kendalyn

I thought maybe he had hid some of the pork chops in there and that's why he was so edgy but I couldn't find any traces of them. I think he ate them in the kitchen, I don't think they were in the crate. I'm not going to do anything about the counter surfing right now. I want to see if it's really going to be a problem. I mean, I'll watch where I put meat on the counters and that sort of thing but I don't think I need to do any sort of aversion training yet. Hopefully, just me being more careful will do the trick. I'm calming down now. geez, I've just never had my own dog growl at me like that before. It confused and scared me. And it confused and scared Buck too I guess! I'm still going to take him to the vet though. I want to make sure he's ok physically.

I know my demeaner changed mostly because I was so surprised I think. I didn't try to punish him but I'm sure he picked up on my mood. I have always petted him in the crate and not had a problem but I will do it more often from now on. I know this isn't rational but my feelings are hurt. I would never hurt Buck and I feel terrible that he would feel the need to protect his space from me. I'm over reacting I know. Ugh, my stomach is just in knots and I know I need to calm down because Buck knows something isn't right. I currently do NILIF but I will certainly continue it. Your post did make me feel a little better though Cassie. Thanks!

Well, didn't Kat just rescue some dogs from a puppy mill in N. Ireland?

Buck displayed some very odd behavior tonight and I am out of my mind worrying about it. Here is what happened: I was making leftover porkchops for dinner and I left the kitchen to go do something in another room. I came back and the pork chops were gone. I was shocked because Buck has NEVER been a counter surfer. In fact I often sit on the floor when I eat dinner and I can leave the plate on the carpet, go get something and the plate will not have been touched while I was gone. He has always just been exceptionally good about not stealing food. So I turned around and looked at him and just said "What happened to the pork chops?" My tone had changed but it wasn't really stern or angry sounding. He turned and slunk off to his crate right after I said it. So I stood in the kitchen for a while and thought about what happened. After about 5 minutes I walked over to his crate and kneeled down in front of it. Buck immediately started growling at me, and I knew he meant it. I just sat there for a minute stunned and then I said really stern "Buck, Quit it!" And he slid down on his belly and started wagging his tail. I walked away and he came out a few minutes later looking very unsure about what he should do. He kind of tiptoed past me and didn't want to come into the kitchen. He was laying down in the living room and I sat down next to him and he crawled toward me wagging his tail. I pet him and was friendly toward him and since then everything has been fine. I just don't understand this at all. 1) Buck has never been food aggressive. I can move his food around, take it away, put my hand in the bowl or whatever I want while he is eating. He has never even uttered a little growl. 2) His growling doesn't seem like food aggression to me because the pork chops were gone. He had already eaten them. So if the porkchops were gone the only other thing I can think of was that he felt cornered by me. But I have no idea why he would feel that way. I've never hit him or given him a reason to feel threatened by my presence. I am making an appointment with the vet tomorrow to have him looked over. Hopefully they can get him in soon. One thing I am going to do is stop giving him any kind of food that I eat. Sometimes I will put some of the meat I'm cooking into his bowl and I will usually let him eat food that drops on the ground (if it's not stuff that's bad for him). But for now, that's going to stop. I just don't know what to think of this behavior. It's very odd. Next time I see him eating I think I'll try to move his food bowl away and see if he has a problem with it. I just don't have any idea why this happened. Oh and here is some Buck history. I found him abandoned and very skinny in Kentucky. The vet thought he was about 6 months old when I found him so if that is accurate he would be 2 in February. As I said before food aggression hasn't been a problem in the past nor has any other kind of aggression. He has been very steady temperment wise. I don't know if he was abused before I found him although I've always suspected that he wasn't. He's not afraid of men and he's never cowered like he's afraid before. But I can't say for certain that he was never mistreated. I'm sure he wasn't loved though because he was abandoned and was skin and bones when I found him. *sigh* my heart hurts. I wish I knew what was going on. :cry:

I am wondering if someone knows where I can get a bell for Buck to either step on or push with his nose. I need it because right now he scratches at the back door to be let outside. That's fine for right now because the back door (it's a glass sliding door with a wood frame) is old and needs to be replaced. But it is going to be replaced soon and I don't want him scratching up the new door. So I plan on teaching him to push a button on a bell or something to let me know that he wants out. I would prefer it be an electric bell that I can hang on the wall. It just needs to be something small that he can push and it will make a noise. I figure it'll be a lot easier to replace the scratching behavior then to eliminate it. Plus it's kind of nice having Buck tell me that he wants to go outside. Does anybody know where I can get something like this?

Yay! I'm sure they will enjoy their new freedom :-)

Here you go. If you go to the pictures forum I think there is a sticky that tells how to post pictures. [img]http://arctic.photoisland.com/sessions/24054878121/22797294lg.jpg[/img] [img]http://arctic.photoisland.com/sessions/24054878121/22705201lg.jpg[/img] [img]http://arctic.photoisland.com/sessions/24054878121/22705200lg.jpg[/img] [img]http://arctic.photoisland.com/sessions/24054878121/22586016lg.jpg[/img] [img]http://arctic.photoisland.com/sessions/24054878121/22586015lg.jpg[/img]

Yeah, you're right. It's kind of strange

Snoopy sounds like he has a wonderful home :-)

awww.. those were great pictures!

Yay! Great job Deja :-)

I give Buck greenies to help prevent tarter build up. I don't know if you can get them in Mexico but they're available in pretty much any pet store in the US. They look like big green toothbrushes. He loves them!

My Standard Poodle Kody (deceased) was a natural hunter. He wasn't like a hound following a scent or anything, but he did catch a few rabbits in his days. :-) I wish poodles didn't have the reputation of being so prissy. I used to kind of cringe before I told people I had a standard poodle. I would always emphasize the standard part and tell them that he weighed 70 lbs. Lots of times when I would take him places people wouldn't believe that he was a poodle. One lady accused me of buying a genetically engineered dog. :roll:

[quote]Dogs head has a skull shape... [/quote] Shouldn't all heads be shaped like a skull?

We receive an extremely high volume of inquiries and requests to accept surrendered animals. To help us expedite your problem as quickly as possible, please observe the following guidelines: 1. Do not say that you are, "considering finding a good home," or, "feel you might be forced to," or, "really think it would be better if," you unloaded the poor beast. Ninety-five percent of you already have your minds stone-cold made up that the animal will be out of your life by the weekend or holiday at the latest. Say so. If you don't, I'm going to waste a lot of time giving you common-sense, easy solutions for very fixable problems, and you're going to waste a lot of time coming up with fanciful reasons why the solution couldn't possibly work for you. For instance, you say the cat claws the furniture, and I tell you about nail-clipping and scratching posts and aversion training, and then you go into a long harangue about how your husband won't let you put a scratching post in the family room, and your ADHD daughter cries if you use a squirt bottle on the cat, and your congenital thumb abnormalities prevent you from using nail scissors and etc., etc. Just say you're getting rid of the cat. 2. Do not waste time trying to convince me how nice and humane you are. Your coworker recommended that you contact me because I am nice to animals, not because I am nice to people, and I don't like people who "get rid of" their animals. "Get rid of," is my least favorite phrase in any language. I hope someone, "gets rid of" you someday. I am an animal advocate, not a people therapist. After all, you can get counselors, special teachers, doctors, social workers, etc., for your ADHD daughter. Your pet has only me, and people like me, to turn to in his or her need, and we are overworked, stressed-out, and demoralized. So don't tell me this big long story about how, "We love this dog so much, and we even bought him a special bed that cost $50, and it is just killing us to part with him, but honestly, our maid is just awash in dog hair every time she cleans, and his breath sometimes just reeks of liver, so you can see how hard we've tried, and how dear he is to us, but we really just can't ... ." You are not nice, and it is not killing you. It is, in all probability, literally killing your dog, but you're going to be just fine once the beast is out of your sight. Don't waste my time trying to make me like you or feel sorry for you in your plight. 3. Do not try to convince me that your pet is exceptional and deserves special treatment. I don't care if you taught him to sit. I don't care if she's a beautiful Persian. I have a waiting list of battered and/or whacked-out animals who really need help, and I have no room to shelter your pet because you decided you no longer have time for your 14-year-old Lab. Do not send me long messages detailing how Fido just l-o-v-e-s blankies and carries his favorite blankie everywhere, and oh, when he gets all excited and happy, he spins around in circles, isn't that cute? He really is darling, so it wouldn't be any trouble at all for us to find him a good home. Listen, we can go down to the pound and count the darling, spinning, blankie-loving beasts on death row by the dozens, any day of the week. And, honey, Fido is a six-year-old shepherd-mix weighing 75 pounds. I am not lying when I tell you big, older, mixed-breed, garden-variety dogs are almost always completely unadoptable, and I don't care if they can whistle Dixie or send smoke signals with their blankies. What you don't realize, though you're trying to lie to me, you're actually telling the truth: Your pet is a special, wonderful, amazing creature. But this mean old world does not care. More importantly, you do not care, and I can't fix that problem. All I can do is grieve for all the exceptional animals who live short, brutal, loveless lives and die without anyone ever recognizing they were indeed very, very special. 4. Finally, just, for God' s sake, for the animal's sake, tell the truth, and the whole truth. Do you think if you just mumble your cat is, "high-strung," I will say, "Okey-doke! No problem!" and take it into foster care? No, I will start asking questions and uncover the truth, which is your cat has not used a litter box in the last six months. Do not tell me you "can't" crate your dog. I will ask what happens when you try to crate him, and you will either be forced to tell me the symptoms of full-blown, severe separation anxiety, or else you will resort to lying some more, wasting more time. And, if you succeed in placing your pet in a shelter or foster care, do not tell yourself the biggest lie of all: "Those nice people will take him and find him a good home, and everything will be fine." those nice people will indeed give the animal every possible chance, but if we discover serious health or behavior problems, if we find that your misguided attempts to train or discipline him have driven him over the edge, we will do what you are too immoral and cowardly to do: We will hold the animal in our arms, telling him truthfully he is a good dog or cat, telling him truthfully we are sorry and we love him, while the vet ends his life. How can we be so heartless as to kill your pet, you ask? Do not ever dare to judge us. At least we tried. At least we stuck with him to the end. At least we never abandoned him to strangers, as you certainly did, didn't you? In short, this little old rescuer/foster momma has reached the point where she would prefer you tell it like it is: "We picked up a free pet in a parking lot a couple of years ago. Now we don't want it anymore. We're lazier than we thought. We've got no patience either. We're starting to suspect the animal is really smarter than we are, which is giving us self-esteem issues. Clearly, we can't possibly keep it. Plus, it might be getting sick; it's acting kind of funny. "We would like you to take it in eagerly, enthusiastically, and immediately. We hope you'll realize what a deal you're getting and not ask us for a donation to help defray your costs. After all, this is an (almost) pure-bred animal, and we'll send the leftover food along with it. We get it at the discount store, and boy, it's a really good deal. "We are very irritated you haven't shown pity on us in our great need and picked the animal up already.We thought you people were supposed to be humane! Come and get it today. No, we couldn't possibly bring it to you; the final episode of 'Survivor' is on tonight." Author Unknown

If you read the original posts made by the owner, you will see that she mentions noticing a lot of dried blood in the dog's ear which is probably a result of her husband kicking the dog in the head after he bit him. There was no mention of taking the dog to the vet. That is neglect in my opinion.

Guest, maybe you could join and post something like this in the debate section. It is perfect for that purpose! :) Mei-Mei wrote: [quote]it seems rather 'wet-blankety' to bring it up during such a cute conversation[/quote] exactly.

I seriously doubt that the whole story is being told here. First she says that the dog's genetics shouldn't be questioned, then she says it came from a BYB, then she says they didn't know it when they got the dog??? Were they present at the time of purchase and pick up? What vet would neglect to do a thyroid panel? That doesn't make sense. [quote]sometimes he would snap at the air near our hands, then he would get sprayed with Bitter Apple, and he would drop-it... Bitter Apple became our crutch[/quote] Is spraying bitter apple at a dog whenever it shows aggression a good way to go about treating the problem? I've never rehabilitated an aggressive dog, but this just seems to me like it could exacerbate the problem. I thought this stuff was supposed to keep dogs from chewing on things. If it's getting in the dog's eyes could it be causing damage and therefore pain (which could make the dog irritable anyway)? [quote]Ted stepped back to get the bitter apple, and the dog LUNGED at Ted, biting his forearm[/quote] I think these 2 events are highly correlated. He knew what was coming. They need to quit it with the bitter apple, I really think it's making things worse. It's good that she has admitted that they have created a monster here and it is their fault, but they really haven't done much to correct the problem yet. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that they need a new trainer/behaviorist. They should try a new vet also, or at the very least request a thyroid panel from the old one.

Good post Edgar! I agree with you :)

:smilecolros: THAT IS SO AWESOME! :smilecolros: You'll have to take a picture of the article or something so we can see it! Does your paper have an online edition? Congratulations on being published!

Can you just keep taking her to that park but maybe on a leash to help her get used to the horses?

pwrpufgirlz wrote [quote]If food is available, dogs won't starve or dehydrate themselves[/quote] In a well dog yes, but not in a sick dog. My standard poodle was very sick and just stopped eating and drank hardly anything at all. We tried everything to get him to eat and drink. The pedialyte didn't work, specially made foods didn't either. The only thing he would drink was a tiny bit of warm water with sugar dissolved in it. He eventually died while the vets were trying to find out what was wrong with him. Once he stopped eating he never ate another meal again.

yup, I like it a lot! Very good job! :D

See if you can get a guest column. Then you can really give the issue the attention it deserves. If you can't, ask them for a word limit and rewrite/edit based on that. But send it in full length and ask for it to be a guest column. That would be the best!

BTW, have you ever written a letter to the opinion section of the paper? They will edit it. Don't expect to see your letter printed verbatim.