Oh my giddy god......

[HangingOver]

I can't actually believe I'm finally typing this... I think I'm getting a dog!

I've wanted one of my own my entire life. I had one growing up and look after friends and neighbours at every available opportunity as I adore dogs so much. A rescue came up locally and I thought he looked lovely, he was snapped up immediately, but came up again yesterday! Me and DP are meeting him this afternoon.

Any tips for meeting a rescue for the first time? Other than being gentle and calm? He's 8 months so a bouncy chap.

ARGGGH! So excited. 😁

Son's friend's Whippet was losing all of a sudden a lot of weight. digestion probs.

{She is approximately three /four years}

They were feeding her chicken breast and rice as people recommend when a dog has an upset stomach, but it turns out she is suddenly allergic to chicken and beef.

I haven't heard the latest on her, but they had to absolutely not use any beef or chicken in any form, even as a 'hidden' ingredient.

Chicken especially finds itself everywhere.

Re natural treats...Sprats are stinky and a great favourite, but are gone in a twinkling of an eye- and Rabbit's ears ditto.

A rabbit ear might last 3 mins tops.

I tried things like Red Deer antler and leg bone, and yak cheese but she doesn't like those.

{Have donated them to friend's dogs}

I go into pet shops and let her choose sometimes- Blood sausage seems to be a fave- and liver jerky.

Lot's of guessing, but the only way you can tell for sure is the elimination diet. Common sign are diarrhea, tummy aches, itchy skin and/or ears and paw licking. Mine also gets puffy, runny eyes.

The blood tests for food allergies are a scam, btw, should you ever suspect that your dog has an allergy. Those for environmental allergies are worth the money.

Oh dear, Pod has the Poops. I wonder whether the new dog pate treats don't agree with him or perhaps he had too much. If you have a pup with loose Poops would you set an alarm to let them out in the night or would you expect them to alert? He's never had an accident in his crate but you never know.

Just stop everything apart from normal food you know is fine and you might find his poo goes very quickly back to normal. I'd give the pate a miss.

I would set an alarm as really him having to yell in his crate and then you coming to let him out is probably not what you want him practicing.

Skip the pate for a few days and see if it is that - its difficult when the dog does need a lot of treats, and he really does, I would not recommend taking him right back to just his normal food and absolutely nothing else, I think the behavioural repercussions will be far more of an issue than the squits in his case!

I normally find that hairy/fatty stuff causes the squits, but it will vary dog to dog and it may simply be that something is new rather than 'genuinely doesn't agree', or it could be wholly unrelated to food and more about stress/hyper arousal/new germs he's come across.

Pod has absolutely broken me this afternoon. All he wants to do is attack the sofa and bark. He'll stop to do tricks for treats but then go straight back to what he was doing before. He has a million toys and his special chewy but shout and attack is the only thing on the menu.

Take him outside and scatter treats as far as the garden will allow... and keep doing it until you find the standby-mode. I'd allow perhaps a handful of kibble with a few bits of something nicer in it per throw, so unless your garden is postage stamp sized it should last him a while.

Also, gin. (For you, not him... I think..)

Thanks. ❤️ I do use this quite a bit and it works really well but I do need to start doing it in a different spot as the clever sod started standing on the patch where the treats go and yelling at me when he wanted more 🤣

DP got home and peeled me off the floor and I showed him how well Pod was doing jumping in and out the car, then they did some cheese antics which made me laugh.

Sadly I'm in recovery so there nothing available to take the edge off except CBD gummies which are horseshit

Ah damn... and sorry that was rather thoughtless of me, I don't drink either!

I sometimes have to walk around scattering stuff, it is easier if you have more space, i only have a concrete yard so these expert hoovers can clear that rather quickly!

Does he like carrot? I sometimes walk over the lawn with a carrot and a cheese grater, if your grass is any length at all it takes a lot of sniffing to find it. I appreciate though that with Pod's refined tastes he may demand better.

Try to think 'wild fling' instead of scatter. Sometimes I put tiny treats on the breadboard, take it outside and sweep them off with a flamboyant gesture. They go everywhere. To use a gardening analogy (which may not be helpful but hey ho) you want to be broadcasting grass seed, not dropping bean seeds one by one.

I'm struggling with a rescue dog and I have nothing to complain about compared to what you're dealing with, OP - honestly, I think most people would be broken and returned him - you are remarkable and your thread has inspired me to keep going with my rescue.

I've honestly never heard of this. How would you know who're a Rescue which protein sources they've had before they came to line with you?

You don’t! We had to figure it out the hard way 😬

Beef makes my boy itchy and chicken makes him constipated. He seems fine with turkey!

I'm sorry you're having a hard day - hopefully it's just a blip. The most useful thing I've read in relation to dog training and behaviour (although it applies in many walks of life) is that 'progress is not linear'
So yes, there may be setbacks but the line on the graph is heading in the right direction.
Also, he might have tummy ache, which could be causing him to need to chew.

Our vet reckons chicken is the cause of many allergies, and best avoided.
Rescue dogs have to unlearn what they have previously done and learn the new rules. It's very hard!

@HangingOver Be careful how much protein you give him, it can make them more giddy. Also as he is still young, too much protein is as bad as not enough for a young dogs growth. Also see what other additives are in the various treats you are given him and they can make dogs hyper.

Can you not be a vegan if you have a dog? I thought as long as you don't eat him or wear him it would be okay. I know little about veganism.

A vegan dog owner is buying meat and animal products for their dog, so some people would say thats not vegan.

Personally, I say its doing the right thing for the animal they've chosen to keep and such people are rather silly to think otherwise, and thats the view my vegan dog owning friends take too.

Thats not really true... I have fed puppies a raw diet which is very high in protein, no problems at all, but of course its not JUST protein, its fats, fibres, bone and small amounts of carbs and quite a lot of water.

The quality and bio-availability of the protein is also important, as are the other things fed alongside it. Some of the high protein complete foods are also rammed with super easy to digest processed carbs and sugar!

We have a lovely raw shop near us (even though Lady Stinkabelle is a wet meat and viscuot mix kind of girl) and favourites in our house are rabbits ears (furry), filled hooves, yak chews, trachea and generally one other fun treat which this time was camel skin and it lasted little miss motormouth a shocking 1hr 13mins that never happens!

Food definitely plays a big part in the whole dog - physically, toileting and behaviourally too. Her ladyship is much better with her raw shop treats than the McDonalds versions or pates. That's not to say she doesn't get them but it's like owning a poopy toddler hyped up on toxic waste sweets 🤣

Well plenty of folks call themselves vegans and own meat eating pets but I've never understood that personally... Since veganism is supposedly avoiding animal products as far as practically possible. Many vegans don't believe in owning pets at all however I've always personally thought we are where we are in terms of the huge numbers of domestic animals needing homes and the sensible thing is to do something about it.

But anyway, whatever I am, I don't eat ostrich necks haha.

Lads, after such a shit afternoon I couldn't be prouder of Pod. We just got back from his first session at doggy school and he was AMAZING. He learnt the skills on the spot even though he was overwhelmed by the other dogs etc. And he made friends with a 5 month old retriever called Crumble.

The only fly in the ointment is, based on a solid mid-afternoon poop, I thought it'd be okay to bring some meaty treats as well as puppy kibbles for the session. Then I left the bloody pouch of kibbles on the roof of my car as we drove off. So when we got there we only had the meaty treats for the training and for keeping him from lepping everywhere in the car. So I will have to have ears on elastic tonight in case of a poonami.

Nighttime cuddles with me seems to be a fixture 🥰

⭐️ for Pod! What a fabulous boy!

Evening cuddles are a things here too. PolaroidDog was disgruntled this evening because I took too long clearing up and was not available for tummy stroking.

I feed my own dogs raw so know about proteins, plus other nutrients and food groups, but it is a fine line especially if a dog is having a lot of high protein meat treats.

There is feeding raw and there is giving lots of meat treats, the former is fine, the latter just needs to be kept an eye on.

1. I love the weird Irish words creeping in.
2. Crumble is an excellent doggy name.

Well, you just don't know, so you would usually go with something really exotic, like kangaroo, it's unlikely they've had it due to cost.

My rescue has no allergies (honestly, his stomach is probably lined with teflon, but I've found that it's the case with many dogs who grew up on the streets), it's the one I've had since he was tiny, so that was much easier to figure out and we went with horse.

@HangingOver have you changed his food since he came to you? It usually makes sense to initially continue feeding the food brand he was given at the shelter, and then to switch veeeery slowly to a higher-quality food of your choice. Many cheeper food brands have little actual meat in them, and a lot of "filler" like potatoes. Rescue dogs are often not used to that much protein. Switching too quickly (or too many meaty treats) usually results in stomach problems, so you have to do it very slowly. There are vegetarian treats you could try, not all dogs like them, but might work. And I know lots of dogs that would sell their soul for a piece of dried banana (just make sure there's no added sugar).