[skanchan95]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Classic dilemma of a pet owner who suddenly has a kid.
Now, I was born into a house which had two large Alsatians who were my Mum and Dad's first "children". When I arrived, were they banished?
No way!!

I lay in my crib and they lay beneath my crib, on guard. When I began to crawl, they crawled with me. When I started to walk and talk, they walked with me.

During diwali, when a few crackers were burst outside the house for base level religious purposes, these two and I used to sit under one of the beds.

When they passed on, I was devastated, as were the rest of the family. Of course, we have always had pets even after those two and I still have pets.

Nothing at all went wrong with me or my sibling just because there were large and furry pets around the house! If anything, we grew to learn about, love and respect the animal world and nature a lot more than perhaps we would have, had we not had pets at all!

Bottom-line: Dogs and Cats and children can co-exist perfectly peacefully with absolutely ZERO ill effects on the child. It is extremely cruel and very sad indeed to banish a once-loved pet in favour of a brand new brat. It should NOT be a case of Either Or. The two different species can co-exist in great harmony.

Therefore, do not banish your cat. Allow the child to grow up with the pet and believe me, the child will be a better human being for the experience!

Animals are probably God's Greatest creation and Dogs/Cats amongst the most "saintly" of them all.

Great post shankar.balan.

Whenever guests visit our house with kids, they ask us to keep our 10 month old playful German Shepherd "Sparky" outside. I vehemently oppose it, as we raised him like a baby in the house and I don't want him to develop some sort of hatred against kids that he was thrown outside the house because of kids. Our dog is well behaved with kids, though his curiosity to know the kids scares them.

Here he is waiting near our car for the door to be opened and to climb inside the car in a snap. Nothing excites him more than a car ride in the back seat.

[aravind.anand]

All said and done, its kind of terrifying when a dog owner asks the guests to just come inside and that the dog will not do anything at all. All while the dog is barking at a terrifying manner! I'd be like -"Come on, it wont do anything to you, but I am a stranger to it!" I sincerely hope that they respect the guest's feelings and put their pet in a cage for a short while.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by skanchan95

Great post shankar.balan. Whenever guests visit our house with kids, they ask us to keep our 10 month old playful German Shepherd "Sparky" outside. I vehemently oppose it, as we raised him like a baby in the house and I don't want him to develop some sort of hatred against kids that he was thrown outside the house because of kids. Our dog is well behaved with kids, though his curiosity to know the kids scares them. Here he is waiting near our car for the door to be opened and to climb inside the car in a snap. Nothing excites him more than a car ride in the back seat.

Originally Posted by aravind.anand

All said and done, its kind of terrifying when a dog owner asks the guests to just come inside and that the dog will not do anything at all. All while the dog is barking at a terrifying manner! I'd be like -"Come on, it wont do anything to you, but I am a stranger to it!" I sincerely hope that they respect the guest's feelings and put their pet in a cage for a short while.

Arvind while I can understand your fear, my method would be to talk calmly and gently to the dog and bring in the person being introduced slowly but surely.
I will not tie my pets up or 'cage' them. However in extreme cases of fear either me or my wife or our home attendant or some family member will take them into one of the rooms and sit with them till the visitor is gone. You can appreciate that such visitors are generally not encouraged unless absolutely necessary.

Kanchan. GSD's are playful. They like all dogs sense fear and tend to playfully bully the person who is scared. This behaviour is normal.

[drmohitg]

Originally Posted by aravind.anand

All said and done, its kind of terrifying when a dog owner asks the guests to just come inside and that the dog will not do anything at all. All while the dog is barking at a terrifying manner! I'd be like -"Come on, it wont do anything to you, but I am a stranger to it!" I sincerely hope that they respect the guest's feelings and put their pet in a cage for a short while.

Can understand that. We generally put a leash on such occasions and hold our lab. Seeing the leash and that the dog wouldn't be allowed to come near you unless you feel comfortable solves the problem most of the times. After a few minutes both the parties calm down and you can gradually introduce them.
And as shankar said, for those rare occasions when it is absolutely necessary to take our lab aside then one of us takes him to a room and wait it out there till the guest has left. If the guest is there for a long time then we close the door for that room and free the pet to roam in rest of the house.

[Googleman]

Originally Posted by aravind.anand

All said and done, its kind of terrifying when a dog owner asks the guests to just come inside and that the dog will not do anything at all. All while the dog is barking at a terrifying manner! I'd be like -"Come on, it wont do anything to you, but I am a stranger to it!" I sincerely hope that they respect the guest's feelings and put their pet in a cage for a short while.

Haha... I know that feeling. My neighbor also had a GSD who was hyper territorial. So one day she called me inside the gate while the GSD is barking his lungs out. I had 2 GSD's with me, so went inside like a BOSS and then came running out with a very brittle bite on my butt

but I can't blame the dog. Approaching a dog needs some expertise.. like, surrender to him let him sniff you, stand still and no eye contact. Once he is satisfied that you are no intruder, you can go ahead and bond with him.

[Thad E Ginathom]

It varies according to the nature of the species ...and then according to the nature and upbringing of the dog. With one like a labrador, the danger (unless it has been brought up to be aggressive to strangers, or has been ill-treated) is more likely one of being loved and licked to death!

A couple of years ago, my friend's cat died, aged over thirty years. Their son is now twenty-something. I recall that when she first saw the cat with her baby she wondered if she should let them be together, and then thought, "Oh, it's fine..." It was, and her son had a friend for over 20 years.

I remember one of her in memoriam thought for her late cat was, "He taught my child to be gentle."

Excuse the tear in my eye...

[motorpsycho]

Researchers say infants in houses with dogs and cats get fewer runny noses, coughs and ear infections.

Article here

[dean5545]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

A couple of years ago, my friend's cat died, aged over thirty years.

Do cats live such a long life?If its true then it is good news for me!

[Thad E Ginathom]

Yes, a cat's life can be thirty years or more. I have known at least two that lived this long, but none of mine have done.

Even in my mother country, diseases or cars tend to prevent them getting to that age. Here the are quite a few more risks.

[dean5545]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Yes, a cat's life can be thirty years or more. I have known at least two that lived this long, but none of mine have done.

Even in my mother country, diseases or cars tend to prevent them getting to that age. Here the are quite a few more risks.

well my cat is 11 now.He stays indoor only.He has not been taken to a vet ever even for a general check up.Do you think I should take him to a vet?

[mohang_j]

Hi,
I have a 7+ month male Lab, problem with him is i cannot unleash him at home. if i do he will start running all around and chew the furniture. If i leash him he is the best and well behaved. Any suggestion to make him calm and sit when unleashed? He understands the sit, down, no, leave it and come commands.

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by dean5545

well my cat is 11 now.He stays indoor only.He has not been taken to a vet ever even for a general check up.Do you think I should take him to a vet?

A general check up with a well referred vet for cats is always good every year. Do a basic deworming, check the stomach for hairballs, that kind of thing. You DONT have to inject him with anti rabies since he is indoor all the time. Anti rabies is good only for animals that have daily contact with other animals who are not under your supervision (strays for instance) and thus might carry rabies.

[skanchan95]

Originally Posted by aravind.anand

All said and done, its kind of terrifying when a dog owner asks the guests to just come inside and that the dog will not do anything at all. All while the dog is barking at a terrifying manner! I'd be like -"Come on, it wont do anything to you, but I am a stranger to it!" I sincerely hope that they respect the guest's feelings and put their pet in a cage for a short while.

That will only make the dog more angry and ferocious. We never bought a cage or built one for our dog. For us, he is like a member of our family. He is put on a leash only to control his excitement after seeing guests and I never tie him up. It is only natural & protective of the dog to bark at strangers. To his credit, when we are around and once he understands that the strangers are friendly and mean no harm, he lets them be after sniffing them once. He barks at guests but never charges at them. It will be cruel if I put him in a cage and just imagine what would be going on his mind.

To this date, he has never bit or jumped at anyone when we are around and is well behaved. But if any stranger comes at the gate when we are not around, he transforms, his protective instinct kicks in and he barks and jumps around as if there's no tomorrow. He only calms down and feels assured when he sees one of us. He knows it is his job to guard the house and his human family. In return, all he wants is love

Originally Posted by mohang_j

Hi,
I have a 7+ month male Lab, problem with him is i cannot unleash him at home. if i do he will start running all around and chew the furniture. If i leash him he is the best and well behaved. Any suggestion to make him calm and sit when unleashed? He understands the sit, down, no, leave it and come commands.

Had similiar problem with our dog initially when he was 4-5 months old. Eventhough he never damaged any of the sofas, he would try to chew the legs of wooden tables and one occasion he destroyed a cushioned garden chair - tearing the cushion off the plastic chair. We did not beat him, but instead took him to the chair and started scolding him, like you do to discipline a kid. He seemed to have understood that he did something wrong and looked the chair sheepishly with apologetic eyes. Since then, he hasn't damaged anything else in the house. The trick is to be firm with your dog, but never raise your hands to beat him. It might take time, but slowly he will understand and learn to stop damaging things.

[Googleman]

This happens if you don't research before getting a pet. Labs are incredibly enthu and playful.

Originally Posted by mohang_j

Hi,
I have a 7+ month male Lab, problem with him is i cannot unleash him at home. if i do he will start running all around and chew the furniture. If i leash him he is the best and well behaved. Any suggestion to make him calm and sit when unleashed? He understands the sit, down, no, leave it and come commands.

That is because he has a lot of energy inside him. Try this in the coming Saturday: Get up in the morning (whenever possible), take him for a 4-5KM long walk, brisk walking... not loitering around
Get back home when you see he is tired, leave him unleashed the whole day... see how he spends the whole day sleeping.

If it does not work, I can give you more tips. About chewing, you can't do much other than keeping things away from him or get him the Raw Hide bones, some old slippers, wooden planks... etc

Final question: Is he neutered? No? Get him neutered please.

[mohang_j]

Thanks for the tips Googleman and Sandesh.

Originally Posted by Googleman

This happens if you don't research before getting a pet. Labs are incredibly enthu and playful.

I have done my homework before getting the dog.

Get up in the morning (whenever possible), take him for a 4-5KM long walk, brisk walking.

I take him for the walk for 1 km everyday. I will be on a bicycle and he will be running next to me. There are lot of stray dogs in the area which makes the walk difficult.

get him the Raw Hide bones, .

Yes he has plenty of them.

Is he neutered? No? Get him neutered please.

Not yet.My Vet says wait till he becomes an year old.

Originally Posted by skanchan95

The trick is to be firm with your dog.

I am, but my son loves to play with him more than being firm.