Adopted a Dog Today!!!

[aukevin]

Re: Adopted a Dog Today!!!

Since others are posting their dogs, I thought I'd post my other pup. The one I posted earlier was Miley, and this is our other Boston Terrier, Howie. Miley is 11 months and Howie is still just a pup at 4 months. Let's see this new one of yours FF.

[RoyalBoyle78]

Re: Adopted a Dog Today!!!

here's my little baby, Her name is Sacha, just took her to the vet today, she'e 14 weeks and already weights 18lbs, the doctor said she should weight about 65 to 70lbs at full age..

[BGarrett7]

Re: Adopted a Dog Today!!!

My two wonderful dogs -- the sheltie is from a breeder, the mutt is a rescue...

[ubernoob]

Re: Adopted a Dog Today!!!

The day I own my own home is the day I get myself into trouble. All these dogs from that potcake place (or any shelter) I just want to take home with me. Guess I love dogs more than people sometimes

[nyisles16]

Re: Adopted a Dog Today!!!

My two wonderful dogs -- the sheltie is from a breeder, the mutt is a rescue...

aww man... that sheltie reminds me so much of my first dog, Misty, except she had dark coloring, not the golden hair..


hopefully soon I will post a pic of my (late) dog Boomer (Springer Spaniel)..

pups are so cool.. my dad & step-mom had a female Portugese Water Dog.. neighbor down the street had a male... well one day they "got together" & my parents ended up with 11 pups (two still-born).. they ended up keeping one, which now is as big as the mom, but much more outgoing...

[CM1847]

Re: Adopted a Dog Today!!!

Might as well post a question here.....

I adopted a dog in November from a shelter. Not sure of his age, the shelter said 6 months, the vet said at least a year, maybe 2, so we're going with him being a year and a half by now. He was suprisingly well potty trained having come from a bad situation, he felt the need to lift his leg on a few things the first night, but since then he has only had two true accidents in the apartment.

He's good, but he doesn't seem to understand how to ask to go outside. Any advice on how to get him to do this? I was at a house over the weekend where they have their dog trained to ring a bell near the door, and my family's dog at home sits by the door when it needs to go out. My new dog sits by the door sometimes and I try to take him out when I notice him sitting there for more than a few seconds, but he usually doesn't do anything and he certainly hasn't gotten a hang of the idea yet.

He's not a chewer and he doesn't have accidents, so I can't complain, but it would be nice if he learned how to give a signal when he needs to go out, any suggestions?

[Lintyfresh85]

Re: Adopted a Dog Today!!!

Might as well post a question here.....

I adopted a dog in November from a shelter. Not sure of his age, the shelter said 6 months, the vet said at least a year, maybe 2, so we're going with him being a year and a half by now. He was suprisingly well potty trained having come from a bad situation, he felt the need to lift his leg on a few things the first night, but since then he has only had two true accidents in the apartment.

He's good, but he doesn't seem to understand how to ask to go outside. Any advice on how to get him to do this? I was at a house over the weekend where they have their dog trained to ring a bell near the door, and my family's dog at home sits by the door when it needs to go out. My new dog sits by the door sometimes and I try to take him out when I notice him sitting there for more than a few seconds, but he usually doesn't do anything and he certainly hasn't gotten a hang of the idea yet.

He's not a chewer and he doesn't have accidents, so I can't complain, but it would be nice if he learned how to give a signal when he needs to go out, any suggestions?

That's odd, our lab always has just walked over to the door and scratched at it till we let him out. I think there's a post on page 2? that seems like it would be a good way to teach your dog to go outside. Practice makes perfect I guess.

[CM1847]

Re: Adopted a Dog Today!!!

That's odd, our lab always has just walked over to the door and scratched at it till we let him out. I think there's a post on page 2? that seems like it would be a good way to teach your dog to go outside. Practice makes perfect I guess.

Yeah, I saw that, we took the postive reinforcement approach to training him as well, but we only had two accidents so it isn't like we had much work in that area.

The problem is that he is pretty well potty trained, outside of marking his territory the first night only two accidents in 4 months, I can't complain. But he doesn't seem to have any idea about how to tell us he needs to go out, he just waits until we take him. Its weird, definitely not the worst problem to have with a dog, but we can't figure out anything to do to teach him to sit or scratch at the door.

[bergie56]

Re: Adopted a Dog Today!!!

Yeah, I saw that, we took the postive reinforcement approach to training him as well, but we only had two accidents so it isn't like we had much work in that area.

The problem is that he is pretty well potty trained, outside of marking his territory the first night only two accidents in 4 months, I can't complain. But he doesn't seem to have any idea about how to tell us he needs to go out, he just waits until we take him. Its weird, definitely not the worst problem to have with a dog, but we can't figure out anything to do to teach him to sit or scratch at the door.

To teach our dog to ring a bell by the door was surprisingly really simple. We just took his paw and batted the bell and then let him out. When he came back in after going to the bathroom we rewarded him with a treat and a good pat down. He learned to ring the bell himself pretty quickly. We also don't ignore it if when he rings it, even if he was just outside.

I think the key to almost anything with a dog (like life in general) is patience, consistency and continuity.

[RubenDouglas]

Re: Adopted a Dog Today!!!

heres my families dog.




8-9 year old alaskan malamute mix from the shelter.. weighs about 50-60 lbs. Can anyone recommend a backpack for dogs where you can place weights and water in, so she feels like shes "working and pulling something".

Two weeks ago she got into a fight with a st. bernard. at first she appeared fine, but that bastard took ripped some flesh. basically both dogs were not on the leashes in the street. my dog was in my yard doing her thing. this other dog was roaming the neighborhood and came into my yard. and my dog protected her yard like anydog would do.


Right now the cut area has a liquid bubble effect going on under its skin.. We didnt sue. we just took it as one of those unforunate things that happen in life.

[BGarrett7]

Re: Adopted a Dog Today!!!

He's good, but he doesn't seem to understand how to ask to go outside.

Since it sounds like he already has somewhat of a pattern -- the sitting by the door -- the key is when you take him out immediately following it, keep him outside until he goes. As soon as goes, start praising the hell out of him. Treats, toys, petting, verbal praise, the whole nine, make a huge production out of it. It could take a while, but after a couple successful tries, he'll get the hang of it and start going quicker. There's really no need in introducing another step in the ringing the bell if he already has an obvious tell like sitting by the door. Just go with that and work with the tells that he has already adopted himself.

[BGarrett7]

Re: Adopted a Dog Today!!!

Two weeks ago she got into a fight with a st. bernard. at first she appeared fine, but that bastard took ripped some flesh. basically both dogs were not on the leashes in the street. my dog was in my yard doing her thing. this other dog was roaming the neighborhood and came into my yard. and my dog protected her yard like anydog would do.

So, not to sound like a ****, but which dog got aggressive first? From the way you explained it, it appears that your dog is the one who caused things to escalate -- the "protected her yard" is mainly what I'm basing this off of. Not that the other dog, and it's owners, weren't in the wrong, as well. That's exactly why you keep your dog on a leash and supervised at all times. I would also offer the same advice to you, as well. I know it's your own yard, but unless the area is fenced in, you really need to keep your dog on a lead or leash unless you are outside with it and have complete control of the situation.

That being said, dog fights between a bigger dog and one considerably smaller are absolutely horrifying. Not to mention a bitch to try and break-up. I can't even begin to count the number of times I've had to break up something similar, and it still freaks me out when it happens. Way too scary.

[RubenDouglas]

Re: Adopted a Dog Today!!!

yeah its definetly a mutual fault type of fight even though i seen to feel my dog is better than that.

heres the breakdown of how and why it occurred.
-The house across the street from me has had a old guy living there for about 21 years. very quiet and reserved. never owned any pets... 7 months ago he decides to move out and my other neighbor buys up the house. he fixes it up and decides he wants to rent it out. 4 months ago in janurary these new people come in. there yard is already fenced in by a 3 foot standard gate. they have this huge st. bernard. i had reserves at first about the dog wanting to and accomplishing his goals of jumping the fence. for awhile everything was fine.

so my neighbor, who owns the house, is asked by the new renter to build a little pen in the back yard so that the renter can park her car in the driveway without having to open and close the gate.

one day after getting the new enclosure, the lady decides when she came home from work that she would park inside her yard and close the gate behind her.. thus putting the dog outside of its interior pen and into the larger fenced area.. that morning we spot the dog loose down a couple houses.

its quite the issue though in my opinion. when the dog only had the bigger pen, it never tried to escape or succeeded. but now when it roams in the bigger pen after being in the smaller one, she tends to get out. whether by skill or human error.

i suspect a mistake on their part about locking the bigger gate. the gate they hate to lock. afterall they had a new pen built for the dog just because of that very reason.

so 4 days after the first escape, my dad is sitting onthe couch watching tv. my dog is scratching at the door to go outside.. Having lived in an environment friendly to everything for 2 decades, he lets the dog out front like any other day and lets it go to the bathroom.. my dad sees this other dog sniffing and going around to other houses... the dog decides to come closer to my dog which was minding her business and stays in her yard almost 100% of the time even without a fence. the bigger dog encrouched on my yard and came almost near my door, where my dog was, which is about 20 feet inside the curb from the street.. that was alittle too close for comfort and my dog barked and intiated the "get the hell out of here". my dad eventually picked up a park bench, a wooden one, and hit the st bernard a few times before it barely got off

I will simply not build a fence considering for 21 years everything was fine. now only 4 months after getting new renters, it has turned the neighborhood upside down.

i know lifes not fair but having to change my lifestyle after 21 years of the same lifestyle is a challenge.

i guess we were naive to believe that our neighborhood would stay the same forever and the adaptation to new neighbors will take some time. but I still feel the bigger dog shouldnt have been out roaming the neighborhood. there fault 100% imo. if my dog was on her leash, this bigger dog still would have encroched the area. but like i said, we took the loss, plus the 500 dollar bill, and will learn from it. the next time a bunny rabit or chihuahua is killed who was just minding her own business in someones yard, we now who to turn to.

sorry for the long historical biography