Dog Owner Chat v3 ~Open!~

[mr.robot]

He doesn't do a lot, training has stopped for a couple months since he's injured himself. He pulled a 10kg chain around for a while to get him used to it and was then moved on to pulling 15kg - 20kg weights (from my home gym) once he was built up enough. Used to go running, biking, swimming, free running, tried him on two lure coursing tracks, he hunts rabbits (and foxes apparently lol) and has a spring pole and a flirt pole as well as some agility equipment. (:

[Dakonic]

Well I would like to start agility with her... She is actually a fairly active dog without sports. I usually go on 3-6 mile hikes every morning, dog park in the afternoon and we play ball for as long as she wants. Now I am thinking about doing agility and maybe some other things.
How could I strengthen that area? How can I build muscle on her? I joined a group on FB but the only response I got was " buy this product for like $90." Being a college student and having to make multiple payments on different things, I don't have the money to just spend on random items. So is there any cheaper ways to strengthen her around the house? or out and about? etc.?
And sorry I am not familiar with these terms... So what did you mean by turn of stifle, and wasp waist? Is there any way to correct any of this? So that if I were to continue with agility and possibly other sports she could last longer?
Thank you so much for all this information I really appreciate it!!

Hikes, dog parks, etc are not the type of activity I'm talking about. As those things don't necessarily put as much stress on the joints. Intense activity would be high jumps, leaping up, pulling very heavy weight, bitework, etc. These are things where the dog's joints will experience high impact.

Novice agility would probably be fine, especially if she is of a lighter build. I have noticed that a lighter build seems to reduce the impact of certain structural faults.

And as far as building muscle, I don't do any of the body conditioning exercises like with FitPaws, I just keep my dogs active and feed them good food/supplements. I give coconut oil and turmeric for example, you can also give plain gelatin (like the Knox gelatin packets) for joint health. Or give chicken feet. There's a lot of food options to help with joint health. Activity wise, my mixed breed has a lot of structure issues, I keep him active. Hikes, walks, and swimming are all great things. He is still active in sports despite this, I'm just careful to be aware of not pushing him too much.

As far as the structure terminology. You cannot do anything to change/correct structure at this point, this is what the dog is born with.
Turn of stifle refers to the amount of turn seen at the knee joint.


Here's a bit on wasp waist.(From Structure in Action: The Makings of a Durable Dog by Pat Hasting)

[SaraCO2013]

@night cutie! I love daschunds (correct if misspelled please lol), is he a standard or mini? My grandparents neighbors have a mini black and tan girl.I love his color though and ears <3

He doesn't do a lot, training has stopped for a couple months since he's injured himself. He pulled a 10kg chain around for a while to get him used to it and was then moved on to pulling 15kg - 20kg weights (from my home gym) once he was built up enough. Used to go running, biking, swimming, free running, tried him on two lure coursing tracks, he hunts rabbits (and foxes apparently lol) and has a spring pole and a flirt pole as well as some agility equipment. (:

What kind of injury does he have?

[eleutheromania]

its dachshund, and he's a standard longhair, its just taking forever for his ears to grow out in my opinion, i'm impatient though. lol

[Dakonic]

It's been a while since I posted here... Natsu doesn't really look like a puppy anymore. He's 14 1/2 months old now

[mr.robot]

What kind of injury does he have?

The vet said he's either snapped, stretched or torn his cruciate ligament in his right hind leg. His options are either 10 days of pain relief to see if it'll heal naturally or £3000 surgery x___x luckily for me the pain meds are doing awesome on him (although it seems he spends 99% of his time drunk / high on 'em.) and I don't think he's snapped or torn it.

[FlynnEugene]

@Dakonic Thank you so much for all of that information and for taking time to give it to me. I learned a lot from that!! I will definitely keep her active and I think I am going to start doing some fit paws workouts with her. Just to help her muscles because it can never hurt to build her up a little more. As for the agility I will make sure not to push her too hard so nothing happens. Again thank you so much for all of that information, it is greatly appreciated. BTW Natsu is so beautiful and has grown into such a gorgeous dog!!!

[deercat]

Do some of you own a Czechoslovakian Wolfdog?

[.Middy.]

Well I've decided to switch Kestrel and Chewie to raw. I refuse to keep paying nearly $100 every other time we need food, it's not a fair split considering Annie eats double what Chew eats each day, and nearly triple what Kes eats. Prin eats a bit more than Chewie too. So my dogs are eating a lot less than their dogs, and they are wanting to split it right down the middle.

Plus I can raise rabbits and chickens for my pups. My brother hunts, so I can hopefully get some of his extras too. As long as I'm smart about it, I think I can feed them for cheaper than what I'm currently paying for kibble. If not, it shouldn't be too much more, and it's better for them. (I was planning on switching them onto a higher quality kibble, so it should definetly be cheaper than that lol)

[Dakonic]

@Dakonic Thank you so much for all of that information and for taking time to give it to me. I learned a lot from that!! I will definitely keep her active and I think I am going to start doing some fit paws workouts with her. Just to help her muscles because it can never hurt to build her up a little more. As for the agility I will make sure not to push her too hard so nothing happens. Again thank you so much for all of that information, it is greatly appreciated. BTW Natsu is so beautiful and has grown into such a gorgeous dog!!!

Any time! I hope it goes well for you! Agility can really be a great sport for both dog and handler.