RedHead

I never crated, not even in the beginning and have never had one accident or anything chewed (I don't muzzle) so it is definitely possible. I run both my dogs in the morning off and on leash for 40-50 minutes before work and then feed as I go out the door. They are perfectly fine to sleep after this until I can come home at lunch to let them out again. I would try to confine him to one area to see how things go, but many greys actually do better out of the crate. That is great you have a dog walker in the middle of the day

Personally, I would just cut back on their regular food and up the exercise if you can. If they are getting overweight it likely just means they are eating too much. From my experience, lower fat foods often substitute in lower quality ingredients for meat. If your pups are hungry, try the green bean trick.

I wasn't sure if your question was asking if raw beef was safe, or if it was okay to give meds with it. I am pretty sure it is fine to hide pills in. I feed raw ground beef sometimes (pretty likely your dog grew up eating raw beef at the racetrack), but in terms of meat, store bought ground beef is probably the one beef product that *could* be the most contaminated with higher levels of bacteria (*note: your dog is still HIGHLY unlikely to get ill). If you want to be on the super safe side though, you could also buy stewing beef or cheap roasts, cut a little slit in a chunk of it, and stick the pill in that way. I'm sure either way is fine.

The only other idea I could think of is an abscess ?? They usually appear very quickly, and can definitely cause pain, fever, loss of appetite (I have cleaned and drained many ) . Does it feel like it is full of liquid or pus? I hope you can get to the vet early tomorrow!

I know it is expensive (probably not feasible for multiple dogs) but Acana is an awesome food that you can get grain free, or with grains. A lot of people seem to have success with it in terms of the poop department when other grain free or high protein diets have failed (I just tried a bag,and can agree...by far the best poops!).

If they are wild, you may want to freeze the meat for a bit to kill off any parasites they may have. Also....if they do have parasites they will likely be in the intestines/stomach so be especially careful of that. Otherwise, the other meat and organs are usually much healthier than factory farmed meat. I have had some dogs who just cannot tolerate venison, and have also heard others say this as well. Hopefully yours do okay with it!

If your pup is around 6 months behaviours could start to escalate. It is the transition from puppy to adolescence, so if you are going to notice future behaviours happening, they will likely start between the ages of 6 months-2 years depending on the dog. I really think you need to use whatever training method you feel comfortable with that suits your personality...whatever comes the most natural to you will probably come across naturally to the dog. I personally don't think a calm verbal correction (like an "Uh-uh!")is a big deal...my dogs respond well to it, and I don't think it is the same at all as screaming and yelling. I think as puppies mature they like to "explore the waters" it is part of our job to let them know what growls are acceptable and what are not. I have to agree with John's post above, unfortunately mother dogs are much quicker at teaching manners than us humans!! I think we overthink things sometimes lol

I remember reading some articles on this on one of the nutrition groups I am on. As far as I know a lot of tryptophan studies have been done on pigs and rats...the ones on dogs have been inconclusive. From what I remember reading, it produces seratonin in gut fermentation, and needs to be taken with a soluble fibre to really work. Pigs and rats, being omnivores, have a longer digestive tract that would be more suited to this....dogs not so much. It does seem like increased tryptophan has sometimes shown a decrease in aggression, but I really think there are too many other factors here in the studies (ie. what other ingredients were in the food they fed, was it the placebo affect of the owners who just thought their dogs were calmer, or acted calmer themselves, thereby reducing aggression, etc.). There are hundreds of thousands of dogs (including racing greys, racing sled dogs, raw fed dogs, grain free dogs) on high protein diets, I would imagine if it was a big deal their would be a lot more aggression! As was already mentioned, I think training is the big factor here, although it also doesn't hurt to try things out if you are stuck.

YES, dogs can be taught to share and trust you in their personal space. My dogs have their own beds, but I am allowed on or near them at any time. I would especially be working on this with a puppy...if you don't it might progress and become worse. Working with puppies is actually a lot easier in most cases. If she is uncomfortable or scared, you will often see signs in their body language long before a growl (head held back, licking, looking out of the corner of their eye, etc), so look for that and try to redirect then, before it escalates. I personally like to use a clicker (you don't have to) and really tasty food like cooked chicken. I start by just sitting near them, no direct eye contact or talking and click and treat. Gradually this moves into touching their feet, or other more sensitive areas, moving closer, etc. and rewarding good behaviour. Puppies especially, are usually very open to "oh great they're on my bed, I get the tastiest treats ever!" idea, and soon they will love you on their bed. Even if your pup is fine with most of this already, it is still great to practice as a preventative and reinforcement.

I also have high praise for Acana...I tried it after a lot of people said it agreed with their pups. I have tried a lot of grain free foods and by far this was the most successful in the poop department (some formulas have grains some don't). It is made from the same company as Orijin, but Orijin didn't work out well for us. It is expensive, but there are no ingredients from China (VERY rare in dog food) and I think I trust them about as much as I would trust any dog food company.

Check out the "What Have I Done?" thread just below. There were a lot of suggestions for add-ins there.

It is hard to give you a "recipe" because everyone has different sources and meats. But...I really like Lew Olson's diet (her book is called Raw and Natural Nutrition for Dogs). The basic goal is to feed about half raw meaty bones (ie. meats with edible bone) and the other half of the diet boneless muscle meat,organs or other proteins and extras. About twice a week you can feed organs, especially liver. So...for today Teague had a couple of meaty chicken thighs for breakfast. For dinner is was about a cup of chopped beef heart, some boneless meat mince, a half cup of liver, an egg, and about a half cup of leftover oatmeal with cottage cheese mixed in. Tomorrow will be pork ribs for breakfast and dinner will be similar as today. I feed a variety of different meats but as long as you stick to the recommended ratios, you should be fine. It can sound a bit confusing but I would highly suggest ordering and reading a few books, it will really give you a better understanding of nutrients and diets.

I have fed esophagus before...there is a supplier here who stuffs them with tripe. I thought it would be the most delightful doggy delight ever, and then both my dogs refused to eat it! lol They will eat the dehyrated stuff though. BTW if you can PM me your suppier I would be very appreciative! I am not too far from Barrie so if they are in the area for that price I would consider driving a bit.

Ewwwww..... I had to look but I was expecting little worms not those suckers! Ya, I would definitely be doing another few rounds of dewormer! At least they were dead...they probably have to expell them somehow when they die.

I have a couple of books with homemade health diets (Monica Segal, and Lew Olsen...both great books btw with heart healthy recipes!), so I took a quick look at both. They both said similar things: 1) sodium restriction is usually recommended, but only in late stage heart failure (both books mentioned sodium restriction can have a negative effect during early stages). Do try to stay away from things like canned meat, salty cheeses, etc. 2) Salmon oil (or an animal based omega 3 oil) is also good for general heart health 3) Dogs don't get the same cholesterol problems that humans do, but sticking with lower fat when possible is good. 4) Feed high quality proteins...sometimes you may need to cut back on protein but in general the heart and muscles NEED protein, and the higher quality, the better. 5) Some heart supporting vitamins are taurine and l-carnitine..both of these are found in raw meat (especially beef or lamb heart, if you can feed that a couple of times a week that is good). Note that if meat is cooked these are destroyed so you would have to supplement with pills. It also suggested feeding organs a few times a week. Veggies, dairy, etc. are also fine. Good luck!

I agree...it highly depends on your meat sources. Petstores are by far the most expensive, grocery store is next, butchers/co-op/wholesale is the cheapest. I price food by the pound (most dogs will eat between 1-2 lbs per day), and I can pay anywhere from $1-$3 but that is from the grocery store. From what I have seen though, U.S. prices are much cheaper. Due to the fact that I don't have a lot of meat sources here, I do feed some kibble on some days. I always mix it about half and half with a meat mince without a problem. I think it is a bit of a myth the two can't be fed together. If I am not mistaken almost all racing greys eat a kibble mixed with raw meat and other stuff. Check out this site for dog food co-ops and groups in your area. These people have likely scoured out everything in your area and will know where the deals are (they probably also order in groups). They can also be great mentors, often there are breeders, working/show people, and even vets/vet techs on these lists. http://dogaware.com/.../rawgroups.html

Wow, thanks for all that info! Now I do remember reading about the krill and also many of the omegas actually coming from the food the fish eats. I actually found an old bottle of herring oil and compared it with my salmon oil. It could highly depend on the brand, but from my 2 bottles the salmon oil is higher in everything (e.g. 29% omega3 compared with 14% in the herring). It is also significantly higher in DHA and EPA. I just basically wanted to know if I was wasting my money buying the more expensive salmon oil, but I guess now I will stick with that since it seems to have almost double the amounts.

I actually have a totally different opinion than many in that I think dogs (or any animal) benefit from experiencing different smells, textures, and variety as long as it is healthy and appropriate. I love to make up different meals for the pups and watch them enjoy it. BUT, be warned...if you do it, there's no going back! It isn't that difficult to add in a bit of extras each day though, remember dogs eat mostly by smell rather than taste so your dog will probably gobble up the food with just a small amount. IMO any protein is great to mix in (canned fish, liver, meat scraps, eggs, cottage cheese, yogurt). I also sometimes feed my pups smaller amounts of my dinner if it is dog friendly (pasta, rice, veggies, potatoes etc.) although Teague won't have anything to do with this unless it's meat!

Man, I would FREEZE in some of your houses! I actually thought I was pretty "energy smart" keeping my house at 67 (sometimes 69) and even with that I am often cold. I do know my upstairs is way colder though as my thermostat is downstairs. I put jammies on Teague, he sleeps a lot more soundly with them.

Sorry, not much advice here, but how far are you from Simcoe (probably far, since your profile says Northern On.). There is a vet office there (Queensway Veterinary) that a lot of grey people use because they charge very reasonable dental prices (around $200 I think). Maybe if you search around you will find something...my vet here is an advocate of the 3 year shot and is fine with that. There is the whole liability thing though, which is probably where the issue arises from.

I have fed chicken necks and they are fine, but more of a "crunch, crunch swallow" quick snack. If you can find them at the grocery store they are way cheaper than Globals

I have never heard of worms being a problem...maybe in wild animals but not in cows.

I buy whole chicken or chicken thighs (they're cheaper!) and boil them for about an hour. You don't need to do it for that long, but it gets really tender that way and easy to pull apart. You can roast a chicken in the oven if you like but boiling is easier. If you want a little extra aroma you can even throw a carrot or herbs in the water. BTW don't throw away the water after! It makes a great broth for soup, or the pups will love it if you pour a bit over their food

Apparently they recently had some sort of kitchen fire or oven malfunction so their product has been cut back and only certain formulas have been going out. Hopefully it won't be for long!

Have you tried it with a clicker? I have always found that way more helpful for trick training because the clicker acts as the secondary reinforcer to the food. So...the dog ends up working for the "click" which takes some of the focus off the food. I don't even have the food in view. I would start by just rewarding any movement towards the toy, then for a nose touch, then biting it, etc. I do have to admit though...although Teague is starting to "get" the whole training thing, it is very slooooowwww. Much slower than any other dog I have trained. I almost gave up, then started practicing again and he is actually starting to get it! Just don't expect instant results and have fun with it!