The solution to your issue with the blue heeler lunging and barking is a simple one but takes lots of repetition and consistency. This issue is one of association, and as was said earlier by YGF, a dog see's the world in one of two ways, safe or dangerous. Your job is to show them that the situations they're reacting fearfully towards are okay. A dogs outward actions are an expression of it's inward emotional state, so a dog that is acting defensively (I.E. barking non-stop at strangers) is doing this because he feels threatened. All you have to do to fix it is change his association with the stimulus causing him to act aggressively. This is easy to do. Have some friends come over (or maybe even neighbors, random people on the street, whoever agrees to help!) and this should go amazing if your neighbors are always following you around nagging you. Just stop and ask them to completely ignore your dog, walk by, and drop a treat. I promise you that if one stranger does this at least 10 times the dog will stop barking at them entirely. Take it slow though. Do not let them approach your dog head on, do not let them make eye contact, do not let them talk to your dog. The rules are simple at first - no talk no touch no eye contact. When the dog is comfortable, he'll let them know by not barking at them. at this point have them stop next to him and drop a treat. add in one of the 3 big NO NO'S as your dog becomes more comfortable with each phase. if at any point his behavior regresses, go back to the previous step. That is the only piece of advice im offering you. If you're serious about training your dogs then do exactly what I told you (start with friends first, then strangers, and make sure they're using an incredibly high value treat), and then PM me with the results you had. I know for a fact they will be positive results if you do exactly what I told you to do. Once you tackle that issue, I will help you with all the other ones you have, but one behavioral problem at a time. THAT BEING SAID; Now you're not going to like to hear this but by NOT walking your WORKING DOGS, you are neglecting them. If the reason you're not walking them is because of how they act, it's a reflection of your inconsistency as an owner and a lack of control over the animals with which you agreed to care for. This can all be remedied if you are willing to put in the time and effort. Unfortunately, If you wanted an animal that you didn't have to work diligently with, then you should've gotten a goldfish or a god damned hamster, not a dog that was bred through generations to work every day of its life.
I see irie is gone, and that makes me sad. Loved her down in cultivation. But it appears other animal experts are here so.... My pit, a red nose, is a wonderful family dog. He and my other dog get along swimmingly and any animal brought into the house has always been greeted happily by him, although sometimes a big overly excited since he is still kind of young. He and the young female dog next door constantly dig, trying to get under our fence. They want to play together. I've heard that anchoring some chain link fencing on the ground in front of the fence will keep them from going over it. This would keep them from being nose to nose and give them a much harder challenge to dig, so I'd be less likely to miss them finally getting her under the fence or heaven forbid stuck under the fence and caught in the middle of a tug of war between my dog and the male dog she lives with. It'd also keep my red nose and the male over there from getting nose to nose. They are both great, happy dogs but even with my dog being neutered he seems to think he needs to make a move for Alpha. I've never seen either dog act aggressive towards another dog they know except each other. I don't need them to be bff's, just need my dog to not feel the need to act like a punk teenager lol. Oh, there isn't a question anywhere in there.. will dogs refuse to walk on top of chain link fencing laid out on the ground?
Why do some older dogs get lumpy on their backs and sides? Is it fat deposits or something - and is it normal? I knew someone with a 12 year old golden retriever female that was very lumpy, but the lumps apparently didn't pain her. My two golden doodles are only about 8 and in very good health but I felt a small lump on one's hip a few months ago. Then it disappeared and another one has developed. They get lots of lots of daily exercize and aren't overweight. Just curious what the lumps could be. Hope my doodles don't get lumpy like that retriever.
I have an older dog and she's covered in lumps, i was worried it could have been cancer at first but the vet says they're just grizzle, wich is basically a fat deposit, i would still get your dogs checked just incase it is something more serious, i take mine in if she gets a particularly big one, just to be on the safe side you know? But if they don't hurt its probably nothing, just part of getting on in years
Those lumps are generally benign. However they can be cancerous. I lost a very special dog to Mast Cell Cancer - which is what it's called when they give you the 'official' diagnosis. Like you guys, my vet said, meh, normally not a problem. Problem was, my case was not normal. Dog died on my birthday.
Had a dachshund die because of those fatty tumors. The next one we got is extremely loyal and protective of my family ESPECIALLY my wife and 2 kids. We can't walk him and people can't pet him because he will snap at them. If someone comes to the house like a cable guy or something then we have to hold him and if they walk close to my wife or touch her he will go crazy. He is very paranoid. He sits by or window looking out the front of the house ready to bark at anything that walks by. When he does go for a walk and has his leash on he doesn't care if is choking him if he's trying to bark at someone or something. He follows my wife EVERYWHERE and also has horrible alteration anxiety. Sometimes he will even pee or poop out of spite by our bedroom door. How can i get his temper better.? We would love to go on a vacation but no longer have family that he knows that could watch him and a kennel is out of the question with his behavior right now..
Thanks for replying! Since I posted this I've taken both dogs to a dog park pretty much every day for two weeks or so...The cattle dog has been so much easier to manage, but the blue heeler still has his moments. Now my problem is that my neighbors won't help. I've alreay tried asking them to meet the dog off of his leash, like in my apartment or at a dog park to see that he's not a bad dog, and they don't want anything to do with him. He's scary so that makes him a bad dog I guess? So my neighbors are of no help to me, and my friends have all met him and he doesn't usually bark at them. I will try to get some people over here sometime this week to try dropping the treats with the no contact. Should he be walking normally when this happens, or should we have him sitting and the people aproaching him from behind? Also he does this same thing in the car. I have no idea how to address that, but I'm thinking of blocking the windows so he can't see out until we can get him more comfortable around people. Thanks so much!
What matters most is that you create a positive experience with as many strangers as possible. Have him in a sit as somebody walks by, and as they walk by have them drop a treat. If he starts to freak out, have them drop the treat anyway and keep moving. If he's in the car freaking out just have people walk by the car with the windows down and have them toss a treat in. The goal is to have him start viewing people positively to open up more opportunities to reward him for good behavior around strangers. Once he stops barking and overreacting to new people, have them ignore him completely while they talk to you and when he starts to check them out have them drop a treat. People wont believe your dog isn't a bad dog until you show them otherwise.
sounds like your dog is barking at people because he is protecting you. He's feeding off your vibes, he feels your nervousness and that's the trigger. If I walk your dog, without you being around, think he'd do the same thing to people? Exercise - Training - Reward good question. I think the short answer would be no. But, if the drive of the dog is strong enough, a chain link fence laid out on the ground is not much of a deterent to a pit, especially if he is determined to get it. pfft, get outta the way here he comes.
Thanks. I grew tired of him getting so vocal with the bigger dog next door so for better or worse I arranged a "play date" with my dog and the one over there. We weren't entirely sure this was a smart idea and the first few seconds of the meeting made me think we'd made a tragic mistake. But after a little bit of arguing back and forth between them they made nice and all is well. No mike Vick action.
Hey OP I have an 11 month old black lab/German Sheppard/ Australian Sheppard and he's about 67 pounds. He's been around 70 pounds it seems for 3 months or so. He's eating 2 times a day taste of the wild with the right serving. Do labs usually hit a growth spurt around 1 year? I'm curious because it seems like he hasn't grown in forever lol Sent from my DROID4 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
he's gorgeous, oh man what a great looking guy. Dogs grow in spurts no doubt, by the time they are 18 months old - on average, they are pretty much finished growing up and just grow out.
The producer of those high quality pet foods (not) has very very quietly issued a recall of a whole shit pile of their 'superior quality' food. So, if you have Eukanuba and/or Iams - you might want to just throw it out and get something good for the pooch http://news.pg.com/press-release/pg-corporate-announcements/pg-voluntarily-recalls-limited-quantity-dry-pet-food-due-po
To be honest, yes. I think he'd still bark at people, but no one has ever really walked him except for my boyfriend and I so I don't really know. He barks at joggers no matter what, unless he's pooping. Then he either stops so he can bark, or waits until he's done and if the jogger is still around, he barks at least once! Even if he's inside. If I run him at the dog park, he goes ''boof!'' at least once, even if it's super quiet. Sent from my XT897 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
So I have a sad story. I have 3 dogs. We adopted two older cats and the dogs just didn't like them. We slowly tried introducing them and it just didn't work. One day I'm downstairs and hear noise upstairs and ran up and one of the dogs killed the cat. Felt horrible and responsible and was torn up for a long time. It was my fav cat. The other cat we keep in the basement while we try and find a new home but not much luck as we are trying to find a home with no dogs. Is there an easy way to get them to get along? At least until we find a home. Or are we doing the best thing? I'd love to keep the cat if we could but am scared and don't want to put the cat in danger. previously aurorahippy
Hi irie67, I hope your holidays have been well I was just wondering what you may think about this. My dog a miniature poodle hybrid has had a ear infection for the last few weeks to months. We put tremaderm ( I think?) an antibiotic in his ear, and it doesn't seem to work. He has been sad lately and I want to fix this situation If you have any suggestions I will appreciate it. Today I bought raw goats milk which I am starting him on a goats milk only Fasting diet as per the dog health lady I talked to today. I may also supplement it with hemp milk. I bought a ear cleaner containing isopropyl alcohol boric acid and colloidal silver. The directions say to use a cotton ball and soak it and use this to clean his ear What do you think about this regiment? To replace the antibiotics. Thanks cb
if your dog has an infection that last for this long, something is wrong. Antibiotics are not always the proper thing and something can really cause trouble. For instance, if your dog has a fungal infection, antibiotics are like putting gasoline on a fire. blastomycosis is one fungal disease that you certainly do not want to treat with antibiotics. Blasto generally manifests itself as a sore. IMHO, a vet visit is in order.
Thanks, yeah I thinking the same thing. I will schedule him to the vet. Thing Is the vet recommended the antibiotic in the first place . Any how, I will look into this ear cleaner. It sounds a bit harsh to me yet if it works and it's important I will use it