Canines

[Doctor Jeff]

My experience is when a dog’s gotta go he/she goes. Ain’t no stopping it.

They are generally less interested and adherent to social proprieties than humans. Most humans.

My Carolina dog Miss Foxy has gotten fairly used to fireworks. I loved them as a kid, hate them as an adult except for large public displays. Omaha may be one of the larger cities to allow fireworks in the city. Some year when it is dry there will be a large outbreak of fires, and they’ll probably go back to not allowing them in the city limits.

My dog doesn’t like thunderstorms, mailpeople and certain dogs like my daughter’s little dachsund mix. Otherwise likes all people, kids and most dogs. And even tolerates the cats.

Oh another thing she doesn’t like—rumble strips on the road. Kind of like a thunderstorm inside the car.

[2bornot2bop]

I’ve owned 3 boxers. Each 4th of July or New Year’s I wrapped them in a Thundershirt. Most are made of a spandex or polyester material. Anxiety in dogs is completely normal. Heck, even I can’t stand the 4oJ! So I’d wrap them and turn the sound up on the tv. All is good.

As to a dog pooping in front of me, most animal owners understand when you have to go you gotta go. I don’t get anyone becoming incensed by poop. If a dog had access to a toilet perhaps they’d use it.

[RJVB]

But nevertheless I do not want to have a shi.... defecating dog in front of me when having breakfast. Would you like that?

No, and the reason I asked is that I wouldn't hesitate either to "call the cops on her" or film her and put that online. If I wouldn't simply signal a waiter and have them sort out the problem.

Depending on the size of the dog and how much/what it had to eat since its last dump, the resulting heap can represent a pretty sizeable fish to fry

[Boss Man Zwiebelsohn]

I’ve owned 3 boxers. Each 4th of July or New Year’s I wrapped them in a Thundershirt. Most are made of a spandex or polyester material. Anxiety in dogs is completely normal. Heck, even I can’t stand the 4oJ! So I’d wrap them and turn the sound up on the tv. All is good.

As to a dog pooping in front of me, most animal owners understand when you have to go you gotta go. I don’t get anyone becoming incensed by poop. If a dog had access to a toilet perhaps they’d use it.

Maybe you like poop -- I don't. Not while eating at least. I worked one year as a male nurse in a hospital after school and worked with people with multiple severe handicaps later. If I have to deal with poop I will. But spare me it while I am eating.

When I was a kid we had dogs as well. My parents would have never allowed the dog to defecate in front of somebody eating in front of a restaurant. You can train a dog. Of course not totally against its instincts. That cafe is very small, the space is maybe 4 m wide. If you have the dog on a leash (what you will do in the city and that dog was on a leash) you could pull him/her e.g. to the neighboring entrance of the underground parking. That dog did not have the squirts but constipation. Which is probably a sign of not feeding it well enough anyway.

EDIT: One of the first basic principles of hygiene I was taught when I started working at the hospitals was that body expulsions and food have to remain separate.

[Boss Man Zwiebelsohn]

No, and the reason I asked is that I wouldn't hesitate either to "call the cops on her" or film her and put that online. If I wouldn't simply signal a waiter and have them sort out the problem.

Depending on the size of the dog and how much/what it had to eat since its last dump, the resulting heap can represent a pretty sizeable fish to fry

I talked to my old mother today about the story (she did not understand that dog owner's behavior either) and she told me a funny story about this neighbor of my parents in the outskirts after I had moved out. There was a woman that came every day and let her dog defecate into the neighbor's front yard. One day the neighbor caught her and said to her in her kindest voice if she could get the dog owner's address. The dog owner was amazed and asked why and the neighbor said to her less kindly: "There is no such thing that I would like to do more than shitting into your front yard!" From that day on the front yard remained clean.

[supersoul]

I know for a fact that cats also hate fireworks. It undermines their notion that they control the world.

I also feel bad for all the birds who have to deal with human beings setting off high explosives at the same time every year. It must really mess with them. They're sensitive to air pressure and vibrations in ways we're not.

[RJVB]

Cats have even more sensitive hearing than dogs so yes, evidently they don't like the noise. Mine are hardly phased though during the yearly 14/7 fireworks that are shot at at most 500m from our house.

As to birds: there are a lot less of them flying at high altitudes at common fireworks times, and what species are active in the area will probably just move.

[supersoul]

As to birds: there are a lot less of them flying at high altitudes at common fireworks times, and what species are active in the area will probably just move.

Where I live people set off fireworks on the street, at New Years and the week preceding. Some parts are war zones. Crows live in the city and they do seem affected by it. I feel for them.

[Boss Man Zwiebelsohn]

I know for a fact that cats also hate fireworks. It undermines their notion that they control the world.

I also feel bad for all the birds who have to deal with human beings setting off high explosives at the same time every year. It must really mess with them. They're sensitive to air pressure and vibrations in ways we're not.

Imagine a cat or a dog when there are 80 tons of explosives ...

[RJVB]

I forgot about the pure noise versions...

Crows live in the city and they do seem affected by it. I feel for them.

Not feeling for just the birds TBH (and among them, probably least for crows and family, noisy rascals themselves).

[jazzloverfat]

Remember any advice how to break fear for thunderstorms?

What we would do sometimes was to get his chew toy or a tennis ball and play fetch. If it was raining and we had to be indoors, then it was something like tug of war - he absolutely loved chewing on stuff and would not let go no matter what. When we first got him he would initially run and hide in a corner or under a table, but whenever he saw the toy he would come out and play. By the time he was about 2 he pretty much got over it. It also helped we spent most of the summer months in the mountains and he got to really run around and experience nature i think.

[RJVB]

I could try playing again although that hasn't worked too well until now, possibly because at 5 she has become a lot less interested in those absorbing wild plays. Plus, thunderstorms always seem to happen when I'd really like to continue doing other things rather than having to baby a dog in one way or another.

Thunderwraps. They look interesting but I can't shake the hunch that they're in fact a kind of passive form of babying. To those who use(d) them: do the symptoms not get worse if you get caught unprepared without the thing at hand?

[A. Kingstone]

Do all dog breeds have the 'homing instinct'?

There seem to be a lot of lost dogs up here in the country.

[Ukena]

[...] Thunderwraps. They look interesting but I can't shake the hunch that they're in fact a kind of passive form of babying. To those who use(d) them: do the symptoms not get worse if you get caught unprepared without the thing at hand?

Our dog comes asking for the thunder shirt when she feels a storm coming on (she knows the thunder is coming long before we hear it). If we are somewhere and don't have it with us, her symptoms don't get worse, they just stay bad. She shakes uncontrollably and just looks miserable. She does not go and hide, however; she wants to be with us. We got her from a shelter 4-1/2 years ago, when she was around 1-1/2. She had obviously been pretty abused, and probably by a man, since it took about a year for her to get comfortable with me (she only wanted to be with my wife). Now she's well-socialized, and happy to be with people and other animals (although large dogs do give her pause).

[RJVB]

Do all dog breeds have the 'homing instinct'?
There seem to be a lot of lost dogs up here in the country.

I think that's mostly a myth beyond the confines of their usual territory where they know to find their way around (so "instinct" is not to be taken in the same sense as it is in this context in pigeons - though they too know their way around in the area around their home). Case in point: one of the reasons often cited to keep dogs inside when there are fireworks is they can get spooked enough to run away too far and then get lost.

On a related note: did anyone see the news blurb of a cat who had gotten spooked while on holiday in I think Yellowstone, and who apparently travelled about 1400 of the 3300 miles to her home on her own in I think 6 weeks? That distance in itself is amazing (though in line with the distance adventurous roamers are known to cover during a nightly outing) but also that he managed to go in a consistant direction, that it was apparently the right one, and that he even bothered at all.

Our dog comes asking for the thunder shirt when she feels a storm coming on (she knows the thunder is coming long before we hear it). If we are somewhere and don't have it with us, her symptoms don't get worse, they just stay bad.

I guess what I meant was "worse compared to the symptoms from before she had the wrap".
AFAIK it's common for dogs to seek the company (and protection) of their care-takers. It's cats that typically go hid because they're not pack animals; I'm sure there's a demonstration of that somewhere on YT. My 3 cats clearly do that whenever they hear the dog announcing the presence of someone outside, but curiously only 2 of them will go hide in their crate as soon as they get the chance during a vet visit. The other one will indeed seek protection in my arms (or used to at least); she's the one I hand-raised from when she was barely 1 month old and got separated from her (feral) mother.

PS: she looks like a frightened or fearful dog to me in that picture!

[Boss Man Zwiebelsohn]

Do all dog breeds have the 'homing instinct'?

There seem to be a lot of lost dogs up here in the country.

According to Donald Trump ...

Just kidding of course.