"I was kind of surprised that so many owners let their dogs come over and sniff and interact. Cricket was happy about this but I wasn't that pleased to have several dogs come over to her after her experience. She, in turn, wanted to go over and see any other animal that was brought in. Does that mean she is ok about other dogs? Should I be watching for some behavior that would indicate a problem?" Cricket is young yet but still she was attacked and it was a pretty aggressive attack from the wounds she suffered. I would watch her very carefully. If another dog shows any aggression or even alerts, perked ears and direct eye contact, I bet Cricket will react and how she will react is unknown and this can change with maturing too. She could react with aggression or maybe lay down or maybe go between your legs or try to run away. But you will have to be aware of her behavior around other dogs. Cricket's body language will tell you what she is going to do, but you will have to recognize her signals and either comfort her fear or correct her. You must always praise for good behavior, not okay behavior but correct behavior. If she is fearful, not aggessive but just a bit fearful, just pat her head and when she looks up to you for assurance say "Good girl"! And when you have to correct her, say a collar correction and a "NO" and she obeys by stopping whatever she is doing always, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, reward with "Good Girl"! My dogs would rather have 1 "Good girl/boy" then an entire prime rib!! If you, the owner, are afraid of the situation, Cricket is going to pick up your fear and react to that. Again, this can be a touchy situation. It is hard to hide our own feelings as the dog will pick up everything in our body language. For instance, when we lived in the city I walked my dog 3 times a day. It was the weirdest thing but he would grumbled at illegally parked cars and it did not matter if they were in the alley or on the street. I always thought this was so funny that he recognized illegally parked cars until I figured out that he was picking up on my own disgust at the strange cars and the total disregard for our neighborhood! I can tell from the wounds that Cricket was submitting when she was attacked. She was on her back and had turned her hind end towards the other dogs. This is submissive behavior and usually the dominant dog will only sniff then and not attack. Something else was going on during the attack or maybe prior to it and I am just not experienced enough to see it. I have a friend that can tell by the wound what drive the biter was in, but this takes years and years of observation. Another interesting point is that the aggressor usually has head wounds only, as they are going into a fight head first and it is the submissive dog that suffers body wounds usually neck, hind area, feet and stomach. Drives are so interesting and a dog can go from 1 drive to another very fluidly. For instance if you throw a ball and the dog runs after it, this is Prey Drive. But when he returns it to you, as a fetch, this is Pack Drive. Herding is just a fetch, so usually done in Prey Drive, and again when the dog brings the sheep in to the owner, this is Pack Drive. Fight is not hard to understand and any dog no matter how submissive and loving does have Fight Drive, it might be very low, but it is always there. Flight is the one drive, I've seen only a few times, and mostly with a young dog or pup. But any animal fleeing for his life is scared and therefore the behavior is unpredictable and many bites occur during Flight Drive. For instance, I had a friend that I trained with for a time. She had her dog strapped into his seat belt next to her when she came to class. One time, a fire truck passed them and the dog was startled by the siren and lights and bit the owner right on the face. The dog could not flee and so bite out of fear. This was not the dog's fault as he was just scared and did not know what to do. The owner should have had the dog in the car more often so the dog was socialized to traffic situations. And the dog should not have been in the front seat. Each individual dog can vary in the level of pack, prey, fight or flight drive. Personally, I've never had a dog high in fight or flight drive and I don't think I would want a dog high in flight or fight. Cricket will be fine, but I do think you should be aware of her behavior when interacting with other dogs. Personally, because of what happened to my own pup and her dog aggression that I've never been able to work out of her, I am very careful with strange dogs approaching my puppies. Other puppies or young dogs are generally no problem, but mature dogs could cause another negative situation. Don't avoid other dogs, keep your dog on lead and watch carefully the dogs, all the dogs, body language. If you see anything you are hesitant about don't let Cricket make any decisions, put Cricket in a heel and walk away from the situation. The more you work with your dog, especially in obedience, the more confident the dog will be in you and in turn, in himself. Michelle

I wasn't rude, closetdiva, I'm just not into stroking. Since you came here to be stroked, why instead did you ask for advice? Why not just say, "I need someone to make me feel good because there's no man doing it at present." You said you don't know what to do, so we stated what we think you should do. I certainly couldn't suggest you stick around for things to get better because they won't and defintitely not for your son. You compromise his emotional and mental health every single day. Why don't you know what to do? Nor could I condone your wounded spirit because you are not a victim. You created this mess....again, maybe not the first time but each subsequent time. Since you cannot see the signs for sake of your own instant happiness, then I again ask that you do as asolo suggests. And that's not being rude. Stating the facts and suggesting wise decisions might not be what you want people to say to, but it's what you asked for and what you need. Hopefully you will listen, or you will go to those other sites for people to stroke your wounded spirit.

yes, it's so good to see him being a bit more normal now. he trotted down the length of his man cave tonight for his dinner. and he goes to the west end to watch (and whine) while I walk girl. he's standing / walking on all 4 legs! i 'spect once you get the right dosage going for them you will then notice any negative changes. once we get him on the correct units and he's on it awhile to level out I'll feel much better about it. I'll certainly be more intune to any changes in him in the future, not pass it off to the heat, rolling in mud, depression from a move etc! does your friend ever check kitty's glucose level at home? then again, once you've got the dose correct maybe you don't need to as much. I check boy once a wk now to see if the prev wk's dose has lowered his glucose level. It didn't last wk and the vet upped the morning dose. he's on 13 units in the a.m. and 11 units in the evening. The first wk I took him to the vet for them to do the curve test and it cost about 150.00! I can do it at home for about 10.00 and my time, a 12 hr span.

"Their BF was no more than a caregiver for them while I finished my degrees. After that I felt that he could not do enough for us,so I divorced him and told him to move on. It took him a while to get over it, and he turned from a nice gullible man to a crazy nut. " You know i was going to defend you for your household but after reading more carefully i fully understand now why people are so pist off at you. I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS LINE I JUST READ. So you basically used this man, your ex, while you finished your degrees and then tossed him! WOW> You are a lowlife troll. I dont care if you pregnant. GOOD for you to marry a rich person. BUt HECK, for a moral perspective, your a leach. Hope your current husband made you sign a prenup to prevent you from dumping him and taking half his business. Yes, you provide for your kids. But they will hate you when they get older when they truly realize why you left their BF. ANd yes, they will have low self esteem while their stepfather caudles their new brother. So he didn't give any money to your kids. He still was a stayat home father while your got your degrees. You would be nothing right now, with no degrees if it weren't for him! If you didn't think your ex was worth anything then why did you have kids in the first place with him.? Why didn't you just use birth control , get on with your studies, and get married to a rich person in the first place????? oh and degrees mean nothing. I have a friend who dropped out in high school..he's a billionaire! and he still hates school...lol... You said it, your ex turned from a gullable man to a crazy nut. YOU USED A GULLABLE PERSON TO MEET YOUR ENDS , TOSSED HIM AND MADE HIM CRAZY. Who's the bad person here???? Take a good look at yourself! you know what? dont cry wolf. you made your bed, now ly in it! Don't complain that your new husband is a terrible stepparent. He is not terrible. You are a terrible person for dumping your ex the way you did and now you are complaining your rich husband doesn't look at your other kids the same way? WHY SHOULD HE?