DogPaddle

[size=2]No Zaphod only has one head [/size] [size=6]but he does have four arms [/size] [size=3]well legs and that sortof makes up for the missing head dosn't it?[/size]

BARF is a great plan but you should definately get a good book or guide. I would also suggest you feed a little high quality kibble once or twice a week. If you take you dogs on a trip or if you have to kennel them or have someone else come to your place to watch them it is convenient to have a dog that will not look at you like your crazy if you try to feed it kibble. Wellness has excellent ingredients and is apparently human grade food and is expensive, Wysong is also good but its [b]really[/b] expensive (at least here it is), Solid Gold is nearly as good as the other two and is slightly less expensive. You may have to go to a specialty store to get the food. I have not found any of them in Petsmart or similar stores.

That is the funniest ugly/cute dog I have ever seen. He is so unique. I'm guessing Rotti/ACD and maybe something like husky or weimer but only because the eyes appear so lite. Anyone else?

Yes and thanks, we were thinking of Ford but Zaphod (the puppy) had a certain crazy, obtuse, charm that we thought it matched his character better. :lol: Its too bad he was not a she; Trillian might have made a good name too. Other names we discarded, mostly because they would be too hard to shout when puppy was chewing on our cat or something urgent: Zarniwoop, fourty-two, Beeblebrox, Slartibartfast and Marvin because it was just too dull in comparison. Be Hoopy! :lol:

Kavik is a 13month old Border Collie, Zaphod is a 10 week old mutt - the shelter thought maybe BC/Lab but there is something about his skull that is too squarish and broad, also his whole mouth, including his gums are black, he was 5 lbs at two weeks and I think (just doing my best guess here) he will be between 40 and 70 lbs when fully grown, its so hard to tell.

Ok, I just have the two dogs so I think we'll keep on going to the vet, Kavik loves the vet anyway.

Hmmm, this could be very good news, its been a pain to feed Kavik and Zaphod differnet dog foods. I think I'll try switching Zaphod over to the adult food and see how he does, we still have a number of visits to the vet for shots so I'll mention it to him as well. Glad I didn't jump all over the neighbours when they said they feed adult food to their puppy, I would have felt so silly.

Couple suggestions. 1. Buy at least 3 good solid dog chews. For example kongs, large knotted cotton ropes etc. Kong makes a chew that has knotted cotton rope in it - its reffered to as a dental kong and it keeps their teeth clean too. 2. Everytime the dog chews something its not supposed to tell it no and bad, immediately replace the bad item with a kong and if the dog makes any motion to chew it say good. 3. Buy a crate and put the dog in the crate when you go to sleep or if its going to be home alone. Leave one chew in there with the dog. Keep a very close eye on the dog and crate it if you can't watch it. If the dog cannot engage in bad behaviour ever it will not develop the habbit and eventually will be able to be trusted on its own.

A freind of mine was in a similar position. She did take the animal, when animal care and control questioned her later she said she thought it would die if she didn't and she was not charged but the rules could be different where you are. If all the dogs happened to "get loose" and you happened to "round them all up" maybe animal care would have to pick them up then because they'd be "strays". Let us know what happens.

When he is barking and jumping we tell him "no", "sit" and "look". The idea here is he knows what he is doing is bad he has to sit and focus on me as opposed to whatever is working him up and eventually he will calm down. We practive "look" at home with treats and he is good about it but when he is freaking we do not treat for look because Kavik is devious and will sometimes behave poorly so we will correct him that way when he complies he gets praised or a treat. I do tell him he is "good" when he does settle. It is taking several repatitions to get him to "look" when he is freaking and there is no gaurentee when I release him that he will stay calm for long.

Ok, I look forward to it.

Alright its nearly time to make reservations for this summers canoe trips so I'm getting excited again. Does anyone else canoe/trip with their dogs? What do you do with them while portaging? Kavik gets startled by other canoeists on the portage and barks at them some. Do you have packs and lifejackets? Do you do anything to protect puppies feet? How do your dog(s) behave in the canoe?

:oops: I didn't even now I could give my dog its shots myself. What shot are you giving Winnie, where do you get the supplies, where did you get any needed info, guidelines, training etc.?

My uncle had a German Shorthair Pointer who could fly. She was an indoor/outdoor dog. They had a 6 foot chain link run for him. She jumped/climbed it. The must have taken leave of their senses because the tried leashing her on an 8 foot leash in the run. Next time she jumped/climbed the fence she ended up hanging with rear paws a foot off the ground. Fortunately they were home and heard her and she was ok. They had to revert to a run with a chain link top. The fence also extended into the ground a good foot. Perhaps you could do the same with the wood fenced area your behavourist suggested.

We worked hard to socialize Kavik when he was a puppy/young adolescent. He was doing pretty well, a few problems we were working out still but ok. We havn't had him out to Dr. Doolittles - the pet food store, or anywhere unique in 6 weeks or more and today we took him back to Dr. Doolittles and he was a freak, worse than pre-socializing. Wasn't heeling, jumping up, barking to scare people away etc. We had to wait till we were the only customers to do our shopping. The owner/clerk - Linda was great, ignored all his bad behaviours completely and as soon as he settled gave him a pat, told him how good he was and a treat. (I really love this store, knowledgable, helpful staff, excellent products and not a single food with any by-product or mystery meet in it) Anyway, obviously I goofed. Kavik is 13months now, any special suggestions on re-socializing or shall I just go back to the basics? Could this be related to age/maturity etc? Also Kavik is not fixed yet but appointment is this month (his breeder had originally expressed some interest in using Kavik in breeding in future we discussed the issue and decided against it) How much of a contributing factor do you think his unalteredness is?

Neighbours of ours have a 7 month old jack russel pup, they came over to see our new puppy and we got to talking about dog food. They feed iams but that's another conversation, what I was most interested in was that they feed Jack adult dog food and always have. They feel it is unneccassary to feed puppy food after all after children do not eat child food, sometimes they eat kiddified versions of adult food but the nutrients are essentially the same they say. I've never really thought about it, we always just fed puppy food. Is there any problem feeding a puppy adult dog food? Is puppy food just a petfoodco scam? What differences do BARF feeders make in their puppies diet vs their adult dogs diet?

Zaphod is a 9 week old mutt. Shelter said border collie/lab but I'm not so sure, I guess we'll see later. He does seem harder to train than Kavik our now 1 year old BC was. Kavik was home raised and Zaphod is from the shelter so he was used to going indoors. We use the crate extensively. They key is to have a crate that is only big enough for the puppy to stand, turn around and lay down in, no bigger or they may think its ok to mess the crate. You can get a larger crate and section it off until the puppy grows. Crate training is great for other house training too. Consult a local trainer, read the instructions that will probably come with the crate or pm me if you want. Have fun!

I have worked as a Park Warden (badged law officer within the confines of a provincial or national park charged with maintaining order yada yada and making sure campers have nice vacations). Technically within the park dogs are to be on 2m leashes at all times. Often they are not, and frankly, if they are quiet and under strict control, I don't [i]personally[/i] care. BUT in most cases I really did wish people would put their dogs on at least a 5 meter leash while there sitting around their campfire in the dark. Frequent Scenario: a few people having a few drinks around the campfire, their a little toasty and don't realize how their voices are carrying, I go into site (legal) to remind them to keep their voices down, out of nowhere comes the SOUND of a fast approaching, barking dog, I can't see it, I sometimes have time to ask if the dog is leashed before the dog reaches me even if I start backing away. I have to admit, I have come [u]close[/u] to giving a couple dogs a good wack in the head with my flashlight (they were not leashed, they were approaching while barking, I couldn't see them well, they were not scared off by my shouting or waving light) So I can understand the need to react to a possibly aggresive dog BUT I cannot understand how this thing happened to poor Patton. One of the important principles we learned as weany park cops was to ensure our safety. You can be damn sure I would have had those people close the car door as they were getting out for my safety and everyone elses! And as weany little park cops we were drilled on varying levels of force and they could have been so many options! Maybe my perspective is different because I worked in a park where the people I dealt with, even the ones breaking the law, where to be treated with a certain level of respect and decency. How can you be a protector of people and hurt them and their furry family members so much?

Picture?

Alicat - . . . wow. That is some very good stuff. Gives you some idea of what is actually involved in breeding. When I was looking for my dog I met some great breeders and the devotion and work and money they put into breeding made me wonder. I thought at the time "I don't think I'd want to get into all of that." Now I [b]know[/b] I don't want to get into all of that. Just give me my own fuzzy bedwarmer and kongchaser and I'll be fine.

Snowdogs - Try is a GSD/Malamute Cross. The previouse owners claim he was a wolf hybrid or cross or whatever you want to call them but we think their full of it. He looks like a chunky GSD with unique facial markings. He was a little unsure of himself (prev. owners) but not fearful or we would not have sent him to a house with kids. He's just over 5 months and we think he's around 55lbs+. Oh and he likes to be let outside to nap in the snow. Mei-Mei - We do still miss Tyr, thanks for asking. The house is very quiet (comparatively anyway :lol: ) and you can walk most of the way through the main floor without tripping over a dog. I do feel good about where he is. He was a whole other dog out in their backyard - huge. Tore all over the place. He was grooming (that nibble they do with their front teeth to remove ticks?) the womans 5 yr old - not that they have ticks of course. He really seems to like the kids. And if it doesn't work out he'll be back with us. In that case I don't think we'll be able to see him go again though.

Hmmm, I'm sure K will catch me if I'm breaking the feeding rules but . . . Blueheir to start with: Why do you want to breed [b]this paticular[/b] dog? How can you be sure the arthritis is due to circumstance and not genetics?

Hmmm if people are debarking dogs because they annoy their neighbours maybe I can devoice AND destupid my neighbours teenaged kids who are always shouting and partying.

More on Tyr's adoption. The family has been to visit him once here. Tyr has been to their place to visit once. We took him to their house today with his teddy, his kong, his [b]FOOD[/b] (Tyr loves his food), his collar and tags. We lent them our large crate (Tyr doesn't need crate much anymore but he goes there when he wants to relax so we think this will help the kids learn Tyr's limits) and the leash we have been using to try to teach heeling with so there is some consistancy but we will pick them up in 2-3 weeks. We have made them promise we could visit and if anything happens and they can't keep Tyr we take him back. He seemed very happy when we left - chasing around the T-wall with the kids. :cry: :-? :) ?

A word of caution on those electric collars. A neighbour had one for her jack russel, she also had one of those extendable leashes. She was out chatting with the neighbours with the dog on its leash and with its bark collar on (I don't know why you'd use a bark collar if you were there to correct yourself but maybe its some consistancy issue I'm unaware of) Anyway the dog was rushing about and got the leash wedged under a stationary cars tire, it was wedged very close to the collar and when the dog went to move away from the car (it was moving quickly, jack russels always seem to be moving quickly) it jerked on the leash, this caused it to yelp, this caused an electric shock, the panicked pup now tried to jerk away from what it perceived as a nasty attacker - the big black tire and the leash, it couldn't get away, jerked on the leash and yelped and was shocked and yelped and there was a nasty circle of yelping panic and pain. The owner tried to free the leash but the pup had it wedged pretty good, tried to take off the collor but the pup was naturally squirming and freaking out, in the end the quickest method was to cut it off but there were still red raw spots where the pup and been shocked and it had already lost control of its bowels.