DogPaddle

Well the pacing has subsided some, at least for now. We have been letting him take more naps outside and letting him stay on the main floor more. I used to take him upstairs when I went to bed but now I let the last person to bed bring him up. Also we have not been crating him if we are going on short errands - so far so good! Maybe he's claustraphobic? Malamum - It is difficult to describe Tyr's vocalizations which he stills makes with regularity. He rarely does the typical woowoo. He whines and . . . well he does this undulating [color=green]whistle[/color] sortof of thing. It makes him seem very desperately sad. Occasionally he combines a whine a wuhwuhwuh and an undulating whistle noise, its very unique (at least to me.)

Welcome! I have a: 14 month old Border Collie, male, Kavik 7 month old GSD/Malamute cross, male, Tyr 3 1/2 month old black Labradour/something cross, male Zaphod We are currently doing obedience only but hope to do agility with Kavik, pulling with Tyr and something with Zaphod. We also, in the summer, show other canoeists how to paddle, keep the dog out of his food pack, take a picture, hold the dog still between your knees in the bow and swat mosquitoes ALL without an unscheduled swimming trip . . . YET :lol:

I hope your right Mouse. We'll give him extra snuggles and see how he does. The placement group we were working with before wants to know if we want to list him again. We have told them we would prefer to keep him.

Yellow - Tyr is a Malamute/GSD cross (eledgedly with some wild/coy/wolfdog content but that is quite debatable.) Allicat - :lol: Tyr does have a special wuhuhuh when we are giving snuggles to either of the other dogs. He thinks snuggles are just for him.

You both have my best wishes.

Sorry to continually go on about this issue but Tyr is our first foster dog and we love him so much its sometimes hard to make the best decisions for him so I thought I'd bounce some stuff off you guys again. Tyr might be depressed, its hard for me to tell. He paces and whines alot or sleeps. He does play with Zaphod pretty happily and he is eating and drinking fine. He seemed to enjoy the trip to the conservation area. Does he miss the kids in is temporary "forever" home? Is there not enough space our outdoor access for him here? Does Kavik's insistance on dominance and toy hogging actually bother him? Or (and this is what am hoping) is he just confused about moving again?

[quote]They are labs and have no real "winter fur" - so keeping the coat glossy helps protect them from Chicago winters....[/quote] Zaphod is a labcross (mostly lab I think), when we brought him home his puppy coat was fuzzy, not sleek/shiney. We are used to having a bc (longish double coat) and a GSD/malamute (medium double coat). Both Kavik and Tyr would stay out even as young pups for hours in the snow. We took all the dogs to the conservation area and poor Zaphod was shivering within minutes (we went home.) We were unprepared for this aspect of a lab a guess but now I certainly know what you mean. We are feeding mostly Mmillenia which is a beef based kibble (we also feed beef, chicken, eggs with shell, oatmeal, yogurt a smattering of fruit and veggies, etc and of course CHEESE, but the kibble far outways the other food at this timeand within 3 weeks of coming here Zaphods coat was sleek and shiney, he can now spend more time out of doors, of course still not as much as the other guys but then Tyr likes to take daytime naps out in the yard.

:lol: :lol: :lol: Excellent point Cheetah, I can just imagine trying to teach watch/look with cheese or whatever item makes your doggie crazy.

Reviving this thread because I have a further question. Kavik is in obedience and he is very exciteable and barks quite a bit and is being disruptive. We are working on his look/watch command and have distraction techniques for him but the instructor suggested using his halti in class to help him focus. This does work like a charm. The change in his behaviour is extreme, he goes from a wilddog who only does the excercises between zoomies and barking to one of the best behaved in class who will (sometimes) watch me to see what excercise we are going to do next. When we are are at home we practice without the halti and do just fine. So are we developing a "crutch" for Kavik or is it a useful tool?

Kavik will get like that sometimes with some toys or treats. It's somewhat difficult when we are in obedience and I'm trying to get him to sit so we can do the (lie) down excercise and he skips ahead on me :lol: . The only thing I can suggest is working on your "watch" or "look" commands because watch/look also equates with listen for the dog, we have marginal success with this but are improving.

We don't have too much contact with the neighbours in question. We were the ones that called the police during their last domestic dispute and we're not sure if they know it was us but on the upside we haven't seen the wife and kids for a few days so maybe she took the kids and left. If an opportunity arises I will strike up a "casual" dog conversation with the guy. Everyone here has been advised to let the Jack come in if he runs and then wait to see if Mr. Nextdoor (no I don't know his name) comes looking for him or not. Offering to watch Jac for a bit each day is a good idea too, will have to discuss that with the otheres here, could also provide opportunities to discuss why Jacs are the way they are, what to do about it and have that "casual" conversation. We were also going to see if there is a Jack Russel rescue group in the area and drop one of their leaflets in his mailbox, hopefully one that also explains Jacks and their special personalities and ways to deal with them. What do you think?

Well there you go . . . obviously getting all the info on [quote]all of these and their correct use and application[/quote] is very important :oops: . Thanks Goo.

We live in a townhouse so we can hear our neighbours occasionally. The neighbours on one side have had one seriouse domestic issue in the last year and the police were called. Both parties tend to take their anger and frustrations out physically. They have a very energetic Jack Russel under a year in age. We have seen the Jack out in the yard for 40min (with our weather this is just no good for a pup with Jacs sort of coat.) We have seen him outside for over an hour in a cat carrier (he barks alot, I presume they were frustrated.) We have more than once seen the husband pick the Jack up by its scruff or collar, producing yelps. All three times the little guy has gotten loose he has made a bee-line for our house, he runs in apparent fear from the husband. For the last two days he has been barking nonstop from one location (I presume he has been permanently crated inside.) We have nothing else to go on so I don't think the SPCA will do anything but I'm very worried. These people should never have gotten a Jack Russell, they were in no way prepred for this sort of dog. (Actually they probably shouldn't have any sort of pet.) I don't think I have any legal recourses so does anyone have any suggestions on how I might tactfully (I'd prefer not get on this guys bad side if at all possible) address this problem?

Maybe he's after the dogs themselves?

It really depends on the weight of the pup and the quality of the food. There should be recommended feedings on the bag/can unless your BARFING it. We feed Mmillenia and Zaphod (a 3 1/2 month old lab cross) weighing 20lbs gets 2 cups a day in two large feedings and one very small feeding. He's a puppy so we had been feeding 3 equal meals a day but have recently moved to the current method so we can eventually move him to two meals/day.

I have three unnuetered male dogs: Kavik 14month old BC Tyr 7month old GSD/Malamute cross Zaphod 3 1/2 month old Lab/something cross Currently they [i]can get along[/i] all together but only Kavik is mature so he is the only one who pursues dominance with any degree of seriouseness. We have appointments over the next couple months to have them all nuetered, even Kavik who has papers. There is no need to have them unfixed and it is a lot of work to manage their behaviours as it is, once all three of them are mature . . . :o . I don't think the breed matters much. A beagle is just as likely to scent mark in the house as any other breed. A beagle is just as capable of harming another beagle as almost any other dog. If you fix the dogs and introduce them early you should be fine, beagles are supposed to be very dog freindly but every dog is different.

We are paying a total of $264 for two dogs for basic obedience and that is with our 10% volume discount. Agility costs around the same but it is two weeks shorter. I think we need to start an agility club here because there are classes but no place just to play or practice.

Mommyzeus - I have heard of harness that are designed to lift the dogs front legs off the ground if they pull too hard - the idea being the dog won't like, feels less control and traction and will pull less. I wouldn't try it on a poodle type breed (my mom had a cockterripoo thing that was just as happy on his hind legs as on all fours) or a very heavy/strong dog because it seems to me the method relys on you resisting their weight and strength to lift their front end of the ground but I have never used one myself. If a flat buckle isn't working for you, you may need to experiment with a halti/GL or a choke or a partial choke. Make sure you get infomation on all of these and their correct use and application as they are intended as correction tools not constant control/pressure tools eg with the choke its in part the noise of the chain that does it and the choke should drop to loose again right after the correction, same principle with the halti. Hazel - There is a device called a kicksled that is designed to be pulled by one dog and is just for recreation. They are fairly simplistic, maybe you could make one. I'll see if I can find a website that shows one when I am not at work.

We give our dogs marrow bones (sectioned shank bones with marrow still intact.) They are like teething rings for dogs with a treat in the middle - the marrow appears to be the best part, none of them have gotten sick but maybe I've missed something. I know I can't leave the bones with them if they are unattended because sometimes they will work a shard or fragment of bone off them and I don't want them ingesting that (I know some BARF people may think I'm a worrier but those shank bone fragments are sharper then uncooked chicke backs.)

and oops that was also me

oops that was me

Kiger - We saw missile launching trucks on the lawns of key buildings and monuments on the news. I can see that as being disturbing or reassuring depending how you look at it. Your all in our thoughts.

Ah you give me hope Horsefeathers. We feed Mmillenia which is in the same class of food as Wellness. Maybe we won't be sent to the poorhouse by the dogs. The Mmillenia bag dosn't list amount of food per day for dogs over 70lbs so I've estimated but maybe I'll check out their website too.

If plastic and duct tape would keep airbourne chemicals and biologicals out wouldn't it keep air out as well and therefore wouldn't you sufficate if you stayed in there for a week? Anyone live in DC or near a US national monument?

Perhaps they want people to stay inside and cover the windows in case of the release of a communicable disease to stop person to person spread. If sick people remain home the transmition rate of illness is greatly reduced.?