My puppy dog Sherlock

[Ice222]

So he just got his last shot yesterday, vet said he's putting on weight well, and everything's looking good . I also took him on a play date at my friend's house to meet her 2 dogs. He started off apprehensive of the border collie (so much bigger than him!) and the Chihuahua mix never warmed up to him, but Sherlock became best buds with the collie . My friend and I were both surprised, since the collie hates the Chihuahua mix, we both expected her to think "omg not another small hyper thing", but it liked mine straight away. It was amazing to watch them play too, collies are already known to be pretty agile dogs but mine literally ran circles around her, doing torpedo spins and even jumping up to play bite at her neck :gigl:. Only thing is once the collie got tired, it started asking for human attention, and while she had her back turned, he started playing with her tail, then sniffing her tail/bum and progressing to trying to hump her :sml1:. 1st time I've seen him try hump anything, but just so hilarious, since the collie's so much bigger and didn't even notice a thing. Poor boy, that's probably the closest he'd get, since he'd be getting neutered in 2 months :gigl:.

Anyway here are some updated pics. With him sleeping in his harness, him enjoying one of his Christmas presents, and giving me a confused look as I whistle at him.

Last pic is of him looking dashing in his new blue collar and tag. "See, it's blue! I'm a boy!".

[Sophia]

new collar is much more manly.

that sleeping pose is so funny :rotf:

[smidey]

my border collie is brilliant with all dogs, he is so gentle with my mates 9 week old pup its amazing.

[Sophia]

:cofn: :spop:

[GrahamC]

Why neuter the guy? It's not as though he's going to be making puppies, and neutering may cause weight gain, as well as abnormal bone growth.

[Ice222]

Why neuter the guy? It's not as though he's going to be making puppies, and neutering may cause weight gain, as well as abnormal bone growth.

Honestly I had never heard of abnormal bone growth before, but had always heard that neutering has health and behavioral benefits and that it's the 'responsible thing to do' if you don't plan on breeding.

My main reason for neutering is simpler than that though, I like to take him to off-leash parks and I can't trust him not to go around humping other dogs while there. Once he is older, and better trained with his recall, I plan to take him to a offleash park at least once a week (we go about once a month atm but he stays on leash mostly). Plus I wanted to join the Auckland Dachsund club so that he may meet and play with others of his own kind. Owners in clubs with their purebreed dogs may not appreciate me running around with a unneutered cross-breed male that's trying to hump their dogs.

If I had heard anything about abnormal bone growth beforehand, I probably wouldn't have done it, since the risk would outweigh the benefits to me. But I don't believe that obesity is a problem - from what I found online and heard from our vets neutered dogs don't become obese without overfeeding. They just need less food. So as long as their intake is adjusted accordingly, there shouldn't be a problem with weight gain. I can update with some pics later, but I think he's looking pretty fit, so I'm not worried.

[GrahamC]

Well it it's done, it's done, but I'm not aware of any health benefits apart from stopping testicular tumors developing,and prostatic enlargement but lots of potential disadvantages. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutering and also http://www.2ndchance.info/spayneuter.htm

Neutering as a form of population control is really aimed at irresponsible dog owners. Responsible dog owners are not the ones who are going to flood the SPCA with litters of puppies.

As for the raw food thing, I was going to do that too, but in the end we ended up giving a mixture of raw food, cooked food and dry dog food. It is said you can give raw sharp bones to dogs to eat safely, as long as the dog also eats the pelts and feathers which wrap around the bones preventing them from perforating the gut.

[Ice222]

Well it it's done, it's done, but I'm not aware of any health benefits apart from stopping testicular tumors developing,and prostatic enlargement but lots of potential disadvantages. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutering and also http://www.2ndchance.info/spayneuter.htm

Neutering as a form of population control is really aimed at irresponsible dog owners. Responsible dog owners are not the ones who are going to flood the SPCA with litters of puppies.

As for the raw food thing, I was going to do that too, but in the end we ended up giving a mixture of raw food, cooked food and dry dog food. It is said you can give raw sharp bones to dogs to eat safely, as long as the dog also eats the pelts and feathers which wrap around the bones preventing them from perforating the gut.

Indeed, what's done is done, even thought I kinda wish I didn't have him neutered now, but there's nothing I can do about it. All I wanted to do is do right by him, and I hate that I missed something like this when I did so much other research before getting him and deciding on how I wanted to raise him. I always grew up hearing through word of mouth that neutered pets live longer, have less health/behavioral problems and other such claims. Since I have never heard anything negative about neutering - only that it is encouraged - I didn't look too deeply into it before deciding to go through with it. I only looked at the top few results in googling "benefits of neutering a male dog" and thought it would be worth it. Although, I didn't find anything about them living longer, I only saw health and behavioral benefits and the only negative was the possibility of weight gain if you don't watch their intake. So I didn't know there were any other negatives to consider.

As for raw feeding, bones haven't been a problem for my dog at all. When reading about raw feeding, it seems that all bones are fine as long as they are raw, even without fur/feathers. Even chicken bones are no problem. I used to watch him like a hawk when I first started him on raw, and I could see him chew through each piece thoroughly before swallowing. Never seemed to have any discomfort from eating bone, and nothing bone-like ever came out the other end so I assume he's had no trouble digesting them. Comparatively, I did try to use good grade kibbles (eg. Orijen) a few times as toy stuffers since you can't really do the same with actual raw meats. But I found that it would give him very squishy stool, or simply a larger volume of stool than he had on pure raw. His stool quality while on raw (and freeze dried raw as toy stuffers) was definitely firmer and less smelly, which I personally think is a good sign.

It's pretty depressing feeling like I made a bad choice for him, especially since all I wanted was to do is what's best for him. He's all I really have to hang onto at the moment. I can't imagine how I would've gone through the last few months of loneliness without him, and I don't even feel like I can make it up to him. After getting dumped 10 days ago, I can't even say I've been a good doggie mummy lately. I've been so emo that I don't even make a good playmate for him, and now I feel like I owe him even more.

[Adrienne]

Personally I think you did the right thing, and I am sure owners of pedigree bitches will agree with you.

Auckland City Council charges big Rego fees for Dogs not fixed, with just reason and I know the SPCA will be delighted.

[Sophia]

Chloe I'm sorry to hear you have been having a rough time lately.... and glad you have your cutie puppy to snuggle with though I know it's not quite the same :tears:

[GrahamC]

The information out there is pretty much biased towards desexing your dogs. All the vets I saw asked me when I was going to have my dog done too. Biologically it didn't make sense to me, and I didn't research the issue at all until I came across some sites the other day. The health issues are mainly it seems with large breeds in terms of the musculoskeletal problems so your pup will be most likely fine. As for pure breed bitches .. I wouldn't have thought the owners would be taking them out when they're in estrus. And should one really have one's own pet "fixed" to accommodate someone else's pet's potential genetic lineage? And if that is the main aim, I don't know why vets don't offer vasectomy instead. The downside of course is that my 10kg dog causes embarrassment when he humps visitors, and sprays every post we walk past ...

[bronze-dragon]

I think you did the right thing too, working at a vet clinic I see the results of people not de-sexing their pets constantly.

It might be because they seem to think that removing his testicles make him less of a male (rubbish, are you trying to tell me that those poor ladies who lose a breast through cancer are less of a woman?!) or because of the "couldn't afford it" excuse. I find it ridiculous that you would ignore your vets advice after reading Wiki!

Searching anything on the net will bring you a opposing results at some point, penicillin is fantastic but look long enough and you will find that people have died from its use.

Unless you plan on breeding well breed dogs responsibly, de-sex.

[amtiskaw]

Drifting off topic here, but I don't think it's reasonable to compare breasts with testes. Breasts aren't part of a female's endocrine system.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of breasts, but you're comparing apples and oranges.

And removing an animals nads doesn't make him less of a male? Of course it does - that's kind of the point. I'm in favour of de-sexing dogs and cats, but your reasoning is flawed

Cute puppy - I love that last pic

[Sophia]

:smot:

[GrahamC]

How can you be off topic in the off topic room?

[karina]

Small dogs can be terrible, but I found that about a year they finally develop ears and they're a whole lot more fun, and you can teach them tricks! My dog picked up shake hands and high 5 awfully quickly but he refuses to learn 'Stay!' :roll: I guess that's because it's easier to score treats from my family with cutesy tricks and learning to stay isn't fun for dogs with a teeny tiny attention span!

Our dog thanks to my husband learnt "pull my finger" first pretty quickly. He (the dog) does it all the time and seems to think its funny! :gigl:

He has also learnt stay, lay down, sit, wait, go toilet, twirl, rollover, speak, go slow, be quiet etc

Pretty smart doggy

[GrahamC]

I'd like to teach my dog not to bite .. he nearly took a chunk out of my hand today .. all bruised and bleeding He's been on crate rest for a few days for a presumed slipped disc, and after carrying him outside to do his thing, tried to carry him back in again. I guess his back is still quite sore. He's normally not aggressive at all... just a fear/pain response I'm hoping.

[smidey]

after researching and discussing with his breeder i had our border collie neutered because it reduces aggression, i don't need him to heard cattle. It also reduces the chance of him roaming looking for a mate and in turn running the risk of him getting run over, shot or what ever else happens to roaming dogs. I think it's a good thing to neuter dogs that aren't for specific breeding purposes.

[GrahamC]

In the city we get fined $400 if our dogs are found wandering the streets so we have good incentives to keep them fenced in to prevent such activity. In the end, it should be a researched and informed choice, and vets should provide both sides of the story. I only was given the positives by the vets, and no negatives were mentioned to me.

Here's a referenced article from the National Animal Interest Alliance http://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/LongTerm ... InDogs.pdf with a foreword written by Larry S. Katz, PhD Associate Professor and Chair Animal Sciences Rutgers University.

[Ice222]

I completely agree that there should be unbiased information on both sides, and I feel like I wasn't able to make a informed choice just because all the information I got on neutering was biased. Mine being an indoor city dog, my only worry would be when he has off leash time in parks, which is still pretty low risk, since I'd assume owners with unneutered bitches would know better than to bring them to off-leash parks. He'd be 100% supervised at all other times, so I really could've gone without neutering him. Main consolation for me now is the reduced reg fees, he doesn't mark much (and never indoors) and that he's completely stopped trying to hump anything.

Either way, I still love my dear doggie to bits. As my friends say, I may not be very good at taking care of myself (messy house, skipping meals, etc) but I do try my best to take perfect care of him. He gets raw meat twice a day, food stuffed toys when I'm out during the day, 2 walks a day and more if I am going out somewhere eg. a pet store where he's allowed to tag along. I don't exercise him because I HAVE to, but because I want to. When it rains, we play chase/keep-away in the house. The above pictures are over exposed since he likes to chill out in the sun, you can see he looks a lot more grown up, and has a much longer silkier coat than he used to.

He's doing well with his tricks too, even though I've had less time to teach tricks since uni started. He currently knows: sit, lie down, hand, other hand, play dead (bang!), roll over, crawl, back (take a few steps backward), speak, stay, (go into his) crate, drop it, take it, leave it, calm (to stop moving when I pick him up), ok (release from command), toilet (prompt him to pee). Then there's tricks that he knows, but aren't so good at, like walking on a leash. He still pulls a lot on the way out, but is almost perfect on the way back. Fetching (ie. Bring), he only brings the toy about 20% of the time when I ask him to, but when he does bring it, he doesn't just run it over, I've taught him to bring it right up till it touches my hand before I tell him to drop it, so one day when he's better at it, he might drop it straight in my hand . Another one I'm teaching at the moment is for him to leave food on the ground when we go on walks, I've taught him to lie down if/when he finds food on walks so that I can check it before i decide if he can have it, and he does it about 20% of the time now. This trick also works well with my sniff command, I'm teaching him to sniff for stuff when I give the command, whether it's food, or a lamp post that's been marked by other dogs, so I've been chucking food on our walk route, telling him to sniff for it, then lying down next to it once he finds it. I just wish I could teach him to 'point' the way hunting dogs do when they find a scent. Then he'd REALLY look the part (and fit his name). Essentially I'm focusing on behavioral training to correct or prevent bad behaviors rather than actual tricks now, and I'm training a tiny bit each day as part of his normal daily routine rather than actual training sessions. It's a lot slower, but puts it more in context for him, and context is so important to dogs (eg. finding food on a walk is quite different to not eating food on the floor when at home).

[GrahamC]

Very impressive. Can I send my dog to you for remedial training?

[Ice222]

Very impressive. Can I send my dog to you for remedial training?

I just read/watch vids on free sites like this (http://www.dogstardaily.com) for dog training tips. Most of them work really well. Only thing didn't work for me is the leash walking tips. I think it's because dachshunds were originally hunting dogs, who are independent, has a really good sniffer, a strong prey instinct to chase anything that moves (including leaves), that walking nicely on a leash is the hardest thing I've had to train. Even though I've been training him on every walk since I got him at 9 weeks, he's still easily distracted. It's just so hard to get/keep his attention when he's so short, stubborn when he doesn't want to do something, and hard to get his eye contact.

As for not picking stuff up off the ground without permission. During good Friday this year, he picked up an agarpanthus seed pod while on his walk. I knew they were toxic so i told him to drop it (and he did straight away), the pod didn't look chewed, but even then he had a reaction to it. I had to take him to the after-hours vets, which cost me $200. His face had swelled up, and even after he seemed all better, the threw up several times over the next 5-6 days. So not only was it pricey, and scary, I also had to clean up a lot of doggie puke. That's why I'm trying so hard to get him not to pick things up without permission again.

What amazes me is that I'm so super careful with him, and he's still had 2 chances where he could have died. One is the agapanthus, if I hadn't known it was toxic and just let him chew it instead of making him drop it, or god forbid EAT it, it most likely would've been fatal. Another is last week when he chewed a vacuum cleaner cord to pieces, thank god it was turned off at the wall. Honestly, considering that I'm borderline OCD in terms of being careful with him and still had a few near misses to death, I really wonder how regular dog owners manage to keep their dogs alive.

[si_sphinx]

My pup use to chew any cord he could find, until he found one that was plugged in...

...he doesn't chew cords anymore :sml2:

Luckily it was just a laptop cord and low voltage. Still enough to teach him not to do it again.

If only the sky remote plugged in :slfg:

[GrahamC]

I just read/watch vids on free sites like this (http://www.dogstardaily.com) for dog training tips.

Good tip.

I really wonder how regular dog owners manage to keep their dogs alive.

I bought a proximity detector to hang around his neck. the first day I put it on him, he managed to get out of the house, and I used it to locate him next door. Couldn't find him though in the garden .. but that's because he had gone into the neighbour's house where they were looking after him!

He also has a tag on him with our home number engraved on it.

[Ice222]

I bought a proximity detector to hang around his neck. the first day I put it on him, he managed to get out of the house, and I used it to locate him next door. Couldn't find him though in the garden .. but that's because he had gone into the neighbour's house where they were looking after him!

He also has a tag on him with our home number engraved on it.

Does the proximity sensor work well?

I wish it was feasible to GPS track dogs via their microchip. But all GPS dog tracking things I've seen are collar ones (ie easy for a dognapper to remove) or not sold/done in nz . Sherlock's just so friendly and tiny that it's incredibly easy for anyone to pick him up and run off with him while I pop in a dairy or to order takeaways on our walks. But I can't imagine not getting takeaways while on our walks either, since I normally hate walking and wouldn't go out for food if I have to go by myself, and I never have much food at home since fresh ingredients spoil too easily when I'm just feeding 1 person (myself) so I kinda need to get the food somehow. I've just seen so many "dog stolen" listings on TM that I can't help being a bit paranoid about doggie thieves.