Dog Owner Chat V. 5

[Cardinal]

I work at a boarding place and we have so many obese dogs come in. It's always so nice to see conditioned, fit, or even pet weight ones. We have a pair of little dogs that come in (total mutts, I can't even make an educated guess honestly) and their pet parent instructs us to feed them one can of wet food three times a day. It's SD Metabolic and it's like, a full size can, not those little wet foods you can buy. She's upset that they're not losing weight. I'm just?? For their most recent stay she cut down a can of wet food, and I was happy... only to find out she replaced it with 2x cans of chicken sausages EACH. They also get multiple treats at each meal. (Beggin strips & chewy milkbones) I feel like I'm actively killing those dogs every time I feed them but I can't exactly go against the owner's wishes. Poor little bubs.

And they actually eat it all?! Holy. Crap. Speaking of, I can only imagine what its like to pick up after them


Sentry and Sardonyx are 30-35lbs each and, while it changes daily, get 1 1/2 cups (standard US 8oz cup) of kibble and on days theyve been more active I’ll add in eggs/dehydrated beef lung or liver/whatever meat trimmings from dinner.

[Blue_Aussie]

That's insane!!! But I don't have much room to talk... My golden retriever is around 98 pounds, we only give him 2 cups a day now because our vet said that he's supposed to be in the 80s or low 90s, he is a very tall golden but still! We don't give him scraps besides green beans or something healthy and I use a few pieces of his food as treats while training instead of fatty treats, which doesn't happen a whole lot because he is 4 and very laid back. We also can't take him for hikes like we used to because he tore a ligament in his leg. I'm just so confused on why he's overweight!!!

[eleutheromania]

not surprsied if they do eat it all, Loki would eat and eat if i free fed him, same with piper.
Out of my three, Kasper is the lightest at 15lbs. Loki at 18lbs and Piper probably around 20-25 now.
The boys get around 1/4c to 1/2c daily, piper gets around 3/4 currently.

[Boghound]

Yes, Cardinal, they eat all of it somehow. And thankfully they're amazingly house trained. That being said, I get a scare every time they go because the beggin strips turn their waste solid red. We see a lot of stress related bloody poop because we *are* a boarding place, but god. Every time. Only thing that makes me more nervous than blood in stool is when I see those tell tale little worms...

Our older boy, a chow/lab mix is about 10 overweight right now. He's primarily my family's dog and I've gotten tired of them trying to take the reigns and get him to where he needs to be, so I've been paying for his vet visits when I have money to spare. He's a happy boy just... very chunky. I think he weighed in at 68lbs?

I can't wait til he registers heartworm negative so I can start running him. I've been slowly decreasing his food and trying to work on him no longer freefeeding. That's an uphill battle, though, since my mom feels bad for him and likes to go behind me and refil his foodbowl / put extra food in it.

[mierose]

Honey's flirt pole just arrived in the mail (we got a cheaper one on Amazon to make sure she would like it) and she LOVES it! We spent quite a while today playing and had an absolute blast. It took 10 minutes max to get her worn out and any other activity takes way longer as she's very motivated to go go go. This will be very handy during finals when I don't have time to go on hikes or to the dog park on the daily and only time for one or two regular walks and brief runarounds. This mixed with agility will soon help her to become a very well-rounded dog and I'm very excited about hanging out with her to do fun stuff as well as more training.

[taurus ;]

anyone here have rare breeds?
rare breeds, i don't mean a rare color or there's something cool about your particular dog.

if yes, how did you become involved with the breed and eventually get one?

[Imzadi83]

anyone here have rare breeds?
rare breeds, i don't mean a rare color or there's something cool about your particular dog.

if yes, how did you become involved with the breed and eventually get one?

I have a Chinese Crested which seem pretty rare. I wasn't looking for a dog of a particular breed, just wanted a small female adult dog and Chloe was the first to come up in the Petfinder search. I read her profile and she sounded like the perfect fit for my family. It's funny, if I had got on some lists of breeds at shelters/rescues I wouldn't have even bothered putting Chinese Crested. I'd never met one in real life until Chloe. Since Chloe I've only met four.

[Gizmutt]

anyone here have rare breeds?
rare breeds, i don't mean a rare color or there's something cool about your particular dog.

if yes, how did you become involved with the breed and eventually get one?

I have what is suppose to be a full bred kelpie verdict is sill out on that. Kelpies are certainly one of the ‘rarer’ herding breeds in the US.
I’ve loved them for a long time, but never really found one available when it was feasible for me to get one ... until now.

I have a co-worker who has 4, and she put me in touch with the breeder of my dog. She has a half to my puppy. My experience has not been all that great with the breeder... you win some you loose some

[chase.]

anyone here have rare breeds?
rare breeds, i don't mean a rare color or there's something cool about your particular dog.

if yes, how did you become involved with the breed and eventually get one?

not too sure if a rough collie is considered rare, I know they're not about too much anymore. My mum's always wanted one and we knew a crufts breeder who wanted rid of Logan because he was scarred by one of his brothers and had chewed his teeth down and was therefore unshowable. In the end he became more attached to me so I took him instead.

My cousins have also got a Tibetan mastiff, their friend couldn't take care of her properly so they gave her up, those guys aren't seen much anymore either I don't think.

[.Middy.]

I don’t have one yet, but eventually I will have a AHT! On the list just waiting for the right time to bring one home lol. (Probably a few years from now) until then I get to borrow my breeders dogs for sports though. I almost kept this little girl since she was offered to me but unfortunately she has a underbite so can’t be shown so I had to pass.

O loves when we get to steal a naked for a few days. I should be stealing one for awhile in a few weeks so I’ll be sure to get pics then!