mirage

Barley shed like crazy all summer and seems to be slowing down now but there is still hair everywhere. Just not in HUGE clumps. Haha.

Thanks a lot. Yeah, I mean these incidents are the only ones in 6 months of owning him so maybe it is nothing but it is definitely concerning none-the-less.

Thanks guys! So you both don't really think him baring his teeth was all that bad either? He is usually fine with me taking something out of his mouth (not that he tries to eat paper products all that much but when he does). This piece definitely had something he wanted on it. I carry chicken jerky with me on walks to reward him for good behavior, haha, but he was not going to give that towel up for anything (really hope that was a food stain on it...). He seems to be a very sweet, loving dog most of the time (loves children and getting pets and attention and is very easy going) just sometimes. As I said, I have never owned a dog before so I can't tell if his behavior is normal or not. My fiance had a golden retriever growing up but I guess that dog was crazy submissive (would lie down in front of every dog she met regardless of size haha) so she doesn't know either. Just gotta wait and see I guess.

Thanks Diamond! I don't know the vet very well. The vet came recommended from a customer of mine who designs and builds veterinary facilities. He sees all different vets and liked this one. They are very nice and gentle (at least when I am in the room) and seem to know what they are doing. Barley definitely has a thing about his collar (not all the time but if he is worked up and you grab it he gets anxious) so I don't know if they took his collar in their hand when they were trying to work with him or what. He knows "drop it" and "leave it" when he wants to know it so with the towel whatever disgusting thing was on it made him "forget" haha. Yes I agree with you about him not biting seriously but it seems that everyone we talk to has a different definition of what a dog bite is and isn't. We graduated a "basic manners" class already and are working with a trainer to help him figure out how to meet other dogs properly. Right now he just drags us to them and lunges to say hi. She has seen some of his aggressiveness and has said he "tried to bite" when to me he was just letting her know he didn't like what she was doing but idk. Haha. Just a bit distressing is all I guess. Thanks a lot for your post though. Very helpful!

So we adopted our boy from the shelter around 6 months ago. The shelter had said he was turned in for biting but on further investigation they couldn't get him to bite and the people who had turned him in had a long history of domestic violence and assaulting the officers who responded. He has been wonderful for almost all of the six months but the past few weeks we are noticing some more aggressive behavior. We make him sit or lie down or any other sort of combo of tricks before he gets anything from us (includes food, walks, etc) and the first time I noticed some aggression was when I was making him sit to go outside in the backyard. He jumped up on my arm, crossed his paws over it and took my hand in his mouth. He didn't bite down but it wasn't friendly. I told him "too bad" and put him in time out. Last week we were out walking and he found a nasty piece of paper towel on the ground with something on it. He started eating it so I stuck my hand in his mouth to retrieve it. He brought his teeth down on my fingers, started growling and bared his teeth at me. I yelled at him but it didn't stop until I let go of the paper. He didn't bite me enough to break the skin but was putting pressure with his teeth on my hand. I didn't know how to discipline him properly as we were 2 miles from our car so we tried to ignore him for the walk back to the car. While he was baring his teeth at me I saw one of his top teeth was all broken so we had it extracted yesterday by the vet. When I went to pick him up, the vet came to meet me and told me about how they had to use a rabies stick on him to remove the catheter in his arm. He was apparently great all day until then and even with a muzzle he was being very vicious and aggressive and trying to bite them. I don't really know what to make of all this and the vet talking to me about how he could be dangerous scared me a bit. This is my first dog so any and all help/advice would be much appreciated. Thanks a lot! Abram

We use an undercoat rake and a furminator. I start with the rake to get the large clumps out then finish with the furminator. He hates it, but the copious amounts of treats makes it okay with him. Haha.

Yeah barley is lazy too. He only wants to go out in the evening. Have to chase him around in the mornings as he prefers to rest on the floor or his bed. Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

HAHA, that is literally a crate eh?!

We were using a martingale style collar but when we came upon another dog or something "interesting" Barley just pulls and pulls, so we purchased a Sense-ible no pull harness last night at dog training class. The leash attaches in the front so it is supposed to turn the dog when they pull. Hopefully will give us a chance to get him where we want him instead of trying to hold back a lunging dog.

Haha, he is really cute. I love it when they roll onto their backs like that!

Would prob be great for making a dog bed! Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

Yeah that is what we were thinking but maybe just giving him some more time is good too. He is still very new. Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

Thanks al. Yeah we know that so we are going to gradually get him used to the crate. We are kinda at a loss for what to do during the day though. I can omly take so many days off from work. Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

Thanks a lot guys! He is great except seems to have some degree of sa as he destroys something when we are hone for more than an hour and seems anxious when we return (runs around a lot and gets up real closr and leans on us). We ordered a crate and are waiting for it to arrive but gonna try the crate training which seems like it would help with the sa as well. poor barley. Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

Thanks a lot stacey! Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2