<p>I have a rescue dog (fox hound mixed with beagle) “Bruce” who is the sweetest, most gentle and well-trained 45 pound dog I ever met. EXCEPT he cannot be near other dogs. He goes nuts. Even if they’re across the street. “Bruce” lived in a car before he came to me 3 years ago and was skin and bones (barely 25 pounds) with eczema. His vet thinks when he was a puppy that he was probably tied up and other dogs were allowed to torment him (her theory is based on his very first movement when seeing another dog and that is to grab and bite his leash gnawing it to get free). So we walk at night when there is less chance of canine “meetings” and he plays beautifully in the backyard. He sleeps in the crook of my back (spooning) and loves kids of all shapes & ages. He needs a week or two with Cesar Milan. His eczema has been clear for more than 2 years now that he is secure and loved.</p>
<p>We have a 12 1/2 year old Shih Tzu. Social IQ 1000, I used to say he would lick the burglar to death, now he has slowed down in his exuberance. Obedience IQ - 50 on a good day- he’s too smart to obey just because asked to. Hard to train- it took him 10 years to let us know when he needed to go out- now if we aren’t there he will poop next to the downstairs toilet (he knows that’s where it goes, but he can’t reach). Might come when called, wouldn’t do it for treats when a puppy so we couldn’t use the food incentive. Parenting a dog is like for a child- by the time they are grown you have learned what you should have done by your mistakes.</p>
<p>Now we get him “jumpstarted” with his dogfood by putting a bit of other food on it- amazing how a green bean or two or bit of meat will yield an empty dish when he is hungry while he won’t start eating plain dogfood and only eats the treat part if not very hungry. Senior citizen dogs get a bit spoiled. </p>
<p>He has lost his vision due to clouded corneas and hesitates going down stairs. He considers it his job to be near the bathroom when I take my shower. He used to walk up to 2-3 miles, slowly so as to sniff, but now usually calls it quits in only a few blocks. </p>
<p>Knowing this dog from puppyhood to senior citizen status I see many parallels with humans ages and stages. He went from eagerly greeting us every time we returned to an “oh, you’re there” attitude just like kids as they grow up. I see the friendliness of a puppy and socialness of a younger dog replaced by a senior’s reservation when dealing with other dogs.</p>
<p>His breed is known for picking up on emotional cues- very true for him. Like a living stuffed animal for comfort, and he doesn’t shed. His tail is so expressive- he uses that more than his voice to communicate. Just as stubborn and independent as the rest of the family, but at a lean 15-16 # (large for his breed) he is easy to pick up out of trouble.</p>
<p>I wish I had learned to painlessly brush him as a puppy, he dislikes it and snaps when I try to comb out face grunge, plus his muzzle is too short to grab. He jumps puddles- doesn’t like to get even his feet wet, but does fine with the sink shower/bath. </p>
<p>We keep his hair/fur short- brushing tolerance. He went from brindle (white with black and brown) to mainly white with black that looks dark gray in places. His ears went from mainly black to light brown to black with some white streaks over the past 12 years- just as my hair went from light to dark blonde to including a few white…</p>
<p>I could go on forever. It has been interesting to see the lifetime changes and get to know this critter- I really understand why people become attached to their pets and miss them when they die. Like with children there are favorites in all of the life stages (if we could only combine the best of them in both!). Dogs must have souls.</p>
<p>We don’t have a dog, we have a late in life, 4 legged shaggy haired child. Oh, some people would say she is a dog, but my husband would have to disagree with you!</p>
<p>Our 2 legged children were never allowed to sleep in our bed at night, but the 4 legged child is allowed to lay sprawled in the dead center; I am not allowed to move the “sleeping baby.” If I said my husband spoiled the child, that would be an understatement. His phone has pictures of this child, but not the 2 legged ones. My daughter cringes when her father starts talking about the dog. Said dog goes on errands with me all day with weather and location allow. She would stay in the car all day if we would let her; she loves it that much.</p>
<p>I spend more on the grooming of the dog that I do on my own hair! Something is sad when the dogs hair requires more work that mine, and trust me, my hair needs work!! While the dog is happy with her dog food, she loves fruit and vegetables. I have to hide when peeling a banana, otherwise she comes running. Don’t think of eating an apple without sharing, or strawberries, melon, pineapple, carrots, green beans, or many other fruits and vegetables. My husband hates that I give her veggies instead of meat.</p>
<p>PhotoOp – I own a pet store. </p>
<p>My cousin called to say happy birthday a few weeks after I bought the shop and asked what my H had given me for a birthday prresent. She was shocked into silence when I started going through the livestock inventory a la Partridge in a Pear Tree!</p>
<p>LOL, Snowball, that sounds like my Jenny. She LOVES veggies and fruit. My grandma likes to eat these coffee cookie things, anyway, Jenny hears her get into the cookie jar to get them, and she comes a runnin. XD And then she’ll sit there, and cry crocodile tears until you give her some. Whats even worse is when you eat something that she can’t have. Oh my god, she’ll give the most dirty looks. If looks could kill, I’d be dead.</p>
<p>@allie’smom - I used to have a cat, Kiekio. She was a linx-simese(did i spell that right?) that the breeder threw out because she was cross eyed. Anyway, when i was born she was 8 and a hefty 18 pounds. You would have thought the cat would have hated me, but no she adopted me. (this is the same cat that wanted nothing to do with her babies when she had them 7 years prior.). She was very protective of me. She would attack the UPS man (whom thought it was funny) and the movers. I used to be able to carry her every were and drag her by the tail when i was 2. If anyone besides me did that, they would be dead.</p>
<p>Kiekio used to have this big cat tree that she would make a running jump towards. She missed half of the time and you would hear a thunk as she hit the wall. She helped raise Jenny.</p>
<p>She loved to get baths, and you had to watch her or else she would crawl in the tub with you. It would start out slow, with her baping at the bubbles. Then the next thing you’d see would be her slipping into the tub.</p>
<p>One time, I had a cabbage patch doll. Anyway, it had went missing. So i went searching. You want to know where I found it? Laying infront of Kiekio, and she was loving on it like it was her own baby. Needless to say, it was no longer mine.</p>
<p>I miss the old girl. We had to have her put down 2 weeks shy of her 20th birthday.</p>
<p>@Wis75 - we had the same probelm with Jenny trying to find a muzzel because she attacks (and has broken) many pairs of clippers. She also hates to be brushed. SO we got some velcro and made our own muzzel. However, here lately she’s learned how to take it off. I don’t get it. She used to sit there and watch KieKio be brushed (that cat loved to it and the blow dryer). Why does she do this? No clue. We can’t take her to groomers because she has been black listed from them. Oh well, we’ve gotten good at it.</p>
<p>I’ll bet this thread gets to be one of the longest in CC!</p>
<p>We have one cat, a tabby named Tabby. When we adopted her 12 years ago her name was Kitty, so we feel like we’ve gone one step less generic. She’s a real sweetheart and very good natured cat; it must be true since the vet says so!</p>
<p>She’s been on prescription food for years for digestive difficulties and has just had her second bladdar stone operation. The vet said to keep her quiet; so we propped a card table against the foot of the stairs to keep her on one floor (this was the night after her operation). After she pulled that down and scrambled up the stairs, I let her roam until she started jumping up on the bed. So I shut her up in a bathroom - so I thought - about 5 am she managed to finally pull open the door which was not latched tight. In the end I figured that she would do less harm roaming free than trying to get out of a confined space.</p>
<p>I don’t know if you can teach an old dog new tricks, but this old cat taught herself. About five years ago, she decided to start scrambling up the chairs at the kitchen counter for the first time. And just this spring she learned how to knock at the back door to get in - OK, actually she pulls on the screen and lets go - repeatedly. I have also taught her to shake hands which she does only if she feels like it.</p>
<p>When we first were thinking of adopting a cat DH was somewhat reluctant; now of course he’s her personal slave. Especially since he started working from home.</p>
<p>^^sounds alot like kiekio used to be. Whenever we would go places with her she would walk an a leash like a dog. She traveled well too.</p>
<p>She never got up on the counters or anything. But if you had shrimp, you had to put them in the frig because that would be the only thing to lure her up there. She also liked lettice and just about anything else you would give her.</p>
<p>She hated it when we would try a new cat litter. It would be flung across the laundry room (thats where her box was). So back to the old stuff which became very hard to find as time went on.</p>
<p>She liked to go in the backyard and smell the flowers. She loved the smell of them. Our yard had a six foot privacy fence, so we didn’t worry about her getting out. But she didn’t like to be outside if you were right there with her.</p>
<p>I forgot to mention that besides fruits and vegetables, the dog also loves medication! Yes, I am serious; if you open the cabinet in the kitchen where we keep tylenol, pepcid and dog meds, she comes running. I was getting a pepcid for myself recently, and the dog is standing there staring at me. I tried to explain to her that I take the extra strength and only the regular was for her, but she wasn’t buying it. The look on her face was, “I can’t believe you are taking a pill and not sharing with me!”</p>
<p>This dog just wants to be a person and do everything we do. I think she was born in the wrong body</p>
<p>We have two dogs, Annie our Golden Retriever (5) and Kaiser our German Shepherd Dog (4). We got Annie as a pup and she grew up with two other GSDs and one Bichon Frise, who’ve since past away. She’s a typical GR, who barks at people at the door, but greets them like a long lost friend once they enter the house. </p>
<p>Kaiser is a rescue we got last year who’ve we learned this past winter can jump a 6’ fence. At least we learned his interest was just going over to say hi to neighbor and passing dogs, but who doesn’t get concerned when they see a GSD running full speed towards their dogs. Adding 2’ of lattice to the fence is in order this summer.</p>
<p>We have 2 cats. Ash is a short hair that I found 9 years ago as a very tiny kitten in a parking lot in December. She loves to rub on faces, and gives D a rash while doing it, but she doesn’t care. Mr. Cooper is an orange and white long hair with 2 dots on her back that look like eyes. We got her at a swim meet, a teammate brought two of them to the meet and my forehead says “sucker” across it. Turns out Mr. Cooper should be called Mrs. Cooper, but we stuck with the Mr. title. Teammates mother swears her vet told her it was a male, makes you wonder what vet school he went to. Looks like a cat, but me thinks she is really a pig. I have tried not to give him unlimited access to food 24/7, but if there is none, he jumps on counters to nibble on anything, Kroger plastic bag that may happen to be there, tips over bathroom trash can to see what goodies may be in there. 
Caught him trying to eat a dry cleaning bag the other day. Give him food, and all this behavior stops. I figure him to be 160 lbs in a year or so.</p>
<p>Oink</p>
<p>GAMOM, you have a “she” cat who is a “he”? LOL! I also have one cat who is just like a vacuum cleaner - she eats every little piece of trash she can find on the floor (carpet threads, pieces of paper, etc.). She is a rescue from a hoarder’s house and was malnourished when she was little, so may be that contributed to her strange behavior.</p>
<p>I could fill many pages with stories about my pets, so I’ll simply stop at saying that our family currently includes 2 mutt cats and a German Shepherd. The dog is 11 years old, but as we discovered yesterday, still can learn a trick or two. Whenever he chases after the cottontails in my backyard, he gets a treat in reward (nevermind the fact that the rabbits outrun him every time he goes after them): a doggie cookie from a jar that I keep by the patio door in the kitchen. Yesterday, the dog went after one of the rabbits, but I forgot to issue him a well-deserved treat. An hour or so later I found the lid of the cookie jar on the kitchen floor, and the dog was munching on a cookie in the middle of the lawn. I though I simply forgot to close the jar. A few hours later when H came home, he asked me why I left the jar open. I was puzzled - I did put the lid back on! The dog who came into the kitchen to greet his owner was licking cookie crumbs off his nose! Apparently, our GS learned to open the jar and help himself to the cookies!</p>
<p>I think this will be a very long thread! Our pets love us unconditionally! They don’t shoot you at sunrise if you bring home the wrong kind of Pop Tarts or maybe were 5 minutes late to a meeting! When you come home at night from work, they are usually glad to see you! When our old dog had to be put to sleep due to cancer (quite suddenly) H could not bear it, the old dog used to lick his ear when he got home from work! I found a puppy online who was related to our dear old dog-was the puppy’s Great Uncle… We went without a dog for only two weeks! Some things were meant to be! The last male in the litter & he was available to us-someone had even put a deposit on him and backed out.
It really meant so much to our family to get the Grand Nephew of our old dog-He even chooses to sleep in some of the same spots, remarkable!</p>
<p>We just got two kitties. We are so enjoying them. We lost our 20 year old cat about a year ago, and though she was not a very affectionate (really a nasty one), we miss her terribly. We also lost a young cat a few years ago that really broke our hearts. We finally felt ready to adopt another cat. When we saw this litter, we had to grab two of them. I’m glad we did because we do have to keep them in two rooms until they get a little bigger, and it is great that they have their company. </p>
<p>We also have a perpetual puppy who is quite a trial but is much loved. He follows two great dogs that we had that were legendary for how smart they were. This fellow has trouble not tripping over his back feet when he runs. It took him years to learn the basic commands. After I had convinced myself and others that I was such a great dog trainer. We are slowly integrating the kittens with him, but since they are so tiny yet, I want them kept apart unless we are supervising closely until they get a bit bigger.</p>
<p>I have this wonderful Audrey Hepburn quote about dogs and I’ll see if I can find it to post here, but it ends with,“Who thinks you’re as fantastic as your dog does?!” It’s true–who else is that happy to see you every single time they see you?</p>
<p>I have a female black lab that I got about a month ago. She’s around 6 years old, and we’re all completely crazy about her. We got her from some neighbors—a longish story I posted on here when I was dogsitting her. </p>
<p>She’s pretty well behaved, but can sometimes do some inappropriate barking at guests I’ve welcomed into the house. If I correct her she stops, but I have to sort of stand with the person and talk to her and say,“Jasmine, this is Matt. We don’t need to bark at Matt.” and then she’s fine. I’m wondering if she needs a little obedience training. I had her out in the front yard and she barked at a woman walking across the street and bolted across. If it’s a dog lover–and she was–they’re not intimidated and they talk to her and she calms right down and wags her tail–but still it’s less than ideal behavior. </p>
<p>Her former owners just let her run, so she doesn’t have much sense of boundaries. I never let her out unless we’re out with her, but when she bolted the other night she didn’t immediately respond when I called her off. </p>
<p>Has anybody done any obedience training with an older dog?</p>
<p>^^^ We took care of a dog like that once. His name was winston, and he was a Brittney spanial. Anyway, long story short he got out one night (he was allowed to run), and he went back to his original owner.</p>
<p>Maybe if you try to train her with a clicker or something it will help.</p>
<p>After my min pin ran out the front door and thought that my trying to catch her was a game, I decided to get serious about training her to come. I used a whistle. I would let her into the back yard and when she would get a little distance away, I would blow the whistle. When she came, I gave her a treat.</p>
<p>It did not take long at all to get her to the point where she will stop dead in her track and come when she hears a whistle!</p>
<p>We have a 9 yr. old little poodle (miniature? toy? can’t remember–she’s 14 lbs). I am continually impressed by how smart she is, especially compared to my childhood dog, may he rest in peace. She is extremely discriminating. She hates the rain, and she even hates the wet ground after the rain. I have to remind her that she is a DOG, and dogs used to live outdoors all the time! Like every other dog out there, she knows to jump off the couch when she hears me coming down the hall, but not if it’s Dad or S or D. She has really bad breath and body odor (sigh), but I’ve noticed that some of her siblings don’t. She has amazing bladder control which makes life very convenient for us. And she loves teenage boys and toddler girls for some reason.</p>
<p>I have a 6-year-old shelter cat named George. He’s Egyptian mau/tabby mixed with blue eyes. </p>
<p>A little over a year ago an orange tabby showed up limping and starving to death. One of his back feet had been caught in a fan belt or a trap or something and he lost all but one toe on it. He also developed an abscess behind his ear. We got him to the vet and healthy. We call him “yellow cat.”</p>
<p>Another stray cat (maybe a ragdoll, with blue eyes) showed up a few months ago with another foot injury, this time a severely abscessed puncture wound on a front paw. After two foot surgeries, shaving, neutering, and some touch-and-go days he is almost new. We call him Cooper, unless he is attacking our feet then we call him names I can’t post here.</p>
<p>@mousegray - sounds to me like its a miniture.</p>
<p>bump…</p>