Finn is getting better at not howling when left alone

[conuly]

And if he does, he's better at shutting up when we return just after seeing or hearing us, without needing snuggles first. But he's still in a "I want to be touching you all the time, put me on your lap!" stage, which is... awkward. Moonpie went through this stage too, and I get it, I do... but I want my lap!

Also, his front legs are slightly bowed. Apparently this is a known issue with poodles. It doesn't seem to be harming him, and he's already fully grown, so I won't bother sending a bug report calling the vet over it.

Also also, every time I mean to say "poodle", I start to say "poogle" instead. All those years of Neopets, I guess. I didn't even like poogles! But sometimes, I just can't remember which is a real world pet and which is a Neopet.

Also x 3, cats keep their penises inside them. Dogs apparently do not. Every time he rolls over on his back for a tummy rub I go "Egads, what the hell IS that!?" before remembering that it's not a bizarre growth, it's actually supposed to be there. (Funnily enough, that's what happened the first time I saw a cat penis as well. My parents had a hard time convincing me it was supposed to still be there even though he was fixed!)

**************

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Comments

[sabraka]

Haha I know what ya mean about the dog penis! I too am just so used to my sweet lady bitches XD How's Finn when it comes to marking? I finally figured out if I feed him where he likes to lift his leg, he starts seeing that as a feed spot rather than a pee spot. It may be too late for him, but I hope neutering helps too.

[conuly]

He does have a problem with peeing in the house. Apparently, this is a lot worse in dogs with one internal testicle, and I'm pretty damn sure that the people who had him before only let him out once a day at best to pee*. So we're not actually trying to correct this right now, we're going to wait until he's fixed and then move on it. That's good advice, though!

* I never, ever saw that dog until the first time the girls found him... and after they took him back, I spent a lot of time casually walking by their house, now that I knew where they lived, to see if they'd left him unattended in their little yard again. Thankfully, it didn't come to that - they let him out again and he came to our door on his own. But I was very tempted to just do a grab-and-dash. I was not happy with his condition the first time around.

[sabraka]

Damn, some people really have no shame. Poor thing must have sensed it was you who could save him! I hope those dirtbags aren't hiding any more poor animals. I think these kinds of delinquent people should really be publicly registered, shamed, & banned..!
I hope the "feed where he peed" trick works for you if you try that! I kept moving around where I fed him & it took almost a month, but he's finally not peeing on quite everything anymore x)

[conuly]

Well... I don't think they were deliberately locking him up. What I suspect happened is that they didn't want to take him on proper walks, so they just shoved him out in the yard at potty time... except they pushed that responsibility on the kids, and my guess is they didn't check adequately to make sure the kids did it. So the kids often didn't do it, and when they did do it, they didn't hang around and supervise like they ought to, which is pure foolishness when your fence is raised above the ground and you have a very small dog. Poor Finny!

At least his pee doesn't smell too strongly, unlike the aromatic cat pee.