Vent!

[Sarah83]

Oh wow, spayed at 4 months is just ridiculous! Unfortunately many people believe everything their vet tells them There's actually a training class here that will not allow intact dogs of any age to attend But does this mean you're getting a puppy Nettle? Curious minds want to know!

I had a rant in my blog a few days ago about someone telling me I should let Spencer just be a dog rather than turning him into a performing monkey. What was I doing? Practising some basic obedience out in front of the flats. A couple of downs, sits and nose touches then I'd send him away to do his own thing. He'd go away for a moment then come back and insist he wanted to do some more. So I'd oblige then send him away again. Anyway a bloke shouts from his balcony about me needing to let him just be a dog not keep "making" him do things

Now don't get me wrong, I agree he does need time to just be a dog and he gets that. We go for walks up to the fields and while I do a few sits, downs and recalls the majority of those walks are us mooching around enjoying being out and about. And most of his toilet walks are walks around the block with nothing required of him except that he doesn't drag me along. So yeah, screw you Mr Anti Obedience, I shall continue to practise obedience out there a couple of times a day with my trained chimp of a dog. At least I (hopefully) will have a dog who is safe to be off leash and who can have a great quality of life because he's been trained.

[Nettle]

does this mean you're getting a puppy Nettle? Curious minds want to know!

Nooooo I have enough dogs!

And if I wanted a puppy I'd breed one - MrsAlmostPerfect in my avatar could manage one more litter (I normally breed each b itch only once) and I have her beeyootiful daughter aged three who is good enough to breed from.

But I said hers was my last litter - I'm getting too old for all that work. So DaughterofMrsAlmostPerfect is really my last dog.

I think.....

[ClareMarsh]

I am incandescent with rage today.

I am white with fright at the thought of this

In all seriousness though, whilst vets have a professional "do not harm" type obligation to their clients I assume that like the whole dog food issue they are fed misleading information by drug/anesthesia companies through seminars etc? Or is it more that they are playing at amateur behaviourists (although this doesn't stack up with the cancer point I realise)?

Edited to add: I am so glad I found this forum or Ted might have been neutered at 6 months on the advice of my vet

[Sarah83]

Edited to add: I am so glad I found this forum or Ted might have been neutered at 6 months on the advice of my vet

Mine reckons I should be lopping Spens off at the earliest possible opportunity before he starts humping or showing aggression If he's getting neutered it won't be until he's mature, that's for certain!

[jacksdad]

...So DaughterofMrsAlmostPerfect is really my last dog.

I think.....

never say never

[ClareMarsh]

Edited to add: I am so glad I found this forum or Ted might have been neutered at 6 months on the advice of my vet

Mine reckons I should be lopping Spens off at the earliest possible opportunity before he starts humping or showing aggression If he's getting neutered it won't be until he's mature, that's for certain!

Ted humps a cuddly toy at least a few times a week. We just ignore it, to be honest I barely even notice now. He went through a phase of doing it every night but it's now slowed down to maybe once, twice a week. If we have guests over I put the toy away but otherwise he's free to hump, we run a relaxed household

It is certainly not something I would alter him to stop and I won't make any decisions re neutering until he's at least two. He does have one undescended testicle (common in small breeds) and I have a very sensible vet (there are two in the practice and I've switched to the sensible one now) who said no need to do anything until he's 8 or 9 cancer risk wise and that it may drop anyway. If he goes under for something else once he's two then the undescended one can come out then and I'll decide on the descended on as and when.

He's 11 months now and has shown no signs of aggression, I will say that he is getting noticeably calmer but then tiny breeds mature faster

I wonder if your vet humps anything ... maybe he should have his off

[Sarah83]

Lol, my vet's female. Spencer hasn't humped much so far, he had one mad half hour that ended with him attempting to hump his bed but he couldn't get the right position As for his aggression, well he's highly reactive to the locals and I do think he would bite given the chance but it's bugger all to do with him having his balls and everything to do with the fact he's learned that they're dangerous.

I wonder why we don't suggest neutering teenage human boys to stop their aggression and tendency towards wanting to hump pretty much anything

[JudyN]

I wonder why we don't suggest neutering teenage human boys to stop their aggression

I was tempted at times with DS2.... Though now he has a girlfriend, he's much nicer. Go figure...

[bendog]

Haha
Nettle, mrsalmostperfect looks and sounds like a dream
What breeds are in your lurchers, and does the daughter look like her mum?

My rant is only very minor today but I do wish all stiles had doggy gates, my dogs can usually find a gap to squeeze through or under a stile but there's two that they can't and so they have to climb over themselves using the steps like a person would (which they can do but I worry they'll slip and get hurt) or I have to lift them over and get muddy! Ok with my two but wouldn't fancy lifting a bigger dog over and if it was an older dog or not very agile it would be unlikely to be able to climb over.

Oh, and Ben was neutered at 5 years old just coz we were moving in with sasha who isn't spayed. Will make a decision re poppy when she's older but it's reminded me of a thread I've been meaning to make.

[Nettle]

mrsalmostperfect looks and sounds like a dream

She is - I'm so very lucky

What breeds are in your lurchers, and does the daughter look like her mum?

Daughter is a different colour (silver grizzle) and more greyhoundy in shape. They are (deep breath) greyhound, deerhound, saluki, whippet, bedlington, and just a smidgen of border collie.

There is another daughter who is the spit of her Mum, so much so that I once mistook one for the other

[MPbandmom]

Tried to make a campground reservation for myself and the dogs. Asked for a shady site off the beaten path due to one dog who alert barks to unusual noises. Even though the campground person has dogs, and dogs are allowed on the campground, the prospect of a dog that might make noise was a big red flag to them and they obviously didn't want my business.

Would they rather I not mention that the dog might bark and have them put me beside the playground full of screaming children? My dog alert barks, one or two barks generally, to noise that others are making. She is not the instigator of the noise.

[Erica]

More "confused ramble" than vent, but...

Today I took Ami on our usual jog-walk around the neighborhood. We spotted someone walking toward us, so I scooted him about 10 feet off the road and tried to get him to sit, but he was too focused on this new person (who was walking in the middle of the road, staring him in the eyes... ) to hear me (we were also approaching the most amazingly interesting yard of ALL TIME (in Ami's opinion), so he was getting amped up), so I settled for holding him still. Then there was a conversation:
Person: "Is he not friendly?"
Me: "He's very sweet, but he gets really excited around new people."
Person: "Oh. Stay away, puppy, I don't want you jumping on me...hehe."
Person moves on, and Ami and I are about to walk away, when:
Person: "Are you going to shave him?"
Me: "No. It's complicated, but his fur actually keeps cool in and reflects heat away."
Person: "Oh."

A slightly odd encounter, but whatever. Ami and I run a bit, walk a bit, run a bit, and near the end of our walk see the person again. This time he's tired enough and calm enough to sit when I ask him to, again away from the street. This time the person asks "Does he bite?" to which I answer with a resounding "No!" I just don't know where that came from - Ami didn't growl or snarl or do anything that the public might consider pre-bite behavior; he was wearing a normal harness, not anything like a muzzle; he listened to me the second time around...is it just that I didn't keep walking? That I didn't force someone to greet my dog? That I asked him to go away from the road when I saw a stranger approaching? Or was she just gathering information for future reference? blaaarrrggghhh

:/ Whatever.

[ClareMarsh]

Oh I've had people say "Does he bite" to me about Ted too Erica, I think it's people who are wary of dogs generally. I usually answer with "It depends what you do" which puts them off as to be honest if that's their question I don't want them any where near him

And "Do you shave him?" Although I know someone who got their long haired chis shaved down to look like short haired chis "for the summer", I couldn't help thinking it was just messing with how their natural coat should work ...

[JudyN]

What is it with tick removers? I keep buying them, at a price that is quite extortionate for a little bit of bent plastic with a notch in, and they all disappear! It took me about an hour to find one today (it was in the pot in the airing cupboard that the cat's comb lives in), but there must be at least eight in the house somewhere. The one I bought on holiday last June has never turned up since we got home

[ClareMarsh]

I saw two Westies I've seen loads of times this morning barking their heads off as a staffie walked calmly past them. The westie's owner was yanking each dogs lead in turn and shouting at them. Then he actually hit one of the dogs Honestly why would you hit any dog, let alone a little Westie, do these people realise how (putting the abuse to one side) utterly ridiculous they look hitting something so much smaller than them