Xan
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Posts posted by Xan
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My boys will sometimes do this to my girls. Seems to be a more thorough version of butt-sniffing. The girls don't seem to mind. Actually, now that I think of it, they will return the favor occasionally.
We're a happy household.
Sounds like our house! This morning I was brushing Brilly's teeth, and Wabi hopped up to the other end and started ... well, you know. Brilly tolerated both quite well.
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*nodding enthusiastically* Great! I'm so glad this is working out for you. I was just going to look you up to see if there were any new developments.
The "ignore it and it will go away" factor is good to keep in mind. It works both ways! If you ignore a good behavior, that too might go away. So, when he's being good, all settled in his kennel or whatever it is you want him to do, make sure you praise him for it, so he has a repertoire of behaviors to present that you WANT, and he knows what they are. For instance, Pogo now sits a LOT, for anything he wants that we're "slow" about letting him have: access to visitors, some food getting waved around above him, attention, his muzzle off.... If our response is slow, he ups the ante and goes into a full down.
We always praise him for his sits or downs, even if we don't give him what he wants, so it's become a really ingrained behavior. It's a big improvement over his former tactic of the total body contact tackle. 
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Ack, Beryl! Sorry to hear EZ seized, but what a relief that it wasn't worse (crossing fingers it was an isolated incident).
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I love that book, and use calming signals a lot. It helped a lot getting through Pogo's aggro phase. Thank goodness!
I even use or encourage "shaking off". I don't do it, but, using the "lazy training" method of putting a verbal cue on a desired behavior, I trained them all to "shake it off" when things get too wild or someone is uncomfortable with the action. It works! One will do it (usually Pogo), then the others do it, and then everyone is free to trot off in different directions.
Once you start to become aware of things like the licky-lick, the look away, the yawn, etc., it's ... very educational (even embarrassing) to see how often what humans do out of affection worries dogs. It's a wonder we don't all get chomped!
My sister referred a friend of hers to me because of my own experience with an aggressive dog. She sent me a couple videos of her dogs "playing" in former happier times (before one became aggressive to the other), and I was able to see how the victim dog was trying her darndest to call off all the rude affronts of the aggressor dog. She would turn away, look away, sniff the ground, lick, and eventually bark and make a short push at the other dog, but she was being pretty polite about it so the dogs' owners just thought everyone was having a good time. They're now in consultation with UC Davis, so I hope they can work it out.
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I have used with good results this brand with my tightly wound (and formerly fear aggressive) Pogo. Entirely Pets usually has good prices, but search on Amazon too. They often have even lower prices sold through Amazon.
About the barking and so forth, I know it's hard, but if you can just put your pillow over your head and let him bark until he realizes it doesn't get him anything, even a spray bottle attack and a bunch of yelling or shoes thrown at him
it will eventually wind down and out. There might be an "extinction burst", where it gets worse for a time or two, then blink! Gone. You just have to hold out longer than he does, or you're back to square one. (We have to do this with Brilly sometimes when he suddenly decides for awhile that his dog bed is trying to get him, and won't settle down. 
It always works better than trying to sort him out, fluff his bed, move him from room to room, take him out to potty ... a whole dance that's All About Brilly! He can do that all night long! )Good luck! Be the strong one!
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Have you tried D.A.P.? I'd use a collar, so it's right with him all the time. During a thunderstorm, maybe spritz some of the spray (it comes in three forms: plug-in diffuser, pump spray and collar) in his crate, and tuck him in (with or without a Kong).
Probably the easiest thing to do, and get settled before the baby is stealing all your sleep and you're insane
is to get him used to sleeping every single night in the crate, and getting up at the same time every morning (make sure it's a time you can stick to). Once it's a settled routine, I bet he'll be fine, though there might be some acting out along the way. Don't give in, or you'll have lost a lot of training ground. Good luck!!!
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What RobinM said. It can take a lot longer than you might think for these guys to learn what seems obvious to us: Zooming in face first means affection is coming, not an attack! It just takes how long it takes, too. Proceed with caution. We learned that with Brilly (though not quite so spectacularly!), our first grey.
On another note, if growling happened while she was on the couch, I'd say it's too soon for her to be on the couch, at least when humans are there. If she gets started off thinking the couch is hers, and she can say what happens there, it will be harder to un-do that learning, and it might well be dangerous. Same goes for the human's bed.
Another question is more about possible word choice confusion. Is your husband "patting" as in, pat-pat-pat, or "petting" as in stroke, rub, stroke, scratch, massage? Patting might not be so enjoyable, peaceful, relaxing, and maybe she was getting irritated.
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Whew! Many of us can certainly sympathize with the mysterious GI issues, but what an interesting bit of info, that the tramadol was helpful! Continued good luck with that!
His poor leg, too. Hopefully that's all cleared up and gone for good, too! Maybe he can settle down and get a little more relaxed and build up his confidence a bit, eh?
Hugs to you all!
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Wow.
What a ride. I just read enough to get the highlights, because I was in such a hurry to find out she was alright after all! Thank goodness!
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"I feel like he just graduated from med school or something!"
I love your mother! Good job both of you!
I was thinking the same thing!
Excellent work! Congrats to you all!
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I just wanted to add, one way to tell if they're both having fun is whether they both return to the play when they move apart, especially with bouncy, puppy-ish motions. If one seems to be wanting to get away and the other is hounding him/her, that's not fun and games, at least for the chase-ee.
Good luck! Hope it's all for laughs!
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Please muzzle, and I would encourage you to follow your instincts if you feel they're being more aggressive than playful in the yard. There can be a whole different set of dynamics outside the home. I speak from sad experience.
When we got Pogo, he was 9 months old, and full of play. We already had Wabi and Brilly, young adults. Everyone wanted to play, but the older dogs were really rough. I always muzzled, so there were no serious injuries (though there were some scratches from time to time), and I got this same advice when I asked here about rough play. So I didn't intervene.
There was a lot of hounding Pogo, and after a lot of "stallioning" (good term!), Pogo often ended up going belly up, and Brilly would sort of mash him into the ground with his neck and shoulders. This always made me uncomfortable, and I'd step in at that point, but it was constant yard action, and I kept hearing, "Oh, they just play rough. Don't over-mother them!" So, I tried to stay out of it and let them "work it out".
Finally, when Pogo got a little more of his full growth, he struck back, and became aggressive in a real way to Brilly, to other dogs, in the house, in the yard, on walks ....
It took us about 2 1/2 years to work back out of that few months of bad training by Brilly allowed by me. Yes, I feel awful. Brilly has had to change his tune in the mean time, and got a lovely 4" scar on his throat from a chomp Pogo gave him just for being too close one day.
Now, I'm not saying that what your dogs are doing is dangerous or is likely to change into truly aggressive fighting. I'm just saying, you're the only one watching, and to go with your gut.
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I'm so sorry!
A dog's life with the Boyles is a good one, and to have that life without an issue 'til the day you cross the bridge is many times lucky!
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Yikes! Tulips (and other bulbs) sound like a toxic salad!
Ellen, Wabi would love to come eat your dandelions (or anyone else's!) She'll do it for free, but I'll take a manager's fee.
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WABI!!!! Where are the pics of Wabi??
The Dandelion muncher Oh yeah! She is a huge dandelion decapitating machine! 
going in for the kill (booger and all!)
The strike!
Happy liked them, too, but wasn't obsessed. Pogo snagged flowers as we walked for about the first year we had him, but has since left them alone pretty much. Brilly never. Wabi gets the prize! 
I even did a little digital painting of her in our fields of dandelions (turned into a greeting card by popular request
: ).
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Wow. This is a much bigger subject than I thought. Should have guessed!
Good to get everyone's experiences, since it really fills out the picture better. I'm assuming most of you are supplementing because of arthritis, or other observed stiffness, or joint discomfort? If you know what's wrong, maybe it would help to put that in your comment, so we can get a better idea what supplement/s people are finding successful or problematic with what problem.
For instance, Wabi has arthritis in her hips, which are malformed, causing a lot of bone on bone action. She mostly gets around amazingly well, never cries out, but I notice times when she's not as willing to get silly, or even get up. She's been on glucosamine (from Trader Joe's: 500mg 2x/day +chondroitin 400mg 2x/day +Vit.C 100mg 2x/day +manganese and copper) and fish oil (CostCo: 2000mg 2x/day). She's about 43 lbs, and 5 1/2 years old. I assume she's only going to get worse as she gets older, and she's not that old, so anything I start giving her now needs to be sustainably non-toxic. Oh, and she has no spleen, so that's a potential issue in dealing with drugs/supplements as well.
Visual reference. (Really, just an excuse to post a picture of my bbaaaaayy-beeeeee!
)
(Our first meeting.)
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i found horsey 'glucosamine plus MSM' at our local country store (it's a chain, not a real down home country store), it was £16 for a 900 gram tub, ($23 for 2 lb.)from 'equine america-UK'. worked out the ratio for two dogs at about a gram a day each, so the tub lasts me almost a year. i did ask my vet if it was OK,and he said it was. it does not have any other additives, which i may have been leery about. i use it myself
got some large gel capsules & filled them. i have not noted any side effects other than the occasional desire to get my hooves trimed and re-shod. blue and millie are also fine, tho they do eat more grass in the pasture than before, which is OK as long as they leave my patch alone.*snort!*
Little Wabi is about 43 lbs, give or take.
This is totally off-topic
, but I never knew Wabi was so teeny-tiny! I always pictured her to be the same size as Stephanie, ~70 lbs!Yup. She's a little one! Funny to watch her going after her big brothers like a terrier!
I'm really glad I started this topic! This is good info, and it's good to get it out to our GT family!
Have to go look up SAMe, too.
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Yep. Acti - Flex 4000. There is a canine version out now, but I have had great success with this formula.
How do you work out the dosage for this? Little Wabi is about 43 lbs, give or take. The boys ... I'd rather them not feel any better than they do! They're hard enough to keep up with as it is!
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Taking notes ... *jot jot jot* Following links *click click click*
See, GT is great! Now maybe some other folks will see this and be able to get some help for less $ too!
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I get catalogs from valleyvet.com (as I assume others here do!
), and was struck by the pages of buckets full of anti-inflammatory supplements like MSM and chondroitin. WAY cheaper than dosages labeled for dogs! Does anyone use them here? Why would or would you not? -
What a great story! I hope it continues as well as it's going now!
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Sad, right? Our Brilly's toe broke, wouldn't heal in the splint, got sores on both sides of his foot, and they were talking amputation. Advice from GT convinced me to take the splint off myself and leave it off. He's fine now, but there are scars on his foot from the sores.
Hope your guy heals up without further issue!
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Have you ruled out corn, wheat and soy from his food? Any other possible food allergens (which could be anything! :rolleyes )?
Happy had a rashy bumpy area, mostly on her lower chest. We deduced that most surfaces seemed to irritate it, especially grass, so she wore a cotton tee-shirt or some such all the time. What cleared it completely though was adding Rescue Cream (same folks who brought you Rescue Remedy), a bit on the affected areas once a day.
Hope you all can find some simple relief soon!
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Holding you and Marx in my thoughts, and thinking good healthy happy ones!
it will eventually wind down and out. There might be an "extinction burst", where it gets worse for a time or two, then blink! Gone. You just have to hold out longer than he does, or you're back to square one. (We have to do this with Brilly sometimes when he suddenly decides for awhile that his dog bed is trying to get him, and won't settle down. 
It always works better than trying to sort him out, fluff his bed, move him from room to room, take him out to potty ... a whole dance that's All About Brilly! 
:
: ).
Contemplating New Sleeping Arrangements
in Training and Behavior discussion
Posted
Textbook!
That's excellent news. Congrats on waiting him out and winning the prize! 
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