Pet behavior you know you shouldn't tolerate but you do anyway?

[nadine_mn]

First things first - we are a family whose pets run the house. We have never had a no pets on the furniture or no pets on the bed rule. I know some people do, and that's fine (totally missing out on soft cuddles).

We are way more lenient than a lot of pet parents because we have no sense of discipline, but even we have a few rules (maybe?).

One is no [obnoxious] begging - sad puppy eyes from across the room are ok, getting all up in your food and face is not.

Until now. Sigh. Our little (65 lb) Lab/Chessie mix Jazz is getting fricking ancient for a large breed - almost 16. I post often about her because she amazes me. She still has so much energy and spirit - despite bad arthritis and hip dsyplasia. She still gets on furniture, climbs stairs, occasionally trots after Durango (our other spoiled one), and gently wrestles with him. She is extremely vocal about strangers in the house and has to supervise me wherever I go.

She is very feisty (husband says bossy) and a little demanding. When she is interested in what you are eating, she sniffs around, snorts at you and then aggressively nudges until you share. Esp with cinnamon coffee cake muffins (I know, too much sugar for dogs, but at her age I give in). She also has a rule of "if it falls on the floor its mine" - she now actively 'helps' food land on the floor.

I am worried that our German Shepherd is going to pick up her bad habits, but he is almost 12 and has no clue he is a senior pet. He runs around like a happy puppy. I am seriously considering switching to their dog food because it clearly has magical age defying properties.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/JzHSVe][img][/img][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/JzHSVe]

[Laffy Kat]

1. IMO, you are a great pet mom!

Never understood not letting your pets on the furniture. If your furniture is that valuable, don't get a dog or cat, get a fish.

[nadine_mn]

3. Each time we have had to purchase furniture we have told the salesperson

that we have pets, and they will spend more time on the furniture than us. Never understood buying expensive, easily stained/ruined furniture if you have kids or pets - and getting mad when something spills/tears/stains.

The day we brought Jazz home (she was an 'accident' - we went to buy dog food for our other 2 and it was pet adoption day and she is adorable, esp at 6 months old) she walked into the house, looked around and immediately took one of the other dogs' toys and hopped on the couch, making herself right at home.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. The arms of my ugly second-hand couch are cat scratching posts,

no matter how hard I've tried to discourage that practice. And all of the furniture has hair on it. That's why it's called FURniture.

[Laffy Kat]

6. LOL. nt

[nadine_mn]

8. Lol - so true

Our cat scratched the heck out of the wood on the door frames - fortunately he left the couches alone.

[femmocrat]

2. They sound like wonderful dogs and deserve to be spoiled a little.

I wouldn't worry about it. Dogs seem to understand which rules apply to them personally. As long as you don't reward his unwanted behavior, he should remain well-mannered.

You have been very fortunate to have them for such a long time with no major health issues. What do you feed them?

[nadine_mn]

7. We feed them a combo of dry/wet Taste of the Wild

dog food. Our other 2 dogs (also big dogs) lived to about 13 yrs each, with major health problems towards the end of their lives. We didn't have them on the higher quality until later on when we educated ourselves more on pet food.

But honestly, Jazz is some kind of wonder dog - if you could hear how bad her arthritis is - her bones crunch. So we have had the discussion with her vet about quality of life but she is otherwise healthy and her spirit is so strong. She actively engages with the family, has little bursts of energy in the morning and evening, she follows us around and gets into trouble (rummaging through recycling, nosing around in trash cans, sneaking treats) so we just will wait until she lets us know it's too much.

As far as dogs understanding what applies to them - holy cow: our shepherd is DEVOTED to Jazz. We had workers in our house, which caused Jazz to bark non-stop for a couple of hours. Durango, once he saw that I ok'd them in the house, was content to leave them be. Until Jazz gave him a look, shaming him into barking with her. When I said hush..he stopped, looked at me then her and started barking again. If he is on the couch, she just gives him a look and he is off it so she can get on it. Whatever she wants, he lets her have.

We are so lucky to have them.

[dixiegrrrrl]

15. FWIW....I give our 12 y/o dog Mobric for his bad hips/arthiritis

and it has done miracles.
Plus, it is 10.00 for 90 day supply, he gets 1/2 pill once a day, so 10.00 for 180 days.
Needs a prescription, I actually had the script for myself, with refills, but ended up taking something else for my arthritis,
and the vet said Mobic was fine for dogs.
It has done wonders for our big boy.

[Rhiannon12866]

20. My 18 year old cocker also had joint issues.

It got so I had to carry him outside so I was willing to try anything. What finally helped the most was acupuncture. I'd had it myself so I knew it wasn't invasive or very uncomfortable and it really did work wonders for him. He was also given a supplement/medication that his vet thought very highly of, so I looked it up. It was called Chondro Flex. And I'm writing down what you've found is helping your dog. My dog now is "only" 10 and not a big guy, but it helps to remember these things. Two of my dogs have lived past 18... Thanks!

https://www.vetinfo.com/chondro-flex-for-dogs.html

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. My cats own me and run the house.

They have trained me to give them treats when they ask for (demand) them. One of them has started using an irritating but effective means of getting me to give him a snack: He walks back and forth on the piano until I get so annoyed that I get up to shoo him off, and then he runs into the kitchen and yowls until I feed him something. "Human, I will walk all over your noise-making furniture until you give me a treat."

One of the others begs relentlessly, but it's not just the sad-eyes thing dogs do. He stares for a little bit but if that doesn't work he moves in with a paw, which is faster than my fork. Yes, he has been known to steal food right off my fork. Once he stole an entire pork chop off my plate and ran away with it. I'm afraid to have people over for dinner because he'd steal their food; I could shut him in another room but then he'd howl and whine nonstop. Cat #3 is a little less demanding about food but she chews on my hair when she wants attention.

They are not allowed on the kitchen counter but they don't care about that rule either.

[Laffy Kat]

9. I've got a major problem with my kitteh.

She's been door-dashing A LOT and the other morning when I took my dog out she dashed out and ran all the way down the back alley. It was 4:45 am and COLD. She usually stops at some point, flips over on her back, and coos until I pick her up. Anyway, she could just as easily run out into the street. Now she sits by the and yowls loudly wanting to go out. I've been trying to distract her and it works for a while then she goes back to the door.

I'm wondering if I should let her slip out and have my son hide behind the garage and purposely scare her when she runs by. I hate to use such a tactic but I honestly don't know what else to do at this point. The garage is just a few feet from the front door and I know she'll just run back in; there is no other place she can go as the street is blocked from there. I want her to think the outside world is a scary place. I do not have a fence and it's just too dangerous for cats to be outside here: traffic, coyotes, foxes, mean people, etc.

Comments or suggestions?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

11. Can't help you there. My one occasional door-dasher doesn't go far.

She scoots out onto the porch, then just stands there until I pick her up and bring her inside. Maybe confine the cat somewhere before you take the dog out?

[Laffy Kat]

14. I would be confining her ALL DAY.

I have two doors, one son home, friends going in and out all day. There are two doors and she dashes from both.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

16. Does she have a collar and tag and a microchip

in case she does wander off? Usually cats stay pretty close to home when they get out. I'm afraid that if you do the scare tactic you suggested she might run away (cats can get through barriers you wouldn't expect) and you might have a tough time finding her.

[nadine_mn]

13. how old is your kitty?

When our cat adopted us (literally just showed up in the middle of the night), since he was a stray he had a hard time with being indoor only. It was fine when we lived in the middle of nowhere, but when we moved near a busy road, it was time to become house kitteh. Except he decided to put holes in all the screens and escape. He always came back after a little jaunt, but he was a black cat so I was worried sick.

Then once he was older 5-6, he just realized that the house was way more comfy than inside. He would still "sneak" outside every now and then, as in loudly meow as we opened the door and slowly walk around the patio, looking over his shoulder at us before we said get in the house, and he would run back in.

Maybe if your kitty has supervised outings like on a harness or something so she gets the thrill of outside?

[nadine_mn]

10. Holy cow about the pork chop theft

Bold - I admire that in a kitty.

Our cat (he passed away last year at the ripe age of 17) had the most ANNOYING way of getting me to feed him. First the usual pawing and meowing. Then came the dramatic "oh my humans won't feed me so I must eat this piece of paper/plastic or pull up the carpet and hope crumbs land in my mouth". I have that thing where small repetitive noises irritate me - misophonia - so whereas my husband could tune it out, I could not. Man I miss that little stinker. Never thought I would miss his flying leaps onto my back or face in the middle of the night but I sure do now.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

12. One of the cats uses the repetitive noise thing, too.

He scratches at a full-length mirror, over and over, usually to get me up in the morning. Obviously he can't damage the mirror but the sound drives me nuts. They are adorable, though.

[shenmue]

17. Doggies!

[NJCher]

18. I am sure this will be the most pitiful story on this thread

My cat Greenlee, who has fluffy, white fur, comes to bed after we do. She will first cuddle up to me length-wise, and she is so soft, warm, and pretty that I love it when she is next to me while I read my ebook reader. Sometimes I laugh at something I'm reading, and she puts her paw on my forearm. Then when I doze off, she heads to the center of the bed and sleeps horizontally, taking up a good 18-inches of a king-size bed. She manages to push me to the side. I'll bet I don't even get 12" of the bed, and I hug the seam at the side, trying to keep from falling off.

Every night I say, "This is going to STOP!" but it never does.


Cher

p.s. nadine, your Jazz is really cute; both pup-dogs in your pic are!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

19. Cats have the magical ability

to expand to the size of water buffaloes after the human is in bed and the lights go out.