ferky1

The Wellness puppy kibble seems small enough for even the tiniest puppies. While they are bigger than the puppy Euk we had been feeding, they are more brittle and less dense so they are very easy for puppy teeth to break apart and crunch up. I never loved how hard Miles had to work to break up his Euk. Sometimes it sounds like he's trying to eat rocks. The Wellness seems much more puppy and teeth friendly. [edit - if you want I can take a pic tonight to show you the exact size]

Thanks for the advice everyone. The wife and I went with Wellness for Puppies and Miles is loving it. It has only been 2 days so he's only getting 25% Wellness and 75% Euk, but he's definitely eating more and while he is still not finishing any meal, only the Euk remains. He has yet to leave one morsel of Wellness. His stools are much softer (too much information!), but I'm not concerned yet because they are still well formed and I always thought that they were bordering on 'too hard' before the Wellness. I'm keeping an eye on them though :wink: The itchiness is still there but since he's still consuming the Euk, I'm not giving up hope that he was just allergic to the food. I really hope it's not something environmental. Thought you'd like to see some newer pics: [img]http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0RABSA54TzJEd8eDCG4vXih4lhTNRLPGBqnNc8*5LfLxH04s8AgyRZhjmHUisXZolAQDHAArrhkp!tzmjckEefUpuwQ0IZwOgWw!!V!*n9Z4/Miles%2010.jpg?dc=4675431386445605696[/img] [img]http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0RgCuBuQUtOId8eDCG4vXikhydEnskC3D!rN1igTJWIKMNS80qzCNHVZuU!t3ScgVFiZYpx412XoHni4ph9UrsUqyLHa5UD4DfzGBs2sOM9Q/Miles%20duck.jpg?dc=4675431386513911584[/img] [img]http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0SwDTAkoWyEod8eDCG4vXikdyYG1zG!n6S1CUBw0xk4eO8FM4958A7zMDQjqldz5MAfxE8YV*DdLZvKPtoKN4Rxi8UyxHpseGoVw9hHnPUga301eTR73IDw/Miles%20on%20sofa.jpg?dc=4675431386558028851[/img]

mydogroxy - I was wondering why you decided to switch from Wellness to Natural Balance. I chose Wellness over Natural Balance (kibble, not rolls) because Wellness is available locally and most other "good" dog foods are not. We only started the transition to Wellness yesterday and now I'm wondering if I shouldn't have tried harder to find Natural Balance, I've heard such good things.

Miles is a healthy 14 week old Shih Tzu who loves to run, chew, play, etc. Despite the title of this thread I know that he loves my wife and I from the excitement he shows when we come home, the way he playfully rolls on his back and lets us rub his belly, the way he tries very hard during our training sessions and other such activities. What really irks my wife and I, and the reason for this post, is how he, a Shih Tzu and "lap dog" (yeah right), doesn't really enjoy our laps, our sofa or hanging out with us for too long. I understand that an energetic puppy does not want to sit on the couch getting rubbed when there are ropes to chew, stuffed animals to attack and trouble to get into. But he also doesn't enjoy being close to us for very long when he is tired. When he slows down and settles and decides to lay with a toy, we try to bring him and the toy on to the sofa with us, he will usually be jumping down within 5 minutes. Sometimes we pet him, sometimes we don't; doesn't matter, he's gone. When he tries to jump up to the sofa or bed with us, and we lift him up, he usually won't stay. On the rare occassion that he does fall asleep next to one of us, he usually relocates after waking up and deciding that there is somewhere better to go. I should mention that I use the sofa as an example, but this happens anywhere we hang out with him, floor, bed, etc. Is this just a puppy who has lots of energy and too much to do and see to waste time hanging with mommy and daddy? Is this something he will grow out of as he matures? I really want to force him to stay with us on the sofa and get him used to laying quietly and letting us pet him, but there is something so wrong about keeping my puppy in one place when he makes it quite clear that he wants to be elsewhere. My only other Shih Tzu experience was with a 1+ year old that wanted nothing more than to lay around next to you and get scratched. She would fall asleep nestled next to you and it was sheer heaven. Miles doesn't act like that but I'm not sure if he's just a normal, energetic puppy. Thanks.

AYB - I wish I understood what you were talking about. I'm pretty tech savvy but this is beyond me. Everyone else - I totally agree that work might suffer as I check on my pup every 30 seconds. But I would think that most of the time he'd be sleeping or playing with a toy and that can't be much fun to watch. The wife and I are still considering some form of surveillence, but the more we get used to leaving Miles for the day, the less we feel like we need to watch him and know what he's doing every minute. We do have cable modem so bandwidth wouldn't be a problem, it seems as though the price of a wireless (we aren't running cable across our kitchen and living room) camera might just be too much to bear. Interestingly, this is from today's Philadelphia Inquirer. Seems I'm not the only one who wants to know what is going on in my house while I'm at work. While they don't specifically mention pets, this is exactly what I was talking about. [url]http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/business/6319280.htm[/url]

I know I know, not another food question....... sorry, I need help. Miles is a 14 week old Shih Tzu weighing in at a whopping 6 lbs. Since being weaned he has always eaten puppy Eukanuba. From the day we got him he has always been very itchy and the vet has ruled out fleas, mites or any other infestation, leaving us with the belief that he is either experiencing an allergy to grass/pollen or his food. The vet did not recommend changing his food, but I think that I am set on trying something a little better. In addition to having corn meal as a major ingredient (which I learned dogs can be allergic to), Eukanuba is owned by IAMs and I have heard enough about them to make me stay away. Any recommendations for a healthy, small breed dry puppy food? We have no intention of doing the BARF or other fresh food diet. Additionally, we are unhappy with the amount of food he eats. Miles is always happy to gobble up a treat or eat anything and everything he finds on the floor, but when it comes to his own food, he just doesn't impress. We feed him 1/2 cup twice a day and he is always excited and jumpy and can't wait to get at his bowl. After a couple minutes though he loses interest. For the past week I'd say that he hasn't eaten more than 1/2 cup a day, it might even be less. Is this something we should be worried about? He is otherwise very healthy, energetic and happy. He has always eaten the same food so is there a reason that he would suddenly stop liking it? Does this just sound like normal puppy pickiness? Help! I feel like my dog is starving himself!

Ok Dogomaniacs, I'm a little disappointed that my search did not turn up more threads discussing ways to watch your doggies while you are at work. My 14 week old puppy now spends the entire day in his crate, but he does get 2 visitors a day who take him out and play with him for roughly 30 minutes at a time. When he gets better at housetraining we will leave the crate open and grant him access to the entire kitchen. He won't have unsupervised run of the house for a looong time, if ever. My wife and I both find ourselves sitting at work thinking about him and hoping that everything is okay. We would both be able to relax a lot if we could just see him. So that got me thinking...... Does anyone have, or know a way to set up a webcam or security camera so that you can watch live video from your computer at work? The kitchen is about 50 feet from our computer so the camera would need to be wireless. I guess the video would have to be fed onto a website (or something) so that we could log on from work and watch. Has anyone thought of this? Does anyone do this? Does anyone know how to do this without spending too much $$$? Are we nuts for wanting to do this? I just searched around the web for a few minutes and found some systems that look like they should work, but they are many hundreds of dollars. Do I really need to spend $400? I'm laughing right now as I picture myself screaming at my computer monitor as I watch little Miles start to squat to take a dump right in the middle of the kitchen. My co-workers will lock me up. Obviously I don't intend to be able to speak to my dog, but I would love to watch him and make sure that everything is okay. Thoughts?

The vet last weekend said that it's time to get Miles started on flea medication (for prevention only, he doesn't have any). He scoured the office for Frontline but they didn't have any for dogs under 10 lbs. Instead he gave us Advantage and said that the only difference is lack of tick preventative but since Miles is indoors 90% of the time and we don't live in a wooded area, it's no big deal. Now I see that some dogs have had skin reactions to Advantage and I can easily get Frontline for small dogs on the internet. I can't imagine a situation where Miles would come into contact with a tick, but better safe than sorry, right? If my vet's first instinct was to go with Frontline then aren't I better off getting it from the internet, using it and ditching the Advantage? Any reason not to go with the Frontline?

I was just about to start my own thread about this. It just started and it's annoying as hell! I understand that this is a free site and we have to make sacrifices but this is rediculous! As for the anti-popup download, I can't install any software on my computer at work without an admin password. Considering surfing the net isn't exactly part of my job description, I don't think it would be good form to ask them to allow me to install software which stops internet popups. Please do something to stop these popups.

Nadooshkinz - other than the fact that he is the cutest thing on this earth, the biggest reason I decided to get a Shih Tzu was the breeds' temperament. They are loving, affectionate and will do anything to please their owners. Miles wants nothing more than to lay, walk, run, play. . . anything, as long as it's with my wife or myself. If we want to relax, he wants to lay and relax with us; if we want to run, so does he. He's just so eager to please. He loves children, strangers, other dogs, everyone! I am smitten!

My vote for cutest puppy...... mine! This is Miles. [img]http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0QwDLAnYT3YQd8eDCG4vXimcPp6Td9eCt9iFu*hkqslg81eYf00UB3EkbRkNsKYeMLw2Dl18*ZURvoxo1qUIF24pfzFfRisBVpWMGv6RgEqE/Miles%201.jpg?dc=4675429415038411512[/img]

Finally borrowed that digital camera and uploaded some pics. This is Miles, my 13 week old Shih Tzu, and yes, he does know how cute he is. [img]http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0QwDSAnYT3YQd8eDCG4vXimcPp6Td9eCt9iFu*hkqslg81eYf00UB3EkbRkNsKYeMLw2Dl18*ZURvoxo1qUIF24pfzFfRisBVpWMGv6RgEqE/Miles%201.jpg?dc=4675429415038411512[/img] [img]http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0QwDVAncTFoUd8eDCG4vXisON8TueJu1eEndHH7Tuv*ttjSpz7X20bTylDdaRawDUhv6u7uGRcRpb2*LPVggEUQmCoHHDtitVkwlNeenEIvw/Miles%202.jpg?dc=4675429415605908722[/img] [img]http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0QwBBA3kTiIUd8eDCG4vXim4ca!4t5BoEkIG6qi42USm6J1MKWZIHfleXEqh2k5*Z*mwscX0FxKUUmhBIeUstAaqY!cZImI2ntgTqKHmckp0/Miles%204.jpg?dc=4675429415703441066[/img] [img]http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0QwDZAngTT4Ud8eDCG4vXitLMcrrK5AN*!26hllT6vjRR3vwGFpjBMGv8L1IOKV0J32Mk3oTLpPiXM9Io0mb3RwGZ2TtOXboFdpi!s*vnHK0/Miles%203.jpg?dc=4675429415630390035[/img]

I have read a ton about crate training and I am using it to train my new puppy Shih Tzu. I have a question about how it works from the dog's point of view: It is quite clear that a puppy will learn self control by spending time in his crate, where he naturally does not want to relieve himself. He will also learn that outside is the place to go. What I don't fully understand is how a dog will know that inside the house isn't a good place to go either? Am I not simply teaching my puppy that relieving himself outside the crate is the right idea? How do I teach him that the kitchen, den, bedroom are also not the places to go? How do they make the connection without shouting, scolding, etc?

My wife and I picked up a 12 week old male Shih Tzu (Miles) on Sunday and boy has he been keeping us busy! He is adorable, loving and everything a perfect puppy should be, except. . . . . I purchased the puppy from a breeder who was recommended by the AKC and the American Shih Tzu Club (and I paid a pretty penny too). I took him to the vet yesterday and I was surprised to learn that he had a hernia AND a yeast infection in both ears. I was informed that hernias are pretty common and I just need to monitor it to make sure it doesn't get bigger or harden or darken. Other than that the vet said it will be fine to wait to treat in 3 months when he gets neutered. When I informed the breeder, she was not at all concerned and said that many of her dogs had them and some when their entire lives without having it fixed. Does this information sound kosher? I had a feeling that there was something wrong with Miles' ears because he was constantly scratching them. The vet prompty diagnosed a yeast infection and showed me the blackened Q-tips as proof. She then gave me (sold me) some blue liquid to clean the ears and Otomax to inject into the ears. She said that it should clear up within a week. First, the breeder did not seem concerned about this either and pretty much blew me off saying that it is common and no big deal. Does this breeder seem unusually cavalier to you? Second, is this Otomax stuff going to work? He's had 4 treatments so far and I actually think he's scratching even more! My wife and I HATE giving it to him because he fights us so hard. I don't want to hurt him but we have to hold him down, is there some trick for getting into his ears? I feel like I'm choking him and that he is getting afraid of me. Next question: In addition to scratching his ears and the surrounding area, just today he started scratching and biting all four of his limbs. He is doing it pretty regularly and it is obvious that he is experiencing discomfort. He will stop whatever he is doing to bite and lick any one of his legs, sometimes he even jumps up in surprise and starts biting or licking a leg; sometimes he will even whine. I hesitate to call the vet one day after our first visit (I don't want to seem like an overprotective, overy-concerned parent), but I don't know if this is common. Finally: As I said above, he is 12 weeks old and he has already has his first 2 sets of shots. The vet said that we need to wait at least another 2 weeks for the third set of shots (the 2nd set were given very recently), but what really surprised me is the things the vet didn't mention. She didn't say anything about heartworm testing or medication, flea and tick stuff and/or blood tests. I'm not sure what is standard, but is this normal? The more I think about the vet visit, the more inadequate I think it was. Surprisingly, the vet is part of a full service veterinary hospital that is very highly regarded. It's not my place to question their judgement, but I am a concerned parent. Sorry for how longwinded this got. Maybe I should have broken it into several threads. My brother was supposed to drop off his digital camera today, he didn't, hopefully I'll have it tomorrow and I'll be able to post pics soon. Thanks for any advice you can offer.