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Time for another ‘my dog is awesome’ thread


Patricio Swayze

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We always have fall (and spring. and summer. and...) pictures taken of our little girl.  This year she wanted Allie to be in some of them.  Allie loved the ones where she got to play, but didn't care much for the others.

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Edited by Burt
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On 11/8/2019 at 8:17 PM, austingirl said:

 


Yep, because none of us deserve dogs. That pic was from a few days ago - this was today. Bella's belly kills me. a70d1f0e08ae42b6b8db09b555ba3b67.jpg


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Moses the cat died some time last night, in the room he had of late come to share with Lucy and Bella, the pugs. He was born in 2005 and adopted by my grandma (Mawmaw) that same year. He evacuated from Hurricane Rita in the backseat of my mom's Toyota Avalon, with my grandma feeding him kibble through the bars of his carrier. They were on the road for 21 hours, which is how long it took them to drive from Port Arthur to Austin after the evacuation order was issued. This was probably, admittedly, a shitty way to begin one's life and maybe was part of the reason why he was such an asshole most of his life. Mawmaw died in 2010 and my parents took over his care. He had 9 good years with my parents and the pugs before he got sick. Because this is a thread about awesome dogs, I want to point out that Lucy and Bella accepted him as their BFF once he came around, despite him being a jerk to them most of the time. God bless dogs and those of us they love - feline, human, or whatever else.

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Maybe belongs in Can You Help Me with This, but this is the thread for dog lovers.  I've posted a few pictures of Sadie in this thread.  She's a 2 year old Great Pyrenees/Shepherd mix.  We got her from a rescue a little over a month ago.  She's very patient, doesn't jump on people, potty trained, and the sweetest dog I've ever had.  In short, this dog has worked her way into our hearts in a very short time. 

What I have started to see though, is that she has been mistreated in the past, and by the male in her house.  There are little signs of it.  About a week ago, I was working at home (bad weather day).  When I work from home, she comes downstairs to the basement and spends much of the day with me.  When she wants something, she gets up and comes over to me.  Usually it's just some petting that she wants.  That particular day, I reached down to pet her and when I touched her, I got shocked.  I pulled my had back and that poor dog cowered in fear.  There have been a few other instances where she cowers and it breaks my heart.  I soothe her and everything is good, but I hate that she still has a fear of what appears to be me.

My question to the other dog lovers is this:  Will she ever lose that fear?  I do not want this dog to think that I'm going to beat her, ever.  I want her to respect me, but I'm almost afraid to even speak to her in a stern voice because she'll get scared.

Edited to add a story from yesterday.  Sadie loves to go with me everywhere.  Yesterday I was about to go out for a bit and she could tell.  She was at the door ready to go.  I put her on the leash and we went out.  The wife was already out there and I needed to put some wiper fluid in the vehicle.  As soon as I opened the hood, this big girl jumped in the engine compartment and landed on the engine.  Thank God it wasn't running.  I lifted her out and she was unhurt.  She just figured that was another way into my truck.

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Ruffas was either left alone in a kennel as a pup or was mistreated badly.  He came with a LOT of issues and was afraid of everyone outside our family.  Over the years we adapted to a routine when he met a new person and it helped him to accept them.  We made many compromises socially and while it was a huge challenge he ended up with a good life and adored the family.  

Sadie’s issues don’t seem nearly as severe but I understand what you’re feeling.  The best advice I can give is give her the back of the hand before petting. Don’t be aggressive to her head at all.  People don’t understand that if a dog has fears the last thing you want to do is to “go at it” to play.  Fearful dogs are going to react to actions like that in a negative manner be it a growl, a lunge or shrinking away.  

You just have to be really patient with her and consistent.  A great trainer can help but make sure it is only positive training.  No choke collars, pinch collars or negative reinforcement at all. Lots of treats and praise. 

ETA: Ru was a rescue as well.  It’s difficult because you don’t know the background.  We’ve rescued four now. Even though we purchased Eli I consider him a rescue as well because the previous owner did nearly everything wrong as far as training and diet goes.  

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23 hours ago, Stormandy said:

Good looking dog.

Thanks. After being diagnosed with a pretty severe liver shunt and being told her chances might not be that great, she has really handled it all very well. I remember the vet tech was almost in tears when her first CT scan came back. aggy vets are amazed at how fit she is, because the shunt puppies never usually never quite get the physicality back.

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On 11/18/2019 at 8:14 PM, Deej said:

Yeah, my 16 year old was a rescue at 9 months. 15 years of nothing but love and she can still be sketchy. The other two, raised by me since pups, are bulletproof. Zero fear of anything.

We did obedience training with both of ours as soon as we adopted them, both around 9-10 weeks old, and the trainer always emphasized how much dogs' core... behaviors, beliefs, etc (for lack of better words) are all but set in stone by 12 weeks old. Not that you can't alter or undo some stuff after that, but it gets exponentially harder. It really isn't much time.

On 11/20/2019 at 5:32 PM, Paco said:

Sequence goes like this...

Asleep.
Wake up, stretch.
Huge fart.
Looks around. (pic)
Back to sleep.

He leads a tough life.73fdf667bbc1ef884006516dd9f0dcb4.jpg

Living the dream, if you ask my 11-yo. Or my husband.

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17 minutes ago, austingirl said:

 


So I did one of those Wisdom Panel DNA tests on him a while back and was very surprised that lab didn't show up. Here are his results.

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1 hour ago, AUS-97HORN said:

yes, exactly,  Today Rocket iz Lab Aussie, GSD, Goldie, Rottie, Husky, Weim

corrected

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