Problems with doggies

I'm starting this thread for people who are having a problem with their dog and need some help.

First off:

President Biden’s Dog Commander Bites Another Secret Service Agent (Here’s How a Responsible Dog Parent Should Respond)

I'll add the name of dog trainer Cesar Millan who is like a dog whisperer and has videos on YouTube.

Joe Biden’s dog removed from White House after biting at least 11 staff


I'm surprised rthey didn't "retire" Commander earlier.

LOL....I have to say my new Aussie Shepherd is a Herding breed & part of their herding instinct is to nip at legs & feet. I have had more nip marks & scratches from Cote than I ever had from my cats & Gabe kitty & I play "tough kitty" at times just to have fun. I seriously keep a spray bottle of white vinegar close be for Cote to try & train him not to nip but it is a game with him. He doesn't nip me from in front now but runs around behind & nips me in the rear & then runs to keep from being squirted. Hard to be serious & not laugh when trying to train that behavior out of him....ugh.

The loud shaker can doesn't work well either because he is just too curious & thinks it is a new play toy that attacked him. The vinegar works best for all things even counter surfing cause I am a good aim & can nail him from across the room. He is only 4 months old so training started as soon as I knew what issues I needed to deal with. Go figure, at 8 weeks old (2nd night home) he was doing a sit for every meal & water. He didn't learn it at the breeder but my other older black lab I adopted last Jan always sits for meals & he saw her doing it & must have thought "that's what you are supposed to do".

I like limited training as for good behavior & socialization but I never want my dogs to lose their personalities & who they are. Have been thinking about herding for Cote when older. Had to laugh cause the cows were at the fence this morning & when he saw them he stopped, looked, then did h.is puppy growly/bark at them until they moved out into the field. He definitely stood his ground safely on our side of the fence.

I've been wondering how they can be trained hot to nip. Is it possible?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Travelinglady I've been wondering how they can be trained hot to nip. Is it possible?

They can be trained to know when it is ok for herding animals but not on people. Takes a lot of consistent work on it & then there is like a lightbulb moment when they finally get it. I am hoping we had one of those moments tonight cause he has been excited & nipping again today. We will see....but I do keep working on this problem.

I realize he jumps up on me because as a puppy it was easier to reach him when he did. But the bigger he gets the more difficult this behavior can be. I just walk right into him when he does it & it just knocks him off but there are still times when we do our hugs & loves when he stands up on me. These mixed messages make training on that difficult. Training must be consistant for them to learn.

He comes when I call & goes where I point all off leash....lol....my eskie doggies never did that unless it was "go truck" which meant a ride

Eskie, how about continuing to teach Cote that jumping on you is not acceptable, then teach him a visual cue for a hug?

Quote:

Originally Posted by lizardlady Eskie, how about continuing to teach Cote that jumping on you is not acceptable, then teach him a visual cue for a hug?

Great idea. My eskies really never jumped on me so never had that to think about. He is so good with visual cues that will work great

Quote:

Originally Posted by Travelinglady Joe Biden’s dog removed from White House after biting at least 11 staff I'm surprised rthey didn't "retire" Commander earlier.

Sometimes people will do nothing until they are forced to take an action especially when it comes to pets. Hoping the behavior will just go away or be tolerated.....then is escalates & something has to be done

Ugh, I am already dreading taking Helmut to the vet for his annual checkup. He behaves so badly he has to be muzzled. I think it goes back to when we neutered him. We brought him in early in the AM and they were supposed to do the surgery around 10 AM. It turned out they had to do two emergency surgeries and he didn't go into surgery until 5 PM. So, he spent the whole day in the kennel without being able to eat. The vet went to do a pre-surgery check on his family jewels and he bit the vet. The vet assistant freaked out at me about that and made us take him home even though he was still very dopey. I'd have preferred for him to stay overnight. It was definitely traumatic for him.


He is so sweet and cuddly with us. However, any time he goes to the vet, it is "The Helmut Show" He barks at other dogs. He has to be muzzled. The thing is, vet clinic staff don't seem to believe us because he looks like such a fluffy teddy bear. We have to insist on the muzzle and if it starts to loosen up we have to insist they fix it.


The last time we tried a different clinic that has a patio area by the parking lot, so we could hang out there and walk him around and only take him into the clinic when it was time for him to be seen. Even so, it took me, my husband and the vet to hold him down to vaccinate him. He was baring his teeth through the muzzle. The whole thing was physically exhausting. I'm looking for a better muzzle right now. He may end up looking like Hannibal Lecter at his next appointment! I am also going to ask if there's something they can prescribe to him to calm him down.

When we moved to this house, I did once have a vet come here and vaccinate him and it wasn't so dramatic. My husband has insisted that we need to try to get him used to going to the vet because not everything can be done in a home visit. However, after that last time, I am thinking we need to try home visits again.

Wow, home visits? I've never heard of them. I'm sure poor Helmut is upset, associating with happened to him with a vet's office. Does he act the same way with both male and female vets? Do they wear distinctive attire, like white coats? Just wondering....

The Hannibal Lecter image is kind of funny. I had to laugh at that. Good analogy!

Home visits are pretty common here. A friend doesn't have a car so she almost always does home visits for her pets. The vet typically has an agreement to rent a clinic's facilities in the case of needing to do a surgery. The guy I may call spayed Bruni at the clinic he has an agreement with.

I am thinking and I haven't really noticed a difference as far as gender. He's been to both male and female vets. Vets here usually wear medical scrubs.

Maybe it's the clinic environment as a whole, the smell, the other animals which is why he did better at home. Sometimes the visits start out not so bad, but then go off the rails any time they want to touch his belly or intimate areas. Which, makes me think it has to do with the biting incident before his neuter. Poor guy, I can understand how he would be traumatized by that whole situation. That clinic had some changes in staff, and the service had started to go downhill. That day was the first sign of issues. We've since moved, but I would have stopped going there if we were still in the city.

Haha, yeah, I was looking at the pictures of some of these muzzles and Hannibal Lecter was the first thing that came to mind. Maybe, we named Helmut wrong. He should be Aníbal (Hannibal in Spanish)! Although a friend did say that Helmut could be construed as the mutt from Hell!

Rechu, what about making visits to the vet that are just visits? Start with just walking in and hanging out for a few minutes and leaving. Gradually stay longer. Eventually have staff pet HellMutt. Kind of gradually desensitized him.

Hmm, something to think about liz. Although, I'm not sure if they would WANT Hell Mutt hanging around the clinic that much. They were very happy to see him gone. They may have even thrown a party! In fact, he was supposed to have his second vaccine a month later, but the vet gave him both at the same time to avoid a second trip. Apparently, it's okay to do it early, if it's within about a month.

He was unceremoniously kicked out of the other vet clinic while still dopey. He's like the child that keeps getting kicked out of schools for bad behavior.

I am really thinking that a home visit might be best. I could do a two for one with the rebel cat Loka who wouldn't get into her carrier. The vet that usually sees her baptized her Loka, not Loca - he said it sounds edgier.


I guess I should consider us lucky that he is overall a healthy dog. He's only had to have vet care for his neuter, annual check-ups/shots and a teeth cleaning. The vet for the teeth cleaning did ask us to bring him with the muzzle on. Afterwards, he said the visit wasn't so bad. But, they sedated him pretty quickly and they didn't have to do a physical exam.

He was about 4 months when my husband found him at his work. So, maybe he had other bad vet experiences before. Who knows? It's a mystery that such a gorgeous dog was a stray on the street like that. He seemed to be waiting all day in the front patio area for my husband. We wonder why no one else tried to take him in. Or, maybe they tried to determine if he was male or female and it didn't go well! We tried to find out if someone was looking for him, but no one was.

Cesar Millan is the Master. I already followed his videos before having my first doggie, Perla. And it was very helpful.

Here I go.
A new law has been approved in relation to pets’ rights. Many points seem more a punishment for owners and a charge of taxes. So, it will make more difficult to find people who adopt. 🙄

For example, any pet has to be covered by an insurance. I don’t know if this is a norm in your countries, too.

Helmut lives the present. He will behave accordingly to his current experiences and the new life you and your husband are providing him with.

I would suggest taking him for a long walk before his vet’s visit. Give him the most enjoyable experience when going by taking with you his favourite trick to reward him each step he gives into the vet clinic.
Try to be as calm as possible yourself while doing all the process and also when he is treat.

I guess you already try it, right?

I wanted to add this information just in case because I know you are used to dealing with dogs. Much more than me.

A responsible pet ownership law went into effect some years back. Insurance isn't required. You are supposed to register your pets in a national pet register. I thought microchipping was mandatory, but looking at the site I am linking, it sounds like you can also use an ID tag. I'm sending you a link with some more information about it if you are interested. It's in Spanish. It's kind of hard, though, to enforce things like not chipping or otherwise identifying your pet since if it's not identified, how do you determine who the owner is? All of mine are chipped and registered.

Ley Cholito y Tenencia Responsable de Mascotas - Dato Legal

There had been talk about limiting the number of pets depending on the size of your home, but that wasn't included in the final law. Obviously, it was intended to prevent hoarding situations. However, some people that have a reasonable number of pets could have been impacted if their home was small.

Here, we also microchip and register our pets. It’s in the law, but now, in the new law, an insurance is also required.
As always, irresponsible people are the ones who will go away with doing whatever. Responsible people are the one who are going to pay for an insurance, as always.
The idea, if they really wanted the best for pets, they would increase inspections so they will see who microchips their pets but they only want to get money.

Our cat was microchipped at the shelter before we adopted her. i think they also have to be "sterilized." (no babies)
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Insurance is not required.

We were asked some questions before we were able to adopt our dog from Pet Smart. One of them was whether we had a doggie door. (We do.)