dogtiber

[dogtiber]

[dogtiber]

sup

[dogtiber]

List of animals Troj finds upsetting, updated 26/3/24:

- whippets

- cats

- basset hounds

[dogtiber]

Glimmer graduated the intro agility for beginners class today and celebrated by Cheezin enormously at our teacher

[dogtiber]

If you hold your hand out like this she will lean into it and go to sleep

[dogtiber]

Hey dogblr! I want to get Skadi started in scent/nosework - does anyone have any training resource (book, video, podcast, equipment) suggestions?

[dogtiber]

Morning!

#the Scritch Face!! #whippet

[dogtiber]

sploot

#tiber tag

[dogtiber]

[dogtiber]

Gay & Lesbian Pride Parade, Seattle, Washington, 1991.

James May

[dogtiber]

it's illegal to not say "oh big stretch" when your dog does a Big Stretch

[dogtiber]

help how do I explain to puppy that I am sick and me not wanting to play as much or linger on walks is not personal it is on account of my brain feels like it’s seeping through my sinuses

#he was barking SO much yesterday because I couldn’t play much with him #I feel so bad #😭😭😭 #anyone have set it and forget it enrichment ideas that are really low spoon to execute #I do not currently have the brainpower to think through my options myself

[dogtiber]

hey dogblr. I'm currently fostering this stray dog from my neighborhood. Likely around a year old, she has great teeth. Got her up to date on vaccines, treated for intestinal parasites, heartworm negative and just got 6 month heartworm prevention shot.

Located in Mississippi but I can meet someone for the right home. Potty trained. Shes good on a leash and in a kennel but she is a chewer. Still a baby and could use some training.

She loves the snuggle and she carries around her blanket when we let her out of the kennel.

We've been calling her Poppy and we think she may be a lab/husky mix.

[dogtiber]

Nola Rose's Big Birthday Poll

This is Nola Rose:

She is my best girl, my babylove, my beloved little butt and my most precious evil eel, and in one week, she will be one year old!

Recently, I ordered her an Embark test, in the hopes of one day reuniting her with one of her siblings or other family members, and to maybe get an idea of what other health problems I could expect in the future.

I was not expecting any surprises on the breed front, because the rescue had Nola's original paperwork from her "breeders," indicating her mama was a brown Cocker Spaniel named Spruce, and her daddy was a registered blenheim Cavalier King Charles named Fellow. AND YET.

...and 7.2% something I did not expect at all. Full honesty, I don't see it, but maybe it explains a few things about her?

ANYWAY. For Nola's impending birthday, I thought it might be fun to survey other people, to see their best guesses at the third breed in Nola's genetic cocktail. I've pulled all poll options from an article on the most common breeds for Cavalier crosses, and additional photos and possible clues to her ancestry below the read more.

Starting from the top, BABY PHOTOS, of Nola Rose and the two sisters the rescue picked up from the puppy mill auction.

That photo of Nola on the left was the photo in her Petfinder listing, the one I saw by accident in the middle of the night that made me fall in love with her immediately. I honestly have no idea how she was the last of her siblings left to be adopted, but I will never not be desperately grateful.

Maybe it was because she had the dramatic eyebrows and mutton chops of a civil war general, I can't say. In more recent photos, you can see that the eyebrows and bushy cheeks have subsided, but the insanely luxurious eyelashes remain.

Her color has darkened immensely since I brought her home in August. She used to be a much lighter sable, and fully blonde on the top of her head.

Speaking of which, sable isn't a breed standard color in either Cavaliers or Cockers, and her ridiculously long chin beard (which you won't see in any of her photos because I have her groomer trim it off) doesn't appear in those breeds either. Coincidence?

At just shy of a year, she's hopefully maxed out at 18 pounds, and she's unbelievably leggy, with an outrageously long body and the deep chest of a racing dog. (She's also fast as hell, good god.)

Her fur is unbelievably silky, save for a coarser ruff over her shoulders and trailing down her spine, and her cocker-fluff booty feathers. Her back end was trimmed down substantially before the above photo. Her tail might be the softest part of her, and I love how it's both silky and curly.

Behaviorally... she's. Something.

Nola has the strongest prey drive of any dog I've ever met, including that time we babysat a rat terrier mix named Ella The Killer. Nola's little heart is so full of murder that I have to close curtains so she won't hurt herself trying to break through the windows to get at bunnies. She is a grand champion at "breaking the necks" of her toys by way of viciously shaking them.

Nola likes to burrow! She tunnels under blankets, rugs and throw pillows, and her favorite way to sit On A People is between our legs when we're in recliners. She likes to feel confined. She also deeply enjoys being held, and she asks to be picked up by my father at least once a day, even tho she's perfectly capable of jumping into his lap by herself now.

She LOVES to lie in the sun until her little body is radioactively hot and her mouth smells like hot rotting garbage, which is actually extremely weird, because she's our second sable dog in a row to have solar-powered halitosis and I'm not above begging people for answers. If you have a dog that has especially stinky breath after they've been in the sun, indoors or out, please talk to me because I'm dying for answers.

Ahem. What else.

Nola is disturbingly smart, and has no concept of obedience, but an excellent grasp of the concept of naughtiness. She knows exactly which items in the house are Forbidden, and which ones will get our attention the quickest if she takes or otherwise threatens them. She also knows the names of most of her toys and can distinguish between them when she's feeling cooperative.

Her favorite way to wake me up when it's time for work is to jump up on my bed, pounce on me, and oh-so-gently bite the tip of my nose. (I know I shouldn't encourage it but it's so sweet I may die.)

She investigates new people by aggressively sniffing their eyes.

She is my tiny daughter with every disease, but despite her allergies, and her asthma, and her megaesophagus, and her subluxated hip, she is the happiest, most delightful little being in all the world.

I lov her.

[dogtiber]

Long nose, pink crocs, green grass, it don’t get better than this, folks!!!

[dogtiber]

Hi :) I have a different question about consent. I have cats not dogs, but I have been reading your animal behaviour musings and reblogs with a mix of general curiousity and finding what is applicable.

So a number of friends and acquaintances have dogs. And some dogs have not been trained to recognize and respect human boundaries. I had many dogs over-excitedly jump at me, lick me, and unintentionally scratch me when all I wanted was to politely nod at them or provide just a pet or two. They don’t stop easily and are rarely trained to stop with a clear command.

In moment like that, is there something I can do with my body language and voice that would make it easier for a dog to understand that I think it’s acting rudely and I want to disengage? Because I think I over-react and just confuse them further. Of course, ideally, their owners should do better socializing but that’s an entirely different matter… Also ideally, I wish I could just reduce the intensity of the contact rather than have to completely ignore the dog. But I don’t know if that’s achievable under such circumstances. Any thoughts you have would be deeply appreciated!

Oh yes, that is a very solvable problem! As you say, ideally their owners would work with them so they don't jump on you, but we can't always control other people.

I have found that a mixture of turning away and pointedly not making eye contact or looking at the dog, sidestepping any leaps if necessary, until all four feet are on the floor, and then maybe leaning down and saying hello, is pretty helpful. Dogs understand eye contact and they certainly understand pointedly not engaging with them until they perform a behavior. Now, a particularly excited dog who is over threshold might just move around you to jump up again... at which point, you turn again and continue pointedly ignoring until all four feet hit the ground. The dog's goal is to say hello and interact with you; they usually catch on pretty quick that you're only going to give them that when they are being polite, especially if you can maintain consistency about it and you see them regularly. If they're so over threshold that they can't control themselves, they need to not be out saying hello to guests for a little while until they have a little better emotional control.

You want to be clear, not look at the dog (eye contact will often excite them further; I've even trained a few dogs to only approach people and request pets upon making eye contact!), and be quiet and relatively boring. Wait out the excitement and maintain calm. As a bonus, this is pretty easy to do without inflaming the human social and emotional currents surrounding the situation, which is always the hardest part of dog training!

(I actually spent a chunk of time on Saturday going over exactly this concept with a bunch of fifteen-week-old puppies learning basic manners! Mind, they're babies so they get a certain amount of baby license and we were focusing on teaching them to automatically sit and wait to receive greetings rather than un-learning the jumping behavior, but the principles carry over.)

[dogtiber]