Say Hello to Parker

@moffittjc it’s been crazy, you should see some of my recent post. Other then crazy I’ve been good. I know it’s been ages. Puppy and stuff must be keeping you busy.

@ShyBear88 Puppy, work, vacations, girlfriend, paintball practice, family time....I only have 24 hours in a day to do 40 hours worth of stuff each day! lol

He is a sweetie-pie, until he sees other dogs, then he goes into Beast Mode! lol. But other than destroying everything in my house the first week he was here, he's been a good boy. How have you been? Haven't talked to you in ages!

I’m not too keen on dogs. I’ve always been more of a cat person.

@kobesbuddy I am a dog lover, but from the word STAY! As in stay away! haha

@moffittjc I am a dog lover, from the word 'GO!' I love cats, also.

@moffittjc Whoever is in the photo.

My allergies seem to be settling down to a more manageable level now. It's not ideal, but I can live with it. And who is the sweetie… me or the dog? Haha

@sabtraversa Oh. That’s me in the photo. You can see Parker’s paw to the left. It looks surprisingly like a human hand.

@moffittjc Parker will chill once he gets used to his surroundings. I can't see you with an uptight dog, the dog will need to chill in order to fit in there.

@Juliaacv Yeah, the adjustment's been tough on him. He has anxiety and the vet just put him on some anxiety medication, so we'll see if that helps. From what my daughter says, his anxiety gets really bad when there are thunderstorms, and he goes nuts and tries to destroy everything. Great, Florida is like the thunderstorm capital of the world. This is really going to test my patience and resolve! lol

It's funny, my girlfriend has a dog, but she knows I'm allergic to dogs so she has been really good about keeping the dog away from me. But even now that I have a dog in my house, she will still have to keep her dog away because Parker gets really aggressive around other dogs.

Besides the constant sneezing, runny nose and itchy/watery eyes, I seem to be doing okay! lol I wouldn't mind dogs at all if it weren't for the allergies. I'm not looking forward to spring though, when I get to deal with a double whammy of dog allergies and seasonal spring allergies.

@moffittjc Oh no, this may be along road for you. I hope you can figure out a remedy.

@CarolDM I have a feeling this may be a long road for me. In addition to the allergy thing, the dog has already destroyed all the carpet in my house. Luckily, most of my home is tile and wood flooring, but still, replacing the carpet is not something I wanted to spend my money on this year.

The hardest part of all this is that my daughter and I are hardly ever home, which is not a great situation for the poor dog.

@sharonelton I wonder if that’s what my dog does. So far I haven’t heard any complaints from my neighbors.

@moffittjc Ah. We have a dog next door to us who howls when his owners go out.

@moffittjc ?? When I had high blood pressure, I took Allegra too and it was fine.

@bunnybon7 I used to take Allegra. I’ll check with the pharmacist and see if it would be okay to take now.

Because of high blood pressure, I can’t take most allergy medicines. So I kinda just have to suffer.

@moffittjc You are lucky that he has short hair at least. My husband has a problem with cats, this is why I built an outside house for the cat I adopted.

@LadyDuck Oh yes, if it was a long-haired dog I would be in trouble.

So far my allergies have been manageable. I just hope I eventually build up a tolerance so I don’t have a permanent runny nose and itchy, watery eyes.

He's a sweet dog whom I beginning to think is bi-polar. I came home from work yesterday to find my living room destroyed again. I'm not sure what sets him off like that where he goes crazy. 90% of the time he is just as sweet as can be.

@DianneN We're in the process of crate-training him, so that when everyone is away at work during the day, he will stay in his crate where he can't do damage to the house.

@moffittjc Yikes! Better put a stop to that.

I sure hope so! He is a handsome little guy.

@just4him I hope you find you a good loving and happy dog!

@moffittjc Yes, he is. I'm considering getting a dog. We can have pets here.

No, it's a small breed dog. It's some type of mixed breed, but I'm not sure what since I know nothing about dogs.

@lovebuglena It's already full grown. He's not a big dog at all.

@moffittjc It kinda looks like a German Shepherd. That's why I asked. My brother-in-law has one. Is it gonna get very big?

@nela13 Yes haha

I like dogs too. From a distance. Haha

@moffittjc because of the allergy?

I’m actually starting to like the little guy! Haha

@mildredtabitha My aunt and uncle have a house full of cats and dogs and they all get along fine.

@moffittjc I never thought a cat and a dog could be friends. I have grown up thinking they can never get along

@oahuwriter I hope so. I haven’t done this before.

He has anxiety issues, which we’re working on. A slow and steady process for sure.

@moffittjc You're a good pet parent.

@moffittjc I do hope you guys manage and work things out.

I hope I survive. The dog has anxiety issues, and now it’s giving me anxiety! Lol

@dodo19 Me too haha

@moffittjc

Thank you. He’s adorable when he’s not being the spawn of Satan.

He hates other dogs and is aggressive towards them. But for some reason he is super curious about the cat and so is always on his best behavior so that he can get up close to give the cat doggie kisses.

@moffittjc That’s great. They’ll be good buddies and companions.

Not sure if it’s the hair or the smell, but I sneeze a lot, my sinuses get congested, and I get watery, itchy eyes when I am around dogs.

@moffittjc how about this one? Do you feel the same way around him too?

A big squirrel that doesn't have a bushy tail!

@moffittjc Still not a real dog.

@moffittjc Still not a real dog.

How do we get him to overcome his anxiety? Especially when we have thunderstorms. Thunder drives him bonkers.

@akruser13 We do use a white noise generator and that helps. We have also given him a small space in one of our closets to hide in. That also helps. He’s not crate trained yet, but we’re going to be working towards that soon. Our vet has recommended this really expensive custom made sound-proof kennel to get for him, so we’ll probably purchase that soon.

@moffittjc Ah, that's a tough one. Because dogs, like people, don't just "overcome anxiety." If your dog is scared of thunder storms he probably always will be. But there are things you can do to make him feel more comfortable. What you don't want to do is make a big deal about it. Don't coo or baby him too much, that can actually reinforce the behavior. You want to act chill and normal, like nothing out of the ordinary is going on. Try to play with him with something he likes (a ball or chew toy or something), so he can associate storms with "oh but when it storms good things happen." You can also try drowning out the thunder noise with music or the tv, a white noise generator, something else to give him something to focus on. If he has a crate/kennel he can hide in where he feels safer that's okay to let him do that. Or a spot under a bed or in a closet. Dogs are actually natural den animals so sometimes they prefer little darks spaces when they're scared. If you want to try some outside remedies there's lot of natural "calming" chews you can try out from any basic pet store. Those thunder shirt things actually do work, believe it or not. We had them at the boarding places I worked at and put them on the anxious dogs during holidays where there's fireworks. The feeling of being swaddled does oddly enough calm them. I was skeptical on those things for a long time but I've seen them work so I can officially vouch for them now.