General Dog Chat 4

[geekone]

Apologies I just noticed the thread was running out so I am going to repost.

Squirrel it is good for that as he can't actually fall anywhere. Another advantage is that when he gets in the car after a muddy walk despite me trying to dry him off and does his shake at least it's only the ceiling that gets sprayed and not the back of the seats

We have been looking at these for the back seat of the car too, look very good. Would recommend a ruff and tumble dog drying towel which we whip on her after a muddy wet walk, Velcro her in it and stops her shaking mud all over the car.

Those drying towels look good but not sure how they would work with his harness in the car. Fortunately my car is a work one so I plan to have it professionally cleaned at the end of the lease period to remove any traces of BiteyDog

We usually have all four of us in the car so BastardPup goes in the boot - we bought a special boot liner and divider so that he has half the boot and is very secure. I think the company is called Travail and they make them for specific car models

I whip harness off, wrap her in drying towel, whip harness back on and clip her to seat belt. She doesn’t have time to blink😁

Hmmm BiteyDog is not a fan of any coat-like things on him so I am not sure I would be able get him in it without me being covered in mud . He can be very wriggly when he wants to be.

Groomers tomorrow as he needs a trim around his ears and paws. He hates the perfume smell so spends the afternoon rubbing himself on the rugs to try and get rid of it

Cocodog normally finds some nice Fox poo to roll,in within a few days of being groomed😬
We have lost our dog sitter, she is very ill and has had to give up dog sitting altogether. So sad. Took a recommendation from a neighbour and cocodog went for a trial morning today. Lady had two young bouncy labs which totally overawed my girl. Left feeling very worried but returned three hours later and she was much more confident with them. We have to go away in a couple of weeks for a few days so hope it will turn out ok.

It's awful isn't it when you lose your trusted dog carer. Hope Cocodog likes the new lady. Are you trialing her again before you go or do you think she was happy enough after settling in?

Oh dear we have started getting all fearful again. waves to groomer if she is on mn BiteyDog had to be coaxed out of the car with treats and was shivering . He is perfectly happy with the groomer when she isn't grooming him so it's just the action of being man handled. She didn't even use the scary dryer.

Cocodog would have no problem with new lady and even better she has two sons, 10 and 16 who coco will adore. Carer is also prepared to walk Cocodog separately if she is worried by bigger bouncier dogs , she seems to be very aware of stress in dogs which is good. But coco when we picked her up was, not relaxed, but on terms with labs and had a ball which she dropped for older lab and then picked up again when she dropped it. Given Cocodogs ball obsession, this was good behaviour and ultimately could do her good.
We do have another alternative, a dog walking friends mum used to run doggie daycare, now retired and doesn’t have her own dog but takes selected ones from people she or her daughter know. She has 9 acres to walk them in and never has more than one or two at a time. I think she would provide maybe more relaxing care. So hard to know what’s best.

I think I would go for the option where you would be the least worried about Cocodog when away.

I think we may have to trial both to be sure. On the one hand she is a confident dog and seems to cope ok with busy situations and where she has to make adjustments to her behaviour to get on with the pack. On the other hand she may thrive in a low key setting with more one to one even though there isn’t as much going on.

Good advice though, Bitey. Entertained, tired but on edge or a bit bored but under threshold...problem is, with any care...you don’t really know what you are signing up for because it isn’t your routine, your care and you are not there. All I know is anything is better than kennels for my girl.

Does anyone have any advice on a reactive dog? In the sense of overly playful and happy to see dogs far too much? To the point I’m embarrassed to let my Princess play with other dogs when their owners are there because she is so ruff and does not listen?

I’ve decided to take her to a doggy centre to play with dogs for8 hours over two days. Hopefully the novelty wears off. It’s her personality, we’ve been to dog trainers, she was getting better but today was just so full of it she’s had me in tears. Starting to think I’ve been far too lenient this whole time :(

Likeshyt not sure I can help there. Could you put her back on the lead if she gets too much to try and calm her down?

thegirl hard one to pick isn't it. I think for me it would be the bit bored one but only because BiteyDog can be bullied sometimes by bigger bouncier dogs but it sounds like Cocodog can handle herself much better.

We are about to start some 1-1 obedience training again soon. BiteyDog is lovely but we spent most of our early days sorting the training outside off lead and didn't bother with some general things but I feel the time is right to go back and revisit that. Plus I am hoping it might tire him out more mentally if we do some sessions everyday and DH wants to get involved as well. I am exhausted as BiteyDog couldn't decide where he wanted to sleep last night and kept waking us up when he moved about and then at 1:30 in the morning decided he needed a poo. DH and I called him all sorts of names this morning jokingly.

Likeshyt, doggie daycare may just wind her up more. Unless it isn’t just a free for all and they will supervise her, teach her to be calm around other dogs etc.
Cocodog was like this as a pup, reactive in an excited way. I did lots of walks where there weren’t other dogs around, playing games, recall training etc. Getting her to focus on me, plenty of food rewards. And when we met other dogs, back on lead, some I let her meet, greet and move on. Some, we would move off in com0letely a different direction and some, where the owners were happy, she was allowed to play with. She now seems to automatically assess situations in these ways when off lead. But it did take a lot of time and consistency with training.
The best thing we did was contact a one to one trainer who gave me loads of impulse control exercises to do with her and who ran a group socialisation walks which really helped.

So Bella has learnt a lot from Eric, she knows how to fetch, she can play and enjoy playing with toys, she knows now to sit and wait when I get her lead so pretty useful stuff so why oh why has she learnt to cock her leg? It's definitely copied as she didn't do this when we first got her but I'd say more than fifty percent of the time now she cocks her leg rather than squats even when I don't have Eric with me. Anyone else with a bitch who doesn't squat?

I have the opposite. BiteyDog has never learnt to cock his leg and I read that it is a learned behaviour. I think he spent too much time around the girls

Likeshyt my whippet boy is a bit like your dog. He can be at the park, chilling with the other dogs when all of a sudden a new dog just gets him overexcited instantly. It’s usually fine if the other dog is happy to play in his boisterous style but at 18 months he still doesn’t seem to pick up when the other dog isn’t liking it. He’s been like it since he was a tiny puppy. On top of all that he makes a growling noise despite definitely being playful but not aggressive.

For now I’ve been working on recall and being very selective about the dogs he can play with.

Strangely, he goes to daycare twice a week and they have told me numerous times that he is fine there.

Aww poor Bitey dog, mind you Eric definitely prefers the company of bitches as well. She is a silly dog, thankfully she hasn't managed to pick up some of Eric's more annoying traits, well not yet anyway

My friend’s very ladylike and dare I say slightly princessey (in an endearing way ) terrier bitch cocks her leg .

SquirrelDog is sooo bendy the other day I caught him licking his penis (nothing refined about him...) standing on 3 legs with the other leg over his head and wrapped round his ears. It was a very odd look!

Cocodog likes to lie down next to you on the sofa to examine and groom her ladybits😬

Squirrel that would be something Eric would aspire to. Glad Bella isn't the only leg cocking bitch anyway.

Oh yes, SquirrelDog also likes to recline in my lap while he’s, ahem, inspecting himself.