Tails, ears, and facial expressions, as well as the legs. I am going to be scanning some diagrams and drawings that show various tail and ear positions, and facial expressions with explanations. Sorry to be OT, but if anyone is interested I will be posting it on my new website, which should be up within the next week.

i've found this to be relatively helpful:
http://www.pawsacrossamerica.com/interpret.html

based on it, teagan is usually in 'alert' or 'dominant'. with respect to her tail, it is usually somewhere between straight out/slight curve up and she wags it back and forth slowly.

i'd definitely be interested in what you post on your new website!

I found your website to be helpfull and looking forward to viewing your new webside.
When I viewed this, I found that drak male usually to be in a in the backyard when guarding the tall wall he is alert when not guarding and just handing out with holly they are both just frindly/playfull/happy. When they hear us coming out they both get courious/eager/excited expecially holly.
It helps distiguish/describe their moods. I really like it/nice.
Maggie

that's a good idea kacie! i do work on getting her to 'mind' me when she starts getting unfriendly, but i've been unsure how/if to correct the staring, as she hard stares at people to but doesn't go after them. but i'll start working on that - she is better w/small animals outside since i've started working with her - i have to be on top of her, but we're doing alright there - so she can definitely learn.

well i got to work on it a bit today after work - problem was a dog (lab X?) was coming towards the park off-leash, and while teagan alerted to him immediately, i went to grab luc who was next to us but dropped leash (he can be nervous around strange dogs).

....instead of going near the park though, the dog saw teagan, they stared at each other (while i was grabbing luc's leash), and the strange dog veered off to walk in the middle of the road away from the park.

i found once she'd gotten the chance to really stare, she wouldn't break it to look at me, and getting her to sit doesn't break the stare either, so i ended up doing 'leave it' and moving her away physically in another direction. the lady catching her up to her dog was like 'fido! fido! why are you in the road!?' and then she saw teagan, staring, and there was this 'oh' moment while i turned teagan around (she was well inside the park too, not next to the sidewalk). (maybe i should've felt bad but i also thought she should've had her dog on leash.)

the bad thing was it interrupted teagan's 'will i pee?' ritual (and she didn't go in the morning, and i smelt her crate. what kind of dog can hold it 19 hours!? i'm taking her to the vet for a urinanalysis. she does not strain, she doesn't have accidents, none of the stuff i associate w/infections, but that is not normal. i do notice she doesn't drink a lot in the crate, more when she's out, maybe that impacts. she took over 5 minutes to pee at the park and like i said, 19 hours, and we have the ritual 3X a day that we walk to that park, go to the same section, and go potty. i wanted to shake her and scream 'JUST *@#$#**@# PEE ALREADY!!!!!!!!' but thought that was unwise. anyways, a digression)

ps....you'll also all be glad to know she just growled at me when i went to close to her (we were playing w/her new squeaker to replace the one she broke and bit me over, after our tug session tonight) and i immediately said no!, corrected her, and took the toy away. play time....over.

(the squeakers are obviously high-value for her (it's cuz-manufactured, but the fish, not a 'cuz').)

Some females can hold their pee for an astoundingly long time. When I adopted my female aussie/lab mix, and brought her home from the shelter, it was 72 hours (THREE DAYS) before she peed. Granted she was a submissive dog in a strange new environment with strange people, but gee whiz.

When she was an only dog, after a while I stopped letting her out in the mornings because she never peed. She liked to sleep in, haha. I had the vet check her and the vet said she was fine but her bladder was "pretty big"... !

Anyway... back to the regular thread.

you know, it could be as simple as a big bladder. i've checked her for dehydration before, she's fine - but like i said, she doesn't drink a lot when she's in the crate. i added a bunch of water to a tuna/tripe/egg mix i gave her last night, and she peed pretty quick once we were in the park this morning. if that's what it is - sigh - this seriously has been killing me, and if it's just she's not drinking enough to have to really go a lot, well then....sigh.

i'm going to get some wellness canned grain-free food, and add a small spoonfull to a bunch of water and blend it, then give her that regularly.