Doggy question

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We've got a two year old German Shephard mix, and she insists on sleeping on the couch at night. This side of banishing her outside, how best to learn her where her place is?

― Leeeeeeee (Leee), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 00:16 (twenty years ago)

I can tell you that "Good Cop - Bad Cop" doesn't work.

― Truckdrivin' Buddha (Rock Hardy), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 00:23 (twenty years ago)

you can tell her NO a lot. Or you can put aluminum foil or something noisy & uncomfortable on the couch.

Also, post a picture. Gemerman shepherd pups are cute.

― Draw Tipsy, ya hack. (dave225.3), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 00:24 (twenty years ago)

You're fighting a losing battle, just give her the couch.

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 00:46 (twenty years ago)

Milo SO right.

― Remy (x Jeremy), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 00:47 (twenty years ago)

yes, milo is correct. no human has ever won this battle with a dog. dogs are extremely smart. here is an question about my dog:
why does he take his food from his bowl and carry it in his mouth from the bowl into the living room at the opposite corner of the house and eat it there? do all dogs do this?

― caitlin oh no (caitxa1), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 00:51 (twenty years ago)

He doesn't want the rest of the pack (you) horning in on his meal?

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 00:53 (twenty years ago)

He doesn't like eating with animals is my guess...

― The Original Jimmy Mod (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 00:57 (twenty years ago)

no, he does it even if people are in the living room. sometimes he just goes across the kitchen into the computer room. it doesn't seem to depend on people being in the room. it looks funny when his mouth is full of food and he focuses very hard so he doesn't drop any. sometimes he does, though. if he hears someone enter the house he gets excited and drops all the food everywhere.

― caitlin oh no (caitxa1), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 00:57 (twenty years ago)

This side of banishing her outside, how best to learn her where her place is?

"Warfare is the continuation of politics by other means."

-- Karl von Clausewitz --

― Aimless (Aimless), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 01:01 (twenty years ago)

If she accepts you as Alpha Male, she'll get down when you catch her, but still do it when you're not around. Best move would be to give her a comfy dog bed that she can get her smell and hair all over -- if she's like our dog, she'll prefer it to the couch within a couple of weeks, esp. if you're tough with her when you catch her on it.

― Truckdrivin' Buddha (Rock Hardy), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 01:07 (twenty years ago)

If she's 2, have you had her for 2 years? If you have, and you're only now deciding to take up the issue of the sofa... good luck. I let my dog jump up on the sofa, bed, etc, but he knows what "Off" means & responds right away to that command. And he is very good about being #2, he follows me through doors, and I can take food away from him & so forth. So I don't mind about the furniture... he's SO cute when he's zonked out on the sofa, anyway.

― lyra (lyra), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 01:19 (twenty years ago)

My sheltie fast asleep on my sofa:

http://photos22.flickr.com/30485844_5fd8f9e45c_m.jpg

― lyra (lyra), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 01:37 (twenty years ago)

aww..lil tongue!

we're trying to do this with our dog right now. we got one of those furry dog beds that are for the floor and blocked off access to the lounge when we are not around by positioning two chairs and the coffee table just right. shes a great dane so she doesnt like to jump or climb over things which is helpful. when we are on the couch and she tries to get up we say no and she goes to her bed. we did something similiar with the kitchen where the cat food is out in bowls. we blocked off both entrances. now, even when the doorway is clear she stands at the threshold and very rarely goes in.

pix:

veruca sitting on what was once a pretty white futon:
http://img56.imageshack.us/img56/5134/veruca18xv.jpg

veruca on her new bed looking bored while gta3 plays in the background:
http://img56.imageshack.us/img56/5755/verucagta3aw.jpg

― sunny successor (he hates my guts, we had a fight) (katharine), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 02:24 (twenty years ago)

We adopted ours, which is why we're going through the training pangs when she's 2, which, at this point, she's probably closer to 3. I say, trade her in for a kitty.

― Leeeeeeee (Leee), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 02:28 (twenty years ago)

A dog bed is a good idea. Every dog I've known has preferred its own bed when given one. Dogs also like to eat in private for some reason. My dog and the other dogs I had all liked to take their food into the dining room to eat.

― Land Ho (dymaxia), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 02:34 (twenty years ago)

Kitties are even less trainable, Lee! Mine sleeps wherever she damn wants, and as I'm at work all the time I cant scold her :( She's ruined my nice wing-chair by turning it into a giant scratching post :/

― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 02:35 (twenty years ago)

Since you just adopted her, you might not want to be too forceful about the no sofa thing for a few days- give her a bit of time to settle in and get used to you. Maybe lure her off the sofa with a snack (try carrot sticks, dogs love them & it won't get her fat if you give her lots of them) for a few days rather than yelling at her to get off.

Even better than just a dog bed is a dog crate. I have a big plastic one from Petco for puppy, and I put two old bed pillows and an old quilt into it for him. I leave the door open all the time, and he goes into it to sleep or just be quiet all the time. They like having a little den that they know is all their own where they can feel secure.

― lyra (lyra), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 02:46 (twenty years ago)

Oh yes, and invest in some bitter apple spray if she's a chewer. Puppy chowed through a few ethernet cords (GRRRRRRR) before I bought a bottle of it. I haven't had any in the house in years, but he leaves cords alone now because he thinks they all taste icky.

― lyra (lyra), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 02:47 (twenty years ago)

Hmm, does that stuff work on cats too?

― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 02:49 (twenty years ago)

Try it! It might... one of my friends sprayed it on a pen & tasted it & said it tasted kind of yucky, so if it works for dogs & humans... then again, cats might be far too smart to fall for it.

― lyra (lyra), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 02:51 (twenty years ago)

Heh, that'd be right. My cat would probably sniff it, think "hmm.. eww" and then walk to the sink, grab some water somehow, and rinse the spray off ;P

I tells ya - get opposable thumbs on them, and we're HISTORY.

― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 02:54 (twenty years ago)

I don't even think that they need those. My sister's two cats are mad at the renovations they're doing to the downstairs, so they carried three screws and nails upstairs, down the hallway, and to her bedroom. Then they dropped them into her husband's slippers, with the pointy ends up, which he discovered by trying to put them on the morning. We think it was their way of saying "Hey buddy, WTF are you doing to our basement lair??"

I prefer my dog... he's sweet, but he's really dumb. He never gets in trouble because he's too stupid to think up things to do.

― lyra (lyra), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 02:59 (twenty years ago)

Hahah thats the best thing ever! I mean not for her hubby, but hee. Cats.

― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 03:25 (twenty years ago)

cats are so delightfully malicious and they make you think killing is love. when my cat brings in a decapitated mouse or a wingless bird and lays it in front of the fridge like its her contribution to dinner all i can think is 'awww! so clever and sweet!'

― sunny successor (he hates my guts, we had a fight) (katharine), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 03:32 (twenty years ago)

We've got her a doggy bed, and she still prefers the couch. Normally, we lay towels on the couch so that she won't get hair all over the upholstery, which would lead me to think that we could pull the old switcheroo and put the towels and blankets in the bed. But I forgot once to lay out the towels and she still slept on the sofa, though that was a while ago so perhaps she has gotten used to the towels?

― Leeeeeeee (Leee), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 04:51 (twenty years ago)

while we're on the subject of dogs...

im getting ready to fly with my dog in a couple of weeks-- shes a largeer small dog, weighing about 20 lbs. shes a corgi/beagle mix and has a great temper, gets along with people, etc. i have made her a vet apptment to get her papers and some meds to sedate her a little bit while on the plane (its a 4 hour trip, with a layover unfortunately)...but i wondered if you guys had any tips or advice for traveling with a pet.

thanks!

(her name is bunny, and shes got a very large head. not to mention very large ears)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v322/goodnightdean/bunbunsm.jpg

― shh! (wide-eyed), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 19:23 (twenty years ago)

four weeks pass...

She just jumped on me, nailing me in the crotch.

― Leeeeeeee (Leee), Thursday, 1 September 2005 04:56 (nineteen years ago)

five months pass...

Argh boo, our dumb dog is now on the loose outside. How best to get her back? I'm afraid to say that one of the games I play w/ her in the backyard is to chase her around, so now she thinks this whole debacle is a game. She is very untrained.

Also, she's taken to digging under the fence door to make her great escape -- how to keep her sufficiently stimulated in the yard so that she doesn't feel the urge to dig?

― c(''c) (Leee), Friday, 17 February 2006 01:32 (nineteen years ago)

Now it's raining, and freezing outside. Stupid dog.

― c(''c) (Leee), Friday, 17 February 2006 01:41 (nineteen years ago)

She's back now, apparently gotten bored with the game when she's the only one playing. Is that the only real strategy in this case -- to leave her alone to bore herself?

― c(''c) (Leee), Friday, 17 February 2006 01:46 (nineteen years ago)

we got one of those furry dog beds that are for the floor and blocked off access to the lounge when we are not around by positioning two chairs and the coffee table just right.

Hahahaha, boy that one really worked out, didn't it?

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Friday, 17 February 2006 01:56 (nineteen years ago)

How best to get her back?

Surely she knows the word "snack", right? Or "cookie" or whatever?

― lyra (lyra), Friday, 17 February 2006 02:33 (nineteen years ago)

Not really. I hold out her treats and as long as she's outside of the gate, she still wants to play.

― c(''c) (Leee), Friday, 17 February 2006 03:51 (nineteen years ago)

to keep a dog from digging...when you're cleaning up her poop, dig a hole where she tends to like to dig and bury the poop there. however deep you may bury it, she'll know it's there with doggy olfactory powahs, and she'll be averse to digging where her own excretions are.

― Juulia (julesbdules), Friday, 17 February 2006 04:52 (nineteen years ago)

http://static.flickr.com/21/30652893_758a945c38.jpg?v=0

We lost our battle as well. So we put a blanket on the couch which we wash on a weekly basis.

We did manage to keep her off the bed during the night. YAY.

― Nathalie (stevie nixed), Friday, 17 February 2006 07:09 (nineteen years ago)

food. food food food.
i watched pleasant plains chase our great dane around the neighbourhood for about 10 minutes when she got out one day. we learnt from that. next time she got out and away I shouted out 'hey!' to her and held up a rawhide bone. she was back inside the house in 10 seconds flat.

for cats - shake the kibblies container or open a can.

― sunny successor (katharine), Friday, 17 February 2006 15:47 (nineteen years ago)

Scatmat. Can't recommend it highly enough for keeping pets off things. It keeps our cats from pounding on the bedroom door all night, and that's been a sanity-saver.

For getting them back in the house though, Sunny and Lyra OTM - food (or the promise of food) is a great motivator.

― Jaq (Jaq), Friday, 17 February 2006 15:52 (nineteen years ago)

the best part is when theyre back inside and you put the food away and laugh 'HAHA! SUCKER!!'

― sunny successor (katharine), Friday, 17 February 2006 16:00 (nineteen years ago)

xpost
i hope pavlov's descendents are getting some kind of kickback for the scatmat

― sunny successor (katharine), Friday, 17 February 2006 16:07 (nineteen years ago)

My parents learned to bribe our dog with lettuce & cheese.

this is the pooch in question.

― kingfish has gene rayburn's mic (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 17 February 2006 16:14 (nineteen years ago)

the best part is when theyre back inside and you put the food away and laugh 'HAHA! SUCKER!!'

Haha. You do realize that after a couple of fibs, they stop responding to the can shake? Well, some amount of repetition, anyway -- depending on how quickly they learn.

― Laurel (Laurel), Friday, 17 February 2006 16:18 (nineteen years ago)

And I love the sheltie photo w/ tiny pink tongue!

― Laurel (Laurel), Friday, 17 February 2006 16:20 (nineteen years ago)

xpost
not my animals. theyre dumbasses.

― sunny successor (katharine), Friday, 17 February 2006 16:20 (nineteen years ago)

Evil dog Dexter, floating in the pool!!!

― Jaq (Jaq), Friday, 17 February 2006 16:23 (nineteen years ago)

Dogs are ever-hopeful for the treat, it seems. Our cats always forget the minute they come in the door what it was they wanted, and start washing.

― Jaq (Jaq), Friday, 17 February 2006 16:24 (nineteen years ago)

Oohh. My mother's collies never missed a trick -- you wanna be inconsistent? Forget obedience, you're gonna get IGNORED. Not that they'd turn up their noses at a frozen liver bit, but you can't ALWAYS have your pockets stuffed.

― Laurel (Laurel), Friday, 17 February 2006 16:28 (nineteen years ago)

Also, it's hard to convey to a dog who's three acres away chasing deer that the liver is going to be more fun than playing with real, live woodland creatures.

― Laurel (Laurel), Friday, 17 February 2006 16:29 (nineteen years ago)

See, you've been dealing with smart dogs!

― Jaq (Jaq), Friday, 17 February 2006 16:32 (nineteen years ago)

looking at those photos of dexter laying on the couch with a pillow under his head, im not very convinced the old lettuce and cheese trick is working

― sunny successor (katharine), Friday, 17 February 2006 16:39 (nineteen years ago)

Oh he was conceded couch space territory long ago. My folks(and now my brother) became much more concerned with getting him out of the house(and/or back in) than just to stop sitting on the furniture.

― kingfish has gene rayburn's mic (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 17 February 2006 16:43 (nineteen years ago)

The snacks I've been trying on her aren't enticing enough! I fear I may have to cook up some ground beef or something to use food as a lure.

Oh and we managed to get her off the couch at night. We've got these cold tile mats that she's quite afraid of.

― c(''c) (Leee), Friday, 17 February 2006 20:28 (nineteen years ago)

Someone told my mom to use liver, and I've never seen a dog stick so closely for ANYTHING else, individual tastes aside. I'll have to get details later, but she would fry it up and slice it into little bits, about the same size as you would want the pieces of chicken in chicken soup, and then freeze. Freezer dries them out, I think, cos they were never messy.

― Laurel (Laurel), Friday, 17 February 2006 20:31 (nineteen years ago)

Hm, is liver expensive? My lazy streak is enough that I'd rather just let her eventually come in on her own, but my fear of her getting hit by a car...

In better news, she pooped on a neighbor's ARTIFICIAL TURF lawn! Haha!

― c(''c) (Leee), Friday, 17 February 2006 20:38 (nineteen years ago)

I think organ meats are pretty cheap, aren't they? I dunno, I don't eat the stuff -- maybe check at your grocer next time?

― Laurel (Laurel), Friday, 17 February 2006 20:40 (nineteen years ago)

hahahaha

x-post

― sunny successor (katharine), Friday, 17 February 2006 21:01 (nineteen years ago)

If you cook up a turkey or a whole chicken or even cornish game hens, they usually come with the internal organs! Including, I believe, the liver. Though I can't for the life of me acertain which is which in the little organ baggy.

― Allyzay Rofflesberger (allyzay), Friday, 17 February 2006 21:10 (nineteen years ago)

The liver is the excessively mushy one. A cornish game hen liver would make approximately 1 dog treat I think! Beef and pork liver are reasonable, or PetSmart sells dessicated liver treats in cans.

― Jaq (Jaq), Friday, 17 February 2006 21:40 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah you'd have to cook a lot of cornish game hens to really get a good haul, huh? I didn't think that through very clearly. You can definitely buy them though very cheaply at most supermarkets.

― Allyzay Rofflesberger (allyzay), Friday, 17 February 2006 21:48 (nineteen years ago)

Hahaha. Just buy a cow liver! You'll get treats for MONTHS.

― Laurel (Laurel), Friday, 17 February 2006 21:50 (nineteen years ago)

Unless your infant gets into the dog treats and EATS them (this has happened to my mother)

― Allyzay Rofflesberger (allyzay), Friday, 17 February 2006 21:51 (nineteen years ago)

That is true, those milkbones smell pretty good and I'm sure more than one child in my family was found gnawing away.

― Laurel (Laurel), Friday, 17 February 2006 21:59 (nineteen years ago)

Treats my dog goes wild for: beef jerky (emergency reward treat- it's really bad for them), cheese, tuna fish water from the can, frozen green beans -like, the long skinny ones, he eats them like a doggie popsicle.

And... yogurt cups:
http://static.flickr.com/25/64093390_1c4858e42a_m.jpg

― lyra (lyra), Saturday, 18 February 2006 02:29 (nineteen years ago)

Carnivores always eat their prey's liver in preference to everything else. This is because the liver is the most crammed with rare and complex molecular goodness, since it is where the body synthesizes a large number of ultra-specialized chemicals and like any good factory it has to keep a supply of raw materials close at hand. It is a nutritional treasure chest, dripping with blood.

― Aimless (Aimless), Saturday, 18 February 2006 03:17 (nineteen years ago)

Lyra, the way his eyes are crinkled up, it looks like he's got the biggest grin going :)

― Jaq (Jaq), Saturday, 18 February 2006 03:57 (nineteen years ago)

three years pass...

Walking doggy this morning, she intermittently favored her left forepaw, even stopping to lick it three times. But most of the time, she trotted along blithely, even pranced about in the yard. Need I worry? Especially since vet is open today, closed tomorrow and Monday.

― Leee, Saturday, 23 May 2009 17:53 (sixteen years ago)

does she let you look at it? usually when they're hurt they will be pretty defensive of it.

― bnw, Saturday, 23 May 2009 18:10 (sixteen years ago)

Had to coax her a little initially, but she didn't seem defensive. I didn't see anything, but I don't know what to look for.

― Leee, Saturday, 23 May 2009 18:25 (sixteen years ago)

Feel around with your thumb between the pads -- any stickers? Does she pull the paw away from you?

― resistance is feudal (WmC), Saturday, 23 May 2009 19:01 (sixteen years ago)

I didn't feel anything. She tried to pull away a few times, but she was in a frisky mood -- for the most part she let me feel around.

― Leee, Saturday, 23 May 2009 22:31 (sixteen years ago)

She's probably fine. I'd just keep an eye on her.

― Alex in SF, Saturday, 23 May 2009 22:39 (sixteen years ago)

seven months pass...

Do dogs always sulk when wearing cones of shame?

― Leee, Sunday, 17 January 2010 03:05 (fifteen years ago)

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