Oops, I accidentally deleted my first post when I was trying to change the subject.

Having grown up with German Shepards on a 25-acre ranch and letting them dogs roam, I'm learning how to raise Gunny city-style. He's my first dog to own by myself. I'm looking forward to sharing my adventures with him though!

I know exactly how you feel. Growing up we didn't have a 25 acre ranch but it was a rural area where all the dogs in the neighborhood just kinda ran around. We never leash trained our dogs growing up because they were never leashed. Now I live in an Urban area, 2 houses down from a 6 lane, 45 mph road.

I am glad to hear everything seems to being going good so far, I look foward to seeing more of Gunny.

I am gonna need to learn some dog manners because after a walk tonight I allowed Gunny to get bitten by another Husky... What happened was that we had walked by this house with a couple of Huskies (one white/red and one white/black) and one of them was at the top edge of the fence and Gunny went over to take a quick sniff when I should have kept him away. Then all of sudden I found him bleeding from his nose and walked away from that house right away. I freaked out by calling Chad first and then called an ER vet. The vet said Gunny can't get disease from the other dog, the only concern is possible infection. The bleeding seemed to be under control and I've used some hydrogen peroxide on his nose. I've decided that I will just call a regular vet first thing in the morning to schedule for his first physical exam asap.



So far here's what I know:

1) Get the okay from the parents before letting their children pet your dog.
2) Don't let your dog sniff another dog if the owner of the other dog is not present.

I'm wondering how do you know when it's friendly growling? For those of you who may not know, I have a cochlear implant and it's gonna take me some time to recognize the sounds that Gunny makes. I can hear him barking and crying. When I had Gunny in the backyard earlier today he was barking at my neighbor's dog, but I wasn't sure if it was his way of saying hello or what. I did tell him to quiet down and he was good about it. I also get nervous when Gunny starts playing with another dog and am not sure when it's getting too aggressive. I keep thinking of my friend's dog who got his jaw chewed apart in a dog fight that my friend thought was playful at first, but she found that if the dog tries to pin your other dog, then that's not being playful.

Poor Gunny!! I feel soooo bad!!!

Awww... first of all relax. As a first-time dog owner myself, I can understand confusion and innocent mistakes.

However, your lessons are hard learned ones. You're right. NEVER let your dog go near another dog without its owner present (because they may look friendly but you really never know) and NEVER let a child pet your dog without YOUR permission and the permission of the parents (if applicable)-- and you should know whether or not Gunny is good with children as well.

A physical is a good idea anyway and the vet may give you some more topicals to put on his nose. However, if you're nervous about what you know and don't know, reading and research are always a best-bet. Here's a site for information on Dog-Owning survival: Dog Owner's Survival Kit

Read up and ask questions! That's the best way to learn because you don't want EVERYTHING to be trial and error. You and Gunny might wind up in more trouble than you bargained for.

And give Gunny a hug for me! Poor guy, he'll be alright. I'm sure his pride is more wounded than his nose.

I've seen Gunny around kids and other dogs and he's very friendly with both. I was surprised that the other Husky would bite him when all Gunny did was some innocent sniffing. Still bad on my part to allow that though!

Dogs can be very territorial. Be careful even when one dog is leashed and another is off-leash. Koda has almost gotten into several fights in that type of situation. If the husky was fenced in and your dog were loose (even on a leash) the other husky is going to be territorial because:
a) That's his home that someone is approaching and he needs to protect it.
and
b) He's enclosed and feels vulnerable. Dogs get aggressive when they feel backed into a corner with no way out.

Go pick up a Husky's For Dummies book. I have it and have read it on multiple occasions.


Huskies for Dummies $14.03 shipped on Buy.com <-- That's a link if you click it. For some reason our forum doesn't change the color or highlight links. We'll have to work on that.

The most dangerous dogs will give no sound. Body language is more important than sound so your implant should not interfere.
http://www.diamondsintheruff.com/diagrams.html

http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/kids-and-pets/caninebody_language.pdf

Here are a couple of good sites with diagrams to kinda explain dog body language. A really good book I would recomend is The Other End of the Leash by Patricia Mcdonell. I think I spelled the last name wrong. I suck at spelling. But it has a couple chapters on how people tend to be more vocal and dogs rely more on scent and body language. It has helpful hints on dealing with strange dogs, as well as, how our body language can impact our training.

Wow, thanks guys! Chad-you may wanna ask Jen how she posted those links, I had no trouble clicking on them.

I know how she did them. I did the same thing but changed the "visual" URL in the link to my own words. The coding that I used on my other forum still highlights it when I do that. Apparently it doesn't do that here.

That's weird- why is your link not blue and my link is? Bizarre. Someone should get on the Admins about that...

Hey Danielle-

How did it go with the vet today? And how did Gunny do in his crate while you were gone?

I hope everything went smoothly! Update us

Koda wrote:

Hey Danielle-

How did it go with the vet today? And how did Gunny do in his crate while you were gone?

I hope everything went smoothly! Update us

Hi Jen-

Thanks for checking in! I called and scheduled Gunny an appt yesterday and he'll be seeing the vet tomorrow. His nose seems to be healing up, no sign of infection thank goodness. And he hasn't lost his appetite or his playfulness so that is good. I felt bad about getting him in the crate yesterday, had to practically drag him into there. He seemed shaken up but happy when I got home. Is he gonna hate me for putting him in the crate everyday? Hope all is well with you and Koda!

~Danielle

It's Tori... but no problem!

Sounds like things are going well. In regards to the crate, when you are home with him, I would do some training with him...

For instance, leaving treats in there when he's not looking. That way he can wander in and find treats. I would reserve a kong filled with peanut butter for everytime you leave in the morning. If you want, get two of them. And always keep one in the freezer. Then when you leave in the morning, he'll be excited to go into his crate because you are giving him a special treat that he doesn't get otherwise, and those frozen peanut butter kongs last for a few hours with Koda, so it will be a nice distraction.

Are you leaving other toys in there for him as well? We always leave a couple of bones in there for him so he has something to chew on. Just a note: don't leave anything fluffy in there that he could pull apart and choke on while you are away (like a stuffed animal toy). And make sure that he's not wearing any collars in there either (again, he could injure himself while you are away).

Eventually, he'll see his crate as a nice happy place and won't mind going in at all Good luck at the vet's tomorrow!

All right, I'll try those tips! Well, time to put Gunny in the crate and head to work. It's nice to be going into work later than usual! Gives me time to spend with my little guy.

Koda wrote:

It's Tori... but no problem!

Sounds like things are going well. In regards to the crate, when you are home with him, I would do some training with him...

For instance, leaving treats in there when he's not looking. That way he can wander in and find treats. I would reserve a kong filled with peanut butter for everytime you leave in the morning. If you want, get two of them. And always keep one in the freezer. Then when you leave in the morning, he'll be excited to go into his crate because you are giving him a special treat that he doesn't get otherwise, and those frozen peanut butter kongs last for a few hours with Koda, so it will be a nice distraction.

Are you leaving other toys in there for him as well? We always leave a couple of bones in there for him so he has something to chew on. Just a note: don't leave anything fluffy in there that he could pull apart and choke on while you are away (like a stuffed animal toy). And make sure that he's not wearing any collars in there either (again, he could injure himself while you are away).

Eventually, he'll see his crate as a nice happy place and won't mind going in at all Good luck at the vet's tomorrow!

Just realized I called you Jen... slap me in the face! I know you are Tori! My brain must be fried or something. Hope the sun came out for you so that you and Koda could go for a nice walk.

I knew you know who I am... it's okay-- we all have days like that

So you simply stuff peanut butter in the kong? Store bought peanut butter that us humans eat on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches?

Yup! We use Jiff creamy... my only suggestion is going for creamy and not crunchy... otherwise the peanut chunks get caught in the kong and they're harder to clean (By the way, to clean the kong you can boil it in a pot full of water for a couple of minutes)

EDIT: or put the kong in the dishwasher if you are lucky enough to have one. I don't, so I always forget

Even though I now live in a house with a backyard, which comes in handy for Gunny, I don't have a dishwasher either! How weird is that?

Koda wrote:

Yup! We use Jiff creamy... my only suggestion is going for creamy and not crunchy... otherwise the peanut chunks get caught in the kong and they're harder to clean (By the way, to clean the kong you can boil it in a pot full of water for a couple of minutes)

EDIT: or put the kong in the dishwasher if you are lucky enough to have one. I don't, so I always forget

Hey Tori thats great advice - I hadn't thought of that before (and I am lucky enough to have a dishwasher and a dishwasher filler - Mark does it cos he says I can't do it right - now I wonder why )

Hi Gunny hope you are all better now - your poor nose! Mummy shouldn't worry though these things happen and I am sure you will be fine. Just be careful of other doggies guarding their properties in future and you will be fine

All right, I took Gunny to the vet today and his visit went well. He was trembling waiting in the room but once the vet came he was all friendly! Was given some antibiotics for his nose just to prevent any possible infection and then he got his rabies shot. He also had some blood taken to test for heartworm. The vet said it couldn't hurt for him to gain maybe 15 pounds. I forgot to ask him to show me how to cut his nails so I am a bad mother once again!

Tori-by the way he totally digs the peanut butter in the kong! Thanks for the tip!!

Your definately a teeth person...Gunny will have the prettiest teeth in Colorado

No problem Danielle! And don't worry- we don't even cut Koda's nails ourselves. We take him to a groomer who does it for $5 in about 2.5 minutes. Way worth it to me to ensure that I don't injure him (because if you cut he quick it REALLY is bad and VERY painful for him). So I would search around and see if you can find a place like that? Our vet also does it for $10 a clipping.

Koda wrote:

No problem Danielle! And don't worry- we don't even cut Koda's nails ourselves. We take him to a groomer who does it for $5 in about 2.5 minutes. Way worth it to me to ensure that I don't injure him (because if you cut he quick it REALLY is bad and VERY painful for him). So I would search around and see if you can find a place like that? Our vet also does it for $10 a clipping.

There are nail salons for dogs?!? I already have to deal with trying to not get close to the nerve on teeth almost on a daily basis... Probably overconfident about this so I'll watch someone do it on Gunny first and then attempt it myself.