She's a faker!

[SheltieChe]

when we got Sammy from rescue, I noticed she was squatting a lot in the yard for the first couple of days, not really even peeing. I mentioned it to my BIL because I was thinking possibly UTI but couple of days later it was gone. We figured it was either stress from new environment or she was marking her new territory from possibly still lingering scent of last dog who passed away couple of months before during winter time so lots of rain and snow but who knows how long smell can linger...
dogs suddenly get interested and extensively sniff around to either relieve their own stress or to show other dogs/ people they are no threat to them...
http://www.wagntrain.com/BodyLanguage2.htm

 

[Smudge]

That is a fabulous link! I am going to post it on my facebook page.

It has a link where you can take a dog quiz to see how well you can read a dog's body language, and I only got one wrong.

 

[take4roll10]

My parents' chihuahua Cali will not eat or drink anything when she is outside of the house. She doesn't go out of the house very often, so it's probably stress.

 

[corbinam]

I vote stress, too. Sniffing, not taking treats, and not being able to pee are all signs of worrying. Lexi sometimes will go outside, hear a noise that scares her and can't relax enough to go to the bathroom.

She needs more socialization. Take her absolute favorite treat and toy next time.

 

[Smudge]

She needs more socialization.

Don't I know it. Both of mine do. I'm also ticked to have recently found out that I probably will not be let off of work for Responsible Dog Ownership day. So there went another good oppertunity down the drain!

 

[Lovely]

I agree- just stress.

It sounds like they do need more socialization. If we didn't have such an awesome park (not really the facilities, I mean the people and dogs who go there), then I would be so lost as to how to get my dogs socialized. Plus, they can burn off some of that energy! It's too hot to be taking them all of the time now, but when it cools down, we will be there 2-3 times a week. And that's down from the 3-4 times because we now have a weekly agility class.

I know people say bad things about parks and we definitely experienced some not so good things at the first few parks we tried. But then we found one where people don't (usually) let their dogs exhibit any offensive behavior, they always clean up the messes, and they are so amusing.

I'm not meaning to lecture (sorry if it came off that way), I just thought you might want to revisit the idea now that your dogs are a little older.

 

[Smudge]

I completely agree with you. That was one of the reasons I invited myself to the weekly park meetings. Almost all of the people there do obedience, rally, and agility, so they have great pointers.

When we are not at the park my main goals are getting Fluffy leashed trained, and getting Smudge to do a down/lay in front of other people. Not an easy task, but we're working on it.

The only bad thing about the Texarkana park is that it has been in the news for murder more than a few times. So if I don't have somebody to meet or go with I will 100% not be going alone. We can try the Foreman park and the Ashdown park though in the meantime. I just wish it wasn't so scratching hot.

 

[take4roll10]

When we are not at the park my main goals are getting Fluffy leashed trained, and getting Smudge to do a down/lay in front of other people. Not an easy task, but we're working on it.

At least Bailey is not the only one! She also has trouble with "down" in front of other dogs. we've had a lot of trouble with this in class. She has gotten better, but still refused to lay down sometimes.

 

[SheltieChe]

At least Bailey is not the only one! She also has trouble with "down" in front of other dogs. we've had a lot of trouble with this in class. She has gotten better, but still refused to lay down sometimes.

Position " down" is very submissive and vulnerable to many dogs. Some have trouble with dominance issues, some do not want to appear too vulnerable, some are simply very uncomfortable to be laying on their stomach.
Dogs that lack confidence may resist the lay down command because they are fearful of being vulnerable. These dogs may not be secure enough to trust that the owner will not allow them to be harmed while they are in the down position and will remain cautious of potential predators while in this position.

 

[Smudge]

At least Bailey is not the only one! She also has trouble with "down" in front of other dogs. we've had a lot of trouble with this in class. She has gotten better, but still refused to lay down sometimes.

There are two ladies who run the obedience center Smudge goes to (I say go to, but it's been ages since we've been, and we need to go back!). The one I don't care for got kind of miffed at me when Smudge could not do a lay/down. Most of the other dogs had taken a basic manners class before though, and we had not. So we were behind everybody else anyway.

I worked with Fluffy some tonight on sit. I swear if there was an award to be given out for dogs that had the most focus Fluffy would win. She just STARES at you the entire time. She didn't get it by the time I called it quits, but it's ok. She'll get it eventually. She's too smart not to!