ajcpets

The member blog entry comes from Shannon:

I’m a pet sitter and this issue drives me BATS!

Twice, in different neighborhoods, I’ve had unleashed dogs challenge the leashed dogs I was walking.

Both times, the unleashed dog was smaller and initiated the confrontation. The worst was when I was walking two dogs, on the side walk, and the other person’s dog was unleashed in the front yard. Instead of doing anything to restrain her dog, this woman just stood there shrieking as I struggled to control my client’s two dogs and keep her dog away from them.

For pete’s sake, people, control your dogs if you love them!

How well do you control your dog when two of you go for a stroll? What are your tactics? Or does he or she control you?

Today’s Pet Tale comes from Sam, Sophie and Beethoven’s Mom:

I won’t pay anyone to help me train Beethoveen. He is a Yorkie and will be 6 months old Tuesday on my birthday. We spend time with him daily and we just teach him how we want him to be. He is a smart little dog and soon he will be just as obedient as Sam and Sophie.

Sam is a 10-year-old Schnauzer and Sophie is an 11-year-old Bichon. We love spending time with all three dogs. We are very careful to treat them like dogs.

My sister-in-law’s yorkie thinks he is a little boy, and now he does not want his bowl on the floor. He wants someone to hold it while he eats. He wants to ride on the dashboard of the car which is very dangerous. We tend to be more stern with our dogs.

Have any pet peeves you want to share about friends or neighbors? Who knows, maybe they’ll see this and change their ways!

This week’s Member Post comes from Melodie:

“My oldest cat, Jake, who is now 16, is leash trained. When he was younger I use to take him camping with me. Most of the campgrounds in the state of Georgia, at least back then, I guess they still do, allowed pets as long as they were on leashes. I would tie a rope between two trees and attach his retractable leash to this, or if there were no trees I would attach it to the top of the front of the tent, when we were just hanging out at the camp site. I only found one campground in North west Florida and it was a private camp ground. It was on a beach but it was on the sound so it had a barrier island between it and the open ocean, Jake liked walking on the beach there since the waves were not as high as they would have been on the open ocean, he loved the smells especially when the tide was out and he could go out further and smell what I been there when it was covered in water, fishy smells.

The state run campgrounds in Florida would not even let you through the gate with a pet due to the rate of abandoned animals, especially feral cat’s.

Jake loved camping and it was fun to take him camping with me. Other people would get a kick out of it because most of them said they had never seen a cat on a leash before. I can’t believe the number of people who think cat’s cannot be leash trained. Jake always had to have his covered litter box, he would not even pee on the ground. During the day I would sit his litter box out beside the tent and at night I would sit it back in the tent with us. The only time he was off his leash was at night when we were in the tent sleeping. In the mornings he knew he had to get his harness on first thing, before we went outside.
He never even tried unzipping the tent until one night we were camping at Lake Winford Scott, I was awakened by a storm in the distance and I realized that Jake was not in the tent with me and the bottem of the tent was unzipped. I could just imagine him going down to the lake and one of those alligators taking one bite and he would be gone. I was terrified. I dashed out of the tent and started looking and calling him. I looked and he was sitting under the picnic table staring back at me like “What’s the big deal” I took the bread ties and tied the 3 zippers together in the middle after that and he never got out of the tent again.

We don’t camp anymore, Jake has arthritis and I am afraid I would hurt him trying to put a harness on him. I have never tried taking any other cat camping, but then Jake has never been an ordinary cat.”

Do you go camping with your cats or dogs? What was your experience?

Mattie’s comment kicks off this week’s Pet Tales:

“We love our Golden. She’s best buddies with our second dog, a Lab. Between the gold hair and the black, sometimes it looks like we have tweed carpets. Our dogs are dogs are both energetic, but neither one is hyper. We lucked out. I would love another Golden, but we’ve had some health issues with our current one, both knees replaced, and some hip dysplasia, so I think we’re planning on adding another Lab to the family.”

Have you shelled out big bucks for animal emergencies or major pet surgery? Is there a cap set on how much you’re willing to spend?

Since we’re approaching Halloween, vote for these cute creatures in their costumes. Check out the photos you’ve sent. If you haven’t done so, dress up your pet and upload the photos today.

This week’s Pet Tale comes from comments by Tonya and Malinoisrocks:

From Tanya:

We have an Aussie who has to be be drugged for storms, but she has only gotten worse. She is not destructive at least but will end up having a heart attack.

Some dogs are so afraid they will hurt themselves to get away. Talk to your vet about using Ace (the drug) before a storm hits to help. An outside dog can hang themselves, get away and run and not look back.

From Malinoisrocks:

“Many in the behavioral science community view the tenets—and consequences—of Cesar Milan with much trepidation. In an interview published in the NY Times in February, Dr. Nicolas Dodman, Director of the Animal Behavior Clinic at Tufts University’s Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, observed, “My college thinks it is a travesty. We’ve written to National Geographic Channel and told them they have put dog training back 20 years.”

That’s the same Dr. Dodman who thinks drugs will solve all dog behavior problems.

It’s so much easier to drug a dog than train it.

Can drugs work sometimes? Sure. Are they needed for things that training can fix? No. Do many people like Dodman like to prescribe drugs because they have no idea how to actually train a dog? Yes.

Dog training is both a science and an art. What works for one will not work for another. Cesar’s methods work for many. Personally, I prefer Millan to Stilwell after having seen both shows.

The main reason I like Cesar is because his “exercise, discipline, affection” mantra is SPOT ON. You don’t have to agree with him, like his show, or use his techniques.

If they don’t work for you, use something else. All the rhetoric of the techniques “setting dog training back” and causing all this harm–where is the overwhelming proof?

People want quick fixes, and the truth is that there aren’t any. Do the work, and your dog will benefit.

(But, what do you guys think? Do you agree with the members’ points? Do you medicate your dog? If so, why?)

As we heavily debated over Dieselmom’s entry the other day, AJCPets member Ron quietly shared PetDish his pet peeve.
“My pet peeve is people who think their dog has to go everywhere with them.I’ve seen small dogs in the grocery cart inside the store.I’ve seen dogs downtown during festivals where there are lots and lots of people.”
Tiny poodles have been spotted in hair salons and on the laps of drivers.
What are some unusual places that you’ve you see these adored creatures?
Are you encouraged by these caring owners and would like to emulate them? Or Are you just annoyed? If so, why?

Wow, have you kept up with the replies to the story about that couple suing their vet following the death of their 13-year-old dog! From anger to disbelief to sympathy, the posts covered a range of sentiments.
And the discussion unveiled something else.
How do you get over the death of your pet? Was it as difficult as the death of a fellow human being? Did you get another pet? What was your mourning process? Any suggestions to others undergoing the experience?
One member, Kim, wrote:
“My 13 year old dog died too. It was a few weeks after she had her teeth cleaned, and some cysts removed. I was told having teeth cleaned could be dangerous to an older dog because bacteria could get in the blood stream. Doc said nah, it is fine. I was riddled with guilt for a year over it, but finally forgave myself. I did nothing wrong. I am not sure why my dog died, I did not pay for an (autopsy). I wanted to believe the doc did something wrong. 13 years is a long time for a dog though, and she had a good life. Sure, I wanted to blame the doctor, maybe she got an infection or something, how come he didn’t know something was wrong? She died suddenly, so no idea what happened. Either way, the dog is dead, I had to accept it. What was I supposed to do, live in pain and suffering forever? Let it go. The dog had a great life at 13 years. Let it go…”

photo: iStockphoto.com

This week’s Pet Tale comes from a comment by KT:
As a dog owner I have read and watched many programs on dog training. I enjoyed reading Cesar’s second book, Be The Pack Leader, earlier this year. The only thing is that we don’t all have access to someone like Cesar. Fortunately, we do have an amazing facility north of Atlanta that can train ANY dog!

For those of you who need to train your dog you might want to check out the Georgia Dog Gym. My husband and I have done both group and private lessons with our dog. Our experience there has been amazing! A benefit of using them is that they guarantee their work for the life of your pet! So anytime we want we can take our dog back for a refresher course if need be with no charge.

What should you look for in a dog trainer? For questions about your dog’s behavior, submit a question to our Pet Expert today.

Take a look a the previous Pet Dish entry on Mr. Millan’s visit.

P.S. Oh no! Mars Petcare US recalls some dry pet foods, including Pedigree

This week’s Pet Tale comes from a comment by Sali: Baxter, my Golden Retriever, tried to take on a pitbull through a chain link fence and broke his lower fang…root canal and stainless steel fang…$4,000.

Jake, my newest Golden, is in disagreement with me as to whether the edge of the stairs should be a polished wood corner or rounded with teeth holes in it…he’s winning. He also goes into my bar and bring the bottle of booze out and gets the cap enough undone so that it leaks out and he can lap it up.

Hunter my middle golden, loves Christmas ornaments…yes…even the glass ones that are 5 feet off the ground…he started on those after eating the plastic ones on the bottom half…sure was interesting cleaning up the poop in the yard during that time!

For richer or poorer, Sali is clearly a Golden Retriever fan.

This week’s Pet Tale comes from an ajcpets.com comment by Cindy about her dog:

I left a plastic baggie filled with chocolate-flavored nutritional powder on the couch, forgetting that Bob is very fond of eating plastic bags. Got home to discover he’d apparently ripped open a little bitty corner of the bag and carried it from room to room, leaving little heaps of chocolate powder on the newly cleaned (and damp) white carpets wherever he went.

You could clearly see his route by the narrow ribbon of powder winding from room to room. His journey ended in the bedroom, on the bed which was wearing a brand-new white goosedown comforter AND a neat little pile of chocolate-flavored doggie puke studded with bits of plastic bag.

Bad, bad Bob Dog!

Share your tale of pet carnage.

In other stuff:

• Help AJCPets experts! What do you do with an unhappy kitty or picky dog?

• “It’s Me or the Dog.” Lucky for you, this is just a TV show. Take a peek at the photos.