Is my dog just STUPID?

ggraaaaghh! So its the heatwave and I have a poor hairy doggie. Double coat snow-dog, and is booked in for a clipping next week :doh:.

Now, I think she is a little brainless for the following reasons -

she gets out and lies in the middle of the ROAD.
she takes on HUGE dogs in the street. Yes, it's a bit of small dog syndrome but she takes it further and really GOES them
she barks when WE come home, goes nuts when anyone goes past to the point I have to grab her collar inside the house

So its hot as and I'm a little worried. She doesn't seem to drink at ALL. Last night I fed her when it was cooler, there are wet towels on the deck for her to lie on and a cool drink. She just REFUSED to go outside, I had to drag her out!

Its hot in the house, its cool out there. She cried and carried on to sleep inside despite the heat, didn't drink and just lay there panting heavily. Its bad enough that she snores loud enough to break the sound barrier and we need to be able to sleep too!

Seriously, is she just stupid??????

:rofl: awwww poor Ruby Doo....

She even tried to eat Oscar......LMAO

Oscy hasn't been eating or drinking either babe.... mind you he won't budge from down the side of the bed where the a/c is blowing.
Bring her over here if you like.....

you know that old saying u can lead a horse to water but u cant make i drink? same applies here, our dog wasnt interested in her dinner last night either.
As for your barking and 'going of other dogs' i would suggest u get some training tips from a professional, that kind of behaviour isnt acceptable, unless of course ur fine with it! you'd be suprised how easy the steps are to change that kind of thing. but no ur dog isnt dumb, most likely cranky hot and tired like all of us in vic, and being a lil defiant by the sounds.
I have some tips for barking at other dogs whilst walking.PM me if you'd like them

our dog didnt eat either. we offered her a juicy bone and everything...for a labrador that is something LOL!

our dog was also stubborn and insisted on sleeping in the hot hallway. meanwhile there are cool wet towels and tiles in the kitchen for her, but nup, just insane. her panting drove ME insane. :D

Just wondering if you have ever had her clipped before? Because most double-coated dogs cope better in the heat without being clipped. I have a double-coated Japanese Spitz and the worst thing I could do at the moment would be to have him clipped. Their double coat acts as insulation against the heat as well as the cold. If you're not sure though, maybe call up a breeder of your type of dog and just ask their opinion.

Oh, and a lot of the time when you get a double coated dog clipped their fur never grows back the same. You know how you get pomeranians that have the nice looking sleek coat, and then you see some that look like they have fairy floss for hair? Well, the fairy floss ones are most often the ones that have been clipped in the past.

With the heat, the main concern is making sure she stays hydrated (as I'm sure you're well aware), and there are a couple of tricks you can try to get her to drink more. Lots of dogs enjoy "apple-bobbing" for ice cubes in their drinking water. If your dog eats any canned food you can smush some up with extra water, freeze it, and then feed it to her frozen. Or even try having lots of extra bowls of water around the house and backyard so that she doesn't have to go far in the heat to get to the water (in case it's just that she's being to lazy in the heat to get up).

Good luck!!

my 2 got clipped yesterday thank goodness as were both so hairy!!!

They have hardly drank any water (have various bowls inside) have not wanted to go out to wee either.

I was going to suggest iceblocks as KritieLove has. It may help to cool them down as well as providing some moisture. I know some dogs love them so it may be worth a try.

Our dog loves chasing ice cubes around on the kitchen floor..it's hilarious to watch him trying to pick them up too! You could also try freezing some chicken necks or bones in some water or chicken/beef stock. Will keep her occupied for a while, and also provide some liquid and some food for her.

We also got one of those shell pools for our dog (we got ours 2nd hand so it has a hole in the side which we must patch up so we can fill it up more!) one half of it is filled with water and the lid bit has some beach sand in it, he has free access to both of them all day and loves jumping in the water when we come back from walks in the morning. He has a long coat and has been quite hot, I let him inside when I get home from work, I'm just glad he is gold, not black otherwise I would feel even worse for him!

Lulu

I have been watching the dog whisperer on foxtel...and I do not claim to be an expert, but she sounds like heaps of the dogs on the show, she is stressed , is she bored ? does she get to go out for a walk everyday ?

Our next door neighbours just paid for "barkbusters" to come out to the house to help them with their labrador, who was playing up, they walked with our neighbours and the dog out on the lead etc, then gave them commands etc to use, that they said were very helpfull... I am RAPT they did it because the gorgous dog no longer barks its head off ... and they can actually walk her to keep her active

The catch !! $400.00 - its a LIFETIME guarentee though ... they will come back for as long as you need them..

HTH

Aww, I hope everyone's little pups are coping alright in what sounds like a terrible, terrible heatwave... I'm in Central Queensland and while it's *always* hot up here, it isn't unbearable at the moment (not that I can use the air-con on laundry days anyway, the hot water switches itself off because the electrics in this house are ancient and not designed to run more than a TV and hot water system simultaneously).

I'm convinced my Jack Russell is pretty brain-dead, too - she refuses to eat dog food, instead she tears through our cats' food quicker than they can hear the tin opener come out, despite the fact that it gives her terrible diarrhoea. :/

I have two little dogs a maltese and a Silky terrier, both are panting away, I keep bringing them into the cool so they can lay on the cold tiles, but no they just walk around panting. Its been hitting 45 degrees here and i was so worried about them yesterday so i put them in the kids pool, they just sat there poor darlings, i think the ice cubes is a great idea as there water is stinking hot too.

What great info KrystieLove! I was sort of hoping she would know the best way of coping for herself. She has been clipped before. We can't have her hair (fur?!) getting too long as it just ends up with lots of burrs etc in there, and sometimes she can't see though her face! I trim her here myself but its hard to get it right all the time and she gets dreads too :doh:.

She is a little bit bored, we shipped her pal Tyson off to dp's place as he is getting really old and needed to be pensioned off to the country, and her friends next door just moved to WA.

I think the main reason I think she is a twit is because I thought she hopped out of the car with the kids 2 nights ago when we got home from a night swim, but she didn't. She SAT there in the hot car (windows up), didn't bark to get out or anything. It's only when I realized I couldn't hear her trumpeting snores that she was gone. I'd hate to think what could have happened to her if I didn't click.

She was beautifully trained but I let it go a bit with babies coming along, then she developed some Staffy habits due to living with 2 of them.....thats why I think she takes on the big dogs...she thinks she IS one :rolleyes:.

My dog isn't drinking either, fool!! lol. I don't know what his problem is. I think he should be drinking more in this hot weather. And he doesn't need to go out to pee all day either. I have to chuck him out and make him!! lol

Ok, spoke too soon!! My dog has just come to his senses, he just did the cutest thing!!

I heard him making the growly/whingy frustrated noise he makes like when his ball is trapped somewhere he can't get it or something. So I went out to see what he wanted and he was sitting looking at the bathroom door. So I open the door and he runs to the bath and jumps up with his front paws on it looking at me, lol. So I lifted him in and turned on the cold water and he had a big drink and wet his feet and then stood there and let me splash some water over him.

:rofl: What a clever puppy, I swear he can communicate better than some people!!