Bob is doing well. Easiest leash walking dog I've ever walked. I kind of don't mind the 3am walks. We have one behavior issue we need to address. Bob loves car rides. He gets very excited. So excited that he runs from the front to the back of the Suburban barking and mouthing me as he runs by. He'll do this for a couple of blocks. Today we started to address that. I put a treat in my pocket incase he did well and we got into the Suburban. First few tries just me getting into the drivers seat set him off. Put his leash back on get out of the Suburban walk 100 feet away and come back to try again. I got him to where me getting in wouldn't trigger him but then the starting of the engine got him excited. Did that several times and he was slowly getting better. Somewhere in the teens of me starting the engine and turning it off the battery died. Bob 1 Battery 0.
I think once the battery charges up we'll try starting the Suburban before we get in.
In reply to Stampie :
Desensitization is a good training tool. Good work.
Car ride anxiety article.
This is a manifestation of anxiety, and it's also very unsafe for both of you for him to be loose in the car. He should be in a harness and attached to a seatbelt, or in a secured crate.
In reply to Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) :
Thanks. I don't think it's anxiety. He's not a tail wager but when he realizes we're going for a ride he starts wagging his tail. I think he's just super happy and gets overexcited. Oh he's a very picky eater. Like I've seen him turn down over half the treats he's offered. I have to crack an egg on his food to get him to eat it. Our trip today was to see if he would like the lamb version vs. the chicken. He's still not as bad as Lil Stampie was at 4 years old.
EDIT Yeah I meant to look into ways to attach him.
Don't try to entice him to eat, it's only going tomake it worse.
Dogs aren't meal eaters naturally anyway. They evolved to gorge and fast.
We did a survey on the Veterinary Information Network, no one had ever seen a healthy dog develop medical problems because he didn't like his food or eat regularly.
You wouldn't serve a child that isn't eating dinner ice cream instead.
Looked into restraints and the one I like uses child seat retention clips. Walk out and looked at the Suburban and I don't have those. Saw some that clipped into the seatbelt buckle but more that I thought about it it's best if he's in the rear. Remembered that the Suburban has cargo hold downs. Not going to tell Bob that he's cargo. Going to call it Bob's hold down.
Recently I had a conversation with a friend and we were discussing how the world lacked tactical stuff. I was thinking well I have carabiners and paracord. What's more tactical than a paracord restraint in black cobra weave!?!?
To show you my tactical slackness, I had to look it up on YouTube to figure out how to do it.
Now we just need a harness. The battery charged once and still no start. I might have fried the starter instead. Charged again and going to try. I have a hammer as a back up.
Welcome to the family Bobber.
Is that long enough for Bob to be on the ground and still hooked up? (because you know hes gonna jump out the first time you open the door with him restrained.)
In reply to MrJoshua :
It should be but he's good about staying until I get him hooked up.
So I typed that then said won't hurt to double check.
He has enough room to lick the head of anyone sitting driver's rear. But he couldn't get to try and jump into that seat. He had a confused look for a second when it stopped him. I think this will work. Kind of worried about finding a harness that will not rub his wound.
Now that the Suburban has an infinite more ability to start we ran some errands today. While the excitement is still there and Bob barks it's only for about 15 seconds since he can't run around building up more energy.
We got him a harness at Pet Smart. I was laughing because all of the size charts had neck and girth measurements. They didn't have a tape measurer. We adapted and over came by realizing they had 12 inch floor tiles and used his leash to measure him then laying it on the floor to estimate the measurement.
Not a lot of choices in his size. We figured he was tactical enough so we didn't get the tactical harness. Makes me wonder if Bob has been trained to tap the magazines before inserting them. We choose bright orange so that Bob could feel the safety vibes.
I think we need to adjust it more more it works.
We also went to TSC and got another bed. It's nicer than the other one so this will be the inside bed and his old bed will be Suburban bed.
harnesses are great for most dogs, but not for Huskies. Ask me how I know...
In reply to 4cylndrfury :
As you fly through the air...
I've had two incidents with Bob. First was yesterday a few houses down. They have two German Shepard that normally are in the back yard. Yesterday they were in the front. They hit the fence very aggressive barking and growling at Bob. Bob went from normal Bob to "You don't want a piece of this. I'll berk you up!" Bob. A simple tightening of the leash and come on Bob got him to break his attention off them. This evening two labs were walking towards us on the opposite side of the road. Bob did what he does with every dog. Stopped walking and just wagged his tail. About 15 feet away one of the labs lunged at Bob and again Bob gave him the business and was again pretty easy to break his attention. From the actions of the other owner I think his dog does that a lot. Contrast that with Princess who Bob met yesterday but saw again today. Princess weights about 10 pounds. They did the totally correct dog met with sniffing and oh yeah I know you. Then Princess got jealous of Bob when her owner started to pet Bob. Bob just stood there while she got all in his face like really dude I'm not going to waste my time. That's the reaction I've seen him give small dogs.
Have any idea how old Bob is? What was the surgery for?
In reply to Stampie :
That's a good picture of him. He looks intelligent.
In reply to Asas_Dad :
The pound said 2 years old. I think younger because a lot more puppy came out after he got off his anxiety meds. They said he had an infected puncture wound when he came into the pound.
In reply to NermalSnert (Forum Supporter) :
I'm seeing more come out in him but then again this morning I woke up and his rear half was under my bed. I went to the kitchen to get his breakfast ready and he didn't come. I went back to check on him and he couldn't figure out how to get out.
google the 3-3-3 rule for shelter dogs.
Toby followed it perfectly, it was uncanny.
3 days to decompress from the stress of the shelter
3 weeks to learn your rules
3 months for the full personality to come out.
I simplified it greatly, so google it and read a little.
In reply to a_florida_man :
Yeah I understand. I have to run to SC this week. Was thinking that I'd take him but decided it would be less stress on him if he continued to feel good in his new home without two long road trips and a temp home for a night. It is amazing how good he is right now. Does he try and sneak into my bed? Yeah. Does he sigh and get off it when I catch him? Yeah. He's learning rules. Earlier I was cooking and didn't want him in the kitchen in case he tried to do dog things and got burned. I noticed he was hesitant to go in the kitchen later to get to his food and water until I told him it was ok. This is a 50/50 of us learning each other.
decided it would be less stress on him if he continued to feel good in his new home without two long road trips and a temp home for a night.
Maybe. But I've never met a dog yet that wouldn't rather "go for a ride" with his human than stay alone at home.
If you do leave him there, give him something to chew on, other than your shoes or the furniture. Mine likes a 2" thick piece of ironwood.
In reply to Asas_Dad :
Yeah two days of 6 hour drives, staying in yet another strange house, and would have to be left alone in the garage of that house for two periods of up to 5 hours each. Lil Stampie is with him in Jax in a house he's already getting used to.
He's so good on the leash I decided to test him last night. I dropped the leash while he was in heel position. About a block later he stepped on the leash, looked back at it, looked at me like wtf dude you have one job here, and continued in heel position.
man...its pretty nice that hes had someone work with him like that. Youre quite lucky! Question tho, will he lay down on command?
My golden and I were in obedience classes for about 2 years, and he got pretty advanced. He heels well off-leash, so much that if we were walking alone in the woods, Id let him do it. But he doesnt drop when hes told to, its more of "ok ok dad, I'll get to it in a moment", and we have been working on it for quite a time now. I just dont think hes ever gonna get it. I dont like that he might not plop down on command here in a neighborhood with cars and kids and the like, so on the leash he stays.
In reply to 4cylndrfury :
He knows sit and lay down. He chooses if that's something he's really interested in at the moment. I'm working on him moving to the side and stopping when a car comes. I think he's starting to get it.
Stampie said:
She said yes that she wanted to adopt him and then readopt him out from her rescue.
That seems like high end, tactical grade nonsense. A lot of rescues seem to put bizzare and byzantine rules in place that seem to ensure the animals never actually get adopted, too.
May have to change the name of this thread to Stampie's Off Grid Doghouse.
I love it.
In reply to 4cylndrfury :
Down is probably the hardest command for dogs. To get a dog to just drop on command is really something. I loved doing obedience work with my pup. She got such pleasure from the work. She really came on form for off-leash work when we did agility. From then on she would always look to me for commands.
