Fantastic Beasts and how we live with them

This dang dog now associates the clicker with treats. I dont even have to click the clicker. He sees me touch it and he sits and waits. He expects that if i touch the clicker, he gets a treat... if i dont do anything, he moans and whines.
I guess i have to just start carrying around the clicker so he sees it regularly
 
JT Woody said:
This dang dog now associates the clicker with treats. I dont even have to click the clicker. He sees me touch it and he sits and waits. He expects that if i touch the clicker, he gets a treat... if i dont do anything, he moans and whines.
I guess i have to just start carrying around the clicker so he sees it regularly
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Lol. That is the downside of actual "training sessions". Best behavior abounds when they know what's coming. Having it on you where he can see it all the time should definitely help.

My dogs don't generally have "sessions". Their whole life is a potential training session. If they're minding their own business walking by me I'll say "sit" or "down" or whatever. They do it "good boy" pat on the head, then "free" so they can return to what they were doing. A little too excited about the cat? "Place" he goes to his place "good boy", continue on until they both chill and I can tell him he's free. Except for those times when the cat is being ridiculous and harasses him there, then the dog gets free and the cat gets his own version of time out 🤣
 
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I have no idea until I post whether these photos will appear. They were posted by my wife on Wattsapp, dogsitting our daughter's Cockapoo. That's the first photo, where's he's getting spa treatment after a shower. The second photo is Gus the wonderdog making damn sure he can't be dragged anywhere near the shower. Such a baby.
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If they don't come up, I'll query what I should do. If they do come up and use a decade's worth of internet space stuff, I can delete them if need be.
 
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CdnWriter said:
You can give Prozac to dogs??? What's next, a life coach to help dogs?

I hope it helps, but I am quite amazed that we have mental health care for dogs....
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It's generally for dogs with separation anxiety or who have a hard time calming down when there's new outside stimuli, and usually intended to be a short term bridge for training and desensitization, or for vet visits where dogs don't respond well/become aggressive or terrified. Unfortunately it ends up being used long term for many dogs because owners tend to not put the work in.

It's nearly always a training issue and not a "mental health" issue although there are some diseases and illnesses that can cause aggression/fear/anxiety responses in dogs.

Good vets require a training program/contact before they will give a dog prozac because it's NOT supposed to be permanent.
 
Rigor Mortis said:
I have no idea until I post whether these photos will appear. They were posted by my wife on Wattsapp, dogsitting our daughter's Cockapoo. That's the first photo, where's he's getting spa treatment after a shower. The second photo is Gus the wonderdog making damn sure he can't be dragged anywhere near the shower. Such a baby.
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A weiner for Gus to lure him out 🌭 They're both adorable ❤️
 
Trish said:
it's NOT supposed to be permanent
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Yep, not permanent.

DLC said:
Dog's aint people
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dogs, like people, have anxiety.


When we moved to our new house, Moog was terrified the first month. We'd leave for work and he'd have an accident (he's house trained). Vet said separation anxiety. He was on meds while we worked with him.
He doesnt take it anymore once he learned our work schedule and that we come back at the end of the day. No more accidents.

When he gets his nails clipped, though, the vet gives me a handful of various different calming meds for him to mellow him out before they can even touch his nails, or else he will freak out, pee and poop.
 
Seeing Rigor's post above reminds me of an Airedale terrier that belonged to a friend's grandparents. I don't recall the dog's proper name because all Grandpa ever called him was Rigor Mortis.

Went out to the ranch yesterday to check on the Bercur puppies. Their eyes are open and they're squiggling around pretty good. Very cute, but I'm not even tempted to bond with one. Might have if one of the brindle ones was a girl, but they're all little boys, so I think I'm safe.
 
CatrionaGrace said:
Seeing Rigor's post above reminds me of an Airedale terrier that belonged to a friend's grandparents. I don't recall the dog's proper name because all Grandpa ever called him was Rigor Mortis.

Went out to the ranch yesterday to check on the Bercur puppies. Their eyes are open and they're squiggling around pretty good. Very cute, but I'm not even tempted to bond with one. Might have if one of the brindle ones was a girl, but they're all little boys, so I think I'm safe.
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puppy pictures? :)
 
Trish said:
It's generally for dogs with separation anxiety
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We had two beagles throughout the 1990s - Barney and Max. They were litter mates - brothers. They were inseparable. Barney died in 1999. Max suffered horrible anxiety by losing Barney. He'd literally move furniture around looking for Barney. I came home one day to find my bed moved across the room (Barney slept in our bed, but Max preferred the couch).

By about six weeks after Barney died, we knew we had to get another dog because Max was in too much pain alone. So we got Jesse from the pound. He was a couple of years old and had a totally opposite personality from Barney. The story we were told was that Jesse had never left the apartment in which he was raised. He actually did not smell like a dog. He smelled pretty.

We live in the country and Barney and Max would regularly break out of the yard to go "hunting." They literally chewed the chain-link fence. They were a couple of serious guys. Well, after Jesse moved in, Max took him out on an adventure. They were only gone an hour. I can still see the two of them returning. Max trudging in utter disgust, and Jesse following him, bouncing around as if he was saying, "That was fun! Ooh, that was so much fun!"

Max never took Jesse out on another adventure. But his anxiety did quiet down. Jesse really grew on him.
 
Louanne Learning said:
What's your point?
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That dogs are not people? Pet stores are full of shit people buy for their pets, but pet don't care - it's all about making us feel good, marketing and shit. Think about it awhile.

Best ignore me, I've only owned more dogs than I can remember since we run cattle and sheep as well as growing grain, and a livestock transport biz and so on. I love the bastards, but I've also shot more wild dogs than you can imagine when I worked for the old rural lands board. I really didn't want to tell you that, but there's a difference.
 
DLC said:
That dogs are not people? Pet stores are full of shit people buy for their pets, but pet don't care - it's all about making us feel good, marketing and shit. Think about it awhile.

Best ignore me, I've only owned more dogs than I can remember since we run cattle and sheep as well as growing grain, and a livestock transport biz and so on. I love the bastards, but I've also shot more wild dogs than you can imagine when I worked for the old rural lands board. I really didn't want to tell you that, but there's a difference.
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Your view of dogs is different. Sounds like you have working dogs. High energy, high drive, and they get to use that energy by working. Dogs who have all of their mental and physical needs met don't often have behavioral issues or a need for additional stimuli.

Dogs who live in apartments or homes where they are not doing what they were made to do need mental stimulation as well as physical. A walk a couple times a day is not enough for a *lot* of dogs. They need toys to chase, scent games to use their brains, puzzle games, lick mats and things to help release serotonin in their brain. A working breed (or mix of) for instance requires more mental exertion than physical, but people attempt to tire them out which builds endurance instead and then have a dog that can not settle and relax. They label this dog as "crazy" or "hyper" or "stubborn". The dog is none of those things. That same dog, given a lick mat or a frozen toppl every day as well as some simple scent games will be an entirely different dog in a matter of weeks. And they don't sell puppy prozac at the pet store I assure you.

While your dogs very well may not care about all the things at pet stores (my working dogs over the years rarely have), the majority of pets do very much care.

I'm not sure what your point about shooting dogs was. Sounds like it was your job? What does that have to do with pet dogs and pet stores?

Best ignore me though, I was only a vet tech and a dog trainer specializing in the rehabilitation of "dangerous" shelter dogs for 98% of my working life before I became disabled and it was no longer possible.
 
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DLC said:
That dogs are not people? Pet stores are full of shit people buy for their pets, but pet don't care - it's all about making us feel good, marketing and shit. Think about it awhile.
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Nope.
Both of my dogs have favorite toys.

Mugen had a "comfort buddy" when he was a puppy. It was a weighted plush allegator that was the same size as him that he'd snuggle upnto like a littermate.
Mugen was only a few weeks old when i got him, so the comfort buddy became his favorit thing. When he got bigger than it, he carried it around with him, and i started taking it with him to the vey to calm him down.
 
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