Dog Owner Chat V. 5

[Blue_Aussie]

^ to teach leave it, start with a good piece of food on the floor where she can see it. Then cup your hand over it with gaps like you’re holding a ball or something. She will try to stick her nose through your fingers if she’s anything like Mazie was when I taught her lol. Wait until she settles even the slightest bit and remove your hand saying “ok” or “take it”. You slowly add in the “leave it” cue once she isn’t trying to get to the treat every time, then you start trying it without your hand over the treat. If she goes for the treat, quickly cup your hand over it until she settles again.

Once she has the hang of this, you can start dropping treats in front of her while she’s in a sit or lay and tell her “leave it”. You can then go outside on leash and when she starts sniffing something, tell her leave it and treat her when she looks at you or continues walking.

This is a very useful command for any dog to know. It’s helped me with Mazie in agility and when my niece dropped some grapes... it’s a very useful thing to teach your pup and it really doesn’t take very long to teach.

When she starts biting you can then try the leave it cue and treat her when she stops or simply pauses. I promise it isn’t as complicated as I make it sound, I’m just a very bad explainer lol! C;

[Fixius]

Hi I have an old dog who currently weighs around 80 pounds and has quite severe arthritis in her back hip and leg and can't maneuver that well especially up and down stairs. Currently its a struggle to get her back inside as my house is lifted above the ground and thus she has to go up 5/6 steps to get from the lawn into the house and I've noticed her trip coming up as she doesn't lift her back leg which along with worrying me about her getting hurt has also caused her to become tentative about coming up the stairs and with her weight and soreness its difficult to safely lift her to get her inside and outside the house. I was thinking of building a ramp but I built one for her to get into the car but she wouldn't go on it even with treats she wouldn't go all the way up the ramp(I think this is linked to her fear of slipping as she did agility for a short time years ago and had no fear of ramps back then). Anyways I was wondering if anyone here has any ideas of how to get her to use the ramp or possible other ideas as to how to get her up the stairs?

At the vets offices they take a fluffy bath towel and use it as a sling to help take some of the weight off. You just loop it underneath the belly and slide it back so that you can grab each end above the dog's hips. Lifting a little or a lot depending on how much help the dog needs.

[ᴍᴀᴏᴄɪғᴇʀ]

>>> Happy Birthday to this girl <<<
who I love more than life
(despite never giving me a smile when I want her to and always looking sad in pictures)!
Literally could not imagine life without her. What did I do before we had her? I honestly don't know, live a life of misery probably!
You would not believe how stressful it was making this cake since I don't ever bake and I became strangely obsessed with giving her an amazing cake, so in the end I just had to say, "it's a sugarless carrot cake with cheese and dog treats on top, it's not going to look good and it's certainly never going to taste good." But! The dogs enjoyed it, and Ruby even sneaked herself extra on the way home and took out a chunk of the leftovers. The fiend. So, all is good and I'm glad she liked it <3

I have some (better quality, lol, I hope) pictures to post on instagram, probably tomorrow if you're at all interested in seeing the whole cake / a very happy dog with new squeakies / or a boxador just inhale his entire cake slice. [@life_with_woluff]


I'm actually a couple hours late but I never post these things on time so what's new! (she's a 21/03 baby)
Still her birthday until we're all asleep <3

(sorry about the big bad image, one day I'll have the energy to resize these things)

[Blue_Aussie]

^Aww, happy birthday pupper!
You did an excellent job on the cake by the way c:

[acronymm]

hello! it's been a while since i've posted here. since then, my american staffordshire terrier, hazel, has been having rear leg issues. trouble getting up, can't stand properly, excessive drinkings, panting, and skin/fur issues.

i've already done research, but i'm interested to hear more, so i was wondering if anyone here has experience with dogs having cushings? i'd love to hear about the effects of it, and how it was treated. thank you!

[fairytale.]

On February 2nd, Thora had a litter of puppies! It had been a breeding I had been dreaming of for over a year. Unfortunately, neither her nor the sire of the litter were able to finish their championships with dog shows canceled, but both are beautiful, health-tested representations of the breed with wonderful temperaments. They both will be getting back out to the show ring soon :)
She had a litter of 6. 3 males, 3 females. 4 rough coats, 2 smooth coats. 2 sables, and 4 tricolors. It has been a long road since then, but all 6 puppies and mama are doing great. 2 kids went home last week and 2 more go home tomorrow. Which leaves 2 staying here for the time being! I will be growing them out and doing further health testing on them before I decide for certain how to move forward. They have already had eye checks, cardiac checks, and a few genetic screenings. Of course, raising littermates or multiple young dogs at the same time comes with its own challenges and isn't recommended for most. I wouldn't do anything that wasn't in the best interest of my dogs.
Anyway, here are the 2 that are staying! On the left is Scribble, a smooth tricolor, and on the right is Whimsy, a smooth sable. Scribble is spicy like her mama, and Whimsy is sweet like grandma May.

The last 9 weeks have gone by so quickly. Watching them all leave is bittersweet. Breeding and raising dogs is hard work, emotionally exhausting, and really a labor of love. I haven't had a solid night's sleep since well before they were born. I have spent countless (by choice LOL) dollars on food, supplies, health checks, enrichment, etc. Puppies are adorable but actually raising litters of dogs isn't for everyone!

[drift.]

I don't want to be weird but I follow your program on sm !
Did you change the sable's name for privacy purposes or is she getting a new name? /gen

They're so big now, I know how sad/happy it is to see the puppies your raise go !


I've been MIA but I'm still on the hunt for a SPoo, though coincidently I have been looking into rough collies more and more lately. I think the poodle will come first, and a collie after (or the other way around- puppy fever is hitting so hard right now and not helping)
Just seems like with recent events no time is the right time so the wait continues.

I'd ideally love to meet some breeders at a show over the summer/fall but how do you muster the guts to go talk to people you admire lmao but there is a lovely SPoo breeder local to me so if I can catch her in-between litters when there aren't puppies everywhere I may be able to meet with her and talk to her in person (covid safe, of course)

[fairytale.]

I don't want to be weird but I follow your program on sm !
Did you change the sable's name for privacy purposes or is she getting a new name? /gen

They're so big now, I know how sad/happy it is to see the puppies your raise go !


I've been MIA but I'm still on the hunt for a SPoo, though coincidently I have been looking into rough collies more and more lately. I think the poodle will come first, and a collie after (or the other way around- puppy fever is hitting so hard right now and not helping)
Just seems like with recent events no time is the right time so the wait continues.

I'd ideally love to meet some breeders at a show over the summer/fall but how do you muster the guts to go talk to people you admire lmao but there is a lovely SPoo breeder local to me so if I can catch her in-between litters when there aren't puppies everywhere I may be able to meet with her and talk to her in person (covid safe, of course)

Honestly, I mostly just didn't want 2 S names haha. Sonnet was a nice litter name, but I wanted something else for her if she stayed. Another breeder also used it as a litter name a few weeks after I did and I didn't want there to be any confusion between our programs. So there were a few reasons. I was originally going to rename Scribble if she stayed, but by the time I made up my mind on that, the name stuck!

Honestly, I have a really hard time mustering the courage to talk to breeders haha! If at a show, my best suggestion is to wait until after their ring time but try to catch them before they're done packing up. If there are any local specialty shows for the breed you want to go see, those are better than All Breed shows for socializing. All Breeds are much faster paced and people usually leave once they're done showing whereas specialty (breed-specific) shows are much more centered around the breed community. I can't help with spoos but feel free to reach out if you ever have any collie questions!

[.Middy.]

Well since Fairytale introduced the puppies, I guess I can too 😂 Fairytale and I finally got to meet in person last weekend after meeting on this thread 7 years ago. I had gotten my ex one of May’s babies from her last litter and absolutely fell in love, so after we broke up I asked Fairytale to keep me in mind if she had any really really naughty puppies. One of the boys came into the world screaming and she sent me a message as he did that she thought my puppy had just been born. For 8 weeks he woke up every morning and chose chaos, and she decided he was gonna be perfect for me. He absolutely is, I’m so glad I got the chance to own this crazy little thing. We’ve got big plans in the show and sports rings!

This is Extra 🥰




He handled the plane ride home like a champ, meeting O and my boarding dog along with my neighbors pack. He’s already went up the teeter by himself (and scared me senseless). All in all he’s been absolutely perfect, I’ve been breaking my own rules and letting him sleep in bed with me even 😂

[drift.]

Thanks for the tips ! I'll definitely keep an eye out for specialty shows. Is it okay to just show up as a spectator?

I love Extra, he's actually how I found out about Fairytale's dogs (I saw him in one of the snob groups I think)
I can't wait to see more of him as he grows, I love satan spawn puppies 😂



My old guy is turning 10 this fall, and I can't remember the last time I posted a picture of him but he's definitely not showing his age.
He's been showing an interest in small game so we may try out some barn hunt classes