Canis erectus

HAve fun, and I hope your house is still standing when you get back. :D

I'd suggest a vet visit, it sounds like she might have a UTI. If that's the case don't worry too much, for whatever reason these things seem easier to deal with in dogs than in cats. It could be that she's still unsure of her surroundings, but I'd still suggest a vet check to rule out medical problems.

LOL, good luck because I had the same thing happen to me. Nothing I tried could ever get my girls interested in more than just the first couple of licks. Some dogs are just less food oriented than others.

DO and Courtnek gave you sound advise. I'd also like to add that things would probably go far more smoothly if Heinrich were a submissive dog. You might want to observe his personality for awhile before having your heart set on him.

We'll be adding another dog in a year or two, when our little girl is old enough to understand how to help out with some of the care. Normally I'd just adopt some mutt, but I'll be wanting a guardian dog, so I'm definbately looking at specific breeds. Probably an American Bulldog or maybe a Corso.

I don't think you did anything wrong at all. When you're dealing with different species you just have to make allowances for the smaller animal. Cats don't honor pack rules (actually they do, just not the same way that dogs do) and Free, being the social climber that she is, caught on to you reprimanding Pushy for asserting himself on the dogs she might have taken that as a cue that she was socially above Pushy. Given that scenario, if Pushy (not recognizing dog pack rules) had retaliated against Free for asserting herself on him, you might have ended up with a much bigger problem than you have now. I ahve to make all kinds of special allowances for Fred. It's made him into a little white tyrant, but it keeps him safe as long as the dogs don't see him as a lower part of their pack.

I know you realize how overwhelming predatory drive can be when it kicks in. My thought is that any sort of behavioral training/enforcemnet will probably be inefectual for what may likely be only a short time that this will be a problem. You said Free's gone for the cat before, I bet she's beside herself now that she can attack without fear of retaliation from Pushy. I guess I'm saying that the best bet would just be to keep them seperated until after it's Pushy's time to go. Though that might just make the problem worse if Free gets more aggressive since her opportunities to assault poor pushy will be drastically reduced. You also wouldn't be able to work with Free on the problem if they don't have any contact, so it probably won't get better on it's own if they are seperated. I imagine that it'll probably be inconvenient for everyone while Pushy is confined to the room, but she deserves to have a minimal amount of stress and other problems during her final stretch here. Just my thoughts, obviously nothing you haven't already thought of, so I think that you're doing the best you can with what you've got. Hopefully someone else can offer a better solution.

I'm inclined to say that mom was a Pit Bull or Pit mix myself. I've seen a few Ridgeback/Greyhound mixes and this girl is too burly-looking and probably too small to be such a dog. The big tip-off is that the post occipital part of the skull is way wider than the muzzle, which is more of a mastiff trait rather than hound. But who's to know for sure. A good way to help narrow down possibilities is too take a look at the most common breeds in your area, as they are the most likely to produce mongrel offspring. Also behavior traits, while not a reliable indicator, can sometimes help to pinpoint a mystery parent's breed.

I don't have a whole lot of advise for you except that I wouldn't let her off lead anywhere that recall could be a problem. Anassa is part wolf hound/pointer right? She looks mostly pointer, but the hound part of her brain is likely going to keep her recall from ever being great. Zoey's part Borzoi and given that I'd say that her recall is pretty good. I'll also add that her curiosity and chase instincts are too great for me to ever feel safe letting outside of an enclosed area. Zoey is also a very social dog, she's far more interested in visiting people than she is in other dogs. Anyone who doesn't see her all the time is going to be able to get her to come when called more easily than I can. Simply put she'll go to a new and exciting stranger easier than she will to me whom she gets to see all the time. That could be a reason why Anassa goes to your friends all the time but not you. When you add another dog into the situation, that essentially makes a pack. Dogs who are 'packed' are going to be bolder and more adventurous, just like how kids are when they have their freinds over. So expect Anassa's command response to be less whenever she's hanging out with Max. Lastly I'd advise you against letting her loose, espescially since there's kangaroos about. I've never been to Australia before but I do know that roos can kill dogs if they decide to turn on them. Hounds have a natural prey drive and I'd hate to see what happens when a puppy (even a big puppy) comes up on a kangaroo that decides that it doesn't want to run.

Favorite Things: China- She's respectful and naturally well-mannered. Which is a good thing because having ti teach basic manners to my little imbecile would be an un-ending task. Zoey- She's in tune with me, most of the time she knows what I want from her before I can spit it out. I also love her spirit, it takes quite a dog to skip everywhere she goes. Least Favorite Things: China- The hair... Oh god no, please no more hair!!! Zoey- She's an incorrigable theif, and a d@mn good one at that. You can watch her walk past something (table,desk, chair etc...) and only be left with the feeling that something's missing.

Courtnek said pretty much what I was going to say. Basically it's a matter of Pauly respecting you enough not to 'test you out' by jockying for a better position. China is fairly similar, she refuses to sleep on anything but the floor, period. She refuses to even consider getting up on any of the furniture even just to lay down for a bit. One time we thought we'd haul her up onto the bed just top see what happened, and just as you said, she had a good time. Never could convince her to get up there since though. Zoey sleeps on the bed or sometimes the couch during the day. Once it's time for Hannah and I to go to bed, she'll come down and sleep either at the foot or next to the bed on my side, she also sleeps a second night time shift in the middle of the living room. Regardless once we're in bed at night Zoey can't be convinced to get up there.

Sounds like she's beginning to gain more confidence. Those first steps are always the hardest.

Yeah, right now june bugs are Zoey's favorite dietary supplement. :eating:

Unfortunatly some things are just not meant to be understood...

A great idea. Thanks for posting the 'recipe'!

Your description is a little vague, but at a guess I'd say it may be a small abscess from a tick/insect bite. Which brings us to another matter: You said you were going to give Clea a bath, presumabley before applying Frontline. The basic principle of Frontline is that it needs the natural oils in the skin to disperse all over the body and become effective, obviously when you bath your dog you are cleaning those oils away. I think that somewhere in the packaging it tells you to wait two days before and two days after applying the Frontline before bathing your dog. I usually give it five days just to be sure.

She's looks like a doll to me, congratulations on the new family member! I've got a really good eye for breeds, and from the first glace I thought Shiba Inu mix. The color and head features are about right, but it doesn't look like her tail has a curl, though I suppose that doesn't neccessarily mean anything. I'll alsoi go with Mei-Mei and say that there is at least some beagle in there somewhere, espescially when you look at her sister. Who knows though maybe they didn't have the same daddy. All in all I guess it really matters little, I know you'll love her forever no matter what she is.

What a handsome dog, reminds me vaugley of a Tibetan Mastiff. I can only fathom the amount of shed hair he'd produce.

I have some odd dog turd stroies... A couple years ago Zoey had decided to ingest the contents of a good-sized tube of titanium white oil paint. As I'm sure you're already guesiing, the next day's turds were pure white paint. Hannah was so mad that Zoey ate her paint, and I told her not to be that upset- she probably could have just re-used it once it came out. :roll: Earlier this winter I came across a turd in the yard that had eyes! Not sure which dog it was but someone had obviously eaten a plush toy. Some black fabric came out the other end and so did some big googley plush eyeballs, and they were set in the turd just so perfectly. Come to think of it I never had figured out exactlt what toy that was or where it came from. Anyway, I wanted to get a picture of the 'anthropomorphic turd' to show my co-workers but the weather turned on me and it decided to snow storm before I had the chance to get film for the camera. :-? I think one of the funniest things I've seen come out of a dog's rear would have been a little Winnie the Poo doll. It was from a client's dog that we were keeping at the clinic to see if Poo Bear would pass. I was there when it did and I kept getting images of Winnie the Poo stuck in the honey pot. :D

Holy crow on a craw... I can see it now. Within two weeks time all of dogo is going to be encrypted. :D

Piece of cake JM. Just make like the people on the carpool lane do and take a blow-up doll with you. :wink:

Yeah I'd like to know the answere too, just for general purpose knowledge. I would think that it might be difficult to find a pair of plugs to fit a dog's ear properly and effectively, seems like you might have to make your own plugs somehow.

I'm thinking I might try reintroducing China back to the park little by little. She loves a good day of exploring and running around as much as Zoey does, plus taking only Zoey is demonstrating an inequality between them. My thought is to just take Zoey for a few weeks by herself. She'll come back covered in dog smells, and since it seems that the folks tend to go there on a regular schedual so China can familiarize with the other dogs' scents. After that I can bring her there for brief visits, meet a few dogs and leave. As she gets more comfortable she can stay for longer periods. If it works China will get to wander 'free range' with Zoey, and if it doesn't work out then that would be for the best as well. Though I'd like to think that she's not a crusty ol' bat who's just set in her ways. China's not an entirely fearful dog, she most doesn't care for any dog (or person) getting too pushy with her or in her personal space for too long. Despite being a large medium-sized dog she tends to command respect from other dogs and is generally content to just ignore them. But all it takes is one dog that won't back away and I'd be standing in the middle of a dog fight.

Went back to the park again on Tuesday, and this time Zoey went by herself. We ended up having a great time and she ended up making some new friends. Zoey got the chance to really rev up and get a good run, none of the other dogs were able to catch up to my little one dog stampede during chase games. I even got to see some really gorgeous dogs including a Greater Swiss and an Estrella Mountain Dog and a Neopolitan Mastiff. Wish I brought a camera with me.

I've always thought them to be fantastic and handsome looking dogs. She looks lilke a doll to me.