Knowing what I know now, I probably wouldn't own any "pets." I'd probably own a Kai and/or Shikoku for deer/boar hunting and one or two pointing breeds like a Vizsla or WPG or Pointer for birds. As far as raising them, I wouldn't change anything. I'm very happy with how my dogs have turned out. :-)
You and these Vizsla's Dave. lol. You really need to get one.
Let's see....I would not have neutered Koda. I think he would have more confidence/ability to stick up for himself had I not. No lectures please on that notion.
With Maymay, she was already screwed up when I got her after being abused and neglected. Everything I've done has made a huge improvement.
I will say though, they are both impeccably trained and well mannered. I'm really proud of them.
For Bella, I am not sure there is anything I would have done differently. She is a very well rounded dog.
Nola, on the other hand... I would have worked more with her as a puppy on her socialization with children. She is terrified of them, no matter how much I work with her, it seems to actually get worse instead of better. So I just deal with her fear and make her as comfortable as possible and give her a 'safe zone' when she has to be around my nephew.
But as a general rule, I think they have both turned out to be pretty great dogs, and exactly what I need.
I would have skipped the invisible fence and gone straight to a real fence from the get go.
and I would have believed my DOG- not books, not friends, not vets, not trainers- and got Sage the hell out of the dog field social scene a lot sooner. this still makes me feel horribly guilty.
With Bella she turned out pretty well only thing I'd love to redo is to have taken her to puppy class and taken her to more outings. She does fine, but just gets excited at times.
Kept Bella away from my dad as a puppy he yelled at her way too much for chewing on things when it was his fault for leaving the magazine/book where she could get it or not exercising her any..
I think Bella would have been more confident dog if she wasn't yelled at, but ah well.
Saya she is perfect in behavior wise I'm still working with recall, but I guess switched her to raw at 8 weeks instead of at 8months.
Oh man, there are a lot of things I'd do differently. Honestly, I don't know if I'd have gotten Bel at all. I love my little crazy girl and would never give her up now, but she is messed up--unsocialized (and I didn't help that) and maybe with some other issues as well. Right now she's easy to deal with (easier than Toby) but still....Maybe a lot of socialization after I got her would have helped, but I don't know....she's always been pathologically timid around people, so it may not have helped (I'm hoping the fluoxetine she's started this week does help, though).
With Toby, I would have found a different trainer who would not have been "OMG he's staring! He's aggressive" so I could have continued classes with him, and socialized him more so he wouldn't be the misanthropic, reactive thing he is now. I'd have worked with a behavioralist from the beginning with him so he tolerated other dogs better.
With Oskar? Nothing. He's GREAT! So I guess the lessons learned with the Shibas helped a lot (and frankly, so did a lot of what I've learned here!)
This is kind of depressing, so I guess the thing I'd say now is that I'm glad I've found new ways of dealing with their problems, though, because the positive training is helping a lot, and I'm hoping meds will help with Bel. At least I know this: Shibas are long lived, so even though I didn't get serious about working with Bel and Toby til they were 5 and 6, I still have lots of time to enjoy a better life with them (even if they continue to enjoy separate but parallel lives!). And what I've learned is really paying off with Oskar!
I would have not worried so much about "titling" my dog before breeding her.
I would have entered more trials for the experience and to have fun even if we failed them all.
I would have bred Lynx much younger (around 2 years of age) instead of waiting and waiting...she is now 5 years of age and may not be able to get pregnant.
I would have taken Rakka to try our for the SAR. Instead I took Skella, and she failed. I thought Rakka wouldn't pass because I thought she wouldn't get along well enough with other dogs, but she's actually very good with other dogs and I just know she would've made it in. She's exactly what they describe. By the time I realized that, it was too late because she was over their age limit for new dogs.
Now I have to wait until I get another dog to do SAR, and that won't be for quite a while.
I have no regrets with Josephine at all. My husband wishes she had not been spayed, but we only learned her breed after the spaying... I think he will actually get another Kai someday to keep her company... But he is having mixed emotions after being "grandpa" to Frannie, my son's dog many times. Maybe when Frannie leaves for Canada at the first of the year he will start looking for that second Kai?
hmm, I don't know how Sevuk was raised before we found him at around 5 years of age...but, from the time that we've had him I highly regret ever feeding him Science diet for the first month that we had him. I started doing research around that time about dog food and realized we were just feeding him garbage that was probably bad to his health. Other than that, I have no regrets I think we did a very good job with our first doggie. Although, he kinda spoiled us coming to us already potty trained XD
I have no regrets regarding raising/training Nika. She was a wonderful Akita with impecable manners and fantastic with my kids. People were always impressed. The only thing I will do differently is keep my next dog crate trained. She was crate trained but after 4 years, she was so well trained and I had left the business world to be a homemaker. So after a while, I just decided to put away the crate (it was extra-large size and took up a lot of house room!). She was so well mannered and trustworthy, felt it was no longer necessary. However, as she got older (the last 2-years of her life), she developed severe separation anxiety with me inparticular. If I was gone away for more than 24-hours, she would destroy the house. I feel if I had kept the crate, she would have been better.... or at least contained!
I wish I had started Kratos on raw the second we found out about his bladder stones...but we went with our vet's suggestion of a science diet first and so for eight months he ate absolute crap and gained a good bit of weight. He eats raw now though - three months in, and he's already shed most of those excess pounds. Still, though - I wish we had done more research initially.
For Mitsu - I started her on raw at 12 weeks but looking back I probably would have started her on it immediately - not only for the benefits, but also because it would have saved me the time and energy of trying to convince Mitsu that kibble was appetizing! I also wish I had spent more time really getting to know shibas - because despite all of the research I put into the breed, the knowledge I gained from reading only scratched the surface. I definitely would still have brought Mitsu home, but maaaaaybe I would have been prepared for just how utterly overdramatic she can be. I'm afraid I may have played into her games a bit too much at the beginning, because while she is well-socialized and while she has a great temperament, she is a huge baby. We're working on this though!
We have a few Shibas and what I would do differently is not be so paranoid when some were puppies. My first Shibas weren't as socialized as puppies because of the fear of Parvo. I waited until they had all there puppy vaccinations and noticed that even two-three months in their young lives makes a difference. I now have to be careful with one of my girls as she can be animal aggressive (when she chooses to be)! I also tell people, Socialize and don't confine your Shiba when they are young, just have precautions about parvo but don't stop the socializing!!! Other then that, wouldn't change anything!
If I had the chance to do it all over again, I would have waited to get my first dog, Solomon. I was 14 and even though I had good intentions, I over-parented. I would have waited until I was 18 so I could hunt with him on my own and would have trained the crap out of him to retrieve. I also would have encouraged him to be more independent and not need to be two inches from me all the time. Knowing what I know now, I would have fed him decent food. He ate crap for 8 years, and I feel guilty about that. I'm happy with the way that things are working out with Tuula. I like that she's independent. I'm pleased with her working capability and how I helped to channel that. I've developed a lot of patience since I got Solomon and I don't try to control every moment of her life. She eats better than I do, so I'd say she's a spoiled turd there.
Comments
Let's see....I would not have neutered Koda. I think he would have more confidence/ability to stick up for himself had I not. No lectures please on that notion.
With Maymay, she was already screwed up when I got her after being abused and neglected. Everything I've done has made a huge improvement.
I will say though, they are both impeccably trained and well mannered. I'm really proud of them.
Nola, on the other hand... I would have worked more with her as a puppy on her socialization with children. She is terrified of them, no matter how much I work with her, it seems to actually get worse instead of better. So I just deal with her fear and make her as comfortable as possible and give her a 'safe zone' when she has to be around my nephew.
But as a general rule, I think they have both turned out to be pretty great dogs, and exactly what I need.
and I would have believed my DOG- not books, not friends, not vets, not trainers- and got Sage the hell out of the dog field social scene a lot sooner. this still makes me feel horribly guilty.
Kept Bella away from my dad as a puppy he yelled at her way too much for chewing on things when it was his fault for leaving the magazine/book where she could get it or not exercising her any..
I think Bella would have been more confident dog if she wasn't yelled at, but ah well.
Saya she is perfect in behavior wise I'm still working with recall, but I guess switched her to raw at 8 weeks instead of at 8months.
With Toby, I would have found a different trainer who would not have been "OMG he's staring! He's aggressive" so I could have continued classes with him, and socialized him more so he wouldn't be the misanthropic, reactive thing he is now. I'd have worked with a behavioralist from the beginning with him so he tolerated other dogs better.
With Oskar? Nothing. He's GREAT! So I guess the lessons learned with the Shibas helped a lot (and frankly, so did a lot of what I've learned here!)
This is kind of depressing, so I guess the thing I'd say now is that I'm glad I've found new ways of dealing with their problems, though, because the positive training is helping a lot, and I'm hoping meds will help with Bel. At least I know this: Shibas are long lived, so even though I didn't get serious about working with Bel and Toby til they were 5 and 6, I still have lots of time to enjoy a better life with them (even if they continue to enjoy separate but parallel lives!). And what I've learned is really paying off with Oskar!
I would have entered more trials for the experience and to have fun even if we failed them all.
I would have bred Lynx much younger (around 2 years of age) instead of waiting and waiting...she is now 5 years of age and may not be able to get pregnant.
Now I have to wait until I get another dog to do SAR, and that won't be for quite a while.
For Mitsu - I started her on raw at 12 weeks but looking back I probably would have started her on it immediately - not only for the benefits, but also because it would have saved me the time and energy of trying to convince Mitsu that kibble was appetizing! I also wish I had spent more time really getting to know shibas - because despite all of the research I put into the breed, the knowledge I gained from reading only scratched the surface. I definitely would still have brought Mitsu home, but maaaaaybe I would have been prepared for just how utterly overdramatic she can be. I'm afraid I may have played into her games a bit too much at the beginning, because while she is well-socialized and while she has a great temperament, she is a huge baby. We're working on this though!
I was 14 and even though I had good intentions, I over-parented. I would have waited until I was 18 so I could hunt with him on my own and would have trained the crap out of him to retrieve. I also would have encouraged him to be more independent and not need to be two inches from me all the time. Knowing what I know now, I would have fed him decent food. He ate crap for 8 years, and I feel guilty about that.
I'm happy with the way that things are working out with Tuula. I like that she's independent. I'm pleased with her working capability and how I helped to channel that. I've developed a lot of patience since I got Solomon and I don't try to control every moment of her life. She eats better than I do, so I'd say she's a spoiled turd there.