When you are dealing with something that an animal is afraid of, the best approach is to find his "comfort" distance from the thing that scares him. A busy street makes this a bit more difficult, as you have to find a way to give him that "distance". If you have a car, maybe transporting him to a less busy area might make a good start. Perhaps a side street, where he is comfortably away from busy traffic. You could then walk toward the busy street, pausing as soon as you see some sign of anxiety, and retracing your steps just little until he is in his "comfort zone" again. Gradually…...with the use of bribery and rewards......ask him to approach closer to the scary stuff. Liberally reward him for being there, then retreat. The idea is to not force, let him decide when he is ready. If he feels he can retreat at any time, he will have more confidence. This approach may take awhile, but is less likely to create a permanent aversion. (it works well with spooky horses).
Full Moon woes (or why it pays to have a sense of humor as a b owner!)
-
I read the manual too!! Rou is my idol
-
Well, you guys know about Sahara chewing my new sheets. I was at work 2 days ago when my hubby called and said, "You won't believe what happened to Sahara today"! My heart sank, I said, "Is she Ok, he said kinda", and I replied, "Is she alive, I was so scared"! He went out to get lunch and when he returned Sahara did not greet him as she always does when we leave. He came in and found her in our guest room trying to pull out a piece of sheet from her U know what, (anus)! He said, "I had to pull it out myself and I think she still has a piece I couldn't reach still in there"! He said, he left for work and when I come home I need to check her out. Of course I will check things out, are you kidding. She is my Baby Girl, on the way home from work I called my vet and told her the situation. She said, Bring her right in! We were there for about an hour. No problem with her, no fever, no sheet, nothing. So Sahara is fine, wonder if she will eat sheets again, :eek: :eek: Probably
-
That is super scary! Luckily she didn't have a serious blockage from that. I have a friend whose golden retriever did the same thing only there was no evidence that he had eaten part of a sheet. He hadn't been feeling well for a day and the vet had told them just give him the bland diet. Anyway, the next morning, we're all having breakfast, and I say to my friend, "hey, what does Chance have coming out of his butt…". George says he thinks he just has something wrapped in his tail...wrong. Goes over and pulls it out of his butt...must have been at least 3ft of sheet. :eek: Needless to say, Chance went to the vet again!
BTW, I've since heard that you aren't actually supposed to pull it out as it could be actually wrapped around the intestine. I guess the dog should go to the vet for an xray first..don't know if that is true.
-
That makes sense to me, hadn't thought about that! Thanks for the info.
-
Y&T - So sorry about your girl Sahara. Hope she's feeling much better. How scary that must have been for you!
Daisy had to be crated last night alone in the house while I took Duke to training class. When I came home, a red throw blanket was tightly weaved thru the crate wires. When I pulled it out, 2 big holes were eaten out (5" or 6" diameter). The material must be in her belly - there were only a few red threads in and around her crate. Hope to find some red threaded poop today. We were only gone 1.5 hours, but she's never been totally alone in the house because Duke would be in his crate, next to hers. She must have stretched real hard to get the red blanket lying across the arm chair.
-
Help…this is Ruby...
No full moon here, but I think I might have finally pushed mom over the edge this morning. Here's what happened.Mom put her work clothes on a chair in the hall outside the bathroom while she took a shower. Now normally, I don't care about her clothes...shoes...anything...I've never touched any of them and I'm more interested in my toys. But this morning she put the softest, fluffiest, largest toy I'd ever seen on the chair along with her clothes. Wow, what a GREAT mom...I was having a blast shredding it and she could hear me in the hall having fun...what a great morning!
Well, it all went terribly wrong when mom got out of the shower. She saw my new toy on the floor and promptly took it away from me and said something about being the devil and she looked like she was going to cry.
Anyway, she took my new toy and all of its pieces and tossed it over the balconey so her brother could put it in the trash. I heard her say, "look what Ruby did to my favourite cashmere hoodie."I could tell she was upset so I tried some of the tips that I've read about on here...went over and kissed her, sat perfectly patient by the door so she could take me out, did my business right off the bat upon going outside.
But I still need your help. Mom is still being a little quiet and looks sad (although she told me I was good for going potty and she gave me a treat). But that isn't really what I need your help with...my question is:
What is a cashmere hoodie, and where can I get another one...what a fantastic toy!
BTW, Mom has been watching a special about pet taxidermy on National Geographic...should I be worried?
-
Hahahaha-sure tought Mom a lesson didn't you. (Sorry Mom, but you should have known better-all sweetness until BAM! the little ears turn into horns!)
Not sure where Mom can get another one-and she would never even think of the pet taxidermy thing-she still loves you!
-
Mommy may not "Like" you very much right now but she still "Loves" you.
My sympathy to poor Mommy.
Pat
-
Ruby, Christmas is coming maybe you'll get a new one of those cashmere things to play with then. Maybe mom will too. Somethings are just too good to leave alone. My two legged sister left a shoe one time it had fluffy sheep skin I thought she left it there for me. It looked like some of my toys but she wasn't happy when I took a bite of it.
-
Dearest Ruby,
Here's all you have to do. Be a stealthy, secret type 'senji and sneak into your Mom's wallet. See those plastic cards with all the numbers on them? Snag one quick! Ok, now procede to the computer. Paw in Ebay in the search engine. They sell EVERYTHING under the sun on Ebay - even cashmere hoodies, I'll bet. Quickly order up the new hoodie and make sure to rush shipping on it! Now insert the plastic numbers card back into your Mom's wallet and delete the history in your computer. Now just wait a few days and the UPS/ Fed-Ex/USPS delivery will make your Mom overjoyed and she'll forget all about the previous chewed up cashmere hoodie.
As a side note, make sure to guard the mailbox for a few weeks after this occurance and "convienetly" shred any bills that come in with the numbers and name from the plastic card on it! Viola! Happy Mom, new hoodie, hopefully more snacks - and she'll never know it was you who did it!!!!
Yours in secret stealthiness,
Stormie the undercover 'senji
