I'm not saying we won't buy her meds, just not a veterinary behaviorist. I really want to help this dog because I kind of feel like we are her last hope. I do not want to take her back to the shelter. I'm going to a natural store right now to find some natural supplements as I'd like to try that first before meds. Then I'm going to Petco, who has the Thundershirts in stock. Thanks all!

She actually sleeps in a crate at night and settles down in it after a few minutes. But that is when she is in the room w/me and I'm going to bed also. I think I will try to put her in it for a little bit in another room when we are doing school. She likes to be in the same room w/us and sits right by my dd's chair. I think she needs to know that it's okay if she is not right next to us. I just read an article on strategies for dealing w/separation anxiety in dogs. We have to crate her when we are gone. In the notes from the shelter it was noted that she dug out of backyards. She seems to do better crated outside on our back patio but I worry about the heat. I think she likes it better outside because she can hear all kinds of sounds. I posted last week about her getting a hold of a down quilt that was near her crate and she pulled herself closer and killed the quilt. So she has to be in a crate. We put in a chew toy w/her. We tried my dd's t-shirt and it was shredded. She shreds everything we put in there. If I can find it, I'd like to replace the plastic pan/liner from the metal crate w/a metal one. Then I could put her in the kitchen and put a vinyl thing under it to keep it from moving around closer to things she shouldn't chew. It's very unlikely that my dh will let me spend the money on a behavior specialist of any kind. He wasn't totally on board w/getting a dog in the first place because of their expense.

We adopted a dog one week ago today and we have been through 3 crates. The pop-up one, okay, I didn't intend that to be her only crate but the night time crate. Tore the mesh in a flash. The metal crate had a plastic liner that she tore to shreds, plus she can move it across the room. There is not a bottom to it now that she tore the liner, unless I order a metal liner and put some vinyl under it to keep it from sliding. The hard plastic crate has smallish openings on the sides and a metal grid door. She chewed through the openings, made a hole, and got out of the crate. (see pic below) She is 14 months old and I posted about her last week when I was thinking of adopting her. She's a Catahoula Leopard mix. Just the sweetest dog when we are home, but doesn't like to be alone. We are crating her to keep the rest of our house safe from her when we are gone. We also crate her at night but she is in the room with us and sleeps in it w/out any problems. I'm attaching a picture of what she did to the crate while we were at church this morning. I need some recommendations as to what I can get to help her. Crate that she can't destroy, natural calming supplements, etc. Our vet seems to think she will settle down once she gets acclimated to us and feels more secure. I don't want to take her back because she has already been in one home that the shelter knows of and if she keeps going in and out of the shelter she will be put down. We are patient doggie people and I want it to work out w/us, so please don't say take her back to the shelter.

I almost selected "other" because we have blended AAS with Megawords. Now we just do Megawords for the older grades, but I will still use AAS w/my youngest at least to level 5.

Actually, my first response was to laugh and take the picture. After fighting to rid my home of feathers, not so much.... I think we left the crate too close to the bed. She even tore the plastic bottom tray that goes in the crate. Shredded it. She's not going in my dd's bedroom anymore, at least until she calms down.

As you can see, she has issues!

Well, we brought her home yesterday! She is so docile and calm! I was expecting a dog with a little more energy. We got her a chew bone and she just looked at it. Then I got her some toys today and nothing. She doesn't want to play with a ball. Just now, we had some progress. She started chewing her rawhide bone. She is only 14 months old and I thought she would want to play still. Do you think she's just in shock? She seems happy but reserved. She just doesn't seem to have much of a personality. She doesn't even want to chase us that much either. I had a nylon type pop-up kennel that I wanted to just have in my dd's room. I knew I needed to get a metal one but didn't like the selection where I was. She slept in it fine during the night, but tore it and broke free pretty quickly today. We have never adopted from a shelter before but have had strays or abandoned dogs that have not been in a city shelter. Any advice to help her adjust? We're loving her tons!

I still have a lot of work to do on our history lesson plans. And now that I think of it, I need to putting together this weeks assignments for all the kids. I was supposed to get caught up with all this stuff this weekend and it didn't happen.

I'm also nervous about a few health issues I read about this breed, especially the white ones. They have an 80% chance of going deaf. Also have an increased risk of blindness and hip dysplacia. The dog we had to put down at the age of 13 last September lost her eye sight around 7 yrs of age and was profoundly deaf in her later years, making it very difficult for her to get around. She also started having hip problems around 7 also. I really don't want to go through that again. I've also read that they need obedience training. We have trained our dogs ourselves but haven't had really stubborn type dogs in the past. My dh says he's not doing any dog training. :confused: I saw the shelter staff walking her on a leash and she seemed fine, no pulling or anything like that. We have a ton of rabbits and squirrels around here though. I wonder if she will want to chase them. That's how my neighbors golden retriever started out before some obedience training. Also, how big do they get? We really want a medium size dog, not a large dog. Thanks!

What about playing with other dogs? The shelter staff told me she plays really well with other dogs. If she were our dog I would like her to have doggie playdates with our neighbor's Golden retriever. We do have 2 cats that are indoor/outdoor cats. The neighbor's retriever likes to chase them. Do they actually attack people outside the family or just growl and give them a warning? Would I need to put her in another room when people come over? How much of this behavior will she have if she is a mix? I know that's not totally possible to know, but any idea?

:iagree: They might think that since you're not using it, they should just take it off your hands!

I stumbled across a dog that is up for adoption and I sort of fell for her! She is a 14 month old Catahoula Leopard mix. Here is a link w/a picture of her. http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/23209124 Can anyone tell me what other breed she may be mixed with? I'm not concerned with a mixed breed as we don't care, I'm just curious to try to get a better idea of what she may be like as far as behavior and health related issues are concerned. The Catahoula Leopard as a breed seems to have a pretty high need for exercise and attention. We have a small yard but could take her for walks. We are home a lot but not all the time. I would be willing to crate her when we leave to help her not chew things she's not supposed to. One of the websites mentioned of this breed that after a few years they get really protective of their family. I don't want to have a dog that will growl at people when they come over. This particular dog was super friendly and sweet as far as I could tell. Just wondering if anyone has experience with this breed and anything they could tell me about them. Thanks!

I really like these homeopathic remedies for burns, but you may not have it on hand. Calendula cream (not calendula ointment as it comes that way also). If you have a store around you that sells the little vials of individual remedies, Cantharis really helps stop the pain from burns. I use the 30C potency. These are good things to keep in the house for burns. I hope you feel better soon. :grouphug:

Oops! Didn't read your entire questions! (That's what I get for skimming) Revised list: Gladiator (wondering if 7th graders could watch this with some parental editing) Psycho or any of the Alfred Hitchcock movies Pride and Prejudice (the BBC version) To Kill a Mockingbird

I'm pretty sure my boys, aged 12, received the Tetanus shot only this sumer, but I had to go to my county's health department to get it.

:iagree: This has worked for me. I thought I read somewhere that high doses of Vitamin C could also help w/menstrual symptoms. Try the Emergen-C products.

:bigear: I'd like to know about this as well! Great question!

Praying for you all....:grouphug:

Praying..... :grouphug:

We have done read-alouds for history as they were usually scheduled with Biblioplan and when we did Winterpromise American History. Read-aloud time is my kids favorite subject ;). I do like the discussions that we have. I'll continue to do them. Since I don't have a open and go plan, I'm having to decide which ones to assign to them and which ones we should read together. I guess I'll let the ones that will interest the 1st grader help me decide. Thanks!

I would go even though I am not a supporter. He's still the president. I have a friend that is a stauch conservative that got to shake his hand and so did her whole family. It was still cool for them.

Okay, you don't have to share your list, I'm mostly curious who does them for the middle school grades. :D Thanks!

I'm wondering how many of you have family read alouds even in the logic stage for history. If you do, I'd love to see what your book list is if your doing Ancients. I have 7th graders, a 6th grader, and a 1st grader next year all doing Ancients. I'm putting together my own history plan w/SOTW (mostly for the 1st grader), MOH, Human Odyssey Vol. 1, Oxford World in Ancient Times, and various books. Trying to decide which books of the ones I'm selecting would be the best for read-alouds and if I have time to do read-alouds with all 4 of the kids. Thanks!

I will chime in and say that my boys only made it through MM 6A last year because we started in MM 5A and I had planned on having them do most of 6B over the summer. However, when I started looking at the topics covered in PreAlgebra courses I decided to just let them cover those topics from 6B in the PreAlgebra course. MM 6B topics include Percent, Geometry, Integers & Coordinates, Probability, and Statistics. Also, percent and integers/coordinates were topics covered in MM 5. MM 5 also covered ratios.

I haven't seen too many of the spoof songs so I'm not tired of it yet. This is cute!