The Quack Shack

[duluthralphie]

Hey all..

just dropping by for a second.. busy week so Please please keep up the Dux annihilation when I am busy saving the world...

And I am 100% behind everyone having dux eating goats.. they are just so cute.

 

[Trimurtisan]

I agree. Everyone needs goats!
I was trying to talk @Trimurtisan into a goat venture yesterday

You need to meet my wife. Better yet, let's work on the boys, then let them work on momma lol.

 

[jaykayhuff]

Hi there @jaykayhuff it's nice to meet you. Anyone who stays up late catching up on threads is a person after my own heart. Thanks for the kind words. Feel fre to just jump on in. Do you have a flock? What's in it?

Well after three different attempts at incubating duck eggs last year (ended up having to get a new incubator) I ended up with 5 drakes. One Welsh Harlequin, Three Cayugas, and One one-eyed crooked beaked Buff. Originally I wanted ducks for eggs but last year just wasn't my year I guess since I ended up with all boys and having such a hard time with hatching my own
This year I am having sexed female ducklings shipped so hopefully I have better luck with that!

 

[Trimurtisan]

Well after three different attempts at incubating duck eggs last year (ended up having to get a new incubator) I ended up with 5 drakes. One Welsh Harlequin, Three Cayugas, and One one-eyed crooked beaked Buff. Originally I wanted ducks for eggs but last year just wasn't my year I guess since I ended up with all boys and having such a hard time with hatching my own
This year I am having sexed female ducklings shipped so hopefully I have better luck with that!

Well that stinks. Do they get along fine as a batchelor flock? I love duck eggs. Easily favored over chicken eggs. Hopefully you'll have some females laying for you later in the year.

Do you know what breed you are getting yet?

 

[ShrekDawg]

That litter and breeder sounds perfect @Tooshay89 !!! What luck and perfect timing.

How did you find her? I’m just curious since she’s all the way out there haha did you know she was moving when you found her or it just happened to perfectly work out?

There’s a great Golden breeder in Indiana that I’ve wanted a pup from for soooo long (well since I found them last year lol) but it’s never worked out LOL one day!!

They had a litter last year that would have been PERFECT for me. The sire was seriously like my dream Golden in terms of personality and energy level and trainability and just everything and the dam was great too. I really really wanted one but I didn’t think I would be ready. I mean, I think I would have been, but it was just too soon. They would have been ready in April and we had just lost our dog that December. I wish I would have gotten them now though lol probably could have made it work. The litter just turned a year old a few weeks ago.

Then they had another litter July 4th (different parents of course) that also would have been good but they sold out so fast and that also wasn’t good timing because my brother got married in September so it wouldn’t have been a good time to have a brand new puppy haha

And now they are focusing on training and not having another litter for like a year, year and a half.

They might breed the dam of the second litter again later this year or next year but it’ll be a while.

I probably can’t get a dog right now anyway but still.

I actually was thinking of seeing if the stud from the first litter is having anymore litters anytime soon.

I think it was his first litter but he is the PERFECT dog lol

Anyway, sorry, got on a tangent when I saw Indiana.

Sorry, I know this is ridiculously long. I am trying to work on typing less but it’s not really working lol

 

[ShrekDawg]

@Tooshay89 separated it into posts so it wouldn’t be even more insanely ridiculously long than it already was lol

So anyway....

Also, as for Cosmo, he will calm down eventually!! It helps to ignore them when you first come in. I’m sure you’re probably already doing that but ignore him for 5 or so minutes when you walk in or however long it takes for him to calm down and you can have guests do the same thing. Then that way he learns that A. It is not that exciting when people come in. It’s just normal. And B. No one pets him until he’s calm so it doesn’t do any good. He will, theoretically, calm down faster.

Or, if you’re not comfortable totally ignoring him for so long, just ignore him when he jumps or does naughty things and only pet him when he has all 4 paws on the floor. He can be as wiggly as he wants as long as he stays on the ground lol but totally ignoring him until he’s calm may be more helpful at first and then eventually you can go back to petting/greeting him right away because he will calm down a lot faster.

Sorry if you are already doing these things. Just figured I’d put it out there anyway just in case.

Oh and also exercise is huge!! I’m sure you’re already exercising him a lot but he could always use more! LOL exercise exercise exercise. A tired dog is a good dog

Although, actually, mental exercise/stimulation can be even more important than physical exercise! They can build up tolerance to exercise so that you just have a super fit dog that never tires out lol

Doing regular training, whether it’s obedience or tricks or whatever or both, can help keep him occupied. You can try teaching him new things as that uses a lot of mental power learning them.

Puzzle bowls or putting his food in wiggle toy can also help. Or training before meals. Anything that has him having to work/“hunt” for his food will wear him out. Having him wear a backpack outside may help too. Makes him think he is doing a “job” lol

And I am actually a huge fan of nose work for dogs. Especially neurotic/hyper ones or nervous ones and puppies LOL builds calm and focus because they have to focus on the scent and increases confidence because it’s fairly easy.

There’s all sorts of things you can do. Like hiding food around the house and telling him to “find it” or playing hide and seek with them, etc. can also hide toys and have them find them too. For find it, start with something easy like putting it right in front of him where he can see it and saying “find it” then build up to harder searches and blind searches and stuff cause otherwise he will have no idea what you are saying or asking LOL can also put food or a toy in one box out of many or under a cup or in one hand and have him figure out which one. With hide and seek, you can hide somewhere and call him or have somebody else tell him to “go find X.” He should have a lot of fun with these and they will be exhausting for him!

There is also an actual nose work sport you can take classes or compete in too where they use I think 3 or 4 different scents and there’s different levels. You start with one scent and easy locations and build up to harder searches but that can be a lot of fun. It’s based on narcotics detection training.

Agility may be something fun too even if it’s just setting up a couple obstacles in the yard rather than competing or classes. But it works the mind and the body at once which is nice.

Structured walks can help too. Asking him to do obedience or tricks on the walk or even just letting him sniff which I’m sure maybe you do being on the farm?

And I am sure he gets plenty of exercise running around the farm all day lol but I just thought I’d suggest some stuff in case you wanted to try it. Some of this stuff can be a lot of fun and I used to do it just because lol my dog was never hyper or whatever and actually kinda lazy but we loved training/doing this stuff lol well I did and he went along with it but anyway, for a hyper dog it can be a godsend lol

But you are also right that a lot of it just comes down to age and maturity. Dogs in general take a long time to mature and they don’t really start calming down until 2 or 3 years old and until then they still need constant training and reminders. Goldens and Labs in particular are quite immature and can take even longer. Often they’re still goofy clowns until 5 or for life LOL but you should start getting some relief around 2-3

Anyway, sorry for the MASSIVE novel and the other. I know it’s probably super boring/annoying.

But hopefully at least something in here was helpful haha

 

[jaykayhuff]

Well that stinks. Do they get along fine as a batchelor flock? I love duck eggs. Easily favored over chicken eggs. Hopefully you'll have some females laying for you later in the year.

Do tou know what breed you are getting yet?

I know I was looking forward to duck deviled eggs for Easter this year but that is out of the question now

Yes they all are the best of buds except the Welsh who was raised solo for 10+ weeks before the others came along. I'm still trying to convince him he is not a dog and that he needs to hang outside with the rest of his kind. Hopefully getting him a few females will convince him otherwise haha

I am getting Welsh Harlequin's, Saxony's, and Silver Appleyard's.

 

[DiYMama540]

There's always next year @jaykayhuff ! Welcome to the Quack Shack!!

 

[DiYMama540]

Well...puppy fever is gone. Both dogs had to go in to the vet today for an annual exam, boosters and rabies... too much money later....I no longer have the need to add another dog to the vet bill!!

 

[ShrekDawg]

Well...puppy fever is gone. Both dogs had to go in to the vet today for an annual exam, boosters and rabies... too much money later....I no longer have the need to add another dog to the vet bill!!