FAQs | Re-Home Your Pets

Question: I am fixing to adopt a 4 yr. old Great Dane, and I own 2 Schnauzers a 1 yr.old and 7 yr.old. What is the best way to bring her into my house, without a fight? Should I do in home training? I spoke with Sandy, FHCR. She told me about you!

Answer:

What I recommend is to bring your new dog in and have a crate to put the dog in. Place the crate into the middle of the common area like say the living room. Allow the other dogs in one at a time. You don’t want both dogs to sniff at the same time since dogs seem to bully more in groups. Give your first Schnauzer 30 minutes to an hour to smell the Great Dane from outside of the crate, then trade out Schnauzers and let the second one have their own time as well. Then I would switch the dogs out, put one of your Schnauzers in the crate (keep the other one away still) and this time let the Great Dane check out the place. After a bit , switch out your Schnauzers and repeat!

The last step is to let the Great Dane and one of your Schnauzers together one on one without the crate and then switch out the Schnauzers. If these all go well then you can cut them loose all together. It sounds like a lot of work, but when you have multiple dogs this is the easiest transition we have found for them. As for In-home training, that is a quick way to establish structure in your home! Thank you for your questions!

Regards,

Jason Purgason, CPDT-KA
Training Director
Highland Canine Training, LLC
www.highlandcanine.com
866.200.2207

Question: Why does my dogs breath still have an odor right after I have had them professionally cleaned?

Answer:

Without an exam of your pet it is difficult to determine what the issue is. I have clients who consider “normal” dog breath offensive so that is one possibility. Your dog’s breath will never be without odor but there are mouth washes and water additives that can help.

My next question would be what the “professional dental cleaning” consisted of. First it must be performed by a veterinarian while your pet is under anesthesia. A professional cleaning without anesthesia will never totally clean your pets teeth.

Next we need to determine what the dental x-rays showed. I have seen many pets who have perfectly healthy crowns of their teeth with severe dental disease under the gum line causing problems and odor. Without quality dental x-rays the roots of the teeth cannot be assessed and disease can be missed.

If all of the above are ok then your dog may be one who develops tartar and calculus quickly and will need more aggressive home care including oral sealants, products to be applied directly to the gingiva and, of course, brushing.

Our practice performs complimentary dental assessments. Feel free to set up an appointment.

Dr Chip Cooney
Animal Hospital of Statesville

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