teguqueen

I have a Brazilian Short Tailed Opossum.

He must be healthy. He stinks, but he's still moving.

vabeachgirlNYC

I now have some sea creature!

ALWAYS check those cool shells that wash up on the beach after a storm BEFORE you bring them home!

I will be returning it to the sea but it is doing well in it's new home, a plastic container with water, seashells, lettuce and dog food!

LoveBug1679

I have 2 dogs. A fawn female pug named Stanley (5 years old) and a brindled male pug/boston terrier cross named oscar (2.5 years old)

doowackie

I have a lab mix (maybe some pointer or boxer in her. Not sure, she is a rescue) She recently had a few inches amputated from her tail due to my husband shutting it in the car door We can't call her dipstick anymore, now it's stumpy.

I also have an old mix of some sort. Maybe some type of pointer. The stars were aligned when she was born, because this mutt is the sweetest cutest thing in the world.

Cybervox

I have 5 hens (4 different breeds), of which 4 are laying. They live in The Chicken Shack (the actual name of the run/house combo I bought for them) with lots of shelter and total protection from marauding predators and the neighbour's cats. They all have names and distinct personalities and food preferences, kinda like people. From them we get about 20-24 eggs a week in 2 different colours and 3 different sizes, so it's a good job I like omelettes!

Saskiasrhythmbeads

I really enjoyed looking at the movies, photo's and read the stories about everbodies pets here. Pets make life so much more fun doesn't it?

We have an 8 year old lab-terrier cross female dog, sweet and lovable, named Scruffy. Her birthday is on st Patricks day,so we had a party here yesterday :-) She got an extra piece of cucumber, her favorite snack. Yeeey!
We have 1 very fluffy house cat, almost 9 years old, named Polly. An old lady that likes her comfort and has trained her people well to pet her. She touch us with one paw on our arm for a cuddle. LOL we have her since she was a little kitten.

We also have 2 farm cats.We have them too since kitten. We had a yard for our horses, but after all the rain last year, that changed into a lake. So we moved our horses to a friends house, and took the farm cats that lived on that yard, to our home in town, because we wouldn't be at the yard anymore for the winter.
To our suprise, these 'wild' farm cats changed within days into real lap cats. they are the most sweet, well behaved and cuddly cats ever. They are 3 years old this summer, and their names are Hunter and Taz, two girls, that are in big need of a fix. (at the farm yard there were no male cats around so no need for fixing.)

We also have around 9 gold fish. We keep them inside for winter and in a pond in summer.They are all like 8 years old now and doing well.

And we have 2 horses, Flicka and Freya. Flicka is 7 and Freya will be 6 in the fall. Flicka is well broke to ride and follows me like a puppy anywhere I go. I have her for 4 years now. Freya came to me as a very scared horse. When I went to see her for the first time, she was tied to a gate and shaking all over her body , so scared. In her 4 years she was hardly handled by people. I touched her all over, and she never tried to bite or kick, so I took the chance and bought her.
It took me a few days before I finally could get her halter off, that was leaving marks on her skin, as that thing was on her for who knows how long, and she was defenately grown out of it. I trained her for a year, did all the ground work needed so she could be handled , haltered and lead and the farrier could finally trim her feet after 8 months of training to lift up her feet. She had a back hoof that was growing double. A miracle she didn't get lame. She was so neglected!
I send her out to training after my ground work and te4aching her to be trailered. When she came back, she was a different horse and I didn't recognize my Freya...she was soooo nervous and hyper! During my 3th ride she bolted on me and I fell off and hurt my shoulder.
Once I was healed, which took a while as I'm not 20 anymore LOL, I almost sold her, but changed my mind and tried Clicker Training with her.

Now she is my best clicker horse and I'm riding her again. Yeeeeey!I will never sell this horse as she is such a sweetheart and so willing to please me.
:-)

mecompco

Wow, lots of animals! The last time I lost weight I actually took some riding lessons--first time ever on a horse. It was fun, but scary--those things are high off the ground! Walking was good, and trotting was OK but I didn't think much of the canter (my instructor told me what to expect, buy MAN!) And she told me this horse (Denny) had a pretty smooth canter--if that's smooth.....

Regards,
Michael

vabeachgirlNYC

Just got a new rescue...



I'm waiting on about 6 more (we think pits but never you know with rescue) to be released and transported to me! I'll post pics when I get them!

MelyndaG

Dogs are the love of my life. We have three; 15yr old lab/austrailian shepard mix(Dale); 14month old black lab/boxer mix(Rosie-She's mine^.^); and a 3yr old purebred yorkie(Lyvvie). The two labs are amazing dogs. The only time Dale ever really bugs you is when he has to go outside or wants a pat on the head. Rosie is a doll. She's so sweet and well-behaved. I've never had a problem with her. All she ever wants to do is curl up in your arms and cuddle.

The one I need help with is the terror of a yorkie. I am a huge believer in positive reinforcement training, but it doesn't seem to be working with this one. My parents have had her since she was a puppy and they are not as big as I am on the whole positive training thing. My mother is away for the next six months, and as she was leaving she says, "Fix her!"...Meaning, retrain lyvvie so when I get home I have the perfect dog.

The problems. This dog thinks she is the queen of the world and what she wants, she better get. NOW. She barks and yips and digs at legs, feet, and doors to get your attention(which is constantly) OR she'll do this thing where she climbs up onto you and puts her nose up to yours if none of that other stuff worked. When she goes outside, all she does is bark and when I call her, she won't come. She get's soooo tense sometimes she won't even pay attention to treats. Like if I take her on a walk, I try to keep her distracted from other dogs and people with treats, but even when they aren't around she won't take the treats. I was trying to make her feel better while giving her a bath once and she payed no attention to the treats. I try giving her massages and slow petting to calm her little body down. Nothing works. It also doesn't help that no one in the family wants to help with her. I am stuck with this terror of a dog all day, and when I want a break and try to hand her over to someone else, they yell, "Do not want!!!"
...I was talking to my mother this morning and I told her I can't handle this anymore and she told me to get rid of her. I really don't want to let my mother down.. I just don't know what to do anymore. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to fix this dog before I have to resort to giving her up?

vabeachgirlNYC

First let me say that it's great you are trying to help with your moms dog especially because of her behavior issues!

Have you checked into having her professionally trained?

I always seem to have 1 or 2 small rescue dogs running around and I see this type of behavior a lot. I tend to think it's a result of being so little and cute, most people don't bother with the basic training a larger dog would get as a puppy.

You can retrain any dog no matter it's age. It may take longer because the dog is used to acting the way they do. Everyone who is an everyday part of the dogs life has to be on board with the training. Consistency is key and positive rewarding is the best tool. Giving treats to distract is just rewarding bad behavior.

There are many training guides online so you can find one that pertains to your dogs behavior. I have found that focusing on just one issue at first works best. Once the dogs learns the new behavior I start with the next but still reward for the first. It seems to make the rest of the training faster and easier.

Sometimes medical issues are the cause of the behavior but if my vet gives them a clean bill of health I know they just need training.

I understand the frustration of caring for a dog with behavior issues. But I also try to remember I can't blame the dog for not having the training that would have prevented the bad behavior.

If you have to give the dog up be honest about the issues she has. Contact rescue groups if you can't find a good home. Give them time to find proper placement. Avoid the pound and shelters, even purebred Yorkies are euthanized if their time is up in a shelter. The tiny dog in the pic I posted? She doesn't bark, is very sweet, well behaved, never demands any attention, but super happy when she gets it. She was supposed to be euthanized on the day she was rescued. It was pure luck that someone was able to get to her in time!