rachels.haven's Journal

[farmerjan]

I sincerely hope that you realize you have a priceless sweetheart of a dog. She has been with you for what a week, 2 weeks? And she is that loving towards you, and accepting of you to want her belly rubbed after being taken by a stranger into a room, without your comforting presence, stuck by idiots that are afraid of her, and she came out and just wanted some affection from you???? You have a priceless addition to your household/farm.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Oh geeze… Would you be comfortable doing a blood draw yourself? I'd be tempted to do it myself and hand it to the vet with a smirk on my face lol. But, I'm evil that way...

Really does sound like a new vet is in order. And, for the record, I'd rather a vet suggest a muzzle than sedation.....geeze. Nobody learns anything with sedation....sigh.

 

[rachels.haven]

Yeah, me too. The muzzle would be for the vet, not the dog, and if it means they are quick and not dumb, weak, and scared about it it's better than drugs.

And thank you @farmerjan . I need to not ruin her. She is perfect and I am so lucky to have her.

They took her away I know because there is a theory out there that the owner is the source of all the dog's negative behavior. Take the owner away and the behavior goes away too. But not with this dog. She's an independent thinker, like she's supposed to be and she's not making decisions based on me in that department. I feel like she's being very patient with them and "schooling" them. She feels like she's got this. I wish they could work with her better. She's not actually that difficult.

Tomorrow morning I will be making some phone calls. She'd be happy to walk up the BIG hill provided there's water at the top and I'm going too, but you never know, maybe there's a LGD experienced vet around here somewhere so I'm going to look on my own too.

Meanwhile, she's getting off leash privileges in the yard after being on the 6' leash, then 12'. She's also allowed in the house, but doesn't want to stay long even though her kids live in there. She mostly just visited to check under the table for stuff I didn't sweep up then went back out today. House is boring. She loves walking the yard with the kids and showering them with attention when they are outside though. My youngest can walk her on and off a leash and yesterday they went around finding stuff he could throw for her (leaves and sticks, I think) and she'd catch them and act like it was a big deal. It was cute. She does not care about sticks and leaves normally. She also guarded him from a cyclist that accidently knocked him over on a trail last week. I can't remember if I mentioned that. The cyclist didn't stop and was going very fast so the bike did not become dog food (telling her to stop worked, and being on leash is obviously helpful). She did what she was supposed to do guarding her charges, imo. I think she may be particularly attached to my 4 year old, but she takes good care of both kids on their outdoor excursions. They like to escape at meal times and feed her the food I cook that they don't like so I'm not totally surprised. "Too crispy" bacon can really encourage friendships, although I get the impression that if she wasn't already smitten by them the bacon wouldn't have been touched because she makes her own decisions and is very bright.

Yep, we'll take good care of this one. She's a good loving dog that has exceeding my expectations. There's a vet a little farther down the road that is supposed to have experience with large dogs and be very good and patient with them, including aggressive ones, so he shouldn't be afraid of my non-aggressive one that is making a fool out of my current one and he may be able to get that heartworm test done so I can get her on preventative just in time for fall and winter to kill off the mosquitoes. I'll call and feel it out today, and if they don't pass, I'll just keep working my way west into farmyier and farmyier territory. She got her rabies shot done at least.

 

[Bruce]

What they said! And Gabapentin? I was given that for nerve pain from shingles, I don't recall having any feelings of sedation. I'll try to remember to ask SuperChemicalGirl (from BYC) about that tonight at dinner. She lives on our way to New Brunswick.

She also guarded him from a cyclist that accidently knocked him over on a trail last week.

Perfect dog!

They took her away I know because there is a theory out there that the owner is the source of all the dog's negative behavior. Take the owner away and the behavior goes away too.

Which means all they see are "How is Mama's widdle precious baby this morning" dogs.

 

[CntryBoy777]

I'd pity any stranger that took Gabbie away from either of us into a room.....we were there when they were gonna do a blood draw and they were ready to pounce on her to hold her down to do it....I told them there's no need for that and I talked to her and rubbed her neck....she sat still and they got it without incident.....she doesn't cotton to being separated from us....

 

[Bruce]

Yep, protective dogs get stressed when they are away from their "protectees". How often do we hear that, like Bailey, they like to come in the house for a visit but want to be back outside with their charges at night? I can only imagine what is going through the dog's mind when the vet staff takes her away. Maybe she is afraid they are going to do something bad to their people and she isn't there to protect them.

 

[B&B Happy goats]

I love reading the about realtionship that Bailey has formed with you and your family so quickly,.... you have a magnificent creature , and she loves and trusts her new family

 

[Bruce]

According to my pharmacist friend, yes in doses high enough gabapentin has a sedative effect. She also said there are plenty of things she'd use before even considering gabapentin for that purpose. Lots of reasons, including but not limited to side effects and cost. I hope you can find a vet that understands LGDs.

 

[rachels.haven]

Good grief. I just looked it up too and I don't feel like that was an appropriate medication for this scenario at all.

So anyway, the undrugged dog spent the evening run around session playing "come" and running back and forth between me and DH for treats. I'm also almost done getting under matts and shaving her poor rump-no hot spots. I shocked us both in the process. Unpolarized plugs can apparently have one prong in and the other on the side, outside the cord if you plug them in in the dark barn so I got to yelp and she got to jump because she was touching me. Not the first time I've done something like that, but the first time another being had to deal with my bad luck with plugs too. I really don't like electricity and I have no idea why my wahl clippers aren't polarized.

So she comes when called mostly with enthusiasm until the treats and all the running around makes her thirsty, then she runs away to the barn for a big drink and a flop under her stall table deflated. We will be working on teaching her not to jump up at my husband when she gets excited to see him at the beginning. He's the only one she jumps on and punches. She goes nuts when he's around-she acts like a wiggly puppy for him. I think we'll do the 4 feet on the ground=treat thing since treats seem to be working so well, and I'll tell her to knock it off when she does it-that usually works for things too. Dh will also hold the leash on our next few walks since she seems to instantly respect whoever holds the leash. I'm also going to be helping DH learn to be assertive and confident with her on this because I'd like him to be able to keep her in check too.

So we're doing pretty good, and she's definitely not getting drugged. That bottle is going in the trash. What a weird choice on the vet's part.

6 days until Avalon's due date. Go Avalon!

 

[Baymule]

Which means all they see are "How is Mama's widdle precious baby this morning" dogs.