Redbelly

OP here. I thought I'd follow up on my progress. I found the post and video link from FiveRoooooers very helpful. I believe my dog was looking for assurance that he was still somewhat in control. When I'm having work done at the dentist, he says, "raise your hand anytime you need a break". That possibility helps me a lot. Similarly, I needed to give my pup an exit if he was uncomfortable. What has been working is to let him lick frozen peanut rubber out of a Kong while I Dremel his nails. When he stops licking and looks at me, I stop and let him regain composure. I'm making it clear that he needs to cooperate to get the treat, but at the same time giving him an option to stop when it gets uncomfortable. Fingers crossed that it continues to work for us.

Thank you for this!

Well, this is discouraging. I'm going to back up and see if I can use the peanut butter bribes to get him acclimated to having his feet touched. I've tried a muzzle and while it keeps him from biting, it totally freaks him out.

I adopted my boy in July 2020, aged 6. When I first got him he'd let me scale his teeth, clip his nails, brush his teeth. After about a month, he decided he didn't want his nails clipped, teeth scaled and barely tolerated the tooth brushing. I bought a Dremel and gradually acclimated him to that using peanut butter in a Kong to distract him. That worked well for several months, now he growls when licking the Kong if I try to Dremel his nails. So, in spite of always being gentle with him, he still doesn't trust that he isn't going to be hurt. So, my question is how to proceed. Just taking him to a groomer seems like a cop out - I feel like he needs to trust me enough to bandage his foot or pull out a thorn if needed. Anyone been down this road before?

Thanks, good suggestion. I watched a half dozen or so videos and picked up on the salient points. Took the pooch to the park today and kept him at a distance such that he was aware of other dogs but not close enough to trigger him, then rewarded him for "leaving it" as the dogs passed. Oddly, he seems mostly worried about little hairy dogs like the one that bit him, not larger dogs. So, I'm hopeful he can be conditioned out of this fear.

My recent adoptee is just great, but has one phobia - he absolutely screams when he sees another strange dog up close. I've read conflicting information on how to approach this. One book says to give generous treats as an anxiety relief and another book says don't reward the behavior with treats or affection, just exude confidence and turn the dog away. Anyone here actually confronted and solved this behavior? Thanks in advance.

I'm interested, too. I had a Garmin on my last dog, but it was 2G and Garmin discontinued service on it as 2G was phased out. It worked great.

Sadly, we lost the perfect greyhound, but we've been approved by the local adoption group to adopt a new one. We only have one dog at a time, so the quandary is how to pick a dog that will be happy with just us. We are retired and home pretty much 24/7. Our last dog was very self confident and cared little for other dogs but loved people, so she loved being the one and only. What questions should I ask the foster to determine if their dog is the one for us? Thanks in advance.

Thanks for the well wishes. She has had a wonderful life and even when she was training to be a racer (never raced), she must have been treated very well given her personality. So, from this day on we'll treat her like everyday is her birthday.

OP here. Well sadly, the vet just called and diagnosed lymphoma, so we'll have to deal with that. At age 14 we won't be doing anything heroic.

Our pup has been healthy and showing no signs of illness, other than a little slowing down due to age. A few days ago we noticed that her lymph nodes in her throat were swollen. The other lymph nodes were normal. The vet took a sample from the nodes and sent it in for a cytology analysis. While we wait for that report, the vet said it may just be a tooth problem. Though I brush her teeth daily, the rearmost molars have some plague which the vet calls a Grade 2/4 and suggests the dog may just need a dental cleaning. I'm concerned that the risk of anesthesia at this point may be too great and am looking for advice as to the actual degree of risk and possible alternative approaches, like antibiotics. Thanks in advance.