Dog to English Translator

[archaeo42]

Starting so we can continue discussing the fora pups.

We recently went out of town for a week and had archaeo dog and in-law GSP stay home while the dog sitter came through out the day. I was worried archaeo dog would be stressed from less human interaction but apparently I was wrong. They seemed to do pretty well. When we moved north a few years ago we lost our excellent pet-sitting arrangement from old city and haven't really found something as satisfactory since.

[mamselle]

Glad it worked out!

And very glad to see this thread.

For some reason the "Cats" thread seems to get more attention...

I hope more folks will post about their canine four-footeds as well.

M. (who has no pets of any kind but loves them all.)

[apostrophe]

following

[aside]

I always wanted to follow this thread, living with a dog as I did, yet our 15-year-old family dog was on his last legs when I joined the CHE fora officially many years ago, and it was just too painful to start at that point.  My spouse has since taken in a stray that the vet judged to be about three.  That was six years ago, thus she is around 9 now (the dog, not my spouse).  She is a sweet, well-behaved, and really smart mixed breed (really just a mutt, yet more Chihuahua than anything).  She is in good health, but getting up there in years.  Someone trained her well, then apparently abandoned her in a park near where my spouse works--no collar or tags or microchip.  Several co-workers kept an eye on her for several days as she wandered the area, hoping an owner would appear.  After a week or so, she and my spouse bonded, so we took her in and put up signs, ads in the paper and online services, etc.  No one claimed her.  She definitely is woven into the fabric of our lives now.

[mamselle]

Aww, she sounds really sweet.

You have to give her a fora-name!

What will it be?

M.

[aside]

I thought about "Dogaside" but somehow that did not sound quite right.  Maybe "aside-dog."

[mamselle]

Dogside?

M.

[aside]

Or maybe sidedog.  I asked her for a preference, but she just cocked her head and seemed to suggest that her name was perfectly fine and that she did not care about being pseudo-anonymous.  Yet because my colleagues know her well and I do wish to remain pseudo-anonymous, so she shall remain.

[mamselle]

Sidedog works.

I like the image of her cocking her head and looking at you.

They can be like cats sometimes, that way.

M.

[archaeo42]

As can be seen from the monikers archaeodog and in-law GSP, I am not creative about fora names for the pets either.

So now an actual dog dilemma. Upon our return to our house (we spent the previous 6 months in a temporary apartment for reasons) in-law GSP has taken to being afraid of the stairs. In particular, the last step at the top of the stairs. She'll climb up, get to the top, and whine. There have been a few occasions in the past couple weeks where she's actually made it up. She had no problem with the stairs prior to our 6 month absence either.

This really only happens in the morning. She had a recent vet visit and we were given some pain killers for her (she is 11) to give her in addition to the dasuquin she's already taking. I'm inclined to think we have her come upstairs with us at bedtime. I'm wondering if maybe it's early morning joint stiffness? This morning I tried leading her up with a treat which worked until the very top of the stairs where she balked and whined about the last step.

Anyway, I'm open to suggestions of other things to try.

[mamselle]

My aunt's elderly dog developed arthritis in her hips and cried when trying to jump up on the sofa to be petted, as she had always done in the past.

You other meds may already be covering this, but 1/2 an aspirin (per the vet's order, of course) wrapped in a cheese slice seemed to help her. She was a smallish dog, bichon-sized, so dosing and drug interactions should be up to your vet, of course, but you might request consideration of the aspirin as an anti-inflammatory agent.

(Also, I think there were a couple posts that were knocked out by the server hiccups last week, or am I imagining that?

M.

[archaeo42]

I don't know we: other posts. The only ones I see were there before.

The medications in-law GSP are on address inflammation. It's literally just the last step that she gets spooked at. This weekend she repeated her whining and then after eating her breakfast came on upstairs like it was no big deal. I'm beginning to think she's just needed a longer adjustment period from our temporary place. Archaeodog is very used to moving. Before coming to live with us in-law GSP had been in the same house since she was a puppy.

[ohnoes]

Are the stairs/floors carpeted?

PreviousDog was unsteady on our hardwood floors; occasional bathmats and adhesive-backed carpet tiles on the stairs really helped her balance and comfort.

[archaeo42]

Are the stairs/floors carpeted?

PreviousDog was unsteady on our hardwood floors; occasional bathmats and adhesive-backed carpet tiles on the stairs really helped her balance and comfort.

They're wood but we have carpet tiles on them. Where we don't have anything is the upstairs hallway. I temporarily dragged an area rug out there but I may have not left it there long enough.

[chemigal]

After we lost chempup in April we adopted a 10 wk old roly-poly Jack Russell form the shelter.  According to her owners she was sent to the pound because she doesn't like cats.  I shall name her pork chop here on the forums.  I've always wanted two dogs so last month we added a lean mean leaping machine to the pack.  He is an (approximately) 1 year old mutt with springs in his paws.  He leapt over our four foot fence yesterday to chase after the neighbors cat!  We shall refer to him as tigger here on the forum.  I still miss chempup everyday but the antics of pork chop and tigger certainly help.