Meet Cricket..*sigh*

[redhen]

I need some help/advice with her, please.
Looong post..sorry.

Soo.. shes 6 months old, and a Yorkie/Maltese mix.
She was my mothers dog... mom decided she cant care for her anymore...

Brother doesnt want her... no place else for her to go but here, cause i dont really want her going with strangers.
I DO really like her... and shes adorable, and a good dog. But my mother..*sigh* Has NO dog training ability at all. So..we have a few issues to deal with here.
My mother kind of spolied her... (you know how some folks do with these tiny dogs

)...
Well.. to be fair to mom, the dog was VERY ill as a pup and almost died. She needed critical care for pneumonia. (that cost a pretty penny..)
And this poor little thing has been fighting this problem since she was a baby. The last vet visit STILL showed pneumonia on her lungs. Shes been off the meds now for about a month..and has no coughing.. so..we believe shes finally beat it.

Shes due for another vet visit/x-ray soon to be sure though.

So... this brings up our first problem... eating/food. This dog is spoiled now because when she was so sick and wasnt eating...(her sugar got dangerously low).. the vet said to feed her ANYTHING that we could get down her. Which was cooked chicken or turkey and chicken flavor baby food... then as she got better.. we were able to add wet and dry food.
But heres my problem..she WONT eat her food unless theres cooked chicken or turkey or beef in it. How can i get her over this? I dont want to let her skip meals and tough it out... because shes just a tiny thing(about 5-6 lbs)..and i worry about her blood sugar dropping again. But i also dont want to be stuck cooking meat every day for this dog either.
I'm thinking of trying her on the TOTW that i feed my other 2 dogs. I feed them a mixture of High Prairie and the Pacific Salmon one. Is this a good idea?
Right now she is eating...Little Ceasers wet and Eukaunba small breed puppy formula(cause shes only 6 months old)...
Should i start to switch her over to TOTW...although hubby just pointed out a problem... TOTW kibble is MUCH bigger than her kibble shes on now. (almost triple the size).
Will she choke or be able to even eat it? Maybe i should wet it for her, to soften it up?

Next is behavior...
Shes a terror sometimes. I mean grabbing pants leg and growling at you...and when you correct her..she comes back at you and back at you. Not agressive.. just rough puppy playing, i believe. Like we're her playmates. But still not appropriate to be growling at humans and biting pant legs...
But either way... i dont tolerate that crap with my dogs... sooo... poor things gonna have a rude awakening when we start training tomorrow. New house... new rules.
How would you suggest i handle that behavior?
When i'm at my mothers house and i saw her do it.. i tell her "NO " firmly and put my fingers on the side of her neck firmly to correct her... nope... didnt work... she came back fo rmore.
So then i upped the anty... i said "NO!" and held her neck and put her on her back...
Eh... that lasted a second... when i let her up she came back for more...
It was a fun game, i guess.

Any ideas on how to stop/treat that type of behavior.

And these little dogs have NO shut off switch.... gah....
I'll take my big lazy bernards anyday.

Which brings me to my next problem... I have 2 big dogs.. Saint Bernards. How in the heck am i going to keep this little one from being trampled?
Maybe i can get my neighbor (who has a little yorkie, to take her..i know she'd have a GREAT home there for life. ) **sigh**

Shes soo sweet though..she just wants to be with YOU... shes laying beside me right now cuddling.. maybe i can make this work.. **sigh**

OOH cats... she like to chase cats...again.. not agressive. Shes just wants to play and sniff them. MY cats arent having it though.. Digit just smacked her in the face...several times.. **sigh**
How would you suggest getting her to stop chasing cats?? A shake can to get her attention? Something like that?

 

[noodleroo]

May I suggest a dog crate. Reward good behavior with treats, bad behavior gets a time out in the crate. Be consistant. It's not OK to grab a pant leg sometimes and not other times. Grabbing a pant leg gets a 'NO' and a trip to the crate...always.

The easiest thing would be to find someone similar to your mom that would like to have her. She sure is cute...

 

[redhen]

Thanks..she does have a crate that she uses at night....
But my worry with that is.. if i put her in the crate when shes in trouble..
Will she associate going in it with "bad" things? And then not want to go in her crate anymore?
I'm not sure what the right thing to do here is yet..
Thanks for the suggestion though!

 

[annie3001]

awe shes so cute. what a tough decision. to keep or not to keep. if your ready for some doggie training, i think it would work, she's still so young. which is good. we have a 10 month old dog, and still training. had her since she was 8 weeks. as far as your other dogs are considered, are they older in age? i dunno much to say about her health and diet situation, but she's got to get used to the foods without chicken/turkey etc. what about that flavor liguid stuff they have in the dog food aisle. maybe you can drizzle that on the food, that way she thinks she's getting that.?
i think what sounds like a great solution would be finding another caretaker. thats partly why i choose not to get another dog in my house. too much drama. kids. animals. husbands. all too much and its freezing outside. hard to herd all the animals in all our snow. i wish i had better advice. i am sure someone here will come along and offer some better advice. goodluck tho.

 

[noodleroo]

In my experience, they associate the crate with their 'home'. It is not a punishment to put them in it, just an 'interruption' in the behavior you want to stop. Lots of dogs prefer a crate to sleep in, kinda like a 'den'. I'm certainly not an expert in dog training, but I've done some with Labs mostly and my collie now. I've never had a problem with them NOT wanting to go into their crate in training like this.

She sure is cute.

 

[mississippifarmboy]

I gotta idea that would work... but you'd just slap me again if I suggested it.

 

[redhen]

Quote:
Okay, thanks! I'll start with the dog crate thing tomorrow... Maybe it will work!

I'm also going to see about gettin gher in puppy classes... just for some extra help.

 

[redhen]

Quote:
I'll do it anyways..

 

[noodleroo]

Quote:
I'll do it anyways..

 

[mississippifarmboy]

Quote:
I'll do it anyways..

awww! I'm gonna report you the the stalkers union for beatin' on me.


Is there a stalker's union... cause I ain't paid my dues... I'm sorta new at this creepy stalker gig.