Pet Thread

[genoscoif]

Are you doing anything with her in the crate except for periods of separation? (Sleeping in a different room, leaving the house, etc) Like, put her in the boo box and just sit on the couch and watch TV, or clean up, or do your taxes.

Not to this point, but not a bad idea. We're fearful that she has some pretty intense separation anxiety. She never wants to be out of site of at least one of us...something we're trying to work on slowly by leaving rooms, shutting doors, etc. The boo box is in the bedroom, which may have been our first mistake. Honestly, though, before yesterday she had settled in nicely to the bedtime routine.

You're suggestion is a good one, though, since we both work from home and there aren't really many natural 'periods of separation'. We'll have to create some.

[skullman80]

Murphy whined like crazy the first week or so we crate trained him. We first kept him downstairs. Eventually we moved the crate into our bedroom and it seemed to help. Like he knew we were in the same room or something. That along with a tshirt with our scent on it and positive reinforcement of treats when he went in (he was also and still is very food motiviate)....seemed to help. I also remember we put a blanket over top cause we read it helped them feel like they were more protected or something? Probably the same reason to this day he will burrow under covers or blankets to lay down.

When we left we didn't crate him we ended up gating him in our kitchen when he was a puppy. He whined at first but eventually got used to it and never destroyed anything. We did it with a slow buildup...30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours...half day...eventually a full 8 hours etc. Always giving positive reinforcement. Once he got to like a year old or so he was able to have free reign of the house when we were gone and he didn't touch a thing.

The crate thing he eventually got into such a routine that he would look forward to going into his crate every night. It would be like 9 or 9:30 and he would go outside to go pee, then run back to his crate and wait for his treat and sleep thorough the night no problem.

Now after all of that one day my wife decided she didn't like the crate in the bedroom anymore and let him sleep in out bed one night. He now sleeps in our bed every night. I think he would go back in the crate though no problem if we set it back up.

It's honestly not a huge deal besides him trying to lay diagonally across and trying to take up the whole king bed, or when he wants to lay butt to butt and make you hot.

I don't miss the puppy stage though....there were times that I was like why did we do this? Much like babies puppies need attention all the time. The first 6-8 months were not the most pleasant, but there were enough good times that made us push through...and now 6 years later couldn't imagine not having Murphy being a pain in our ass on a daily basis haha.

[tifosi77]

Are you doing anything with her in the crate except for periods of separation? (Sleeping in a different room, leaving the house, etc) Like, put her in the boo box and just sit on the couch and watch TV, or clean up, or do your taxes.

Not to this point, but not a bad idea. We're fearful that she has some pretty intense separation anxiety. She never wants to be out of site of at least one of us...something we're trying to work on slowly by leaving rooms, shutting doors, etc. The boo box is in the bedroom, which may have been our first mistake. Honestly, though, before yesterday she had settled in nicely to the bedtime routine.

You're suggestion is a good one, though, since we both work from home and there aren't really many natural 'periods of separation'. We'll have to create some.

Dogs are naturally denning animals, they instinctually want to go into the cozy confines. But if you (inadvertently) make it a place they only associate as conflicting with other natural instincts (e.g. packing up with their hoomans) they will - very quickly - come to look at the crate with anxiety or even fear.

They want to go in, so I would look to reward that with treats and affection, on command but especially if/when they go in of their own volition. But I would also do it during periods where you're not going to bed or leaving the house so she builds up a positive reinforcement. At this stage, my inclination would be getting a whole new crate and starting over, as that would probably be easier than trying to reset back to zero.

[mac5155]

We brought home a golden retriever puppy the last week of January. She's been pretty good. Accidents are at a minimum. Healthy, does the crate at night with little barking now. Starting to work on some additional training and in pure golden retriever style she couldn't care less. Lol

[DigitalGypsy66]

[AuthorTony]

Nope. Not watching that.

[Troy Loney]

Those videos make me happy/sad

[willeyeam]

Tonight is the night that our first family dog crosses the rainbow bridge. Sid is almost 17, just not living a good life anymore. It's definitely time, but I'm sure it'll not be that fun of a night. First time doing this

[AuthorTony]

So sorry to hear that. 17 sure is a good age for a dog though.

[dodint]

[skullman80]

So sorry ulf.

[willeyeam]

Oh it's all good, crazy to think it's been that long, we kinda just thought he'd live forever, he definitely had a good life. No doubt that it's time though, my mom's life will be a lot easier. But tonight will be a little sad

[NTP66]

Man, that really sucks, Ulf. Sorry to hear that.

[meow]

sorry, ulfster

you can borrow my ball in a box

[tifosi77]

I'm sorry to hear that, ulfie. It's never a good time, but it's good to have some control over it.

[shafnutz05]

So sorry to hear that ulf, good long life but doesn't make it any easier, that's for sure.

[dodint]

Nope. Not watching that.

Got me and my wife. At least I knew it was coming.

[Shyster]

Ugh, that sucks. Sorry to hear that.

[obhave]

My kid accidently hurt the dog last night, unclear what he did but the dog yelped in pain. She has been shaking and keeping her self separate since. We have kept him separate from her, but she still shakes when she sees him. And she is nervous around us too.

I am just not sure what to do to get her comfortable. We can keep him separate, but we live in an apartment so that means she is mostly locked behind a gate all day. And she is too nervous to take the treats offered for positive association.

Any ideas?

[dodint]

Put the kid up for adoption.

[Troy Loney]

Realizing how effective the advertising is for the fresh pet foods.

Does anyone use those perishable dog food options?

Right now, I buy a $60 bag of From for my two dogs that lasts a month. I imagine that stuff would be at least double, but those ads do make me think sometimes that I am doing them wrong.

[meow]

we do. our Aussie basically stopped eating when we put our GSP down. our vet suggested farmer’s dog or fresh pet. she has turned into that dog that knows it is 6am or 6pm and lets us know it’s time to eat. she sits and waits for us to make her bowl.

we use 3/4 the amount of kibble and 1/2 the suggested serving of the fresh food. we keep a week’s worth of fresh food in the fridge at a time and freeze the rest.

[Troy Loney]

So the mixing with kibble permanent or still introducing the change?

[meow]

we haven’t decided yet. we saw our vet yesterday and told her this was our new feeding routine and she just said “great!” so it might be permanent

[tifosi77]

I wanted to prepare food for Carlin puppy when we first brought her home, but Mrs Tif was like "I don't want her eating 'people food' and begging at the table". So that never happened. And bet your bottom dollar that every single time we see one of those commercials...... our favorite online trainer guy was sponsored by a brand called Nom Nom for a time, that's available in PetSmart now...... JustFoodForDogs and Freshpet are in local grocery stores............ every conceivable instance in which we see 'people food' for dogs out in stores I make sure Mrs Tif sees and acknowledges it.

It would be cheaper to just buy some chicken, broth, carrots, eggs, and whatnot and prepare food weekly. But it feels like buying something like Nom Nom for the dog we have now (Moo is a 40-lb pittie) would actually cost almost as much as feeding another human.