Dog Owner Chat V. 5

[payno.]

Dexters puppy eye’s always kills me lol

[oddball1234]

Its been awhile since I've posted here hahaha.

Killian is doing good. Were back home living with my parents now after a failed relationship (like 8 years wasted anyhoo). Killian took it okay. Didn't like the ride up. Once he found out when he was younger he couldn't ride in my lap all the time he's hated car rides since.

He's back hanging with his old buddy Jax. Sadly the only dog he can hang with. Mom's other dogs do not like him. She's got girls little over 2 years old. A bull terrier and an American bully mixed with American bulldog if I'm right. could be wrong on the mix.

She also got a male bull terrier a month after I got here. He's still a pup but Killy doesn't get along with him. Puppy is very high strung and will not leave anyone alone. He's up in their face and all biting. Killy has already snapped at him but he still all over. So i just keep Killy away. Puppy has Jax to hang with cause Jax will tolerate him. Also the girls do not like the puppy either. They get along with Jax tho.

Jax is just chill with everyone lol.

Also looking to get Killiy a slow drinking water bowl. He zoomies and tries to drink water at the same time. causing him the throw up all the water onces he's calm... sometimes its just on the floor.... lots on my bed so hoping it helps.

one good thing is I got a new phone when I got up here so i can finally take better pictures of him hahaha.

[Falco]

Hello everyone! I'm very excited to announce my family will likely be getting a puppy soon.
We have been doing a lot of research, but some tips from other dog owners would be great!

We will be adopting from one of our local rescues. We are looking for a small/medium dog that is very active. We do a lot of hiking, camping, and going outside and we would love a companion to go with.

We have a huge list full of our necessities, but I also have a couple of questions.

1) Are there any food brands recommended? One thats mostly meat/healthy food and thats easy to hydrate?
2) Going off that, we are very strict about the mostly meat/dog safe food rules for treats. What brand for training treats and high reward treats are recommend?
3) What tips would you have for bringing your pup home for the first day?
4) When would you recommend taking your dog to the dog park to socialize?

Here's some things already planned, but feel free to correct me if any of these are wrong. We got this advice from a professional trainer.

- We will be separating tug toys, plush toys, etc from durable chews. We dont want the puppy to be injecting strings, stuffing, or fabric. It will be supervised.
- The puppy will stay in my room for the first week
- We will be doing a LOT of camping with the puppy. We have flea and tick stuff, dog safe mosquito spray, an elevated bed with mesh, a sleeping bag, first aid kit, long leash+stake, collapsable bowls, and special storage added to a list for that.
- There's a puppy social class every Saturday near us that we will be taking it to
- We will be taking the puppy outside 20 minutes after each meal

[Shy]

1) Are there any food brands recommended? One thats mostly meat/healthy food and thats easy to hydrate?
2) Going off that, we are very strict about the mostly meat/dog safe food rules for treats. What brand for training treats and high reward treats are recommend?
3) What tips would you have for bringing your pup home for the first day?
4) When would you recommend taking your dog to the dog park to socialize?

I’m so excited for you, you'll have to tell us all about it when you get them!! :^)

I can give some insight on your questions (full disclosure!! I am by no means an expert on dogs). however, I grew up with dogs (raising/training in agility, rally, and obedience) and have been raising a puppy very similar to the type that you are looking for over the past year.

1. tbh I’m not super educated on this one yet (slowly making my way through canine nutrition textbooks LOL but my girl is on a prescription diet anyways). some common things to avoid in dog foods are chemical preservatives, artificial dyes, “meals”, added salt/sugars, white flour, etc. basically watch out for unnecessary fillers/junk. when I was first shopping for dog foods I made a massive list of everything that I wanted to avoid and checked the ingredient labels on every single bag of food I saw until I found something that fit. from there, we adjusted based on allergies and other unrelated medical conditions. some people choose raw or freeze-dried raw diets, but that's not territory that I'm familiar with yet. I’d reach out to your vet first to see what they recommend, keeping in mind that some vet clinics are unfortunately paid to push certain brands. you’ll have a bit of time anyways, since you’ll have to slowly transition them to any new food you give over the course of at least a week.

2. this one is fun because I make my own training treats! I purchased one of those reusable food-safe silicone treat molds and make a batter the following:

1. Pure pumpkin (no other ingredients mixed in)
2. Egg
3. Oats
4. Tiny amount of dog-safe peanut butter (the only ingredient should be peanut butter, and even then, give it in moderation since it isn't really healthy for your dog)

I thoroughly blend all of that together, spread it into the tray “pockets” and bake it until they're airy and crispy. I pop them out of the mold to cool and store them in the freezer for long-term storage. They are good at room temp for a few days at a time (at least in my dry climate!). they are so cheap, easy, and make thousands of treats that are the perfect size for training. added bonus is that the pumpkin helps keep everything “regular” lol. if you're not looking to get into that, you can find plenty of training treats in pet stores. I just follow the same guidelines that I use when looking for regular dog food.

3. the first day we brought our pup home we prioritized getting her settled in, letting her safely explore her new environment, and giving her a “safe” space (her kennel, with an open door and closed top/sides to simulate a "den" environment) to sleep. we started building a regular routine immediately, since having a routine will make potty training easier and give your new pup a sense of stability! since everything is new and (oh, so) scary, they can take a bit of time to settle in. this is also a good time to schedule an appointment with your vet so that they can get an initial checkup! also I don't mean for this to be an ad, but it is really worth looking into pet insurance--it can be worth it if you sign them up very young before they have any "pre-existing conditions".

4. possibly controversial, but we personally don’t take our girl to the dog park. this is to reduce her risk of illness/injury, even though she’s fully vaccinated and friendly/playful with other dogs. it’s worth noting that even if your dog is perfect in every way, there are plenty of unfamiliar/unpredictable dogs that can even sometimes be aggressive or sick. though I grew up in a family that took our dogs to dog parks regularly, I decided to stop doing this once I got my current dog. I’m not saying this to deter you, though!! if it’s something that you and your family all decide is right for your pup, just make sure that they are fully vaccinated, and keep a close eye on them just in case!

the tips from your trainer sound spot-on to me! it's awesome that you already have them as a resource. from my experience, a puppy class is a great way to socialize your new dog and a great way to start building a training foundation.

We will be adopting from one of our local rescues. We are looking for a small/medium dog that is very active. We do a lot of hiking, camping, and going outside and we would love a companion to go with.

this part is gonna send me on a little tangent because we had very similar criteria when we were looking at shelters/rescues for our current dog. :^)

we were looking for a high energy medium/large breed dog to do all of those same activities and match my "outdoorsy" lifestyle. since cattle dogs and aussies are both very high energy breeds and are known to have less health issues on average, we were looking for some sort of mix of those breeds if we could help it (though all dogs are going to be at risk of health problems, that's just life). of course with shelters it is impossible to know exactly what you're going to get, but it's easy to make an educated guess based on appearances and meet-n-greets. we ended up adopting a very sweet ~3.5-4 month old cattle dog x GSD x great pyr x husky mix (determined through Embark--the husky component was a SHOCK lol). she is amazing in every way, and is really good at matching my energy levels. as I type this, she is currently content being a couch potato in my lap but can easily turn on the jets when we're outside.

we did unfortunately uncover a whole array of orthopedic issues that we are scheduling surgeries for. my hope is that eventually she'll have the all-clear to go on proper hikes, but I think regardless of the outcome she'll still be able to go camping with us. that's a story for a different day, though. I'll probably be posting all about it when all of that goes down 😬

I also want to throw out there that it is so important to introduce your pup to strenuous activities slowly and at their own pace, since activities like hiking can take a toll on growing puppy bones and paws. depending on the size/breed(s) of your pup, it can take up to a couple of years for them to grow completely. another couple of tips: it's also important to provide a lot of mental stimulation for high energy breeds in addition to exercise. things like food puzzles have been a life saver for those days where there's bad air quality, I'm sick, there's too hot of temps, etc. and if you’re getting a high energy breed it’s good to be familiar with that breed’s needs. if you get a shepherd or a heeler, for example, they’re gonna have those working dog tendencies and will need an outlet for that!

I'll cut myself off here because I am straight up rambling at this point, but I'm totally happy to dive into all things related to outdoor dog activities if anyone ever wants to chat about it or needs advice!!

[Kenjaku]

I see Victor being recommended, but here are the reasons I don't like Victor:
They do not meet the guidelines for WSAVA. They do not employ a board certified canine nutritionist or DCVAN. Their nutritionist Michael Keith really isn't qualified to formulate a food (does not have the minimum of a PhD and has no team with experience). They do not do AAFCO feeding trials nor do they formulate to meet AAFCO nutrient profiles. Their diets are "formulated to meet" which means formulation is determined via laboratory rather than feeding to animals. There is no peer-reviewed research. It's associated with DCM cases.

It is a popular brand but they spend a LOT more on pretty marketing than research, which they can certainly afford but interestingly opt not to. I'm not saying it's the worst out there, but there's a suspicious lack of scientific research so I personally wouldn't consider it.

But also, just because dog food is WSAVA is approved doesn't mean its good. A dog nutritionist I spoke to said that once a company creates food and gets it WSAVA approved, they can basically call all their food from then on WSAVA approved because it's never checked again. Even if it's garbage.

“WSAVA approved” wasn’t the right choice of words there, my mistake. The correct phrasing is “meets WSAVA guidelines.” The nutritionist your spoke of completely made up their argument because there is no such thing as WSAVA approval. Nor do they "check" on any particular food or brand.

WSAVA does not “approve” any brands or companies. They provide recommendations on what consumers should consider and ask a company when looking to purchase pet foods. Those recommendations are not specific to any brand or company. Having a qualified companion animal nutritionist, or several, on staff, and doing feeding trials, are some of those things to consider— there are few brands outside of the ‘Big 5’ that do that, and those that do are often cutting corners elsewhere.

I (personally) would not feed any food that doesn’t meet these guidelines. All of Victor's red flags that I listed could absolutely be disproved or remedied by presenting scientific research, but they for some reason choose not to. Victor is big enough to afford extensive feeding trials, the evaluation of a qualified nutritionist, and more in depth research for peer-review, so why don't they? Just my personal take; I know Victor is popular, but consumer opinions do not mean anything to me without scientific backing from qualified professionals.

Quoted what I thought was important, you basically want to look for food that meets WSAVA guidelines. Avoid boutique foods like Blue Buffalo, Victor, stuff that pushes grain free. (Unless your dog has a grain allergy and it is necessary.) Every dog is different and I believe in feeding the dog in front of you, but WSAVA is a good place to start.

[aequilibrium]

@Lemon Coyote

Hi! First of all I just want to say I absolutely second what Shy said! Here are some more things regarding food:

Big brands get a lot of hate out there for no reason at all imo. I'm a bit skeptical towards more recent natural food brands and all. I highly recommend looking at the list of ingredients regardless*:
- Brands are required to list their ingredients from highest to lowest quantity; typically lines of food you usually only find in pet stores rather than the super market will have ingredients of better quality and more meat (hence being more expensive)
- When an ingredient says “dried”, “powder”, “meal” it means that particular ingredient has been dehydrated / concentrated
- There are specific limits for when they say stuff like "rich in beef" for instance:

- "flavoured with x" = less than 4 % x
- "with x" = at least 4 % x
- "rich in x" = at least 14 % x
- "x dinner" = at least 26 % x
*this is according to European legislation, I'm not sure how it works in other places - if you're from Europe, you can look up FEDIAF and read more about pet food. If you're not from Europe, WSAVA is definitely the place to look into as Lath mentioned.

I absolutely recommend scheduling an appointment with a vet that specializes in nutrition if you're looking into natural feeding (cooked or raw). Nutrition during the growth period is extremely important and if you don't want to be followed by a specialist I would recommend feeding a puppy diet and only transitioning to natural food later in adulthood.

As for my own experience I fed my dog Purina Pro Plan his whole life (puppy line then adult line) and never had any problems, his poop looks good, his fur, nails and skin are shiny and strong, shiny eyes - these are all things you should want to monitor when feeding you dog to understand if they are adjusting to the brand / line you're feeding them or if it's time to try another one! I tried other brands like Ownat and Royal Canin, Ownat was fine but I only fed like two bags as I started getting a little bit skeptical with the grain-free marketing and Royal Canin was really not it for my dog (harder poops, dull fur). Different dogs react differently to each brand so don't be afraid to try things out!

Good luck with your new puppy ♡

[oddball1234]

I may or may not of bought Killian PJs

[arabella !!]

my lil wet fur baby :33

[alfiq]

@arabella !! oh cute! i wish my dog wasnt terrified of water haha
-
anyone here have any experience with 'hypersocial' dogs? after my dog(14 months) hit his teens hes been VERY difficult. went from ignoring strange dogs to barely even being able to see another dog at a distance before freaking out, barking and shrieking and probably scaring people a bit. (it's not aggression, he is however so desperate to go play with the other dog it can easily be mistaken for it)
hes also started getting real overaroused new places, a lot of stress and hes very hyperfocused on smells. high value treats might aswell be dirt to him in both cases.

we used to be able to go all over before so the change is kinda jarring lol. hes completely fine in familiar places(unless theres other dogs). i've been reading lots and were trying to get through it but thought i'd post since tips and advice is always appreciated from other dog people <3

[coffee.berry]

@alfiq
What worked for me is to have a bag of your dog's favourite treats (if your dog is like
my dog, he'll do anything for a sweet potato snackie!) and when you see/meet another
dog and your dog starts barking and/or jumping like a dolphin at the dog(s), tell him
"leave it." loudly and firmly, and he will understand.

If he does it, give him a treat. That's what worked with my dog lol