Totally worth it

My dog can shit on a dime

11/22/2010 5:37:34 PM

$200 damn. this company charged like $500 or something for the trainer to come to your house.

but 7 week manners course was $120 which is totally affordable, i think. and as long as she gets SOMETHING out of it i will feel like it is money well spent. plus, thankfully, my dad offered to pay for it. i was all ready to sign up and then he said he'd pay and i was like, well i'm not gonna argue

i'm in a class with 6 dogs it is really small. i think i'm learning some good stuff but my dog is just petrified. i'll see what they say this week. last week they were all like "she'll get used to coming here"

that is great but i'd like her to get used to it before like week 5 rolls around haha.

so we'll see. i'm also scared though because as much as it sucks to have her scared/timid it probably sucks equally as bad to have the dog not hold bag (like all of the other ones that cry, bark, jump, etc). but i mean that is what the class is for.

she doesn't even eat her treats when we're there. just sits and shakes. i mean like, not the tricks. she cowers and trembles lol.

11/22/2010 5:46:04 PM

^^lol quality trait to have- i need to get your trainers number, because my dog can only pee on a dime as it is

^I am going to get mine started in his class after Christmas (I would have already started him, but with the holidays coming, knowing I'm going to be traveling and boarding the guy, I didn't want to miss days)

11/22/2010 5:47:44 PM

yea the holiday schedule is tough for serious.

mine ends like the monday before christmas i think. this is the third week. i'm missing one class for my cruise but my dad is gonna take her then. my dad said as long as i'm living at home she has to be better behaved or she's getting the boot.

she's not that bad, she's just young and likes to play.

but at least that inspired him to pay for her training

and that better not be my christmas present but i have a bad feeling it might end up being that way. DAMMIT, DOG!

11/22/2010 5:51:55 PM

11/22/2010 5:53:14 PM

My grandfather used to have a dog that would pick up his toys and put them away on command. I always wondered how he trained the dog to do that.

11/23/2010 9:43:57 AM

last night at training even the trainers couldn't get her in the building easily

i know why though. she's from the pound and the place the class is at is like a boarding facility/vet so instead of going in the front door to the lobby, we go around the back door into the boarding facility so you have to walk down this long long long long long chainlink fence sidewalk with a lot of gates in between (so dogs can get out if they get loose). i think that is what terrifies her.

she is still scared when she is INSIDE the class too but not as bad. and i'm sure 1/2 of that nervousness is from the process of getting inside

but she did do really well with "heel" (not when she was in the circle with everyone, she doesn't like being followed, but they let me do my own personal circle with her after everyone was done), she did GREAT with "wait"...everyone was impressed. and she is like #1 at "down"...she doesn't even have to sit to do it.

this is all well and good but i still don't know how to get her to calm down at home!!!! we're working on it but that isn't as easy lol

11/23/2010 12:46:26 PM

Maybe they'd let you come in via the lobby?

11/23/2010 1:37:17 PM

Someone please recommend some dog training books. I don't know jack about training a dog and would like to read up on the matter before we get one

11/30/2010 5:45:38 PM

12/1/2010 9:53:34 AM

Probably just about any book you can find at petsmart would help you. Doing the basic training isn't that hard, basically you just give them a treat when they do good and you rub their nose in it or smack their ass if they do bad.

12/1/2010 9:55:53 AM

lol sorry, I never saw this... are you looking for a specific breed?

the best book I've gotten (and is good for before you get the dog too to understand what you are getting yourself into) is the "Barron's Training Your Dog" series. They make them for almost every breed out there, and they are breed specific, so it gives you a great idea of what to expect. If you haven't selected what breed you want, you could narrow it down and just go read some of the books in the store to get an idea of what sort of commitment each dog is going to require (some need more activity, some have common genetic problems, etc...)

http://www.google.com/search?q=dtv+antenna&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a#sclient=psy&hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&hs=PWV&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aofficial&biw=1024&bih=613&tbs=shop:1&q=barron%27s+training+your+dog&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&pbx=1&fp=33272ebe7a4aa73e

^almost every book will tell you not to rub their nose in a mess, and that if you live with someone that does that, to tell them to leave your dog the hell alone. After a puppy has made a mess, there is very little you can do to punish for it that will do any good. The only way they associate anything wrong is if you yell at them while they are doing it.

[Edited on December 1, 2010 at 9:59 AM. Reason : putting faces into messes is bad]

12/1/2010 9:57:40 AM

^ I'll check those out thanks We're getting a Havanese from my fiance's mother. Not my first choice of dog but probably a good choice since we live in an apartment.

As far as treats go, my grandmother always told me with her dogs she never gave them treats "because then they always expect food when they do what they're told." I'm guessing that's not all that true though lol.

12/1/2010 10:10:22 AM

ATTN VETS (and everyone):

so i let my dog out last night at like 930 as usual, everything was normal.

she came back in, was hyper because i had been gone awhile, and ran around and played like an idiot (ran up and down the stairs a lot, etc)

then i noticed her holding her back paw up, and i was like "wtf?" i thought she probably just hurt it when she was running and it was no big deal (sometimes she's kind of a baby about these things)

then she walked normally on it again the rest of the night

well she just started holding it up again and won't walk on it. i looked at it and there's nothing in her pad...none of her nails look snagged, it doesn't look red/cut/etc. she lets me touch it and doesn't yelp.

ideas??? she doesn't seem to be in pain (well except for not standing on it) so i guess i'll wait it out. the probably is i'm leaving (out of the country) for a week on saturday and my dad will be watching her so IF something is wrong i want to remedy it while i'm here.

i wonder what it could be????

12/9/2010 12:35:17 PM

My dog has been doing this for about a week now. I actually saw him hurt it. He was running through the yard to the front door and let out a yelp. For the first couple days he couldn't walk on it at all, now he has progressed to a limp. I know it's not broken and is most likely a pulled muscle so I am just trying to keep him off of it.

You can take your dog to the vet if you are really worried, but I went through this with a dog I had several years ago. Took him to a vet in Raleigh and they told me he would need a $700 knee surgery. Took him to my vet in Greensboro and they told me that was ridiculous. The vet in Greensboro told me to just keep him off of it as much as possible, don't let him run up and down stairs, walk him on a leash and don't just let him run, etc etc. It healed on it's own in about a month.

12/9/2010 12:40:39 PM

yea her's doesn't seem that bad at all because she will sometimes put it down but sometimes not. so i'm just not gonna worry about it. she doesn't yelp or yank it out of my hand when i touch it. i bet she just stepped on a stick or a pinecone or something else sharp outside and it hurt her pad

when she ripped her nail out when i first got her i took her to the vet so they could extract it but MOSTLY because she was shaking and throwing up she was in so much pain (and it kept bleeding everywhere)

but there is no blood, she seems happy, so i'll just try to keep her from taking flying leaps off the bed and running up and down the stairs 10 times in a row

THANKS!

[Edited on December 9, 2010 at 1:14 PM. Reason : .]

12/9/2010 1:14:26 PM

stella keeps shaking her head


should I take her to the vet? its like a michael j. fox type shake

12/19/2010 4:06:52 PM

If you have cats that like to puke, like mine, do I have a product for you.

I got a free sample of this cat food last week:



I usually roll my eyes at this sort of stuff but I tried it out and my cats don't puke anymore

My hopes are high that as I continue feeding them this stuff they'll continue to not puke

12/27/2010 2:29:32 PM

Warning, this may be a sad story for animal lovers....




When I was in my senior year at State, my neighbors stole a baby chick from somewhere and raised it up for a while until it was a full blown chicken.

They named him nugget and treated him like a pet to the point where he was fairly domesticated. He would follow them around like a dog in their yard and hang out on their porch when nobody was around. It was kind of cute actually.

However, when it matured into an adult they butchered it at a party in their yard and cooked him the next day. I thought that it was something that could be filed under animal abuse since they had installed a since of trust in the chicken. But, no one seemed to care since it was a chicken.

[Edited on December 27, 2010 at 3:13 PM. Reason : f]

12/27/2010 3:12:57 PM

^ Sounds like my grandma's farm to me.

12/27/2010 3:26:53 PM

Haha, true. but I was sad to see him go... he was like a cute little puppy.

12/27/2010 3:36:04 PM

I would kill and eat my dog in a heartbeat if I thought he tasted like fried chicken

12/27/2010 3:38:24 PM

tasty pet tastes tasty

12/27/2010 5:54:31 PM

gross. my cat has worms

how though? last time she got worms it was because there was a flea outbreak and the vet said she got the worms from inadvertently eating the flea larvae (or whatever)

she has no fleas. not one flea. she is on flea medicine (and the dog). there are no fleas.

but def has the little white worms. like 1/4 of an inch.

which means my dog is going to get them too. but how do they have them? HOWWWWWWWW.

tapeworm = fleas i thought

but there are no fleas!!!

[Edited on January 31, 2011 at 10:11 PM. Reason : .]

1/31/2011 10:10:07 PM

She could have gotten it from eating a mouse or something. That happened to one of my cats

March 12th we're starting our puppy training at Petsmart. We managed to get into one of Jackie's classes. Hopefully all goes well!

2/22/2011 12:39:31 PM

I just dropped over $1k on knee surgery for my dog

2/22/2011 12:41:07 PM

Damn What happened to your dog's knee?

2/22/2011 12:43:13 PM

Torn ligaments. He basically blew it out running in the yard.

2/22/2011 12:57:15 PM

That's what he gets for not stretching before exercise

2/22/2011 1:21:07 PM

Yeah, he loves to run too. So I guess it was just a matter of time before he hurt himself

2/22/2011 1:24:25 PM

Jackie was our trainer!!! She is AWESOME

2/22/2011 2:01:43 PM

TWW is the reason we decided to give her a try. I'm hoping I can learn to redirect our dog from chewing on fingers to chewing on non-fingers

2/22/2011 2:03:28 PM

She seriously knows her stuff. I think what I liked the most about her is she wasn't afraid to be rough with some dogs if necessary.. Gambit was one of those Plus, I felt like I was learning just as much as Gambit so it not only made going worthwhile but now I know what behaviors I do can trigger his bad habits/behaviors

2/22/2011 2:05:16 PM

That's so cool. This is my first dog so really I signed up for classes more for myself than our dog . Dogs are a lot harder than cats

2/22/2011 2:06:23 PM

Wolfpack how is your potty training going?

That's really the only thing we are struggling with, she has at least two or three accidents a day which I think is ridiculous. Doesn't matter if we just took her out for a half hour walk or not. Think I might contain her to the kennel if she keeps it up then let her out for fifteen minutes and repeat. I'm gonna wait until we are in the house to judge if the quickness & distance to the grass is a factor.

2/22/2011 2:48:18 PM

I thought our dog had mastered potty training, but last night i found a bunch of old pee stains. I think we're going to have to set a timer and make sure we take her out every hour on the hour. I also want to train her to give us a signal when she needs to potty. Maybe I'll pick up a bell from wal-mart

2/22/2011 3:05:43 PM

that chicken story is upsetting to no end.


We are looking for a new Vizsla puppy for dad. Mom is mad, but he wants one, since he is only down to one dog, which is old and might have numbered days.

2/22/2011 3:22:40 PM

You know if you had asked me a week ago how it was going I would have said not great. But she's had big improvements since then. She doesn't even want to use the puppy pad anymore that we leave out just in case.

One thing that has been a BIG help in training her is keeping her anchored. The only time she seems to have an accident now is if we forget to anchor her and she decides to wander off to another part of the apartment.

I bought a bell at Petsmart last weekend. We'll see how long it takes to teach her to ring the bell when she wants to go out.

2/22/2011 3:22:42 PM

How long have you had her? I'm taking her out every hr and she is a quick pottier but sometimes i'll be out there for 30 mins to make sure and then she'll have an accident like twenty minutes later RAWR RAWR. I think she's starting to get the idea that inside is bad and outside is good. Just add the stress of moving and puppy training and BAM everything is out of whack. haha

But she's taken to the leash fantastically! She's doing great in her kennel. She will scream bloody murder for 15ish minutes then i won't hear from her til morning. we make sure to get her out only when she is quiet.

My older dog and her play so well together! And she's just a generally great dog.

2/22/2011 3:28:54 PM

We've had her for a little over two weeks now. She's already become good at hanging out at coffee shops in that time

2/22/2011 3:52:05 PM

Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet.

2/22/2011 7:08:34 PM

Is there something you can spread on dog chews to make the dog actually chew them rather than stuff they shouldn't be chewing on? I tried peanut butter but she seems to have zero interest in that.

3/3/2011 10:13:24 AM

My cat was euthanized 2/14/11

3/3/2011 10:14:16 AM

3/3/2011 12:22:06 PM

Dog is constipated What can I use for doggie laxative before I resort to taking her to the vet. I'd like to avoid that since I already have an appointment to take her there Saturday

3/4/2011 7:15:48 AM

^Mineral oil is cheap and easy, plus the vet can help with that relatively inexpensively when you go

Quote :

"I bought a bell at Petsmart last weekend. We'll see how long it takes to teach her to ring the bell when she wants to go out."

I have always wanted to try this, but my dog would be ringing it constantly
His brain = Car ride>>>OUTSIDE!!!>>>toys>>>pounce the cat>>food

[Edited on March 4, 2011 at 7:34 AM. Reason : .]

3/4/2011 7:33:18 AM

I might call the vet and see if I can get her appointment changed to today. When she was vaccinated last time she had the runs for about 3 days. Maybe her booster can act as her laxative

3/4/2011 7:47:52 AM

My new pup is being awesome. She's having fewer and fewer accidents. She actually whimpered at the door the other day to pee. She's starting to get basic commands and is an overall awesome dog.

My older dog, however, is being a straight up asshole as per usual. The bf caught him marking INSIDE....TWICE yesterday and when he was told to go to his kennel he decided to tear into the dog food. If he was a normal dog I'd think he was being jealous but he's always been an asshole from day one, he's just cute enough to get away with it.

3/4/2011 9:02:23 AM

Guh went to the vet and spent too much money. But the vet said her bowels don't seem obstructed so that is good.

^ lol sounds like my cat.

3/4/2011 10:32:12 AM

My gandmother's dog died yesterday. It was a crazy ass dachshund. How it died? Well it reveals a little of it's personality to y'all. She ate a plastic acorn that she couldn't pass. Had the surgery but died due to the pneumonia caused by the surgery.

A PLASTIC ACORN? Anyway, it's sad because my grandma got her right after her husband died to keep her busy and she loved the shit out of that damn dog. :/

And right now my pup is dragging asshole dog around the house by the feathery toy like tail hahahaha oh sweet revenge

[Edited on March 4, 2011 at 9:16 PM. Reason : sdger]

3/4/2011 9:15:51 PM