Meet my new puppy!

[diamondlil]

Bertie looks like he has some sort of hunter's clip!

To be honest, that might not be a bad idea next summer, to get the bottom half really short and leave his back and tufty head! He really is a holy terror for going in the mud. I refused to have his tail shaved (I don't like the rats-tail look Beddies are supposed to have) so he has a lovely flag, unless he's all muddy in which case he's got a filty rag behind him that he spreads the mud all over me with as he wags!

 

[MegF.]

Sounds like the TRAINER doesn't like the rain, not the dogs! I love the rain so as long as the dogs were good with it, I would have done it. Ah well, they still got out so no harm, no foul. It is the pat answer when you tell people not to let them jump on them. You might try getting the vests that say dog in training, do not pet. Sometimes that will keep people in check...probably not! You can only do so much I'm enjoying reading about your adventures very much. It's nice to find owners that are invested in properly training and providing leadership. Too much positive only out there and too many dogs without rules. Dogs thrive where there is balance and yours are turning into great canine citizens.

 

[diamondlil]

Today we caught high tide so the dogs could swim and race without getting muddy. Bertie loves the river so much that it was a really good time to work on his walking without pulling ahead. He's learning to anticipate the corrections though, nonchalently heeling as we turn direction then trying to get ahead again once we are heading in the direction he wants to go!
So this turned into a 2-mile walk, because I made the turnabout direction changes really long, to foil his anticipations and get him concentrating on me. Then I had an idea, we went into an empty carpark and basically did figures and direction changes, like when you are schooling a horse. Serpentines, circles and spirals! Rosie is a total pro! She sticks like glue to my knee. Bertie, well he's so fizzy that it was more of a challenge, but the spirals really clicked something in the dim recesses of his brain and he caught on in the end. So that's a game we will play again.
Then of course they got their free-running time, where they could open up and go at top speed along the little beach. I'm biased, but I don't think there's much that is more beautiful than a running dog at full speed, except 2 running dogs!

 

[diamondlil]

I failed the Squirrel challenge today! Both dogs were trotting along nicely at heel and I totally missed them spot and focus on a squirrel that ran down a tree and across the road. So I almost got my arm yanked off and had a hard time getting the dogs back to calm control. By the time I'd done so though, it meant they totally ignored a sitting cat just outside my house. So tomorrow we will reverse the route to take in the squirrel tree area again with a longer walk before we go down that road and possibly some heelwork exercises in the open area before we turn down there.

 

[MegF.]

Live and learn. It is difficult to get them back from a 10 to a 1 in intensity levels. Sounds like you got it back under control.

 

[diamondlil]

Sweet triumph this morning! A visit to the vet for jabs, into a waiting room with a muzzled terrier mix being babied by its owners yodelling and scratching their laps to pieces as it tried to lunge at everything else there, a growling dalmation and a nice calm English bull terrier bitch. So in we go, to sniff politely at the nice EBT, ignore the growler and sit quietly under my legs.
The owners of the yodelling dog wanted to engage with everyone and their dogs whilst nervously stroking and patting their 'baby' and babbling away at it to 'be good today'. Mrs yodeller tried to call my two over, several times, so I checked them and then finally told her 'Please don't, they are not allowed to jump around' and was rewarded with blissful peace, in which I could snooze on my chair (remember I'd just finished my night shift) with Rosie and Bertie laying under my chair with a loose lead, tuning out the growls and yodels waiting for our turn. After a while I realised I was the only owner not continually patting and sweet-talking my dogs. Instead of getting hyped up it meant mine relaxed and waited with me. Rosie is an old hand at the vet and snoozed off while Bertie's tail was wagging gently the whole time.
Examination and inoculation went without a hitch, meeting a new Spanish lady vet who was delighted with their fitness and particularly by their lovely teeth and their diet. She told me where she comes from natural feeding is more normal than tins and dried food, which makes for fat dogs over here!

 

[MegF.]

There are plenty of fat dogs here too Janine! People feed Science Diet, pedigree, purina and a host of other high grain crap food. Results are allergic, hyperactive dogs that get no exercise and are fat pigs! It's always nice to have nice calm dogs when you're out in public. Few people realize that the petting while the dog is in an unbalanced state such as excitement, fear, nervousness etc is actually perpetuating it. In short: You are telling the dog you approve of the behavior and please do it some more!

 

[Nanci]

What do you feed, Meg?

 

[MegF.]

Taste of the Wild for the dogs. Whole raw prey for the cats (i.e. f/t rats) I was feeding raw for the dogs as well but it got too expensive so I go with the next best thing...grain free, wild game based foods.

 

[diamondlil]

I've got a small top-loading freezer specifically for dog and snake food, so I buy one-in chicken portions, beef heart and meat trimmings in bulk from the butcher then freeze them for Bertie and Rosie. If meat's in the discount section of my local supermarket they get treats like stewing steak or chops. At the moment there are a couple of gutted rabbits (with the skin on) in there too from one of Mick's friends. Bertie especially loves rabbit, Rosie isn't so keen.
Two good walks already today, with another planned for later. Attempts to chase after seagulls foiled by figures and spirals in the park to refocus the dogs' attention.

 

[MegF.]

My one Ridgeback and my beagle would eat any type of meat or organ meat...however, Ona, my other ridgeback would turn up her nose at all organ meat, and anything other than chicken or pork. Got very, very expensive. Whole chicken is cheaper than cut up, but the amount of sodium added for "flavor" exceeds what should be fed and I don't feel like soaking a whole chicken to get the salt out. I don't know about rabbit. I'm sure Akilah and Tavis would scarf it down...they will eat the rats the cats won't eat, but Ona won't. There has to be a certain percentage of organ meat in the feeding or they will start to have deficiencies. I had to hide liver pieces in the chicken to get Ona to eat them...just more trouble than it was worth!

 

[Nanci]

I feed TOTW too. I like it.

 

[MegF.]

I love the stuff Nanci. I feel it's as close to raw as I can get in a kibble. My foster is doing very well on it. When I got him from the shelter his coat was thin with bald patches all over. After switching him over to the whitefish and salmon formula, his coat is soft and full. I tell potential adopters that some of the dogs I give them will require this food in order to avoid the allergies that comes with low quality grain filled foods. Reduces the reactivity in dogs as well. I always ask what a dog is eating when I go to a home to assess a dog...especially one they say is hyperactive or aggressive.

 

[diamondlil]

I find liver is the only organ meat both dogs just won't eat raw, I have to lightly cook it in a little water before they'll eat it. I usd to worry quite a bit about getting the balance right, but the butcher's wagon I get their main staple, the giant chicken portions from (basically quartered chickens) varies from big fatty joints to skinny bony ones, so I just vary what they get and throw in the heart etc a couple of time a week. I also do a fast day every 2 weeks or so where they get nothing to eat.
The high proportion of raw bones not only means superb teeth, it minimises what comes out the other end, small solid or dry crumbly poops are a total bonus from feeding them this way!

 

[MegF.]

Ona won't eat liver even partially cooked. She's the pickiest dog ever. Definitely does cut down on poops for certain! They utilize what they eat, although to be honest, I didn't have that much difference in poop volume between the grain free and raw....the raw just had more calcium in it...white sometimes. I do still feed turkey necks or pork necks for them on occasion to give them the cleaning treatment. Your dogs are lucky to have you!

 

[diamondlil]

Oh, I forgot to add that both dogs go absolutely nuts when I'm cleaning fish after one of my sea-angling trips. Fish heads tails, guts and the backbone if I'm filleting, all eagerly accepted. I do have to watch that Rosie doesn't try to cache food if I give her too much at once, as you can imagine the last thing I want is to find a nice stinky bit of fish or meat she's hidden under her bed for a few hours. Bertie does help, as he'll usually wait until she's distracted and filtch anything she's hidden and eat it quick!

 

[MegF.]

Oh yuck!!! That would be awful but I imagine that you would find it pretty quick!

 

[diamondlil]

Well before I had Bertie I will say that Rosie did manage to hide stuff under the sofa before............

 

[diamondlil]

As I'm waking up to darkness now on my work nights, tonight's route march had me still in my PJs with thick socks, wellies and a big coat, so I could get a longer walk in before getting ready for work. Instead of putting on the brace lead I had a dog in each hand and seperate leads, and it was a textbook 'pack walk', with neither trying to get ahead of me but trotting calmly at each knee! A total breakthrough. As the dogs weren't trying to compete to be ahead of each other they heeled like TRAINED dogs!:dancer::dancer::dancer:

 

[tsst]

I always look forward to reading meet the puppy and day at the stables and the girls and boys threads. Have fun walking the pups!