Sambuca

I've never used the alarm trick, but I've trained my dogs and all the fosters I've had to sleep at least until noon and not to care about my alarm clock. (I'm a huge snooze button fan.) I now feed dinner around bed time, then go for a walk. When we come in we go upstairs to bed. I do go to bed later than most people so other dogs may not sleep as late, but they'll sleep later than normal. It's also great because I don't need to get home at a "normal" dinner time to feed the dogs.

That's great! For Sailor, it was bagels and cream cheese that turned him around in class . Every dog is different. Have you tries dried tripe? Their eyes just about pop out of their head for it and it may provide some nice variety for Katie. Do you break up the chicken feet and give her small pieces or give them whole?

I usually leave a Nylabone.

I agree with this.

I prefer the nonstick pads to gauze because it doesn't stick when you try to change the bandage.

I should have named Sailor, Elmer, because hes glued to my side. During the summer we hang out say my friends a lot. She has a large deck and a pool. The yard is large and all the dogs have complete access, we leave the house door open so the dogs can come and go spend time on one of 6 dog beds and most of the dogs like to lay under the deck in the cool dirt. Sailor will stand next to me and whine until I bring a dog bed out and put it next to me. If I go to my moms and leave him there for even an hour, he will whine the entire time I'm gone. He doesn't even look at most people when they say his name unless "cookie" is attached. Hes a mommas boy to the extreme. Bu on the other hand, tries to leave the park with strangers and when we go to other peoples houses, I have to drag him out of dog beds by the collar.

Hes moping because you disciplined him and he has no idea why. He picked that spot because he doesn't hang out there and prefers not to pee where he hangs out. I'd keep the door to that room closed. You can try crating him again, but it could also be a medical issue.

Bu uses the same posture when greeting dogs. He is definitely alpha. He only growls is a dog is literally in his face and doesn't understand the more subtle signals he gives. He starts with turning away, then walking away, then lifting his lip, then a low growl, then a full on growl, then if the dog still isn't paying attention, Bu takes the dog down. He is completely appropriate and has never hurt a dog. Honestly though, even when hes ignoring dogs, they often come over to him and completely submit. I would try training with your guy. Maybe you can get to the point that when you see a problem in the making, you can call him to you and walk he will walk away from the situation.

As a pet sitter, I can tell you that most dogs act a little different when their owners are gone. They can get super clingy or even mopey. Some who are enthusiastic eaters won't eat or pick at their food. Some have accidents even if they normally don't. He should settle in after a few days and the more often you leave, the easier it will be on him. You have been his rock for 3 years, them you left him with a stranger. He was unsure.

If you are only gone 8 hours or so, he should be fine without water. Just make sure that he has access to water the rest of the time.

If you aren't seeing him have the accidents, he has to much freedom. He should be tethered to you or locked in the room with or crated until hes reliable. You can only correct him if you catch him in the act. If you find the pee later, he won't understand what he did wrong no matter what you say or do.

Teaching "touch" really helped Sailor with his fear of people. He is food motivated though. I use clicker training and when his nose touched my hand, I clicked and gave him a treat. When we go out now, I always have treats and instead of people petting him, he does tricks for them and everyone is happy.

I absolutely love the shy dogs. Sailor wouldn't even let me pet him when I got him. He still doesn't like strangers petting him 2 years later, but he sometimes "forgets" and I catch him on hikes walking next to someone who will pet him while they're walking. He used to just cower behind me in public and now stands waiting for strangers so he can do tricks for treats. It's kind of funny. Both he and Bu are black, shy and have some fear issues, but they are completely different. Different reactions, different fears, different needs, different motivation, different intelligence levels. Learning what makes them tick and how to help them is so rewarding.

This is a rant/brag about my boy and a reminder for those with shy dogs, that things get better. Background: I've had Bu for 4.5 years. He'll be 7 in April. He was almost a spook when I got him. I would have to crawl in his crate to put a leash on him to bring him outside for months. He barely ate at first, even at home. Then he'd eat like a horse, but not touch food anywhere but home. He didn't care about people at first, including me. When I'd had him about 6 months we took an obedience class for bonding and confidence. It didn't work. I would put his blanket down, he would lay on it immediately and when it was time to do anything in class, I'd have to lift him off his blanket. The second he was able, he was down again. Over the years he has become a pain in the neck, sassy, demanding brat. In fact, if I ask him if hes a brat, he barks at me. If anyone asks him to dance, he runs over and slams his thigh into them so they can rub his butt which makes him do a little dance. My friends who didn't know him then don't believe he was ever spooky. He still has some major fears. Most are sound related. Thunder, fireworks, gunshots, bouncing basketballs, and beeping all send him running for cover. Literally running for cover. I've seen him hiding under decks (one was only knee high!), pick up trucks, beds, coffee tables, chairs, end tables, bushes and once in a pet store he climbed into an empty spot on the shelf. He also has melt downs in public. Thankfully not nearly as often as before (it happened every time we were in public for the first couple years) and not as severely (i almost had to carry him to the car most times). We recently saw our first obedience trainer and she was completely shocked at his improvement. She said that she had been seriously worried about him at the time. A few months ago I decided to try obedience again since Bu liked to get involved in the training while I was working with Sailor. I didn't expect much, but Bu shocked me and seemed to love class. We are now in family dog 2 and I hope to do agility with him at some point since he loves watching dogs doing it. We had class tonight and Bu was doing ok at first, but then all I could do was watch as he melted down. He ended up laying under my chair shaking and wouldn't take any treats. After a few minutes I got him up and we went for a quick walk outside. When wer came in, he rejoined class and did a great job. If that had been a couple years ago, I would have had to half carry him to the car and he would have been a mess for a few hours once we got home. It's so hard seeing him that miserable. It's really a reminder that there are always set backs. I'm really proud of him despite/because of his shortcomings.

I think vitamin e or emu oil would be good. I'm a dog walker, so I'm out in the cold all winter and don't often wear gloves because they make my job harder. I use badger balm on my hands and it's fantastic. They also make a lip gloss, that would probably work well on his scar if you're worried about licking.

I didn't watch the video, but I would only do train this with a dog that growls naturally in play or fun. When they do it on their own, I would click (I use clicker training) and treat. Eventually when they reliably do it on command, you add in the rest.

I would. That dog deserves a home just as much as any dog. I would think most groups would keep the dog as a permanent foster in a foster home.

If you're nervous, she is probably picking up on it, causing some or all of the issue. Try and relax on your walks and that should help her st least a bit.

I don't think they're the same, but they are other forms of artificial sweeteners. Artificial sweeteners are added to (almost) all dental products (human as well) because fluoride is supposedly really nasty tasting on its own so something needs to be added to make it palatable. Regular sugar is bad for your teeth, so they won't use it.

I wouldn't use it, but then, that stuff makes ME sick so I don't have it in my house. Just the thought of fake sugar makes shutter.

My foster, Tuffy, would bring all my shoes upstairs then come hang out downstairs with us. He also tried to bring the dust buster on walks with us. Same with the lint roller.

I don't have a dog door, but a good friends does. When she first got it, it took her 2 lab mixes a month or 2 to be reliable. I brought Bu over, pointed it out to him and he immediately knew what to do. We are afraid to teach Sailor as he sometimes even forgets how to get to her back door from yard and we're worried that if we teach him the dog door, he'll get stuck outside for hours in the bad weather. Good thing hes pretty.

I had a foster dog that would give the gsod for no reason. He would be laying on a bed and he would see me look at him and just give a horrible scream, then continue looking at me like nothing just happened. No dogs or cats were moving, I wasn't near him and since he didn't even move afterwards, I'm assuming no cramps. He gave a few people minor heart attacks.

Good to know. Thank you for the correction.

Check his gums. Are they white? If so, hes dehydrated. If this were immediately street running, I'd worry this was heat stroke, but it probably wouldn't show up a day later.