Pets anyone?!

[Guest shelly]

Hey, how do you attach a photo like that? i know, i'm not very good w/ computers.

by the way, an adorable dog!

[shellybe]

I'm trying:

http://photos-102.facebook.com/n13/90/4 ... 2_5027.jpg

ok, i only got the link to work...? help me please. :? thanks

that's ok, if you open the link, that's my pup! isn't he adorable? We think he was dumped in the woods and he somehow made it to my parents house. my fiance and i adopted him. he was a little unhealthy and had worms, so his growth was a little stunted, but we took him to the vet, got his shots and he's growing now!

whatever you do, don't buy at a pet store, otherwise you might be supporting puppy mills. we were going to go to a shelter in may but we were lucky to find such a great pet! (and he was lucky he found my mom's house).

but now we do have the stress of moving him and finding an apartment that takes dogs, and it seems he'll be a large dog.

good luck everyone!

[PETRAL6]

AWWWW he is cute... Not as cute as my Ry of course (j/k). As for inserting pics, I had to do some research too. I am a little unsavy. Move your mouse over IMg above when in the reply area and it will tell you how to do it. But, basically you press alt-p then the address then alt-p again. on either side of the url you'll see . (not sure if that will show up on yours, because it may think I'm putting in an image.

[Guest Debating]

Wow, he looks so cute and hairy . He looks like some sort of a terrier mix, do you know what he is (I know you don't know for sure, but did the vet guess)? I am not going to buy a puppy from a pet store, I know about pully mills and I need an older puppy anyway. The rescue organization I contacted only deals with Beagles, and I think that's good because it makes them more dedicated to an extent. Does anyone have any experience with Italian Greyhounds?

PETRAL6, how long can you leave Ryobi without supervision and him trashing the place now that he's older?

How does everyone feel about crate training? Back home (Europe) no one does it, so I have no experience. But then, no one spays/neuters their pets either...

Thanks everybody who's posted so far!!

[PETRAL6]

Kind of a crap shoot... Sometimes 8-10 hours, sometimes 5 minutes. In general he doesn't destroy too much when I leave him alone if I hide stuff away. He did destroy the cord to my printer from my computer today though. Jerk. 8:30-5 is a fairly typical day right now, but he usually goes to the bathroom at 7-7:30 so it's really that long. I loved crate training. Most dogs will not use the bathroom in a crate (if it's small enough, but not toooo small) so they learn bladder control. Once they have learned, try shorter intervals out and then finally the longer ones. I think I did about a month or so in the crate when I was gone, then only when he's been bad or had accidents given a couple days in. They usually just fall asleep in the crate, so it's not cruel and they learn more easily that way. With older dogs, you may not have to crate train much or at all if they have fairly good bladder control and are pretty non-destructive.

[Guest shelly]

well, when he was younger we heard schnauzer a lot and german shepherd. now, most people say airedale terrier which is scary because they are very large dogs! i love large dogs, but we will probably have to live in an apt for the next few years. at least large breeds tend to live longer! airedale is what the vet guesses too. he said brussels gibbons (?) too, i think.

i'll try the pics again

the last 2 are from when he was younger (obviously)

any guesses on breed? i would love to hear. that's really interesting that where you are from fixing isn't so common. i wasn't sure about it but the vet recommended it because it helps prevent cancer and helps behaviorally as well.

i don't know what i'm doing wrong with the images! i'm so bad w/ this stuff!

[Guest shelly]

at least large breeds tend to live longer!

oops, got that backwards again hopefully he'll stay small

[PETRAL6]

slash in the first img seemed to be missing

[Guest shelly]

http://evansville.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30125192&id=50401401

ba

[PETRAL6]

I tried to go directly to the link and it didn't work... i think it may be a problem with the link or a site you have to sign in for.

[Guest shelly]

yeah, that's what i was afraid of but i did it the same way as the first one, and that one worked, but now i'm at my home computer, whereas before i was at my work computer. all this trouble just to put a picture!

[Guest Debating]

I read about the positive aspects of fixing your dog... but does anyone else think it's really cruel?? Yes, I know it prevents cancer, and I know it's supposed to help with behavioral issues as well, but still. I guess I will need to get over it but I really hope I'll get a dog that has already been fixed so I wouldn't have to make that decision myself.

Can anyone tell me a little bit about health issues? How often do you have to take your dog to the vet, anything special you need to do, etc. PETRAL6, since you're my Beagle reference ) could you please tell me about ear care? I read Beagles need to have their ears cleaned and checked regularly, but how regularly is that?

[PETRAL6]

From what my vet said, Beagles don't tend to have that bad of ears. I just wipe his with a baby wipe about 1-2/wk and that's mostly to keep him baby fresh. I don't think neutering is cruel. It is more cruel to keep a dog sexually frustrated and or have little unwanted puppies.

[Guest L again]

Debating, most shelters "fix" all their animals before they find them homes, since the point is to not have more unwanted puppies. I agree with Petral, it's more cruel to keep them frustrated. Also, I recently read how many millions of unwanted pets were put to sleep last year--thousands in my own city. That's enough for me to make sure all my animals are spay/neutered. Also, most vets will give you puppy pain killers too, so your dog doesn't have to be in pain.

[Guest MightyMidge]

I would absolutely recommend fixing your pet. If you have ever seen an animal in heat, you know how frusterating it can be for him or her. Additionally, fertile dogs or the same sex tend to be more aggressive with one another (creating more behavioural problems for your pet and making him or her more vulnerable to attack from others). Finally, delivering puppies is not always a safe process. Often, at least one puppy (or the mother dog herself) does not survive the process.

[Guest Debating]

I know I will my dog fixed for sure since the shelter I will be adopting from requires it anyway. I was just wondering what everyone's feelings on the topic were because I still can't quite get over the whole thing. Thanks for all your comments!

Does anyone have any positive and/or negative comments about having a dog in an apartment? Do you feel that your dog requires too much exercise or do you wish it weren't such a couch potato ?

Looking forward to yet more insightful posts

[Guest shelly]

My pup does ok in our apartment. We like to take him for long walks though, so I really hope we'll have time for that in grad school. It really gives him the chance to run and get tired.

Sometimes he likes to jump and spin around, so the apartment isn't great for that...but he is a puppy so maybe that will simmer down.

I'm just worried that if he gets much bigger, he will need more space. He's 20 pounds now, which would be ok.

[PETRAL6]

My dog lives in my room (so like an apartment) of a house. I take him out to go to the bathroom and he doesn't walk on a leash well enough for walks. Sometimes he runs around like crazy in the room, but overall he's pretty ok. He's under 30 lbs, but does fine in my room. Any bigger might be a problem.

[Guest Debating]

PETRAL6, you said he doesn't do well on a leash--does he come when you call him? I keep seeing over and over again that beagles can't be trusted without a leash and it kinda bothers me to think my dog would run away without even thinking...

Where are you guys planning on going to grad school by the way? I think I'm leaning toward UMass.

[PETRAL6]

Mostly he comes when I call him, he's still a puppy though and easily distracted by things that are shiny, tasty, or hazardous to his health. But, i wouldn't let him out without a leash outside even is he was completely reliable coming to me. I think most places have leash laws anyways and it's just safer for a bunch of reasons.

I am going to U Chicago. Just sent in my acceptance today It's considered one of the mosty dog friendly cities, but that was accidental, not a deciding factor.

[Guest shelly]

i know my dog's not a beagle. but he doesn't do well on a leash either, and we bought one of those harness thingies and now it's much better. he's not always choking himself now. i think he would run away without thinking if he wasn't on his leash--just playing, but then he might get lost or ran over. i'm jealous when i see people with their dogs off the leash, but that's ok...we just need to get one of those extendable leashes soon.

i just accepted at wustl friday! i'm so excited! moving up there in just 6 weeks! don't know about the pet-friendly factor yet...i just know i'm supposed to get a pet license and then if he's picked up by animal control, they will give him back.

[ealc]

I am going to U Chicago. Just sent in my acceptance today It's considered one of the mosty dog friendly cities, but that was accidental, not a deciding factor.

Congratulations! U of Chicago was one of two schools that I had my final choices whittled down to. Then I heard that my dog would have to wear booties to protect his paws from sidewalk salt in the winter. That was the deciding factor to ship the mini-family out to the Bay Area!

I'm just kidding, of course... there were other more significant factors. But I feel like I can sort of crawl out of hiding and admit that things like pet-friendliness and availability of dog parks played a part, however minor, in my final decision.

[Guest Debating]

ealc, your comment made me laugh . I didn't realize salting during the winter was bad for the paws, good info though since Massachusetts will probably have enough snow for salting. How can you train your dog to walk better on a leash? I remember my dogs were both pretty good about it but both had the harness thingies (I don't know what they are called either :roll: ), I think that helped. Once one of them broke and we had to temporarily use a collar but Bambi freaked out and would not take it. I have to admit a frazzled minpin-chihuahua can be an amusing yet scary sight

[ealc]

How can you train your dog to walk better on a leash? I remember my dogs were both pretty good about it but both had the harness thingies (I don't know what they are called either :roll: ), I think that helped. Once one of them broke and we had to temporarily use a collar but Bambi freaked out and would not take it.

My dog fails at walking outside, actually. He pulls like crazy, mainly because he HATES being outside and facing the terror of Taipei city traffic. When I walk him, I give him a gentle but firm tug when he starts pulling, which gets him to slack up for about 1 second before the line is taut again. And if he's pulling so hard that he's cutting off the circulation in my hand, I either walk backwards or make him sit. We do this all the time and he still hasn't learned... I think, partially, because my boyfriend refuses to do the same thing, calling my methods silly and control freakish (whereas I think he looks ridiculous being pulled along by a 12kg dog, but whatever). So we were never consistent about our training. *sigh*

We walk our dog on a harness because he was slipping out of every collar we put him in -- he's a shiba inu, and while his neck is stout, his head is sort of cone-shaped, which means he shakes out of collars easily.

I was told a Martingale collar, which is like a flexible cloth choke, is good for dogs with borzoi/greyhound/whippet-shaped heads like his. We couldn't find one, but they're supposedly readily available in the States. Instead, we learned to hold his harness and anticipate his movements in such a way that he cannot slip out unless we're really not being careful. I think a harness works just fine. Anyway, I've basically given up on training my dog to "heel" properly. Shibas are skittish by nature, local traffic really IS terrible, and my dog has been traumatized; we'll just see if things change once we move to Berkeley.

Anyway, there are some sites with good tips on leash-training in general... Do a Google search for some general tips to get you started, but I'm an advocate of just taking your dog to professional training sessions, at least for a while. Particularly if you're a newish dog owner, and particularly if your dog is a youngish puppy (like, less than a year old). I mean, you attend dog-training classes with your dog, not send your dog to be trained by a professional trainer (I actually felt the need to clarify that, because some people here in Taiwan will spend literally thousands of dollars sending their puppies away to "training camp" and they wonder why the dog won't listen to their commands when they come back, weeks later -- you need to work WITH your dog, not "have them worked on" like a programmable robot). Anyway, that's another reason why having a puppy might eat up more time than you may be able to put in during your first year of grad school... not only do YOU have class, your PUPPY has class too.

[Guest L again]

You might consider an older dog if training doesn't sound like fun. You could easily find one that is already trained at a shelter---you can walk them a few times to find out! You never know what you'll get with a puppy---he might love being on the leash and be really submissive. He might try to choke himself and not care (my dog is like this). You might also try the new Halti or Gentle Leader-style harness. It looks like a muzzle, but is very loose (they can drink/eat/bark in it). If the dog tries to go too far, it puts gentle pressure behind its ears and on its snout. That's supposedly how mother dogs do it. Way better than choking, at least.