Doggie owners Do's and Don'ts

coasterqueen wrote: Ok, I'm sure you are all tired of me posting, asking questions, etc about dogs....but I can take all advice, help I can get. Like children, dogs really don't come with a personalized manual, ya know. I mean there are books out there, but not to each and every person's unique situation.

SO....indulge me and provide me with your doggie owner do's and don'ts you've learned being a dog owner...if you will TIA!

P.S. Cheryl..if you read this....what kind of bones can I give my dog? I remember you posting rawhide ones aren't good for them and of course that's the only ones I can seem to find. We were thinking of getting some from our local farmer who supplies our meat.

DVFlyer replied: www.leerburg.com Great site with LOTS of information.

Re: bones- I feed our dog and all-raw diet, so small bones (chicken necks, wings, thighs etc) are part of her daily food.

Never feed cooked bones (although I've read posts by people who swear that's all they feed their dog with no negative issues).

If you want something for them to chew on to keep them busy, you can get the butcher to cut up some cow thigh bones etc. Depending on the dog you can give them the whole thing or the cut-up pieces. I get ours cut into 4" sections.

Sometimes the marrow can cause tummy upset or loose stools, but it doesn't seem to bother Ginger.

Once they are done with the bone, take it away- especially if it's outside. The sun will dry it out making it very brittle.

Ginger has choked on rawhide bones twice... I'll never give her another one.

Nylabones are good, but depending on the dog, some can get large chunks off.

You can also get "Kongs" that are hollow hard rubber toys you can fill with peanut butter, cream cheese etc. Freeze them after you fill them to extend the time it will take your dog to get all the good stuff out of it.

Might think of more to add later.

coasterqueen replied: Thanks DVflyer. So you feed your dog an all raw diet or just when it comes to bones? My sitter feeds her dogs an all raw diet......I'm not sure I can go there just yet. The thought of watching my dog eat raw meat......ewwww......not there yet.

DVFlyer replied: Raw diet for all her food. We are lucky (knocking on wood) that we have a meat processing plant in town. I get 40lb cases of chicken for an average of .40/lb. Otherwise I wouldn't be doing it.

At her weight, she gets less than a pound of food per day. I feed her twice a day, so she gets approx 7oz of food per meal. I feed her part chicken (currently chicken back with thigh) and some "guts"- gizzards. One squirt of fish oil too - but I'm out of it right now. They also can benefit from vitamin C.

So I can feed her for about .50 per day. I'm not cheap so if it wasn't (supposedly) good for her, I wouldn't do it just because it's cheap... but it is nice.

DVFlyer replied: Oh... and, while it doesn't bother me to see her eat raw food, my wife thinks it's gross.

You'd be amazed at what your dog would eat if it was in the wild and didn't have you to take care of him.

coasterqueen replied:
Hmm, well I'll have to talk to the hubby about it and see what he thinks. Of course, through our farmer, it may be a bit more expensive, not sure. My sitter (who does the raw diet for hers) says it the raw diet even makes it easier as far as the poo situation because the poo goes to dust within a few days being on a raw diet, so she never has to pick up poo in the yard. Whereas with dog poo that is from regular dog food....it takes forever for it to "dust".

jcc64 replied: Beef marrow bones are awesome, and you can find them in most supermarkets. I toss a couple of those out in the yard with my dogs and don't see them for hours. I don't take them away after they clean them off- they still chew on the bone and I think it's good for their teeth. Always raw, though.
My dogs also love to chew on broccoli stalks and carrots.

luvmykids replied: I think dogs are a lot like kids....consistency is the most important factor in teaching them how things go in your family. If they won't be allowed in, don't let them in now even if it's cute and fun for a minute, that kind of thing.

DVFlyer referred me to that site also and I frequent it quite a bit, there is more good info there than I could list so I'd strongly suggest checking it out One of the most helpful tidbits I got there was about toys....the toys are MINE and I let the dogs play with them. I pick them up and put them away when we're done. It helps with territory and boundary type stuff. Also, we very early on would give our dogs a bone and taught them to drop it when we wanted it back, helps with not having food/toy issues. I know dogs are dogs, but we wanted to avoid the scenario of a dog having a bone (or something else they dug up, killed, found, etc) and a kid getting too close and the dog attacking. We incorporate the kids into all the training too, the dogs know the kids are their authority too, not just us. They're so big we wanted to make sure they didn't see the kids as "beneath" them and not listen to them.

One other thing I really liked (don't remember where I heard or read it) was that a dog should always "earn" everything from food to affection. It doesn't have to be harsh, just that they have to follow a command of some kind before they get the reward. Our dogs sit and wait when they're fed until I say "ok", or they have to sit or lie down on command before they get petted. And, depends on the dog, but spending time on the leash is a great way for them to understand you're in charge too. I have Harley on a leash when I'm outside feeding or doing stuff in the yard, not because he's going to take off but because his behavior is much better on the leash and we're working on teaching him some new stuff...he knows without a doubt when he's on the leash, we're in charge. Now if we can get him to realize that applies off leash.....

Anyway, sorry that got long, I was just typing whatever came to mind.

DVFlyer replied: Re: Dogs "earning" everything.

It's called NILIF training - Nothing In Life Is Free.

I think this should apply to children too.

One day I will write a book about raising kids and dogs and how similar their upbringing should be.....

DVFlyer replied:
Yes, the poop is much smaller and turns to white chalk after a couple of days.

I'm embarrassed to say I don't remember the last time I cleaned Ginger's kennel of poop- It's bad practice since their poop can still contain bugs and stuff, but it doesn't smell and it doesn't stay "gooey" so it kind of goes away.

The reason is because commercial dog foods (most) have too many grains. The grains are their for filler. The dogs do not digest the grains (kinda like us and corn), therefore the "filler" comes out.

Boo&BugsMom replied: We swear by the Kong products! Lucy, although small, is a powerful chewer. It's the only product that she can't rip to shreds. She has several balls and other various toys from their product line. They have more than just the traditional "kong" that you fill. I'm sure if you googled "Kong", you'd get their website filled with lots of stuff.

luvmykids replied:
So true

We've learned that the hard way....between Kylie (the kid) and Harley (the dog) we see where we've gone wrong every day and their bad habits mirror each others

On the diet-for awhile we used a very, very natural food (can't think of the name now but it had minimal fillers) and their poo was reduced to less than half the size, literally. We quit because they're both big dogs and eat quite a bit and we just couldn't afford it, but I was amazed at the difference it made in that department.

And, the Kong toys are awesome. They sell stuff to fill the toys with but you really don't need to buy it, just use stuff at home. We give them to Harley when we're going to be gone for longer than usual periods of time.

coasterqueen replied: Thanks everyone for the tips. We could sure use them!!!