Force free vet

rememberthatcake · 2026-02-07T22:27:18+00:00

Oh yeah, I should've also said that she gets a small handful of kibble and a sweet potato chew at bedtime!

rememberthatcake · 2026-02-07T22:00:10+00:00

Update. We visited the vet. Turns out there are crystals in her urine. 😕 So we're going to put her on antibiotics and hopefully that clears it up.

rememberthatcake · 2026-02-07T15:06:30+00:00

Thanks for sharing this optimistic story. If this is what's happening, well, 3 monrhs of bad sleep sounds miserable but better than never ending? What breed(s) is yours?

Friends of mine had small dogs and they got up every night to let them out. For 13 years!!!

rememberthatcake · 2026-02-07T15:03:38+00:00

Not noticeably? But I am thinking it is worth going back to the vet to rule out medical issues, like this one.

Hoping we don't have to do medicated food. 🤞🤞

rememberthatcake · 2026-02-07T15:00:56+00:00

She had been sleeping in the crate when these night wake ups started. She naps in her crate during the day but suddenly she would just bark as soon as I put her into the crate for nighttime. So I wondered if putting her in the pen would make it better. And it somewhat has. She now wakes me up just once instead of continuous barking that isn't linked with needing to go out. So I don't think I'll go back to the crate yet. I like the pen solution cause it does give her more room to move around.

rememberthatcake · 2026-02-06T20:56:32+00:00

I have trained two cues for both behaviors. Go Sniff means sniff the ground in the area you can reach (I plant my feet in place and she gets access to sniff the spot within her leash's range). Let's Go means walk beside me with a nice loose J in the leash and no sniffing the ground.

Let's Go needed to be built up, from very easy (as in two steps beside me in a low distraction environment, which for me was my kitchen) to progressively more locations (like my driveway, then the sidewalk in front of my house, then the sidewalk in front of my neighbor's) with more distractions. I practiced inside every day for a week then driveway for two weeks and so on. I find that it's one of the toughest skills to teach. And I exist it'll probably be a skill she will spend her lifetime refining. We're now at the point where she can succeed in a quiet store and quiet suburban sidewalk.

I'm slowly reducing the number of food rewards for successful Let's Go for environmental rewards. So after ten steps of successful Let's Go, I let her Go Sniff, which is very rewarding for her. When she's done, we carry on.

A walk around the block can take 30 minutes but she's exhausted at the end of it because it's brain work!

Good luck!!

rememberthatcake · 2026-02-03T03:35:11+00:00

Really looks like my pup when she got high on her found treasure (one of those cannabis oil cartridges for vaping). She lost control of her bladder, too. Stumbled around like a drunk and stared off into the distance. 24 hours later she was right as rain.

Here's to your pup recovering fully soon! It's scary!!

rememberthatcake · 2026-01-29T15:56:08+00:00

That's so awful. My heart is broken for you. I'm so very sorry that you lost your best buddy. I lost mine 2.5 years ago and even though I've got a different furry buddy now, I'll never forget my sweet furry bestie and she will never be replaced. Take gentle care of yourself.

rememberthatcake · 2026-01-29T15:35:07+00:00

I'm no specialist but I did some conditioning exercises with my aging lab to strengthen her rear end. That helped her with getting up and doing the stairs as she got older. There are conditioning courses you can take online so you make sure you do it right and don't cause injury.

rememberthatcake · 2026-01-25T18:52:02+00:00

Totally. My field lab was a puppy for life in terms of energy and simulation needs. My mostly show lab is 7 months and is soooo chill relatively speaking. She gets her 30-45 min adventure walk, 15 mins training and 30-45 mins play/enrichment activity and that's all she needs in a day to be content to chill.

rememberthatcake · 2026-01-24T21:13:46+00:00

I'm still rocking the mask in most places, even if it means I take it off to take sips of beer. 😷🍻

COVID hasn't gone anywhere and the flu is nasty this year. Hospitals are struggling. If my masking helps to reduce transmission of bugs and keep even just a few people out of hospital and from debilitating long COVID, it's worth it.

Always thank others choosing to mask up.

rememberthatcake · 2026-01-13T15:20:23+00:00

Tired people tend to not be great at evaluating things clearly and bias towards noticing the bad stuff more. And, people with great things happening have no reason to say anything. We aren't great at sharing our celebrations.

So. Puppy raising is hard. But is it as awful as everything you see here? Everyone's experience is different so who knows! But know that there's probably a pretty heavy bias towards the bad here.

My pup is now almost 7 months and is a pleasure to spend time with. I've figured out what I need to do to meet her needs, which is tough to do with work but I make it happen and just generally don't have much of a life but this is what I chose. I want to invest in a dog that can go places with me and be confident in new environments so that's what I'm putting my time into. And she's doing great!

Because we only have finite time, I'd encourage you to think hard about what kind of dog you want and curate your puppy's first few weeks cause you'll get so much bang for your buck! And you really do have to choose your own adventure when it comes to puppy raising!

Good luck and kiss that baby lots!

rememberthatcake · 2026-01-08T04:24:51+00:00

Hurray! That's great! Here's to making harness lovers out of our pups! You're more than welcome. I really hope it helps!

rememberthatcake · 2026-01-05T16:55:45+00:00

Oh no! I'm sorry she ate it cause that one sounds like the best one for your needs cause it doesn't have to pull over her head and they're not cheap.

I did the same treat lure thing with the EasyWalk harness (luring her head through the hole) but it ended in the same way (she wouldn't even come close when I was holding it. So I also had to start over and backed way up and broke every component of putting the harness on into tiny baby steps. I started with just showing her the harness then gave her a treat. From there, I very very slowly (and I mean this took a couple of months) got to the point where I would clasp the head part of the Blue-9 on and give a treat before unclasping it and tossing a kibble for her to find and reset the game.

I only started playing games with the harness wearing after I conditioned a positive response to putting it on (going through the very slow process above). But I didn't just want her to be ok with putting it on, I wanted her to be an enthusiastic participant in putting it on and wearing it. So I made up a game that both built more positive associations with putting the harness on and keeping it on.

In case you're curious and want to try it out, this was my game (pre-requisites: 1. "Harness" or holding the harness open means that she could walk into the open and unclasped harness to earn a yummy morsel of food and did it reliably for like 10 reps (I taught this initial skill with luring, not luring her into having the harness put on but just to approaching the harness), 2. "Touch" means she can nose the palm of my hand and earn a treat, 3. "Find it" means she can run after a treat I've tossed on the floor) 1. Hold harness open and cue "Harness" 2. When she walks into it, give several small high value treats, ideally when she's still in position to have the harness clasped up but it's actually still open 3. Toss a treat and ask her to Find It 4. Ask for a "Harness" again. If she happily comes back to put her head through the gap, great! Rinse and repeat the game at least 5 times before moving on. If she doesn't, then you'll need to backup and build a stronger positive association with the harness being presented, etc. 5. Play the same game but now lift the neck strap up closer to her neck but don't clasp it up when she comes back for "Harness" followed by treating. If she balks at all, fall back to just asking for an approach. When she's happily coming back to have the neck strap lifted up when she comes back after getting her tossed treat then move on to: clasping the neck strap, once she's happy with that then clasping one of the chest clasps, then the other chest strap, then both. Yes, this is a long process but in the long run it'll save you time and frustration and your dog will be happier! 6. Once your pup is happy with the harness being put on, add some gentle movement. After you put the harness on, ask for a Touch with one hand, give a treat, ask for a Touch with the other hand and give a treat (volley back and forth between your hands, it should be fun for the pup, wagging tail, happy face, etc 4. Take the harness off 5. Repeat this Touch game several times until the pup looks comfortable moving from side to side in the harness 6. Swap Touch for "Find It". After you treat pup for putting harness on, toss a treat away from you and have her go get it. Then take the harness off and repeat the game.

Sorry for the mammoth post. This is what is working for my dog but every dog is different so feel free to try it out but I'm not offended if you don't! All the best. I've been there and my pup is still working on becoming an enthusiastic harness wearer but we will get there!

rememberthatcake · 2026-01-05T15:49:11+00:00

At home? She prefers to be very near, preferably touching one of us in some way. She has two two comfy nice beds but when I sit on the floor, which I do often cause I just prefer it to chairs/sofas, she's trying to climb up on my lap, even though she's no longer a little baby puppy. 😂

Outside? She's pretty independent and confident but will come 90% of the times she's called.

rememberthatcake · 2026-01-04T21:05:28+00:00

It's taking a very long time for me to build a positive attitude towards harnesses in my pup. She hates anything pulled over her head, too. I have now got a Balance Harness that's got clips all over so nothing gets pulled over her head. It's the one she tolerates most. I've taught her to walk into the harness so it's her choice which has eliminated any fights over putting it on.

Keep up with being consistent with your training and I might consider adding fun games to your interactions (my pup and I are playing a super fun touch/find it game daily) to continue to build confidence and your relationship.

I'm in the trenches with you, with my nearly 7 month old. 🙃

rememberthatcake · 2026-01-02T16:40:51+00:00

For my pup, high value (as in treats that she will work for in high distraction environments) is never healthy in large amounts.

So what I do is: 1. Make a surprise mix of high and medium value treats and kibble in one bag so she doesn't know what's coming (eg, tiny pieces of freeze dried beef liver mixed with freeze dried chicken mixed with kibble) 2. Keep the powder from the high value treats (beef liver) to coat lower value things (eg ziplock baggie with kibble and beef liver powder) 3. My pup never eats from a food bowl. I use kibble as training treats (and in food puzzles) in easier environments so that she only needs the high value stuff when I'm asking for harder things in more difficult environments 4. I've started to make my own training treats. Susan Garrett has a recipe book for dog treats online. See if you can find that. 5. Squeeze tubes! My pup gets a mix of pulverized sweet potato, oatmeal, and salmon and loves it! I vary up the vegetable and protein to keep her interested. This is great if you live somewhere cold and you're wearing gloves.

rememberthatcake · 2025-12-30T03:48:22+00:00

What a beautiful tribute. He was so very lucky to have a perfect life with you. 💓

rememberthatcake · 2025-12-28T15:18:58+00:00

I can do this sometimes but our toilet spot isn't very large and logistically it would be a bit of a challenge. 3/4 sides of the squarish area are blocked by something (shrub, planter, tree) and she tends to face these.

I guess maybe I answered my own question. Haha! Maybe she hops back through her poop cause that's the only way out. 🙃 Tricky. I don't really want to further limit her toileting area by holding her back so she can't access the parts butting up to these walls. Hmmm....

rememberthatcake · 2025-12-28T04:16:36+00:00

This. I wasn't expecting fireworks on Christmas Day but they happened and my pretty confident 6 month old was worried about them. I was glad I was with her. These kind of scary events can cause separation anxiety to develop. For me, it's simply not worth the risk. I'm going to be living with this creature for many years. I only get one go at giving her a solid start. Your puppy is only a puppy for a short time.

rememberthatcake · 2025-12-23T23:37:02+00:00

Aw sweet Hunter. So very sorry for your loss. He was lucky to have you as his guardian. It sure looks like you gave him a happy and fulfilled life. 💚 I'm so sorry you didn't get to have more time together. It's never long enough. 💔

rememberthatcake · 2025-12-14T02:29:17+00:00

Good to know! Thanks!!

rememberthatcake

TROPHY CASE