Dog advice

[ALawPoker]

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You're a good person for taking in the dog and for caring so much about his well being. He's really lucky to have someone like you.

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Aww, thanks. Now I feel all warm and mushy. Haha.

And ya, Michael Vick is a nut.

[ALawPoker]

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why not just let him hang with you when you play

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Oh no, I do. Sorry if that was confusing. I just meant that I feel bad for him being confined to my room for so long. But, like others have pointed out, most dogs have to deal with the same thing while their owners leave for work for the day.

When my friend still lived here and Jaeger was "his" dog, it worked pretty well, cause he was still in school. So he had time too, and he could be with him while I was busy. I guess that's why I feel bad. But he will get used to it.

[illeagle]

You must get a second dog. It's cruel to force a pack animal to lead a mostly solitary life.

[ALawPoker]

He hardly leads a solitary life. But a second dog is a good idea regardless.

[Blarg]

A second dog would definitely be nice. They are very social animals and love to play. Your dog would probably like the yard a lot more if he had another dog to goof around with out there, too. Then they could dog it up just like they're supposed to instead of having your dog have nothing but sit around watching you for mood swings.

[4 High]

Ill use this thread to ask my question. When switching from Puppy Chow to Dog Chow, is there anything special that must be done?

[BretWeir]

My wife is the big dog expert in the house, so I'm turning it over to her.

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I agree with others who point out that he's lucky to have someone who is home most of the time. 8 hours by himself is fine... think of dogs whose owners work outside the home. Our dogs are home alone probably 10+ hours a day, admittedly with a dog walker coming mid-day.

If his response to your being stressed is moving away, that's certainly not the worst response! Does he have a crate or some other 'safe' space he can go to (my dogs still haven't figured out that if I'm yelling at the TV, it's because of the baseball game, not them). It's great that you notice that... Really, it sounds like you are doing a LOT right! You can tell when he's stressed, and you let him know that it's not him.

BTW, it's entirely possible that he wasn't abused, but he's just a sensitive soul. Rotties (he looks part rottweiller) are quite sensitive to people, especially their 'masters'. I think he's pretty lucky... gets exercise, his 'person' is around a lot of the time, and realizes that structure is important, exercise is important.

He is in GREAT shape, BTW. Really wonderful looking dog (there are soooooo many fat dogs out there so it's wonderful to see a fit dog).

You're right not to 'comfort' him too much - the wrong thing to do IMHO would be "oh no, POOR BABY POOR DOG" b/c then he WOULD start thinking "ooh, I should cower, this IS something to get worried about" but a calm "it's OK" and calling him over seems pretty appropriate to me.

Lots of dogs live with far less attention and less devoted owners, so I think you're doing OK.

And as for your schedule... if he can adjust, that's great (one of my dogs could do that. the other gets up at 7 AM NO MATTER WHAT.).

Good luck - I think he sounds like a lucky dog, personally.

[DylsValentine]

Hey...off topic...but I lived in Rochester for 13 years, went to fairport hs and mcc, its cool to see someone from Rochester is on here.

anyways, beautiful dog, and good luck with him. He's lucky to have such a caring owner.

[roy_miami]

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He hardly leads a solitary life. But a second dog is a good idea regardless.

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If noisy roommates bothers you, whats 2 dogs trying to get it on all the time going to do for your concentration?

[coltranedog]

Getting another dog is almost always a bad idea. First off there is no guarantee they will get along with one another. My girlfriend recently moved in with me and brought along her female puggle "lucy". I already have a male Jack Russell "coltrane" and although they get along well for the most part, its a lot more work having two dogs.

Most people think that getting another dog will free them up because the dogs will play with one another and need less direction from you. This is not usually the case. Two dogs get into a whole lot more trouble than one solitary dog who is content sleeping his 8 hours a day.

If,however you must get another dog, make sure its of the opposite sex of your current dog. Same sex aggression is quite common and everything from chew toys, your affection, and kibble may become a competition for the two dogs to see who is the leader. The poster who mentioned that dogs are pack animals is correct, however most humans are not capable of leading a pack of dogs. 3 dogs that live together and form a pack without a dominant leader being the human is a recipe for disaster, here is a good article on what can happen when dogs become a "pack"

http://www.leerburg.com/rot-kill.htm

We have spent a lot of time and energy training our two dogs (at least I have) and I can honestly say that it would have been so much easier if we just had the one dog. The poster who mentioned the roommates noise bothering you brought up a great point. I bet on sports for a living and am now building a sound proof media room because the noise these two dogs make while playing or barking at squirrels or playing chase can be extremely distracting.