DogPaddle

Currently I feed either Canidae or Solid Gold Mmillenia AND a homemade diet. I feed these in seperate meals. The homemade diet varies but is usually at least half protien with some cooked carbs and pureed veg and a supplement from the vets - chelated minerals, enzyme, bone meal etc. The boys are very active - one walk a day, one outdoor play session a day, constant ball tossing if I sit still for them, and a great deal of the rest of the time the play tug or wrestle with each other. I do feed two meals a day and maybe this contributes to it but Zaphod (part lab) would go bonkers if I went to one meal a day I think. As it is he seems to think he should be having three meals a day - he knows how to ask for dinner.

:multi: :klacz: Yay Laurel!

[quote]"It would be like making declawing a cat an act of cruelty," she said. [/quote] I would call amputating digits and the first nuckle an act of cruelty. Cats can be taught what to claw and what not to claw, its just differnet from training dogs. I think that if you have done everything else to teach a cat not to claw your furniture and its declaw or get rid of the cat than go ahead and declaw but it is an extreme thing. As for cropping. I am against it. It is done only for aesthetics. Breeds like cockers etc with hairy, droop ears who are prone to ear infections for this reason are not cropped but dogs like dobes with semi-erect hairless ears are cropped. As far as I know, other than ear infection, the only non-aesthetic reason to crop is because you plan to fight your dog and don't want the ear ripped off - and cutting flesh because you want to fight (abuse) your dog is evil. As for docking. I am undecided. Some owners indicate that some breeds do themselves repeated injury banging their wagging boney tail off of things, others say this is rare, I just don't know. So I guess I think the AKC et al. should allow undocked ears and maybe undocked tails unless undocked tails would interferes working ability or health/care in the paticular breed.

Intersting. For those of you against dogparks, do you think dogs miss out on anything really important by not being able to run loose in a semi-wooded area?

There is a lot of opinions on treats. I would say if you are going to treat anyway, don't worry about it. If you don't like the idea of treats, you could probably go to either. Our trainer used treats but also said that if you prefer you could reward with a fav. toy or praise if the dog was very praise motivated. I guess, IMO, a lot of it is up to you, pick what you'll stick with. Good luck.

OK in the rest of the year its not so bad but now that its winter, I'm looking for any suggestion that will help "lighten the load" so to speak. Its worst when there is a missed poop that you find after a quick thaw and refreeze, you have to chip those ones out with a metal shovel. Oh well, at least they don't smell as bad in winter. So, anyone now of any paticular diet changes that may help - currently the boys are making 7-10 piles a day between the two but part of this seems to be because they go, wander and go again.

Tate is an art mag, we can hope that the picture is intended to draw attention to negative stereotypes thereby causing people to think about them and re-evaluate them without bias.

[quote]If you agree, Gunny Bunny, that American Pit Bull Terriers, the breed, is not a viscous, evil thing, and that it's irresponsible people causing all the problems highlighted by the media frenzy, then you need to say so. OR else people here are going to continue to assume that you are a "troll." [/quote] I don't think someone would be a troll just because they disagree with the above. I think someone could dislike intensely the traits of one specific breed of dog or their perception of those traits, voice that opinion and be an excellent contributing member of the board. Additionally, I'm not sure Gunny Bunny agreed that Pits are ok just that NO breed should be left unattended with a child.

Kavik charges my brother if he and I roughhouse. He barks, charges, sometimes raises his hackles, jumps up and . . . that's it. He's run out of bluffs at that point, interestingly if we include him in the roughhousing he is fine, he also seems to enjoy jumping up and grumbling at people who are hugging till he is included. So I guess I'm saying, I don't know exactly what's up but I can relate.

Guys NVMY03GT hasn't been around since June 02.

Greyhound adoption groups are prevelant here but they acknowledge they are just a small drop in the bucket. There are far too many greyhounds that need to be retired from racing for them all to be placed in homes. Avoiding attending races or betting on them would be a good start, lobbying to end greyhound racing is also awsome.

Heartworm is spread by mosquitos - correct? I can see giving heartworm meds when there are mosquitos about and maybe a bit before and after their season but, personally, I like to limit the meds my dogs take so outside mosquito season I avoid it. Here there is pretty much zero chance of encountering a mosquito from November through Febuary and it is very unlikely to encounter a mosquito from October through April depends on the weather. Anyone have any sites that refer to studies indicating that it is beneficial to give heartworm outside of mosquito season. (Preferably not studies done by the manufacturers of heartworm meds as they certainly biased.)

Poor Paddy, hope his eye gets better soon. Good Luck to Paddy, hope his surgery and recovery goes super smooth, Zaphod didn't seem to notice.

Black GSD - he is one of the most handsome dogs I have seen. :o :iloveyou:

[quote]Do you REALLY thinks it's necessary to have more than one dog?" [/quote] Well maybe not absolutely necessary . . . but close, kinda. :lol: The boys are so much happier with two. If I have to leave them for six hours or something they don't get crazy bored too. As for the black dog thing, unfortunately my boys don't do much to change peoples opinion. Zaphod is skitty around other dogs and barks (excitedly) if someone comes to pat him, Kavik has recently taken to being afraid of children - so there are very people we pass on the street that I will stop to chat with or let pat the boys at this time. :(

I guess I can see people getting two of the same dog if your really in love with its breed characteristics or maybe compete or something but I like my variety. Zaphod and Kavik are very different and that is why I don't have a favourite between them, I love them both because they each give me something different. I find the same thing when I walk both dogs. Some people seem to think that having two dogs is decadent or something, some look horribly worried like - how can she possibly control two dogs, some get that ooooh two doggies to pat look and some laugh at Kavik squirming under Zaphod.

I have a splitter for the boys - they manage to get tangled on that tiny thing, I think its because Kavik sees no problem in squeezing under Zaphod to get where he wants to go. Still after the first 10 min or so of their walk they seem to get the idea. I do walk them on two leashes in one hand as well but that is usually after the first half on our walk, they walk on the short splitter first to remind them about heeling. Courtnek do you find people are unusually interested in your dogs because you walk two of them together?

Shara how much does Coal weigh now, how tall is he, approximately? He is around a year now isn't he?

Well this is all interesting. Zaphod is male. Zaphod is not the dominant male of the two dogs. Zaphod eats the same food as Kavik, who doesn't lick much. I think this must be a submissive affection type thing although sometimes he can be pretty pushy about it. I don't mind it sometimes but sometimes enough is enough, hence the NOLICK command.

Kavik will only lick when something has a smell on it that smells really good*. He smells, licks, jitters his jaw around re-smelling, re-tasting, salivates etc. *Good meaning doggy good - you know garbage, other dogs, people food etc.

Michelle - :D That must be it. Sasha - I know it does get annoying sometimes, I don't always want my face washed. :roll: Oh well.

Zaphod has an odd behaviour, it's not really a problem, I'm just curious. He licks a lot. He licks people to death, very persistant about it. We have calmly been working on the "NoLick" command at are making slow but gradual progress, at this point he is pretty good with others but still fairly persistant with me. At night he will also lick his paws for 5 to 10 mins. We adopted Zaphod from the shelter and they claim he was around 8 weeks but I think he must have been 7 weeks. Additionally the shelter has to check them over and hold them for a period before adopting them out and who knows how long the poor little guy was away from his momma before someone found him wandering the street. I'm guessing he must have been 5 1/2 to 6 weeks when seperated from his mother and litter. Do you think this would be the cause of the licking?

Poor Zebra is having a rough go of it. Obedience training sounds great, will probably be reassuring, also will provide something to do - after a long period of crating that should be welcome.

Naomi - Dogs do seem to adore snow, don't they. I wonder if all dogs go bonkers for it?

Dogsgalore - How many people does is your brother genrally able to fit in his finished quincy? As I said we usually can only make one for four, after that structually the quincy seems weak. Maybe he has some tips for me?