Tango and Cash are now about seven months old and Cash cracked me up yesterday when my cup made noise on the table (I set it down a little hard) and he poped up like a prairie dog looking for the source of the noise.
The rescue I adopted Harper from has an "alumni" facebook page. People upload a lot of "Before and After" sets, so here are some of Harper. Spoiler: Before 1 Spoiler: Before 2 Spoiler: After 1 Spoiler: After 2 It's the damndest thing though. She really isn't an affectionate dog. I can't even tell if she likes being petted or not. It honestly bums me out.
How long have you had her for? Sometimes, it takes a bit for them to warm up to people more. Otto took a good long while to be super affectionate. Now, he's the best.
Second that. For example Piggy is still weird about being pet and she'll usually wiggle her whole body away when you try. She is the biggest cuddler I have ever met but we had to get her used to petting while she wasn't curled up on us. I read something today that said really submissive dogs don't always like pets directly on the head and I think that is her main issue. This dog would get torn apart before she got aggressive with another dog and I think she was in a semi abusive and neglectful situation before we got her. Buddy wouldn't give direct eye contact for much greater than 6 months. I think it was close to a year. He is very reserved but you can tell he loves head rubs because his eyes almost roll into the back of his head. There is no way to tell that he enjoys belly rubs except for the fact that he looks up are you when you stop. I know you are aware of this already but it can be hard to accept, but every dog is different. You had a golden retriever before and I am sure that is the standard all others are measured.
I picked her up the last week of July sometime. So it has been a good while, but not that long I suppose. Harper had to be in a neglectful or abusive situation as well. I kind of want to inquire more about it, but I did here from her initial foster mom that she was the most scared pup she had ever had and cowered in a corner for two whole days initially. And she is always freaked out by new people. It takes her a long while to warm up to folks, but once she does she does get happy and excited to see them and tries to jump all over them with her tail going 200 mph. Still not a fan of them petting her though. I think she just has a bit of a block. Time will tell. And maybe I spoke too soon as I was able to get her to sit in my lap for 5 whole minutes today and scratch her ears and her eyes were doing the classic roll back into her head. It's also has to do with her energy levels. She is generally either 0 or 100. Bouncing off the fucking walls or passing out. There is a small window of "yeah, I wouldn't mind just sitting here with you for a minute." Too true. My expectations for affection are probably a little high considering.
Give her time and with gentle, firm, constant leadership from you and plenty of exercise she will calm down and be more even. Seriously though....exercise the shit out of her. Piggy is part amstaff, part weimeraner, and we are used to Buddy's laid back temperament. We weren't awesome at it at first but we steadily increased her weekly routine exercise until we both were happy. We walk them 4-5 times a week, and she gets several short (10-15 min) sprinting sessions chasing the ball a day. We take them places on the weekend and they usually get an extra long walk away from their usual places or get to ride along and see stuff with us. When either of us get home and the dogs are freaking out and excited, we immediately go outside for short playtime so they can get their excitement out. It only takes 5-10 minutes but it works. I expect them to behave differently inside the house and that means giving plenty of opportunities to get energy out instead of expecting her to hold it in. We also got the cleverpet which is amazing for her. She isn't as freaky about food because she is always able to access a little bit. It also calms her down because she has something to "work" on. Plus plenty of available chew toys so she is never tempted to put her mouth on our stuff. It's a balancing act but I think you'll figure it out. Plus she will probably get a bit calmer as she grows older. She's just a big ol puppy!!
All is forgiven... Dell is replacing it tomorrow under warranty. Don't ask how that worked out, but I guess when you're making them an App, they treat you fairly well.
On a completely different scale my cats have developed a taste for electric cables. I've gone through 3 modem power cables, 2 sonos power cables and now three phone charging cables, as well as a second set of computer speakers.. Those little assholes are lucky I love them.
Well, Harper just can't catch a break. First, it was coccidia. She barely got over that before she caught another bug of some sort. And now before she even had a chance to finish her meds for that she has a partial ACL tear in her rear right leg. The vet prescribed 2 weeks of kennel rest with a daily NSAID. Does anyone have experience with these? Any tips? I'm worried about it becoming a full tear or her injuring the other leg. Anything to prevent that would be great. I ordered some Glycoflex as a long shot. Do you have any recommendations for pet insurance? We are on day 4 of this. She has a helluva lot of trouble standing up, laying down, and squatting. Once the stiffness is out she is getting a bit more movement, to the point where she will try to start to run and jump as she is using the bathroom. Anyway, here's a picture of her as I was trying to cajole her to go outside, but she wasn't really having it. Thanks in advance for any input on all this.
I was asked for an update on my pup, and I'm thankful to say that she seems to be doing well. I think I got extremely lucky. We did that first week with minimal movement, but by the second she was already walking around on her own and we were trying to keep her from jumping on things. The second week the vet said she could do short walks, so we started doing those and she had free range of the house minus running. The third week the vet said that we could increase activity and if there was no limping we would be good to go. I haven't really seen anything definitive about her that says she is injured. I keep thinking something is wrong, but I think that is just because I'm a worrier. Here she was running today. Now to figure out her diet, barking incessantly, jumping on people, and how to make her love me.
Here are some recent ones of the dogs. Buddy looking regal and Piggy getting it on her hub. The video is a dark but it shows the lights well.
I recently watched my brother's coonhound and neighbor's cocker spaniel together for a week, and it was a little crazy at times but then stuff like this would happen...
Now that Spring is here, he's drinking from all sorts of water sources. Bird-infused must be some high class cat water stuff.
The little one (Bumble), who recently turned 4. He's looking awfully scruffy right now, and it's getting hotter here - might be time to take him to the groomer's to get shaved down. Unfortunately, he looks a bit like a rat when he's shaved, so... choices, choices.
The cat had to go to the emergency clinic because he got into a bad fight with a local feral cat. Turns out that cats have incredibly infectious bites. Within 12 hours of a deep bite to his rear leg, his foot swelled up to almost double the size and he couldn't walk on it. He was panting in pain and was going ape shit due to the fever. Took him to the vet, and $300 later I have a whack of feline opioids and other pain killers as well as a 2 week supply of antibiotics. I'm now my cat's drug dealer, and after giving him a shot of the opioid, he just sits on a towel and stares at the wall for hours on end. It's kind of funny, in a way. At least he's now chipper enough that he's eating and drinking, even if he still can't walk on his bad rear leg yet.
My dog had issues with her foot and had to have a cone for a couple of weeks. Well she hated the cone so we went back to the vet, they gave her diazepam to calm her down