Yes! We did!! :O
I'm over the shock now, though. And I'm going to apologize for this crazily long post right now. I seem to have forgotten my hurry somewhere in typing.
I sort of updated my old thread, but I'm making a new one for this. I will update over the weekend complete with pictures (as many as you guys want) and lots more info. I'm just in quite a hurry at the moment, MASSIVE amounts of homework due tomorrow. (Although I might not even have school, and if I do there is no guarantee we can even get out of our lane--gigantic hill+3inches of ice = impassable even with 4 wheel drive and snow chains.) We brought Garnet home Saturday night. He's an absolute sweetheart, a big red boy w/ uncropped crinky ears and a docked tail. He gets overexcited and hyper when you bring out the leash (even though it's on him almost all the time, it's only off when he's in his crate or I'm in a room with him and can keep my eye on him.) and loves to lean against you and stick his head over your shoulder; sit on your lap, and slurp your face. We love him, and he definitely loves us back.
He apparently wasn't really crate-trained. =/ I mean, he doesn't use his crate as a toilet and he doesn't freak out in it, but he certainly doesn't enjoy it. Through lots of tiny little treats and praise and making it fun, I've gotten him to at least go willingly into his crate now, and I can't possibly be more thrilled!
He's leash-trained which makes having him so much easier--especially because I'm taking him to our friend's house so he can run around in a fenced-in yard. My dad and I are finalizing plans on a fence this weekend, and then we'll be measuring things out and renting a post-hole digger, because the sooner we have a fence the sooner he and I don't have to walk (or slide during this weather) to Linda's.
My mom and I are completely exhausted from taking him on frequent walks (neither of us are really in shape), but all three of us went out last night and ice-skated in our back yard. Ice skated in the yard, you say? Well, we did. Everything is completely iced over, absolutely solid and fairly smooth, so I went skating. Garnet was the only one who wasn't sliding all over the place, but he has way better traction anyhow.
I do need advice on two things at the moment, however. One is a training method for getting him used to the cats. I am in favor of the "ignore the cats" method. I looked and looked for a link to it and then I googled, but I'm having no luck, so I'll just give a brief overview: The method is basically to teach dogs to ignore cats, regardless of what the cat is doing. One person holds the dog on a short lead and the other person (at the far end of the room) holds the cat. When the dog is paying attention to the person holding their leash and not to the cat, they get treated and praised. The person holding the cat will slowly, over the course of many sessions, move closer, and the dog will be praised for ignoring the cat. When the dog is consistently ignoring the cat while the cat is standing next to it, then the cat will be allowed to walk around the room (preferably on a leash to prevent running), and the dog will be praised for ignoring the cat. This is a very, very, very brief overview. The reason I'm in favor of this for us is that the three times Garnet + cat has caught me unaware and I've had him on a short leash he has lunged at them and then excitedly jumped around them and done the bowing thing.... he wants to play with them. As far as I'm concerned, him playing with the cats isn't acceptable. He's a large dog with a prey drive and they are small cats who look like prey. If they play together things could get out of hand very quickly and he might injure or kill one of them, or he might be injured himself. Teaching him to ignore the cats will greatly help them get used to him. If he's like a piece of moving furniture that pays them no attention, I know they'll be more comfortable around him and get used to his presence more quickly than if he is giving them an intent stare.
SO... Have any of you Chazzers used this method before? Pros and Cons? Any alternat suggestions? Any discussion on this is much appreciated. I'd really like multiple POVs.
Number Two: I need advice on a good dog food. I've been doing my homework for months now, and I'd never even heard of Innova and Canidae and Honest Kitchen and a zillion other recommended brands before I came here. However, I'm still in favor of raw diet, as is my dad. The problem with that is that my mother has a hard time stomaching raw meat. She is very much against a raw diet regardless of the health benefits, so we reached a compromise a few months ago: We will feed Garnet (although it wasn't Garnet then, it was Hypothetical Dog) a very good quality food and then switch to raw after six months to a year of having him, and if she still can't stomach it after I've been feeding it to him for a month, then we will go back to very-very-very-good brand. I'm in charge of preparing food and feeding it to him, but there will be times when I can't do that for whatever reason, so we really do have to have a food that my mom can deal with feeding him.
It has been vexing me greatly, however, that she seems to be talking with anyone and everyone instead of me about the food and treating their advice like it's gospel. Okay, so I'm exaggerating a tiny bit, but still: she talks with someone at Pets Mart and just has to tell me that we should feed him whatever they spouted off to her (Science Diet, Eukanuba, and Iams have been the most recently lauded suggestions). It seems that whatever I say goes in one ear and out the other--and I don't just talk about raw, I do talk with her about other good brands and key ingredients that should be in the foods we give our pets. Her latest reccomendation was from a vet--the vet actually told her that we "shouldn't bother" feeding Garnet a high-quality food because of how expensive it is, and that SD or Eukanuba would be just fine!!! (No, the vet isn't our vet, but I would certainly love to have a word with him or her.)
I think I'm done with my ranting over this topic, but I'd love some food reccomendations. Innova I've heard is good. Something like Canida I've also heard about, as well as Honest Kitchen. We have a pretty good reccomendation from his foster-mom, I forget the brand, but I'll find our little notebook and post it this weekend. Raw is out until this summer, I think, but any other food discussion/recs are welcome.
Once again, I promise will post pictures this weekend. I've taken a bunch, but I don't have any uploaded onto the computer yet, much less in photobucket.
P.S. - Doberkim, how many Dobes do you have?
I'm over the shock now, though. And I'm going to apologize for this crazily long post right now. I seem to have forgotten my hurry somewhere in typing.
I sort of updated my old thread, but I'm making a new one for this. I will update over the weekend complete with pictures (as many as you guys want) and lots more info. I'm just in quite a hurry at the moment, MASSIVE amounts of homework due tomorrow. (Although I might not even have school, and if I do there is no guarantee we can even get out of our lane--gigantic hill+3inches of ice = impassable even with 4 wheel drive and snow chains.) We brought Garnet home Saturday night. He's an absolute sweetheart, a big red boy w/ uncropped crinky ears and a docked tail. He gets overexcited and hyper when you bring out the leash (even though it's on him almost all the time, it's only off when he's in his crate or I'm in a room with him and can keep my eye on him.) and loves to lean against you and stick his head over your shoulder; sit on your lap, and slurp your face. We love him, and he definitely loves us back.
He apparently wasn't really crate-trained. =/ I mean, he doesn't use his crate as a toilet and he doesn't freak out in it, but he certainly doesn't enjoy it. Through lots of tiny little treats and praise and making it fun, I've gotten him to at least go willingly into his crate now, and I can't possibly be more thrilled!
He's leash-trained which makes having him so much easier--especially because I'm taking him to our friend's house so he can run around in a fenced-in yard. My dad and I are finalizing plans on a fence this weekend, and then we'll be measuring things out and renting a post-hole digger, because the sooner we have a fence the sooner he and I don't have to walk (or slide during this weather) to Linda's. My mom and I are completely exhausted from taking him on frequent walks (neither of us are really in shape), but all three of us went out last night and ice-skated in our back yard. Ice skated in the yard, you say? Well, we did. Everything is completely iced over, absolutely solid and fairly smooth, so I went skating. Garnet was the only one who wasn't sliding all over the place, but he has way better traction anyhow.
I do need advice on two things at the moment, however. One is a training method for getting him used to the cats. I am in favor of the "ignore the cats" method. I looked and looked for a link to it and then I googled, but I'm having no luck, so I'll just give a brief overview: The method is basically to teach dogs to ignore cats, regardless of what the cat is doing. One person holds the dog on a short lead and the other person (at the far end of the room) holds the cat. When the dog is paying attention to the person holding their leash and not to the cat, they get treated and praised. The person holding the cat will slowly, over the course of many sessions, move closer, and the dog will be praised for ignoring the cat. When the dog is consistently ignoring the cat while the cat is standing next to it, then the cat will be allowed to walk around the room (preferably on a leash to prevent running), and the dog will be praised for ignoring the cat. This is a very, very, very brief overview. The reason I'm in favor of this for us is that the three times Garnet + cat has caught me unaware and I've had him on a short leash he has lunged at them and then excitedly jumped around them and done the bowing thing.... he wants to play with them. As far as I'm concerned, him playing with the cats isn't acceptable. He's a large dog with a prey drive and they are small cats who look like prey. If they play together things could get out of hand very quickly and he might injure or kill one of them, or he might be injured himself. Teaching him to ignore the cats will greatly help them get used to him. If he's like a piece of moving furniture that pays them no attention, I know they'll be more comfortable around him and get used to his presence more quickly than if he is giving them an intent stare.
SO... Have any of you Chazzers used this method before? Pros and Cons? Any alternat suggestions? Any discussion on this is much appreciated. I'd really like multiple POVs.
Number Two: I need advice on a good dog food. I've been doing my homework for months now, and I'd never even heard of Innova and Canidae and Honest Kitchen and a zillion other recommended brands before I came here. However, I'm still in favor of raw diet, as is my dad. The problem with that is that my mother has a hard time stomaching raw meat. She is very much against a raw diet regardless of the health benefits, so we reached a compromise a few months ago: We will feed Garnet (although it wasn't Garnet then, it was Hypothetical Dog) a very good quality food and then switch to raw after six months to a year of having him, and if she still can't stomach it after I've been feeding it to him for a month, then we will go back to very-very-very-good brand. I'm in charge of preparing food and feeding it to him, but there will be times when I can't do that for whatever reason, so we really do have to have a food that my mom can deal with feeding him.
It has been vexing me greatly, however, that she seems to be talking with anyone and everyone instead of me about the food and treating their advice like it's gospel. Okay, so I'm exaggerating a tiny bit, but still: she talks with someone at Pets Mart and just has to tell me that we should feed him whatever they spouted off to her (Science Diet, Eukanuba, and Iams have been the most recently lauded suggestions). It seems that whatever I say goes in one ear and out the other--and I don't just talk about raw, I do talk with her about other good brands and key ingredients that should be in the foods we give our pets. Her latest reccomendation was from a vet--the vet actually told her that we "shouldn't bother" feeding Garnet a high-quality food because of how expensive it is, and that SD or Eukanuba would be just fine!!!
(No, the vet isn't our vet, but I would certainly love to have a word with him or her.)I think I'm done with my ranting over this topic, but I'd love some food reccomendations. Innova I've heard is good. Something like Canida I've also heard about, as well as Honest Kitchen. We have a pretty good reccomendation from his foster-mom, I forget the brand, but I'll find our little notebook and post it this weekend. Raw is out until this summer, I think, but any other food discussion/recs are welcome.
Once again, I promise will post pictures this weekend. I've taken a bunch, but I don't have any uploaded onto the computer yet, much less in photobucket.
P.S. - Doberkim, how many Dobes do you have?
