Advice,OT Dogs driving me nuts, really seriously long, sorry...

[Guest guest]

Okay Christi, here is what I suggest...

Your dogs desperately need training. Rotts are very intelligent, and

therefore very badly behaved without intensive training on the part

of the owner.

The only way you are going to get your dogs to stop digging is to

catch them at it every single time they do it and spray them with the

hose or something equally unpleasant.

What I have advised my clients/customers to do (WAY back when, I

worked with one of the top dog trainers in CA and at several pet

stores) is to put their dog(s) in a crate whenever they cannot keep a

direct eye on them. The crate should be large enough for them to

stand, sit, stretch, and turn around in. You do not leave the dog in

the crate more than 4 hours at a time, except at night. This is also

a great way to housebreak a puppy! Of course, whenever you are home,

let the dog out to run. Ultimately after a few weeks your dogs

should get the general idea that YOU are the boss, the yard is YOUR

territory and they gain nothing by digging. They are probably bored

as well, but that is no excuse for poor behavior. Neutering would

help a bit as well. They are too old for it to really alter their

personalities, but it would cut down on any aggressive behavior and

inappropriate urinating. Also neutered dogs live MUCH longer than

intact dogs. I know your DH wants to breed them, but if your dogs

are that badly behaved it is really a bad idea. It costs more than

you would think to breed dogs for sale...easy money it is not. It

costs a lot to get the papers for the puppies, and you can't even do

that if you don't have papers for the parent dogs with permission to

breed from THEIR breeders. Not to mention, of course, the cost in

food, vaccinations, etc. Thousands of puppies are put to sleep every

day because would-be " breeders " were unable to find buyers for their

purebred pups, so they dumped them.

Maybe you can sway your husband with a few of these remarks. Also,

if you have a female and you decide not to breed her, GET HER FIXED

as soon as possible. Estrus is very uncomfortable for a female and

if she isn't bred, she'll just go into heat more and more often until

she is in heat constantly. This can lead to a condition called

pyometritis, which is often fatal to a dog.

Sorry I'm going on so long here...animal control or lack thereof is

one of my " pet " peeves! You wouldn't BELIEVE how many times I have

given this speech!

Good Luck!

Jill Ramos

> Hey I know this is way off topic but I am at my wits end. I have

well

> my husband has two dogs a rottweiler and a doberman.(IF it was my

> choice theyd be gone already) The problems are many with them but

the

> one main one here lately is the digging. THey wont stop digging and

> it wouldnt be such a huge deal except where there digging and plus

> how big of holes there digging one of my kids cool fall in! Well

> yesterday I came home to find that theyve dug a hole around my

septic

> system. They started with the little pipe thing that sticks out of

> the ground and were digging all along the pipe. It was a completely

> straight line about 5 ft long and as I looked along it I could see

> white piping. They are also digging by my pool I am soo worried

they

> are going to ruin my pool. They also dug a hole going underneath my

> patio it was so big my sons basket ball fell underthere and my

> husband said we would just have to buy him a new one cause no way

was

> anyone crawling that deep under the patio to get it. We fill the

> holes in they dig them right back out. I am going crazy with this

> and cant figure out how to stop them. Ive beat them Ive sprayed

> stuff thats supposed to keep dogs off things around the pool and

the

> doberman just layed in it no problem. My mom told me to sprinkle

> chili powder where they did and maybe it will burn so much they

wont

> want to dig but nope still digging. ANyone else have any ideas? Ill

> try anything!! Realisticly I would get rid of these dogs but my

hubby

> loves them too much. He was never given a dog as a child was always

> told no so now that hes an adult he insists on having one.Ugh I

> couldkill his mother. I had dogs growing up and I really dont want

> any pets of any kind any more!! Well thanks for listening even

though

> its so off topic

> CHristi mom to MYA

[Guest guest]

Thanks Jill

I had no idea about getting female dogs fixed. I didnt know it could

lead to problems for them later on. OUr rott is 2 1/2 years old and

our doberman just turned 1. I know that Airborne (the rott) is very

intelligent. she can sit , give you her paw, lay down and all without

much training. My husband went out just a couple times and worked

with her. Now the Sophie the doberman he has had a hard time even

trying with her because AIrborne gets mad when ever he touches

Sophie. SHe gets very jealous and bites sophies legs (not too hard

just hard enough for Sophie to leave him alone)

I see how many of you love dogs and other animals to death and Iwish

I could feel this way about these dogs. I know that feeling because I

had it with my childhood dog dutchess but these dogs are just a pain

in my butt to be honest and the only reason we have them is because

my husband insisted. Otherwise we would have no pets. He refuses to

talk about spaying ( not that we have the money to do so anyway) and

refusing to even hear me say anything about getting rid of them. They

are out in that yard all day long with no human attention and I feel

its wrong but he refuses to see that. WE have fought about dogs since

we were married he wanted on I did not. (WEve been married 8 years) I

had an excuse for so long because we lived in apartments. But after

we bought our house I could only postpone the inevitable. Finaly he

insisted and we got AIRborne. It has been one argument after another

over the dogs. I wouldnt have so much objection to them if he had

time enough to take care of them himself and spend tim ewith them but

he does not and I get stuck with dealing with it all.

When he does get back on aug 19 I will tell him what you have said

about the spaying. (oh by the way both are females) Maybe he will let

me get the full sentence out before he says dont start.

CHristi

> > Hey I know this is way off topic but I am at my wits end. I have

> well

> > my husband has two dogs a rottweiler and a doberman.(IF it was my

> > choice theyd be gone already) The problems are many with them but

> the

> > one main one here lately is the digging. THey wont stop digging

and

> > it wouldnt be such a huge deal except where there digging and

plus

> > how big of holes there digging one of my kids cool fall in! Well

> > yesterday I came home to find that theyve dug a hole around my

> septic

> > system. They started with the little pipe thing that sticks out

of

> > the ground and were digging all along the pipe. It was a

completely

> > straight line about 5 ft long and as I looked along it I could

see

> > white piping. They are also digging by my pool I am soo worried

> they

> > are going to ruin my pool. They also dug a hole going underneath

my

> > patio it was so big my sons basket ball fell underthere and my

> > husband said we would just have to buy him a new one cause no way

> was

> > anyone crawling that deep under the patio to get it. We fill the

> > holes in they dig them right back out. I am going crazy with

this

> > and cant figure out how to stop them. Ive beat them Ive sprayed

> > stuff thats supposed to keep dogs off things around the pool and

> the

> > doberman just layed in it no problem. My mom told me to sprinkle

> > chili powder where they did and maybe it will burn so much they

> wont

> > want to dig but nope still digging. ANyone else have any ideas?

Ill

> > try anything!! Realisticly I would get rid of these dogs but my

> hubby

> > loves them too much. He was never given a dog as a child was

always

> > told no so now that hes an adult he insists on having one.Ugh I

> > couldkill his mother. I had dogs growing up and I really dont

want

> > any pets of any kind any more!! Well thanks for listening even

> though

> > its so off topic

> > CHristi mom to MYA

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 7/29/2002 11:06:57 PM Eastern Daylight Time, christiz75@... writes:

.. Estrus is very uncomfortable for a female and

> if she isn't bred, she'll just go into heat more and more often

until

> she is in heat constantly. This can lead to a condition called

> pyometritis, which is often fatal to a dog.

Jill,

Thanks for that info- I had no idea about this and my dh has been putting off spaying our German Shepard since he wanted to breed her. Then our other dog died and we thought it was no big deal to get it done since she is in the back yard with a privacy fence and not going anywhere, and its too high for other dogs to jump it. That's really good information that I will share with dh and get our butts in gear to get it done!

' mom