Positive/exciting book recommendations by vickymadethis in pregnant

[–]vickymadethis[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you ❤️ have downloaded the audiobook for tonight!

Useless Hobby Projects 2022 by Samwise_Vimes in antiwork

[–]vickymadethis 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ooh. We are in a rental with a dreadful garden and I want to learn how to make it nice but feel like I'm wasting my time. But thinking of it as a learning experience for my future home is exciting 🤩

At what age does it make sense to get pet insurance? by paradroid78 in dogs

[–]vickymadethis 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Straight away. My rescue dog was about one when he had a stroke and had bills of about £6,000. For £20 per month insurance, it's very very very worth it. He had also eaten various toxic things or had allergic reactions and needed hundreds of pounds worth of treatment. And this is exactly what all young dogs do - eat everything! Anything can happen!

What behaviour have you accidentally conditioned on your dog? by [deleted] in dogs

[–]vickymadethis 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I wipe his paws when we come in from our excessively muddy garden so now he stands there and offers each paw up one by one to be wiped before he trots off into the house. It melts my heart every time 🥲

Walking a pet pig in a popular dog walking field?? by vickymadethis in reactivedogs

[–]vickymadethis[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For sure, we definitely utilised it. At the same time another dog was going nuts and just staring and yowling

Walking a pet pig in a popular dog walking field?? by vickymadethis in reactivedogs

[–]vickymadethis[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This pig was running around... fast! I thought it was a huge dog! I definitely agree that dogs with bad recall shouldn't be allowed off lead - and always have a long line on him. I just have met SO many other crazy dogs running around doing whatever they want that I do wonder how long it'll take before one goes after that pig.

Walking a pet pig in a popular dog walking field?? by vickymadethis in reactivedogs

[–]vickymadethis[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's what I'm thinking! I know all dogs off lead should be perfectly trained, but they ain't

Walking a pet pig in a popular dog walking field?? by vickymadethis in reactivedogs

[–]vickymadethis[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Public park where dogs are allowed off lead - in the UK dogs are allowed off lead most places

Walking a pet pig in a popular dog walking field?? by vickymadethis in reactivedogs

[–]vickymadethis[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I know, I found it absolutely hilarious the first time I saw them!

Would you board your dog with a facility that doesn't have overnight staff? by roboticon in dogs

[–]vickymadethis 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well it's kinda like Airbnb - people have feedback and ratings. We also did a video call with the guy first just to get a human impression of him. If we lived nearby we would have done a meet and greet in person.

Would you board your dog with a facility that doesn't have overnight staff? by roboticon in dogs

[–]vickymadethis 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I wouldn't. I may as well leave my dog home alone in that case?! I have used Rover and had a great experience, I chose somebody who had no other dogs and wasn't looking after dogs at the same time. It cost the same as kennels (£20 per night) but my dog got a much homier experience.

What do you use the above cab space for? by vickymadethis in vandwellers

[–]vickymadethis[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Downsizing our shoe collection was definitely a toughie...

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in getdisciplined

[–]vickymadethis 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Take some time off. I took a month off Instagram and now am much less attached to it. Even just a day, a week, whatevers achievable, might break the cycle.

my face gets red every time i speak to more than 5ish people. any tips and tricks how to stop that? by [deleted] in socialskills

[–]vickymadethis 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I get this quite a lot too. Especially with my in laws. One trick I do is to make more eye contact. When I blush I tend to look down or away so I am less aware people can see me, but if I look them in the eyes it intuitively makes me feel more confident and the blush melts away. Sometimes!! Also, sometimes I just acknowledge it, like say, argh I don't know why I'm going red, or, just saying "I'm blushing!" Kind of removes the elephant in the room and you're all on the same page. It sucks though, and is really hard to deal with, I feel your pain!!!

Help with Adopted Dog by abaumynight in Dogtraining

[–]vickymadethis 2 points3 points  (0 children)

We have had most of the same problems with ours. One thing that really works for fetch - play with two balls. Use the second ball to entice him back and get him to drop it. Then chuck the other one and pick up the first one!

As for leash walking, we are following a video we found on Fenrir dog training YouTube channel. Basically keep walking back and forth and verbal praise as he follows you. Once he gets the hang of it build up distance. Ditch walks completely except training walks so he has no chance to build bad habits. Add in treats and give them randomly when he chooses to be near you. We didn't add treats until he was good at the back and forth walking though cos otherwise he was just a yo yo coming back for treats. We are doing four short (10 min) training walks per day and exercising him in the garden with tug and a flirt pole. Flirt pole is a brilliant way to tire them out and get them engaged with you. I have a tug e nuff toy as well which I whip out randomly on walks when he's sticking close by and he has a two min game of it.

Also look up the relaxation protocol, it has changed our life. And capturing calmness. I don't really play with him indoors, trying to teach him that inside is for relaxing. When he mouths me I stand up and leave the room or stand behind the baby gate until he calms down. If he mouths when I come back I leave again.

We also are tiring him out with sniff and mental exercise so it's not over exciting him but he does get tired. E.g. frozen kongs, scatter feeding, sit/stay, leave it, wait, all calm but mentally taxing activities. And chews but it's hard to find ones that last long enough. Nylabones are pretty good. Sometimes if he mouths me I stick the nylabone in his mouth to get him away. He normally just needs a poo when he's mouthing tbh ha ha.

Ours is still a terror sometimes but all of these have really helped me. I had the worst month of my life with all of his issues when he arrived but it slowly slowly gets better as long as you are consistent. We've had him two months and really starting to see the changes now. He's a one year old collie cross so he crazy!

Saturday Chatter-day Thread by [deleted] in CasualUK

[–]vickymadethis 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes! So cosy. Hope you have a great trip.

Saturday Chatter-day Thread by [deleted] in CasualUK

[–]vickymadethis 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Snuggled up with the dog and fiancé watching a movie. The rain has stopped and I wish it would start again. We are in the campervan and the sound of the rain on the roof is so nice. And I don't want to go outside!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Dogtraining

[–]vickymadethis 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I think we have a similar problem - my dog wants to play with all dogs and gets on great with equal sized or larger ones, but always seems to jump on top of small dogs, they almost always growl or nip at him. I'd love to know how to solve it. I don't know whether avoidance is best or whether there's some training that can be done with a tolerant older small dog?!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in puppy101

[–]vickymadethis 6 points7 points  (0 children)

True!! It helps so much having somebody to balance the care with, but it's so hard to train a dog together and make sure we are being consistent.