hi. i live with my parents and have these miscreant animals. I am unemployed so it is the perfect time to be productive and try to do *something* about geriatric dog's antics
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These dogs are seniors and it sounds like your parents haven't bothered to train them at all. I think it's great you want to, but you need to realize that you are battling 13 years of bad habits. This means that it's not going to be an easy task and it could take a very long time before you see any results.
House training: Wow, 13 years of peeing in the house and now she's a senior...frankly, I don't know if it can be done. She's getting to the age where it's harder to control their bladders anyhow, but add to that the fact that she's never been training to hold her bladder and I'm really doubtful much can be done to change this habit.
And if she's been peeing on wood floors it's likely the pee has soaked into the wood and the pad underneath and nothing will get it out.
I would still try to take her out every hour while you are home, but when you are gone you might look into puppy pads or doggie diapers.
It looks like you have a slicker brush? Does it have skinny metal legs on one side that are bent? Those things really scrape the skin and hurt, especially if you are doing it hard. Only go the same direction as the hair growth.
She was doing ok in the beginning, so you need to keep your brushing sessions shorter and reward her. Don't sit down and expect to brush her whole body. Do a few swipes and give her a cookie. A few more swipes, another cookie. And that might be all for that session. You can do more later in the day if she's up for it. If you can do several sessions a day every day you'll get the knots out.
If her paws are that greasy and smelly I'd look into a change of diet. Their kibble might be low quality or just not agree with them.
You are not ushering them out of the kitchen fast enough. It has to be immediate. The split second they step onto the tile they need to be shoo'ed out. Not even 5 seconds later, that is too late. But again, 13 years of practice. This is not going to be fixed in a week. Imagine telling a 70 year old that he has to tie his shoe laces a totally different way now. Think how hard that will be to change right away. Old habits die hard.
I think it can be done, but will take time. But frankly, with such old and little dogs, just get a gate. They have gates for weird doors and wide openings (even 6 feet wide). You can find a way. Management will eb the easiest with these two.
she does it off and on, so I don't know if it is a "well she was let outside at 4 am so she dosen't need to go back out at 6:30 am" or a "OMG you left me now I will wee by your chair" so I think it is an emotional thing.
i have two of them the one is better behavied.
they eat the puriena lamb and rice, because the other food was making her itchier, the vet said to switch forumla.
I don't belive this dog dosen't 'need frequent brushing' when I can get that much fur off her in a week. when it is summer I can get a handfull off her neck alone.
I don't belive this dog dosen't 'need frequent brushing' when I can get that much fur off her in a week. when it is summer I can get a handfull off her neck alone.
You need to read what I wrote. I did not say she didn't need frequent brushing. I said that you are brushing too much at one sitting. She's not trained to sit there that long and you are scaring and hurting her. You cannot just do a full brushing job on her right now. She needs to be trained first. You start by brushing her for a very short time and stopping before she freaks out. You keeping going and going and going and she struggles and runs away. The way you are doing it you are training her to keep struggling since it works and she gets away from you. Brush her for 10 seconds, then stop. Then you can go back in an hour and do more. You can do this multiple times a day if she's not struggling. So you will get a lot of brushing in and will also be training her that it's not that bad of a thing.
Purina is crappy food. See if your parents will switch to something better.
If it's "an emotional thing" then you need to train her to be ok being left alone. Dogs are social animals and don't like being left alone unless you train them. She's attached to your parents and gets anxious when they leave.
House training:
Wow, 13 years of peeing in the house and now she's a senior...frankly, I don't know if it can be done. She's getting to the age where it's harder to control their bladders anyhow, but add to that the fact that she's never been training to hold her bladder and I'm really doubtful much can be done to change this habit.
And if she's been peeing on wood floors it's likely the pee has soaked into the wood and the pad underneath and nothing will get it out.
I would still try to take her out every hour while you are home, but when you are gone you might look into puppy pads or doggie diapers.
It looks like you have a slicker brush? Does it have skinny metal legs on one side that are bent? Those things really scrape the skin and hurt, especially if you are doing it hard. Only go the same direction as the hair growth.
She was doing ok in the beginning, so you need to keep your brushing sessions shorter and reward her. Don't sit down and expect to brush her whole body. Do a few swipes and give her a cookie. A few more swipes, another cookie. And that might be all for that session. You can do more later in the day if she's up for it. If you can do several sessions a day every day you'll get the knots out.
If her paws are that greasy and smelly I'd look into a change of diet. Their kibble might be low quality or just not agree with them.
You are not ushering them out of the kitchen fast enough. It has to be immediate. The split second they step onto the tile they need to be shoo'ed out. Not even 5 seconds later, that is too late. But again, 13 years of practice. This is not going to be fixed in a week. Imagine telling a 70 year old that he has to tie his shoe laces a totally different way now. Think how hard that will be to change right away. Old habits die hard.
I think it can be done, but will take time. But frankly, with such old and little dogs, just get a gate. They have gates for weird doors and wide openings (even 6 feet wide). You can find a way. Management will eb the easiest with these two.
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i have two of them the one is better behavied.
they eat the puriena lamb and rice, because the other food was making her itchier, the vet said to switch forumla.
I don't belive this dog dosen't 'need frequent brushing' when I can get that much fur off her in a week. when it is summer I can get a handfull off her neck alone.
Reply
You need to read what I wrote. I did not say she didn't need frequent brushing. I said that you are brushing too much at one sitting. She's not trained to sit there that long and you are scaring and hurting her. You cannot just do a full brushing job on her right now. She needs to be trained first. You start by brushing her for a very short time and stopping before she freaks out. You keeping going and going and going and she struggles and runs away. The way you are doing it you are training her to keep struggling since it works and she gets away from you. Brush her for 10 seconds, then stop. Then you can go back in an hour and do more. You can do this multiple times a day if she's not struggling. So you will get a lot of brushing in and will also be training her that it's not that bad of a thing.
Purina is crappy food. See if your parents will switch to something better.
If it's "an emotional thing" then you need to train her to be ok being left alone. Dogs are social animals and don't like being left alone unless you train them. She's attached to your parents and gets anxious when they leave.
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