Tell me about your pet(s)
I wanted to try to start blogging on here, so I chose this topic to search for some information from my friends on WA! Please write a little about your pet or pets, and tell me something that really frustrates you about something your pet does. It can be anything, like chewing, digging, jumping on people, barking at mosquitoes......let me know. Let's just say it's "research." Hope to hear from as many of you as possible!
Recent Comments
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My mum's dog, who we "babysit" a few times a week, is VERY scared of storms. Medication doesn't really work. He paces, he shivers, he breaks out of metal crates - I know he is scared but our dog just looks at him like he's crazy when there's a storm coming in.
Our cat constantly scratches chair and table legs. She has a scratching post she uses too. Just want her to use that!
He's a doggy barometer! You can do it a few ways.....the Vets, again the chemical pusher's, tend to use clomicalm for a short time, so they get used to the storms. I like to use CD's of thunderstorms like the therapy ones, start them low, and turn the volume up a little at a time. When they get used to the sounds, then you can control the barometric pressure of the actual storms by letting the dog slowly get used to playtime when the storm is approaching.
We had a rescue several years ago who was deathly afraid of storms. It took me a bit but I found a pet bed that had a cover to it in which she would crawl into when the storms were here. I will find that product and post it here..it worked for her., perhaps it would work for both of yours too. We also would turn up the TV or radio abit to try to counter the noise of the thunder...it worked on occasion.
Thanks! My dog is fine - she just looks as mums as if to say "what's your problem? Go back to sleep." Mums drives her crazy with his storm behaviour about 6 hours before we have any idea!
Hi Elwood, nice approach. We have one little 4 pound choc t-cup, Little Miss Cocoa. She makes our third poodle over the years. She likes to lay in my lap when on puter and when I go to type, she has to sit up and watch every key stroke. She is not a trained and registered service dog. However, when when the type 2 diabetes numbers get over 200 at night, she has to wake me up.
She is a keeper,
Bless you,
Sam and Deb and of-course Cocoa
If she is waking you up at night when you have hyperglycemia, then she is actually warning you for the high blood sugar! Always reward her when she does. She can be a Diabetic alert dog for you in the home! :)
3 dogs, 16 cats and a bunch of fish. Not all of the cats get along with each other, but that is to be expected. We have them separated out into groups based on their ability to get along with each other.
The 3 dogs used to be ok together, but now 2 of them are vying for supremacy so we have to keep them separated as well.
Nobody really cares about the fish.....
Sounds like a festive household...and your last sentence made me giggle...Its tough when everyone in the house wants to be the alpha..we've had a few of those battles over the years...time, training, practice it can happen...but it is a struggle.
Heh Eddie Bear,
Although I have one dog & 1 cat they are pretty regular. The little poodle is very old and I check every morning to see if he is still alive.
The ginger tom I have is loving & smart. Catches anything that moves. I don't mind when he catches grass hoppers or spiders, not so thrilled with the bird thing. Today he caught a toad, yuck.
If he sees my light on at night, he mews to come in for a while, head butts & purrs, the off he goes into the night.
What a good subject you have chosen, everyone loves to talk about their pets.
Cheers Jae
I have the easiest pets ever! 2 pigeons, 1 robin, 4 great tits, 2 blackbirds and about 50 sparrows.
I feed them daily, the whole years through.
I don't have to walk them.
When I go away for a couple of days, they are very capable to look after themselves.
They do not piss at the home.
They demand very little attention.
I do not have to train them.
And they are all very charming to observe.
I enjoy them so much every day.
We have chicken wire on our fences, to keep the cats out off our garden, to create a safe place for our pets.
When I was in N.C., I had the same! I had tit mouses, Hummingbirds, Robins, Mourning Doves, I counted 37 varieties of birds! I also had chipmunks, raccoons, a bear, deer, rabbits, wild turkeys.......I had an outdoor zoo! And I also fed them whatever they needed to eat! Got real expensive!c
'barking at mosquitoes...." now that made me laugh Eddie!
I am 'pet-less' at the moment but my last dog, a wonderful
Cocker Spaniel, a rescue dog used to drive me mad when it came to his food.
He was the most gentle, loving pet until you gave him any food, at which point he would turn into the a ferocious guard dog.
There was always intense gnashing of teeth and threats of all kinds of attack should anybody come even remotely close to the food he had been given.
He would guard the food for hours before eating it, every time.
I guess he must have experienced some kind of trauma around food being taken away from him when he was younger.
I had him for 14 years and no matter what I tried I was never able to change him.
~Mark
He might have had to fight for his food as a puppy???...I had a few of them over the years. Food aggression is something that takes some time to break. Thanks for the info, Mark!
We use to breed and show Basset hounds. All dogs are easy to train but their new owners are hard to train.
Dogs can understand us. but we cannot understand them. A friend of ours she gave her dog a bone. It went outside and was back in a few minutes.
She looked at the dog and said did you bury it. The dog knew it was in trouble. She said show me where it is. The dog turned and walked out then looked back to see if she was coming.
She went out and it kept looking back to see if she was following. The dog then showed where it had buried it.
Tom.
I love Bassetts! I used to watch Columbo years ago just to see his Bassett Hound on there!
I have no pets right now. I used to foster animals plus we had an old dog, puppy, and 2 stray dogs. Never cats for more than a few days.
Potty training the puppy was fun.
I get irritated with people who live in an apartment and have a big dog. I just don't think big dogs should be in apartments. They need room to run around and they can't do that in small apartments.
I fostered a chi-wa-wa. Those are yappy dogs.
One time when I was walking him on his leash another dog ran from across the street and charged for us. The owner of the dog came running after her dog and yelled at me. As if I did anything. Her dog was bigger than me and Charlie.
Tried and true
Elaine
Figures, she ran at you and yelled! They can't understand why you let them have their dog off leash!
I gotcha lol. I have 2 daughters and one of them has 2 cats the other has 1 dog and let me tell you its fun. The cats well they are completely obsessed with water. Yes water lol. Not like getting baths but anytime you turn on any faucet in the house they will come bolting out of nowhere and take over the faucet. Let me tell you my favorite is when I am trying to brush my teeth and they are both sitting in the sink. 1 of them will drink the water coming out the other one will smell the water then put her paws one at a time under there then lick the water off. Now mind you they always have fresh clean water in their bowls but this is their preferred method. And it doesn't matter if it the kitchen sink bathroom sink or even the bathtub. They will also watch the water flush down the toilet. They are a handful needless to say.
Now our dog on the other she is spoiled rotten to shes not as bad though her biggest issue is jumping on people rather irritating. Another bad habit she has is licking. Drives me nuts. And last but not least by any means we have a lead we put her out on when are not home and I have no idea how but somehow she can unhook the chain from the lead and get loose.
Well those are my stories.
Sounds like an atypical animal house, Lucky! I had a cat I got used to bathing at a young age. I trained her to come, sit, speak, heel, and turn off light switches! She was a service cat! I would say "bath?" and she ran and jumped into the sink!
That is funny. Yeah the don't mind a bath too bad. I know my daughter didn't train them but one of them knows how to rollover and the other one will play fetch with her fuzzy balls. Animals are too funny.
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Ahhhh... my favorite subject! Very smart of you to pick this. I predict you will have no shortage of pet stories. I've got lots, but will confine myself to my most recent addition so as not to hog ALL your space ;-)
I've only had Brodie a week. He's an 11-year-old Cocker Spaniel. I was wanting a companion for my 9-year-old Shih Tzu, so was looking for a senior dog who likes other dogs AND gets along with cats, as I have three. Well, they didn't know if he did well with cats or not, but he did all right at our meet and greet at my house. So I adopted him. Guess what? Brodie thinks cats are here for his entertainment. He hunts them down and barks and barks to the point my kittehs are afraid to show their faces until he goes to bed. Not really fair, since they've been here a LONG time and he is the newcomer. Plus, I HATE the barking just cuz I do!
Any tips for me? Please know, I am not afraid to be the alpha dog -- I have been a single mother for over 30 years and am no pushover. I'm also a longtime dog owner, and have done a lot of reading and educating myself about dog/cat behavior. Cesar Millan and Jackson Galaxy are my heros ;-)
Anyway, grateful to hear any stories from you or other WA-ers that might give me a clue. It's possible, of course, Brodie will eventually get used to the cats, but I'd like to help him along...
Slow introduction to the cat's playtime would be a start. When the dog is quiet, he gets to watch the cats play. If he gets noisy, he doesn't get rewarded for the behavior you want to get rid of. Reward the good behavior by letting him stay with the cats. It will take time, because of his age, but it is not impossible to stop the bad behavior.
Thanks for the suggestion, @Eddiebear522, but 1) my cats don't play and 2) they won't even come inside to show themselves anymore. I am thinking of maybe using treats as a reward when he does stop barking at my command (he is very treat motivated) or possibly trying clicker training (don't quite understand why clickers would work, but any port in a storm ;-)
I will look forward to reading others' stories about their pets and soaking up any advice you give them.
Cheers!
Chris
Clickers would work great! You have to build a behavior. He first has to be quiet for a few seconds, then the click and treat. Then longer and longer.
Sorry, I assumed that the cats play, you said "entertainment." When using the clicker, don't use a word. Teach the behavior, then add the word when he understands it. Works better! :)
Thanks! I will definitely try that!
Hello...Its nice to meet you!! We have 4 pugs and a corgi mix of some kind. 4 of them are rescues and of those 4, 3 are seniors. The corgi mix was a heck of a barker..his name is Sam. Black pug Bella and fawn pug Zoey..love to charge our TV when the TripAdvisor commercial comes on. We went to using a spray bottle with cold water. It took us about a week, but now all I have to do is bring the bottle into their eyesight and they stop. Have you tried that?
Let me apologize for the delayed response. I've been creating antheor site and when those creative vibes start flowing, you gotta go with it...this site is getting my serious attention this week...and I look forward to sharing more stories and learning from all you as well.
sorry about that last line...i've got to many irons in the fire this am...i've got a pet memorial site that i started a few months back and i was responding to questions on that as well...ugh...