Dog Owner Chat V. 5

[Blue_Aussie]

Hey guys, my Aussie is 13 months old and just went into heat this morning for the first time. Anyone have any tips or anything that I should know? Feel free to PM, whichever works. Thanks c:

[Blue_Aussie]

^Thanks for the idea! We actually do have lots of baby diapers on hand so maybe ill try that if it gets worse but for now its not a mess. c:

[survira]

im getting a purebred weimaraner puppy (girl) within the next month .. i have two other dogs now so in terms of raising and care I'm comfortable
- for this breed in specific is there anything i should know of or advice to be given ? ive done a fair amount of research already but id love to be prepared as possible

If not from a working line I wouldn't worry too much about strong prey drive, but in a bird dog like a Weim it's
something that will always need to be kept in mind when the dog is around cats, birds, small animals, etc.

Getting the puppy used to being touched on its mouth, ears, paws and underbelly should be a priority.
You don't want an adult dog that wants to fight grooming. Socialization like mentioned above is also
extremely important with any dog. Since weims need alot of physical and mental exercise I would get
them used to things like cars, busy sidewalks, and other dogs being near them.
I would also recommend for the first few weeks of having them, working on basic commands like
leave it, wait, and down. These will be great for sticky situations your pup could get himself
in; like road kill, a cat, etc.

Puppies are so exciting, so I wish you all the luck!!

the parents / past generations have done their share of hunting ; I'm not sure if the drive will pass on or be close to equivalent but i won't worry regardless as she'll be raised next to two small dogs + a cat we're fostering (likely will keep lmao)

yes ive considered a few days in slowly exposing her to nail clipping, grooming, bathing .. simply running the water in the sink and rewarding if she doesn't negatively react, make sure she's more relaxed and tired when holding her paws and getting her used to her claws being touched
puppies sleep about 20 hours a day so ill take advantage of touching her belly ears etc while shes in a deep baby sleep lmao

but thank you for the ideas ! it has helped plenty
we do live on acreage so she has plenty of room to roam by herself if she wants (although weims seem to be pretty velcro'd to their people) and livestock to socialize with as well .. lots of new experiences for her
socialization with other people is tricky due to quarantine .. and you only want to get so close :/ i can walk her by the river where there tends to be other dogs being walked but all dog parks are currently closed
there's others living here of course as well as some of my stepdads workers that're doing plenty of outdoor work so she may get introduced to them

as for my smaller dogs i think you want to have dogs meet a puppy outside of their home right ? like if they encountered each other one at a time outside of their home so it doesnt feel intrusive i guess .. its blurry since it was 4 years ago now but when introducing my new puppy they met outside first - they also are biological sisters mind you so they connected pretty quick, not sure if it'll be the same in this instance . mind you the puppy will be bigger than them by the time shes here @ about 12 weeks old - ill just hope it goes smooth lmao

[sorroh]

Due to Covid-19, a lot of racetracks are shutting down and we have tons of dogs coming in from all over the place. We currently have 27 sitting in a kennel a state away. The plan is to have adopters pick the dogs from the pictures, have them go off to their homes, then put fosters in place for the leftover dogs. I don't really like that because Greyhounds straight from the track and being on the road so much can be super difficult and jumping right into a living situation can be worrying, especially since most of our adopters don't have Greyhound experience. But these dogs need to get moving because there's just too many. I'm very worried about the amount of returns we're going to face, especially since we normally take about 10 dogs at a time. We do not have enough fosters to handle these dogs at this time. It's bonkers and I'm hoping it all works out.

[Skye Selkie]

This is our households newest addition Pyke. He is 12 weeks boxer cross, very cute and very well behaved unless he's chewing up everything.
We have an issue though as he is not getting along with our older dog Heidi (she is 11)
I told my parents it would probably be better to wait until Heidi had passed but my Sister argued with me and my parents ultimately decided to side with her as I only live at home during holidays (and pandemics) and study interstate.
They aren't bullying eachother or anything, he wants to play with Heidi but she is having none of it so snaps at him which only gets him worked up and barking more and more until we have to separate them. They are getting better but most of the time it's because she just moves somewhere he can't pester her and he gives up. I was hoping for some training tips that would help them get along a bit faster and stop him from pestering her? We have training sessions together and reward them both for good interactions but not sure how we should proceed when we have bad ones.

[Blue_Aussie]

He's adorable! My aussie did the same things to our older dog Oakley. I think what your doing is exactly right and when there are bad interactions, get Pykes attention and reward him when his attention is on you and he has stopped barking. Teach 'watch' Or 'eyes' which is when the dog looks at you, so that you can use it in that situation. Or if that doesn't work, you may need to try puppy time outs. I've never tried time outs but I've read a lot about them, not sure if it works or not though, you'll have to look into it. c:

Hope that helps, good luck with Pyke!

[Blue_Aussie]

Ok, so how do you guys feel about head halters/leaders? I've never used one except for on a neighbors dog that wears one that I walk sometimes. does it help with pulling or does a regular harness with a ring at the chest help better? Mazie Is good on walks and in training classes but when I take her hiking... its awful... I don't have a harness that fits her right now and don't want to go to the store due to Covid-19. if anyone uses head halters or has experience with them, id like to hear what you have to say! c:

[Blue_Aussie]

^Thanks but a retractable leash won't work for me, my 1 and a half year old niece hikes with us and Mazie likes to weave around us so I need her on a short leash so she can't trip her..

[chanel]

Ok, so how do you guys feel about head halters/leaders? I've never used one except for on a neighbors dog that wears one that I walk sometimes. does it help with pulling or does a regular harness with a ring at the chest help better? Mazie Is good on walks and in training classes but when I take her hiking... its awful... I don't have a harness that fits her right now and don't want to go to the store due to Covid-19. if anyone uses head halters or has experience with them, id like to hear what you have to say! c:

in my opinion i don't like head halters or 'no pull' harnesses. if a dog doesn't know how to already walk on a loose leash, it can cause whiplash if they try to pull. but they are great tools when used correctly, not sure if it would work for hikes. no pull harnesses can restrain muscles and doesn't let them walk at their natural gait.

i agree with @greay, use a long lead. if you want her to stop pulling completely, when used correctly,
prongs are usually the best to stop pulling.

[Blue_Aussie]

^Okay, thank you both but I'm not using prongs as a training technique. Ill work with her more if thats all i can do..