Horsefeathers!

[quote name='K']I have fingers on my hands already...they click just fine... :lol:[/quote] Not with my short, stubby paws. If I try to snap my fingers, I often end up tearing skin away from my nail and causing it to bleed. I'm obviously doing something wrong. :oops: Thanks, noooofiemom! I'm glad that I'm not the only person who would consider depriving my dogs of their maximum clicking experience by improvising with a much more, um, cost effective thingamabob. I already ordered a clicker on ebay (thanks, court!), but it'll be great to know in the future. I have tons of click 'em pens and old dilapidated mouses! :D

I had actually been considering taking an old computer mouse and using it for a clicker (being the tightwad I am and all)... :oops:

I can't believe I didn't think of this! Ebay! Courtnek, you gave me the idea. I've just never shopped Amazon, but ALWAYS look on ebay. Imagine my red face now for not thinking to look on ebay! :oops: Thanks for the idea! I just bought a clicker for just over a buck! Now I'm off to look for those nifty whistles. I wonder if they're called anything other than Border Collie whistles. :)

I have to admit that I don't use prongs or choke (check) chains on any of my own dogs or fosters. My Lab was abused once by a trainer using a prong and he still cringes at the sight of one. Of course, I know it was used incorrectly. Still, it was pretty traumatic and I achieved much better results with him using a regular flat collar. I don't want my dogs to feel they have to fear me. Keep in mind that I get a lot of special needs dogs, so I reckon I have to handle some of their little psyches a lot differently than some other dogs. I'm only stating my opinion based on my specific experiences. I'm not criticizing anyone who feels they need chokers or prongs. To be honest, I'd rather see done whatever needs to be done to keep a dog a part of the family rather than discarded due to behavioral problems, even if it's not the way I would choose to do things, myself. If that means using a prong or choker, I consider it the lesser of the evils. I'm sure there are some pretty headstrong dogs out there. I've just never had to resort to any such drastic measures with any of my own dogs or fosters. I'll be sure to check back in in a week or two. Fifty has to be the absolute worst puller on a leash I've ever had to deal with. He strains on a leash to the point where he's upright and walking on his back feet. Still, pretending to be a tree and not moving when he lunges ahead has already shown some progress, so I'm still confident I'll get the job done with a plain flat collar. Maybe I'd feel differently if I had a super huge uncontrollable dog pulling me down the street. I've never had that to deal with, so I can't say how I'd handle it. To each's own.

If you guys get a minute, how about checking out this obedience club? [url=http://fn1.tfn.net/~tdoc45/]TDOC[/url] I would like some feedback on whether it appears to be worth joining. I'm particularly interested in the obedience, but could get into agility much, much later (if I ever get out of the rescue business and get a "good" dog :roll: ). Opinions?

Where would a person obtain one? :oops: It's not something I've noticed in PetEdge, or any of the local pet supply stores. I also wouldn't mind having another one of those nifty Border Collie whistles. I picked a couple of those up a few years ago at a Border Collie trial and it was the greatest thing for helping ALL of my dogs learn reliable recalls (even though that's not what they're intended for :P ). The thing is I could use some more.

[quote name='courtnek']I dont take them anywhere in the car, except the vet.[/quote] I sometimes take for granted that most people wouldn't need to keep a lot of stuff around for their own dogs. With me, I never know when I'll be picking one up, or bringing one home with me. It seems like they're always just dropped into my lap unexpectedly. That's why I always keep so much junk in my car like crates and leashes by the handful. :oops:

[quote name='marion'] [quote]Still, if I find one more pee puddle... [/quote] You'll what HF? :wink:[/quote] I'll probably just continue to bitch and moan like I've been doing. :oops:

I forgot about Fifty's one bad habit... he does like to hump anything that moves. :oops:

Good luck with this baby and her babies. I, too, am of the nature that I would spay now (abort), but all of us have to make our decisions based on our experiences and personal feelings. If you decide to go through with the pregnancy and rearing of puppies, I wish you all the best of luck. I feel like all things happen for a reason... there was a reason that you and she were both there at that exact moment in time. I've found in the past that sometimes we end up needing them as much as it seemed like they needed us. Dogs can teach us a lot about loyalty, perseverence and overcoming adversity. :wink:

Oh, Fifty is certainly headed for da snip. I'm going to wait until after the first of the month. Apparently, there is some new program (or at least the first I've heard of it) where the state helps subsidize sterilizations. The clinic has already reached their maximum for this month, but it will apparently start over next month. It cuts the cost of sterilization in half. I'll take whatever help I can get! Good thought about Devin and Fifty. It makes as much sense to me as anything I've thought of (which wasn't much past me sitting here muttering and scratching my head). Devin is a smart little bugger and I do sometimes feel as though he puts a lot of thought into some of the things he does (I know, I know, I'm again anthromafartisizing):oops:. Nobody could be as sly as he is sometimes without plotting. I mean, marking may be a natural instinct, but it takes a bit of cunning to do it and try to be sure not to get caught. :o Still, if I find one more pee puddle... :x

Well, Devin is a brat (show of hands... how many are surprised by this? :roll: )! Fifty gets along with all the other dogs so well, especially Devin. Devin is still so young and LOVES to play with anyone who will give him the time of day. Considering that all my dogs are five years and older, they don't always have a lot to do with him. Well, Fifty and Devin are a match made in heaven. They keep each other worn out and for that I am truly thankful. However, does Devin have to PEE everywhere?? He's neutered and his housetraining has always been pretty reliable. Now that Fifty is here, Devin is peeing up my house. Fifty is an intact male and hasn't marked once. I mentioned it to Doc yesterday and we both feel it is pretty much behavioral rather than physical (of course, if it continues, we will do a urinalysis). Doc says, "aw, it's just because now you have two males in the house." Well, no doo doo, Doc, but out of TEN dogs in my house, ALL of them are males except two and no one else is marking :-?. Devin even peed up our bed the other night... soaked it through to the (new :x ) mattress. Needless to say, Devin is now going through remedial HF boot camp. He's sleeping crated at night, much to his dismay since he's a cuddle bug. He's also wearing a diaper and when he's not, he's leashed directly to me. I swear if a dog can be embarrassed, Devin is embarrassed. The diaper is also an effort to keep a closer watch on his peeing activities just in case he actually might have a problem. So far, Doc is almost certain it's just "boyz bein' boyz." I especially liked Doc's scientific explanation of why Devin is the only one peeing up the house and none of the other males are. "Devin is just a knucklehead." :o I knew it was too good to be true. Fifty is a delightful little dog if he is a bit hyper. We haven't had any of the problems that the two families that gave him up had (sleeps just fine at night and listens and responds well to his name). I knew it couldn't go down without a hitch. Devin is truly a little DevilDawg. :o

In my best Martha Stewart voice, "it's a very good thing." :) Good girl, Laurel. Now, Miss Thang... just what 'zactly were you doing OPENING your door with no idea what was on the other side? If the dogs in the neighborhood were firing off warnings, perhaps you could have peeked through a window? Maybe you had a little snub nose sumfin in your robe pocket? A single lady's gotta be careful these days! Peepholes! Use them! Anyway, good job on da Laurel. She's doing great!

Geez, Hillside, you've started a trend. :P What doggy items are in your car? In each of my vehicles, you will always find: a crate slip leashes toys (Devin's gotta have his squeakies :-? ) food and snacks (whenever we go to the bank, they always poke Ol' Roy snacks at them... the dogs know the snacks are there, so I always have a "legal" snack available and pitch the Ol' Roy) bottled water bowls baby butt wipeys blankets & towels first aid kit (pretty much human/canine interchangeable... also, gauze makes a decent muzzle) hydrogen peroxide and syringe (not included in first aid kit... what were they thinking??) to induce vomiting just in case... I'm sure there's something missing from that list. So what's in YOUR car/truck/suv? :)

Well, sh*t in my junk bucket, Myrtle! I have proof that, if there's a God, He has a wicked sense of humor. I found out today that this knobhead redneck is being bumped to a regular fulltime employee. He was supposed to be just temporary help, filling in for a girl who is out with her back. Apparently, the girl called and quit, so now this guy is taking her place. "Angry" is an understatement. He is rather lazy and, well, stupid, so I'm hoping he'll just screw up and get fired (hopefully not at the expense of a dog or cat), or get tired of it and quit. He's not a person who's used to doing a lot of work. I will certainly have my eye on him. I'm just WAITING for him to do something wrong. The punk is just stupid enough to think it's impressive to walk around bragging about how he (mis)handles dogs. He's a regular tough guy (wannabe). His bravado will eventually be his downfall (at least I'm hoping it will). [quote name='Mei-Mei']Hmmm...I don't know. I might have to 'see' this guy doing something inappropriate and report it to the vet. After all, it's your word against his, right? And you've been working there 5 years [b]and[/b] you are a responsible person. Say you reported that you 'saw' the asshole kick Pauly--maybe then he'd be out on his butt. [size=2]I don't advocate lying but desperate times call for desperate measures[/size].[/quote] Actually, I'd thought about the same thing :oops: . I do have a good bit of credibility with Doc, so I'm going to keep my integrity by being honest. However, at the first hint that something is wrong, I'm going to blab it. You don't know how tempting it would be to just "embellish" it a little. :-? If worse comes to worst, I'll seriously consider packing up my business and moving it to my house. I simply cannot work with this guy longterm.

[quote name='Lokipups']My females call name is Layla [/quote] My ferret's name is Layla. :oops: Most unusual name in our household at this point would have to be Fifty. I swear, when I think of it, I'm going to get around to calling his original owners and asking why they named him that. :-?

Courtnek, I did say some pretty colorful things :oops: . I'm actually not proud that I conducted myself in such an undignified manner, but, geez, I really don't like this guy, anyway. Among my tirade was an attack on his manhood... I asked him if it made him feel like a man to pick on a Poodle. I know it could have been any dog, but he's the type to consider a Standard Poodle a girly dog, so I just turned it around on him. What really bugs me, too, is that now I can't help but worry when I leave my dogs in my studio alone, like when I'm taking client dogs up front, or I'm in another room. I have thoughts of him slipping back there when I'm not looking. I've actually been considering getting a lock for my door. It's a shame that in all these years, I've never had to lock my door. :-? It still goes all over me... "put sumthin' on yo dawg." Boy, I'll beat you to sleep and then beat you for sleeping. *mutter* :x

[quote name='StarFox'] ......But why is his name fifty? :-?[/quote] I have no idea, but it works for me. I've been saying I'm running out of names and will soon need to start issuing numbers.

Something happened late this afternoon that still has me so angry, I could spit nails. A little insight... There's a new guy working in our clinic. To be totally blunt, I do not like him. Aside from my personal opinion that he's a white trash, big mouth, personal hygiene lacking, ill mannered redneck (who blows their nose on their hands and then wipes it on their jeans?? :-? ), he has no place working with dogs. They have him doing (half as*) baths and general cleaning. He's ALWAYS going on about how he doesn't put up with this or that from a dog and how ya gotta show 'em who's boss. He thinks the only way to handle dogs is to intimidate them into submission. Just yesterday, he was saying how he wished he could just f*ck 'em up sometimes because, by doG, he just isn't going to put up with any crap out of a dawg. Still, I haven't actually SEEN him do anything other than run his mouth. I think he's too rough, but then it's only a matter of personal opinion. Today, a Cocker came through for a bath. It's a regular client of the clinic, but not one of my groom clients. Still, it's obvious that she is groomed very regularly by someone. She's a dog that one would assume is used to baths and being handled. She day boards there all the time and no one has ever seen her act up. This moron was bathing her today and the dog mysteriously got a nosebleed. Of course, he was alone with the dog when it happened. He said the dog slipped and hit her face on the tub. I don't believe it. That bastard did something to that dog; I know it! I haven't even mentioned the therapy dog that was there today for a bath that I feel Mr. Balls O'mighty handled too roughly. The dog was so frightened, he laid down and rolled over in the tub. A therapy dog!! I tried telling Doc (the vet) last week that I had a bad feeling about this guy. Just his whole demeanor is disturbing. Sometimes Doc thinks I'm just opinionated and cynical (well, yeah, but still...). Yet [u]I'm[/u] always the bitch he asks for an opinion. Now I'm just fuming... Anyway, I think the nosebleed incident today with that poor Cocker had Doc kind of shook up. Still, he can't prove the guy did anything wrong, though he certainly does suspect it. He said today that he will have a "strongly worded talk with him about this." Well, slap my *ss and call me Judy, but won't that just make this guy try harder not to get caught? The absolute breaking point for me was late this afternoon as I was leaving. I had Perry, Pauly and Fifty outside in the fenced courtyard. I had already scooped poo and walked back inside for a minute to put something away. When I returned only a minute later, I watched through the door as this guy was taunting Pauly. Pauly had barked at him (it's what he does) and, of course, this guy had to turn around and buck up on Pauly to let him know who's boss and all. Well, some of you remember we had some issues with Pauly in the past about being a fear biter and aggressing back at any perceived threat. He's a wonderful dog... he just doesn't respond well to someone stomping at him and yelling and waving their hands menacingly. I watched the whole thing and when I started out there, he realized I'd been watching. He said, "I thought I wuz gonna haf to put sumfin on yo dawg." If you don't speak Southernese, the guy was basically saying he was getting ready to hit or kick Pauly. The more the guy aggressed at Pauly, the more Pauly bucked up at him. I probably saved this guy's butt because Pauly WILL bite if he feels physically threatened. That was it. I'd had enough of this jackass. All the guy had to do was just walk through the gate. He didn't have to stand there and just antagonize Pauly. Oh, did I mention that the GATE WAS FREAKING OPEN?? So he stood in an open gate where Perry, Pauly, or crazy*ss Fifty could have dashed out. We're right on a major four lane highway. Geez, do you have to work hard to deliberately be so stupid?? I guess this means I can't leave my dogs unattended in the courtyard anymore, not even for a second, in case some fool leaves the gate open (never been a problem in 5 years). So I all but RAN back into the clinic after I raised h*ll with this guy and told Doc that something's going to have to change. I've been working there for 5 years and I mean this just as sure as I'm sitting here on my fat *ss... one of us has to go. That little punk or me. I can just see me stabbing him in the neck with an old pair of rusty scissors. That's when Doc said he'd have a strongly worded talk with him. Am I the only person on earth who feels that EVERY crisis can't be cured with diplomacy? I guess Doc's kind of in a spot... he can't very well fire the guy for no reason and as long as this sh*thead doesn't get caught, he is seemingly off the hook. I am so p*ssed. We have worked so hard with Pauly and he is so trusting and docile. It just broke my heart like you wouldn't believe to see him get all defensive and scared and then aggressive because some young punk needed to feel like a man by bullying a d*mn Poodle. :evil: Sorry so long. Just my rant. Doc said I should have let Pauly nail him. I agree that the guy deserved it, but I don't want all the work we've put into Pauly to just go all to h*ll. :x

[quote name='kendalyn'][quote]is usually involved in rescue at some level [/quote] I don't think it's necessary to be involved in rescue to be a good breeder. It would be nice but it doesn't have much to do with the puppies they are selling. [/quote] Have to respectfully disagree there. I believe that any responsible breeder will truly care about the welfare of their breed in general, not necessarily just their own dogs or puppies produced. Therefore, I believe any responsible breeder will indeed be involved, to some degree or other, in breed rescue. :)

Play on words. *snicker* Fifty is a black Cocker-Poo, CockaPoo, Cock-a-doodle-poo, whatever cutesie name. He'll be referred to as a Poodle mix to any potential adopters. He's even younger than Devin :-? . So much for adult dog rescue. :roll: Fifty is the sweetest dog in the world, but is holy moly butt wild. The original owners decided they'd had enough of him ("won't sleep, is hyper, can't control him") and gave him to someone else. The someone else decided they couldn't do it ("won't sleep, is hyper, can't do a thing with him"), so now he's at HF boot camp :-?. These are some of the same things that were said about Devin before we got him (remember he went through something like 4 homes by the time he was 8 months old). Also, Devin was a nasty biter. Devin is now a wonderful little dog. He was just too smart for the people who had him. All he needed was a little boundary training (as in, hey, that behavior it NOT ok). Fifty is already one up on Devin in that he's very friendly and outgoing. We aren't having to train him out of chewing up every hand that reaches near. :wink: He's a year old this month. One of his biggest problems is that he needs brain surgery (neuter). He also just needs some structure, I believe. He came through our clinic every single week for baths and the staff always had to struggle with him to get him washed and brushed because he is truly non stop motion. However, the ONE time I groomed him, he did great once he realized it was time for business and not play. He's not a stupid dog... obviously, from his ability to train everyone around him. I honestly think he'll be a great dog once he's had a little boot camp. I do foresee a few sleepless nights, though. He's been running non stop since he got here, so I'm counting on that "tired dog is a good dog" thing. I hope he's worn out. I am from just trying to keep up with him. :-? So now you know Fifty. :wink:

I woke up this morning with NINE dogs. I came home today with FIFTY. Details shortly as I'm pretty doggone busy right now. :-?

Congratulations! I have kinda sorta thought, in fleeting moments of insanity when I think about getting out of the rescue/foster business, that Newfies are a breed I could own (along with my beloved Standard Poodles, of course, and an Airedale). I really do have a hankering for them, but it'll never happen. I can't imagine wanting to keep one down here in this muggy, Southern heat. I'm rambling... just wanted to say congrats. 8)

I've seen Yucca root before, but never knew what it was for. Any ideas on how to go about dosing a 80ish lb dog? I suppose it would depend on the dosage it came in. I'll look at some tomorrow. Thanks. :)

Razzle made the journey today. I swear he embraced it. He seemed so ready to go. My friend and I were both there with him until the end. She's taking it pretty hard. I'll pass along your warm thoughts to her. I told her that I think Razzle was sent here to help her along during a difficult time in her life (house burning down and problems that followed) and that now someone else must need him. RIP, Razzle. Many people will miss you. :cry: