New Puppy Mummies No. 4

[SallyBear]

Have we really got to a fourth thread already?! Wow.

Please feel free to join in.

I have Toby, who is a 7 month old foxy coloured Labrador.

[SallyBear]

I think that harnesses depend on the breed of dog. I have a car harness that you can attach a lead to. Which works fine, but tbh we have always used a traditional lead and collar with a ton of snacks to promote good lead walking!

[picnicinthewoods]

We use harness with Legend (GR 7 months). Its been great for us. He walks pretty well on the lead with it, but I practise a fair bit with treats. I just prefer it that's all, I don't like the thought of him ever pulling on a collar & I find I have more control over him in that I can more easily grab the harness if I need to!

[basildonbond]

I have a Houdini pup ... Fitz has worked out how to get out of his car harness - I watched him in the rear view mirror today and basically he hunches down and back and manages to wiggle it over his head - he then looks enormously pleased with himself ...

Any recommendations for reasonably cheap but effective harness? I don't want to spend £££ as we're getting a new car soon - it will be an estate so he will have a crate in the back

[basildonbond]

btw - I hope you're feeling better moose

[basildonbond]

oh and Fitz has gone off his kibble ... pah ...

there's still half a huge bag of it left ... he's just taking a bit of it in his mouth, sort of swilling it around then spitting it out ...

he did eat some when it was mixed in with wet food and he couldn't lick round every single bit

luckily the cat adores it - every time I feed Fitz I have to fend off marauding feline

do I keep persevering or give up and try another brand?

[SallyBear]

Can you cook some minced beef or lamb with some veg and just add a couple of spoonfuls into his kibble?

[NigellasGuest]

mint - early days but he's still slightly calmer. I've been giving him the raw food since Tuesday. This may be a coincidence, but yesterday morning and this morning he slept through from 10.30pm til 7.30am. In other words, since he has been on the raw.

The "nuggets" look like lumps of ground up meat (which is what they are)! They are hard,obviously as they are frozen. As they defrost they become gradually more sloppy and it becomes harder to distinguish one nugget from the next - not that that is a problem.

[NigellasGuest]

ps. he eats them when they are barely defrosted (I guess it feels nice as he's teething) so they are still intact nuggets. He likes them fully defrosted just the same though.

[basildonbond]

Lifelong veggie (hence the kibble ... Plus pouches)

[needastrongone]

I am sorry, I don't use a harness so no advice there.

Perhaps add some stock or rice etc to the food basildon/ Just to see if that perks him up? Otherwise, some of the companies will send you a free sample or small bag of their kibble to try. We've just changed to Millie's Wolfheart (kibble am and raw pm), and they wolf that down.

Struggling a bit with keeping an active springer entertained until next Wednesday. It's so wet too, if it were summer I could probably let him walk out a bit as the dressing is so large and padded but no chance.

Feeling a bit house bound

[NigellasGuest]

needa is it ok to do kibble am and raw pm then? sorry to harp on about this issue, i'm just worried about doing it right!

[NCISaddict]

I think the idea is to leave at least 8 hours between kibble and raw and to try and make sure that the kibble is grain free as this can cause problems.

Not an expert although I do feed my puppy raw and have really noticed the difference in his poo as opposed to my memory of my previous pups although that is purely anecdotal and I realise that it's not for everyone.

[needastrongone]

I am an experiment of one, but I have always fed both and both dogs are fine. I know that you shouldn't feed both due to the different digestion rates for kibble and raw but I can't quite get my head round this tbh.

[mintchocchick]

I'm really interested in the effects of raw feeding and hear no negative effects at all. It all seems positive.

How are all the teenagers getting on? I have really noticed minty calming down at home in the last 2-3 weeks, since he turned 6 months. He's not grabbing clothes, leaping up at our backs as we walk away from him, not grabbing ends of dressing gowns or tea-towels anymore. Lovely home life is restored and I am much happier - I just don't get those feelings of despair and "WTF have I done?" anymore.

On the other hand he is MUCH worse out and about - really pulling on lead so I have hip ache and really choosy about when he comes back to me if there are other dogs to play with, so my walks are a bit less blissful than they were. Roll on adulthood!

[NCISaddict]

We're doing ok, Finn is six months old now and pretty good, very little jumping up and gets down the moment you say 'off', no nipping at all and he's really calm most of the time. Recall is good on walks but not in the house so much, it's as if he knows he's safe in the house and we can't leave him whereas on walks we might go without him.
The only problem we have is pulling on the lead, he seems unable to focus, totally uninterested in treats etc. Most of his walks are off lead but I take him out once a day for a lead walk and it's really hard work.
He's raw fed (on a complete food not DIY) and I've had no problems with him in that respect, I wish I'd known about it with my previous dog.

[basildonbond]

Fitz has definitely hit teenagerdom - he's never been much of a chewer so I can leave him for a couple of hours feeling confident that I won't come back to a wrecked house. He's stopped jumping up on the sofa and has never jumped up much to people so that's all good - however he has started jumping up at the kitchen counter trying to steal food. He's become quite selective about training - he's not keen on doing anything he perceives as boring so pretends he doesn't know what I'm on about if I try to practise down stays but he'll happily do fun tricks until the cows come home (or treats run out ...)


But it's when we're out that I'm starting to tear my hair out - recall is 100% at home and at training class and 100% outside as long as there's no other dogs around, however today he got it into his head that he wanted to play with a JRT who really wasn't interested - Fitz was bouncing around play bowing like crazy but the other dog would only occasionally react and tell him to get lost - unfortunately Fitz completely misread this and thought the JRT was play-chasing so was obviously thinking 'game on'

When the other dog left the field Fitz went chasing off after him - I got him back but then 2 mins later even though they'd gone round a corner so he couldn't see him any more he went haring off after him again - he is utterly oblivious to even the most tempting food treat at this point

But then I have days like yesterday when he recalled beautifully from playing with other puppies and I was looking like I had the best trained pup in the park .. So I never know which side of him is going to surface when we go out - bit stressful

Plus he's suddenly started pulling and pulling on the lead - and again I can be waving chicken or hot dog at him and he's not interested :(

[haggisaggis]

I'm going to join back in now as plaster is off ankle and I'm back to walking again (though the family don't trust me to walk over the golf course by myself yet!)
Angus is now 5 1/2 months - and because I was out of action not a lot of recall / lead training has been done. Went to puppy classes for the first time this week - Angus loved it - all these puppies to play with! I found it a bit humiliating - but it will get better! He walks really well on the lead for me if there are no distractions if I have treats - which is good as I can't walk fast and can't handle pulling. Will also recall fine at home - just when there are other distractions he's a nightmare! I have to say that regarding feeding we went the other way and he's now on kibble. dh just couldn't cope with raw feeding when he had to do it - and Angus had gone off the chicken mince and tripe too.

[sweetkitty]

Nalas paw is now healing nicely do we are back to nice long walks (well as long as you can with a large breed puppy). Her recall is good she doesn't like to be too far away from me so will go after another dog but if it's too far turn and come back.

She's doing great on the Millie's Wolfheart wolfs it down, poos are good on it too she's still on the skinny side though. The owner at Millie's was great he said the thing about raw and mixed has never been proven and it's like us eating a mixed meal of veggies, carbs and meat, it all gets digested at different rates.

Nalas main problem is jumping, she jumps up at the counter, jumps on us and will jump at anyone she mets outside which makes me very anxious, I'm never worried about her meeting another dog, she always just wants to play and if the other dog makes it clear it doesn't want to play she'll leave it be but then she goes to meet the owner and inevitably jumps up on them and of course I don't want this as she's always muddy and she's a big dog. Am following kikopups advice on jumping just now.

There's a new dog training class opening 5 mins from us, there's nothing else for miles around so I might check it out.

[mintchocchick]

Really lovely to hear about the others.

Sounds like few of us have this pulling on lead problem. I have a feeling I'm going to need to see a Physio soon but fear they'll say I need to stop your dog pulling to really treat the problem.

Any ideas of when teenage dogs settle with this?

[NCISaddict]

Finn stole DS's leftover pizza from the table this morning, an hour later huge slimy horrible poos. Thank goodness he asks to go out now, I'd forgotten what horrible poos they can do when they've eaten something that doesn't suit them tmi.

[TheWomanTheyCallJayne]

In the last week I have three times managed to write long posts and delete them. I'm exhausted as dh has been away so have seemed to have spent my life with children finishing at different school times and doing pick ups.
So just checking and saying hi and will ask all my questions in separate posts I don't lose them (that just corrected to desperate...apt?)

[TheWomanTheyCallJayne]

Needastrongone - Roos is a gsdx (we think with some collie as she has collie ears) she's big so needs a decent walk but is also laid back and starting to feel her age, she's about 9.


Lead wise we've been using a harness. The type with a loop on the back and padding around the legs. Is this ok? I use a normal lead when out for walks and he walks fairly well, pulling a bit but is easy to walk with. We put him on an extending lead when he goes out in the garden to toilet (on his collar) as he's still small enough to get under the shed and other awkward things. We're in rented so not much we can do. When he's bigger it won't be such a problem and I am determined to get him recall perfect.

[TheWomanTheyCallJayne]

None of the books I have read have had decent advice on stuff like food and leads. I have to admit I feel rather overwhelmed by the food issue (raw? Kibble? Fresh?). I went on that site and it recommended the same food for both Griff and Roo and I thought yay except I can't buy it anywhere near. It's getting a balance between quality and cost I'm struggling with.

[TheWomanTheyCallJayne]

Chews- I was desperately waiting for him to be old enough to have rawhide. I did some research to find out what age is ok and it turns out they're not good at all. Kongs last ten minutes at the most and that's only if they have frozen yoghurt in them. Nylabones are ignored. Soft toys are shredded. My coffee table seems most popular and I'm not so happy with that. Help

[NCISaddict]

Split antlers for the chewing? Our soft toys are disemboweled and I give him cardboard boxes to shred which makes a mess but thats life atm.
He's also crated when we're out and he's not supervised. Ended up putting a little very strong chilli sauce on the carpet at the bottom of the stairs as nothing else worked and we're in rented too so destroying stiff is not an option. He hasn't touched it since, one sniff, not even a taste, was enough.
I also put him on the lead for business trips to the garden as the fence has blown down and LL is slow at repairing to say the least.