Secret to having two dogs meet

Alright its not really a secret but here are some good tips to keep on hand when you are having your dog meet another.

Not too long ago I took Junior along to the park with me, there really isn't all too many dogs there since it isn't a dog park but it is dog friendly. On this occasion Junior had to socialized with two different dogs.

One important thing to do is to know your dog, always look at him/her to make sure that you aren't stressing them out more than you should and to make sure that they aren't going to start going crazy.

Next important thing is to be calm. Honestly, we tend to tense up so much because we don't know whats going to happen. It happened to me in the park as well, the other dog in this case was a friends of mine and it was smaller so I didn't want anything to happen to her. But I noticed that I was too tense, I had the leash held tight and I was hardly controling my breathing (I was holding it in). So I shook that feeling off, I let the tension out of the leash and I took a deep breath all at the same time. Junior stop pulling, stopped that little throat growl of his and went up my friend's dog and did the typical k9 greeting ceremony. After that they were both just fine. Junior was now more interested on continuing his walk!

Sheetza

Here's our little Dachshund! Her name is Sheetza, yes I know its the weirdest name for a dog, but that's the name we got her with. We actually got her quite young, about 8-9 months I think, one of our close friends gave her to us, and so we were less inclined to change a name that they had given to her.

From what we are told, she didn't have a very good puppyhood (before our friends got her), and as a direct result she tends to be fear aggressive of people and some dogs. Other than that, she fits the doxie description pretty well, she's a one person dog, wary of strangers, and a surprisingly loud barker!

Junior My Chow Mix

So I said in a blog before that I'd talk a little bit about my dogs. Well first lets start off with Junior, he's my chow mix. I didn't receive him as a puppy, as much as I would have liked, he actually belonged to someone else that I knew in the neighborhood. I actually didn't get him till he was three years old.

A little about Junior? Well he's a HE, many people seem to mistake him for a her...I'm not sure how...Currently (2010) he's 5 years old. I'm positive he's a chow mix although I have no idea what other breeds he might be mixed with, my best guesses would be Golden Retriever and Finnish Spitz. He's got an incredibly high prey drive, meaning he'll chase rabbits and squirrels like crazy, also has some trouble with pulling on the lead, which I'm working on.

Dog Forums

I love being on forums, mostly I contribute to subjects that I know well and feel comfortable with…mainly dog training and behavior. I’ve joined many dog forums since I first started navigating the internet, because of time restrictions I’ve only stuck with a few though. I even made my own dog forum, simply because I wanted to see what it takes to build an online community. Let me tell you it’s been hard albeit really fun. As far as my forum goes I’ve got a few members that contribute regularly, a great group of people! It takes a lot of work on our part to keep the forum looking active.

I honestly think that forums are a great source of information for those looking to become ‘experts’ in a certain subject. Not only do you read info from all sides of the argument, but you meet people that know lots more than you in certain areas, you find links to useful places, and the discussion atmosphere really gets your mind going not only digesting information you would usually do in a regular article website. But honestly it can be a tad hard to integrate yourself into a forum…

Dog Savvies’ Pet Peeves

Probably the topics that I usually see spark up the most heated discussions are those that include: designer breeds, Cesar Millan, Pit bulls, and wolf dogs… but none of these come close to the flaming that any topic regarding dog breeding can generate (although Cesar Millan issues come close…).

The typical responses to people that come to forums to ask advice about their pregnant dog, wanting to breed their dog, or breeding in general include but are not limited to:

“Get your dog fixed”
“You know how many dogs are dying in shelters?”
“You’re a backyard breeder”
“If you have to ask you shouldn’t be breeding”
And of course…. “Don’t feed the troll!”