# Does Your Dog or Cat Ever "Trip You Up" Around the House?



## SeaBreeze (Jan 17, 2017)

I've always had dogs and cats but never have I thought as much about being tripped, ran into or knocked down as I do now that I'm a senior.  I only have one dog and cat now and they are pretty mellow, but it seems one of them will find a way to be directly behind my heels as I'm turning around, or pass in front of me as I'm walking.

Lately I've been using the expression when having a close call with one of them that "they're gonna make me break my neck!".  We have a narrow staircase in the house with a small platform at the top, when we open the back door it swings across the platform making is more tight.  Never thought twice about this, but now I think about falling down the stairs if one of them throws me off balance, especially if I'm carrying something up or down.

When I go to the dog park now, I'm especially careful about big dogs running wildly and hitting into me.  It's happened over the years, but back then I didn't think about knee injuries or broken hips.  I've seen several people need ACL surgeries due to hits by fast big dogs, and one woman was knocked down by her own black Lab and broke her hip.  She had other health issues too, and no longer could go to the park after that, even though she tried with her walker.

I'm the type to hurt myself before stepping on or hurting one of my furkids.  Has your dog or cat ever caused you to fall at home, or knocked you down?


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## Ruth n Jersey (Jan 17, 2017)

All my pets have at one time or another tripped me up. We only have the bird left and he is quite a walker so sometimes I trip just trying not to step on him. Our dogs also had the habit of laying right in front of the kitchen sink while I was doing the dishes. I would stand a foot away trying to reach the sink. Never would have occurred to me to make them move. They ruled the roost. I miss them all so much.


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## SeaBreeze (Jan 17, 2017)

That's how I am too Ruth, I swore when I got my last puppy a little over a year ago that I would make him move each and every time he was blocking a doorway of in the way of where I wanted to stand.  I've always stepped around my pets not to disturb them, sometimes it was because they were old and sickly and I didn't want them to have to painfully get up and down.

But....being the softy that I am, my pup has managed to block the hallway and any doorway where I am, I am constantly stepping over him or walking around him, just what I said I wouldn't do.  I try to look at the bright side though, and tell my husband that in a way it's keeping us more limber having to reach and step.  Well, I tried. 

Sorry your dogs are all gone...hugs.  I know how you feel, I have so many who have passed over the bridge and they still bring tears when I think of them.


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## WheatenLover (Jan 17, 2017)

My dog likes race me upstairs ... I put it on command, he always beats me, and he runs on the side of the stairway that doesn't have a handrail. Otherwise, I'd be bowled over frequently, because he is a fast runner.

He will pull me over dashing for a cat (or groundhog or noise in the underbrush or dog walking nearby or a robin). He wears a harness and a collar, with the leash attached to both (the leash is made for this). Trouble is, he is stronger than I am. So I immediately sit down and call for help. It takes two adults to manhandle him into the house when his prey drive has zoomed to 100%.

Now I take another adult with me when I walk him. He is a lot stronger than I.


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## SeaBreeze (Jan 18, 2017)

Wow Wheaten Lover, that's pretty intense!  I hope you never get seriously hurt!  Terriers do have a high prey drive!  This woman with an Airedale eventually stopped going to the dog park as her young female would chase smaller dogs and ended up biting one pretty badly.  She came for awhile with the dog muzzled.  Sounds like your dog needs some boot camp training!


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## WheatenLover (Jan 18, 2017)

He does need more training, SeaBreeze. As soon as I get over the flu and catch up on everything that has been neglected since 12/28 when the flu hit me, I intend to make time for that. It would be great if we had regular distractions, instead of critters who show up randomly out of the blue. Our land is between two curves in the road and we can't see anyone coming until they are right there.

The farm cats who live nearby will continue to torment him, though. They sleep on the porch windowsills. They show up during the day to meow at the windows, and then sit back and watch the dog go crazy. They parade into my yard (up to 8 cats at a time) and line up at the fence when my dog is outside. 

My dog is cat entertainment, I think.


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## SeaBreeze (Jan 18, 2017)

Sorry you're down with the flu, get plenty of rest and hope you recover quickly....sounds like a long time already.


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## WheatenLover (Jan 18, 2017)

Thank you, SeaBreeze. I keep overdoing things and pay for it the next day with fatigue such that I am nearly useless. I'm used to a lot of activity, and even though I am pacing myself and getting hardly anything accomplished, it is still too much.


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## SeaBreeze (Jan 19, 2017)

You're welcome Wheaten Lover, you need to give yourself some love and take a much needed break, your health is worth it. :love_heart:  I did a first formal training walk today with my 1 1/2 year old Australian Labradoodle, after his regular walk and romp in the park playing with the other dogs, I let him rest a bit at home and took him for a walk with choker chain (smooth) collar and 6' leash around the neighborhood for the first time.

He had to walk by me in a relaxed heel, he couldn't pull ahead or lag behind, he couldn't sniff at anything or cross in front of me or behind me.  When he started to get ahead and not next to me, I gave a short correction to the side with the leash.  That put him a little off balance and slowed him down till he was by my side again.  He did spot a couple of squirrels along the way, but I read his interest and put him in check before he started to pull.

I kept him on the curb side of the sidewalk, on my left, not by the people's front lawns.  I stopped frequently and ordered him to sit next to me, gave him a liver treat for reward and continued.  When we got to the curb to cross a street, I told him "wait" and when he stopped and stood still next to me, I gave him a treat.  Then I told him okay and we walked with him in relaxed heel across the street.  This went on for the whole walk and he did really well, I need to do it more often along with other training things.

He walks usually on a regular leash or retractable but he will go ahead of me or lag behind and pull if he sees a rabbit or squirrel.  That's okay if I'm just taking him on a fun walk near the neighborhood park to do his business, but these walks are for training only.  The older I get the more well trained I want him to be, so I don't lose control or get hurt.

When we get home the training collar comes off and that's it.  He gets to run loose at least five days a week at a big nice dog park, so on the training walk he's already exercised and pottied.  I made the homemade liver treats several days ago, but reading your post made me get out there and start today....thanks for lighting the fire.


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## SeaBreeze (Jan 21, 2017)

Wheaten Lover, are you feeling any better with your flu?  Hope so, you did more than your time with it!


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## Falcon (Jan 21, 2017)

Dino trusts me to walk around him but he senses when I'm not gonna do it
and he hops away.  He's one smart pooch.


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## SeaBreeze (Jan 21, 2017)

Dino's a smart pup for sure, ours is learning, he's more likely to get up and move if my husband's walking near him and doing things, but he knows mama will tippy toe around him and break her neck before she hurts her furbaby by stepping on him.


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## WheatenLover (Jan 21, 2017)

SeaBreeze said:


> Wheaten Lover, are you feeling any better with your flu?  Hope so, you did more than your time with it!



Yes, I am, thank you for asking. I got more accomplished today without getting overly tired from it.
I just came on this thread to reply to your post about training walks with your dog. That's a great plan!

My dog is reactive to strangers and to other animals coming onto our property, not untrained. I know what to do about it, but it's nearly impossible without being able to see people and dogs when they are still far away. So I am going to walk him with his prong collar on and see if that helps. The prongs are covered with plastic tips and don't hurt him. I tried it on myself and there is no pain involved at all. Plus he is used to being trained with a prong collar on. He does behave a lot better, and he never pulls when he is wearing that collar.


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## SeaBreeze (Jan 21, 2017)

Good to hear that you're feeling better.  I used to watch the Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan and he said about being the leader and doing the walk with the dog, and the first time I tried it years ago I was impressed how it worked.  

There was a time we bought a shock collar for our pups to use when we were out in unfamiliar territory camping with them, to help keep them secure until they were fully trained off-lead.  I also tested it on my leg and used it on a very low setting. 

 We sometimes camp in the mountains in spring where the river waters are rushing dangerously with winter snow runoff, so if they went too close to a cliff with a wild river below and didn't respond to the come command, we could use the collar to get their attention.  I don't like to use them anymore, would rather do I the old fashioned way. 

 It is hard when you can't see a long distance and know what's coming up on you and your dog, at least if you had warning you could start the correction before the bad behavior happened.  Wish I could say hello to your Wheaten, I bet he's a sweetie.

Here's my past dogs (RIP) and you can see the younger female has the shock collar on to keep her from going too far from camp.


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