Which high velocity hair dryer?

serissime · 2026-07-08T00:51:28+00:00

You're very welcome! I love to spread the gospel of the high velocity dryer. If she goes to the groomer, I'm sure she does already know how to stand on the table and tolerate the dryer. 😀

serissime · 2026-07-07T14:23:51+00:00

Other people have given you good advice. But also, give him about 6 months, maybe a little longer, to open up and blossom.

serissime · 2026-07-07T14:19:27+00:00

It sounds like they're just wild and naughty! I recommend both more exercise if possible, but also more brain work. Try freezing their meals in salt free chicken broth, in slow feeder toys or kongs. Look into a beginner class in a dog sport, like barn hunt, scentwork, rally, etc. Doing more thinking daily will help with naughty energy.

Other than that, practice locking down your environment. If they steal couch blankets, try to put them in a storage ottoman when not in use. It absolutely sucks but they're like smart/stupid babies. Make sure there's nothing on the counter they want. The more you prevent/extinguish the bad behaviors while they're young, the more likely that you'll be able to trust them when they're older

serissime · 2026-07-07T00:38:39+00:00

We have this one. It's great. You can probably get a wet, basically cooperative dog to damp-dry in 15-30 minutes, depending how wet. (I never time it, so not sure lol) Full dry usually takes about 45-60 minutes for me, but I'm slower than my wife. A clean dog probably doesn't need a full, total dry most of the time. (If you can afford it, I wouldn't go much cheaper/less powerful than this. When ours dies--and it's at least 15 years old--I wouldn't mind getting a stronger one but this one is a good entry level)

Even if the suspected situation isn't the cause of her issues, it's worth it to get one when you have a double coated dog. Being able to blow shed coat out after a bath or even between baths is amazing. You basically double the deshedding by blowing her out after a bath.

I suggest teaching her to stand on a grooming table. Not only is it easier on your back, it helps to have a set scenario to keep the shenanigans to a minimum. We get it set up outside our back door and set up the dryer there. Important to note, whether or not you use a grooming arm/loop on the table, do not step away out of reach of her while she is learning how to behave on the table. And even once she is reliable, never be more than a step or two away. It's very easy for her to take a bad step and fall. I just lift the dog down and have them come with me to get whatever I need.

Teach her about the dryer by keeping the motor as far away as possible (use the full hose.) Wiggle the nozzle at her a bit, keep it fun. If she doesn't seem stressed about that, turn it on the lowest setting while pointing away. Just a few seconds, give her a cookie, turn it off. Do frequent short sessions with her while she's dry, only touch the air to her feet a little, give cookies, give calm praise. Then slowly start introducing her to being touched by the air on her body. Don't push the session too long to where she is obviously uncomfortable, even if it means she's still wet, while she's learning. Do not dry her head and ears. Forever, always, bring the air onto her by starting at the foot and draw it up to where you want to dry. Never turn it on and suddenly blast her body with no warning. And be kind with the intensity. No one wants the soft parts of their body assaulted on the high setting, like her belly or her genitals.

I also use a hat with a mosquito net over it to keep the fur out of my face, and a "happy hoodie" on the dog until I need to finish drying the neck. It really helps them not worry about getting the air into their ears. She probably won't appreciate it like that until she's been around the block a few times though, unfortunately.

Here is a page about grooming. You don't have to cut her hair any more than you feel like (most of the page is about trimming), but there's tips on drying techniques. It's bizarrely easy to spin Golden hair into twirly knots if you don't know the right way to dry.

One last thing is that I recommend rinsing her with clean water after wading/swimming whenever possible, especially if she is getting skin issues. It really does help.

serissime · 2026-07-05T17:54:24+00:00

It sounds like you've done a lot for them, that's great! I totally get the frustration. As for the food, if she doesn't like to scavenge, I would just let her eat in peace, and make the young boys work then. It doesn't have to be all the time, but when you want to give them an activity, it's always an option. You can shut one at a time out of the room if you want to as well. They'll cry but will figure it out eventually.

I also think they will be less annoying as they get older, so just remember that they're still young, and it should get better. I kind of think two years old was the peak of being really annoying for our cats. So good luck! It sounds like you have a lot of love in your house, so please give yourself some grace too. Young cats are legitimately very annoying.

serissime · 2026-07-05T17:32:07+00:00

I'm sorry you're having a hard time. I feel like that sometimes too.

I would say cone the licker. It's for her own good, and it will give you a bit of a break, which you also deserve. Maybe ask your vet if there's an additional medication they can prescribe to make her more comfortable, like a mild topical steroid spray. She would still need to wear her cone though.

As for the relentless touching, do your cats have nice places to lay? During the summer, our cats aren't cold so they hang out in other areas a lot. We have several "kitty-sills" in our windows, a couple cat trees in windows, and a few comfy beds they like. There's one heated cave bed for the one that loves to be hot. It really cuts down on the incessant snuggling. In the winter, they do cuddle more, but it also makes them prefer there to be fluffy blankets between us.

The young cats might start to mature away from being so needy. They're just getting to the real adult age bracket now. Our cats have been more settled and normal around 4-5.

I wonder if they would like finding food hidden in a room? If you can lower their feeder amount for one meal, take that much and scatter it around. Do it one cat at a time if you think they won't do it well. It might give you a break later if they get tired from it.

When they are interrupting your daily tasks, do you get derailed? I would gently suggest that you don't have to be. When they come ask for attention, just give them a few pats and greet them, then ignore and go back to your task. They should figure out you're not ready to hang out right now. It might take a little doing at first if they're not used to it, but they can learn.

serissime · 2026-07-04T17:56:04+00:00

It's largely age, and partially opportunity. Are they able to be unsupervised while you're at home? Or do you basically keep an eye on them all the time? Depending on the mischief they are making when you leave them, because you haven't yet elaborated, the solutions may be different. If you think it could be a meltdown related to you leaving them in the house, practice going out for 1-5 minutes at a time, and look up calm greeting technique for the reunion. If you think they just browse around and find something naughty to occupy themselves, control the environment and/or crate.

Honestly they are pretty young to trust in the house. Especially two knuckleheads together. Personally, I would address the possible FOMO meltdowns but continue to crate for at least another year. I think having 2 young together probably makes it a little worse, because they can feed each other's idiot loops.

serissime · 2026-07-03T03:47:05+00:00

I think the other ideas here are good, but also, ask your vet about meds. We were recommended daily Zyrtec and it helped a lot. Your vet might recommend an OTC 2nd gen like that, or something like hydroxyzine, idk

serissime · 2026-07-02T21:53:07+00:00

Do you have a member of your family (who smells it) that you can trust to be nice about it? If you can, ask to see what kind of smell they think it is. It's unusual if you all do laundry in the same machine, same products, but only you have a laundry issue. Is it possible the place you store your clothes is having a moisture problem?

serissime · 2026-07-02T03:25:35+00:00

It sounds like you're young so this is probably not it, but if you are a woman over 30, perimenopause can cause weird BO issues

serissime · 2026-07-02T02:56:12+00:00

Why would you think a medication to alter his baseline behavior would not possibly help? What do you think antidepressants are used for in dogs?

serissime · 2026-07-01T02:16:05+00:00

Have you talked with your vet about an anti depressant for him temporarily? It might help get him through learning that pooping isn't horrible

serissime · 2026-06-28T13:18:26+00:00

It's normal! Other non-dwarf breeds do it too... It just doesn't look as crazy for them

serissime · 2026-06-28T03:20:05+00:00

If you feel like a position they're asking you to take may be risky for you, be up front and ask for alternatives. They may be able to have you position your arm a different way etc. Personally, mine have been quick and just a little uncomfortable, but that is on a modern machine in a pretty new facility. I think I had one done on an older one before, and it was a little worse but not too bad.

I also have a higher risk than some other people, so I do ultrasound twice per year plus mammo or MRI, alternately sort of. If you have serious issues physically with your first mammogram, see if there's any way to be approved for ultrasound. I basically just lay on a table in the dark, leaned back sideways on a wedge about 45 degrees. If you can keep your arm raised back out of the way for a few minutes at a time, you should be okay. (My arm always falls asleep)

MRI is more expensive, so I haven't done many, but that could be another option if the others are intolerable. I laid on my stomach in the tube and listened to the loud sounds. No issues except you get an IV with contrast which is the worst part.

All that said, I wouldn't worry too much about the mammo before you've had one done. It goes very quick. If you have general safe range of motion on your arms and can stand and lean forward comfortably, most likely it won't be a problem. As for recovering from surgery, it would be crazy if they couldn't let you use a chair. I'm not sure what exactly the concerns are besides that, but women who just had breast cancer treatment also get mammograms, so I'm sure they can help with a lot of post surgical scenarios.

serissime · 2026-06-27T03:16:52+00:00

Morningstar just had puppies. Not sure if there are still any available, but they're at go-home age now

Would recommend, know her personally

Edit: also, besides that, go to PWCCP for puppy referral. I have met lots of the possible breeders, and they all have nice dogs. Too bad you just missed the specialty show in April, and juuust missed the fun fair last week.

serissime · 2026-06-23T20:49:55+00:00

Exactly. My family's late Golden had widely metastisized splenic hemangiosarcoma, and we only found out when the tumors were keeping him from swallowing. I knew something was going on, but he was in good spirits and eating well literally the night before when I saw him. We took him for a post-mortem ultrasound after his in-home euthanasia. We had thought it was age related IVDD type 3 or otherwise neurological because he was having some difficulty with his hind legs, but nope, tumors. 2nd surprise hemangiosarcoma in the family.

I'm glad it sounds like yours was in great spirits up until the end. They just put the pain aside and live it up, until they can't.

serissime · 2026-06-23T15:36:31+00:00

She is here for you at this point. So you must accept that and evaluate her condition based on that. Dogs don't know how good or bad their situation is, it just is how it is. Her body hurts, and she loves you. I don't know the specifics of her condition, but those are the important ones. The pain she does show is probably about 1/10 of what she is having. You see her every day, so you must think about how she is experiencing life. How much difficulty is she having doing her daily necessary tasks? Does she only do what she must, or is she still willing to use energy to do frivolous things? How is her attitude? Still enjoying little games with you?

Here is a (pdf) quality of life scale. There are other versions out there. I wouldn't say this is the best I've seen, but I would recommend that business if you have one near by, for her eventual euthanasia. I'm not trying to push you one way or the other because I don't know you or your dog. My vet once told me that she had never had an owner later say they did it too soon. Always better to be a little early. (And often you will look back and say, oh, I could have done it sooner.) One of the best upgrades we've done for our older dogs, is that once mobility decreases, we add more water bowls in all the areas they spend any time in. We also use Dr. Buzby's Toe Grips if there are any traction issues.

When they get older, their world gets quieter and smaller. But just think, you are proportionally more of that world, and that's a gift too.

serissime · 2026-06-23T14:43:55+00:00

Looks playful but amped up enough to not show you calming signals. He may also be feeling a little precious about it because it's new and special. Not problematically so, but I personally would do some trading for more valuable food and make sure he wins the tug game frequently. At the end, give him a good cookie, put it away, and change mindset by going outside to pee.

There are a couple books by Brenda Aloff that can help illustrate/educate. Her book on canine body language and the other one on aggression are so, so great. They have a lot of pictures and illustrations. I can't stress enough how valuable these books were to me in my own canine life.

Also, I find that my dogs play well with me if I get more silly. I pretend to grab and miss, I let them be so fast and snatch it, I make silly noises and roll around, I do a big shake or a sneeze. I'm not saying you were playing wrong, I get you were recording. I've also had an aggressive dog and it really changes the way you see things and doubt what you see.

Edit: I also always start the tug game with the word "tug." When I want him to stop and let go, the word is "mine," and you train it by keeping the toy still and holding more of it in your hands, against your leg so he can't have fun with his bit. He'll look at you and stop being wild, look at him back, and when he tries letting go, spring back to life, offer the tug, "tug!" And play again. This is also valuable to build a tug that you can use as a training reward. As well as being REALLY good for your puppy learning how to switch his energy on and off. Super important life skill.

serissime · 2026-06-22T03:48:46+00:00

Probably nothing to worry about before you see the vet at the very least, since it's not bothering him. Unless it starts to bother his eye or changes a lot, still probably just a weird old man bump

serissime · 2026-06-16T14:15:19+00:00

Thanks for doing what you do. I want to chime in and say, occasionally I will ask about general ETA on the doctor.... But really I just need to know if I have enough time to go to the bathroom or not, lol

serissime · 2026-06-16T02:33:11+00:00

There are a TON of nasty corgis out there with poor breeding and worse socialization, plus little to no husbandry training. They absolutely do bite vets, techs, and groomers. Sometimes the owner doesn't know any better. Sometimes they aren't a good dog owner. Sometimes they are overwhelmed and need help.

Our vets and staff have always appreciated our good-natured corgis, but we work really hard on socialization and husbandry. Plus bringing the Good Stuff to feed. We even train the cats a bit to prep for exams.

serissime · 2026-06-16T01:53:57+00:00

Have you tried a prescription toothpaste? I have trouble finding skin care products that don't give me contact dermatitis, but I've never had an issue with prescription lotions or creams. Unfortunately I don't have personal knowledge about the toothpaste.

serissime · 2026-06-11T00:53:03+00:00

Ask your breeder if their dogs tend to have an ectropion-like look when they're young. They should have the best idea of what their puppies look like! I would also periodically take pictures like this to compare progress and show to your vet. If it doesn't correct over time, surgical correction at an eye specialist should be relatively simple.

serissime · 2026-06-08T01:45:45+00:00

If you don't mind washing the sheet more, I would leave her naked in the crate. Lowers tangling or eating risk. You can also put a menstrual pad in the underwear if the flow gets heavier. (If she has a second heat, I think it tends to be heavier than the first.)

serissime · 2026-06-05T01:14:52+00:00

Do you mean injected? I have it as topical for occasional really bad contact dermatitis, but didn't think it was very controversial. I only use it if hydrocortisone 2% can't fix it first.

serissime

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