StarFox

Zeb puts his paw on my arm when scratching him. I don't know why he does it but I don't mind to much unless his dew claw is digging into my skin. :roll: [quote name='drjeffrock'] Sometimes physical touch is a dominant behavior, such as if you are sitting down and your dog comes over to you and sits on your foot.[/quote] Yeah well what if your dog has a big ol' booty and his fat arse is taking up all the space and he sits on your foot? :lol:

HF you've said what I've been trying to put in to words but couldn't. I think you've sumed up what allot of people have been thinking/feeling. Thanks for being so smart. :lol: :wink:

[quote name='SizzleDog']I guess I'm in the minority, I prefer cropped ears - but ONLY if they're done correctly.[/quote] I LOVE cropped ears on a Dobe. In fact if I were to ever get one (adopt) I'd get one that was already cropped and docked. I know I could never get a dogs ears cropped so I'd have to get one that was already done. There is just something about a Doberman with cropped ears that looks so much more regal to me IMO.

Why is it so hard to adopt a pit bull? why?! I don't get it. Some are adopted right away because they look "cute" while the temperament is questionable while other pits have great temperaments but get overlooked because they are older or look "mean". This is just so darn frustrating! This is why I'm frustrated: [img]http://www.petharbor.com/get_image.asp?RES=thumb&ID=A173520&LOCATION=PSDN[/img] Mike, a 4 year old pit/X that has been at the shelter for 2 and a half months. No one wants this dog, not even the rescues because he is an "agressive" breed. :roll: Ok it's true he dosn't like other large male dogs but he does fine with smaller dogs or female dogs. Or how about Bart? [img]http://www.petharbor.com/get_image.asp?RES=thumb&ID=A177330&LOCATION=PSDN[/img] He has been at the shelter for almost 2 months. Why? he is young, active, friendly, non-dog agressive, loves kids. Or how about this girl? [img]http://www.petharbor.com/get_image.asp?RES=thumb&ID=A178248&LOCATION=PSDN[/img] Super friendly, quiet, loves to be pet and can even stack like a show dog! But I guess it's her "mean" face that turns people off. No one wants these great dogs because "Oh that's a pit bull!". Maybe I should just start spray painting the pits golden and say "Oh it's a rare short hair golden retreiver"...maybe then they will get adopted. Sorry I just really had to complain about this because it's just so frustrating sometimes.

Oh boy now I'm all confuzzled. [img]http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0XQAAAD4e5cVCnfKyacun1E4Bu7Qcp9sanC!SYHvC!YI6wZWQi8M19a7DjNXTkDnlIq2I8DTqJ448V9MKG!xvRb!18wt9tjOIYNNtFdnU0nd4q0mYgSgzER2qaS4HX47M7FJq*nIJWT8/creative2.jpg?dc=4675458350222904000[/img] Ok is this poodle brown? If so how did they get such bright colours on a dark furred dog? Oh was he/she dyed brown too? HF where are you?! I need answers!

I use to think that dying a dog was cruel but after HF posted about the competitions that they hold for dogs with dyed hair it actually seemed kinda cool. Plus the pics that HF posted were very interesting and I was amazed at the dye jobs. BUT with that said your first priority should NOT be how cool your dogs looks and I can totally understand why your upset at your friend Rowie. It sounds like she is more interested in having an accessory then a companion. :-? A dog should not be a walking status symbol.

[quote]I simply dont believe you would get the same dog back again...and how could you with rescues?...you would have to be able to re-create every second of thier upbringing to lead you to the same end result....right?... [/quote] Agreed. It would be virtually impossible to have the "same dog" again. Plus it's not just that there are other animals out there to adopt and that a cloned animal wouldn't be the same as the "original", but I think it underminds the true dog. I feel it's almost insulting to the original dog.

[quote name='DogPaddle'] The rest of the time I spent on Zaphod - rinse Zaphod - run hand over coat - wash completely covered hand off - repeat - like 30-40 times - give up as hair is coming off just as fast as when I started - finish washing - start brushing - fill grocery bag with fur - switch brushes - arm gets tired - give up[/quote] This is exactly what I did today with Zebra. It was sooooo gross, I HATE wet dog hair on me it's soo gross! The only thing I like about brushing him when he is wet is that the hair dosn't fly all over the place but clumps up. I must have gotten at least a big bag full of hair, but it was worth all the work because Zeb looks great now! I even trimed his fur for summer, so now he has a cool new "summer" do. :lol:

Eeep! The cone! Zeb hated wearing the dreaded cone, in fact he broke two of them. :roll: Hope Pooh Bear is feeling better and I hope he dosn't mind wearing the cone to much. Keep us updated on his condition and progress. :)

You really need to think of Zoey, if you just up and leave her all of a sudden she isn't going to know what is going on and it will be very hard on her. She is going to wonder why you left her and what she did wrong. Cody and Zoey have a bond, seperating them suddenly and dramaticly will cause problems. Plus do you think Justin will beable to care for Zoey 100% when he gets back?

[quote name='JackieMaya'][quote name='StarFox']Woo hoo I'm glad he is home. Aww and his poor nekkid butt must be so cold. Just wondering are you letting him jump up and down from the couch with out any help?[/quote] The vet said that he can go up and down stairs and jump up and off the sofa and futon. One time he needed a little help to get on the futon, so I helped him up. But otherwise, he gets on and off the sofa just fine.[/quote] :o Pooh bear had the TPO right? I don't know the specifics of Pooh Bears operation but when Zeb had his TPO the doc said absolutly NO jumping, or stairs without help from a sling. Heck he was crated for a month! Considering how much the operations cost I'm suprised that the doc said that it was ok to let him jump around, I would think that the pressure could/would cause major problems with the healing process. Wow..I'm just really suprised that the doc wouldn't have put a jumping restriction on Pooh Bear at the very least.

Woo hoo I'm glad he is home. Aww and his poor nekkid butt must be so cold. Just wondering are you letting him jump up and down from the couch with out any help?

WHA?! Isn't there a video or something that they could have watched on how the digestive tract works? I mean food goes in poop comes out why the hell did they need to disect a LIVE animal! Also where did he get this dog? A shelter? Was it HIS dog? :-? :x

WooHoo! I'm so glad to hear that the surgery went well. I bet he can't wait to get home. Keep us updated on his progress. :D

Good Luck Pooh Bear! Fingers and paws crossed that everything goes perfect. JM-Try not to stress to much, the doctors know what they are doing and everything will be ok.

Oh I'm sorry that he is leaving but I'm sure he will have a wonderful time with your sister-in-law and playing in the garden. But think of it this way because once he is with your SIL that means you'll have room to take in another dog. :evilbat:

Can't you use a shovel or something to pick up up and throw it away? That's what I do here with the dead birds.

[quote name='Horsefeathers!']SF, can you think of anything that might make him feel this way? I mean, dogs perceive things in some pretty weird ways sometimes. Perhaps there was an incidence where you were angry about something totally unrelated to him and he picked up on it at exactly the wrong time? I'm just grasping for straws here, so if some of this sounds inane, just bear with me. [/quote] HF you hit it right on the head. :( I was angry one day, at my mom for some reason or another and I took zeb out. He got scared of a car or a truck and started to run back inside and in my frustration I yelled at him very meanly which only caused him to be more frightened. After that things just got worse and now he hates outside. I guess he figures that being with me alone I will yell at him again, and when someone else comes out he is "Safe". I did something totally stupid and now my dog dosn't trust me. I can't even begin to describe how angry at myself I am for being so stupid and yelling at him, I feel like shit. :(

It's me. :cry: He will only go out when someone else goes out with us. Like today my mom went out with us and he was fine but the second that my mom went into the house he freaked out and wouldn't move away from the door. I thought I could fix it but how do I fix him from being afraid when I'm the problem? :cry: I've tried this with everyone in the house over the last few days. When my brother comes with us. Fine. When my dad comes with us. Fine. When my mom comes with us. Fine. Me alone. Freaks out. I such a horrible doggy mom, my own dog is scared to be alone with me. I know this is all my fault somehow but I don't know how to fix it now.

This pissed me off :evil: [quote]Occasionally we will have some priced for less or Free! in the Classified Section of our Smugmug Photo Album. Or available for a min. $49.00 adoption / application fee. A much lower fee compared to SPCA and Animal Shelters.It helps cover some of the cost of newspaper advertising, vaccines and vet bills for adoption pets [/quote] Oh yes because the SPCA and Animal Shelters cost SOOOOOOO much to adopt a pet. Wow at the HS I volunteer at the dogs are $65.00! That is soo friggin' dirt cheap to adopt a dog! If people can't afford the huge bill of $65 then they shouldn't be getting a dog in the first place! Uh...what they really mean is "If you can't adopt a dog from the SPCA or Animal Shelter because your a horrible pet owner and they wouldn't even let you adopt a Beanie Baby then come to us and we will sell you a BYB dog because we don't give a damn about what kind of owner you are, We just want your money." These people need to have dull rusty nails stuck into there eyes. :x

Zebra- A horselike African Mammal of dark and white stripes. Well he isn't horselike, he isn't from africa and he dosn't have white stripes. But he is a Mammal and has dark and light stripes. :lol: (also not pronounced like it is in america, it is not ZEEEEE-bra. If you've ever heard the Euopean pronunciation of Zebra it sounds different. Almost like Seb-ra, rhymes with Debra)

First I want to tell you how sorry I am that you have to go through this. I understand how you feel. Zebra was diagnosed with Servere/Moderate HD at 15 months and had his TPO at 17 months. On the hip that only had moderate HD we got the TPO. The hip that has Servere HD we are getting a Total Hip Replacement (still saving up for that one). The only "meds" Zebra gets is 500-750 mg of Glucosamine and 400-600mg of Chondroitin a day. I don't like allot of the meds that are out there right now for HD. I find them to risky and the side effects scary. I also want to start doing some non-traditional therapy for him by a holistic vet. It isn't that bad trying to keep a young dog from being active after his surgery. It's not easy but it's not impossible. I remember after Zebs surgery and we had brought him out to the van to go home and right as the nurse and I were about to pick him up he jumped right into the van. Only 5 days after his surgery! Typical dog. :roll: When he got home he had a chance to go potty and then he went into his crate. I found that a big wire crate is nice because a dog can see out of all sides of it. I took him out every two hours to go potty and then it was back in the kennel. Put food in there once a day and gave him water every hour. He had to take pills 3 times a day. I think he was on3 or 4 meds at the time, Deramaxx, Clavamox, Zantac (for the hearburn that the other pills gave him) and some antibiotic so he wouldn't get an infection. He had to be in his cage like this for one month. The second month he could walk around but not much and only supervised and for short periods of time. The surgery was approx $2300, not including the meds and the previous x-rays and dr. visits. Very steep price, but was it worth it? Absofrigginloutly. I was not working at the time and had the luxury of living at home and I didn't have to work. This was difficult for me and I was home 24/7, i'd imagine that it would be difficult for you too, but I don't think it would be impossible. I can tell you that it is emotionally and physically draining taking care of a dog with HD that has just had surgery but it was worth it. The money, the crying, the everything. Now with only one surgery done Zeb dosn't fall when running, dosn't bunny hop, dosn't cry out in pain if someone grabs his legs. I don't want you to think that having surgery is the right thing to do or the best thing to do because it might not be for your situation. But I just wanted to share my experience and why I did what I did. Also I have a stack of info on HD in a folder, I wish there was some way I could send it to you. :-? Oh and if you have any questions or anything just PM me. :D

[quote name='mouseatthebusstop']I would not leave them alone together[/quote] Oh I absolutly agree. Zebra is never ever left alone outside or unatended with other dogs or kids. I worry way to much about the stuff that can happen when i'm not around. I'm such a worry-wart. :oops:

Well Zeb got put in his place today. I decided that I was going to take him over to my uncles house so he could play with their GSD X for some socalization. My uncles dog, Eddie, is super sweet and gets along great with Zebra...well at least they have in the past. Today Zeb wanted nothing to do with poor Eddie. Zeb didn't want to play with Eddie, didn't even want to go near him. So I decided to play with Eddie since he dosn't get all the much attention (outside dog :x ) and Zeb got very domanant. Zeb would push his way in front of Eddie and demand my attention. Well after about the fifth time of Zeb doing this to poor eddie he finally turned around and groweled very loudly. Oh my god I laughed and lauhed and laughed. Zeb had this look of "Oh my god he just told me what to do!" on his face. Oh man that is exactly what Zeb needed. To be put in his place. Funny thing is after Eddie gave a warning growel Zeb was great with him. And I got some great pics that I'll post next week. (Also please don't think I'm mean for laughing when Eddie groweled at Zeb, Zeb just really really needed to learn that he isn't the boss all the time.) (Oh yeah and he finally went outside!!! But that's only because he knew he was going for a car ride. :roll: )

Thanks everyone. I can't figure out what is wrong with him and it's just so frusterating. DP- I've been looking for Rescue Remedy EVERYWHERE and I can't find the stuff. I've been to 4 different Petcos and Petsmart and no place carrys it. I know that some people have had great sucess with it so I really want to try it...if only I could find it. :-? Thankfully I'm going to be getting a large paycheck soon so I'm going to take Zeb to the vet and have him checked out. Untill then I guess I'll just try more positive renforcement.