Meet Lady and...doggy troubles :(

[wolf_Q]

Hmmm well I'm having some dog problems, so this might be a long post. But first I'd like to share this pretty little lady with you. My friend, Melissa, just got her. She is a 10 week old german shorthair pointer. Her name is Lady. She's a big girl, huge paws...as big as Reggie is right now. I was hoping that Melissa would adopt a medium sized dog from the shelter, but that didnt happen. She bought the first dog she saw, some guy had her at a store. She really is pretty though, and a real sweetie. I'm just not sure how she's going to take her anywhere because she has a small 2 door car. I hope that she will train her well. And NOT let her dad/brothers touch her or try to teach her to hunt.

That brings me to another problem. Her other dogs. There is Bear, a very large black lab that I believe is around 7-9 years old. And Trusty, another pointer, who is probably around 12. Melissa loves these dogs, but she wanted to get a dog of her own. Those 2 dont even live at her house right now, they live at her old house with her brothers. Her dad is a hunting fanatic, and he has always believed that the dogs were his, and he would never let us touch them. Even when Bear was a puppy we couldn't play with him or we would "ruin his training." He does not believe dogs are pets, he believes they are property. So we really never got to do anything with the dogs most of their lives.....well now her dad doesn't care about taking them hunting anymore. They are WILD, and are not trained on a leash or anything. Ok we've tried training them, and it took us 2 hours just to get a harness on Bear (they have no fenced yard either...) And he chewed it off about an hour later. He is a real sweetie, but well, he's not an average sized lab...and we are both short.......5'4" and about 5'2".....he is not easy to handle. Her dad/brothers just laugh at us. Plus, (believe me, this sounds incredibly stupid lol) that dog has something out for me. He umm...goes after my leg, ALL the time. He wont stop, so I can't get within 3 feet of him. And Melissa just spends all her time dragging him away from me. When Trusty gets on a leash he just lays down and won't move. Uuuugghh........Melissa thinks she is giving up on her dogs by getting her a dog. I don't blame her for how they act, it was her dad and brothers. They need a firm handler, a male, they just ignore us. Oh, and they definitely need to be neutered! But getting Bear to a vet could be a real problem. Anyway..........sorry for that incredibly long story.......any advice is appreciated.......

Another problem that is freaking me out. My Reggie baby. A long time ago Reggie did this thing one time when I took him for a walk. He kind of got stiff, stuck his neck out, and made these strange snorting/honking noises, and breathing really hard like he couldn't breathe. I read in some magazine that dogs can have some problem (dont know what its called) where collars make their trachea flatten and cause them problems. So we bought him a harness, and he hadn't had a problem since. That had to be 6 years ago or more. Well when I went camping this weekend, he slept in the tent with us. When we woke up he started doing it! I don't know what caused it, I thought maybe he slept weird and his collar choked him or something...and then he did it again this morning! He did it for quite a long time, pausing in between for a minute or so. His collar is not tight at all, and I don't even know if that is what is causing it anymore. I'm going to start taking it off before he goes to bed but still.........does anyone have a clue what this is?

And now Smokey.......he is an old dog, 16. He gets aches and pains a lot, and I've seen him kind of hurt himself going up the stairs several times. Well last night he jumped out of a box, and must have landed weird. He hurt his leg, and he wouldn't even set it down. I wanted to take him to the vet last night, but it was late and my parents said to just give him a day. Today he has been putting weight on it, and he can move it and everything ok. I don't think it is broken, but he's limping........I feel so bad for him..... He acts normally besides the leg, and I can't get him to stay down. He's running and going down the stairs and everything. Also (I know you'll love this topic) he peed a huge puddle in the house yesterday, and it wasn't very yellow...looked more like water. I don't know if that means anything.

Oh, and my little puppy McKinny is gone! *sigh* I was getting so attached to that little pooch! My sister came and got him after I watched him for about 3 weeks. He even came camping with us. I love that little puppy! He was doing a lot better at the potty training too. Still not completely trained, but he had decided that he didn't *like* to go in his crate anymore, and was getting much better at going outside.

[wolf_Q]

Pics....
Lady


Melissa with Lady

Check out those paws! Those are her back legs too lol

Meeting one of the grumpy old men

[*LabLoverKEB*]

Awwwww, what a sweetie she is! She's sooooo adorable! Thanks for sharing!

[wolf_Q]

Bear

Trusty

McKinny......trying to be a beach ball......afer he ripped a hole in it

Reggie baby

Smokey


Sorry I like to post pictures.

[Sara luvs her Tinky]

Great pictures!!!!!!!!!
Lady is soooo pretty.. I bet Melissa is so proud of her new baby!!! I don't have any advice for any of your other topics though... SORRY... Bear is adorable and I just love his face I wanna pinch his cheeks soooo bad!!!! Trusty is just sooo handsome and Reggie and Smokey are very cute too!!!.. and that picture of McKinny in the beach ball is hilarious!!!!!

[DoggiesAreTheBest]

I am sorry to hear about Melissa's problems with her father's dogs. I do not think she needs to be guilty about having her own dog. But most importantly, she needs to train Lady and work with her so that she doesn't end up like her dad's dogs.

I think it is never too late to train a dog. Has she thought about rehoming them. Or perhaps find someone that the dogs will "cooperate" with for training. Trust me, I now how hard it is to control big dogs. Even the tinest of dogs can be stronger that us. If I didn't have Draker when he was a puppy and slowly built up my strength to handle him, he would be just as wild!

It is not the dogs' fault or Melissa's that they are out of control. He father is to blame. Shame on him!

On a lighter note, I enjoyed those pictures. Lady is going to grow up to be a big doggy! And boy is McKinny a cutie!

[anna_66]

Oh what great pics Amy! And my what big feet! Hope your friend has lots of fun with Lady.

The thing about Reggie, Angus has done that before. I don't know what causes it, he never wears a collar unless we are out, so I don't think that's what it is. I really couldn't tell you. Would be nice though if someone on here knew, then I could find out too.

[3-greys-and-a-mutt]

The thing with Reggie sounds like inverted, or inverse sneezing. Many greyhounds seem to have this problem. It is thought to have something to do with allergies, so it totally makes sense that he had this problem when you were camping this weekend, and he was sleeping outside in a tent.
When my Buddy has an inverted sneezing attack, we tilt his head so that his nose is pointed up, and gently rub his throat, and talk softly to him to calm him down.
It's kind of scary sounding at first, but it's not a life-threatening problem! (You might want to talk to your vet about allergy medication for Reggie, though, if the problem keeps persisting!)

[wolf_Q]

Thanks everyone about the pictures, and your advice. I've actually been trying to get Melissa to find the dogs new homes for years now. I just want to sneak and take them, lol. I love the pups, but I know they are not happy. We've thought about driving them down to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, UT. I will never let her take them to a kill shelter (and I know she wouldn't do that either). I'm just wondering if there is any rescue groups close to me, Kanab really is *not* close at all.....it's clear on the other end of the state. I don't think they are untrainable or anything, its just that...they have always had a male figure that told them what to do, and they just don't listen to us. I don't think Trusty is well either, he's quite skinny, and I don't think he can hear too well.

Thanks about the info on Reggie's problem. I hope it is that inverted sneezing. It would be weird that he would suddenly get allergies though........because we go camping *all* the time. The second time we did it we were sleeping outside on the deck, but we've done that many times too.

[Cincy'sMom]

What great pics!!! It really is too bad they dogs were "not allowed" to be trained when they were young. I can sorta realted...my parents have a 12 1/2 yr old dog, that we could have trained, but we didn't really know what to do with when we got her (I was a teenager) we taught her little stuff, like sit and lay down, but never come or to let you touch her. She has made huge steps just since last aug. when they got a 2nd dog. but when it comes down to it, she can be mean...if you do something she doesn't want you to, you will get growled at and maybe even snapped at. I helped my mom clean her ears recently and we had to put a muzzle on her and even then I was jumpy. She sounds like she could take an arm off!!! And it can be hard to control a little dog...I bet she doesn't weight more then 25 lbs!