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Messages - mynameislola

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1
Medical Conditions & Diseases / Re: Bleeding Gums on Ranger
« on: March 05, 2008, 08:30:46 am »
The calcium deposits as part of plaque formation, so cleaning the teeth will reduce places for the calcium to attach.  The enzymatic toothpastes are great for that.

Do you have hard water?  Hard water contains more calcium than soft water, so maybe changing the source of your dog's drinking water might help.  Our dogs, and the humans too, drink water from a reverse osmosis filter that hides under the sink.

Ask your Vet. about learning how to scale the dog's teeth at home.  It can be done, but if done wrong it can damage the dog's teeth.

2
FAQs about puppies / Re: HELP!!!! My Mastiff Puppy is AGGRESSIVE!!
« on: March 05, 2008, 08:19:41 am »
This board rocks.  I felt bad yesterday after I wrote a huge answer to this post and then deleted it all on the theory that I needed to take a deep breath and consolidate my reply.  Basically, it came down to this.

As a trainer I have never seen anyone do the roll correctly unless they were trained by a trainer.  The roll was brought to the public view in a dog training book back in 1976.  Since so many dogs have been injured by their owners since then, the authors of the book, the Monks of New Skete, have totally changed their views on the topic and now suggest it never be used.  Even then they used it only as a last resort with dogs whose aggression issues made them dangerous.

Somehow that all got developed over the decades since the book got published into holding the dog down till it stops struggling.  Originally, the hold lasted only until eye contact was broken by the dog, but I have not seen any reference here to the importance of eye contact. 

IMO the technique of holding till no resistance was borrowed from a technique used in behavioral therapy with children.  It is no longer used after therapist were convicted of crushing and suffocating a child to death.  The biophysical response in a dog to being held like that for minutes at a time is similar to shock after trauma.

On yelling at the pup, yelling is a technique used by trainers to build aggression in dogs.  Unless you want an attack dog, commands given in a calm, clear, low tone of voice will get a better response from the dog unless it is deaf or hard of hearing.


3
Take a deep breath, then go room by room.  Start at one side and work over until you have checked the entire room.  Knowing hubbies, I'd start with the closets.

My hubby cleaned the laundry room about a year ago and there are still several things missing...

4
Anything Non-Dog Related / Re: Weather Forecast
« on: March 01, 2008, 10:38:09 pm »
When that front you are expecting in Texas came though my yard in California yesterday, it brought a lot of dust.  I could see it off to the north early enough that I got the laundry off the line and the doors and windows shut before it hit.  Best of luck with it.

5
Anything Non-Dog Related / Re: I have another BIG interview
« on: March 01, 2008, 02:05:27 pm »
Please excuse the duplication if I have already suggested this, but how about printing up a few of your photos, framing some of them, and hanging them at someplace like a swap meet?  You could print out some onto perforated magnetic paper for a lower price item.

For a lower start-up cost, if you had the ability to burn CDs, could you put some images together in wallpaper size on a CD and sell them as a screensaver?  We recently paid ten bucks for 350 images of Las Vegas that can be used as a screensaver and about 100 of them were tilted, poorly lighted, or out of focus. 


6
That was a really good point, that there is a window for socialization that is closing fast.  There are lots of great ideas mentioned here that need to get done now.  Please don't wait for that next class without doing those other things  too.

Five months is a weird age for sure.  They are adjusting between their place in the pack as a pup and where they will fit in as an adult.  Most of the dogs belonging to other people that I have trained had problems that started at this age.

7
Behavior, Housebreaking, Obedience / Re: help with anger
« on: February 29, 2008, 08:03:32 am »
Welcome to BPO.  People here rock.  :)

Ditto that this is most likely not an aggression issue.  The links got bookmarked, tyvm. 

When trying to learn to relax on purpose, there are three things to think about: breathing, heart rate, and leash tension.  Keep some slack in the leash at all times unless making a correction.  Tight leash means a tense owner. 

The other two can be worked on if you know someone who has access to a small piece of medical equipment called a "pulse ox" which measures heart rate and how well someone ix oxygenating their blood.  Dogs can hear us breathe and most can hear a heartbeat.  Slow those both down and the dog senses you as relaxed and then they can be relaxed. 

8
Behavior is totally situational.  I don't consider a dog to have actually learned a command until they can perform it anywhere.

If I were going to train a dog for that test, they'd be going out in publc every few days for hours.

9
Behavior, Housebreaking, Obedience / Re: any training suggestions?
« on: February 28, 2008, 08:17:41 am »
Working with a group of dogs where one is dangerously active, I let only as many play at once as I have harnesses, leashes, and people to hold them.  The leashes are limited to six feet to keep that tangling from happening and the harnesses work better for me than collars which can get pulled off fairly easily.  They stay leashed until I believe thay are all safe together.  Some dogs never get off the leash; some are off in a few days.

There are some commands that can make playtime more fun for everyone.  One is the Be Careful! command.  I use that when my dogs are not paying attention to where people are.  I do not want to get blindsided by 350 pounds of dogs.

Another is a command that sends them all to a place of rest.  Here I say Box! and everyone runs for their crate.  It makes for a good time out if it gets too wild and is a fine way to get them all off the floor in an emergency, for example if a glass breaks.  My dogs learn these two commands before they get to play with visiting dogs.

If you keep the Mal on a short leash while playing, you can make corrections like Too Rough! and you can easily remove the dog from the play area for a few minutes.  If you have to break up a fight, and I do not suggest that for people who have not been taught by a specialist how to do it safely, dragging dogs away with leashes may be the only safe alternative. 

I use squirt bottles and the chain rattling too, but some dogs are not affected by either. 

Are you also working on bite inhibition and suppression?  From your description of the dog's behavior, I would guess that those never got done.

10
Discussions & Information on Grooming / Re: How to keep feet White?
« on: February 28, 2008, 07:32:34 am »
Wow, light colored carpet, dog feet, and now a baby.  I admire your stamina.  We had all the carpet removed in our new house.

How about dog boots?  www.inthecompa nyofdogs.com  D64-046 or D75-018

11
Anything Non-Dog Related / Re: I need to know if i am wrong...
« on: February 27, 2008, 08:34:54 pm »
That guy sounds way too much like my first husband.  Nothing was ever his fault and I was unreasonable for wanting things like electricity, and indoor plumbing.

My response to a comment like that would be, "Thanks, hon.  Now why don't you hoist that beer gut and see if I can find your ____."

12
Medical Conditions & Diseases / Re: stinky ears
« on: February 27, 2008, 08:03:57 pm »
Get that cutie pie pillow thief his own pillow, one with a protective cover and his own set of pillowcases. 

How big is the pup?  For a second he looked a bit Newfie.

13
Great Pyrenees Discussions / Re: Great Pyr and chewing and mischief
« on: February 27, 2008, 03:59:59 am »
Since clotheslines pose such a great danger for strangulation, I always train our dogs to leave them alone before they get left alone with them.  Some dogs have a really hard time resisting anything that moves.  Zita took months before she was safe with laundry, but Wally never bothered it.

I also have decoy hoses, extension cords, and furniture.  The dented pie plate collection works great when training dogs to stay off the kitchen counters.

14
Anything Non-Dog Related / Re: Are you creative (Totally NDR)
« on: February 24, 2008, 05:31:15 pm »
How about...  Barons   We Rule. 

Get one of the artsy kids to draw a baseball player on a bench with a baseball bat like a scepter and a baseball like an orb?

When thinking of this sort of thing in Marketing class, we learned not to offer suggestions that had obvious rude rhymes, so maybe We Rule rhyming with We Drool might not be the best idea....

15
Treatment & Preventative Meds / Re: New puppy Great Dane Mastiff mix
« on: February 24, 2008, 06:47:28 am »
The Vet. who sees our mastiffs says to feed a high-quality, all life stages kibble, not a puppy formula.  The puppy formulas cause the pup to get too heavy too fast which can make skeletal problems worse.

Got pictures?

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