What you find most difficult...

1851 Views 25 Replies 20 Participants Last post by RandomMusing, Dec 2, 2011

Pixie Luna

Discussion Starter · Dec 1, 2011

We all post our topics for help and advice etc, I thought it'd be interesting to maybe summerise what do we overall find difficult about owning our dogs in this post?

Maybe we'll find a lot of us share the same difficulties?

For me;

Housetraining
Nail Cutting

Ive never managed to successfully house train my dogs, I really really struggle for some reason. I know all the techniques like the back of my hand but Ive never got it perfect

Also, the dogs Ive had have never had a good time when trimming their nails. I cant believe how easy Cesar Milan trains his dogs they just roll over and let him do it! Pixie isnt too bad but still sometimes she'll try pull away.

Ive studied quite a lot of dog training topics, and having foster dogs has given me more opportunity to put knowledge into practice and sometimes one dog is easier to train than another, although I definately find Houstraining and Nail cutting difficult to master!

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pigeonsheep

· #2 · Dec 1, 2011

- nail cuttin as well
- feedin them food they would actually eat
- the ear ringing barkin
-not givin in to those sappy puppy eyes when ur eatin :albino:

Charlotte~

· #3 · Dec 1, 2011

1) Nail cutting - I have to get my brother to restrain her with a spoon of peanut butter as a distraction, and I clip them as fast as I can (Obviously being careful too though). She still pull her paws away though.
2) Getting her to eat her dog food - Chicken is just far tastier, simple as.
3) Growling & Biting - if someone takes Daisy when my mum is holding her, she turns into the devil, seriously. She gets very sternly punished for this. Angry voices and time out away from everyone. Then she gets ignored when she is allowed back out.

svdreamer

· #4 · Dec 1, 2011

Housebreaking. --- I have 8 males, most of whom got neutered late in life. I really need to plactic wrap the entire house. lol

Fence fighting with the poodle and terrier behind us. --- Pepper, Bouncer, Gonzo and Reggie want to fight with the two dogs behind us. The fence has knot holes and they stick their noses though and drive my dogs crazy. Tomorrow I am going to Lowes and buying some plywood and a nail gun and puting up plywood across the bottom of the fence. If they can't see the other dogs, they can't fence fight.

Nails on mine, too. --- Reggie will let me do anything I want with him, no problem. The rest, forget about it.

Barking at my brother in the wheelchair. --- It's better now that my brother is using the electric wheelchair, they seem to have much less fear of it. But the manual one, they went crazy.

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catz4m8z

· #5 · Dec 1, 2011

Probably socializing.
I know they should meet other dogs but I still struggle to stay calm as a boisterous Staffy or large Lab comes over to say hello.

sammyp

· #6 · Dec 1, 2011

The hardest thing for me is stopping the girls licking visitors faces off as most people don't like that. And how fussy they are with food

sakyurek

· #7 · Dec 1, 2011

For us ,

1-Barking - I can't stop them when they are in bark mode.
2-Shedding

mellawson

· #8 · Dec 1, 2011

The hardest thing for me is training my Husband! Bless his heart no matter how many times or in how many ways I try to explain it to him he just can't seem to grasp the concept of simple commands like "sit", "stay", "down". He has whole conversations lol. When Penny jumps up on his lap and goes straight into a full blown make out session puppy style instead of just saying down and putting her on the floor its.."Now look you can't do that I love ya but don't get in my face". He is like that with everything, he rambles on and on teaching life's lessons from don't poop in the floor to why at bed time it's quite time. I am beginning to wonder if he is expecting our dogs to grow up, get jobs and move out..lol. It bugs me but I don't really say too much as unconventional as it is the dogs seem to figure it out sooner or later.

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Sweet.Snuggles

· #9 · Dec 1, 2011

House Training, it's such a nightmare!

DKT113

· #10 · Dec 1, 2011

Right now for us just getting her ~ it's the wild "I have to attack any sock I see on a foot, no matter who, no matter what, no matter where & I when I do I go completely ballistic & I love it" ~

I mean she is like a dog possessed. So we are working on directing that energy elsewhere & we could use some pointers if anyone has any. Right now, we get her off the sock (sometimes teeth have to be carefully removed from the flesh and give her a No! & time out. But she knows time in is coming and she is ready for Round 2. Those choppers are lethal!

Potty training (knock on wood) has gone so smooth to this point~ I just can't get over it and am braced for it to take a left, but she has been by far the easiest dog to get to go outside that I have ever been around.

catz4m8z

· #11 · Dec 1, 2011

Sweet.Snuggles said:
House Training, it's such a nightmare!

Mine are puppy pad trained and i found it no problem!! But then again I had spent the previous 10 years with a completely unhouse trained cat!! At least the Chi's only weed and pooed on the floor and not 5ft up on a bookcase!!:laughing4:

~LS~

· #12 · Dec 1, 2011

You guys might think I'm full of it, but honestly there is nothing I find difficult
about owning my dogs. We've had many so called "challenges", especially with
the untrainable Basenji brothers, but I see every obstacle as an opportunity to
learn from one another and bond. I just try to look at problems as opportunities,
and therefore enjoy anything that has to do with teaching or training. Because
even if the given task isn't easy and demands a lot of time and patience, I look
forward to working with a dog and can not wait to savor the accomplishments!
For this exact reason I have no problems taking in puppies or problematic dogs,
there is a lot of work to be done and that excites me. Well behaved dogs are
boring, lol, I rather take a naughty one any day!

svdreamer

· #13 · Dec 1, 2011

mellawson said:
The hardest thing for me is training my Husband! Bless his heart no matter how many times or in how many ways I try to explain it to him he just can't seem to grasp the concept of simple commands like "sit", "stay", "down". He has whole conversations lol. When Penny jumps up on his lap and goes straight into a full blown make out session puppy style instead of just saying down and putting her on the floor its.."Now look you can't do that I love ya but don't get in my face". He is like that with everything, he rambles on and on teaching life's lessons from don't poop in the floor to why at bed time it's quite time. I am beginning to wonder if he is expecting our dogs to grow up, get jobs and move out..lol. It bugs me but I don't really say too much as unconventional as it is the dogs seem to figure it out sooner or later.

I had a conversation with my kids and brother that dogs don't speak English and they looked at me so startled. They never realized out of a whole sentance, the dogs may understand one word. After that they started telling them one or two word commands and it was better.

svdreamer

· #14 · Dec 1, 2011

DKT113 said:
Right now for us just getting her ~ it's the wild "I have to attack any sock I see on a foot, no matter who, no matter what, no matter where & I when I do I go completely ballistic & I love it" ~

I mean she is like a dog possessed. So we are working on directing that energy elsewhere & we could use some pointers if anyone has any. Right now, we get her off the sock (sometimes teeth have to be carefully removed from the flesh and give her a No! & time out. But she knows time in is coming and she is ready for Round 2. Those choppers are lethal!

Potty training (knock on wood) has gone so smooth to this point~ I just can't get over it and am braced for it to take a left, but she has been by far the easiest dog to get to go outside that I have ever been around.

Wear shoes or slippers until she's outgrown this phase.

KittyD

· #15 · Dec 1, 2011

I've been fortunate with house training. I find my biggest annoyances revolve around finding products specifically meant for tiny dogs & the attention this breed gets, sometimes I just want to walk my dogs in peace without getting stopped every 10 ft you know? Otherwise nothing I would change or find overly awful to deal with.

LostLakeLua

· #16 · Dec 1, 2011

The hardest part of owning a chihuahua??? Stopping at just one, obviously. =P

LOL I don't have much to complain about either... I quite like my pack and their peaceful dynamics. Like LS I love a challenge... and I'll take in any "problem dog," as long as I have the time and money to help it. I only work part time (maybe a few photoshoots in a month if that) which gives me a lot of time to stay home with my dogs. You can tell the more I'm on here, the less I have to do.. LOL... I can only do so much playing and activities with them before they just want to lay down and cuddle. They're much more spunky in summer when they want to be outside.
I will say the biggest issue I have been faced with before is housebreaking though. As in, that is usually the biggest complaint in any dog before I take it in.. my current ones do fine with going to scratch at the door or using the grass patch. It seems so often that failure to housebreak a puppy properly is one of the main reasons people give up on and give away their dogs... But I have all the time in the world, little pee-pee beasts... and I will win sooner or later. ^_^ Bwahaha!!

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DKT113

· #17 · Dec 1, 2011

KittynKahlua said:
The hardest part of owning a chihuahua??? Stopping at just one, obviously. =P

Olivia just mentioned last night she is sure Rio needs a buddy just her size so she doesn't feel like she is the only tiny thing in the house... and she even noticed how all the pictures here show more than one chihuahua lol...

And SV we have tried a couple pair of slippers and she really digs them. I am thinking though I need to find slippers with a sole to discourage her, which we don't have any of those handy but we will try that this weekend. The days of barefoot and loving it are on hold for a bit in our house ~ thanks for the tip

RandomMusing

· #18 · Dec 1, 2011 (Edited)

Double post...

RandomMusing

· #19 · Dec 1, 2011 (Edited)

* Potty Pad training Olive. Lily has it down but Olive is impossible. If I see she's going to go and I try to pick her up to put her on the pad, she'll run from me. I have yet to make any progress with her.

* POOP EATING! Lily started it. She has a habit of eating or playing with poop. Olive did not have this problem at first but she's picked it up from Lily. I've tried everything from special pills, pumpkin, pineapple.... nothing helps. I of course try to pick it up as fast as I can, but sometimes they'll run for it as if we're playing chase.... Grrrrrr

* Nail cutting. I've tried it a few times and it just scares me too much.

* Food begging. Both the girls are PIGS and will eat anything. (see #2... lol)

* Trying to get my roommate to remember to keep doors closed. We live in a small 2 bedroom apartment and I always keep our bedroom doors and bathroom door closed, but the roommate never remembers to close them then the girls end up chewing up his stuff or going into the bathroom garbage can and running around with toilet paper rolls....

* Keeping Lily off the coffee table. She knows better and if I catch her on there she'll jump right down, but I have a basket on the table with a box inside that holds things like glasses cloths, pens, clippers....etc, and now she's figured out how to open the box.

* Stopping Olive from growling and barking when people pass our apartment door.

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tysoncallmetyty

· #20 · Dec 1, 2011

I love everything about Tyson right now. He was kind of potty trained to a wee wee pad when I got him, but he doesn't understand the poop part yet. I guess licking me in my mouth....it's cute, but I wonder where his mouth has been and I really don't want him doing it...lol... Oh, and I'm jealous of boo-boo because Tyson is so attached to his brother, I'm like I'm yo mamma, what about me!? lol..... booboo bites guys he doesn't like on the ankle. He's the rat terrier and they are very protective, excellent watch dog... He's very sneaky about it too.... argh.

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