving. DP is trying to get YogaDog to pee there rather than on the grass to try and avoid pee-burn.

Thanks Avocado that's a good idea and I'll try giving her rewards as this can't continue. She's a complete scaredy dog though and the list of things she is nervous of seems to increase weekly!

DP and I have discussed getting some sort of lead training for us/her as she's really well behaved until you put her "no-pull" (ha bloody ha) harness on and then she seems to think she's pulling a sledge, sets her shoulders and just drags me along. I have a constant battle to get her to walk to heel and the new car situation is making it even worse.

We considered artificial grass when we had the garden done at our old house Bitey but as we were planning to move within a few years we decided against. I'm glad it's working for you and BiteyDog. Personally I think it's great if you have dogs.

"Pee-mails"

Some sun this morning - thank goodness!

Squirrel I always assumed they would recognise the dog from the scent

Yoga it's so nice to see the sun for a change. I use a mix of harnesses and ordinary lead/collar and I find some harness's do seem to encourage them to pull. I am now trying to use a perfect fit harness with a front ring and double lead to unbalance him when he pulls. The only thing that stops him pulling at all is a slip lead made into a figure of 8 which also goes over his nose but even the ones designed to be used like that tend to go close to his eyes so I prefer not to use it.

Our grass is well patchy and is only going to get worse now that she is not to be walked for 4 weeks. Nothing I can do about it I guess.

How's blueskyDog today?

I am trying to ramp up BiteyDogs exercise slowly but it's hard when he looks so sad when I put the ball away after 5 mins as he thinks he's fully better now and can play forever

I also use a front-fasten harness on SquirrelDog as he’s so blimmin’ strong he’s quite capable of pulling me over. He’s still not going to win any ‘walking nicely on a lead’ prizes but there’s a definite difference - I can see and feel him relax when the lead is on his front vs his back.

Another perfect fit harness lover here

We don't need to use the front ring as she's little enough to not pull too badly but the harness itself stops a lot of pulling in the first place

What dogs get from sniffing pee mails

Apparently loads of info ... more than you’d think possible . Teatimetoller is very low social status as he never wees high enough to cover over another dog’s wee (but he is a bit of a wuss so that’s no surprise...)

Oh dear, in that case BiteyDog must be even lower than Teatimetoller in his male peers eyes as he has never cocked his leg

I think they do recognise scent of dogs they know. If cocodog gets a whiff of either of her two best pals in the woods she hares ahead to find them. It is the only time she approaches other dogs first. Sometimes I see the border terrier pal come out of the woods 20 mins or so before I was planning on heading out there in the afternoon and Coco doesn’t get excited, sniffs eagerly but mus5 know the trail is a cold one. She also recoiled with real distaste from a recent wee of an elderly dog we had just passed. Our trainer 9nce mentioned that they can scent illness , distress and all sorts of emotions from scent.
I find dogs body language fascinating, at the moment my girl is tutting and sighing and making it quite clear that I have annoyed her by sending her into the hall for her nap rather than the only sunny spot in the house atm by the floor length kitchen windows. I am mopping the floor😀‘tis a tough life being a hound.

Thanks for the tips, I shall take a look at the perfect fit and front fasten harnesses.

After our dog's cruciate op. last year we found it difficult to keep her occupied once she was no longer in pain - 5 minute on lead walks were not cutting it for her. I feel for you both bluesky and Bitey I hope your dogs are recovering well.

YogaDog is off to the vets shortly for her rabies shot. She's also scared of the vet, although following her recent experience I'm not surprised. I will probably have to carry her in and have her sitting on my lap in the waiting room. Given that she's a 23kg Labrador this is not ideal for either of us!

Thanks for that noitsnotteatimeyet , interesting article. I have noticed cocodog scent marks much more often in busy dog areas and only proper pees on field walks.
Just off to the groomers, feeling even meaner now since she has found her patch of sun outside and I am just about to haul her off in the car😂

Good luck at the vets Yoga

BiteyDog still loves the people at the vets but is afraid of the treatment rooms and once in can't wait to leave. He was ok on the table after being examined last time until the vet went to put on the gloves to do his anal glands when he just 'knew' and his tail flicked between his legs and he almost jumped into my arms to get away and she hasn't even approached him at that point

What a lovely day for dog walking. About to take Indy for his. Indy is also one who has never cocked his leg to pee. I'm not sure he ever will. He's spent the morning sunbathing in front of the lounge window.