(((Steph)))

sick people feel better.

dog people, I am dog sitting at a friends and her dogs are not well behaved. One is very nervous energy, jumps at your face will not let you pet the other without getting all up in your grill. This same dog pulls something terrible on leash and has been going to the bathroom in the house after being taken outside. Last night, he pooped twice while out in the yard on leash with me, then came in and pooped again on the floor. He can't be let off leash because he jumps the fence and runs and runs.

The other dog is less full of energy, but also less likely to mind you when you command sit. He destroys any toy he is given.

The dogs growl and bite on each other quite a bit, more than I am comfortable with.

Any ideas on short-term things to address any of these issues?

Sounds like dominance stuff to me!

You can't train them, obvs, but they may be being worse with you in order to assert dominance.

Love him or hate him, that "TZCH!" noise the dog whisperer makes it sort of magical. My suggestion would be to use it when correcting them. [link]

The other thing you might do to impress upon them that you're in charge is when they've been bad make them obey you in some other way. Like, make them sit five or ten times in a row. Put him on the leash, "sit!" when he sits tell him "good dog!" Repeat. It can start to impress upon them a better way to get attention from you.

I Just watched that . I had no idea the french revolution was so .. frivolous

I'm making beef stew. It seems OK, but like it would benefit from a can of tomatoes, except I don't want that much more stew! Ah well. I will eat my adequate stew, and like it.

Sounds like dominance stuff to me!

You can't train them, obvs, but they may be being worse with you in order to assert dominance.

I don't know a heck of a lot about dogs, not having one myself, but one thing I have seen Victoria Stillwell ("It's Me or the Dog", Animal Planet) do to assert dominance is to pretend to eat some of the food from their dishes before putting the dishes down in front of them. Pack leader eats first, so if you are not having a meal at their meal times, you act like you are eating some of theirs, make a big show of it.

Whale DP and one ton testicles.

msbelle, it is true that you won't be able to change the behaviors that the dogs' people tolerate in their home...which is sad. Frantic energy like that is not happy energy.

The best method for calming the dogs when you are around is to make them work for everything. The sitting suggestion Trudy made is a good one. If they know commands like sit/down/sit/down, etc. it will go a long way toward making the dogs want to listen to you.

The key is to not stimulate the behaviors you don't want. For instance, the jumping toward your head behavior is understandable (it's what puppies do to lead dogs) but not acceptable. If you turn and walk away from that energy...stand in a corner with your arms crossed, looking up and contemplating the meaning of life, or whatever...it will be confusing to the pooches and cause them to try a number of things to regain your attention. Be SUPER patient and wait until they are both calm and, basically, ignoring you. THEN pet them.

Two older clients called me in to help them stop their two large dogs from nearly knocking them down when they came hope. We fixed the jumping problem with the above technique in roughly 10 minutes. Every time I bump into them on the street they thank me!

Also, a way to get the non-sitter to comply is to put a tasty treat near his nose and then move it up, toward his forehead. As his nose follows the treat, he will be forced to put his bum down.

As soon as he does sit, mark the success with a YES! or GOOD SIT! He will learn that putting his bum down means something good is going to happen.

Unfortunately, the rough play and pooping in the house are not things you can do anything about. These take time and consistency. The energetic one needs a backpack or some other form of exercise enhancement to drain off that crazy energy that is coming out in destructive ways.

I don't know what to make for dinner. Since I came down with this cold, I've been getting hungry but have no appetite, insofar as nothing sounds good but tastes fine when I finally eat it.

I've been looking for shoes (this is Dana's fault, BTW) to buy, but I can't find any heels I like that are: a) available in my size, b) a color other than black, and c) under 3". I ended up ordering flats: [link]