per far effetto

i’m an italian greyhound that was adopted tre months ago.  i love my new life with my new parents!

my likes:

-prancing

-jumping

-laying on the couch

-loving my parents

my dislikes:

-i get cold easily and have to wear a sweater.

-i [...]]]> ciao!  mi chiamo henry, ratchet’s cousin and anche roo’s.

per far effetto

i’m an italian greyhound that was adopted tre months ago.  i love my new life with my new parents!

my likes:

-prancing

-jumping

-laying on the couch

-loving my parents

my dislikes:

-i get cold easily and have to wear a sweater.

-i have loads of energy!

-esse nufesso qui dice male di macaruni.  i want pasta!

-i tend to get bored and tear up the house.

a poco a poco, life is very, how you say, content.  we even had a new addition to the family recently, my sister clara.  she’s an iggie just like me.  it is now trouble  x 2!

viva il re!  that’s me

arrivederci,

henry

We do.

While Roo is incredibly lovable, we realized shortly after she came home from the pound that she was a little more than simply excitable.  It’s normal for a puppy to need some time to adjust to his/her new surroundings, but Roo was terrified of certain things in our house.

First [...]]]> Do you have an anxious dog?

We do.

While Roo is incredibly lovable, we realized shortly after she came home from the pound that she was a little more than simply excitable.  It’s normal for a puppy to need some time to adjust to his/her new surroundings, but Roo was terrified of certain things in our house.

First it was the mirror at the end of our hall.  She’d run away, cower, and then slowly approach it again — trying to figure out the shapes inside.

Then it was the vacuum cleaner.  Hiding underneath our kitchen table (since there’s no carpet in our kitchen, it’s a vacuum-free zone), she’d look up at us with these accusatory eyes.  As a matter of fact, she couldn’t even be near us if we went into the closet that held the vacuum.  She’d race down the stairs and warily wait, providing a stark contrast to our other dog.  He happily barked at the machine and chased it around the house.

After that, it was the Corvette.  Steven made the mistake of thinking Roo — being a dog and all — would enjoy a quick ride down the street.  But the combination of raw noise and power, along with her unexplained fear of our garage (where we keep the car), forced him to cut the ride short.  She came back inside violently shaking and nearly inconsolable.

All of these things are, believe it or not, still normal for a new dog who is getting used to the lifestyle of his/her owners (except for the Corvette, that one was pretty radical).  But we began to learn that Roo was just a little bit different from the other dogs when she started releasing her anal glands at the most random times, in essence “spraying” herself.

It started innocently enough.  When I let her inside one afternoon, I accidentally closed the screen door on her tail and she yipped, spraying herself.  I know I know, bad mom.

It quickly progressed.

We could walk into the same room that she was in and she’d spray.  Steven’s brother would come up the stairs after spending the night in our guest room downstairs and the hair on her back and neck would stand up — and she’d of course spray.  Taking her on walks was a nightmare at times.  Kids with their remote-controlled cars would terrify her or a car engine would turn over, and we’d have to clean the fear off of her when we got home.

In the meantime the vet had recommended we put her on anti-depressants (not because of this, but due to her self-wetting).  We didn’t want to spend hundreds of dollars a month on medication not covered by our pet insurance. But if anything, the vet’s suggestion indicated the extent of Roo’s mental illness.

We work in our own way to combat her demons.  We constantly assure her and spend time with her, along with playing ball and soccer with her.  We take her on walks to try and exert her nervous energy.  We’re careful not to surprise her and make a concerted effort not to emit any anxious vibes.

There is no solution to this story, just that Roo is a constant work in progress.  She IS getting better … but it’s certainly not by leaps and bounds.  She is my baby girl, and I love her a lot.  We heard that she was potentially abused by her prior owners (by the time we got her, she was already 6 months old), and that explains some of her behavior.

But her neurotic tendencies far excel anything I’ve ever seen.

We’ll never give up on Roo.  We have learned from her, just as she has from us.  And that gift is something that I’ll always thank her for.  Good luck to all the owners of psychotic dogs out there!

First of all; dogs aren’t [...]]]> Potty training (or housebreaking) a dog can be a very simple task… or in the case of both of our dogs, a complete nightmare.  So I’m gonna give you a few tips, pointers, and experience to try and help you to not have as hard of a time as we did.

First of all; dogs aren’t cats.  This may seem obvious, but it’s the truth and one major difference is in how the animals do their business.  A cat is (usually) very simple; you buy some kitty litter and after a day or two of using the litter, the cat should know what to do.  If you move, you can just bring the kitty litter with you and you’re good to go.  (Disclaimer: I understand that cats aren’t ALWAYS that simple, but for the most part, you don’t hear about cats that pee in the house after a few months or even years.)

Dogs aren’t that easy.  They have an instinct that tells them to just go whenever they need to; that’s the way it was for their ancestors living outside and wandering the wilderness.  But now they’re in a human’s home, and they have to understand that peeing or pooing inside is NOT an acceptable behavior.  However, they aren’t going to learn just from being taken outside to pee once or twice or from being scolded inside.

Whether it’s a puppy or an adult dog, whenever you first bring a canine into your home, it needs to know where to go to relieve itself.  First thing you should do is take it to a spot outside where you want it to do its business.  Have some treats handy as well as some patience.  Stay there until the dog goes (could be a few seconds or it could be a few minutes), and then give it plenty of praise and a treat.

One trick I used with Ratchet was repeating the words “potty” or “good potty” over and over WHILE he was going.  Doing this kind of ingrains in the dog’s head that what it’s doing is “potty” and for whatever reason, he’s doing a good job of it.  On the flip side, now whenever the dog pees inside the house, you can scold him with “BAD POTTY” or “NO POTTY” so that the dog will notice the difference (obviously not the first time, but after enough times, the dog should get the point).

Learning your dog’s habits is the best advice I can give you for potty training. Here are a couple tips based on our experiences:

• When Ratchet was a puppy, he wouldn’t pee for a very long time when he went outside, so I would know that he couldn’t last too long inside before having to go again.  It took a long time, but he finally realized that he needed to fully empty his bladder while he was outside so that he wouldn’t have to go every 20 minutes.

• When Roo was first brought home, she would poo literally within minutes after eating – whether she was inside or outside.  So we learned that as soon as the dogs finished eating, she needed to be let out.  We were then able to slowly lengthen the time between eating and going outside, until she just learned to hold it until she was outside – whenever that might be.

• Be careful with your corrections.  We learned the hard way with Roo that a poorly timed correction can result in negative effects.  The first few times Roo pooed immediately after eating, I would scold her for doing it (as an owner would normally react).  The problem was the way it was handled: she thought that what she was DOING was the bad thing and not WHERE she was doing it.  Because of this,  after eating she would go hide and poo in areas where we couldn’t see her because she thought she wasn’t supposed to be doing it at all.  To fix the problem now, she not only needed to go outside RIGHT after eating, we had to give her lots of praise when she successfully did it outside for her to realize what the difference was.

• Ratchet, for about the first year (or maybe more), would excitement-pee whenever anyone came over.  So I had to learn that when people were coming over, I had to let him out to pee RIGHT before they got there.  Even now at over 2 years old, he excitement-pees when the receptionists at the vet pet him.  Their excitement level towards him, plus his anxiety about not knowing why he’s there would make him just lose control and let loose.  After a few times of this recently, we’ve decided that he’s not totally “potty trained” and will need to pee right before the vet until he learns to control it.

• Roo sometimes goes through a phase where she just pees where she’s sleeping.  While this is normally a case of the dog having a medical problem like a UTI, after hundreds of dollars of testing we found out there was nothing “wrong with her”.  It turned out to be a form of “psychogenic polydipsia” where she was obsessively drinking from her water bowl.  Basically, she felt that we weren’t giving her enough attention and would obsessively drink water causing her to pee when we were “ignoring her”.  This would result in scolding, taking her out to pee, and cleaning up her fur – although negative, still all forms of attention.  We’ll probably write a full article on this situation, but the point is that we had to figure out her specific situation and determine what was going on and how to fix it.  We filled all the water bowls in the house except for HERS and she would only drink when she needed water; no more obsessive drinking.  That, along with more exercise and attention, and she rarely wets herself now. **knock on wood**

So the moral of the story is to pay attention to your dog’s habits and fine tune your potty training method accordingly.  And with a puppy, you can create those habits as need-be.  Take your puppy out after it wakes up from a nap, after every meal, and after every play session.  It is at these times that your dog is most full and his brain isn’t focused on control, so show your him WHERE he needs to relieve himself.

Another great method is crate training.  The concept behind this is that dogs naturally do not want to make a mess in their living area/den.  Giving your dog a limited area when you aren’t able to put forth the most effort and attention is a great way to limit accidents.  This isn’t always the case, so don’t be TOO surprised if you come home to a lot of cleanup.  You’re not only limiting your dog from being able to mess up the rest of the house… you’re containing him in a small area if he DOES make a mess.  We’ll write more on THIS later as well, but crate training works very well when you can’t be around your dog for the entire day or night.

So hopefully those are some good tips to help you with whatever potty training situation you may be in.  The key is to just THINK about what you’re doing and what your dog is doing.  He doesn’t know that he’s not supposed to relieve himself inside the house.  You’re his master… you’re in charge of his life and well-being… it’s your job as a parent to TEACH him what he is and isn’t supposed to do.  And finally and most importantly – BE PATIENT!

Barking at a knock

Stealing all your socks

With youthful eyes

Begging for a scrap

Jumping in your lap

Disrupting your nap

With feisty eyes

Getting old and gray

Sleeping through the day

You will want to say:

“I wish you would play”

With clouded eyes

Think of all you gave

And the life you made

As your dog will fade

Be a constant aid

With loving eyes

With [...]]]> Bucking on their walk

Barking at a knock

Stealing all your socks

With youthful eyes

Begging for a scrap

Jumping in your lap

Disrupting your nap

With feisty eyes

Getting old and gray

Sleeping through the day

You will want to say:

“I wish you would play”

With clouded eyes

Think of all you gave

And the life you made

As your dog will fade

Be a constant aid

With loving eyes

With the end don’t fret

Think about your pet

How it’s on a jet

To a place sans vet

With closed eyes

Author: Chelsea Scott

Ratchet has always [...]]]> It’s true… they don’t know any better, but given the right circumstances, a good dog can become a bad dog without any direct provocation.  For an owner it can be very confusing why Fido decided to tear up the couch or the carpet… and how the heck did he do it so quietly?

Ratchet has always had the skill of being able to make us feel like we don’t feed him enough.  Even if he’s fed enough to gain weight, he STILL will eat just about anything in sight.  Outside, this can be grass, leaves, twigs, tree bark, etc etc.  I don’t have much of a green thumb, so I don’t really take offense to him chewing on the bushes or leaving partially chewed-on twigs and sticks (and even sometimes branches) in the yard.  But it’s when he brings that activity inside that I begin to get a little frustrated.

Any toy I would give him most likely wasn’t going to last.  Stuffed animals would be torn up in minutes, rope would be chewed up slowly and swallowed only to be cleaned up on his next walk.  Any bone that wasn’t the highest quality wouldn’t take long at all to finish, which would cause other stomach problems.  Those all had one easy solution; he likes to chew, so get him quality chew toys that can’t be easily destroyed.  But it was when he decided to turn the carpet into his newest chew toy that I was caught off guard.

It was when he was about 8 months old.  I was walking him probably 2-4 miles a day and his fiestiness levels had gone down a tiny bit.  Don’t get me wrong; he was still a bit of a terror with other people around, but he had shown a slight bit of improvement.  So it was nighttime and I needed to take a shower; I figured I had to start leaving him out of the crate at some point and a quick shower shouldn’t be a big deal.  Boy was I wrong!  He must have tasted the carpet and realized that it was edible because he just started ripping.  He saw the living room as an endless palette of food… but luckily I caught him when he had only made a roughly 4 inch hole in the carpet (left).  And then a few weeks later, he made a 1 inch hole in a different carpet (right).

But I was exercising him!  Why was he so bored??

Some high energy dogs require more than just simple walks to really feel worthwhile and happy.  Being dragged on a walk is a good way to drain some of your dog’s physical energy, but it doesn’t really accomplish any purpose in the dog’s mind.  And dogs like Elkhounds or Cattle Dogs or any other breed whose ancestors actually had purposes, need that purpose in their life.  There are lots of ways to exercise the dog’s brain and GIVE him that purpose:

• Simple behavior training is a good first step.  Whether you sign your dog up for a class or just do the research online and practice at home doesn’t matter.  Making the dog stay calm and relaxed while he or she does whatever the owner says is a very good exercise for dogs.  You don’t need to give the dog a full MILK-BONE for each trick (and probably shouldn’t if you’re going to be doing a lot of tricks); simply a little piece of kibble or miniature training treat is plenty to let the dog know he’s been a good boy.  And concentrating on his master for extended periods of time will drain some mental energy quite nicely.

• Agility training is a great use of energy (mental and physical) for some breeds who can excel at it.  It takes a little more time and effort than behavior training but can do a lot of good for the dog.

• Puzzle toys are a good simple thing to break up a monotonous day for dogs.  There are some very high tech puzzle toys out there that require a dog to turn a dial and remove a piece of plastic covering a treat, but that isn’t always necessary (though it may be entertaining to watch).  At our house, we use a simple KONG or other hard hollow rubber ball with a hole in the end.  You can fill it with small treats, kibble, or even KONG paste and the dog will have to figure out how to get the tastiness out in order to enjoy it.  This type of activity is good when leaving the dog for a few hours or during a lazy weekend day.

• Nose training games!  Back when dogs were wild, they had to sniff out their food.  Some breeds have retained an impeccable sense of smell while others haven’t needed it for so long that they don’t really have much of one anymore.  Roo doesn’t have a great sense of smell I’m guessing because herding dogs don’t need to smell things; they just need to see what it is that they’re herding.  Ratchet on the other hand has a great sense of smell; Elkhounds have been hunters’ companions for so long, they have always had to sniff out the bears or moose or other prey.  If you have a dog with a good nose, look into a different form of hide and seek.  Don’t let the dog see you hide a piece of steak somewhere in the yard, then make a trail of juice back to the house.  Let the dog go and see if he can sniff out the food.  Use less and less of a trail until you’re able to just hide it anywhere and the dog can find it.  I’d recommend cleaning up the juice afterward so as not to attract bugs or other animals.  This forces the dog to use his senses and it gives him a lot of mental exercise AND a great treat at the end.

• Hunting can be a good way for you and your dog to bond if he’s a hunting breed.  If you’re interested in this, look up clubs or groups in your area that might be able to help you get into the sport.  If Ratchet ever becomes reliable off-leash, I hope to try this someday… but I’m not holding my breath.

• I know I said a walk doesn’t have any purpose, but it CAN… a REAL dog walk!  Not only good for the owner, a simple walk around the neighborhood can be great for your dog.  And a walk can also be an exercise for the dog’s brain if done properly.  Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer, has always taught owners to “Master the Walk”.  This means that the owner is in front; the owner is the pack leader so the dog must follow the leader.  I say that this is an exercise for the dog’s brain because he needs to be focused on you and what you’re doing, not sniffing everything in sight.  The dog needs to concentrate and be aware of the leader’s actions so it can react accordingly.  A dog that is just sniffing everything and wanders around for a while might drain a little physical energy only, but a long (and proper) walk can be just the trick to work a dog’s brain.

One final note… destruction doesn’t always result from boredom.  Just recently, Ratchet decided to redecorate with a new hole in our carpet even though he gets exercised (physically and mentally).  I’ve never done nose training games with Ratchet, but he decided to play one of his own.  The night before, we had accidentally spilled a little soup on the carpet and we had only wiped it up; we completely forgot to CLEAN it (first and last time that’ll happen!).  Ratchet, using his Elkhound nose, smelled the soup-soaked-carpet and proceeded to lick, rip, and eat a 2 inch hole in the carpet in a matter of minutes before we caught him.  Granted, that doesn’t give him an EXCUSE, but at least we know it was because of food-on-the-brain as opposed to plain boredom-related-destruction.

So if your dog has destroyed parts of your house or if he just looks bored all the time, make sure both his mind AND his body are exhausted.  After all, a tired dog is a happy dog!

me dill of a brother’s out playing with the bloke and sheila so in the meantime, i’m giving this idiot box a burl to broadcast me ideas and wishes, like:

-your next vacation: the outback (with me as your trusty travel guide)!  brilliant right?

-more belly rubs please.  if [...]]]> greetings from woop woop!  your favorite aussie here, roo.

me dill of a brother’s out playing with the bloke and sheila so in the meantime, i’m giving this idiot box a burl to broadcast me ideas and wishes, like:

-your next vacation: the outback (with me as your trusty travel guide)!  brilliant right?

-more belly rubs please.  if you’re constantly petting me, i’ll consider gracing you with occasional sanity.

-sharing your food is ace.  don’t forget about me when you eat your next meal.  and the one after that.  and … well, you get the picture.

-not to knock that harness, but is it really necessary during walks?  just sayin’ ….

hooroo!

The culprit kept across the street for a while, then crossed over and stayed some distance behind them.  After listening to the stalker weave [...]]]> One dark autumn night long long ago (well a year and a half ago), Steven took Ratchet for a walk around the neighborhood.  Always vigilant, he soon realized he was being followed.

The culprit kept across the street for a while, then crossed over and stayed some distance behind them.  After listening to the stalker weave in and out of parked cars and trees, he finally turned around and squatted down, beckoning to the animal.

Animal?  Yes, animal.  An Australian Cattle Dog mix had taken it upon herself to follow the two on their stroll.  Initially wary, she soon approached Steven and Ratchet, and ultimately kept following them.

When the three of them returned home, I couldn’t say no to her adorable face.  Steven and I were soon enjoying watching Ratchet and his new friend play inside.

Roo?  Wrong!  Meet Chloe, a Roo lookalike that had gotten out of her backyard from up the street.

<—Chloe was just what Ratchet needed for his endless energy.  Unfortunately, we knew that she probably belonged to someone else.  Steven decided to take her back out that same night along the path he had walked, shining his flashlight on her to see if anyone approached him.

And they did.  Someone had been out looking for her, she was claimed, and that was the end of that.

We had been considering getting a second dog before meeting Chloe, though.  Ratchet’s exhaustion after their play-date — along with his decreased feistiness towards us — finally demolished our uncertainty and cemented our decision.

Only a week or so later, we were out looking for Ratchet’s new sister (we knew we wanted a girl because two male dogs in the same house can promote territorial aggression and other issues).  In the beginning of our search, we found no dogs that clicked with us or Ratchet.  Trying not to get disheartened, we finally traveled almost an hour from home to the Fauquier SPCA.  After looking at just about the entire shelter, we saw her in one of the last cages.

What first drew me to her was all of her different colors (blue, red, white, brown, black) and her shyness.  Then she pretty much sealed the deal when she jumped up and criss-crossed her paws around my arm, trying to give me a little hug.

To ensure there wouldn’t be major issues, we brought her out to an outdoor pen and introduced her to Ratchet.  They were cordial at the shelter: but all of the sights, sounds, and smells kept distracting him from playing.

We made the decision to adopt her and then had to leave her at the pound for another whole week while she was prepped for her homecoming (spayed, treated for fleas, etc.).

Below and to the right is a picture of her at the shelter with Steven.

It was hard, waiting an entire week to be with her again, so I kept myself busy by prepping the house for a puppy that wasn’t potty-trained and picking out her name.  Eventually we settled on Roo (since she’s an Australian Cattle Dog mix and the name is short for Kangaroo).

It’s valid to wonder if we were outright searching for the exact type of dog that Ratchet was playing with that night in an attempt to replicate his positive behavior.  In short: absolutely not.  Remember that a shelter is like a box of chocolates: you never know what you’re gonna get.  Also, I had no idea what type of dog Chloe was until we went back and looked through the photos we had taken of her several months later.  Only then was it a big “duh” that her and Roo are extremely similar.

We returned to the pound on a chilly mid-December evening to bring Roo home.  It was closed to the public for the day, so we went around to their clinic’s side door (she had just been spayed and was healing from the surgery).

She was nervous and unsure of our intentions, and was even less happy about the car ride, showing her feelings by peeing on the seat at least once during the long journey.  I tried to comfort her as much as possible by sitting in the backseat with her and petting her, talking to her, anything I could think of — but she didn’t stop shaking and trying to hide from the situation.

The vet’s orders were to keep Ratchet and Roo separated for the first couple of weeks after her spaying.  Her stitches were in danger of ripping if they played too rough.

Because of this, that first night was massively difficult.  I had Roo in our bedroom, crying and trying to find an escape route, and Steven was with Ratchet down in the basement closed in with a baby gate, trying to sniff a way out to his new sister.

It was awesome when they could finally play.  I had always been concerned about Roo’s future safety, worried that Ratchet would end up throwing her around like a rag doll since he’s bigger and at that point in time was extremely excitable.

But something soon changed in Ratchet.

Once Roo realized this was her home and we were her people, she was immediately sweet to us — giving licks instead of bites — which confused Ratchet immensely, as he had previously preferred to gift us with scars and frustration.  Aside from the twenty-minute intervals that she needed to be let outside to pee, she was ideal for the purpose we had gotten her: to be Ratchet’s best friend and calm him down.

Ratchet quickly learned that he was a dog and switched from being a four-legged fear to a canine cutie in our house.  Roo exerted all of his excess energy, attacking him from hidden corners and napping on top of him.

They became best friends (and still are).  If one is in trouble and kept in a bathroom for a short time as a time out, the other one will sit outside their door, pawing at it.

Roo did her job, better than I could have ever asked.  She is a major contributor to our household and we adore her to pieces!  At times, she is still excessively anxious and wary of strangers, but these are both common traits to her breed.

One thing is for sure.  We love her and look forward to a long and healthy future with her and her brother.

this is my chair.  daddy bought it for me when i was a puppy cuz i wasnt allowed on the couch. but then i was allowed on the couch for a while.  now im not allowed on the couch anymore cuz i fart a [...]]]>

this is my chair.  daddy bought it for me when i was a puppy cuz i wasnt allowed on the couch. but then i was allowed on the couch for a while.  now im not allowed on the couch anymore cuz i fart a lot so i have to lay on my chair.  sometimes i like to chew on the edge cuz its soft like a stuffed animal so i just want to tear it apart.  when mommy and daddy are busy with this darn site i will just sit on my chair waiting for them to play with me.  if you try to sit on my chair i will annoy you until you get out of it.  cuz its my chair!

Australian Cattle Dog: Put all the light bulbs in a little circle….

Norwegian Elkhound: That thing I just ate was a light bulb?

Golden Retriever: The sun is shining, the day is young, and we’re inside worrying about a burned-out light bulb?

Border Collie: Just one – [...]]]> How many dogs does it take to screw in a light bulb?

Australian Cattle Dog: Put all the light bulbs in a little circle….

Norwegian Elkhound: That thing I just ate was a light bulb?

Golden Retriever: The sun is shining, the day is young, and we’re inside worrying about a burned-out light bulb?

Border Collie: Just one – me. And I’ll replace any wiring that’s not up to code while I’m at it.

Dachshund: I can’t reach it!

Poodle: I just painted my nails.  I’d hate to smudge them….

Rottweiler: I’d like to see you make me!

Lab: Oh, me, me!! Please let me change the light bulb! Can I? Huh? Huh? Can I?

Great Dane: Let the Border Collie do it. You can feed me while he’s busy.

Dalmatian: If it catches on fire, I know a guy.

Beagle: Does howling at it unscrew it?  If not, I got nothin’.

Hound Dog: ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Chihuahua: Yo quiero Taco Bulb.

Yorkie: I wanna jump on the big dog while he’s sleeping!  Ruff!  Ruff!

Irish Wolfhound: Can somebody else do it? I’ve got a hangover.

Pointer: I see it, there it is, right there, follow my stare….

Greyhound: It isn’t moving. Who cares?

Chow Chow: How many times do I have to tell you?  I.  DON’T.  CARE.