Mike's Doghouse

We currently have 3 dogs. Joella (85lb Rottweiler), Sam (95lb Catahoula x), and Mike (55lb Rottweiler x). It is Sam who is the Destruct-O-Dog.

Today we picked up a new toy our fave store had gotten in. It is was the Mega Ring Tuffy made by Vip Products. On the info tag hooked to it, it says “Worlds Most Durable Soft Dog Toy” and “Tiger Tested, Dog Approved”. It also has a “tuff” rating of 10. So we got it.

It lasted less than an hour with Sam.

Now, like all dog toys, it says This toy is designed as a “play” toy and is not a “chew toy”. It goes on to say don’t let them play unsupervised, etc. But we all know that isn’t how it goes. If I wanted a toy specifically between me and the dog(s), I wouldn’t necessarily go for one that is supposed to be “tiger tested, dog approved”. I’d go for its usefulness, my hand comfort, their joy, etc. No, we get a toy with that phrase to give to a heavy chewer and hope it lasts longer than the last alleged super tough thing.

It didn’t. While we are saddened to have wasted nearly $30, we are even more sad that once again, Sam doesn’t have a toy of his own. But we weren’t surprised because it has a notable design flaw that most “tough” dog toys have. The seams are heavily stitched, folded multiple times BUT they stick out in a nice, flat, chewable way. Why can’t they make it inside out like footballs are made?

PROS:
The ring shape was perfect for Sam to grab hold of and play tug.

CONS:
Heavy, hard, like most allegedly tough toys. I would not have wanted to throw it for fear of knocking Sam unconscious. Didn’t last an hour. Wonder how long it lasted with the tiger?

Bottom Line:
If you play rough with your dogs then this toy would indeed make a good tug toy. Tug wise, it’s not going to warp and tear. It might make a good tossing toy but I’d use caution. But if you are wanting it as a soft toy for your Destruct-O-Dog, then don’t bother. Even if you are supervising, even if you take it away if you see progress being made, well, damage is already done and it is only a matter of time before it is dead. We’ll keep this one up and give it to him at times when we can supervise. Not so we can take it away if we hear ripping, but so we can pick up the stuffing and make sure he’s not eating anything.

Toy is sold via stores and online through MyDogToy.com. The website calls it “Mega Gear Ring – Tiger Print“. If I had researched this before buying, I probably wouldn’t have bought it based on the website design and layout. For example, all over the tags of their toys it says “Mydogtoy.com” yet it is a redirect to another website. That’s not a bad thing, it’s just the first of many odd design issues.

A photo of it (and the amount of stuffing he pulled out!!) can be found in Mike’s Review photo album called Toys.

Mike and I have been slowly training. He has some issues but none would prevent him from being a Service Dog.

For example, let’s look at how Mike perceives the concept of SIT. Most dogs, in learning SIT, are like bouncing balls. SIT means butt hits floor then bounces back up real fast. Not Mike. He figured out that SIT means TREAT so he was not going to move. I tried tossing the treat so he’d have to get up to get it. He’d go get it then promptly sit again, faster than I could give the cue.

Another example: Mike learned DOWN by the word and the hand signal of me pointing to the spot. Now, however, when I point to something to ask him to get it, he lays down. Why? Because I pointed.

I am having to slowly fade out the hand signals and not use them at all. I will also need to closely watch all my cue words so that he can distinguish between them all. I don’t feel he will flunk as a SD at all. I think he will excel at it. Trick will be me finding the proper way to teach him.

Mike and I had an interesting summer. He went with me up Nawth in late June. We were going to stay just two weeks but wound up being there for 4. We came home for 3 then were back up for 5. My mother was ill and had surgery, Lorna’s dad died…it was a very emotional (and hot!) summer. But it did some good bonding between us. I also learned he travels very well and loves other dogs. He doesn’t do the growling thing that embarrassed me so much about Joella. Most of the time if he sees another dog while in the truck, he is quiet about it. Jo would have been half out the window. Not to attack, but that’s what it certainly looked like. Mike does have that Rottie “this is strange and therefore dangerous” thing going. He was a little freaked by my brother and we could never figure out what it was. He was great with the kids, even loud running kids. He came to me if he was freaked about anything which was good!

He’s doing an odd thing now. Lorna got into the habit of taking Sam and Joella out for short walks while Mike and I were gone. She’s continued the walks and of course Mike goes along. Mike can be off leash (Sam cannot) and rarely goes out of sight from Lorna. But now he has this odd habit of saying “Okay, walk over” and he returns to the house. He sits on the porch and waits for her to come back. He does it no matter which dog she takes with them and the only constant is me not going with them. Since he doesn’t run right in and ask for attention, I doubt it is me he is missing or worried about.

Wow, it’s been six months since I posted anything here.

Mike is now 1 yr 5 mos old. He hasn’t grown much and is still a maniac. But I like that attribute!

My broken leg took forever to heal and now winter has decided to enter with a bang (see links below). We constructed a new dog ramp out back (see links below for that, too).

I’ve continued to do small things with Mike such as “what have you got”, “let me have it”, as well as all the basics we learned in dog class. He’s really good with “wait” although the more excited he is, the harder for me and him. Mike’s also had to learn to live with a kitten which has been a test for all of us.

I plan on getting back to serious work with Mike this week. It is going to be warmer (above freezing for the first time in weeks!) which will mean less pain and more patience for me. My plan is to start with the basics (sit, down, stay, wait, etc) and re-establish communication between us.

If all goes according to plan, I’ll be updating here again with his progress. He goes to the vet for his yearly checkup soon so I’ll have his weight to tell you!

Linkages: (links listed in chronological order)

Snow posts over on my blog:
(basically, it snowed 14-20″ and we were out of power for nearly 5 days)

First Snow
First Snow cont.
First Snow Part 3

Dog ramp building is not for wimps!!
(you can also view all of these in one lump but they are in reverse order: tag – construction)

House Projects: Wash and Ramp
House Projects: Square
House Projects: Angles
House Projects: Planking!
House Projects: Finishing
House Projects: Enjoying

It seems as though every time Mike and I get ready to start service dog specific training, something happens. He hurt his leg then Joella needed surgery on one of hers, and now I’ve broken one of my own! Will the fun never end?

At any rate, we are working with Mike on stopping his biting. He doesn’t hurt very often but will grab a shirt sleeve or pants leg and get skin, too. We are doing the “ouch!” and turning our back. I don’t allow the rough play anymore, either, which is hard for both of us to give up.

His scent-marking behavior is all but gone. He still marks Jo’s raised feeder every few days and recently found a new spot in the hall way after some things were moved around. Do I trust him to not hike a leg in public? Not yet, because we’ve not had a chance to get out there yet, dammit!

As we play, I use cues like “let me have it” and “get it” and others, getting him used to those terms. He releases an object easily which is a good sign.

Let’s see, what else? He’s going through a growth spurt but I don’t think he will be a big dog afterall. The last time we were at the vet’s, he still wasn’t 50lbs yet. If he reaches 70, I’ll be surprised. He’s a tall boy, just not filled out at all.

Oh, as for his hip injury, it was all soft-tissue like a strain or sprain. He had x-rays taken which were evaluated by an orthopedic vet who said all was great! Joella’s recovering slowly from her surgery. She has arthritis fairly bad in her back legs and we’ve started pain management now. Some days she is a puppy, other days she doesn’t want to move. I can understand that.

Mike started marking in the house two weeks before he was neutered. He marked everywhere. The living room, bedroom, bathroom, etc. He marked a lot of things such as the bedpost, the wall, the recliner, Lorna’s bathroom towel (that about got the boy killed). The weirdest thing he marked was Sam and Joella’s raised food-bowl stands.

I asked a positive training list I am on for advice on how to get him to stop. I’d like to mention the ones that seemed to work.

- We limited (again) where he had unsupervised access. The gates in the living room went back up for several days. He stopped marking in the living room and because of various other stuff, I moved the gate that kept him from the rest of the house. We kept the bedroom blocked and the hallway to the bathroom blocked but he (and the others) had access to the outside, the kitchen, and the Cat Room (the room between the living room and the kitchen).

- We were cleaning up the marking with the vinegar and water spray just like we had been his peeing. I was advised to change that routine slightly. The idea for peeing is to put the dog outside or elsewhere so they can’t see you clean it up (I think the idea behind it is so they don’t think you are Mama cleaning the den and that it’s okay to continue). But for the marking, it was suggested I let him see me cleaning it up and to increase the vinegar amount in the spray bottle. Basically, I was showing him I could mark, too. After about 3 days of this, I started seeing Mike back up when he saw the bottle come out. He watched me spray his spots and would run out of the house. I didn’t fuss at him while I cleaned it, but I did talk to him about it. I told him I didn’t like it and marking inside the house was not acceptable. He could mark all he wanted outdoors, but not indoors. This “conversational discussion” worked on Sparky, a Norwegian Elkhound we had. Yelling did no good. But put your hands on your hips and talk to him? He’d hit the floor and act all repentant. I think this is going to work with Mike, too.

- It was also suggested to take him for short walks and praise like mad when he hiked his leg to urinate and/or mark. This is to put a cue word for hiking his leg. We decided to not use another cue word but continue to use “HURRY UP” which is what we used during his house training. We took him out on the leash for a few days again, reinforcing the HURRY UP and him hiking his leg. He never marked when out on the leash but we did catch him marking in the dog lot so we praised him then. For reference, marking is when they urinate just a small amount, usually in several places vs emptying the bladder in one long pee in one place.

Mike now only regularly marks indoors in one place: Joella’s raised food-bowl stand. We’ve moved it, thinking he was really marking the cabinet where it sat. Nope, he’s marking the stand. We’ve started spraying it down until it is soaked and removing Joella’s bowl from it after she is finished eating. No clue as to why he is doing that. Sometimes he will mark Sam’s stand and sometimes he will mark on the front of the dishwasher. We think he does the dishwasher because of Callie, our ancient cat who has decided litter boxes are not for her. He marks the back porch but as I spray those down, the location is moving further and further away from the door.

I also received two pieces of advice that I chose to reject.

- One was that Mike should be considered a “wash out” as a Service Dog. I see the point to it but I wanted to try and fix it, not be told to forget it. That male marking is often not un-learned and with Mike going into public areas, marking behavior is not acceptable. I agree to that last part but not to anything else. Mike is just 8 mos old. His house training was delayed due to his bladder issue. He is so smart that if I just could figure out how to train him out of it, then he and I could get beyond it. If the marking does not stop or if when I start taking him out in public he start marking there, then I will reconsider using him as a Service Dog.

- The other advice was to use a belly band or a diaper on him. The idea was that he would associate the nasty wet on his penis and stop marking. But I don’t consider this positive training. And I don’t think he would have made the connection between the wet diaper and the marking. Then there’s the increased risk of infections and skin irritations. I can see their purpose for older dogs who have lost bladder control. But I don’t see their purpose on an 8 mos old pup he has figured out he’s a male.

I’ve decided to drop out of the Basic Manners II class. Primarily because it requires more physical movement than I can do and I’m not sure I can keep up with the class in my chair. Instead, Mike and I will be taking private lessons from Gail, one of the instructors. I hope to take one class every two weeks. This will give me more time to do the training w/out over-taxing my body.

I think Mike is missing training. We put home training aside for a few weeks so I could concentrate on Joella (who is doing great). I had it in mind to start things up again this weekend. I woke up two mornings ago and couldn’t move my head. I can now turn it more but not much. So poor Mike is back in a holding pattern again.

Mike got neutered today. At 8 mos, it’s the longest we have ever waited to get a dog spayed/neutered. We (and the vet) wanted to wait to see how his bladder was doing. While I won’t bet the farm that Mike is 100% house trained, I do feel his bladder problems are slowing resolving to the point that if he has to go, he has enough time to take himself outside.

Mike wasn’t allowed breakfast this morning. He was in his sleeping crate (which is on the floor on my side of the bed) and was quite irritated. We call him Mr. Squeaky for a reason and boy was he squeaking! He has a nice, deep bark but he still has that high pitched “HEY! You! The one with the thumbs!” kind of noise.

Anyway, I’m going soon to pick him up. We had it done at the vet’s office vs Humane Alliance, a low-cost spay/neuter clinic. The vet wanted to take x-rays of his hips while he was asleep (no official word yet on the hip x-ray results). The cost will be staggering, I’m sure. But Mike is worth it.

We’ve taken almost all of our other critters (an ‘off the top of my head’ count came to 7) to Humane Alliance for spay/neuters. We’ve never had a complication. In visiting their website today, I found their statistics page. Some interesting numbers!

And, no, I am not going to get Mike fitted for neuticles.

Mike’s not been limping since the day after the vet. He sometimes seems to be walking weird, but no limp. We’ve noticed he is growing again, this time starting to fill out in places, like his face. That’s what I like about mutts. Some days they look like one breed, the next day they look like another. Mike’s face seems to change between German Shepherd and Rottweiler. There’s no telling which way it will finally settle although I’m thinking it will be somewhere in the middle. A Rottie with stand up ears, probably. Or a GSD with a short Rottie muzzle.

Speaking of Rotties, Joella is doing good. She’s limping slightly but that’s to be expected.

Maybe Mike is having sympathy pains. They both have injured right legs.

Mike is doing great with training. There are only a few issues such as Loose Leash Walking but even that is getting better. We started Basic Manners II classes last week (then had to skip the second class last night). That class is going to be quite intensive. I’m going to have to do most of it from my chair which will be interesting.

Mike’s DOWN is great! His SIT is solid although on a slick floor, or if we remain in one place too long, he will slide down. His WAIT is good but the length of the WAIT is short. He will remain still most of the time while I move around him but he will almost always get up when I move behind him. His RECALL is excellent, too. I use two different terms for RECALL. One is his name repeated in a friendly, playful, high pitched voice (Mikeymikeymikeymikey!). The other is the usual ‘Mike, Come’ and is done in a deeper, more authoritative voice. He responds to both the same. He comes charging from wherever he was, full speed.

I’ve started switching away from the clicker and more to a voice cue (Yes!). When I use the chair, it is too difficult to maneuver the chair, hold his leash, watch where I am going, and click the clicker. He responds just fine to Yes! as long as I have a treat. He’s not too sure about it if there’s no treat involved. He is very food motivated but I think he will not be too difficult to wean away from that. But I also know I will have to keep treats with me at all times for quite a while.

The one improvement I’ve seen is he is calming down in new situations. I can put him in a DOWN and he will stay there. He’s even flopped over onto his side if I remain in one place long enough. We will be going to different places and getting him used to being calm while at my side. I will have to restrict him getting pets. With Joella, it didn’t interfere with her learning or working. But with Mike, I think it will. I think with him, wearing the cape is going to be a big signal for him. Jo is the same no matter where she is (especially once she matured). But Mike will need that cape to signal it is working time vs “the world loves me and must pet me” time.

I took Mike to the vet today. Yesterday, while we were gone, he did something to his back right leg. He wasn’t bearing any weight on it at first, then slowly was using it at times, mostly when standing still. He was uncomfortable but we were certain it wasn’t a break. He let me manipulate the foot and ankle/hock but wasn’t thrilled when I extended his hip. This morning he was bearing weight on it almost all the time but he walked like he was sitting on the saddle too long. So off to the vet we went.

He let Dr. K manipulate the hip although he didn’t like it. He didn’t cry out so we both agreed it wasn’t a break (such as a “green stick” fracture). She feels it might be a soft tissue (muscle/tendon) injury. We also decided it was time to neuter him so next Thursday (7th) he will get that done finally. While he is out, they’ll do x-rays on his hips and that knee. He is too young to diagnose hip dysplasia but there is a slight chance there may be something else structurally wrong. The chance is very slight but since this is the third or so time he has injured that same leg, we are doing the x-rays just to make sure. If nothing else, we have a baseline set of images for later.

Mike and I will have to miss the second class of Basic Manners II tonight, dangit.

Oh, and just so you don’t think I was mean for not taking him to the emergency clinic last night: if a dog will put weight on a leg, it usually isn’t broken. Sometimes they will for a greenstick fracture, but not often. When we first saw he wasn’t bearing weight at all, we touched him all over and watched him walk while discussing the time and where we could take him. He began putting weight on the leg when standing still and we decided to wait and see. The emergency clinic here is ghastly expensive and I knew I could at the worst drop Mike off this morning for our vet to check when they could. We examined him later again after everything had calmed down. Again, we felt he had pulled a muscle or sprained something. If he had been walking fine this morning, I probably wouldn’t have taken him in but with that odd, saddle sore like walk he had, we decided it would be best to have him checked.