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Weekly thread for casual chat and photos of pets
This is the place for casual discussion about our pets.
Photos are welcome, show us your pet(s) and tell us about them!
This is the place for casual discussion about our pets.
Photos are welcome, show us your pet(s) and tell us about them!
I have a 9-year-old terrier mix who has been teaching herself new tricks, so I'm here to sing her praises. This young lady has been putting her toys away for a few months now (long enough and often enough for me to realize that it's not an accident). My partner occasionally picks up her toys and puts them in one of her toy baskets. In recent months, she'll get a toy out, squeak it a few times, put it back, and choose another one. Sometimes, she'll do this after ten minutes of playing with a toy, or even swap toys between baskets. She doesn't always put them back, but when she does, she's generally going out of her way to do so. It's baffling and heartwarming to watch.
Also, I think she has been trying to make friends with the cat. We moved our furniture earlier this week, and he has been sitting on a couch that is in a new spot. Twice now, she has purposefully gone out of her way to lay with him on the couch, though at a respectful distance of like 18 inches. There were even more attractive options available - sitting with me with the heated blanket, for example - but she decided to sit by him, instead. It's sweet to see them pretty comfortable in each other's presence. They've been together for about a year and a half now and mostly tolerate each other otherwise.
That is pretty cute and cool, but also a bit strange. All of my dogs have been pretty much the exact opposite; If they managed to get into their toy boxes they would usually pull everything out, making a huge mess. :P
p.s. Got any pics of your dog and cat? It's a crime on the internet to talk about your pets and not provide pics! ;)
Her toy boxes are open-topped, so that might have something to do with it. Stuff is always available if she has the drive to play!
Here's the floof tax.
I usually have so many dog toys scattered around that I need to tuck a bunch of them away otherwise I would be drowning in them. :P And d'awww... thanks for sharing the pic. :)
p.s. Here's a pic of my last doggo, Quincy. We sadly lost him to a severe, antibiotic-resistant ear infection about 9 months ago though. :(
The look on his face is hilarious!
So sorry for your loss, that must be hard to deal with.
LOL, yeah, he had an amazingly expressive face. It was one of the most charming things about him. :)
Thanks for the condolences (@crialpaca too). And yeah, it was an incredibly difficult and insanely stressful period. I still can't help but feel like I failed him somehow, and wondering what I could have done differently, or if I could have done more for him. But unfortunately in the end, after months and months of failed treatments with the infection steadily getting worse, and him being in severe pain the entire time, the only humane option was to put him down... since the only other option at that point was to have his entire ear canal surgically removed, and at his age and because of his breed (Olde English Bulldogge) the likelihood of him even surviving the surgery was pretty slim. :(
Yeah, my girl has had an uptick in available toys as we've both aged and I've been able to feel like I can get her more (and spoil her)... and we never throw anything away, which doesn't help!
I'm sorry about Quincy :( He has an adorable lil face, thank you for sharing the pic!
It's been three weeks since we adopted Pepper and she's still settling in really well!
https://i.imgur.com/O8VBaIo.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/cdWKrHy.jpeg
We ended up doing the Embark breed and health test. Sent it in and it's already processing, so we and should have the results back in 1-3 weeks, which is pretty exciting.
Still trying to figure out good chew treats to keep her busy. She's definitely into the Starmark Everlasting Treat, but she's gotten the Bento Ball figured out so I got the Sprocket (which can hold the treat a bit deeper inside the toy to make it harder), so we'll have to see how long that lasts before she figures that one out.
We're definitely starting to see a bit more of her sassiness coming through, mostly when it involves people eating. She's still extremely interested—definitely too interested—in people eating, but I think she's starting to get the idea that she needs to keep some distance while we're eating, especially when my six year old son is eating.
Starmark Everlasting Treats were my last dog Quincy's favorite chew toy too, but they were hardly "everlasting" with him. He could absolutely demolish them within a half-day, at most, if I let him keep going at it. :P So I only ever gave him a new one every few weeks. But the biggest problem with them was his lower jaw and jowls skin would usually turn bright red from him rubbing them raw while gnawing at it non-stop whenever I gave him a new one. So I would always have to take it away from him after an hour or so, just to give his skin a break, and only gave it back to him the next day once his skin had recovered.
His next favorite chew toy was elk antlers though, which he didn't have any issues with, and usually lasted several months before he would grind them down to a nub. So you could try seeing if your dog similarly enjoys elk antlers as well. I used to get mine off Etsy from a local seller, but you can get them at most pet stores and even on Amazon these days too.
After looking into them, I'd be a little afraid to give her elk antlers as they're pretty much the top of the chew toy hardness scale. Given how quickly she's chewed through pretty much everything she's gotten, so far, I'd be concerned that she would break her teeth off on it. But I'll definitely keep it in mind if we aren't able to find anything better!
So far, though, the Starmark Sprocket seems to be holding up better than the Bento Ball! The treat in the Sprocket is set in about an inch deep, so it looks like it's going to be more of a challenge for her... I think this is the first Everlasting Treat in two weeks that has lasted more than an hour!
They are definitely on the hard side (and as a result are really not fun to accidentally step on in the middle of the night! ;)... but at least with Quincy, he never actually chewed it in a way that made me worry he would ever chip or crack a tooth. He gnawed on it exactly like he gnawed on the cow femur bones I also occasionally gave him too, with the side of his mouth/teeth. But YMMV depending on the dog and how they chew things like that, I guess.
If you're not having any issues with the Starmark stuff like Quincy was, and your dog isn't going through them as fast as Quincy did either, I can see not wanting to risk it though.
Congrats on the doggoette! She looks like a good dog. Hope she'll help your trees grow faster than ever.
I'm really curios what comes out of the breed test! Pepper look like she has very similar roots as our dog Pippa. We've been saying we want to do a test, also, but still haven't gotten around to do it. It has been 5 years already....
Have you started guessing which breeds are in the mix?
The results are in! (cc: @nukeman)
https://app.embarkvet.com/pet/9e284e1f-8638-406c-a3f9-0540a2b65f1e/about
I only guessed one of the five breeds correctly.
No collie or ACD, but the Malinois was originally bred for herding, so that likely explains some of her behaviors. The Pyr is probably boosting size a bit, or she’s from one of the larger pit bull lines.
We're really curious about it, too! I really don't see any particular breed standing out in any of her features.
Most of what I see in her are terrier features, but she's much larger than most terrier breeds and seeing her playing with a pitbull makes her differences really stand out in terms of her size, frame, and face/head shape.
I definitely think she has some strong herding breed in her—maybe Border Collie or Australian Cattle Dog. I could also see it if she had Labrador and/or Pointer in there, too.
Really, I feel like it's anyone's guess and she's probably just a super mutt, lol.
Once we have the results for her, I'll post them in the next recurring thread and try to remember to tag you!
Tag me too!
And I’m glad you got Embark, it’s the best test you can buy.
Have you tried yak cheese? That's something that lasts a good while for the strongest chewers, assuming they don't lose interest. I know the price is a bit eye-popping but those things are durable. If you wanted to cut through one, you'd need a power tool. And if you find they're worth it, you can go for a bulk buy, which should last a long time and be cheaper per treat.
Don't go for the ones that are flavored like yak cheese, because those are soft and don't last long (made mostly out of potato starch and such). You want the solid bricks that have something like three-four ingredients, with the top one being "milk" or "cheese".
Otherwise, we found that freezing wet food inside the Bento Balls is a decent way to keep a dog occupied for a while, since it's not a whole treat that can be just popped out again. It's more of a licking treat than a chewing one, though.
Ohh, I haven't tried yak cheese! But I just ordered some and we can see how it goes. Hopefully they'll last a while for her, but we can just use them as a special reward if she somehow scarfs them down too quickly. And, if she somehow doesn't like them, I'm sure the neighbor's Newfoundland-Poodle mix will!
Honestly the options for dog chews are a little overwhelming... especially knowing that some of the stuff sold—like rawhides—aren't necessarily healthy or safe.
Freezing wet dog food in the Bento Ball is also a brilliant idea! I had already thought to try freezing peanut butter inside of a Kong toy, but I hadn't thought of doing the same with wet dog food!
I hope they work for you! The dogs we give them to have pretty sensitive digestive systems, but the yak cheeses have never caused them any issues. They're also a breed that has a high need for stimulation, but their owners have become progressively unable to provide it, and the yak cheeses do a splendid job of keeping them occupied regularly.
On the frozen wet food front, we've also liked the Pupsicle. You can get a freezer tray for making the "meatball" filler treats, which is a bit more handy than having to freeze the whole ball with food inside every time. We did find you might need to spray a bit of cooking oil or something on the screw threads to ease the friction of screwing/unscrewing, though.
Peanut butter's a great idea! I don't think I've met a dog that doesn't like it. Just be careful with the calorie count; it's easy enough to go overboard for a person without realizing it, much less a dog with smaller body weight.
Pepper is adorable by the way! It's great to hear she's settling in and her personality is starting to come out.
So far, the yak cheese looks to be holding up! It's been about 30 minutes of continuous chewing and she's only put a little dent in it. I was a little concerned when I heard her snap off a chunk after only a few minutes, but the rest of the stick seems to be more of a challenge.
I was also looking at the Pupsicle as an option—especially as a treat in the summer—so I'm glad to hear they work as well as they look!
That's also a good point about the peanut butter that I didn't consider. I was only planning on using it for when she'd be in her crate, since she has some separation anxiety (she's a rescue and was found intentionally abandoned in the back yard of a foreclosed home, so it makes sense she'd have anxiety about being left alone, again), and hopefully the frozen peanut butter will be a longer distraction.
Thankfully, we work from home and rarely need to leave her alone for long periods, so we can work with her on the anxiety more gradually once she's settled in more comfortably. Ideally, we'll get to the point where she won't need to be in a crate when we leave, but right now she's still got enough of that mischievous puppy energy in her that I'm not ready to trust her to free-roam the house. (If we did, I'm pretty sure there wouldn't be any stuffing left in any of my son's stuffed animals when we returned!)
Wow, you got them quick. Great to hear that it's working out and lasting so long! Our dogs are pretty funny about it being so long-lasting; after a while of chewing they decide that they're done, but they don't want to just drop the yak cheese somewhere because the other dog might get it. So they come to us and we ask "put it away?" (based on previous training, for putting away other things), and they'll give it up in exchange for a small treat. Somehow it's more acceptable for it to be put out of reach of both of them than for the other dog to get it.
(I say "our dogs" but they aren't mine; I just live with them and feed them and walk them and take them to the vet... they'd probably object if I acted like I didn't belong to them at this point, come to think of it. XD)
It just boils my blood when I hear about things like this. Sounds like she's lucky to have now found her forever home, at least. I had my own rescue with bad separation anxiety for a long time; he never got over it, but he was something of a special case. He had behavior specialists scratching their heads over him. But we loved him and gave him the most security it was possible to give.
You probably know this, but it's not necessarily a failure if you never reach the point where she can be uncrated while you're gone from the house. (This is unrelated to the previous story about my rescue; unfortunately a crate wouldn't have helped his particular personality.) When crate training is done right, the crate becomes the dog's safe space, and it's a way for them to feel comfortable and settled when they're left alone. But I hope you reach the solution that works best for your dog and your household, whatever it is. Lucky you can be home with her so much in the first place!