My dogsitting charges are here

[Ritz459]

Joy joy. I'm hoping that by the end of the week they will be ok, but I already have a headache. *shakes head* I swear....I am never ever ever going to own a yappy little dog. I like Mitzi, but my God....she barks at every little freak'n noise! I'm telling her to shut up whenever she does, but jeez. That and she hates Sadie, as well as our cat. Our cat is bigger than her and could take her if he needed too, but it is very annoying to have to keep telling her to come downstairs and stop barking everytime she hears the cat.
Toby is a good little boy. He likes Sadie and has been going to the door to tell us he needs to go potty. He tried marking once, but that was when his owner was here and he stopped him. He isn't yappy, he tolorates the cat, and he is just kinda lazing around...until Mitzi starts barking.

Sadie has been good, but at first she was whining and complaining nonstop. Now she is ok with it, but she is feeling a bit left out because she can't be with the dogs. I told her life isn't fair and to deal with it. lol

I'll try and get pics of the Toby and Mitzi up, and be prepared for me to come on here and rant about how much they are driving me crazy! lol

[TinyAlbinoDancer]

Hehe! I bet Mitzi calms down within the week. Those little fear yappers are the worst--that's how Ollie is. lol Feel free to rant away. Looking forward to pics!

[Doglover1988]

I bet you are having fun. lol Mitzi reminds me of my aunts pomeranian that she brings everywhere with her. All you have to do is make any little noise and he starts yapping. I wonder if it's because of his name (Snuggles) lol

[Swiftwind]

Are you looking after two dogs while their owners are away? What kind of breed is Mitzi? I wish you good luck with it all, and hopefully Mitzi will quieten down soon!!

[Cassiepeia]

I hope Mitzi quiets down soon too. I hate to see little yappy dogs, just makes me think they weren't socialised enough. Instead of telling it to shut up, try saying 'Ah-ah' instead. Seems to get their attention better.

I want to see pictures too. So lots of pictures please.

Cass.

[Ritz459]

Originally Posted by Cassiepeia

I hope Mitzi quiets down soon too. I hate to see little yappy dogs, just makes me think they weren't socialised enough. Instead of telling it to shut up, try saying 'Ah-ah' instead. Seems to get their attention better.

I want to see pictures too. So lots of pictures please.

Cass.

Well, I say shut up inside my head or out loud, but I say really loud, "SHHHHHHH!!!" The noise startles her and makes her look at me. But the "SHHHHHHH!!!!" might be followed by a "Will you just shut up, dog? Please be quiet." lol

Mitzi is a Pomeranian. Both her and Toby are rescue dogs and they are both around a year and a half to two years old.

I think if it wasn't for Sadie being here the two dogs would be fine...but they seem to just set each other off.

IMO, the dog's are spoiled rotten brats. Mitzi has the personality of a little diva and we are all her slaves. Toby is a sweet dog, just untrained, so a couple of smaller behavior problems stem from that. The first time I told Mitzi to "SHHHHH!!" she looked at me like, "How could you possibly tell me to be quiet?! I am ruler of all!"

Ah, and Toby just bit Melanie, my six year old sister. Broke a little bit of skin. I asked JeanAnne what she was doing and she said that Mel was playing wtih Toby. I asked how and she said, "Just like Wes and I do." so that means a bit roughly. I think that both Toby and Mitzi have resource guarding issues, so he probably bit Mel when she tried to take his toy....Mel's just used to Sadie were we could take her most prized possession out of her mouth and she'll just sit there and look at us like, "Ok, I gave it to you. Can I have it back now?"
JeanAnne said that Toby bit her for no reason, but I told her that dogs only bite for no reason (in our minds anyway) when they are aggressive, and Toby isn't aggressive. Apparently, just possessive.

I'll try and take some pics today and get them posted either later today or sometime tomorrow!

[TinyAlbinoDancer]

There's a link in the puppy forum that has the different stages pups go through. I learned that around 2 years of age pups go through a marked "fear" phase, and this can cause lots of barking (that's Ollie's problem. lol). Socialization is really important, and patience is equally. I didn't realize your charges were so young.

[Ritz459]

Yep, they're both young, untrained, and rescue dogs. lol But they aren't driving me as crazy now. The barking is getting a bit better. I have pics on my computer, but it is going to take forever to download them, and right now I don't have the time nor the patience.

The other day Toby scared me though. He attacked my brother's girlfriend! Jake and Gabe just walked into our house and the dogs were barking at them. I went over just to shoo the dogs away (Gabe and Jake were completely ignoring the dogs) and Toby jumped up on Gabe and grabbed her shirt. I had time to think, "Holy crap, he's going to bite her!" and lunge toward them when Toby let go of her shirt and bit her ankle! I told him no, grabbed him, and made him lay down on the ground until Gabe was able to get into the gated off living room. Gabe had a HUGE bruise on her leg, along with two puncture marks. My mom was suprised Toby didn't rip her pants. Let's just put it this way: if Toby was a German Shepherd, he'd be the most ill behaved, uncontrollable dog who may or may not bite you. It is a good thing he is small, but I really wish that his owners actually trained him and not babied him. That is really frusterating me.
Mitzi has gotten a lot better and has settled in well. She's stopped barking at Sadie and our cat 24/7 and hushes when we tell her to, for the most part.

[TinyAlbinoDancer]

You need to make sure you tell the owners about Toby's biting. That is unnacceptable and scary. I wouldn't trust a dog like that at all.

[Ritz459]

Originally Posted by TinyAlbinoDancer

You need to make sure you tell the owners about Toby's biting. That is unnacceptable and scary. I wouldn't trust a dog like that at all.

We will tell them, don't worry. And yep, I don't trust Toby anymore. He is a sweet dog with the family, but my point of veiw is this: if a dog bites once without good reason, nothing is stopping him from biting again without good reason.
I'll never trust a dog like that again unless it goes through some serious training, because how do you now when something is going to cross the line and end up getting bit?

But as I told my mom, I have a feeling that if he had tried to do that with his owners around, they just would have said, "Oh, now Toby. That isn't the way to behave," and then they would have pet him or held him or something. They treat their dogs like they are furry kids on all fours. THAT is what the problem is. I spoil my dogs, but they work for what they get and I don't baby them. These dogs have been babied, pure and simple. It ruins dogs, what can I say.

[rottielover]

hope the headache goes away soon

[Ritz459]

Well, Mitizi has already straightend up. She now shuts up when I tell her too! Yey! She even stopped barking at the cat when I told her to stop. Good doggy.

I'm concerned about Toby though....and I'm going to voice my concern to his owners. He is EXTREAMLY possessive. He almost bit my six year old sister because she sat down by my mom when Toby was by my mom. He growls and halfway snarls when he is chewing on a toy and you walk by/try to pet him/etc. He also bit my brother last night for no apparent reason that I can figure out. Wesley was going to grab his collar, but I asked about how he went about doing that and he said he was going to pet him first, so it was like he was moving his hand in to pet him. And I grab Toby's collar without a problem. *shrugs*
So after he attacked someone because they entered "his" house, tried to bite a child because she went near "his" mom, tries to bite you when you are near "his" toys, and just randomly bit Wesley, I don't trust him around anybody except for my mom and I. He minds me (he knows I won't tolorate crap from him) and he likes my mom.

I don't really know what to do with him in the meantime though. The only thing that comes to my mind is put him on a strict NILIF program with everyone in the family, avoid him when he is chewing on a toy, and if he starts acting the least bit possessive around my mom, he gets to leave the room away from her.
Does anyone else have any ideas, or will that work? We're only going to have the dogs till Saturday. I'm going to try and post pics today! lol We'll see how that goes.

[Ritz459]

And here they are! I was impatient and only loaded one of each, but at least you know what they look like! lo l

This is Mitzi, the little yappy diva who is the cutest little peice of fluff I've ever met. She is a sweetie and follows you around everywhere. She HATES other animals though. lol Sorry for the dark picture, but that is the best one I have. She wouldn't hold still and when I thought I'd get a decent one, she'd turn her head at the last second. Silly dog.

Here is Toby....sweet dog, but very possessive. Since I'm mad at him at the moment, I don't have anything nice to say about him.