over doing it?? spoilt pooch!

[AnotherLoad]

yesterday i went to my mums as sis was visiting from up north. I bought my pom pup with me, with her kong, treat ball, scales to weigh food (she's not long got over sloppy/gloopy poo) she's on chicken/rice and starting to add natures menu mince etc...... i like to weigh it to make sure she;s getting right portions.

any way i was stuffin her kong with the mince/chicken & rice for her lunch meal. when i was asked wot the hell im doin? so explain that i put it in a kong as she's too greedy and would wolf it down in seconds if i put it in a bowl. that this will keep her occupied/ stimulated for a while later.

well the cats bum faces i got from every one! it was replied with ''its a bloody dog put it in a bowl!'' I ignored it because i dont mind spending that bit longer preparing food for her

so dinner came and i asked my sis to help me train her with ''come'' command, using her dinner (the same chick/rice) calling her from one side of the garden to the other. recieving the food when she comes. (victoria stillwell tip) pups is motivated by her stomach and not toys so in stead of over doing with treats i use her meals as training.

my sis done 2 runs then said, ''this is stupid. just put it in a poxy bowl!'' then gave up. I found when i tried to justify why i was doing it this way they were all saying im going to end up with a stressed or spoilt pooch??!!

I really thought i was trying to do my best so my pup will turn out a great adult dog. spent time on the internet to find ways to make it fun while training. they've knocked me back abit so am i doing it wrong?? :( :(

the whole weighing, konging, food training, treat ball playing thing seemed not neccessary in their opinion, i understand - not every one is willing to stand there stuffing kongs and prefer to shove food in a bowl. each to their own.

Just ignore them. It sounds like you're doing fine to me.

it did make me think i was going over the top but i enjoy doing what evers best for the dog - but only if it is good for her and not ending up with a fussy dog?! thanks d0oing :)

I'm not sure how any of that would cause a spoilt dog. Just sounds like you are trying to avoid a fat, poorly pup which is not trained!

Sounds like you're doing fine. Just remember also, that the understanding of how dogs learn, and the best ways of training has improved a lot in the past twenty years. I'm 47 and how I treat our dogs is in many ways light years away from the dogs we had growing up.

Family members may genuinely think that was how it's done since they may not have had a dog for a while. A similar thing for babies - look at how the advice has changed about sleeping on backs/on tummies.

The proof of the pudding will be when your lovely dog is grown up, healthy and well behaved.

thats true about the babies and dogs advice changing etc.

my sis has cats! and my mums (our family dog) passed away june last yr. but they (the family) were bone idle to walk her, play with her, keep her stimulated etc. she was such a placid well behaved (but bored) dog. tbh as im writing this i dont know why ive let it get to me

well i hope all my effort makes her a great adult dog thanks

Nothing wrong with what you're doing, but can understand the reaction from those who might not understand. That's why I prep everything before taking my dog to stay with anyone. I stuff kongs and put in freezer overnight, weigh out food (dog is raw fed) and put into plastic bags, then everything in cool bag so I can feed dog unobtrusively without having to put up with annoying comments.

wiggofan, can i ask you what you raw feed? what do you stuff kongs with? do you give it to your dog frozen or defrosted? ive read some people give live/natural yogurt in kongs frozen (like a kongicle?) sound abit dumb but trying to get all the info i need that helps :)

im just intdoducing my pup to natures menu. she is on free flow mince, now ive finally got hold of the puppy nuggets she will be on them. im slowly reducing the chicken/rice.