What are you and your dogs up to today? Part 2

[Sweetie's Human]

Great photo of Jasper and friend.

Well, it's 7pm and still 29 degrees... We hit 35C today. So Little Miss Plonky-Plonk and I are out on the patio. She's got the couch, I've got the sun lounge. I anticipate us being here until the kiddies' fireworks at 9pm (mozzies permitting, of course...). Stupidly, I went for a run at 3 this afternoon (half day at work) when the heat was still full pelt and I still haven't recovered properly (no pug, of course).

Sweetie has been plopping herself into her paddle pool every half hour or so, and if she doesn't, we chuck her in.

As much as I love living here, right now, I envy all of you in the UK and the US with your lovely cold Holiday season.

Bahhumbug (pug!).

And Happy New Year!

[mansbestfriend]

We have a couple of handfuls of treats ready for some counter-conditioning to fireworks at midnight. A nice air-conditioned ride in the car is also an option.

Happy New Year for 2015.

[Erica]

I made a topic for people to post their favorite pictures of the year in: https://positively.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=20383

Been very busy. Hmm, condensed version:

-Delta's still amazing and adorable
-Opal is getting old and creaky in the morning
-Marble's owner found a puppy on her porch and hasn't found puppy's original home yet...it's been about a week. We'll see if "Tucker" stays...he's a lab something mix (vet just put "lab mix" but confided that he was probably lab/pit. very nice of vet to keep that on the down-low), black with very nice white markings. Haven't met him yet but he seems sweet!
-Despite being in a sealed container, inside a ziplock bag, inside a garbage bag, a tub of green tripe leaked over the fridge. D: But it was not our fridge, which is stuffed to the gills; very little was in this fridge so it was easier by far to clean, lol. Still a pain in the rump.
-Everyone goes on vacation when school's out, so when I have a break from my job I get other jobs. Which is annoying as I never have much time to do stuff. Oh well!
-Puppies take up so much of your time and energy
-Delta's starting to go through a fear period.

I think that's about it? Happy new year!

[delladooo]

Completely off topic but I was wondering if anyone remembers there being a discussion about the equipment that everyone has for their dogs? I've been looking for the past half hour for it but can't seem to find it, any ideas?

On a completely unrelated note, Laufey is really bad at the minute any time there's a noise. I'm putting it down to fireworks but really not sure what to do about them as he will still go out to pee (and not bark at them) and only takes issue with the lights that he sees at home, but whenever there's someone at the door or brother makes a banging noise upstairs he sets off barking and goes a bit crazy. MiMi is still scratching like mad and has lost almost all her top coat down one side

[JudyN]

Here you go, Delladoo: https://positively.com/forum/viewtopic. ... it=harness

For Laufey's barking at the door or your brother banging upstairs, could you get everyone, family and otherwise, to ring the doorbell even if they then come straight in, and give him a treat every time? You could also get your brother to make a banging noise every minute or so and give Laufey a treat each time. It might be worth teaching him 'quiet' so once he's not so bad you can actually ask for this and reward it.

I hope you can work out what's making Mimi itch soon.

[delladooo]

Thanks Judy you're an angel!!

We can definitely try some variation on that; we don't have a doorbell nor people who usually knock (we're very antisocial if you can't tell) but can make entrances accompanied by treats. As for the brother I'm not sure he'd comply, if for no other reason than to be a pain.

We hope so too, she looks a right state! Tried giving her a bath and an ACV rinse tonight and whilst I wasn't expecting miracles but I'm not sure if it's done any good. We've removed chicken but not seen any improvement yet. Very worrying

[JudyN]

It sounds to me like she needs to go to the vet - there's loads of easily treated things it could be, but first you need to know what it is!

[delladooo]

It sounds to me like she needs to go to the vet - there's loads of easily treated things it could be, but first you need to know what it is!

I agree, thinking we'll give it the weekend see if she gets any better and if not ring the vets. I'm just so reluctant to take her after what they gave Laufey for his itching.... we suspect a seasonal allergy in Laufey that's mostly a summer thing as he's no where near as bad in winter as the hot weather and they prescribed advocate and stronghold to alternative giving every two weeks, steroids and a flea treatment for the home and the steroids helped, obviously, but aren't a fix just a mask and I don't want them to just prescribe the same thing for her

[MPbandmom]

If Mimi is itching that badly, I would go ahead and take her to the vet before the weekend. If they prescribe something you aren't comfortable with, then you can object or seek out a second opinion. Just because the answer didn't seem that great last time, doesn't necessarily mean the answer will be the same this time.

We took Sky and Sirius to Washington DC today for the annual "Samoyed Flash Mob" New Year's Day walk on the Mall. I was very pleased with Sirius' reaction to the people and things around. Of course OH was handling her and I was paying more attention to Sky, but she only grumbled a bit at a couple of people who tried to talk to her and that would have happened even in a more secluded and quite place.

We mostly avoided the 20ish samoyeds there. They were on a bit of a different agenda than we were. Their main focus for the day was to look dazzling for the admiring crowds and seek out optimum photo opportunities. They had a sled to take pictures of dogs either in or "pulling." We bypassed this because it looked like it was going to take quite a while to pose that many dogs and take their pictures and we were trying to get each of our dogs to complete a 5 mile check off hike for their DSA Traildog titles. OH could only walk so far with Sirius, so the plan was to walk both at first, then he and Sirius take a break at the van while I finished walking Sky for her 5 miles and then for me to trade dogs and finish out Sirius' 5 miles. We ran out of time to get both dogs finished and paperwork signed by a member of the samoyed club's board or officers. We did get Sky checked off. Sirius just added distance to the next level for trail dog. I have two log sheets. Once the dogs were within 10 miles of the title and only had the two 5 mile hikes left to do, I started logging their shorter qualifying walks on a page for the second level. As of today, Sky has completed 50 miles including 2 5 mile check off hikes for the Traildog title and has 62+ miles towards the second level which is a total of 100 miles including a 5 mile and a 10 mile check off hike. I am hoping to complete the remaining 5 and 10 mile check off hikes this month. There is a fitness challenge going at work, so the mileage will help that plus once I get these out of the way the next levels don't have any required check off hikes.

[delladooo]

If Mimi is itching that badly, I would go ahead and take her to the vet before the weekend. If they prescribe something you aren't comfortable with, then you can object or seek out a second opinion. Just because the answer didn't seem that great last time, doesn't necessarily mean the answer will be the same this time.

This is very true, we've been hoping to try homoeopathic remedies at home and we've found something that might work so going to give that a try for a couple of days. It's not that we don't want to go to the vets, more that we don't want a chemical mask for the issue and our nearest holistic vet is rather far away; not as far as we went to get her but far enough that I'm not comfortable subjecting her to the car for last long unless there is no alternative.

Sounds like you had an excellent time yesterday and you go for miles for the trail dog, I'm not sure I'd be able to make it myself (although Laufey would). Good luck with completing the level you're at and the next one!

[Nettle]

It sounds to me like she needs to go to the vet - there's loads of easily treated things it could be, but first you need to know what it is!

I agree, thinking we'll give it the weekend see if she gets any better and if not ring the vets. I'm just so reluctant to take her after what they gave Laufey for his itching.... we suspect a seasonal allergy in Laufey that's mostly a summer thing as he's no where near as bad in winter as the hot weather and they prescribed advocate and stronghold to alternative giving every two weeks, steroids and a flea treatment for the home and the steroids helped, obviously, but aren't a fix just a mask and I don't want them to just prescribe the same thing for her

If you now have two itchy dogs, it is looking environmental, and might be something as simple as household cleaning agents. Have an analytical ponder.

[delladooo]

This is an excellent point Nettle, we had tentatively ruled environmental out because there's nothing we use regularly.
They don't go near any bathroom cleaners / bleach etc.
In the areas they go, we've washed the carpet but used different cleaners, we generally buy different clothing detergent each time as well as different washing up liquids and we don't use harsh cleaners Is there something we're missing and maybe a natural alternative to try and test the theory?

Oh and just to add, we don't have things like spray air fresheners etc. as we're very allergic to a lot of things (technically including animals but we've always just ignored that) so we tend to be quite conscious of the things we use.

[bendog]

Tied a tug toy to cupboard door handle this morning to teach dogs to open the door. NO food kept in any of the cupboards the dogs can reach (except a few tins of beans etc which they don't bother with) so not too worried they will start to help themselves! We only did a minute or two but Pop and Ben both immediately picked up the tuggy in their mouth, so now just need to get them to actually pull for a bit longer/harder to get door open.

They also helped me get some socks out of the washing machine - which is a trick neither have done for ages (not because I don't do any washing but just because it takes longer with the dogs as they can only take one item out at once!) but both remembered it which surprised me!

Charlie mostly stands and watches bless him, he wants the treats but lacks the brains to get himself involved! Or maybe he is the smartest of them all and has sussed that he gets his share of treats anyway just for standing and watching nicely and not mugging me or getting in the way so why put any more effort in than that! I'll do some individual training later with him, normally I seperate them when teaching anything new but it was just a bit of a spur of the moment training experiment whilst I was waiting for kettle to boil! Partly spurred on by the fact that one of my dog walking clients is now wheelchair bound and would like to teach his Lab some "useful" tricks, so thought I'd put my money where my mouth is so to speak and check I could actually do what I am suggesting he does!

Sash was outside with her "breakfast" - she gets a handful of grain free kibble, or treats scattered in garden in the morning to give her a bit of mental exercise too. She also did me a favour because she found a Kong that one of the others had hidden under the hedge and I had given up on finding (hedge is really thick, and the dogs often go underneath it and totally disappear from sight, so anything they take under there also disappears from sight! There is a fence behind the hedge so they can't actually get out of the garden)

Ben is treating the waste paper basket in the living room as his personal toy box - nothing much goes in there except paper, cardboard and the odd crisp packet, so it's not dangerous, he just loves shredding stuff, and I am fine with that, but I think next job might be to teach him to tidy up afterwards! He does have an actual toy box too, and I love the fact that even though he is almost 12 he still goes rummaging for a toy every morning and has a good old bounce around with it

[JudyN]

Dehydrating liver stinks And annoyingly, Jasper turned up his nose at the semi-dried bit I offered him, though he did like the chicken & heart. I'm hoping he'll like the liver when it's dry as dust, as he's eaten liver slow-cooked in the oven, and loves liver cake.

Amy, you could teach 'fetch nappy', or 'fetch muslin', they'd be useful! Actually, 'fetch anything' would be good for all those hours spent with a baby stuck to your breast. I swear DS1 drip-fed for 20 hours a day (and cried for the other 4 hours).

[delladooo]

Dehydrating liver stinks And annoyingly, Jasper turned up his nose at the semi-dried bit I offered him, though he did like the chicken & heart. I'm hoping he'll like the liver when it's dry as dust, as he's eaten liver slow-cooked in the oven, and loves liver cake.

Have you tried drying some fruit on a layer above the liver? We've done this with banana, apple and sweet potato and found it really helps with the smell, plus the dogs love them as treats too