Any Advice For Improvement?

[emmabeth]

Great progress, well done

[Buddy'smyboy]

Well my grandma's health has improved greatly . Before she was retaining fluid, could hardly walk, was confused, shaky, was in intense pain, and couldn't finish complete sentences. Now, she has lost 24 POUNDS of fluid, is puttering around without a walker, is thinking straight again, less shaky, in considerably less pain, and is speaking whole paragraphs . And it ONLY took about twelve different doctor visits, two long stays at the hospital and coming close to death for the docs to take her seriously and do something other than not tell my mom anything or not give her any papers or not call her or loose her pretty little bamboo plant we bought for her . Geez, what is wrong with the medical world these days? Sigh, whatever. My grandma still has pnuemonia so she's in a rehab center but she's a lot better so that's good. Before she was so puffy with fluids she had a chipmunk face and now she's so happy she has wrinkles . She looked in the mirror and said, "Oh look! I have wrinkles again!" And she has ankles. Her feet were so swollen before that sometimes we couldn't fit her feet in her slippers and she couldn't feel them if you touched them (you had to poke them hard for her to feel you there) but now they're a lot smaller.



I've also started doing this sniffing game with Buddy that drives him crazy he's having so much fun! Before I bring him out of the kennel in the morning, I'll take a handful of these really smelly chicken treats (5 to 7 pieces) and then I'll drag one along the ground slightly before placing it in the grass before doing it with all of them and then when he comes out he'll just start sniffing like crazy all over and his tails going ninety miles an hour as he looks for them. I'll tell him to find it as he starts to look for it and when he does I'll praise him. It's so funny watching him . We also went down to the store and got this fox toy so I think I'll set up some kind of little obstacle course with all the big plastic flower pots we have in the front that we're not using before hiding "Mr. Foxy" in it with some chicken treats and let Buddy find him. I just hope he's not too ruff with Mr. Foxy. Buddy likes to hold one end of a rag or old toy with his teeth and put his paw in the middle before ripping it in half. And since Mr. Foxy's kind of long like an old towel, he might be a bit rough.

My mom's also taking me to the library soon to get some of those dogs books.

[Nettle]

Wonderful news all round - well done

[Buddy'smyboy]

We're going to the library after my mom watches the news . In the mean time, I have a little question. When I go out and sit in the front porch lawn chair, Buddy will come over, give a few friendly licks, and then at some point he'll start rubbing against my legs. I think it might just be because he has an itch, is trying to get me to scratch a particular spot, or he's just so glad to see me but I am curious as to why exactly. Any input?

[Fundog]

I think he wants lovings.

By the way, that's great news about your grandma, and fantastic good fun regarding the game you set up for Buddy-- EXCELLENT! I also think the flower pots idea is fabulous too.

[Buddy'smyboy]

New news and progress reports!

We did go to the library and I was only able to find two books written by suggested authors (but I did put seven others on hold ) as well as one out of five books on corgies for my mom. I have: "Why Does My Dog Act That Way?" by Stanley Coren and "Reaching the Animal Mind" by Karen Pryor, which is apparently a book about clicker training judging by the front (how come every pet store I've ever been to doesn't have a clicker? ). I'm currently in the fourth chapter in the first book.

I keep on forgetting to write this but, this morning Rock followed by Pettie and his "Unknown Name" white side kick were playing chicken in the road. They were just laying there in the middle of the road and whenever a car drove by they'd get up, start barking, and chase it. I guess they wanted to be part of the tires or something . Anyway, after witnessing Zac driving past in his truck and into our driveway, Rock in particular kept barking and I got to notice some of Buddy's behavior. He was looking over in Rock's direction (Rock was out of Buddy's sight) with his head lowered and his hackles raised slightly. He kept looking back and forth from Rock's direction to me so I just did my best to show him that I was as unconcerned with Rock being there as possible and after a few seconds Buddy relaxed and went back to focusing just on me as he had previously and sat down as he waited for me to come back into petting distance (I was standing beside my mom and Zac as they talked).
Which reminds me, I think the problem between Rock and Buddy is that Rock keeps on trying to claim our front porch because when I put Buddy out this morning I noticed a few doggy droppings that weren't there the previous night or deposited by Buddy and when he investigated them he made a very big deal of peeing on them for quite some time before investigating the rest of the area and peeing quite frequently. I don't know what's so good about our front porch but apparently all the dogs want it . There seems to be a similar battle going on over the rest of the yard.

The "watch me" training is coming very well. Sometimes I will just sit on the porch with him and when he's not looking at me I'll saw "watch me" and when he looks at me I'll give him these carrot treats we picked up at the feed store. I figure using it often is a good way to inforce it. He's getting better at staying close to me and even when we go out of the yard he doesn't pull.
Though I do have a question about that. Where should he be when we're walking? I use a three foot long basic red rope when I walk him since I don't have a six foot one like I would like to have. Preferably I would like to have him walk by my side but even then should his head be just in front of my hip, at my hip, behind my hip, etc.?

I'm also thinking about starting to work on being able to ride my bike with him. It won't be until I'm completely confident that he won't pull unless something unexpected happens (meeting other dogs unintentionally, rabbit running very stupidly directly away from us activating chase response, etc.). I think we're about 85% of the way there. He still tugs a tiny bit when he wants to meet Zac or other people when we walk around the house, but other than that he doesn't pull much. Recently a rabbit ran from us in the yard and he took about two steps and in a desperate attempt to get his attention I said "watch me" extra loud and excitedly and he stopped and turned around wagging his tail. That was a "Whew" moment . I don't need my thumb dislocated again thank you very much. I'll go check out the exercise forum for tips on bike riding+dog walking advice, and if I can't find anything that works for me I'll post here.

[Buddy'smyboy]

I've got a question regarding "good" dog training websites vs. "bad" ones. I was looking around on some other dog training websites for a larger variety of ideas for games, training, etc. and I found this website about "natural dog training". My question is: Is this one of the "good" training methods to use with a dog? I read a few articles and it does not use "alpha" or dominance training, but rather utilizes the predator vs. prey instinct of a dog. One of the techniques I read about I have seen Victoria use (running away from a dog to make it come to her, making herself "prey" and the dog the "predator", with the exception of the killing and devouring part ). It seems logical, and some of the things it mentioned I have experienced with Buddy. The only things that raised questions for me is that it suggests using tug-o-war (Buddy's not a tug kind of dog, so that doesn't work for us) and a game called "pushing" (pushing is on the dog's part, not the person's ) The website I found is http://www.naturaldogblog.com/ if anyone wants to explore it. Please give me some feed back on this.

[Buddy'smyboy]

We had a surprise overnight visit from our cousins Derek and Jamie and their two young kids yesterday. They arrived after dinner in their mini van with their three dogs; Jeanie (some kind of sight hound I think), Rooger (Buddy's sister), and Layla (4 month old Pekinese), and I think I miss spelled a few words in there Oh well. All are females, and Buddy was bigger than all of them. I was really worried because Buddy has never had three dogs with him at once so I was reading up on what to do if so and so happened and how to meet them. He did great I was expecting maybe some growling from him but there wasn't a peep out of him.
Although, I think Rooger might have fear reaction problems of some kind brought on by Derek maybe. When Derek brought Rooger over on her leash to reintroduce them (they were littlermates so they have previously met) at first they started by sniffing noses. Then Rooger growled and Derek whapped her on the head with the loop of the leash . She stopped after flinching but then she started again as Buddy sniffed her rear. He whapped her again. When she started growling after a little since they were still sniffing each other he said "hey" rather angrily and then made motions to kick her Jamie was there watching and stopped him by saying, "the 'hey' worked, you don't need to kick her." Rooger moved away fearfully and slinked down and Buddy moved away with a "I don't want any part of that" kind of look. I don't know much about Derek compared to other relatives since we live so far away and don't visit much, but I do know he's bi-polar if that has anything to do with it and that Rooger reacts to just about all dogs she meets, male or female, and even gets into some fights with Jeanie (and they have lived together for years). It feels awkward being in situations like that
Rooger still growls at him and tries to compete for my attention when I go out to pet Buddy. She'll try to growl him away. I stopped her by pushing her in the shoulder gently with my hip to body block the two of them. When I petted them I had Buddy on one side and kept Rooger on the other so I was in between them and she was happy then, but whenever she moved over to him I moved to keep in between them so she couldn't get face to face with him and start growling.
Jeanie was a bit skittish around him probably because of the size difference. Sniffed noses and then tried to sniff each other's rears but Buddy's tail was wagging and it hit her in the face so she trotted off . They seemed to get along moderately well unless he got in her space too much and then she'd bark in his face before moving on.
Then Layla's turn came. I think she was a little scared of him when he was standing up because she was so little When he lay down though she was more bold. They just sniffed noses because she couldn't even reach his rear to sniff it
I think he did pretty good with all three of them, which is great. I've been avoiding contact with other dogs for a few weeks so that might have helped too. They're going to head back home today.

[emmabeth]

Ive only quickly scanned that website - it looks fine to me. Uses some different analogies and ideas for explaining things but the basic stuff is the same, just more 'flowery' language, which may well help some people grasp whats going on.

Ill investigate further later when ive had some sleep but so far, no alarm bells ringing there!

As for your visitors - good stuff for Buddy not reacting.... but HOW good at reading dogs/people are you! Ace.... you absolutely have it right, Ruger is wary and a bit fearful.... Dereks reactions to Rugers behaviour is at best.... not helping, at worst, making it worse and could be the cause of the problem itself.

Your response to Ruger growling at Buddy was absolutely spot on - block the eye contact, distract/redirect with fuss/toys/treats, whatever you have to hand, and keep them distracted and block again to prevent face to face staring stuff.

[Buddy'smyboy]

Ive only quickly scanned that website - it looks fine to me. Uses some different analogies and ideas for explaining things but the basic stuff is the same, just more 'flowery' language, which may well help some people grasp whats going on.

Ill investigate further later when ive had some sleep but so far, no alarm bells ringing there!

Well I figured the fact that it didn't promote "alpha" stuff and dominance that it probably had some good information.

As for your visitors - good stuff for Buddy not reacting.... but HOW good at reading dogs/people are you! Ace.... you absolutely have it right, Ruger is wary and a bit fearful.... Dereks reactions to Rugers behaviour is at best.... not helping, at worst, making it worse and could be the cause of the problem itself.

I did my best to remember what exactly happened so I could write it down I just didn't say anything to Derek though Hmmm, how to work out the delicate process of not insulting an adult with a somewhat short temper when they are creating/not helping a problem... although, they've left already so the most I could do now is tell him over the phone I think it might have been because of how he was brought up. If I recall correctly from listening to conversations Derek either had abusive or bad parents and was sort of taken in by my Uncle Ronny, so Derek calls him dad even though they aren't really related and we call him cousin even though we aren't related to him. Uncle Ron brought him up on a cow farm so a rough hand is sometimes required there. Maybe being abused or something like that makes him more inclined to be physical when he's agitated? Hmmm, not sure, I'm not a psychologist

Your response to Ruger growling at Buddy was absolutely spot on - block the eye contact, distract/redirect with fuss/toys/treats, whatever you have to hand, and keep them distracted and block again to prevent face to face staring stuff.

Whew, good, I thought it was, but I was worried someone would say no because if either got snappy I could hurt. I figured if I got in between them before that happened I could limit the chance of that happening in the first place. Although, I don't really think either of them of would get snappy with kids right there. Ruger lives with a six and an eight year old and she's very gentle around them and from my brief encounter with her today she doesn't growl at him when they're real close by. I guess she doesn't want her "puppies" getting hurt either!

[Buddy'smyboy]

An unfortunate loss has been experienced recently. Ruger was killed. The gate didn't get closed all of the way and Ruger got out and got hit by a car. My cousin's children are especially sad about this. R.I.P. pretty girl.

[emmabeth]

I am sorry to hear that, RIP Ruger.

[Buddy'smyboy]

Hm, it's been a while since I've posted here.

I have a question about house training Buddy. He's never been housetrained before and no serious attempt was ever made at it. Buddy's now seven years old and I'm slightly concerned if being used to just peeing wherever he wants to outside for so long may affect his housetraining progress. I looked around and I have a loose plan for how to go about the process. However, when/if we do get around to it, it will be only in one room since we really don't need any wagging tails or huge bodies around antiques and our recovering but still not in the best condition grandmother (her house is not exactly designed for large animals, or animals in general ). In this room there are also two cats who can't go into the rest of the house (leather furniture) and two rabbits. The rabbits I am pretty concerned about while the cats I'm cautiously confident can get along with him. The room is in the process of being moved into right now and is even hard for me to navigate through so I think it's safe to assume that Buddy's not going to be moving in any time soon, but for really cold nights it would be nice to bring him in.

My plan for housetraining him involves getting him used to the crate when he's inside, establishing a "peeing spot" outside, the cue to go potty, using distraction (ex.: AHAHAH+clapping) if caught while peeing inside and taking him out then praise if goes, aquainting him with cats and rabbits, and eventually, ringing a bell around the door knob when he has to go with his nose. Nothing is in any established order at this point, and like I said, is very loosely made at this point and likely to change the more I think about it.

This is going on my Weekly Trick List that I am making, although I think it is safe to say that it won't be completed in a week. The Weekly Trick List is basically a weekly planner I'm making for Buddy. Every week he'll learn something new. I'll spend all week working with him on that one trick for the full week and if he's got it by the end of the week, then I'll move onto another trick the next week, and if he doesn't, I'll work on it the next full week and the next full week after that until he gets it. So by the end of the month he'll learn four new things at the most, and in a year's progress, 48 new things, which is a steady pace for me. We'll just work on one thing at a time, one step at a time. (although, perhaps I should make a seperate Long Term Goals List for housetraining. hmm)

[Buddy'smyboy]

Hm, it's been a while since i've been on this thread. Well, I finally figured out how to work my camera (well, more like I got a new one ) and amazingly everything suddenly is loading smoothly. So I decided to take a few pictures of Buddy. Also, I can recall a conversation I was having with Nettle about Buddy that went something like this, way back when i started this thread:

Nettle: The free feeding has got out of hand. He is WAY too fat. This will make him ill. You need to cut down his rations and supplement with raw vegetables like carrot, cabbage, cauliflower, that he can chew up. They will keep his jaws busy and his tummy full without putting on more weight. Also, research the kong toy, and see if he can have some of his food in one or two of those, so he has to work for his food.
Buddy’smyboy: No offense, but are you talking about? Buddy is perfectly healthy and not over weight at all. He's just above average size (not fat, just big). Like, for example, when we brought him home he was two months old and he weighed twenty pounds, and after that he gained ten pounds a month even with regular feeding and exercise. His mom was broad shouldered and barrel chested while his dad was tall. He just got the best of the two of them (which added up to a really big Buddy). Actually, he has an older brother who's even bigger than he is. It's just his genes.
Nettle: There is no tactful way to tell someone their dog is too fat so sorry if I annoyed or upset you, but, ninety plus pounds is FAR too big for a labrador no matter how big his bones are or how big his relations are. How tall is he? Can you feel his ribs easily? Does he have a waist if you look down from above?

If so, he ain't a labrador - you probably have a mastiff!

I always found this conversation really funny for some reason, and I can still laugh with my mom about it. So here's the pics now. How does he look, Nettle?

http://ewebster123.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d4185t6
http://ewebster123.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d4185xv
http://ewebster123.deviantart.com/#/d418629
http://ewebster123.deviantart.com/#/d418653
http://ewebster123.deviantart.com/#/d418683
http://ewebster123.deviantart.com/#/d4186as

[DogNut]

Buddy sure looks healthy to me! Such a happy, friendly-looking dog! Sure a Lab can be 90+ lb and be healthy. Mastiffs are more like 150-200 lb. Maybe Nettle thought you said 90 kG. Now that's a big dog!