2 for one

Two questions-- one thread.

1. Sister has a 2 year old bernese mtn dog (female) she has recently started barking at certain women and little girls, with no provocation. Sister has had her since she was a pup, and she is normally the sweetest dog. She plays well with other dogs and is even friends with my sister's cat. Why on earth would she be doing this? She barked at a little girl on the beach and the poor thing cried in her dad's arms all the way back to their cabin.

2. We have fleas. Younger cat went in for a shave, vet found fleas. Gave him one of those drop medications, but it seems to have been too little, too late. Older cat has fleas bad now. I bathed her in Dawn, which killed maybe 20 of the little buggers. I gave her a second dose of the topical treatment today. The fleas are in the house and driving me crazy. What is the best thing to use 1. on the cats, and 2. in the house/on the furniture?

1. My dog barks at some females because they talk to him in a shrill voice "oohh..what a cute wittle doggie," etc and get in his face. He hates it. As long as your dog is not snapping, it is not necessarily "bad" for a dog to bark at something. Firstly, your dog needs to continue to meet new people. I am not talking about 50 kids coming up to your dog at once, but being properly introduced to people she has a chance to see every so often. THe more your dog gets properly socialized, the better. I I would also try to pay attention to what is going on. Firstly, are you tensing up in anticipation? If you are, your dog senses it, and therefore barks at the unwanted person. My dog got worse when I would see an offending party, because I would be tense. I used to get between my dog and people because they would approach her without asking, and also they Would NOT LISTEN. I would say anything from "my dog is not feeling well, please don't pet him" to "my dog is nervous around new people, please don't pet him." even if she was feeling fine, and they would still do it. My dog is a great dog, but any dog doesn't like to be ambushed.

Is that person she is barking at staring the dog down and not breaking eye contact? She could see them as a threat? Is the child running, either at the dog or past the dog? Then, your dog might bark. Trust that your dog, if this is new behavior, might be trying to tell you something or is reacting to something. So figure out what it is before you automatically scold her.

For the cats, you might have to flea bomb the house, unfortunately. Also, I know capstar works good on dogs for fleas - its an oral med. You have to give it to them againa after so many days when eggs hatch. Don't know about cats. ask your vet. Don't use a flea collar unles its natural. otherwise it can be poisonous to your cats.

Two examples about the barking

1. I was walking down the beach. Dog was not on a leash (private family beach, hence no leash laws) The dog was walking a bit ahead of me and saw a girl walking in the waves and kind of bounded and barked at her. She didn't say anything to the dog, didn't look at her, etc.. she was just minding her own business.

2. We were at a store with the dog tied up outside while we browsed for a minute. A woman and a little girl came up to the doorway and the previously calm dog started barking at them.

What I don't get is she's extremely socialized, has tons of doggie and people friends, and this is an entirely new behaviour.

I don't remember ever seeing flea bombs that I keep hearing about... can I get them at Bosleys or a regular pet store?

 

 

2. We have fleas. Younger cat went in for a shave, vet found fleas. Gave him one of those drop medications, but it seems to have been too little, too late. Older cat has fleas bad now. I bathed her in Dawn, which killed maybe 20 of the little buggers. I gave her a second dose of the topical treatment today. The fleas are in the house and driving me crazy. What is the best thing to use 1. on the cats, and 2. in the house/on the furniture?

I will reply to the second part of your thread. I really emphazise with your flea problem. The bad new is that by now these fleas have infiltratred your living quarters. You need to do more than just treat the cats. When I had a flea problem this is what I did: I washed my bedding everyday. Also, vacumned the mattress. Vacumn your sofa and upholstered chairs. Used flea bombs inside the house. Be sure to

read the instructions on how to use. Use flea powder in the carpeting if you have any carpeting. When you treat one cat you need to treat the other cat simutaneously. This is a must. If you treat one cat and the next cat the next day, does no good. Use those expensive drops for fleas on both cats. Spread lime in your yard. This is the cheapest way to eliminate the fleas outside. The fleas eat the lime and explode. You can buy lime at The Home Depot or a similar store. After you do all the things I mentioned you need to do it all again in 10 days. This is to catch the eggs that have already been laid by the now dead fleas. Once you have done all I have mentioned you are finally rid of the fleas. It is a lot of work, but this is what you need to do to be rid of the problem for good...

When flea bombing, do we need to stay away for a day or so?

When flea bombing, do we need to stay away for a day or so?

My experience with flea bombs, we had to leave for like 5-6 hours.

Dogs will bark as a warning to the other members of their 'pack' that something is wrong or different.

So if something has frightened the dog in the past (a particular smell they associate with something that frightened them, or something different they are not used to), they will bark

So i would guess that perhaps a woman (or a woman and child) has frightened the dog. I used to live near a bald man who hated dogs and every time i'd walk past his house with my dogs he'd run at us and shake his fist and yell (even though we were doing nothing wrong, just walking down the street). My dog developed a real fear of bald men, and whenever she saw ANY bald man, she'd start barking to warn me of the 'danger'.

Many mothers do overreact around dogs if they have a fear of dogs themselves and fear one biting them or their children. Dogs pick up on fear and tension, and that makes them tense and afraid too, so perhaps the poor dog has had a run in with some children or a woman and child teasing it or yelling at it.

re: the fleas, once they really get in the house, you need to set off a flea bomb, and bath the dog in flea shampoo and get some of the spot flea treatments and use them monthly. You only need to bomb the house once, then use the drops you put on the cat/dog just once a month, and it will keep the fleas away.

I would talk to a vet about the flea problem and what can and can't be used with the medicated flea drops. I distinctly remember my vet telling me that if I apply the flea drops to my cat, NOT to also have her wear a flea collar because something about the chemicals in the flea drops and the chemicals in the flea collar combining could become toxic and KILL the cat. So just be very careful about mixing flea drops from the vet's office with other chemicals like flea collars, bombs, medicated baths, etc.

If you treat all the animals with the flea drops it should take care of the problem if the drops are the kinds that kill fleas in all stages of the lifespan (from flea-egg, to larvae, to adult fleas)

The kitties are living outside for now, and tomorrow I am going to vacumn like crazy. I got some spray at petsmart, and the recommendation to use vinegar water on the kitties and at the doors.

The kitties are living outside for now, and tomorrow I am going to vacumn like crazy. I got some spray at petsmart, and the recommendation to use vinegar water on the kitties and at the doors.

Do they normally live outside? It will make the problem worse because they will bring in even more fleas if you do not treat them. if they are normally indoor cats or indoors with a short time outdoors, bring those babies in. They need capstar, or whatever the version for cats are, then baths, and then again in a few days to a week or two when more eggs hatch. I would also look into a natural spray that has some natural oils. never use hartz. It's poison to some pets. You also should flea bomb and start with a clean slate.

I gave them each a Zodiac treatment. Older cat is inside again, younger cat seems to want to stay out. I vacuumed every single nook and cranny and surface yesterday and then sprayed a product with (IGR?) It's much calmer today! Going to give older cat a flea bath today to get the last of them

The only thing I have ever found that kills fleas (on the cat) is this product called Hertz or whatever, not sure if you have it there or not. Last time I needed it I paid $30 I think from PetSmart, put one droplet tube inbetween their shoulder blades and never saw another flea...

Seems to be under control... knock on wood... I think I'll try Hertz if they need more drops though. They both still have some fleas, but at least they're not super bothered by them and they're not all over the house!

Seems to be under control... knock on wood... I think I'll try Hertz if they need more drops though. They both still have some fleas, but at least cthey're not super bothered by them and they're not all over the house!

warning you need to get rid of every single flea. A few fleas have the ability to multiply very quickly. You are almost there; not quite.