Dutch Shepherd Forum

I don't believe it's possible to transmit (or contract) the virus in this community, so I am encouraging a little extra communication here for several days.

You pick the topic - DS or not.

Do you have enough TP?

How does your DS feel about all this?

Pictures are encouraged.

Stay safe everyone!

We had to have our old bull terrier put to sleep this week at 16 years old which is a really good age. Pepsi is really behaving quite strangely which I hope will pass. Very upsetting losing a dog after so many years. Will post a few pics of them together later. Jay

A very recent picture, they secretly got on quite well . Jay

Wow Jay. Really sorry for your loss.

I am sure Pepsi will come around. Maybe a little extra play time will be good for both of you.

centrop67 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 12, 2020 8:26 pm Wow Jay. Really sorry for your loss.

I am sure Pepsi will come around. Maybe a little extra play time will be good for both of you.

Thanks myself and wife will be fine we knew it was time to let her go. Ruby had been struggling for a while but since the weekend she really went down hill.
Pepsi is very independent and generally doesn’t spend much time with us in the evenings where as Ruby layed on my wife’s lap every night for her entire life.
So a new chapter starts in Pepsi’s life to start to integrate with the family more, time will tell. Jay

She was a nice one

That is the hard part of having older dogs. Peanuts' time is coming and I let my mom know I can't be the one to take him this time.

I'm sorry to hear about Ruby.

Today was Bramble's first hospital visit. She did great....even though we had to park on the opposite side from where we needed to be and had to cut through the hospital.

Jay knowles wrote: ↑Thu Mar 12, 2020 8:23 pm We had to have our old bull terrier put to sleep this week at 16 years old which is a really good age. Pepsi is really behaving quite strangely which I hope will pass. Very upsetting losing a dog after so many years. Will post a few pics of them together later. Jay

I had to put my older Shepherd, Aurora down just before Christmas. Endeavor acted a little weird for a couple days. She's a little more focused on me now. Not that she played much with Aurora for the past year.
It'll get better man. Sorry for your loss. Hang in there.

The UK is going a bit mad with all this. My wife happens to own a contract cleaning company so we have all the toilet rolls and hand jell you could ever wish for. In the UK people are going mad for all this type of stuff which I don’t really understand. Still walking Pepsi every day, she’s like a Covid-19 repellant, no one comes anywhere near us. Jay

For some reason when we just take Bramble out, people avoid her. They will ask about her, but not reach out and touch.....until she has her service dog gear on. Then suddenly everyone wants to pet her. So strange.

Sel, I can't speak from a dog perspective, but have experienced something similar with children. I hate to say it, but I think it comes from hypervigilance. When someone, or in this case some dog, experiences neglect and abuse, the entire world is threatening and unpredictable, and you are part of that world. Neglect and abuse set cause and effect off kilter, which makes it hard to know who or what causes pain. When my son first came to me, we were out and it started raining. He got so mad at me he clawed my contacts out. He really thought I was then one getting him wet....and I've had other kids get really upset with me when they trip or get a normal bump. Plus, now you are Lazlo's rock, his rescuer, his, well, god, of course you control everything.

Children and I suspect animals that have experienced neglect and abuse often don't even realize when they experience pain, frankly (terribly) because they get used to it. Could be that Lazlo is hurting consistently and you just can't see it.

We had to cancel my son's birthday party. It wouldn't have been a huge gathering, but almost all of the kids have underlying medical conditions. He is going to be bummed when he realizes he didn't get his Godzilla party.

We do private training, but I would think a small class, especially outside would be fine with proper precautions. After all, it's not like handlers and dogs get that close to each other anyway.

We had to make the decision about Peanuts today. He started crying in his sleep last night which was the first time he appeared to be in pain. We've been seeing s steady decline, and decided now was the time, before a crisis. I think it was the right decision. I waited to long with Gotcha and she suffered because I just didn't want to let her go.

As far as what I say, I tell Bramble leave it, and say she is working....or cave. It depends on how my son is doing. If he's having a moment or could escalate, I just go with it.

At least with kids, the only way to get past hypervigilance is be consistent and have clear boundaries. Bring order to chaos. Isn't a magic fix, but does help.my guess is it would help a dog too.

So sorry you had to make that choice. Man... Seems like a strange time for us all these past few months.

ladyjubilee wrote: ↑Sun Mar 15, 2020 2:12 am We had to make the decision about Peanuts today.

Sorry for your loss.

Thank you.

SEL wrote: ↑Fri Mar 13, 2020 5:17 pm The next scent work class starts towards end of March and I'm debating going.

Have you considered online classes? I am not much of an online learner but I just took the nose work class at Fenzi Academy and it worked very well for us. I think if you have training background its a good option.

ladyjubilee wrote: ↑Sun Mar 15, 2020 2:12 am We had to make the decision about Peanuts today.

So sorry for your loss.

Thanks, I'll check that one out! I have looked at scentworkuniversity.com, but not Fenzi. I think the online classes are a good option for right now.
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For the nosework classes they have a teachers assistant in a facebook group. That allows you to get video review and answered questions with taking a bronze level class. I personally feel like the silver or gold spots are way over priced but bronze is very affordable and the TA gets you extra help.

What do you do with nose work once the dog learns it?