What do you do "wrong"?

Joined
Jan 7, 2013
Messages
27
Likes
0
Points
0
Everything!!!

I do everything wrong apparently. I never knew I was such a horrible dog owner until now.

I do tell my dog 'no' when she is doing something she shouldn't be. Although that is very seldom these days because she's so awesome.

I don't rotate her dog food unless the store is out of what she normally eats. And then I don't ration it.

I do feed her bits when I'm cooking.

I don't buy fancy schmancy overpriced dog food.

I don't take her to the vet for every little thing. We doctor as much at home as possible, unless it's serious of course.

When we were teaching her when she was young, we didn't do it with treats as rewards for good behavior. I look at it like this, everytime your child did something right did you give them a cookie?

I do gush over her when I come home! She's so happy to see me, why shouldn't I be happy to see her?

She doesn't have a doggy door, but we did put a door handle on the bottom of the screen door so she can open the door and come in when she wants. [I don't know why this is a bad thing but I saw it in an earlier post]

I don't know how she turned out to be such a healthy well behaved dog in spite of my total ignorance. She is currently teaching a dog, who is a 'temporary guest' at our house, some manners. Sadly the guest dog has virtually none. I find this not only amusing but very impressive.

I'm sure the list goes on and on but I would probably shut down the server!!
 

Fran101

Resident fainting goat
Joined
Oct 12, 2008
Messages
12,546
Likes
0
Points
36
Location
Boston
"You know I've heard dogs with docked tails can grow up and be pretty slowed down by it"


:rofl1: he is fast as hell, makes sharp turns like a gazelle, and is always bouncing in the air.
I hope his lack of tail DOES slow him down!

Sure would make it easier to catch him..
 

*blackrose

"I'm kupo for kupo nuts!"
Joined
May 11, 2010
Messages
7,065
Likes
3
Points
38
Age
33
Location
WI
Ooooh, that's another thing I do "wrong".

If I had a docked breed, I'd dock it. I like docked tails! I think they're cute. I'm also not opposed to cropping a dog if you do it responsibly, and I actually prefer cropped ears in Dobermans.
 

Upendi&Mina

Mainstreme Elitist
Joined
Jun 12, 2009
Messages
2,596
Likes
0
Points
0
Location
Wonderland
"You know I've heard dogs with docked tails can grow up and be pretty slowed down by it"


:rofl1: he is fast as hell, makes sharp turns like a gazelle, and is always bouncing in the air.
I hope his lack of tail DOES slow him down!

Sure would make it easier to catch him..
Cara didn't get that memo either. Lol
 

Oko

Silence, peasants.
Joined
Sep 10, 2012
Messages
2,138
Likes
0
Points
0
Location
MA, USA
"You know I've heard dogs with docked tails can grow up and be pretty slowed down by it"


:rofl1: he is fast as hell, makes sharp turns like a gazelle, and is always bouncing in the air.
I hope his lack of tail DOES slow him down!

Sure would make it easier to catch him..
Good grief is Wesley is slow I do not want to see fast. :rofl1:
 

JacksonsMom

Active Member
Joined
Nov 1, 2009
Messages
8,694
Likes
0
Points
36
Location
Maryland
According to yorkie owners, you are a complete moron if you EVER let your dog go in a fenced in yard by itself without hovering over it every second. :rolleyes: I guess I'm a terrible dog owner because I let Jackson outside in my dads backyard by himself (for short periods of time, mind you, he typically is back at the door within 5 mins anyway).
 

Saeleofu

Active Member
Joined
Oct 9, 2009
Messages
9,036
Likes
0
Points
36
Ooooh, that's another thing I do "wrong".

If I had a docked breed, I'd dock it. I like docked tails! I think they're cute. I'm also not opposed to cropping a dog if you do it responsibly, and I actually prefer cropped ears in Dobermans.
I love cropped ears in Dobes (as long as it's a good crop job). I would't crop a boxer because I don't like how cropped boxers look. Since most pups of docked breeds are docked at a few days old, I wouldn't request an undocked puppy. That would lock me in to one specific dog, and what if that dog isn't the best match for me? I don't mind docked tails, and I don't mind full tails.
 

Laurelin

I'm All Ears
Joined
Nov 2, 2006
Messages
30,963
Likes
3
Points
0
Age
37
Location
Oklahoma
I've heard from quite a few agility folks that docked tails can be a hinderance to turning. I dunno if it's true but it seems like it could be. I mean, I see very very fast aussies out there sometimes but it makes sense watching the tailed dogs run. I've also heard a lot of sports people be pro-dewclaws being left on for the same reasons. Several breeds (including aussies) that I really like are docked but I would take a docked pup. However, I would rather have a tailed pup of the same breed. It's not enough of an issue for me to not get that breed but it is enough of an issue for it to be on my radar.
 

RottenFlower

rotties are my kryptonite
Joined
Jun 3, 2012
Messages
152
Likes
0
Points
0
Location
More north of south, but more south of north.
Oh doG.

Training here is inconsistent at best; I'm better about it than my SO, but mostly it's hit or miss. I try to institute NILIF, especially with the younger dogs, but the older dogs are... old. So who cares if they don't behave well anymore?

But because we are inconsistent, I get frustrated and yell sometimes. And the dogs get told NO. Frequently. And sometimes, I say NO after I call their names.

My vehicle isn't big enough for dog crates, so they hang out unrestrained.

They get table food. Natty thinks that CheezIts are the best thing ever.

I don't rotate foods, and I feed ProPlan. (I also never bothered transitioning food in the past.)

My dogs are rarely supervised when in the backyard.

They are rarely, if ever, walked... so they all have really sh*tty leash manners. They will play with each other in the backyard, and that's exercise in my mind.

I'm using ivermectin & pyrantel as heartworm/intestinal parasite control instead of Heartgard/Interceptor/etc. SO MUCH CHEAPER.

Zellie was spayed SUPER young. I believe in speutering, but not as young as we did hers.

I try to train mostly R+, but I'm not opposed to a prong for advanced training.

There have been days when the dogs have been crated for 10-12 hours. They didn't die. Kaia & my foster, Gunnar, are crated, but the other three are free roam.

When I get home from work during the week, they sometimes don't eat until 10pm. I'm just too flipping tired!

When they're inside, and one dog starts barking, they'll all start. Then I start howling, and it's a free for all and I laugh and laugh and laugh.

I am very stingy with treats unless specifically used for training. Like, I just bought a bag of biscuits for bedtime.

Maybe once or twice, I haven't stopped the dogs from chasing our cats.

But someone else said it before... I guess I don't constitute any of this as wrong, because I have five very happy (and reasonably healthy) dogs snoozing in various places around me right now, and that's all that matters.

 

Kat09Tails

*Now with Snark*
Joined
Jun 10, 2010
Messages
3,452
Likes
0
Points
0
Location
Upper Left hand corner, USA
Let's see

My dogs eat out of the same dish at the same time.

I'm not above chucking a raw chicken out on my deck to them to eat.

I say No and follow up on it if I need to.

I don't show my dogs yet I still breed and raise them. Oh the horror.

My dogs are outside without supervision.

I kennel my dogs while I am at work.

I work 9 hrs a day and no I do not have a dog walker, or a daycare service.

For the most part my dogs are not fixed.

I removed the dewclaws my dogs.

My dogs rarely go to the vet... and I have no plans to take any of them anytime in the near future.
 

Dizzy

Sit! Good dog.
Joined
Sep 14, 2005
Messages
17,761
Likes
1
Points
38
Location
Wales
We aren't meant to say no?

That severely limits the communication with my dogs :D
 

*blackrose

"I'm kupo for kupo nuts!"
Joined
May 11, 2010
Messages
7,065
Likes
3
Points
38
Age
33
Location
WI
According to yorkie owners, you are a complete moron if you EVER let your dog go in a fenced in yard by itself without hovering over it every second. I guess I'm a terrible dog owner because I let Jackson outside in my dads backyard by himself (for short periods of time, mind you, he typically is back at the door within 5 mins anyway).
I am a horrible, horrible Yorkie owner then. Cooper goes outside in an unfenced yard unsupervised (well, we stand at the door). At night. By the woods. :yikes:
 

AdrianneIsabel

Glutton for Crazy
Joined
Aug 29, 2010
Messages
8,893
Likes
0
Points
0
Location
Portland, Oregon
. I've also heard a lot of sports people be pro-dewclaws being left on for the same reasons.
On the flip side Sloan dislocated a dewclaw while running and turning hard. Because of this I have had TONS of sport people say this is why they should be taken off before an injury. Additionally many think its wrong because her owner and her vet both agree leaving it be, all be it slightly out to the side, is the right choice.

I worry some people tend to see one injury or one slower dog and jump to a conclusion about all dogs.

I have four tailed and clawed dogs. Sloan is much faster than any of them. Incidentally Sloan is always injuring something. Maybe the two are connected, maybe if we cut off her tail and her thumbs it would be best, but we'll take our chances. :)
 

Toller_08

Active Member
Joined
Apr 20, 2006
Messages
8,359
Likes
1
Points
36
I've heard from quite a few agility folks that docked tails can be a hinderance to turning. I dunno if it's true but it seems like it could be.

I have a friend with a tailed Aussie, and while her puppy is built slightly differently from Journey anyway (leggier and a tad longer it seems), the tail does appear to make a difference when her puppy and Journey are running together. Journey is extremely fast and agile, but for as quickly and as sharply as Journ can turn and maneouver, the tailed Aussie is even more so. It's actually pretty neat to watch. Sometimes Journey will fall if she's turned too sharply for a second and I have a feel if she had a tail, that likely wouldn't happen. But it's rare anyway.

I love the bunny butt though. At first I thought it was weird and it was one of the reasons I kept backing out of Aussies, but now I'm used to it and think it's adorable. But still, after watching Journ's friend, there does appear to be a slight difference and I think I might want a tailed Aussie one day.
 
Joined
Feb 26, 2011
Messages
6,405
Likes
0
Points
36
Location
Minnesota
I've heard from quite a few agility folks that docked tails can be a hinderance to turning. I dunno if it's true but it seems like it could be. I mean, I see very very fast aussies out there sometimes but it makes sense watching the tailed dogs run. I've also heard a lot of sports people be pro-dewclaws being left on for the same reasons. Several breeds (including aussies) that I really like are docked but I would take a docked pup. However, I would rather have a tailed pup of the same breed. It's not enough of an issue for me to not get that breed but it is enough of an issue for it to be on my radar.
On the flip side Sloan dislocated a dewclaw while running and turning hard. Because of this I have had TONS of sport people say this is why they should be taken off before an injury. Additionally many think its wrong because her owner and her vet both agree leaving it be, all be it slightly out to the side, is the right choice.

I worry some people tend to see one injury or one slower dog and jump to a conclusion about all dogs.
I find the "dewclaw question" very interesting. As I understand it, and someone correct me if I'm wrong, someone (maybe a PT?) noticed a correlation between dogs who do one or more dog sports (can't remember the details) having arthritis in their wrists and thought maybe having dewclaws removed contributed to that, so started advocating for leaving dewclaws on. Which sort of intuitively makes sense.

But what I find fascinating is... do the declaws really have anything to do with it, or is working - whether it's running agility, or flyball, or mushing, or herding, or whatever sport-of-choice - just really hard on a dog's wrists regardless of the status of their dewclaws? And we have only truly know that in modern times because we have the tools to x-ray wrists and we don't want to stop doing sports?

(My personal suspicion btw is that it probably has more to do with the dog's overall conformation than the presence or absence of dewclaws, but maybe lack of dewclaws contributes in a predisposed dog.)

Questions... questions that need answering and hopefully someone will care enough someday to fund some really good research. But I doubt it. In the meantime you just make the decision you're comfortable with.

These are the things I think about in my spare time. :p
 

AdrianneIsabel

Glutton for Crazy
Joined
Aug 29, 2010
Messages
8,893
Likes
0
Points
0
Location
Portland, Oregon
Well, in Sloans case we presume the answer is either no or she's just a crazy bitch. She showed almost no signs, actually none. No limping, no hesitancy to run, no skip in the gate. So, the vet assumed since its non weight baring she was just stoic about a bothersome pain and not reactive to a precise pain associated with movement.

So... Do they help, hinder, or do nothing in sports? I'm not sure. I have seen mine use theirs to hold bones but I'm not convinced they help the dog turn nor assist in support on impact.
 
Joined
Feb 26, 2011
Messages
6,405
Likes
0
Points
36
Location
Minnesota
So... Do they help, hinder, or do nothing in sports? I'm not sure. I have seen mine use theirs to hold bones but I'm not convinced they help the dog turn nor assist in support on impact.
I'm not sold, either, but it's an idea that has intuitive appeal to me.

But then I see things like... it's almost universally practiced to remove dews in mushing dogs to make it easier to bootie them. And even if they weren't removed, they'd often be covered by booties. And while those dogs aren't doing the same kind of high impact work as a dog doing something like agility, they DO sometimes need a lot of power and stability through turns. And it's a sport where if something doesn't work or hinders success, people don't do it.

So is there simply something different about those breeds? The sports? Or do dewclaws really have nothing to do with it?

(I'm not asking you particularly, it's just something I spend time having geeky thoughts about and no one else I know wants to hear it. :p)
 

AdrianneIsabel

Glutton for Crazy
Joined
Aug 29, 2010
Messages
8,893
Likes
0
Points
0
Location
Portland, Oregon
It makes sense to remove them for booties, for sure. I don't know the answers but it is interesting. I have no interest in removing dewclaws because they are part of the dog and I have seen my dogs manipulate things with them while laying down but I also don't really buy, at this point, that they help lessen impact nor assist in turns.

Now I really want to see some research on the subject as well.
 

Laurelin

I'm All Ears
Joined
Nov 2, 2006
Messages
30,963
Likes
3
Points
0
Age
37
Location
Oklahoma
that is interesting about the tailed aussies! Is that aussie show bred or working bred? I see a lot of difference in the way the two types of aussies run agility too.

I would think (and this is just me talking out my rear lol) that mushing would be a lot less taxing on the wrists than agility where (especially with the big dogs) the dogs are landing very much on their fronts. I would think that would be harder on a dog with a weaker front.
 

Members online

No members online now.
Top