DogPaddle

Kavik, who doesn't like eating much in the first place, was just like your dog Loulou. I found it very difficult to get him to eat unless I added something to his bowl. Fortunately for me he doesn't seem to do this with Canidae, our current kibble. If your dog won't eat any kibble unless its mixed with other foods maybe you could just mix it with vegatables and maybe a small amount of fruit. Canidae doesn't have many fruits or vegatables so I often choose to add some myself anyway.

The food you described sounds very good as are the other brands you listed. I would suggest that as they are all the same class of food find the one that your dog like's best or compare costs. Keep in mind when you compare costs that even if a food is cheaper by the pound it is not nec. cheaper - check how much you have to feed your dog per day. My boys liked Canidae and it does work out to be comparatively inexpensive so that is how we chose their kibble (from amongst the higher classes of dog kibbles.)

I wonder how many people here trained "leave it" and then realized they needed to train "release?" :lol: I think it would be fairly common for first time owners or those who haven't had a dog in a while.

We fostered a GSD/Malamute who was obsessed with this - did anytime he played, greeted or got excited. Didn't know it was a dominance thing, thanks for the info folks.

You used a tea bag on a mouse? That would have been amusing to see, the teabag must have been as large as the patient. :lol:

Sorry apparently Dogo logged me out before the calendula post was me. Calendula is marigolds usually mostly the flowers, they are dried and you can get them at some health food places otherwise you might find them at a place dealing in dried herbs and teas. However, since I now recall that you live outside a tiny town your probably out of luck there. Tea bags should work fine till you can get to a vet. Use them warm and just hold them there for a bit, do it over tile or linoleum or something - when I did it it was a bit drippy.

[quote]she will bounce you and try to knock the food out of the bowl in an effort to get at it.[/quote] Ah well, that would be Zaphod. He bounces and twirls and barks and nudges my arm (while I'm pouring a scoop sometimes.) :roll: I can get him to stay and leave it if I am very firm when I begin pouring and when I finish but he prances and looks from me to the bowl with a look that plainly says - you can't possibly make me wait much longer - I'm starrrrrving!

Kavik has always been pretty good with leave it but we have done extensive work on it because of Zaphod and his compulsive eating. Kavik is no very good with pretty much everything, he will not eat most things unless invited, even unattended plates of meat are pretty much safe around him. However, now Kavik must be told "Eat your dinner" when I put down his food, otherwise he looks at me like - "Is it OK?" :-? I wonder how many times I will say this in the course of his life - 2x a day, 365 days a year, at least another 11 years - that's over 8000 times. :lol: He is such a serious, little worrier, always very eager to please and very concerned about trying to understand what I want - do think doggies suffer from stress over these things? :D

[quote]Dogs ears should be cleaned out weekly as routine and have hairs trimmed from the inside flap of the ear to keep the weight of the ear minimal.[/quote] Really? I do Kavik's once every two months max and no problems. Zaphod's I have to attend to more often or he starts shaking his head (he is paticularly sensitive to getting water in his ears too) but usually once every 10 days does excellently unless we have been to the beach. Maybe its just a dog specific thing?

I think that abondoning the dog park in Toronto only rewards the jerk dropping the poison. I think I'd buy a muzzle and keep going if at all possible.

Evolve is pretty good but it is quite expensive here. In fact at the chain store here it is now their most expensive now that Go! has been pulled. Still very good food though.

I agree on the cockers and poodels, dobies ears air small, nearly hairless and semi-erect, especially in comparison. My mum had a cockapoo and we had to become ear experts. Preventative cleansing, treatment cleansing, ear hair trimming between trips to the groomer, no water in the ears if possible etc. I would seriously liked to have seen if cropping Joe's ears would have helped.

Thanks. We are off to the park with Kavik again today. Sadly Zaphod is making very slow progress, oh well at least it is progress. Both of their recalls are coming along exellently, Kavik's down (no matter what distractions there are) is 100% but it is sometimes he still delays a bit or creeps forward. :lol:

Well she could be peeing out of frustration or annoyance or she could have an infection: she didn't squat and it smelled bad. :niewiem: Keep an eye on her.

Mine do play growls but I can definately tell when they become serious.

A locking jaw would have to be physically different from a regular jaw, the bone would have to be designed to lock or something. Dogs do not have this adaptation, it probably would not be very useful to them as if they "locked" on to say an elk in the wild they would not be able to release to avoid a deadly kick to the head. No dogs have locking jaws but medium to large dogs do have powerful jaws and some may be quite tenacious, possibly contributing to the myth. Hope that helps Lefool.

Excellent advice Carolk9s. I also have a pup from the pound that may have been seperated from his mother too early. He used to mouth too much and still licks excessively but that I can deal with. We were able to overcome most of his issues but despite being raised with the dogs in our household he still doesn't get on well with dogs not of our family. Reinforcing the pack order by demoting and starting to make him sit before feedings and then hand feeding (so he knows you provide the food and he has to do something so you will do so) may help. Lots of excercise, play and snuggles too and keep up all of your excellent training it helps a lot and he is doing so well for such a young dog too. If you can get a behaviourilist to come out that would be excellent, your pup is young, they'd probably have good results. Good for you for continuing to work with him. Best of luck.

Cole and Alaska are adorable! Congrats!

Some breeds are apparently known for having bad teeth. Are there breeds known for having few problems with their teeth. I ask because Zaphod's back teeth look like they will need a dental cleaning in the next 6 months to a year and he is only a year and a quarter. Kavik is perfectly fine and he is older. I feed good kibble, give dental toys, brush and put Suzie's Tarter Control in their water 1-3x a week- both dogs teeth get treated the same.

So long as neither really get hurt, I wouldn't worry, their just working things out between themselves and reinforcing their own order in the pack. I would however continue to give Ben lots of special loving, its tough for him going from the centre of your world to second fiddle.

Tricky problem: You could try to say the same thing everytime you let her out, very excitedly. She should start to react, watch how she reacts, she will probably develop a pattern, eventually she may proactively react the same way if she needs to go out without you prompting.

I have a freind who is a real animal lover but has very little experience with multiple dogs. She actually comes to my house to visit my dogs - she always brings them liver treats and lets them jump up and lick and generally spoils them rotten - they of course adore her. Anyway, she was visiting and the boys got to playing with full sound track and you should have seen the worried look on her face. Even after she realized they were playing she seemed very tense, she didn't want to stop them because they were having fun but she was still worried they'd get hurt. :D She is such a softy and a dear person. I redirected the buys to playing tug with each other so she could relax.

Congrats! Always make crate training positive. Feed and water your pup in there. Throw treats in there. Keep the crate in the living room and start by crating your pup in there for very short periods while your right there, maybe during comercials if your watching tv. Gradually expand the time, praise, then start leaving the room breifly, work up from there. Also see this thread: [url]http://forum.dogomania.com/viewtopic.php?t=10960[/url]

Coal is an adolescent and may need a lot of stuff that is just fun. Play, snuggle, spend time doing other stuff and then once he's a bit worn out then do obedience but make it all fun for him. He needs to be obedient but if its all the crack down for him he probably will begin to ignore it and just try to find his own fun.

Excellent results, glad your work paid off. Wonderful that you and Toby have the lake there as well, I'm jealous.