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Messages - FurTornado

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Alaskan Malamute Discussions / Re: Mals and Shelties
« on: October 31, 2008, 08:00:43 am »
She does like her toys, but actually loves to tease the dobie with it more. She is all for putting it on the ground making it look enticing and then protecting it. So, I haven't found one that it motivating on it's own. :D I'm still looking. Haven't given up. I'm hoping to find one when she is more comfy.

My dad has wondered why I still have them separated. He forgets that usually I have put a lot of thought and tested them before accepting them in my home. So, usually I have almost immediate blending with the pooches. This one was quite different and I have to remind him of the circumstances. He forgets that not all dogs immediately love each other. He puppy sits for me, so I hope he remembers. :)

Btw, Clifford... I love the avatar.

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Congrats from me as well. I need to start working on my dobie boy so he can take the CGC and TDI tests as well. Hopefully we will do as well!

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I also raised my cat's bowl. She seemed to enjoy it more. I had it in a goblet I got at a renaissance fest. I also had to make sure her water bowl was constantly cleaned because she loved to watch things float in the bowl.  :)

Hope the hairball meds helped. I think my kitty did that too and that was her problem at the time.

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Alaskan Malamute Discussions / Re: Mals and Shelties
« on: October 30, 2008, 05:47:08 am »
The spay went very well. She is a bit upset that she cannot go for walks. She got a new soft squeaky toy she doesn't have to share, and that also made her a bit happy. The dobie has been beside himself because he cannot visit her and play right now. He just loves everyone and can't wait to be next to everyone.  :)

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I understand the nerves. Females go through much more than the males. My mal gets spayed today. I was nervous until I got there. It is much better for my household and knew it was best decision for her.

Lots of vibes for you and your girl. You aren't the only one that gets nervous for your babies.

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I've had males where it is necessary to neuter due to medical problems. One had benign tumors developing which the neutering fixed (forgive me it was a long time ago and I forget the name of the disease). The benign tumors usually give way to cancerous if let go with this situation. I had another male who kept on getting bladder infections. It was a testicle that was infected. They didn't find it until the neutering. So, there are other reasons I neuter other than testicular cancer. As for the age... I think do your research and if you decide to neuter do it with information. I cannot neuter my dobie at the moment. First, he is too young in my opinion (10 months) and second, the breeder wants to show him. After the show career is over, he will be neutered. No matter if you neuter or not, nothing is 100% guaranteed to prevent everything. There are behavioral as well as medical situations to consider.

All my females are spayed (or will be soon). It seems that the medical side of that points more toward spaying than not. Again, it is a choice that needs to be informed. I also don't want to raise a bunch of puppies and go through the process of finding them homes. I am not a breeder and too many dogs need homes as it is.

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Alaskan Malamute Discussions / Re: Mals and Shelties
« on: October 25, 2008, 06:14:26 am »
Thank you so much for that nice response.

My guess is that she was the leader of the household because my cousin had been sick for awhile and my aunt is pretty frail. She seems fine giving the leader role to me. I'm sure she is happy about that (most dogs are). I'm sure it is new to her and will take time. It does mean placing a lot of trust in me. And you are right... she doesn't have much training. It is much tighter rules with a multi-dog pack. She is slowly learning the rules.

Hm... I don't think the sheltie believes she is the queen... but maybe the princess..  :D She does love picking on the boys. The boys don't mind it and just let her nip at them (she is also a rescue and doesn't have all her teeth). So, I already knew I couldn't keep the 2 females together without supervision. I also know I have to work on her behavior around the mal. I'm sure her reactions to the mal now have also triggered the prey drive. I'm hoping that within some large amount of time I'll be able to get them together with supervision again.

You have no idea how right you are about the dobie!  :lol: You should have heard his vocalizations wanting to be around her! She gets spayed on Mon. We had to wait awhile because of the infection had to be cleared up and we wanted to get some weight off of her (she was 20+ lbs overweight). No puppies... no thanks. :) Could you imagine? A furry dobie? ::)

One more question... the mal doesn't seem to have a high value motivator. Not a big treat dog. Might change with time, but can't quite find that one thing she'll do almost anything for... I've been able to teach her some stuff with praise, but need something "big" to help her along with the rest. Any suggestions?


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Alaskan Malamute Discussions / Re: Mals and Shelties
« on: October 24, 2008, 02:23:33 pm »
"sigh" I know that she was with males before. I couldn't take his male (he's with another cousin), because I knew that a male with attitude would have problems with my weim.  I was just wondering if the heat is what triggered the problem. I know that they were fine for the first few days and she actually preferred the sheltie at that time.

Oh, and don't worry... they won't be together unless I am certain the sheltie would be safe.

Thanks for the response.

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Alaskan Malamute Discussions / Re: Alaskan Malamutes
« on: October 24, 2008, 12:16:25 pm »
I'm using a "Easy Walk Harness" You can get those at PetsMart or PetCo. It works great and I have more control over my mal. I also use it for my dobie as I am trying to train him not to pull (I'm also using the turn-a-round technique described in a reply above). Might be another choice.

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Alaskan Malamute Discussions / Mals and Shelties
« on: October 24, 2008, 12:13:05 pm »
I just took on a 4 year old female malamute. She was intact and shortly went into a short heat due to stress and an infection. She had a lot of stress because she was my cousin's who recently died and was suddenly ripped from her home to a new one.

I know that some mals do not like small breeds of dog. When I first introduced them to my group.... she was okay with only my sheltie (7yr. old female, altered). When she went into heat, her acceptance turned. They had a couple minor squabbles... one due to food that was mistakenly left of the floor (I knew better... the sheltie is a food-a-holic). Nothing big, pulled apart easily and neither had any harm. I separated them and after that, the mal looks at her like prey through a gate. Even after the heat seems to be over (like I said it was not normal, she already had a heat cycle earlier in the year), she still acts like she is just a good morsel or after dinner mint.

My question is... could the heat have triggered some female/female aggression? After spaying, do you think it can be easier to resolve (please understand I know I have work ahead of me... the sheltie does have an attitude :) )

Now, I am not too worried at this point, but am looking for perspectives so I know where to go as things go along. I've only had her for less than a month and have quite a lot of work to get her into my pack and knew it would be a slow process...

Just some more fyi... She is fine with my dobie (10mo. pup, male, unaltered), and sometimes is good with my weim (11yr. old male, altered) so they are also separated until I am sure she is no longer nervous with him.  No fights there, but I have seen her give signals that she is still a bit nervous.

Thanks for reading..

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