Michigan

[M.sue]

I got my first double yolker egg today!

Congrats.....Looks huge, did you happen to weigh it?

 

[M.sue]

Oh yeah. They are smart.

I have blu kote. think that'd be better than the ointment?

Just as good, that's what I've used when needed.....works well!

 

[EeyoreD]

Thanks everyone for the advice. She does loves me and all of our family members, likes to play with us, and is great with chickens. She has never chased a chicken or bit one, but loves their droppings.

We got her when she was 10 weeks old, and was the last of litter to be sold.
Her issues are-
Going bathroom where we don't want her to go, want her to go in one spot only. But getting better at that.
When we come home, she is on the landing on top of the stairs in the house, and she does not come down to greet us, but stay in her spot for like 5 to 10 minutes before coming down. When she does comes down, she have her ears flat, and tail semi tucked, but wagging a bit.
She wets a spot on the floor when we greet her.
Is skittish of things, would sometime bark at someone behind one of us.
Scared of the cows and would not go within 50 feet of the cow fence, but would go right up to the hog fence.
Biggest issue is that she only obeys part of the time, like- not coming when we call ''Come'' 50 percent of the time, she would go under a van or truck or a bench and lay down and wag her tail, but won't move.

Any help is appreciated.

All of this sounds like she's an extremely submissive dog. You have the exact opposite issues as those of us with headstrong, dominant dogs. It sounds ridiculous but you actually need to build up her confidence. There are tons of things on submissive urination that also delve into other aspects of dealing with the submissive dog. Such as this article: http://voices.yahoo.com/training-submissive-dog-2877399.html?cat=53

Basically, Google Training Submissive Urination.

Having had a submissive dog at one point in my life (though she admittedly wasn't a working dog) I will say this. Once she got her confidence up she would do ANYTHING to please me. Extremely obedient, didn't wander off on her own, etc. She lived to do what I asked.

So, work with her for a while using the training tactics for submissive dogs. It may very well turn out that she'll be better than any "normal" pup.

 

[Bianca67]

Wow Roger looks awful, hope he heals quickly.

Love the chick pics!

Nice looking egg!

Didn't have any rain here, just gloomy. Was cool so made mowing the yard nice. My oldest actually offered to help mow and did a pretty good job.

 

[Stacykins]

I didn't happen to weigh it. I should have dug out my digital scale that weighs in grams! Too late, it was delicious, though!

I just put up a "Free to good home" listing for Abe, the Araucana boy in my avatar. I have a blue cockerel I want to replace him with, so that would make my two roosters a blue boy and a splash boy. Thus far Abe has NOT been a victim of tuft jealousy!








This is who I want to replace him with. No bleed through coloring yet! Just started growing in pointy, sleep hackle and saddle feathers, so he is definitely a boy after confusing me for weeks. He is rumpless and double tufted, whee! Though he has been a victim of tuft jealousy, doh!

 

[Olive Hill]

Thanks everyone for the advice. She does loves me and all of our family members, likes to play with us, and is great with chickens. She has never chased a chicken or bit one, but loves their droppings.

We got her when she was 10 weeks old, and was the last of litter to be sold.
Her issues are-
Going bathroom where we don't want her to go, want her to go in one spot only. But getting better at that.
When we come home, she is on the landing on top of the stairs in the house, and she does not come down to greet us, but stay in her spot for like 5 to 10 minutes before coming down. When she does comes down, she have her ears flat, and tail semi tucked, but wagging a bit.
She wets a spot on the floor when we greet her.
Is skittish of things, would sometime bark at someone behind one of us.
Scared of the cows and would not go within 50 feet of the cow fence, but would go right up to the hog fence.
Biggest issue is that she only obeys part of the time, like- not coming when we call ''Come'' 50 percent of the time, she would go under a van or truck or a bench and lay down and wag her tail, but won't move.

Any help is appreciated.

Daron, having met your dog I can say without any shadow of doubt she has fear and confidence issues. It's why she would stand back and bark/growl at visitors but refuse to come near -- with your description it seems like she has quite a case of it. I think I still have a book I can send you on helping her learn to trust; the one I was gifted with by another dog owner when my big guy was a pup. I have your address, so if you'd like I can drop it in the mail. When I first met her she reminded me a lot of him when he was young. FWIW, he's a good dog now. Still has his inborn personality to be more cautious, but has learned to greet people without being fearful most of the time. It can be done.

One thing on teaching commands is to make sure you're setting her up to comply. So, for instance, if you want her to learn to come, don't say "come" unless you can enforce it. So in this case you would want to practice on lead, so you say "Come" once, and then if she doesn't comply you help her do so by pulling her to you with the lead and then praise. If you want her to sit you teach her when she is right in front of you so you can help put her in position upon giving the command. Another good way to teach commands is to give them as the dog is naturally doing the thing you want. If you see she's about to sit down, as she does it say "Sit" and then "Good Girl!" make a big deal out of it whenever she does something well. Use treats liberally with her. Even fearful dogs can usually be motivated by food. When my big guy was young I kept hot dogs in the fridge, precut into small pieces in a ziploc. Those were his favorite treats so whenever someone would pull into the driveway I'd pull out the baggie of hot dogs and give them a fistful. He could have all he'd take from the visitors. In pretty short order he came to associate strangers with hotdogs.

On the going to the bathroom in one spot, she may be more successful if you make that spot smell different than the rest of the yard. It's hard for a dog to understand the difference between one area of grass vs another area. To them it all feels and smells the same. So maybe sprinkle some pine shavings in the spot you want her to go, and then keep them refreshed so it's clear to her that this spot is different. That or just let it go. With a sensitive/submissive dog sometimes choosing your battles is even more important than usual. As long as it's not in the house it may not be worth worrying about.

And on breeding, even if you're not worried about placing the puppies, etc. one thing is that she can pass her temperament along, but another entirely is finding a stud. Health problems -- especially hip problems -- are very common in GSDs and any breeder who allows you to use their stud on a mutt ***** probably isn't going to be hip certified.

 

[Olive Hill]

*sigh* I didn't call your dog anything bad, there, btw. Just the correct name for a female dog.

 

[1muttsfan]

So I am laying on the bed in the Motel 6 with the two chicks for my sister perched on top of me (we are in stealth mode, no pets allowed). Delivery will be tomorrow. Silly chicken met me and took her little sumatras. My friend at home who is babysitting my incubators and dog Bella (who had an unfortunate incident with a stick a week ago and has to be hand-fed) reports 9 chicks out. And I get to spend the day tomorrow with my DB! Life is good.

 

[M.sue]

Woot, Woot.....Yessss .....I'll Have Another!!! Sorry guys I'm just so excited!!! What an awesome race!

 

[RBahmer]

I met M2M's husband today. Pretty cool guy. The chicks she gave me are some pretty nice looking birds. I like them so much I decided to keep them all myself lol. The blue ones are just so pretty. I thank God there was no uggo's though haha.
Thank you Kim.