Author Topic: Rocks and a Rant  (Read 9305 times)

Offline Brownis15

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Rocks and a Rant
« on: May 10, 2007, 09:04:09 am »
Atlas is a little monster and has decided he likes rocks. He likes carrying rocks in his mouth, gumming them, and then swallowing them. Yesturday he threw up like 7 small rocks and stared at me. He must have eaten them at daycare. GRRRR. I think the problem is he is so toy motivated he has to have something in his mouth at all times. The problem with raising a narc dog is they cant have any toys unless it is playing with you, and it builds the drive. So when the ball comes out to play he is so happy and hyped he will do anything for it, and this eventually is used to train scent work. He is doing great with the drive, its unbelievable the work ethic already, but in the mean time he wants to play with something so rocks are his natural toy of choice.
 
I know what I have to do to break this habit and I hate it. I have to use aversive training to make him never want to put a rock in his mouth again. I usually use loud noises for this kind of thing but because he will be a K-9 he has to not be afraid of noises, esp loud ones. (we go to the shooting range every weekend to get him used to gun fire) So I have to use a shock collar or a citranella spray collar. I know it will only take one or two zaps to make him never want to touch a rock again but I hate doing it. On the other hand, it will be a lot less painful than having surgery for an obstructed intestine. I plan on putting it on him, leaving him in the backyard and watching from the window and shocking him the second he picks one up. He has been coming inside from the backyard with rocks and dropping them at our feet to play. So hopefully this will stop him.
 
I also went to the doctor yesturday to find out why for the past month I have been nauseous. I had a bunch of blood in my urine and they think (or are hoping) I must have had a UTI at some point but didnt have any signs, which spread to my kidneys and now to my upper GI tract. Great. I have lost 11 pounds in a month, cos I dont want to eat. The lab work they did comes back tomorrow to make sure it isnt a liver problem or thyroid. And then hopefully they will get me on some meds... please hope for something simple and inexpensive!!
 
Thanks for listening to my rocks rant!
“He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion.”

The loves of my life

Atlas - GSD
Merlin - Papillon
SweetPea - Papillon

bigdogs@5501

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Re: Rocks and a Rant
« Reply #1 on: May 10, 2007, 09:32:33 am »
Wow - poor pupper- just wants to play- and now this. My fingers are crossed on the blood work.

Offline Brownis15

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Re: Rocks and a Rant
« Reply #2 on: May 10, 2007, 10:14:34 am »
mine too, thanks
“He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion.”

The loves of my life

Atlas - GSD
Merlin - Papillon
SweetPea - Papillon

Offline Gracie Belle

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Re: Rocks and a Rant
« Reply #3 on: May 10, 2007, 11:14:24 pm »
Well good luck with the rock training though I'm sure you'll have that under control in no time.  As for you, I'm sending lots of positive healthy vibes your way.  Feel better fast.
Misty slave to:
Gracie Belle, 2 year English Mastiff
Rosco, 1 yr Toy German Shettweiler (designer mutt of course)and toy cause he's not Rotti or GSD size AT ALL.  Though they said he was a mix of the two..  Tonka, 3 year Great Dane
And last and most certainly NOT least, Linus 5 year old cat.

mama23+pyrs2

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Re: Rocks and a Rant
« Reply #4 on: May 10, 2007, 11:34:03 pm »
Gosh, a lot goes into training a narc dog indeed. Good luck! Poor Atlas. :( I hope you get to feeling better! I hope it's something simple yes and they can get you fixed. Letting UTI's go are nooooooo good. I'm surprised you aren't sicker if it has spread that far.

Offline Brownis15

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Re: Rocks and a Rant
« Reply #5 on: May 11, 2007, 11:43:58 am »
the bloodwork came back, I have a bacterial infection of the kidneys. YEY. Thank you for the support guys.
“He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion.”

The loves of my life

Atlas - GSD
Merlin - Papillon
SweetPea - Papillon

Offline Brownis15

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Re: Rocks and a Rant
« Reply #6 on: May 11, 2007, 11:45:02 am »

Are you training him for the K9 unit and then he'll live with an officer or would he be a volunteer and get to stay with you?

We are going to have him since my hubby is a police officer, so he will be his partner!
“He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion.”

The loves of my life

Atlas - GSD
Merlin - Papillon
SweetPea - Papillon

mama23+pyrs2

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Re: Rocks and a Rant
« Reply #7 on: May 11, 2007, 09:36:25 pm »
the bloodwork came back, I have a bacterial infection of the kidneys. YEY. Thank you for the support guys.

Eww, EEK. Will some antibiotics clear that up then? That doesn't sound fun at all. :( Glad they found out what it was and sooner than later!

Offline rayray

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Re: Rocks and a Rant
« Reply #8 on: May 15, 2007, 12:45:23 pm »
try giving him ice....my GSD used to love rocks until she got ice...now she can't get enough of the stuff...i'll freeze big ice cubes in disposable cups and then break the cup off and give her the mega cube...she loves it!
My new GSD! He doesn't have a name yet... :/

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Offline Brownis15

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Re: Rocks and a Rant
« Reply #9 on: May 15, 2007, 08:37:58 pm »
yeah he gets ice all the time, i didnt use the shock collar, i jus couldnt do it. So for now we are avoiding rocks until his teething phase is over.
“He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion.”

The loves of my life

Atlas - GSD
Merlin - Papillon
SweetPea - Papillon

Offline Moni

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Re: Rocks and a Rant
« Reply #10 on: May 15, 2007, 09:48:54 pm »
I think Rockhound is somewhere in the GSDs ancestry.  ;)  Seriously though, good luck.  Faust is almost 9yrs old and only 2 toys would keep his mind off of rocks if you weren't 'playing' with him.  A bowling ball and a tire swing.  Sounds silly, but he destroyed all the other tuff chew toys we bought him.  Even those would only hold his interest for so long and when he wants to rest he'll find a rock and just carry it around.  I guess they are kind of like his woobies.

I was working on a dairy farm when Faust was growing up, so I just chose not to fight that battle.  However since Atlas is going to be a working boy and can't have toys, I guess tethering would be a way to keep an eye on him?

Sorry to hear about your kidney infection, those are no fun.  Hope that you feel better soon & good luck with the rocks.

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