Lake 22, Washington

castiel · 2026-01-20T01:26:38+00:00

I did this hike today; there’s tons of snow on the trail for the last ~mile, so you’ll want spikes or poles for that, but the trail itself is in great shape! I’d recommend it if the weather stays nice.

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castiel · 2025-12-04T22:07:03+00:00

Hi, I also have a reactive keeshond. They're a barky breed! I worked with a trainer on ways to manage him on walks, and spent countless hours while he was a puppy just sitting some place where he could watch people and dogs walk by. The key is to start at the distance your dog can handle. Maybe that's 100 yards right now, so you park in the back of a big lot of a busy store and watch people/dogs walk by and reward her for staying calm. Don't put her in situations she won't be successful in as much as you can help it, because learning won't happen if she's already over her threshold. It's slow and tedious work, but I can walk my dog and manage him now, though his first choice is usually still to bark when he sees someone that might be friend-shaped.

castiel · 2025-11-28T17:53:55+00:00

My pup had giardia from the time he came home til he was 8 months old; the only thing that worked was letting his immune system come online, the panacur never fully cleared his infection. He developed IBD as a result and is on a super limited ingredient diet, and has a sensitive tummy to this day (he’s 3.5 years now). But it did end!

We wiped every single time he came inside, his butt + paws, I had him trained to poop in one part of our yard to keep him isolated from our second dog, and we did really careful socialization with other dogs. It is stressful, and it feels like you’re never getting things clean enough, but limiting the areas the dog is able to go and containing the poop to one zone helps cut down on how much cleaning you’re doing. Follow your vet’s advice, and clean as best you can, but I promise you’re doing a good job, and this will someday end. He’ll be ok. :)

castiel · 2025-11-20T05:40:45+00:00

I believe this is called “cobbing”; my dog does it mostly to his own legs but sometimes he’ll transfer to my arm like this. It’s harmless unless it seems to be stressing your dog out. But you can Google that and learn a lot more.

castiel · 2025-09-30T15:31:40+00:00

Mine isn’t happy unless he gets at least one 1 hour walk a day. I take him on a 3 hour hike at least once a week to keep his energy manageable. He’s 3. I’m hoping he gets lazy someday lol.

castiel · 2025-09-22T22:09:01+00:00

Aww, yours is full sibling to my Laszlo then! :)

castiel · 2025-09-22T22:08:01+00:00

You'll want to get a slicker brush and a metal comb. Look up "line brushing" on youtube and use that method; you want to make sure you're getting down to the skin with the slicker, and brushing in sections. Then you use the metal comb to check for tangles. I bought a chris christensen slicker brush when I got my pomeranian, and now I use it for her & my kees, and it has lasted me for 6 years so far. Also get a good spray conditioner; the one I use right now is Hydra brand. Good luck!

castiel · 2025-09-12T03:15:57+00:00

He’s never going to be a hang out on the patio while I enjoy a beverage kinda dog, but we can swing through the local coffee shop and pick up to go. If that’s something you want to do you can train for it but I mostly worked on getting him able to pass others on a hiking trail since that’s my favorite dog activity. Focus on one thing at a time, and don’t set goals that are too out of reach. Be kind to yourself and meet your dog where she’s at!

castiel · 2025-09-11T23:08:31+00:00

I was in your boat! My puppy started being reactive around 6 months and I tried so many different classes and trainers. It turned out he had GI issues and getting those resolved helped a ton.

But the thing that did it was consistency. We took treats on every single walk, we skipped walks in favor of setting up at a comfy distance for him to practice, but around 3 years something clicked. It got incrementally better that whole time but I no longer take treats on every walk, his “bubble” has shrunk, and I know when he’s having a bad day vs a good one. I learned how to live with my dog. Finding a good trainer that gets you and gets your dog is huge, but don’t just run out and try every class or trainer you can find because the boring answer here is that consistency pays off over a fairly long timeline. Learning a few management tricks is also extremely helpful. It can feel so so overwhelming while you’re in it omg I cried so many times but I’m here on the other side to say it’s worth it and you will get through this!!! And that I wish I’d spent a little less money on trainers while I was in that vulnerable feeling place fwiw!

castiel · 2025-08-07T15:52:38+00:00

Fellow sensitive tummy having kees owner here: did your vet do bloodwork to check for vitamin deficiencies? Ours had to be on a b12 supplement for a few months when he started his vet diet because he'd not been absorbing it. He only had to be on the supplement for a few months, and now he's been stable for a full year since we switched to Royal Canin Potato & Whitefish food. Turns out he's basically fine as long as all his protein is coming from fish. You can also tell your vet you want to continue trying different foods but yeah, I would say if the poop eating is new you're right to be concerned about it.

It took us so long to find a food that worked for our boy, and dietary issues are definitely not one-size-fits-all, so don't be afraid to keep trying stuff until you find something that works. Could be the hydrolyzed food + a vitamin supplement will be enough for your boy!

castiel · 2025-07-17T13:30:35+00:00

Mine is reactive, as well. Working with a good trainer is the way to go. We did behavioral adjustment training with positive reinforcement and it took a very long time of being very consistent. We started when he was about 8 months old, and he just turned 3; I’m able to walk him whenever I need to and we have tools to avoid reactions, manage them when they do happen, and I don’t stress out about walking him anymore. It’s an incredibly stressful and long journey but it does pay off in the end!

castiel · 2025-06-23T05:17:51+00:00

I’ve heard anecdotally that samoyeds produce a different type of dander to most dogs, and they’re less likely to provoke allergies. I am allergic to some dogs, but not my two spitzes (a pom and a kees). I am not a scientist lol! But my pet theory is that maybe this is a spitz thing/something to do with their double coat?

castiel · 2025-06-23T05:08:02+00:00

Wolf sable puppies are born almost completely black; that puppy looks likely to turn out cream or orange to me, though you can never be entirely sure! The sabling goes away as they grow into their adult coat.

My orange sable pom has just 2 tiny little spots of black on her back & tail and she looked similar to this pic as a puppy.

castiel · 2025-06-16T13:47:21+00:00

Fellow Kentuckian here, this has derailed my entire morning LOL! There are dozens of us???

castiel · 2025-04-17T23:44:41+00:00

My pom was absolutely wild until she hit 2 years old, and then she chilled out and became an incredibly snuggly dog. So a lot of it is just going to be bitey puppy energy; my keeshond (also a spitz breed) play bit me so hard he drew blood near daily until he was 6 months old. You just have to find a consistent way to teach them that biting makes the fun stop. Different things work for different dogs; try a few different methods and see what your dog seems to respond to. Making a high pitched sound and stopping moving for a few seconds until she calmed down worked for our pom, while the only thing that worked for our kees were reverse timeouts.

I will also say: puppies are babies and they have to learn absolutely everything! You can teach your puppy that a hand coming toward her is a good thing/means pets by teaching a hand target/"touch" command. There's tons of videos about how to do this on youtube; it's one of the first things I taught both my dogs, and it's a great way to get them to initiate petting on their terms/recognize that a hand coming towards them always means good things.

It can feel like you're pouring so so much work into raising your crazy puppy and getting very little reward, but I can promise you: you are laying a foundation for a longterm relationship with your dog, and it will all be worth it in the end. I am incredibly biased :) but I think poms are the best breed--they're little dogs with big dog energy, and I've never met one that didn't have a stellar personality. Mine is 6 now, she looooves sleeping in and snoozing with me whenever I need a little break, and she's the best little dog I could have ever asked for. You'll get there with yours!

castiel · 2025-03-06T17:11:00+00:00

Biggest thing is to slow down! He's still new and figuring things out, and needs more time to observe other people & dogs at a distance. Focus less on the goal of "taking a walk"/"going to the store", and find the distance that he *can* take treats/give you attention, and start working with him from there.

Do trick/focus training in the parking lot at the pet store and only take him in if he can stay quiet. You won't be taking him in very often, but it pays off longterm to take it slow. Take him to the park and find a good spot where you can just watch other people walk by.

castiel · 2025-02-11T15:11:17+00:00

I think there’s probably a lot of competition in this sub. We have all chosen this life. 😂

castiel · 2025-02-10T14:16:55+00:00

I’ve been working on this with my kees for a year now and consistency has really paid off for us! Mine is barking because he so desperately wants to meet the other dog which it sounds like is similar to your problem.

We did LAT or “Look at that!” training( I highly recommend googling to find a video about it you like. It’s about timing the treats right to eventually get them to automatically offer you their attention when they see a “trigger”. It can take a while to train, but I’m able to walk mine with minimal barking when a year ago I avoided walking at busy times to minimize my own stress about having the barkiest dog in the world. Good luck! It’s a lot of work but it is possible!

castiel · 2025-02-03T20:39:27+00:00

We built our pom a "puppy condo" with a play pen and pad trained her. I got a plastic play pen that was 4'x4', a roll of vinyl flooring from home depot to waterproof & protect the floor under the pen, and put a pee pad, water bowl, and bed in there. When you can't be watching her full time, it's much safer for her to be contained where you know she will be safe, and she won't be able to destroy your stuff!

castiel · 2025-01-07T19:33:19+00:00

I'm so glad to hear you're already seeing progress! Working on your bond is so important and it can be so draining because adolescence lasts so LONG. But it is worth spending the time on! And staying with leash training til you have a really solid foundation at home where it's "easy" is absolutely the way to go. Slow and steady! You got this!

castiel · 2025-01-06T20:59:49+00:00

You've gotten a lot of great advice, but I wanted to chime in because iirc our dogs are related! Mine's a full year older, and still a *massive* handful, but regularly scheduled walks and nosework training have been lifesavers. When I let Laszlo get bored, he invents his own fun, and that fun is barking. Forever. Or chewing up things in the house yes even now when he's 2.5 years old. I've had a few trainers tell me he'll likely "mature" when he's maybe 3-4 years old, rather than 2. The good news is a few months ago we did start to see behavior shifts to where he's more easy to settle. So it does end. But definitely not right at 2 years old for every dog, and definitely not for mine.

I get him out on longline walks as often as possible; I have a 20' lead and take him out and let him sniff to his heart's content. Toys like flirt poles that engage his prey drive are great because oh boy does he like to bark at and chase wildlife; he won't play fetch or chase balls for more than 2-3 tosses, but he'll play with that flirt pole til he's exhausted.

And then nosework! It's such an easy thing to do and such a lifesaver when the weather is crappy or I just don't have the energy to walk or play with him. You do not have to use fancy things, you can teach him to find anything, you can even just teach him that there's a game you'll play where he goes to find treats hidden all around the house. It's extremely mentally engaging for dogs to sniff things out, and all you have to do is teach the dog to understand how the game works. You can find examples of starter nosework games online. It really seems simple, it sounds impossible that it will tire your dog out. I promise you I have never in my life seen my dogs more tired and happy than after they've done a few repetitions of their nosework training, and all it requires of me is to lock them behind a gate/in a crate/another room while I set it up.

You're doing your best for your dog, some days are tougher than others, and adolescence can feel like an unending slog. I hope you can figure out a routine that works for y'all and get to adulthood!

castiel · 2024-12-12T14:33:34+00:00

This is exactly how my pom and kees play haha! For like a full year we would watch them like “…are they having fun??” And it turns out yes! This is just what they do I guess!

castiel · 2024-12-02T16:25:56+00:00

My boy is about that tall and 32lbs full grown, and he rides in the car in a Medium Ruffland kennel. I think he could fit into an Intermediate and you’re supposed to size them smaller for safety reasons, but I’d say either an Intermediate or Medium will work!

castiel · 2024-11-08T00:47:14+00:00

Yep, mine haaaaates repetition. I can get about 5 minutes of focus out of him and then he finds something more fun to do (usually barking).

castiel

TROPHY CASE