On 10/25/10 8:05 AM, John H wrote:
On Mon, 25 Oct 2010 00:23:02 -0400, wrote:

On Sun, 24 Oct 2010 13:15:55 -0400, John
wrote:

On Sun, 24 Oct 2010 11:44:38 -0400, wrote:

On Sun, 24 Oct 2010 11:15:47 -0400, wrote:

Pretty nice here too. We went for a picnic at the beach today on the
boat..
http://esteroriverheights.com/esteroweather.jpg
Perfect! How's your lab doing?

He is doing OK but he still has a running away problem.
We have an appointment with a therapist tuesday.
(free from Lab Rescue of Florida but I am going to give them a
donation)

Please let us know what he (she) says. My pointer bolted half a dozen times, but
appears to be getting better about it. She doesn't go screaming out the front
door if it's left open a bit too long. And, she doesn't bolt out of the front
seat, over my lap, when I open the car door.

The problem is not simply the running away. Mr Ed seems to actually
have a total change in personality. He doesn't even look the same.
There is a desperate look in his eyes and he seems totally deaf to
anything you say to him. Usually he is very well behaved. The trainer
says that is not unusual in Yellow Labs. Some are worse than others. I
am curious what she comes up with.


Ask that therapist for any quick recommendations on helping a dog overcome fear
of automobiles (*not* motion sickness - fear). This stuff - Cerenia -
http://tinyurl.com/buncyn - was prescribed by our vet, and works well to stop
the vomiting. But it doesn't get rid of the fear. And, it's not for use on a
long trip of several days or more. And, it ain't cheap!

Ed doesn't have that problem at all. A car ride (or even a ride in my
golf cart) seems to calm him down. That is how I go get him if he is
really "off"
Sometimes he will just come in the back door of the screen cage but he
immediately jumps in the pool and won't come out. I get the same look.


When mine bolts, it 's much the same thing. She responds to nothing, just runs
as fast as she can. The last couple times, she actually returned. Time before
last was at a campground, and we thought she was gone. She sailed around the
outer perimeter of the campground and then hit the woods. I gave up chasing her,
which did no good anyway. But, after about ten minutes she was found by my
brother-in-law about 50 yards from the trailer. She was cowering on the ground
in a 'don't beat me' mode. I think maybe her previous owners must have beat her
every now and then. She's weird.


This is an interesting contrast to our pet cats, all but one of whom
were strays from the "outside" we adopted. None of these cats has any
interest in going outside or running away. The last one we adopted, a
100% Maine coon cat, we took in when he was about six months old. He
hung out with a pack of young raccoons and walked into the edge of our
yard to mooch a meal. I caught him in a pet trap baited with sardines,
took him to the vet for shots and a check for feline leukemia and
brought him home. If I open the back door to go outside, he runs in the
other direction. The only cat we have that does not do this is one we
inherited from a neighbor in Florida. He was kept as an indoor/outdoor
cat and will wander into the yard if we let him. We don't let him.

I haven't had a dog for many years. The last one I had went outside on a
leash or on an overhead run with a pulley and a lead attached to her collar.

Out here, there are always posters on telephone poles offering rewards
for pets, usually dogs, that have bolted, and there usually are dog
carcasses on the side of the road.