Dog Owner Chat v2

[Joe Kerr]

An acquaintance of mine needs some dog help,
but prefers to stay anonymous. Could they get
some opinions?

[center]Thank you so much, these dogs are the main two problems in two households.

Australian Shepherd x Border Collie

Her name is Zura, and she was bought from a breeder in early January of 2013 - just a couple of months before my brother and his wife moved all the way to Germany in late April. She was fine as a puppy - playful, nice, not really aggressive, hopping up on laps - but when she returned to the states in August of this year, something was different. I get that a lot of dogs mellow out as they get older, but she hadn't and she made a major aggression issue and a huge fear of strangers. My mother's husband said that he thought someone had abused the dog, and when I really started to pay more attention to how my sister-in-law treated this poor thing, I noticed that she would swat at Zura, but make no connect if she knew someone was watching.
This was just the first two days they were staying with us, by the third my little brother and I were scared to go downstairs unless my mother was there because my sister-in-law didn't do anything to make her dog back off - just saying "no Zura, quit barking" in monotone while checking her FaceBook or sitting beside her son and looking at her gosh dang phone. (Zura had been snarling and backig me into corners the whole time she had been with us) The fear progressed so much that I went to my mother and said, "I'm scared that dog is going to bite me or Mark. Neither of us want to go downstairs to do anything and I know I won't be able to bring friends around anymore if she does stay for the six months she had been planing." (A totally different story there). So my mother talks to my sister-in-law and they both agree that the dogs (she had two, but only one was an issue) needed to find another place to stay.
Then that same day, Zura goes after my little brother while he's coming downstairs. Thankfully she didn't get to reach him before my mother and I both stepped in, but that was the last straw with my mother. She said that the dog was not allowed to have free rang anymore while my little brother was home alone, so she either needed to be outside or in her crate in the garage. Zura was crated in the garage until we got home, but later that night she had almost bitten me. So my mother really pushed that she find another place to stay because she didn't want the dog biting anyone.

My question for Zura: what do you think we should do with this dog?


Mini Pinscher

I forgot his name, so I will just call him Dog for now. Dog is two years old and has been through seven different homes before he was welcomed into my brother-in-law's grandmother' house. He is also a very, very aggressive biter who, they think, "dislikes human males because he was abused by one" (they don't know for sure). This line has been used so many different times - when he bit a neighbor kid, when he bit my bother-in-law, when he bit my little brother - and no one really sees that there is an issue with him biting more so than ever now because my sister is due to have her baby in less than two months and is living with this dog.
The week before last Dog bit my sister' hand and drew a lot of blood (more so "than usual" but less than a serious wound). Now my sister is pretty upset with having to live and having her baby live in this household with Dog, and doesn't know what to do. She's scared that if she puts her baby (a baby boy) on the floor, the dog will attack him and really injure him. Heck, if Dog bites the baby's finger it could probably take some of it off. My mother and I are really talking about letting my sister and her baby come and live here when he is born, but we don't want her dog (Phoebe - who is perfectly fine with babies and other animals, she would just be home alone a lot and she pees everywhere whenever you greet her) or my brother-in-law staying here. I'm scared of this dog, too, and I'm scared of what he'll do to a new baby.

My question about Dog: how do we get him to stop biting, or at least not bite the baby when it arrives?

[/center]

[Cardinal]

Crying. I HAVE SO TO PORTION OUT. WHY DO I FEED RAW AGAIN!?

Picked up 82lbs of free meat today. 27lbs of deer and 55lbs of grass fed bull. Uggghhh. The two bottem drawers of my frige are over flowing with ground deer, steaks, bone in chicken, and organs, about 15lbs worth that I didn't seperate a couple nights ago. Ugggghhhh.

It takes SO LONG. Fellow raw feeders, HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE YOU?!

[stricklyspagetti]

Do you own a dog?: yes! c:
Favorite dog breed?: great danes definetly
Tell us about your dog(s), if you have any!: i have one dog named ruby, shes five months and a german shephard/blue healer mix c: shes reeeeally active and in her teething/puppy stage right now, and getting really big!
Pictures of your dog(s): the first one was a couple weeks ago, shes a bit bigger now, but the second one is when we first got her, and you can see her colors <3 but shes aalloott bigger than the second one
ruby ruby

[Joe Kerr]

@stricktlyspagetti
*Shepherd
She's gorgeous! At 5 months old,
she must be SUCH a handful, I
don't envy you xD I have a Rhodi mix
that was the absolute worst at 5 - 10
months old. Where'd you get Ruby?

[val.]

Crying. I HAVE SO TO PORTION OUT. WHY DO I FEED RAW AGAIN!?

Picked up 82lbs of free meat today. 27lbs of deer and 55lbs of grass fed bull. Uggghhh. The two bottem drawers of my frige are over flowing with ground deer, steaks, bone in chicken, and organs, about 15lbs worth that I didn't seperate a couple nights ago. Ugggghhhh.

It takes SO LONG. Fellow raw feeders, HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE YOU?!

i do feed raw diet, but pre-made raw diet. it is way easier to prepare, and not as bad as dry food (Science Diet, Iams ect.) i feed finn a pre-made diet called the honest kitchen. if you get past the bad smell (it's pretty....unsettling) it's quick and easy to make. just make sure you use hot water and wait 3-5 minutes for the food to cool off.

[Cardinal]

Crying. I HAVE SO TO PORTION OUT. WHY DO I FEED RAW AGAIN!?

Picked up 82lbs of free meat today. 27lbs of deer and 55lbs of grass fed bull. Uggghhh. The two bottem drawers of my frige are over flowing with ground deer, steaks, bone in chicken, and organs, about 15lbs worth that I didn't seperate a couple nights ago. Ugggghhhh.

It takes SO LONG. Fellow raw feeders, HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE YOU?!

i do feed raw diet, but pre-made raw diet. it is way easier to prepare, and not as bad as dry food (Science Diet, Iams ect.) i feed finn a pre-made diet called the honest kitchen. if you get past the bad smell (it's pretty....unsettling) it's quick and easy to make. just make sure you use hot water and wait 3-5 minutes for the food to cool off.

I like the honest kitchen, its just not economical at all for us. We feed nearly 3lbs every day of raw meat/bones/organs. One dog gets 1.5ish lbs and the other 1.25lbs ish. We source a lot of stuff for free or very cheaply.

[Keeki]

Anyone able to help with introducing crazy dogs to half feral cats? cats came first....

[Cardinal]

Anyone able to help with introducing crazy dogs to half feral cats? cats came first....

A lot of it is going to be judging your dogs and going off of what you know about them. Do they have a lot of prey drive? Is there a place the cats can retreat? etc etc. Lots of things to think about.

You've had these pups for a while, right? If you haven't done intros yet I probably wouldn't bother now unless you now exactly how the dogs will act.

[Symmy]

I think what I am going to do when my dog arrives is basically let him release/use the bathroom and letting him go to sleep on his doggy bed. I will probably try and see if he wants to eat near the evening to resemble a "dinner time". Otherwise, I will wait until he heals (7-10 days) till he can start playing and taking walks again.

[Rainbow Dash]

@stricktlyspagetti
*Shepherd
She's gorgeous! At 5 months old,
she must be SUCH a handful, I
don't envy you xD I have a Rhodi mix
that was the absolute worst at 5 - 10
months old. Where'd you get Ruby?

That face is just too precious! I dunno why but dogs with eyebrows and the widow's peak are super cute to me. How big is s/he? We have a Rhodi mix puppy in our daycare who grew like a little weed and had to be moved out of small dogs into big dogs since she had too much energy and legs she didn't know how to handle.