The Face of Evil
February 25th, 2008She doesn’t look like she’s that evil here, but believe me, this dog is a holy terror. We haven’t slept a full night since she came to our house to live. We might have to put her in lockdown where she sleeps in her own damn room where she can’t bother us and no one can hear her whining. o
Tags: coco, dog, miniature australian shepherd, puppy
-
This entry was posted on Monday, February 25th, 2008 at 6:00 am and is filed under image. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. Please read the Terms of Service before leaving a response.
February 25th, 2008 at 6:14 am
Whining b/c she has to pee? Or to get attention? Puppies are such a pain when it comes to those parts. Kind of like babies… cute and fun for everyone else, but some days, just a lot of diapers and crying to the parents.
February 25th, 2008 at 6:48 am
But she’s so adorable!
February 25th, 2008 at 7:02 am
I’m amused at how many problems you’ve been having with sleeping with her around. After the first 2 weeks of having my aussie, she figured out that her late night pee was the last one before morning, and mommy sleeps like a brick–now, as long as I’m quiet in the morning, I can usually steal enough extra minutes out of the morning to get the coffee going before she starts up on her “I want to go outside” tirade.
February 25th, 2008 at 7:39 am
Sometimes all you can do is just put them in their crate in a room far, far away and get some freakin’ sleep. I’ve always said puppies are more work than kids. At least you don’t have to take a kid outside at 3am in the snow to pee. It’s a good thing she’s so cute, probably the only thing that saved her so far.
February 25th, 2008 at 7:42 am
Shepherds! We finally learned with our third one to put her in her crate downstairs, tell her have a nice night and go upstairs to bed. Now she goes in there on her own at 10 pm and that’s that until 7:30 am. Move her far away. Trust me. It took us three tries to learn.
February 25th, 2008 at 7:49 am
Jon, crate training is definitely the way to go. Not only with shepherds, but with any puppy. We have a Toy Fox Terrier named Cookie, and she was crate trained (potty trained) within 3 weeks of her arrival at home. She knows that the 10:00pm outing is the last one for the night, so she better make it a good one. Then she’ll be let out again first thing in the morning before I get in the shower.
She only had two accidents in week four. That was 5 years ago.
Good luck!
February 25th, 2008 at 7:51 am
John, you have the patience of a saint (no mormon pun intended there). Toss that dog in a crate, in the basement, behind a locked door, with a mattress up against the door to keep sound in. Ours learned after one night of not going (because she was in a crate and wouldnt pee where she slept) that she needed to get every drop out before bed time. I’m sure you have tried everything at this point and advice is stuff you have already heard/read. My deepest sympathies to you!
February 25th, 2008 at 8:21 am
Thees daug needs to bee cawm submessive.
!Szzzt!
February 25th, 2008 at 8:43 am
i don’t have to live with her or the whining….but she is really really really cute. puppies are tough…they are those cute little faces to prevent you from drop kicking them across the backyard when they won’t shut up at 3 AM.
February 25th, 2008 at 8:44 am
they have*
February 25th, 2008 at 9:29 am
Time to bring in the dog whisperer!
February 25th, 2008 at 9:34 am
But Jon, you’re in training for your next baby!!
February 25th, 2008 at 9:56 am
I totally understand…I am dog sitting and this dog—she sucks!
She chews on everything and does not obey commands like my dog. No sitting, no staying, it’s awful. She is cute though so I am being patient. The only difference right now is that I get to return it in a few more days. Good luck with your Coco.
February 25th, 2008 at 10:03 am
No no, “I” have the dog from hell.
And yes, crate training, if you’re not already, is the only way to go. Without the crate, I’d be sharing a jail cell with Michael Vicks right now.
February 25th, 2008 at 10:08 am
i think that is “unholy terror”…
February 25th, 2008 at 10:17 am
I feel your pain! We have a 13 week old puppy. He is the cutest and least annoying when he is asleep.
February 25th, 2008 at 10:25 am
We put our puppy in its crate, in the basement, two stories away. We could still hear her through the ductwork, and ultimately put sofa cushions around the crate. And earplugs in our ears.
Left a little light on and the radio, too.
It worked with my kids, as well.
February 25th, 2008 at 10:35 am
OK, but DAMN….right? I mean really.
February 25th, 2008 at 10:43 am
You think that evil will be obvious like this, http://tinyurl.com/yuc3jc, or this, http://tinyurl.com/3d723h, but then no, haha! it’s puppies and babies!
February 25th, 2008 at 10:55 am
I am sure we would all love to see you on an episode of “The Dog Whisper.” He says that dogs can sense that fact that you are uptight about their behavior. So if you are thinking “terror”, Coco then picks it up and fulfills your expectations. I find that is the same with teenagers……
February 25th, 2008 at 11:48 am
The book that saved our lives…or, rather, the life of our dog in our frustrated hands: “How To Raise A Puppy You Can Live With.”
February 25th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
We have a 4 1/2 month old Australian cattle dog, Ozzie (full name is Sir Oswald Spazalot). We brought him out every 30 minutes through the day and gated him in the kitchen at night. He had a grand total of 2 accidents. He now goes in the kitchen by himself around 10 and night and doesn’t stir until he hears us. We actually got to sleep until 10 over the weekend. Good luck - I know how “perky” Coco must be because Ozzie is a complete spaz while awake. Puppy training has been very enlightening and we found out that the bulk of what he was spazzing about was herding issues. He’s calmed down since we learned to handle him properly.
Coco is adbsolutely gorgeous.
February 25th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
Did you guys research Aussies at all before getting one? It seems like you did not. Heather posted something about how at the dog park, she hangs by Heather and does not go off and romp with other dogs. That is a breed characteristic. These are working dogs. I exercise my Aussie by going to the River and walking with him offleash for miles. He trots along and sometimes takes off into the brush and then reappears to check on me. If I took him to a dog park, he would just stand there like Coco does.
Also, Aussies are shadow dogs - they want to be WITH you 24 hours a day. My dog keeps me in sight at all times. he hates to be separated from me. That is also a typical Aussie characteristic. Shutting her away from you would be unkind. You bought an Aussie and she is being an Aussie!
It is such a problem when people buy dogs based on their cuteness and looks without researching the breed at all. Looks should actually be the LAST consideration when choosing a dog.
February 25th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
@eej, We lived next door to an Aussie for months (he was great with Chuck) and boarded him for a week a few years ago. Of all the breeds that play the best with Chuck, it’s the Australian Shepherd.
We are aware of the breed characteristics. We did not buy her because she was cute. We got her because we wanted a second dog; one that would fit our family (including Chuck) the best. We don’t do the dog park with Coco that often, because she likes to hike. So that’s what we do. We go on long walks where she can be off leash and do her thing.
@Everybody, Coco is being crated. She just can’t sleep in our room. With a pre-schooler who has a very active imagination, any movement or disturbance freaks Coco out. Including Leta standing next to my bed at 2am. One of us goes in with Leta and Coco loses it. Yes, we are aware that this a breed thing.
I was trying to be funny with the title and what I wrote. We love Coco and she’s getting there with the housetraining. We are used to having a dog who is more cat-like than dog-like. That is all.
February 25th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
That is good news that you guys actually do like Coco. It is hard to tell b/c you and Heather are both very sarcastic about everything in your lives and sarcasm sometimes does not translate well in written form. Glad you are adjusting to Coco and taking her for hikes and that things are not as bad as you make them seem.
February 25th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
She is so adorable, were she mine, she’d be out of the crate and in bed with me…not that I’d recommend that
February 25th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
oh, guys. That stinks. We lost our minds and ended up with THREE miniature schnauzers (two girls and a boy). The girls took to housebreaking right away and whine when they need to go out. The boy is convinced out futon is the hotspot for, uh, relieving himself (thank god it is older than dirt). He has figured out how to flatten himself out enough that he fits under there and that is his choice spot for pooping. We tried blocking his access. Well, then…one time, I was napping on the futon. I woke up to his butt right next to my head with poop coming out. Literally, there was two inches between the poop coming out of his rear and my eyeballs. Had I not been dying with ANOTHER cold, I probably would have sent him flying. into orbit.
Good thing all three of them are so darn cute. However, we just got everyone fixed this weekend and it seems that after 4 months of doing well we are starting over again. My advice? Fix her now, while you are already miserable (or as soon as your vet says it is ok).
February 25th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
Jon, I feel your pain! I concur with most people’s responses about crate training, with a couple of words of caution. I assume you are already using a crate. But if not, it is certainly the way to go. I have trained 2 Belgian Sheepdogs easily that way.
One thing about crates — usually they are too big for a puppy, so blocking part of it off can be helpful to get her to settle down. I did it with a cardboard box with both of mine until they got big enough to need more room.
My 2.5 year old still sleeps in her crate in our bedroom. She was one to whine and fuss when she was a puppy, and my vet gave me the same advice some people here are saying: put the crate far away and let her fuss while you get some sleep. So I tried this, getting up after a few hours to take her outside. You would not believe what I found when I went to get her: it was a WAR ZONE. She had pooped in the crate and obviously become insanely frantic because poop was painted all over the inside of the crate and all over her. It was a nightmare.
That was last time I ever had her sleep in another room. For quite a while, I had to calm her fussing by dragging myself out of bed and talking to her or putting my hand in the crate to comfort her, but within days she was sleeping through the night with no problem.
February 25th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
oh, i forgot. When we asked the vet about crate training (all three sleep in their own crates and refuse to share a bed with us…they pace and whine until we put them to bed in their own beds), she said to make sure they have only enough space to lay down. More than that and then can avoid the poop. We were absolutely horrified and gave them run of the crate. Well, they’d just poop in the crate and sleep, unaffected, on the other side. We tried blocking them off and after two solid weeks of no accidents (after one horrific one the first night), we let them have run of the crate and they are happy as clams.
they will also happily sleep piled in the one crate (we got it as a hand me down and it’s much larger than a schnauzer could ever really need), but they seem to prefer their own space if they have the choice. However, zero tolerance on sleeping without being surrounded by bars.
February 25th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
We got a Holy terror on Thanksgiving in the form of a baby brown lab. I feel your pain. If I don’t get sleep soon, I’m going to go evil myself.
February 25th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
P.S. Our first dog is the same breed as Coco, and I can promise you one thing. If you let her walk or hike every day, she will become a great pet. She just needs to feel like she’s got a job.
February 25th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
While I know nothing about Coco’s breed, seems to me that getting her wasn’t an idle idea, she’s just proven to be more of a dog than Chuck is. Leroy (my 10-month old mutt blend of American bulldog/Boston terrier) is more of one than my last dog Braz was, so I know of which you speak. Now, if you’ll excuse me, Leroy is redecorating my dining room with his crate sheets/blankets/towels.
February 25th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
When our dog was a puppy we tried to crate train her in the kitchen. By night two, we couldn’t stand the yelping anymore. (she was a Rhodesian Ridgeback). We ended up putting the crate in our bedroom and never looked back. I’m sure she will get used to Leta popping in and out, at least she better, since that will go on for a bit longer. Honestly, it saved our sanity. Keep up the humerous posts, I love them
February 25th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
But you have to admit it’s a damn cute face!
February 25th, 2008 at 7:24 pm
Absolutely goregous!!! I don’t believe you.
February 25th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
We got a our female yellow lab at 8 weeks old and let her sleep on the bed. It’s a high king-size bed, and she couldn’t get down on her own. Put her on a huge towel folded in half, and if she got up and started walking around durig the night, I’d take her out. This seemed to do the trick and she was trained in no time and never whined. Of course it’s like being in labor…it seems like foreve when you’re doing it but seems like nothing after it’s over. Oh, and we did somewhat limit her water after about 7 at night.
On the down-side, we now have a 100 lb lab who thinks the bed is hers and likes to sleep up on the pillows curled up between us….luckily I get the head right next to mine on my pillow, and my husband get the ….well, you know…even though she is definitely a Daddy’s Girl! She growls when I push her out of the way to turn over!
And you and Heather keep up the sarcasm….it keeps me coming back!!
February 25th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
I keep telling ya’: You are just at the beginning of a lifetime, yeah, lifetime, of a high-maintenance dog. Those herders are really something. My Belle is 10 years old and has been a challenge each and every day of those 10 years. Welcome to my life. And no, I wouldn’t change it for anything, but I will not do it again; next time I’m getting a dumb mutt.
February 25th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
The best solution to this is normally lots of exercise - the hikes are a great idea - hopefully if she’s tired she sleeps at night! Then again, some puppies just cry and cry at night, ours certainly did. In that case? I recommend the soft fleshy colored earplugs they sell at Target, in the same section with the eyedrops. Also - don’t give in - it just trains her to keep it up!
February 25th, 2008 at 11:25 pm
Ours would get me up in the night to take her to pee, then when I put her back in the crate, she’d HOWL. I remember after the 3rd week of getting up and staying up with her at 5am, just looking at her and starting to cry - I didn’t even think she was cute anymore. I was a single mom and my son was having health issues at the time, it was overwhelming. She was the dominant one in the litter and things got better after I learned how to (gently) (firmly) become the dominant dog of the pack. A great book - The Other End of the Leash - really helped me understand her. I’m more of a cat person, I found. I am really enjoying the Coco pictures. From a distance.
February 26th, 2008 at 12:09 am
Y’know for the 4th of July my vet gave me valium for my Aussie. You can look online for the correct dosage. I’m not saying for all the time but for sometimes it may probably be ok.
February 26th, 2008 at 1:43 am
http://tinyurl.com/37xmhm
February 26th, 2008 at 5:16 am
After raising 2 rottweilers and teaching various obedience classes for 8 years, I was pretty sure I’d seen it all. Than we got an aussie. My Pixel is also a black tri, he and Coco look so much alike I freak out a little everytime you post a new picture. I’m beginning to believe that they’re cross country mind melding and sharing their evil plans to drive us all crazy. Thank god for agility classes and the dog park.
February 26th, 2008 at 8:16 am
I so agree with an earlier poster who said these wonderful little souls really need a job. When Belle was younger, we went to agility and flyball, and she did really well when she had these “jobs” to do. I’ve never been an athlete, so having an athletic dog who needed the activity was really helpful to me but sure didn’t give her the intensity she needed. Still, it was great for both of us. Cocosweetieface might like to have a small pack on her back eventually. Yeah, exercise is the key to happiness and family tranquility with these little ones. Cesar Milan is so right on… exercise, discipline, then affection.
February 26th, 2008 at 8:27 am
The bottom line is that your dog is unique and may or may conform to “breed characteristics”. As long as you are doing what is right for your family and taking care of yourselves and your pup then, of course, that’s all anyone can ask of you.
Our first pup was a dream potty training wise…number 2…well let’s just say number 2 is an appropriate way to refer to her. I hope Coco becomes (is, maybe) the companion you would like her to be! Our little pooper sure has.
February 26th, 2008 at 11:52 am
This was a permanent state of affairs with our previous (FEMALE) border collie.
And before anyone launches another “should’ve done your research” rant, this was a breed that we had owned previously, researched extensively, volunteered with the rescue, gone through every training class with a nationally recognized local positive-reinforcement-based behaviorist… So, yeah.
Talk to every (reputable) local Aussie rescue for tips and tips and even more tips, really. They are often glad to help. The sad truth is we went through about 4 years of this and eventually rehomed our girl. It’s a serious issue with these breeds, one that doesn’t necessarily resolve with the end of puppy days and housebreaking.
I don’t say this as some kind of grim reaper, I just think better to know that it’s not necessarily a temporary puppy-related state. Good luck as she grows older—you are extremely committed owners and I know you’re working hard at it.
February 26th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
My puppy is 6 months old, I got her in the Fall so I’m living your life 2 months before you.
It got a LOT better in the 3rd/4th month.
February 26th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
I have a holy terror (unholy terror) of a dachshund. After far too many sleepless nights (Roscoe would get so upset by the crate that he’d vomit all over himself), we finally brought him to bed with us. That was five years ago. As soon as he got into our bed, he became the best sleeper ever. And yes, I know that the Dog Whisperer says it’s best not to sleep with your dogs, but WE NEEDED SLEEP! We now have a second dog, and he occasionally sleeps with us, too, but we got him as a rescue, so he was past the puppy stage when he arrived. Hallelujah for that.
Both of our dogs do what Coco does…if they can see out a window, they NEED to be guarding the house and barking at every leaf, bird, person, cloud formation that comes within view. They are constantly on ALERT! MY GOD, THERE’S THE MOON!!! BARKBARKBARKBARKBARK! IT MIGHT ATTACK!!! TAKE COVER, PEOPLE!!! BARKBARKBARKBARKBARK!
And yet, I love them.
February 26th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Evil comes in cute packages. It’s mother nature’s Darwinism.
February 26th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
We don’t get Australian Shepherds here. Send her my way?
February 26th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Thought I’d throw my two cents in
We just got a Wheaten at 9 weeks old and he would whimper and cry for much of the night (and they’re generally quiet dogs), but after we started covering his crate with a blanket at night (and sometimes during naps in the day) he quiets down 10 times quicker. I’d try that out if you haven’t!
Beautiful dog
February 26th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Dogs can definitely be life changing. My 18 month beagle (a breed with its own breed related issues) is finally starting to act like an adult (he is mostly happy to sit on my feet, nap in his donut bed or go off and play with his chew toys), except for when we go outside where he goes mental howling, lunging and generally acting the fool. He has earned the nickname “The Beagle Tornado”. I have the same mixture of love and irritation, and I keep thinking: “Another year and MAYBE he’ll be an adult.” Oh, and also, there’s a reason they make them so damn cute …
February 26th, 2008 at 6:39 pm
You have to be smarter than the dog. Learn to properly crate train Coco and employ a day time training process called Tethering. Your life will get much better when all three of you become more dominant than she. Really.
February 27th, 2008 at 9:52 am
@Karan, Thanks for the condescending advice. We’ve never heard about being a pack leader. We’ve never heard of tethering at all. Look closely at several photos of Coco (including THIS ONE RIGHT HERE). ON LEASH. INSIDE.
Jesus, people.
On the internet, no one can hear you scream… or hear sarcasm, apparently.
February 27th, 2008 at 11:49 pm
Coco is beautiful! How is she around Leta? The only reason I ask is because I’ve got a little one and I’d like to get an animal soon to ‘grow up’ with her. Just curious…