DW Community Catch-up Thread
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Back when I had a dog I took him to doggie day care for the social interaction and to wear him the crap out. He, eventually, bit another dog and was banned after that. It wasn’t until after that happened that I was told my dog had been showing signs of stress for about a month before and they just gave him his own time. Yet, each time I picked him up they told me how much they loved him and how great he was….
I was careful when I picked out my doggie day care, just be cautious.
I truly cannot imagine my dog biting another dog, person, animal, whatever. Ever, under any circumstances. He has the absolute sweetest disposition. He melts to the ground when he sees certain dogs coming while we walk, which I’m told is just a sign of submission. I’d be more concerned with him getting “bullied” by other dogs.
He is about 30 lbs (too big to be small, but not big) and looks like an aussiedoodle (he’s definitely not but he sure is cute). Through volunteering at shelters, I learned that my city has one of the worst dog fighting problems in the country, and sometimes there will be alerts out for dog owners to be extra vigilant on walks or letting dogs out in yards unattended because the smaller, fluffier dogs are stolen for bait dogs. I always get nervous when I hear reports of that in or near where I live cause I feel like he’d be a prime target.
I echo what Hizzy said about doggie daycare – my girl never bit anyone but once her kneecap slid out (luxating patella) and she screamed when they handed her to me, and they didn’t realize what was happening/didn’t care and started laughing. I spent the night on the phone with the vet. We manage it now, but it made me wonder how often it had happened before.
Also, once I mixed up my snack with her food (mixed nuts vs dog kibble) and they put the mixed nuts in her bowl at doggie daycare without even calling me. I realized it when I got to the office and called, which is when I found this out. Nuts can be poisonous for dogs. It was after that, and after she acted like she didn’t want to go anymore, that I decided I wasn’t going to force her and it wasn’t worth it anymore.
Also, @Copa, I am terrified about that too. I will NEVER leave her alone in public, even in the car if it’s cool enough. We’ve been thrown out of many gas stations on the way to my home state because I won’t leave her in the car, but frankly I’d rather argue with a gas station attendant to let me buy my damn iced tea than have her be stolen out of my car while I’m inside. (I carry her the whole time, she’s 6lbs, I never put her down, btw.)
Yeah, some daycares arent the right environment for my dog. He’s small, and older, and at one I tried – just as a backup because it was near my work – they didn’t want him to come back because he got testy when big young dogs were knocking him around. He does well in groups of 8 or so, with good supervision, and some places aren’t set up like that. A dog like yours, Copa, seems like he’d be ok, but check out how big the groups get, and how much human interaction.
Yeah there’s a place near me that a former neighbor used to take her dog to before she moved to a new area of the city. Her dog was smaller and not super friendly, and did fine there. My dog’s neighborhood dog friend, One-Eyed Sylvia, also goes there.
@TheLadyE I had no idea what my dog would grow up to look like, but I’m a little sad he grew over the 25lb threshold to travel with him on planes. I also can’t realistically carry him a lot of places. When I road trip back to my parents’ place in a different state, I probably seem like a trainwreck at gas stations because I have to leave him in the car, and I don’t like doing that. I don’t really worry about him being stole in the middle of nowhere Indiana (that’s only my concern in the city proper), and more because cars heat up and cool down quickly.Also related to dogs and dating, BG spent the night at my place for the first time on Friday. We came home pretty wasted (oops!) from a wedding reception/after party. He was surprised when the dog jumped right in bed with us. I forgot that might be kind of weird for someone who doesn’t own a dog, but he was fine with it. Anyway, I was not in good shape and at one point I bolted for the bathroom thinking I was going to be sick, and he came in to check on me and make sure I was okay. I was so embarrassed because I’m not typically a sloppy mess when I go out. Following me to the bathroom to help is probably a basic courtesy, but it’s just not something most guys I’ve dated in the past would’ve done.
We’ve used Rover for Hound of Fyodor and we’ve had consistently good experiences. She’s unfortunately lost any remaining protective instincts regarding our home because she’s used to friendly strangers coming in and petting/walking her.
I wish I could use something like Rover and have my dogs walked some days that no one is home until 5. But our older, bigger dog barks at everyone and can even be a little mean – even to people he knows and likes when they first arrive. It’s so frustrating. I took him to puppy classes and socialized him as a puppy so I don’t know why he thinks everyone who comes through our door is there to harm us. He’s pug/dotson and I think it’s the dotson in him but still…
@Fyodor Lol, I love Hound of Fyodor and all of your acronyms/names. Totally brightens my day every time I read them.
@Copa, my little girl will get in the bed with guys too! They have to get used to it because otherwise she just barks. Frankly, she was there before they got there and is there when they leave, so…it’s her bed too. Thankfully she’s very small and just curls up at the end of the bed on my side so doesn’t disturb whoever the guy is at all. Sometimes the guy has to get over it quickly but it’s never really been a problem; they tend to be focused on other things, haha.
When i first started dating my husband he’d complain “your dog is on my side of the bed”. I corrected him that he was in fact on the dogs side of the bed. Luckily he usually sleeps up on top of the pillows above my head so he doesn’t bother anyone. Last night however he kept me up moving around all night. Ugh. The first morning in ages I could’ve slept in and he had me up from it. Grrr
Regarding doggy day care if anyone is in OC i recommend Wags and Wiggles. My dog went for years and I’ve had nothing but amazing experiences. They have two locations. Thought I’d share since it was brought up. I stopped taking him when he got older as he’d just sleep there all day and it isn’t particularly cheap but he loved it and we’ve never had any issues.
@Copa that actually is very sweet of BG to come check on you. It IS a basic human decency thing, but hey, it shows he’s a decent human!
M of V had NEVER seen me drunk until we’d been dating for over a year. We had spent the day in the heat cleaning out my parents garage because they are having a yard sale/moving into a smaller house. So we’d been sweating in the heat all day, and then took showers and went to my 15 year HS reunion and I just started putting back margaritas like it was my full time job, forgetting that I really hadn’t eaten much. Got stupid drunk and he started driving us home, chuckling the whole way. Long story short we had to stop like 7 times on the normally 45 minute drive home so I could puke my guts out. He got me home and in bed with Gatorade and a bucket and took my car through the car wash since I unfortunately hit the outside of the car lol. He thought it was highly entertaining despite how embarrassed I was.
Also, regarding the dogs – M of V has a dog but she doesn’t sleep in his room. My dogs sleep in my room but on a bed on the floor, not in my bed. One of my dogs snores like a full size man. I dont’ even notice it any more. I know he had trouble sleeping at first but he never complained. Now he doesn’t hear it either.
To clarify, we weren’t doing anything sexy cause I’d drank too much. (Oops!) I’m pretty sure telling him repeatedly that I was sorry and that the room was spinning when I closed my eyes was not a turn on, haha. But he was really nice about the whole thing, and I was embarrassed. My dog sleeps at the foot of my bed every night, but I don’t want him in the bed if we’re doing other things. He only just learned to jump on my bed on his own last month even though I’ve had him almost a year, so even I was a little surprised when he jumped up.
@veritek I’m impressed that he hadn’t seen you drunk until you’d been dating that long! I’m not a huge drinker/partier at this point in my life, but I used to be when I was in school, and the only remnant of that life is that I’m someone who still likes a good buzz. I’m seldom sloppy, though, because it’s only fun until it’s not fun anymore, and when it stops being fun, it’s awful. I barely left my couch on Saturday. And yeah, I didn’t eat a proper dinner before the wedding reception, so OOPS. Luckily, this meant there was nothing to come back out when I felt sick.
