# Dog and Turtle Question



## Kalina (Oct 27, 2010)

Hi, I've had my turtle for a little over 3 years, he was the size of a quarter when I first got him, now he's pretty big. I won't pretend that I know anything about them because i don't...heehee!! Anyway, every so many months I notice his skin peeling off, well it kinda hangs off him, I also find small thin slithers of his shell in the tank now and then when I'm cleaning it. Does this happen when he's growing? From what i understand he's a yellow bellied slider?

Dog question: I've worked with dogs all my life, trainers and animal behaviorists have always told me that dogs don't remember that they've done something wrong if you punish them sometime after the act. Well, I have a female Rottweiler who came from a neglectful situation so every now and then she will steal food. Usually, we don't leave things within her reach so she can't do it, but sometimes my daughter will forget to close the kitchen door and my Rott will go into the trash and take scraps while we're out. The thing is, both my dogs always greet us at the front door excitedly upon our return home, if my Rott has done something wrong, she will be upstairs on our return home and not come down to greet us, if i don't call for her, she would stay up there all day to avoid us. I'd like to make it clear we never hit or smack any of our pets, but they do get the lecture and my tone is displeasing while doing it. What I'm trying to ask is: If dogs don't remember, why does she stay out of the way even tho she did the act hours previous?


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## ChiKat (Oct 27, 2010)

I know next to nothing about turtles, but I believe turtles shed their scutes when they are growing- which explains the peeling shell.

When my Chihuahua would pee in the living room she would hide from me too. I have never even raised my voice towards her- she is extremely submissive. When I would see her cowering in her bed I knew to look on the carpet for a stain  I think you're just not supposed to bring them over to the spot and yell at them, because they don't really make the connection. I think they still know if they did something wrong.


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## Kristina (Oct 27, 2010)

I had a Malamute/Choc Lab/Wolf that came from an EXTREMELY abusive situation ( was a 12 week old puppy with several broken bones when I got her  ) She was one of those dogs that was so smart that it was like living with another person. However, she liked to get into the garbage, even though she ate as much a day as a full grown Dane (she never stopped moving, and burnt more calories than any animal ever should, lol.) She would literally trash the kitchen every time we left. She started out kennel training, but at about 6 months old she figured out how to pull the front of the kennel in and worm her way out. We clipped it together with carbiners, and she somehow opened those (I had to padlock this same dog to her tie out to keep her from escaping. Not that this has anything to do with garbage, but she also climbed trees, opened canned goods with her teeth, and would lay things like my pillow in the middle of the living room if I was gone "too long," as if to say, "I COULD have ripped that up, leave me alone again and I WILL....")

One day I took some tuna fish and mixed in a ton of cayenne pepper. I put it right on the top of the garbage, and put out a huge bowl of water and left. I was gone at work for 8 or 9 hours. I came home, the bowl of water was gone, the tuna fish was gone, and the rest of the garbage was untouched. She never touched it again.

DOGS remember things very well. Puppies are the ones that have shorter term memories and need constant reinforcement. I personally use hand signals and body language more than voice commands to train my dogs. Spanking a dog accomplishes absolutely nothing in my opinion, so I agree with you there.


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## ChiKat (Oct 27, 2010)

Wow Kristina- that sounds like quite a dog!! What was her name? Do you have any pictures?
Ugh a 12-week old puppy with broken bones  I will never understand how someone can abuse an animal...and I have a terrier mix that has more attitude than my teenage sister


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## Kristina (Oct 27, 2010)

I do have pics, but they are stored away and they would have to be scanned - I didn't have a digi camera back then.  She looked like a big brown wolf with husky markings, and her eyes were like a cross between a wolf's eyes and a Choc Lab. Kind of a dark gold color. 

Her name was Morghann, and I actually witnessed the guy beating her. I forcibly took her from him and threatened him with all kinds of law and prosecution. I was only 17 or 18 but I had him totally buffaloed, lol. He was scared snotless of me and I never saw the pig again. I had already been feeding her and watering her for days because they left her tied up in 90+ weather with no shade and no water and didn't come back home for days and days. It was an apartment about 3 doors down from the salon that I worked at. 

Anyway, sorry for the hijack!


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## Candy (Oct 27, 2010)

Hi Kalina and welcome to the forum.  I myself don't know anything about turtles except that they like water.  So I won't be posting about that one. I do on the other hand have dogs and I don't believe for a minute that they don't remember. I think their memories are very good. My Chocolate Labrador is 2 1/2 now and when she would get into the trash in the bathroom I would tell her to "Leave it" and finally after giving her a cookie everytime she left it, she now does it on purpose just so she can get a cookie.  Smart dog.  She's still got some puppy left in her so I can't expect too much. I love to hear about dog stories especially the sneaky ones.


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## Kalina (Oct 28, 2010)

hahaha I don't believe they forget things easily either Candy, and Kyryah your dog sounds interesting, I can't even imagine my dogs opening a can of anything...heehee!! I did have a Great Dane that opened the freezer and took out a frozen chicken and ate the entire thing, YUK!! But I think I'm gonna try putting something very spicy and hot on the top of the trash can for her to eat, that's a good idea actually... I'll let you know how it goes... Knowing her, she'll enjoy it...


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## Candy (Oct 28, 2010)

Kristina tough love is hard to do, but that is one of the best ideas I've ever heard.  Glad to hear that it worked. Kalina you should leave a raw chicken out for your dog more often. I feed Emma raw chicken backs it keeps her teeth clean naturally.


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## Kalina (Oct 29, 2010)

Candy said:


> Kristina tough love is hard to do, but that is one of the best ideas I've ever heard.  Glad to hear that it worked. Kalina you should leave a raw chicken out for your dog more often. I feed Emma raw chicken backs it keeps her teeth clean naturally.



Eeewwww, Candy that sounds gross, raw chicken eewww...heehee!!
The bones are not good for dogs, I do make them brown rice and cooked chicken with some cottage cheese and puried veggies sometimes. They love it. I used to make my own dog food and freeze it in ziplock bags and feed them that everyday, it was when the pet food scare was around. But now I just do it occasionally.


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## Yvonne G (Oct 29, 2010)

Hi Kalina:

Welcome to the forum!!

Its normal to see the occasional peeling skin on water turtles. It might be that he needs a water change. And you occasionally will see the top layer of keratin peel off the shell too. Do you have him in filtered water, or do you have to change the water? Sometimes a little table salt added to the water helps. Not too much.


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## Kalina (Oct 29, 2010)

emysemys said:


> Hi Kalina:
> 
> Welcome to the forum!!
> 
> Its normal to see the occasional peeling skin on water turtles. It might be that he needs a water change. And you occasionally will see the top layer of keratin peel off the shell too. Do you have him in filtered water, or do you have to change the water? Sometimes a little table salt added to the water helps. Not too much.


 
Thanks emy,

I have a filter in his tank but I change the water often, I used to have to do it a lot as his food would discolor his water quickly, but now I've changed foods and don't need to do it as often. The parts of his shell slithers I find are translucent in color and it seems to happen about every 6 months. I've never heard of the salt thing, what does this do?


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## Kristina (Oct 29, 2010)

Kalina said:


> The bones are not good for dogs



Not necessarily true - RAW bones are fine, it is the cooked bones that can shatter and are dangerous. Raw bones are a major component of a raw BARF diet (which stands for bones and raw food  )


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## Kalina (Oct 29, 2010)

kyryah said:


> Kalina said:
> 
> 
> > The bones are not good for dogs
> ...



Sorry, I mean't Chicken Bones, I don't trust them because of their size, I give my dogs bigger bones, I just worry with the small bones like that.


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## Kristina (Oct 29, 2010)

Same is true for chicken bones - the raw ones are fine, they are flexible and chewy. Once a bone is cooked, it becomes brittle and can shatter into sharp pieces that can cause stomach or esophageal lacerations or choking and should be avoided.


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## Kalina (Oct 29, 2010)

kyryah said:


> Same is true for chicken bones - the raw ones are fine, they are flexible and chewy. Once a bone is cooked, it becomes brittle and can shatter into sharp pieces that can cause stomach or esophageal lacerations or choking and should be avoided.



I had no idea that raw Chicken Bones were ok, I've always kept my dogs away from them thinking they could choke or cause internal damage. Thanks for this info. I've always given them the big ones. My Rotties teeth get a plaque build up really easily and the bones seem to help out a lot.


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## Candy (Oct 29, 2010)

Yes Kalina it's true. I'm really surprised Kristina that you seem to know so much about the BARF DIET for dogs, do you use it? I've been feeding it to my dogs for 3 years now and so has my sister. They love it of course and their teeth look great. Emma can polish off a chicken back in no time at all where it takes Spencer a little bit longer.  It sounds like you got some good information on your turtle too.


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## Kristina (Oct 29, 2010)

I have used it in the past, Lily however is on dry food. (She is my 7 year old Shar Pei.) 

I am not licensed, but I did go to school as a veterinary technician and I have quite a bit of knowledge about diet and nutrition  It was always something that I was interested in.


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## Kalina (Oct 31, 2010)

kyryah said:


> I have used it in the past, Lily however is on dry food. (She is my 7 year old Shar Pei.)
> 
> I am not licensed, but I did go to school as a veterinary technician and I have quite a bit of knowledge about diet and nutrition  It was always something that I was interested in.



What do you think about the Holistic foods like Eagle Pack?


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## Candy (Oct 31, 2010)

Looks o.k. to me. I went away from the processed dog foods because my other two dogs died of cancer. After reading up about dogs and cancer I found a lot of information on the processing and preservatives of dog food that I didn't like. I also found a homeopathic vet that suggests you feed your dogs the same as wolves would eat since the DNA is the same. She told me that my pug would not be in her office with so many ear infections if I were to do that. Guess what? He hasn't had one since and his itchy skin left and he loves the food. I used to use "Blue" homeopathic dog food but after finding the raw it just made sense to me. It's my own experiment to see what happens with these dogs, but I definitely do not trust regular vets anymore when it comes to what's good for my dogs. They will tell you that they need shots every year when they don't. Here's one of the newest books out although I haven't read it yet, but I do plan to. Everyone should look into vaccinations before they're given to your dog. I titer mine before giving them any vaccinations. And I've only given my Labrador one Rabies and then we detox her after with a certain homeopathic medicine. Anyway now I'm just rambling, sorry. I only wish I would have research all of this before I had my other two dogs.


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## Yvonne G (Oct 31, 2010)

Kalina said:


> I've never heard of the salt thing, what does this do?



It prevents bad bacteria, skin and shell fungus. (a teaspoon per gallon, I think is the ratio)


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