The dog musing/vent thread
- Thread starter Laurelin
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Why do dobermans have such short quicks? I've always been in awe at the short nails I've seen on dobermans here on the forum but they were show dogs so I figured it just came from having their nails done religiously. But perhaps that's not all. I was dremeling nails at work today, as I do several times a week, and did my first doberman. The dog was young (8 months) but looked like he hadn't had his nails done in a LONG time, he had big pointy talons. But as I ground them down they just kept getting shorter and shorter until they were little nubs when I finally found the quick. I've never gotten nails so short before. So is this a breed thing or am I crazy?
I think certain dogs are just that way. Not a Doberman thing. In my experience, it's a lot of time and maintenance into keeping Dobe nails short. All of mine grew nail so fast and they definitely were /are not easy to keep quicks short. Based on knowing many, many more Dobes also I'd say that their quicks in general are not naturally short. I think the dog aboves owners just got lucky.
I used to groom a Toller who only had her nails done when I did them which was like every two or three months. They'd be so long and I could take them back to nothing. If only they were all that way! I can't let mine go longer than five days ideally if I want them super short.
I used to groom a Toller who only had her nails done when I did them which was like every two or three months. They'd be so long and I could take them back to nothing. If only they were all that way! I can't let mine go longer than five days ideally if I want them super short.
Omigod. The dog want is SO STRONG. Seriously. Somebody drop a female 8wks - 6 month old puppy off on my doorstep. (Or a crate trained, well mannered adult who loves to play training games.) Short/medium coat. 40-60 pounds full grown. Submissive and playful with other dogs, great with cats, tolerant of handling, friendly, inquisitive, and oozing bratty sweetness. Active, athletic, and preferable a love of water/retrieving. Any sporting breed or mix there of.
I need. Now. But I need someone to drop it off on my doorstep or DH will never let me have another.
I need. Now. But I need someone to drop it off on my doorstep or DH will never let me have another.
Nope, I should introduce you to Cajun's nails 
It's been a loooong 7 month process to get her nails "short" because her quicks are so freaking long.
I see this at work a lot though with dogs who like, get their nails cut once a year and their nails are LONG, but we're able to cut off a ton and actually get their nails short because they just don't have long quicks. I'm always jealous.
It's been a loooong 7 month process to get her nails "short" because her quicks are so freaking long. I see this at work a lot though with dogs who like, get their nails cut once a year and their nails are LONG, but we're able to cut off a ton and actually get their nails short because they just don't have long quicks. I'm always jealous.
Briz and Uly were peaceful together for several weeks before the fights started again, and now Uly appears to be the instigator, but I couldn't be sure because I wasn't staring directly at them for the last two incidents. This time I was sitting on the couch petting both of them when he suddenly lunged for Briz for no reason. It's the same when he goes for the cats, he's fine, he's happy, he's leaning and getting petted with his eyes half closed, and then suddenly he's roaring teeth-first with no apparent trigger.
I stopped him before he got there and he snapped back to his normal, wiggly self.
I stopped him before he got there and he snapped back to his normal, wiggly self.
Sounds rather like an owner guarding issue from that description. I've seen them go from zero to 60 super fast and the trigger is often overlooked because it's purely proximity + duration in many cases. They often snap back to normal as soon as the other animal moves out of the space bubble they form. Just my 2 cents.
It sounds likr maybe he was guarding me, but the only other incident near me was when he went for the cat on my lap and got my leg. The other incidents with him and Briz both occurred when they were standing side by side across the room from me. The cat incidents happen for no apparent reason, sometimes when the cat is across the room and sometimes when the cat is within a few feet while he's laying down looking relaxed. Sometimes he is fine with the cats rubbing up against him. He can share lap space with Ru and used to be able to with the cats, but I haven't risked it since that bite. Sometimes he jumps up and barks in his crate in the middle of the night because a cat or Brisbane walked past. Sometimes he does it and when I turn on the light everyone else is sound asleep.
For what it's worth, Recon is a huge resource guarder, but no one would come into my house and think that. Meagan has even been confused by his behavior before. Luckily, he is a soft enough dog that he won't so much about it.
He is completely random. Sometimes he will guard me. Like, one time out of 100.. Sometimes he will guard his crate. Sometimes he will guard a toy. Sometimes he will guard space from where he was chewing a bone 10 minutes ago. And he doesn't have to be in those spaces/near those things to guard them. He could be laying on the couch sleeping, and if patton walked Over to that spot where he was laying 10 minutes ago, he may leap off the couch to "attack" - which is really just a lunge and snarl in the face... He won't engage because hes a baby. If he were a smidgeon more confident and a little bigger, this would be a huge issue like Uly's.
Recon's is easy enough to manage... Puppies coming in learn to communicate with him and adults dogs are tethered carefully until I know they will back down from such guards. They are usually easy to recognize by me now, a few seconds before they start... Whereas no one else would see it coming whatsoever. So I can tell him to knock it off and send him to his crate verbally to prevent a problem.
He is completely random. Sometimes he will guard me. Like, one time out of 100.. Sometimes he will guard his crate. Sometimes he will guard a toy. Sometimes he will guard space from where he was chewing a bone 10 minutes ago. And he doesn't have to be in those spaces/near those things to guard them. He could be laying on the couch sleeping, and if patton walked Over to that spot where he was laying 10 minutes ago, he may leap off the couch to "attack" - which is really just a lunge and snarl in the face... He won't engage because hes a baby. If he were a smidgeon more confident and a little bigger, this would be a huge issue like Uly's.
Recon's is easy enough to manage... Puppies coming in learn to communicate with him and adults dogs are tethered carefully until I know they will back down from such guards. They are usually easy to recognize by me now, a few seconds before they start... Whereas no one else would see it coming whatsoever. So I can tell him to knock it off and send him to his crate verbally to prevent a problem.
That does sound a lot like Uly, except there's nothing for him to be guarding. He can be laying in the middle of the bare floor with his eyes closed and then suddenly go for the cat who has been sitting there for the last ten minutes without moving. Sometimes he goes for the cats when they are moving, sometimes nothing in the room has changed and everything has been still for a while when he goes off. He doesn't seem to guard the crate where he gets all his high-value stuff, and the places where he fires aren't normally places where anything happens. I also can't explain the lunging and barking in the middle of the night when I can see that every cat and other dog is curled up asleep.
If it's resource guarding it doesn't seem to be something I can anticipate or prevent. Sometimes he stares at the cat briefly before lunging, but not always. He also stares at this cats every time he sees them, all day, every day, and he doesn't fire every day. I can't find a pattern between the 100's of times he doesn't fire and the one time he does, so I just have to expect that he might go off each if those hundreds of times. Staring at stuff isn't even a good indicator because he stares at everything all the time, random sounds, random objects, anything that makes noise, things that have remained the same since he first arrived d six months ago...
If it's resource guarding it doesn't seem to be something I can anticipate or prevent. Sometimes he stares at the cat briefly before lunging, but not always. He also stares at this cats every time he sees them, all day, every day, and he doesn't fire every day. I can't find a pattern between the 100's of times he doesn't fire and the one time he does, so I just have to expect that he might go off each if those hundreds of times. Staring at stuff isn't even a good indicator because he stares at everything all the time, random sounds, random objects, anything that makes noise, things that have remained the same since he first arrived d six months ago...
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We had our 3rd BAT session (second session with a trigger (ie person)) with Art and OMG I don't think either me or my trainer was ready for what happened!
The last session (first with a trigger present) Art was able to get about 15-20ft away from the trigger as they walked parallel across the feild and picked up leaves. Which made me super happy, especially since there was not a single treat anywhere for him! ^_^ He get's so hyper-focused on treats he can go 30 minutes just searching for more food and not notice a trigger.
So this session Art wanted to, happily and with relaxed behaviors, go and meet the person! This was a new person, not the same one from the other session due to timing issues. We started with them sitting again, eventually they were walking, and then sitting as we got a bit closer. It was amazing. Other than a few soft looks at the person, he really didn't care about him. :hail:
We didn't let him greet the person, just because were weren't prepared for that, but it was amazing! He would go forward, I'd stop him if I thought it was too close, he'd stop look at me, I'd offer an "out" with body language which when he was stressed at all he would take the offer and move away, but instead this time he just wanted to go investigate them!
It's even moving over to everyday situations. He was able to look at a person walking a few feet away, knowing I had no treats, and then instead of reacting just looking away and going back to what he was doing before!
I'm so excited, but also worried that since it's started snowing we won't see enough people to keep up the behavior :/ eh, oh well, I'm just happy with the progress
The last session (first with a trigger present) Art was able to get about 15-20ft away from the trigger as they walked parallel across the feild and picked up leaves. Which made me super happy, especially since there was not a single treat anywhere for him! ^_^ He get's so hyper-focused on treats he can go 30 minutes just searching for more food and not notice a trigger.
So this session Art wanted to, happily and with relaxed behaviors, go and meet the person! This was a new person, not the same one from the other session due to timing issues. We started with them sitting again, eventually they were walking, and then sitting as we got a bit closer. It was amazing. Other than a few soft looks at the person, he really didn't care about him. :hail:
We didn't let him greet the person, just because were weren't prepared for that, but it was amazing! He would go forward, I'd stop him if I thought it was too close, he'd stop look at me, I'd offer an "out" with body language which when he was stressed at all he would take the offer and move away, but instead this time he just wanted to go investigate them!
It's even moving over to everyday situations. He was able to look at a person walking a few feet away, knowing I had no treats, and then instead of reacting just looking away and going back to what he was doing before!
I'm so excited, but also worried that since it's started snowing we won't see enough people to keep up the behavior :/ eh, oh well, I'm just happy with the progress
We have a similar issue with one of our dogs here, but she was dumped in a plastic bag as a puppy and suffered brain damage from oxygen depletion, I think that, on top of bad breeding is why she is like that.
Just like you explained, she will be fine, then all the sudden she will become aggressive to one of the dogs and "pick" at them, the males, Bear and Buddy just ignore her and go and lay down, but Josefina is the type to retaliate, so when we cant be out there with all the dogs, that dog in question is separated in a completely different yard (the one I use for agility practice) she is fine as long as people are outside, which is weird, you'd think it would be backward since we would be things to guard, but as soon as we go inside and she knows no one is watching, she will start ****.
Just like you explained, she will be fine, then all the sudden she will become aggressive to one of the dogs and "pick" at them, the males, Bear and Buddy just ignore her and go and lay down, but Josefina is the type to retaliate, so when we cant be out there with all the dogs, that dog in question is separated in a completely different yard (the one I use for agility practice) she is fine as long as people are outside, which is weird, you'd think it would be backward since we would be things to guard, but as soon as we go inside and she knows no one is watching, she will start ****.
I think Uly and Chloe are long lost littermates.
For what it is worth, prozac didn't do anything with her, although alprazolam did wonders. (However, my mother refuses to keep her on it...) She just has a shoddy genetic temperament. I do attribute her behavior to resource guarding/reactivity. Honestly, the only reason she is still with us is because my parents have the proper household for her and she's never majorly hurt anyone yet (and my dad refuses to euthanize her). Should either the household change or she cause severe damage, euthanasia is likely where we will go. Even though her "issue" doesn't seem bad (euthanizing over resource guarding?), she, herself, is very unpredictable.
This is a dog that you can take in public and she's wonderful, she is amazing at the vet's office, and 99% of the time she's just the epitome of a good house pet - but that 1% is the scary part, and people who don't live with her don't understand. As she's gotten older, her triggers have become less frequent, but are also less obvious and her reactions are become more extreme.
For what it is worth, prozac didn't do anything with her, although alprazolam did wonders. (However, my mother refuses to keep her on it...) She just has a shoddy genetic temperament. I do attribute her behavior to resource guarding/reactivity. Honestly, the only reason she is still with us is because my parents have the proper household for her and she's never majorly hurt anyone yet (and my dad refuses to euthanize her). Should either the household change or she cause severe damage, euthanasia is likely where we will go. Even though her "issue" doesn't seem bad (euthanizing over resource guarding?), she, herself, is very unpredictable.
This is a dog that you can take in public and she's wonderful, she is amazing at the vet's office, and 99% of the time she's just the epitome of a good house pet - but that 1% is the scary part, and people who don't live with her don't understand. As she's gotten older, her triggers have become less frequent, but are also less obvious and her reactions are become more extreme.
I think there doesn't have to be anything obvious to us for them to be guarding. Maybe he's guarding his personal space. Maybe he's guarding the space the cat (or whoever) is moving towards. Maybe he's guarding some magical thing that only he can see.
Some days someone can say something that bugs the crap out of me, and other days say the same thing and it doesn't or I might even think it's funny. Why? Because brains are weird.
Some days someone can say something that bugs the crap out of me, and other days say the same thing and it doesn't or I might even think it's funny. Why? Because brains are weird.