Inherited a German shepherd

[breakupsarehard]

As the title says I have inherited a 10 year old German shepherd, she’s lovely I know her really well and she seems to be settling ok. I know her diet was mainly cooked chicken and the vets were really happy with her diet as I would take her to appts with her owner. It’s expensive though! We have now introduced dog food as well and feeding her both canned wet food and cooked chicken which she is eating fine. I’m not sure exactly how much food she needs though. Does anyone have any advice on this? I’ve googled it but ended up really confused. Also any tips on separation anxiety in dogs welcome too. She would be with her owner all the time previously, but I can’t never leave the house again!

You could probably Google how much food to give her depending on her weight / age?

With Separation Anxiety you should introduce the idea of being alone gradually.
Start by leaving the house for 1 minute then going straight back in. Don't make a big deal of going or returning.
Do that several times. If she's OK, doesn't bark or whine then increase your absence by a minute or two.

Keep doing that until you are outside for 1/2 hour. You could set up a camera to film her while you go out for an hour or two.

Don't ever leave her alone for more than 3 hours or so. Not fair on them. If you work and will have to leave her for over 4 hours you'll need to hire a dog walker or visitor to take her outside for wees etc and company for a while.

If you can't afford than then it would be kinder to rehome her.

Thanks for the advice, she won’t need to be left much luckily. I can work at home most days and on the odd day I have to go into the office I have family nearby who can visit her during the day. It’s just currently she can’t manage hardly any time alone before starting to bark and howl. She is pretty quiet and laid back usually so it is definitely she is worried about being alone. I’m really hoping we can get her used to time alone as I would hate to have to re home her, but I also can’t never leave the house at all. We will see, I’ll try the gradual approach and keep my fingers firmly crossed. With the food I can get an idea of how much online but then it says they eat less as they get older but doesn’t really say how much less. She has regular vet check ups so I guess we will find out if she is losing or putting on weight and adjust accordingly. I’ve never owned a dog so this is all new to me.

If she can’t be left without howling then you can’t leave her. Dog training advice and support on FB have great advice on separation anxiety.

How do you cook the chicken? It’s a fairly fatty food to give imo. DM used to feed our lab a full on roast and he got rather porky.
I feed my Lab 2 x forthglade dog dinners, a handful of biscuits, plus cucumber and the odd strawberry. He’s 13.5 but can’t walk far at all.

For the separation anxiety, does the dog follow you around the house? I’d start with moving from room to room alone, then leave the house for 5 mins for a week, then ten mins and so on. It’s really difficult to manage, need to be patient.

Gradually swap her to a dog food of your choice, chicken is a bit bonkers and not a complete food. This website is useful and helps you choose based on weight/age etc, plus tells you amounts. https://www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk

Again, gradually build up time she’s left-there are YouTube videos. Well done for taking her!

@RickyGervaislovesdogs not if it's skinned.
OP I think those weight/food things are way too much. My dogs eat about two thirds of the recommended amount and are a good weight.
I once looked after two dogs and the (normally very sensible) owner said I had to boil up sheep heart and tongue, butter a slice of bread then cube it for the dogs! The smell!

I agree just chicken is a bit bonkers! It’s chicken breasts cooked in the air fryer and then cubed for her, she also loves turkey and beef but chicken was the staple. Vets were happy with her diet and weight, but we will are moving her onto other foods as well, it will probably be better for her and I won’t have to cook chicken all the time! The dog food website is interesting, thanks for the link.

she will follow you around the house but is also happy to be downstairs if you are upstairs. As long as she knows you are in the house she is ok. Just unhappy when left alone, we didn’t even know for a while as she is fine when we leave and fine when we get back. A neighbour told us about it, and we then videoed her so we could see what was happening. She has not been left alone since but we need a plan to help her overcome it.

You don’t say how long you’ve had her, I’ve read it takes about 4 months for a dog to settle into a new home, maybe longer the age she is. You are right to want to change food, it’s not balanced at all. If she likes what you are feeding continue feeding it and slowly reduce the chicken over time, as a topper.

I also have a large breed of a similar age. She has dried food with snippets of our food (salmon skin, left over roast chicken etc). The dried food is good for teeth cleaning. We get John Wellbeloved. It says on it how much dogs if different weights need. For us it works out as one scoop.

Chicken along isn’t a nutritionally complete diet.
The group I mentioned will point you in the right direction about getting her ready to be left. But it’s not a quick fix and she needs never to be left for longer than she’s happy to be left for.