Dog Lovers

i took kimbo to the beach again today and remembered my camera instead of just my cell phone





salty lips

it was really windy out, so less people were out with their dogs (lazy)
dog beach was DEAD save for a handful of dogs.




he loves playing with pits/pit mixes/bully breeds.
he looks scary, but this is his happy face.



mid-shake



the end.

The Petco I work at had a professional photographer come in a few weekends ago. I decided to get some pics taken of my pooch and me. So I figured I would share some because everyone likes pictures!

She's almost 3 years old. I can't believe how the time flies.











She kept rolling over onto her back when I tried to get her to lay down. She's such a ham.

It appears as though we've come up with a new game for Remy.

He has some weird obsession with used dryer sheets, which we knew and tried to remember to remove them from the clean clothes as soon as they came out of the dryer.  When we did forget, we'd usually catch him with it before anything happened.  About a month ago, we think he did eat a used dryer sheet in a moment when both Husband and I could not be watching him like a hawk around a basket of clean clothes.  Thankfully, no harm done (though a panicked call to the Emergency vet was made, as the dogs can't seem to get into trouble during normal vet hours).

So I decided, let's make a game of it.  We want to encourage him to use his nose to find things, just like a good bird dog should, so now I have him hunt out the dryer sheet for me.  As soon as I bring out a basket of clean clothes from the dryer, I call him over and let him sniff it out.  He sticks his head right into the clothes, tail/stump going like crazy, and roots it out of there.  When we first started the game, I'd treat him and praise him when he did find it and drop it for me.  Now, he picks it out and will drop it almost right away and all I have to do is praise him.

I'm not quite sure why he has this obsession, as Snickers could care less about clean clothes (other than how they're a warm place to sleep if they're fresh out of the dryer).  I wonder if anyone else's dogs do this.  But it's absolutely adorable to watch Remy searching through the clothes, sniffing and snorting.  And now he looks so proud of himself when he finds the sheet.

And, with any luck, no more worries about suddenly missing dryer sheets!

Okay, Jasper is doing something I don't think I've ever seen another dog do before.

Because he's a puppy, and I think he's pretty young, I've been trying to get him to eat at least three times a day. The only thing is that he won't eat his food unless the other dogs are eating, too. He seems hungry, he'll run and take a bite or two, but then turn and run back to PacMan and Stanley, all crouched down, tail going like crazy and his ears laid back and lick them on the muzzles, and he won't go back near the food unless one of them goes to it and starts eating, too. At dinner time when I feed all of the dogs, he eats a lot, but he eats a little from his bowl before he runs to eat out of PacMan's bowl. PacMan doesn't growl or show any aggression, at first he just lifted his head and looked at him like, "...Ummm..." but then he stuck his head in there and started eating right along side Jasper, and neither of them seemed to care.

When we got him out of PacMan's bowl and tried to get him to eat his own food, he ran to Stanley's bowl and tried to eat from it. Stanley just looked at us for help. When he tried it with Maddie, she growled at him and he backed away fast. It doesn't seem to be a resource guarding thing for him, he doesn't even care if they eat from his bowl, he even backs away and let's Maddie have it if we don't catch her doing it.

I tried separating him from them, and putting him in a crate, but then he won't eat, he just cries.

Is this behavior that you would see in a feral pack with no human interactions, or maybe a wolf pack? Is it a good sign that he won't become dog aggressive as he gets older, or that he's unlikely to become a resource guarder that might become aggressive?

We measure out each dog's food to try to watch their weight, and he is supposed to be eating puppy food, otherwise this wouldn't be a problem.

The only way he will eat a significant amount of food when the other dogs are not there, eating at the same time, is when I am training him and give him rewards. I know that you are supposed to keep training sessions short, especially with a puppy this young, but he seemed to be interested in it as long as I was, and he followed me around the yard for a good half hour and seemed very eager to keep going. What I give them as treats and rewards is Natural Balance dog food, the kind that comes in a big sausage type roll, and it's pretty healthy stuff. As long as he is getting good quality stuff as treats, and eating puppy formula at least once a day, would that be likely to cause any problems? Or should I just go ahead and special order a whole bunch of the Natural Balance puppy formula rolls? He seems to have a lot less interest in doing tricks for dry kibble.

ETA: Okay, apparently, they don't make a puppy formula in the rolls, which, I guess is why they didn't have it at the store already.

I'm not sure if this is allowed but I didn't see anything about it in the rules so I'm just gonna go ahead and take a chance.

So I've decided the next dog I get will be a Yorkie. Simply because I love them and I won't have the space for a big dog until about 3+ years from now. Although I love my big dogs, don't get me wrong, just apartment living would be better with a small dog. Anyhow, I'm looking for a reputable Yorkie breeder near Arizona. I'm willing to drive but only to surrounding states, unless however there is a good Yorkie breeder here in the state. So I was wondering if any of you knew of any. I've been looking through Google and Bing but you never really know unless you have an opinion from someone else.

Also as for names I want to get a girl (I don't know, I've always fit better with girl dogs) so I was thinking about naming her Cheza. Lol I don't know, it just came to me last night! Anyways, if you could help me, that would be great, thanks! :)

Have you guys seen this? Is it wrong that I get immense satisfaction out of watching it? Or that I can watch it looping for about ten minutes?






Ok, ok. Maybe not that much. I have probably purposefully annoyed my dog once or twice, just for the sake of cuteness. But he's got me back by pawing at me for more love while I'm holding hot tea. Owwwww.

And for personal photo fun (because each post should come with some,) a couple shots of Kane in his hunter-orange. They opened up wolf season around here this fall, so he had to wear this or a vest on all camping trips in the fall. I like to HOPE that hunters down't take aim for dogs in campgrounds or on trails, or with out looking to see it's a dog, but you just can't be sure!
I try to remember to put it on him for excursions anyway, just for extra safety.

so the weather has been super nice and my partner and i took the dogs to the bigger dog park to play. this particular dog park is about a 30 minute drive so we don't go too often, especially in the winter. but it's so worth it, it's huge. in the summer it's nice too because there is a bunch of water around that they can swim in.

i love when panda smiles for the camera!

I've noticed that Jasper has what looks like brindle striping on his legs, the lighter tan of his chest, and even a little on his face, but it's faint. Is there a breed of dog that would possibly have that kind of markings? The stripes are the same color as the darker, main color of the rest of his body, and they look kind of like veins in marble. It's really pretty. But I've never seen anything like that before. I don't know if they will fade as he gets older

Also, I called my friend who volunteers at the pound to ask how their adoption day went. She said that only a couple of other dogs went to new homes, but it was enough that they could cancel 'euthenasia day'. Sounds like a sick holiday. Not that she was talking about it like it was one, or anything. But it made me feel good that not only did we save a puppy's life, but by extension, bought the dogs that didn't get lucky enough to get adopted a bit of extra time, kind of saved more than one dog.

I'm planning to go Wed. when she goes to help out. I was willing to clean pens and whatever, but she said that is already taken care of by inmates, what they need are people willing to walk, play with and train the dogs to make them better behaved for adoption days. I guess it's harder to find people who can and are willing to spend time training dogs that won't be with them for the rest of their lives.

From what I understand, some of the inmates really enjoy doing things with the dogs, and one dog named Levi used to hang around the jail and someone taught him a few basic commands. Maybe some of the inmates can be taught how to train puppies and will have an aptitude for it.

Just my puppy - a few pictures of her I took today, and a video of her running around in the woods last week.  (Beyond the cut is image heavy!  Sorta!)

\

Serious dog is serious.  ^



I shall not look at you, nor your funny-looking contraption that might kill me.  ^



I may be oriented in your direction, but if I do not look at you, then you are not truly there.  ^



I would be looking at you at this point, but there is a cat behind you.  The cat is FAR more interesting.  ^



Far more interesting!  Look, it moves!!  It must want to play with me!  ^



Quit taking your silly pictures and let's go play with the cats!!  ^



This means we can has play with cats nao??  ^

And here is the video!

One of the biggest grooming issues I've run into in the past is nail trimming. With the last dog we owned nail trimming fell by the wayside, as he dug so much [particularly through large stoned gravel] to wear his nails down himself.

Since we've been considering adding a dog to our family, we've been trying to prepare ourselves as much as possible beforehand. Aside from introducing nail clipping early, what are the best/easiest ways you have found?

The internet has yielded some interesting answers [as it always does], here's one I hadn't heard of before: Doggie Nail File.

And here's an interesting twist on an everyday tool; whether or not it actually works or is worth the cost is debateable: LED Nail Clipper.

Our main issue with getting a new puppy was resolved last week, but I was still planning to wait a bit longer.

However, we were having work done to our house this weekend, and the fence in the back yard was opened up so the guys who were working could get in to paint, which meant that the dogs could not go out into their backyard and run around. And with people there, outside where the dogs couldn't go see them, they were antsy and hyper, so my daughter and I loaded them into the car and we took them for a short ride, and stopped at the pet store for some dog food (my dogs will do *anything* for Natural Balance, the kind that is sold in the big sausage rolls) and to see if they had any new toys that might provide a distraction.

The local animal shelter/pound had a bunch of dogs out front for an adoption day, and PacMan went wild. He wanted to PLAY!!

I tried to resist, but without a good enough reason not to, I was weak. I really wanted to take this older Lab, he was so calm and I know he won't find it as easy to get adopted as a puppy or a small dog, but the fact of the matter is that the only reason I was even considering a new dog is because PacMan needs a playmate, badly, and the other two dogs we have are too old and small to play as roughly as he does, and this old guy looked older than our other two dogs. It wouldn't work out.

My daughter fell in love with this little guy-





He looks like he's at least part Doberman, but he has a white spot on his chest and one white toe. I understand that Dobermans do occasionally have white spots, though.

I'm guessing that he is about 8 weeks, because he has 28 baby teeth, the front molars look like they haven't been through the gums very long, and he sleeps an awful lot. He weighs about 8-10 pounds, and has huge feet for his size. His tail and ears are natural, and will remain that way because I simply don't care about the look as much as I care about not putting a puppy through a painful procedure for the sake of looks. I know he's too old for cosmetic tail docking, but the ears are cropped around 12 weeks. Still not doing it.

He will be neutered as soon as he is old enough, though.

Another reason I was a little wary about adopting another dog is that we had to re-home Rufus because after he grew up, he started attacking Stanley on a fairly frequent basis, and it kept Stanley in a constant state of stress. We tried everything, but apparently it's pretty common for male Weims to be very territorial and aggressive to other male dogs. And when Stanley was very stressed out because of thunderstorms, Neville even jumped on him a few times, so I was very concerned about getting another dog that might mature and decide to challenge Stanley as Alpha or whatever. Stanley is ten, and he's a very sweet, but nervous dog. I don't want to add any more stress for him.

The lady who was in charge of the adoption day is someone I've known for quite a few years, and we discussed it and came to an arrangement. She said we could take him, and treat it like a foster situation; I'll get him out of the pound, socialize him with people (he was very nervous and afraid of people, but seemed much more open and at ease with dogs), house train him, start his basic obedience training, ect... and if he doesn't work out when he's older, she will take him back and he will be easier to place in another home because of the time he spent with us, and he might even be neutered by that time.

My nervousness in this case isn't because I believe Dobermans in general are dangerous or vicious. I was worried about this before I even saw him, I was concerned about any dog, regardless of breed because I can't express strongly enough how important it is to me for Stanley, as well as my other dogs, to be able to feel safe.

But so far, the new guy is very playful, extremely submissive, and seems to be getting along well with everyone, including Stanley.


Please overlook the rattiness of that chair. It used to be my son's but PacMan claimed it, then shredded it. He would be distraught if I threw it out.

And the puppy was sleeping like that, with his head hanging off. He falls asleep in any position, any time is a good time for a nap.

We haven't decided on a name for him yet. We're considering Clyde (the orange ghost in Pac Man), Copper, Fred and my daughter wants to name him Elijah. Something will come to us, though.

I posted earlier about getting Cammy, my recent foster pup. She is a 8 month old pit/boxer mix. Just the friendly and sweetest dog. She gets along with my pack and goes to doggie daycare and loves to play all day. Just a doll to have. :) She is doing great with her training. She knows sit, down, come, stay, place, ect. Now were working on leash walking, she's a big puller. Anyway I thought I'd show you guys some pictures of Cammy.



At doggie daycare on a nice sunny day. The weather is getting warmer. I'm excited!



Cammy on her Place mat.


Cammy with Cali pittie. This is a pic that Tracy took. She's the one who took this dog into her Rescue and had her for a night before I picked her up to foster.


Cammy and her big smile.


Cammy being goofy.


Cammy with my dog, Axel.


Cammy with medium and small dogs.


Cammy in playarea having fun.


Cammy on the ramp with other dogs. She had lots of fun.

x-posted to dog_lovers

Nick's first annual wellness exam is coming up this saturday, and I'm a bit worried about it. He doesn't like me trying to check his teeth, or hold his feet (even though we've been working on that), let alone strangers trying to do it. When we adopted him we got a free physical exam coupon so since the adoption event was at a vet clinic, we decided to go ahead and get it done. He got so stressed out when they were trying to take his temp (anally) it was difficult for them to do a proper exam. Is there anything I can do before I take him that will help calm him down? Or should I just take him as is and let them muzzle/sedate if it needs to be done?

Also, I was wondering if anyone had any tips about how to deal with a dog when it is in a stressful situation. When I take Nick to places like PetSmart he starts shaking and lets out high pitched yips and I really don't know what the right thing to do is in that situation. I ended up petting him and trying to reassure him by rewarding him for sitting and all, but I don't know if that was just rewarding the nervous behavior as well. He was slightly more comfortable when I put him in the shopping cart, but was still overwhelmed by the situation. However, he does love getting treats from the cashiers. It's about the only time he will let strangers interact with him without an 'intro/warm up to' period and not react to them. Should I discontinue taking him to places like that or if he goes often enough will he eventually start to relax a bit more? I felt like I was forcing him into a situation he was obviously very uncomfortable with so for the time being I have ceased taking him to PetSmart, but he does need the socialization and interaction with strangers. When I took him to obedience class, he would shake and whine in the beginning, but would eventually calm down and become comfortable which was why I thought if I put him to work at PetSmart he may calm down but he didn't.

Thanks for any advice.

Got a bit bored today so I started going through old photo albums and found some pictures of my old Saint Bernards and figured, "What the hell, everyone loves picture dumps" :)




Axel - he came to us when he was 5 or 6 from a not-so-great home where the owners thought dogs should be free to roam the property and protect their land from mountain lions and such in the Colorado wilderness...:


He actually didn't mind these sunglasses...


This is our Samantha as a puppy right after we got her back in 1993 - big ball of adorable fluff:




Samantha all grown up :)


This is how she felt about not getting to come to school/work with me:


Axel wishing he had a bone:


His wish was our command :)


This was the last pic taken of the 2 of them. Axel died shortly after it was taken b/c of bone cancer. :( At least he looks happy here:


Samantha put up with alot of weird stuff from us:

Is this a hot spot? Should I take Ozzie to the vet? It's about the size of a quarter and I just noticed it today. It's on the underside of Ozzie's back leg. It's a lot redder than it looks...

okay I work at an animal shelter and normally this is never a problem for me, but I really need advice right now.

for the past three months I have taken care of a dog with severe mange, a bull terrier named sandy. I've had to suit up and wear gloves and plastic to handle her but have watched her absolutely blossom from going on walks outside and getting baths and just getting love. she's an amazing dog, perfect disposition and just makes me smile. I'd been planning on adopting her however my parents very much don't like dogs and my mom is going through a super-stressful time in her life so she's tabled the issue. I've crunched numbers and I can afford to live with this dog, even if it means I have to move out of my parents' house.

today she got the clear to come out of medical quarantine and be touched by people and be on the floor for adoption. I was elated and she spent the whole day at my side, snuggling and running around-- it was the first time most of the other employees heard her bark and watched her in action.

while I was playing with her, a woman and her child walked in and the woman claimed she had to have the dog. she called her child over, the little boy was absolutely disinterested and could care less about sandy. I was a little annoyed but politely answered questions-- we get weird people a lot, it's part of the job. I explained that she was also heartworm positive and told the woman about the treatment. she acted like keeping sandy still and quiet for months was torture, but I told her how necessary it would be. at this point her son was excitedly trying to grab puppies and enjoying many of the other dogs.

I took sandy outside to walk and when I came back in the woman was gushing to the front desk about how this was the perfect dog for her and she wanted a playmate for her newfoundland and yaddayadda. I walked over and reminded her about how sandy wouldn't be able to play with her dog until she was done with heartworm treatment. she had the glazed look in her eyes and was agreeing to everything I said. she scheduled a time to bring her dog in tomorrow to meet-and-greet and I couldn't be more devastated.

I've always been able to laugh and smile and watch my favorite animals leave the shelter, but this is my baby. how do you let go? I've been trying to decide if I'd be happy if anyone adopted her but me, and I really can't decide. all of my other "favorites" have gone to absolutely amazing homes, where it wasn't a question about whether they'd be happy or if the parents would properly take care of them. what do I do when I'm just not sure if this is the right home for what feels like my dog?

 Hi everyone, I'm new here and this is my puppy, Zane. He's a Miniature Australian Shepherd and just a great little dog.



He's my second dog, my husband's first. I had a Golden Retriever who died about six years ago. Zane was pretty unhappy about my husband and the cat at first, but I think things have improved a lot. Still, he keeps trying to bite the husband for walking away, walking towards me, or for almost anything. It's a little frustrating but we're going to puppy obedience classes and he's getting neutered next week, which I hope will help things at home. Any tips?

In a few weeks, after he's healed, we're also going to put him in doggie daycare so he can burn off some of his energy and socialize with other dogs instead of being stuck at home all day. 

everyday i wake up and fall in love with Panda all over again.



http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinkparakeets/

Just a few pictures of my two. I'm gradually getting through the thousands of photos i have to edit! Only a couple thousand to go now I think.


Beware of vicious beasts, see how vicious she is..



OK, so she's just playing, she's really a very sweet gentle girl.



My husband put a cushion in her crate, she ripped it apart and made a feathery nest


Here she is being a vicious beast with my husband and one of our cats

Obviously you can see why some people call Akitas "Japanese fighting dogs".

And then we have my shiba. We heard scrambling a while back, my husband went through to the kitchen then called me through, this is what we found up on the cat feeding area:

As you might guess, the cat food was gone by the point

When we had snow Sasuke had great fun running about in it, though it did get a bit cold on his paws occasionally, some of the photos are a bit blurred, he's a fast little pup!


And I just love this photo, he's got such big white shiney teeth, they remind me of the Monty Python rabbit toys ( http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/plush/778d/ )

Time for a Dexter update! Been busy with him. He is such a nutjob and such a handful! But I still love him and will love him even more once he is out of the puppy stage.

The genius figured out he can fit under my bed and loves to now play with his toys under there. I think the scratch on his nose was from under the bed. One day he's really going to get stuck and I'll laugh as I pull him out.

He is getting much better with his crate. Still doesn't love it but that's expected.

He loves his rawhide treats and any toy in general...he loves the things he isn't allowed to have even more!

He's getting better with his car fear! If I lure him to the car with roast beef he puts his front paws up on the seat but doesn't seem to know how to jump in yet so I give him a boost.

Silly tired boy.

And awesome poka-dot puppy paw!

Hello!

On Monday I am flying from St. Louis to Los Angeles and my Min Pin mix, Sebastian, is flying with me on my lap (in a dog bag/purse.) He is only about 6 lbs and I have a nice comfy dog bag for him. It is a regular leather dog bag that has an opening for his head (that zips up), furry padding on the inside, and a clip on the inside for his collar.

I was just wondering how picky the airlines are about the bag that you put them in. I have seen the 'Airline Approved' ones (Sherpas, etc.) but I was curious if it HAD to be one of those.

I am flying with Southwest incase that matters/anyone was wondering!

It sort of resembles this bag but it is leather...




And here is a picture of Sebastian and his girlfriend, Dory.



Thanks for your help :)

Lola and her uncle Rascal (my mom's dog :D) were spayed/neutered today.

The Cones of Shame

She looks so sad..

And here's Rascal, a 3 y/o chi we adopted about 2 months ago.
I haven't posted much about him, but there's definitely a lot to say. But first, do y'all have any tips for taking care of them post-op? We got pain meds for the next 3 days. And how long should they wear the E-collar?

My mom absolutely adores chihuahuas so shortly after the new year, I browsed around and found Rascal. The lady we adopted him from described him as sweet, but can be very shy/timid at first. I mentioned that we have Lola and she said they have 6 other chihuahuas in the home so he should get along just fine with other dogs. Well, it didn't work out that way (and why that red flag didn't pop up at the time, I don't know.)

It took Rascal about 4 days before my mom could approach him without him snarling at her. He adores her now, which is great, but just her. He growls when I (or anyone else) comes around, especially Lola. My mom and I noticed a small nick on his ear and we wonder if he's been in a dog fight before or somehow traumatized otherwise. (I'm also starting to wonder if this lady is an amateur breeder or something..) I waited about a week before allowing them to meet, because I wanted him to trust at least one human in the house first. They just never hit it off. Lola was very interested in him and I made sure she approached him gently (though she's a roughhouser so gentle might be a relative term here) but he would snarl, bark, and bite. She tolerated it a few times but now she will start to chase him around if she sees him and I just don't think "letting them work it out on their own" would bode well, especially since Lola is 10 times heavier than Rascal. My mom and I just allot different times for them to be in the main areas of the house together, which kind of sucks! I wanted Lolie to have a playmate. :(

Anyway, it's been fine keeping them separated but I would really like for Rascal to be comfortable around both me and Lola, since we all live together! Admittedly, both my mom and I knew little about chihuahua temperament when we brought Rascal home (and according to Google, this is somewhat "typical" of the breed---although I don't believe in typical.) And also, I didn't check into the previous owner too much. I know, I know, I'm prepared to be lectured on both of these points. I adore both dogs and just want a harmonious household in which everybody's friends. Any pointers, please?

Gwen is doing great in her training, but we still have a pulling issue. Got her a easy lead which helped, but she is loosing fur where the harness lays on her chest. Have no clue what to do, other than fashioning something between her and her chest. Any suggestions?



Also, a video of her and her new friend Charlotte at the doggie park. :)