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I have a 21 day old orphaned pup that I want to make sure is socialized correctly to become a well adjusted adult.

Currently I am barking and growling at her (with response) and running toys in front of her face. I have an adult dog that wants to play, and will be great help with the pup when it is older. I have 2 cats that mostly ignore her and she comes to work with me every day because of feeding times, which is at a veterinary clinic.

I know to yip when she starts actually biting to let her know to bite softer.

Any other suggestions? Or am I needlessly worrying because between my time, going to work, and my adult dog, we should be able to get her pretty well adjusted?

I am raising an orphaned pit/bulldog puppy from a few hrs old- no colostrum because mother didn't make any milk (glands were empty) and did not care for the pups. The pup was started on milk replacer and on day 17, moved to milk replacer and puppy canned food mixed together. She LOVES canned food. Today, at work, I ran out of milk for her second feeding and just gave her warmed canned food, which she mowed down. (21 days of age). No diarrhea, just extra amounts of normal poop. Pees and poops on her own on pee pads, which she will search out for before going (well, search 15 seconds, which is I think the limit possible right now). Calorie wise, I can make it the same as milk replacer with a nutrient dense food, so nutritionally, calories is not an issue.

Anyone have actual research/reasons somewhere stating that they can't be fully weaned at 3 weeks, or any age, when they prefer canned food? I tried searching, but couldn't come up with anything other than the social aspect of weaning from the mamma, and I don't have that issue.

(On a side note, she has 4 littermates that survived that others are taking care of. They won't even touch canned food yet. Mine will eat anything that slightly smells like food)

Thanks for the advice! You will be seeing other questions from me on single pup socialization. I have raised kittens, but not puppies before.

I am registering my foal, named Zeus. He needs 2 options for registry names, can't be a one word name. I would like to keep Zeus in the name if possible. If it matters, he is a solid black half friesian with a white large star.

My top choice is Almighty Zeus and have absolutely no idea for a second.

Any suggestions?

Looking for some creative ideas to keep the dog off the couch. She will not go on it when I am home, but the minute I leave, she jumps up. I have come back into the house to get something 5 min after leaving, and find everything that was on the couch, on the floor.

I tried boxes on top, and she pulled them off.

Otherwise, she is excellent in the house.

Currently I have one of those plastic rugs with the little blunt spikes on it- it is face up, and weighed down by about 10 lbs on both sides- she will dig at it until it falls on the floor, and is starting to ruin my couch back from digging at the rug.

I am looking for something relatively inexpensive.

Any suggestions?

I have had farm dogs my whole life, but now have my first inside one. And with these problems, I would love to move her outside during the day, but her coat is too thin for our weather.

My dog is ~2 yrs old, 50 lbs, adopted from a shelter about 2 months ago.

Since I got her, she has been kept in the laundry room (24ftx12 ft) while I work. I am back after 9 hrs. Rarely does she have an accident, which I don't discipline her for if she does, and even if I am home, will only ask to urinate 2-3 times a day.

She was doing well in the laundry room up until the past week.

Now, when it is time for work, she will cower behind the recliner, showing her belly. If you try to move her, she will snap at you, and will not come for treats (which I give her every day when she goes in the laundry room). She is an extremely submissive dog other than this aspect.

early last week, she tore open a bag of cat litter I had in the laundry room and made a huge mess. The cat litter was always in there, so not sure why it offended her now.

Today, I came home and she tore my antique door to shreds trying to get inside the rest of the house.

She is house trained and probably would be fine in the house, EXCEPT she will growl and occasionally chase my cats when they stare at her in the eye (and cats always stare). I am afraid if I leave her in the main house, she will harm the cats while I am working. If I leave her in the laundry room, she has the partially destroyed door and who knows what she will go after next.

I was debating crating her- I know she is crate trained from the shelter, but 9 hrs seems like a long time. She is a lazy dog, so wouldn't move much anyways, but I could see her getting anxious if she can't see who is outside. She would be free roaming the house at night and when I am home.

Help?

Suggestions?

I am looking for a durable squeaky toy for an aggressive chewer. I have found one so far. Anything with stuffing gets eviscerated within minutes. Anything hanging off it (like the kong wubba) will be torn off in minutes.

If it doesn't squeak, she has absolutely no interest in it.

I am looking for links or brand names that you have found durable. She is a 50 lb dog. So far I found a Kong squeaky football.

Thanks in advance!

I am moving into an old house that doesn't have a lot of closet space. There is a wide wall I could place coat racks on. I know there are kits with individual hooks, but are there any kits/ideas to place a dowel type coat rack, the same type as in a closet for hangers? Or would that be too heavy to just be wall/stud mounted?

If you are also devoid of closet space, what did you do to make room for coats?

Thanks in advance for any ideas.

I have trained plenty of horses from newborn up, but never one this blatantly smart. He is about 2.5 months old at this time. He is also a typical colt with attention and patience issues.

For example: Would not go through a gate that was previously closed at 3 days old- he knew that there was fencing there prior and would call for his dam on the other side, but not go through it until we pushed him. He has been leading at a walk decently since a week old- he never fought leading because he gets to go explore.

We recently started on learning to tie since he will wander off everywhere with no regard to his freaking-out dam. He learned that pulling his head back does not get him loose (took about 3 minutes). He then proceeded to pull on the end of the rope to get the slip knot loose. After we fixed that and knotted it tight, he went straight to prying the knot apart with his teeth. After about 5 minutes of failure (he was picking it loose, just not fast enough for him), he proceeded to find a sharp edge to hook the top of the halter on, and carefully worked it over his ears and thus off.

He also grabs the lunge whip in his teeth and walks shaking it because it makes his dam run- and he knows it.

He got caught in the fence at 1 month while trying to get to a crowd of people during a party and it was around his leg and neck- he kept picking his leg or head up, not freaking out, just trying to get it loose, and stood quietly chewing on you when you came to get him out.

I have NEVER had a foal this smart, or really any horse- Most fight tying longer, taking months of patient work, and a few learn how to pull the slip knot out, but never the last 2 steps. All freak out in the fence

There isn't that much you can do with a foal, but I need some suggestions. I know he is going to be a challenge to train already, not because he will fight, but because he will learn quick and get bored, and then cause trouble. I work with my foals continuously so once they get to the age to ride, everything else is an old hat.

I was thinking introducing trick training and make him do tricks- touch or pick up things, bow, etc because that is variable and thus more interesting.

I don't want to ruin him getting sullen on training because he gets bored.

Any other suggestions?

Hay prices are ridiculous here, and wondering if they are the same elsewhere.

Please list State, size of bale, and price

Indiana- grass hay, 45 lb bales, $10- 12/bale

I have gone through the weaning process many times, but always had a bigger herd- the foal stayed with the herd, the mare moved out for a few days, which worked well.

I am now living in a new state and only own the dam and foal. I plan on getting a third horse because of the two-horse syndrome, but not until hay prices drop back to reasonable levels.

I have 3 paddocks, but don't think I can rely on the electric fencing to keep them separate, and no stalls at this point. I have seen a lot of horror stories from people trying to wean foals by keeping them alone in a pasture, even with the dam on the other side of the fence.

I normally wean at ~4 months because the foal is eating well at that point, but in this situation, do you think I should even go through the weaning process or wait for them to do it on their own? In the past, my mare has been perfectly happy to wean at 4 months, but with this being a colt, she is more attached, and also, they will be placed back together anyways once weaning is done- all that would change is that she would dry up. No plans on breeding her again, so that isn't an issue.

I was thinking... starting at 4 months taking one out to work with, tying the other for short periods in sight of each other.

Suggestions?

I am looking for ideas on how to transport 100-150 bales of hay from Wisconsin to Indiana. I am in a drought area right now, but thankfully have some hay waiting for me at my parent's house.

We do not have a hay wagon, and I only figured about 72 bales would fit on the largest U-haul truck.

Are there commercial shippers for an individual one time transport? Can someone point me in the direction of hay transporters/ individual transporters that are not too expensive?

Thanks,

I recently moved to an apartment after living on tap well water all my life. This house has soft water from all faucets. Right now I am drinking bottled water, but don't like the plastic taste (and going through 3-4 gallons a week).

Is there any sort of filter out there to remove the salt from soft water?

I don't think the Brita filters do that- no mention on their website. I tried googling it, but all that comes up is how to get rid of hard water- I want the opposite.

Thanks in advance!

I am in the process of closing on a 8 acre property. about 6 acres is fenced in. I will have 3-4 horses. They will be outside most of the time, but I will have stalls in the barn. I will have an outdoor arena as well. The lawn area will be about 1.5 acres. The land is pretty flat- only a very slight slope in 2 areas. The driveway is probably 100 feet, and gravel.

My question:

What should I buy for lawn mowing, manure management, snow plowing, and arena dragging?

Any suggestions of what to buy or what not to buy?

Should I go the route of ATV and buy lawn mower and cart accessory?

A bobcat? Gator?

Or what else?

I don't want to spend a ton of money, but if I can get everything done with only one or two machines, it would make it easier to store.

Thanks for any types or suggestions!

A long time ago, I turned off the Windows Media player, and now would like to turn it back on. I go to "control panel"," turn windows features on or off", and the box pops up, but nothing is inside, just a blank white screen.

How do I fix it?

I also tried downloading Windows Media Player from the Microsoft website, but since it is included with the package of Windows 7, they don't have it available to download, and it wouldn't let me download the XP version.

Thanks in advance!

The horse fair is next weekend and I plan on picking up a suckling and weanling halter for my soon to come foal.

The dam is a tobiano black/white Gypsy Drum - I use a maroon or burgundy with her

The sire is a true black friesian.

The foal will definitely be black +/- white. What color spectrums should I go with for colors?

Thanks in advance!

I am looking to add a little vegetation into my Russian tortoise's enclosure. What edible plants grow well in very sandy, mostly dry soil? I am looking for something hardy to supplement his diet.

My substrate is play sand and Ecoearth, can add a bit of something else if needed, but, would really like a desert type plant that prefers sand and arid environment.

Most grasses/legumes I know of will need a lot more care and attention- as well as avoid very sandy soils.

Thanks!

I have a Russian tortoise female, approx 15 yrs. The bulb is a reptisun 10.0 CFL. She also has two heat bulbs, all on 14 hr daylight timers.

The CFL is about 5 months old.

Three weeks ago, she started hiding under things and not eating whenever the CFL bulb was on (did not eat for a week originally). If I turn it off, she starts eating the next day, and eats extremely well. I tested the theory 3-4 times with different time intervals, and always the same results.

Now, any clue on why this is? The bulb is getting close to the magical 6 months expiration, but that means it should decrease the UVB, correct? No signs of eyelid swelling, etc, she looks normal.

Temps are gradient and kept at ~65 at the colder end, 90 directly under the lamps. When she hides, it will be at the warm or cold end, no preference, as long as she can get under something. No recent changes in diet, temps, substrates, etc.

Any suggestions would be helpful! I don't want to spend the money to buy a new bulb if will just hide from it, and it is too cold up here to be adding natural daylight for a few more months.

Thanks in advance!

Now, usually electric windows just completely stop working, but this one is still working, slowly.

The window goes up and down all the way, but it can only move about an inch at the time. Like the motor is getting tired. If you help pull the window up or down, it goes a little more distance. I do not hear the motor running when the window stops and you are still pressing the button- it quits at the same time the motor stops running.

This has been going on for about a year now.

Any suggestions on which part or what is wrong? I searched online, but couldn't find anything that talked about my problem.

Thanks in advance!

I have a russian tortoise. I have been using the mercury bulbs, but for whatever reason, they only last a month at my house- it is an old house, so I am thinking to blame the currents.

I just bought a CFL bulb (Exo Terra 10.0 CFL Desert Terrarium Lamp, 26-Watt ) and I bought a ceramic heat emitter (60w Zoomed) Now I just read that the heat emitters can only be used in porcelain sockets. I thought ceramic was porcelain, and don't know why they would be using two names of the same thing, so thought I would check if they are different.

Are ceramic and porcelain sockets the same thing?

And second- is it safe to use a heat emitter and a CFL bulb at the same time in ZooMed Mini combo deep dome lamp fixture? They are connected, and I am not sure if the heat of the ceramic would bust the CFL.

Any suggestions?

The terrarium is only about a foot high with a large hole wire mesh top, so I don't need extremely long range stuff by the way

Thanks in advance!

I have a cat (3 cat household), who would occasionally miss part of the litterbox when urinating- about once a month, some would go out on accident, because she likes to pee right at the entrance. Within the past 2 weeks, she now misses partial or completely every other day- only with urinating. I have seen her- she is standing in the same spot as always, in the litter box, just not getting it all in the box. When done, she usually digs litter out of the box to try to cover it. No problem with feces- everything in the box, and not even every urine misses.

It doesn't have to do with cleanliness, she has done it right after cleaned, right before cleaned, etc, and she is going in the litterbox, just the urine isn't making it. Bloodwork was ran on her about a month ago and no abnormalities.

Any suggestions on why she is missing so often lately, even though still in the litter box? Nothing at all has changed in the household- litter type, box, etc. It has gotten warmer, but that is it (and we shave her because she gets heat stressed easily).