Page 5 of 6 FirstFirst ... 3456 LastLast
Results 41 to 50 of 55
  1. #41
    Senior Dog MontananDakota's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    NJ
    Posts
    1,078
    Thanked: 451
    She is cute and her face when she rests her chin in my hand....so things have been good between her and China although today she did growl at China, I don't remember the circumstances. No moves toward her though Andy I quickly divert her attention away from China if she just looks at her. Strange new thing though- she does a lot of whining when she is not gated. I feel like the space is just so much for her. I’m not training yet just giving her more time to decompress before I start any training. I am not sure how to curb this whining when I do start training. Any ideas?

    Update: So this morning it seems clear that this whining behavior started within the last few days. I have watched her try to pick up several toys at once to carry she puts them sometimes in one spot. On a few occasions on trips outside she carried a toy in her mouth the whole time and didn't even want to go outside. I am wondering if this is resource guarding. I did see her growl about food that fell on the floor once. Maybe she never had toys before?
    And last night she growled and tried to bite China again. I had taken my eyes off them for a second so I'm not positive but it seemed to be the bluff charge kind of thing that Dakota used to do in the beginning. I'm not sure. China walked away I yelled and Amber stopped in her tracks. This after a week of peace and in a split second over some treat crumbs I believe. Like I said-split second.
    It seems literally like she does not know how to be a dog. And to think this is life for so many.
    Any advice is appreciated, yes even if it isn't what I want to hear. If you have experience with this then yes please.

    thanks guys.
    Last edited by MontananDakota; 12-18-2017 at 08:41 AM.

  2. #42
    Senior Dog labsnewfy's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    WV
    Posts
    2,301
    Thanked: 1216
    I would start training now. Sit, stay, leave it, come etc. making sure you always treat China first or better show her positive re enforcement first since treats might be setting her up to fail if food is a problem right now. I believe you said Amber is 10 years old, and hound mix she will be set in her ways and a little stubborn, until she knows the rules of your household. I am guessing she has been to your vet for a full physical meet and greet?

    I know in one of Tootsies' first foster homes she would grab all the toys and put them in her crate. Ginger was also a little toy hoarder or she was when we first brought her home, she had never had toys either, in time they both settled and enjoyed having toys and playing with them. Amber has a lifetime of baggage to get through maybe some stuff not so good, in the end her adoption is your decision. With the holidays everyone is a bit stressed I would suggest if you have a lot of people over to keep Amber contained away from the noise and people for now until she settles.

    My Sarah (11 yrs) is a whiny baby too LOL she will just lay and whine sometimes she needs to go outside, sometimes she just wants to play and sometimes she will whine I can't figure out what she wants. Ginger will always run and get a baby before going outside, sometimes she brings them back in with her most of the time I have to go out pick them up and bring them all back inside, so I am not of any help there.

    the animal communicator told us that Tootsie was a bit analytical she liked knowing what was going on, believe it or not we started telling Tootsie what was happening and she settled. If we were having someone over to install carpet, we told Tootsie. If we were going for a ride we told her where we were going etc. that helped relieve some of her stress
    Hidden Content

    Coleman - CGC blk lab 6/02/97-2/25/08 adopted
    Tootsie - choc lab 10/19/99-8/03/13 adopted
    Bailey - CGC newf/fc 7/12/00-07/15/14 rescued
    Ginger - BT 11/16/05 - 10/14/19 rescued
    Sarah - blk lab 6/22/06 - 12/30/19 rescued
    rescued felines - AJ - 8/00 - 1/11, Merlin - 5/20/05-8/23/21
    Tucker - 8/3/10, Penny - 7/7/13, Toby - 6/14/21

  3. The Following User Says Thank You to labsnewfy For This Useful Post:

    MontananDakota (12-19-2017)

  4. #43
    Senior Dog MontananDakota's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    NJ
    Posts
    1,078
    Thanked: 451
    Tell me more about his animal communicator-I'd love to hear! Is she someone I your town| city?

    So I called a trainer and gave her as much information as I have. She said it could go either way -better or not..but at this point she doesn't see any red flags telling her to advise giving the dog back right now. She said lets work with her and China together if I'd like and we can go from there. So I think I'm going to sign up. I always loved training my dogs in a directed setting so I think I will enjoy it. Last night and today have been peaceful-outside of Ambers carrying the toys and whining. Her tail is high so I know she is not calm. When she sits with me and I quietly pet her the tail goes down. I have started hand feeding her.
    Luckily I am not having people over for the holidays (we are going to their house) so I can have the girls home getting more used to this. Today is supposed to be nice I would like to take Amber for a walk in the park but I read about the decompression period not allowing walks just yet..It's hard to know what's accurate and not on the internet...

  5. #44
    Senior Dog Tanya's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    Eastern Ontario Canada
    Posts
    3,336
    Thanked: 2070
    I walked dogs during decompression period. I guess this would greatly depend on if the walk is either over stimulating/arousing (so they come back "primed" ) or the dog is anxious about the outside (so it really adds to their general stress level).

    Glad things are going well. I sorta agree with the trainer, could go either way but sounds like things are pretty stable now so that's a good sign.

  6. The Following User Says Thank You to Tanya For This Useful Post:

    MontananDakota (12-19-2017)

  7. #45
    Senior Dog MontananDakota's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    NJ
    Posts
    1,078
    Thanked: 451
    I definitely feel like some basics will help a lot with the minor quirks ( pulling my sweater as I'm walking out the door, trying to reach the counter when I'm making dinner) and although I have been through obedience a thousand times with Montana and Dakota- they were super easy attainable Labs. Amber is not responding to my simple sit method so....training will help with that which in turn will help us see more of her personality and be able to tell if getting her more calm and used to China will stop her crankiness towards her.
    I don't know yet if a walk in the park willoverestimulate her or not so I'm going to next opportunity I get. Im seeing things this way right now: China is much more calm and as long as Amber isn't hurting ( distressing) her than its worth a shot to try some training.

  8. #46
    Senior Dog Shelley's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    United States
    Posts
    1,226
    Thanked: 1739
    Quote Originally Posted by MontananDakota View Post

    Update: So this morning it seems clear that this whining behavior started within the last few days. I have watched her try to pick up several toys at once to carry she puts them sometimes in one spot. On a few occasions on trips outside she carried a toy in her mouth the whole time and didn't even want to go outside. I am wondering if this is resource guarding. I did see her growl about food that fell on the floor once. Maybe she never had toys before?
    And last night she growled and tried to bite China again. I had taken my eyes off them for a second so I'm not positive but it seemed to be the bluff charge kind of thing that Dakota used to do in the beginning. I'm not sure. China walked away I yelled and Amber stopped in her tracks. This after a week of peace and in a split second over some treat crumbs I believe. Like I said-split second.
    It seems literally like she does not know how to be a dog. And to think this is life for so many.
    Any advice is appreciated, yes even if it isn't what I want to hear. If you have experience with this then yes please.

    thanks guys.
    You already know how I feel about this situation.
    Girls that don't get along is a ticking time bomb until there is a real bitch fight that you can't stop by yelling at them, and one of your dogs will get seriously injured.

  9. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Shelley For This Useful Post:

    barry581 (12-22-2017), SunDance (12-23-2017)

  10. #47
    Senior Dog MontananDakota's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    NJ
    Posts
    1,078
    Thanked: 451
    Update. Shelley you were right. In the morning a few days ago the girls got into a big fight and exactly as Shelley said- I couldn't stop it by yelling. They hurt each other and I surrendered Amber back to the shelter. I'm heartbroken and we all miss her but I had to do it to keep them both safe. They are fine now. Once we got inside the shelter Amber relaxed. She could hear other dogs in the distance but there she knows that she is the only dog out of her crate. The staff was wonderful and fully agreed this was best. Gosh I never in a million years thought I'd actually return a dog.I miss her. I'm going back tomorrow to deliver some donations and ill ask to see her. At least while she's there I can visit until she gets adopted. And now they have a great amount of information on her so that she can be placed in a great match.
    Both girls were back to their normal selves by the end of the night.

  11. #48
    Senior Dog smartrock's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    Carolina in my mind..
    Posts
    6,391
    Thanked: 4178
    I'm sorry this was the outcome. I hesitated to say anything because I've only one set of experiences with this type behavior and I wasn't sure how typical it is. Briefly, my daughter's dog doesn't like Lark. She and Chase got along fine, they could play and run around together and lie next to each other all day long. Unfortunately, she has had issues with Lark from day one. Lark is now 5 years old, Ellie was 5 years old when we got Lark, and it hasn't gotten at all better in the ensuing 5 years.

    They can be playing and getting along without obvious problems but things can turn on a dime. Ellie will go after Lark for walking near her in a hall or doorway, picking up a stick or a toy, it's not always obvious what triggers her response. To my eye, Lark has just appeared to be minding her own business. There hasn't been an all out fight but Ellie has snapped at Lark many times and there was a near fight in our yard one time that I broke up by flinging a pooper scooper rake at them. Lark was trying to get away and Ellie was chasing her. Trying to break up a fight by reaching to grab one of the dogs is a good way to get bitten, too.

    We don't live in the same state so we cannot visit without either bringing our dogs or kenneling one of them. When they're in the same house, it's a shell game all day long, one in the crate and the other out, or one in the front of the house and one in the family room, baby gates or closed doors all over the place. They are never together in the same room even though we can take walks outside and they can walk along with each other without problems. It's not easy and I wouldn't want to live like that all the time.

    I'm sorry this happened for you and Amber and China. I hope both dogs are OK after the fight.

  12. #49
    Senior Dog MontananDakota's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    NJ
    Posts
    1,078
    Thanked: 451
    Yes both girls are fine now. But with China feeling she needed to defend herself and being twice the size of Amber..lets face it a Lab has strength. I wracked my brain to find a way to make this work because I did not want to let Amber down. I see with my heart too much. Now that I see with logic and reason- it's clear that Amber couldn't calm down anymore with another dog. Their happiness is what matters most now and they are both happier. I pray one day soon Amber is swept off her little spotted feet into a home filled with love for her.
    I miss her.

  13. #50
    Senior Dog labsnewfy's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    WV
    Posts
    2,301
    Thanked: 1216
    I am sorry it didn't work out for your family and Amber, you tried giving her time and then did the best thing for both. As you said the shelter has more information on Amber now in finding her a more suitable forever home. With dogs you have to give them time to settle and see the real dog, you did that for Amber. You did the right thing for everyones peace of mind and safety.

    we took in a male dog from a rescue that we were told was good with dogs and cats. Turns out he wasn't, he went after both our elderly cats and started to get onto baby Bailey with all that puppy energy. we gave it a week or so but things were not getting better so we contacted the rescue and they refused to take him back. after another week of keeping everyone separated and safe we did finally find him a home without cats and without a rambunctious puppy. His home had another adult dog and they clicked so he had his happily ever after and I am sure Amber will too. We did end up finding LRR and adopted our sweet Coleman then went on to foster fail with Tootsie

    Amber will find her home and you will find another pup that is a better fit with your household when the time is right.
    Hidden Content

    Coleman - CGC blk lab 6/02/97-2/25/08 adopted
    Tootsie - choc lab 10/19/99-8/03/13 adopted
    Bailey - CGC newf/fc 7/12/00-07/15/14 rescued
    Ginger - BT 11/16/05 - 10/14/19 rescued
    Sarah - blk lab 6/22/06 - 12/30/19 rescued
    rescued felines - AJ - 8/00 - 1/11, Merlin - 5/20/05-8/23/21
    Tucker - 8/3/10, Penny - 7/7/13, Toby - 6/14/21

 



Not a Member of the Labrador Retriever Chat Forums Yet?
Register for Free and Share Your Labrador Retriever Photos

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •