Feeding Your Dog

[Wonderboy]

basically, your dog shouldn't be eating people food.....

And vice versa.

[The Dane]

I'm now dealing with my first experience with dog ownership. I got him in June, a two-year old rescue mutt that the vet thinks is some mix of pomeranian and a miniature version of some sort of speedy dog, like a greyhound or whippet. He's tiny with long legs and he's fast as all hell. He looks like a little fox.

I usually feed him the "good" kind of dry food, but I'm guilty of giving him leftovers, but only meat and rice and, occasionally, potatoes. So, if i get Japanese food and have some leftover chicken teriyaki and rice, I usually give it to him. This happens maybe once a week. Does this make me a bad dog owner?

He seems pretty healthy although sometimes he gobbles his food or slurps his water so fast, he coughs and hacks right after, but not much puking. Right now, we are going through some training to get him over his anxiety that he gets when he's left alone. Little bugger is PERFECT when I'm around, but the moment I leave, he poos and pees all over the house. Can't have that, so he spends his day in the garage. I wish I could leave him in the nice warm house.

[johnnya24]

basically, your dog shouldn't be eating people food.....

I wouldn't necessarily agree with that ... many foods that we eat are perfectly fine for dogs (especially meat and vegetables) ... just don't be feeding them the crap that we wouldn't/shouldn't normally eat (fat, the throw-away off-cuts, fried stuff, junk food etc).

There is too much scare mongering about these things IMO.

[Hammer]

I'm now dealing with my first experience with dog ownership. I got him in June, a two-year old rescue mutt that the vet thinks is some mix of pomeranian and a miniature version of some sort of speedy dog, like a greyhound or whippet. He's tiny with long legs and he's fast as all hell. He looks like a little fox.

I usually feed him the "good" kind of dry food, but I'm guilty of giving him leftovers, but only meat and rice and, occasionally, potatoes. So, if i get Japanese food and have some leftover chicken teriyaki and rice, I usually give it to him. This happens maybe once a week. Does this make me a bad dog owner?

He seems pretty healthy although sometimes he gobbles his food or slurps his water so fast, he coughs and hacks right after, but not much puking. Right now, we are going through some training to get him over his anxiety that he gets when he's left alone. Little bugger is PERFECT when I'm around, but the moment I leave, he poos and pees all over the house. Can't have that, so he spends his day in the garage. I wish I could leave him in the nice warm house.

Have you thought about buying a crate for him? It works great for potty training and allows you to keep him in the house.

[Erik]

Speaking of "don't be that guy", you shouldn't be that guy who feeds his dog garbage food.

Yep. Avoid anything that is sold only at supermarkets/discount stores and not in places like Petco or Petsmart.

[Mithrandir]

Make sure that the first ingredient listed is meat or fowl and not filler.

Dogs are like humans in that some will live longer than others no matter what they eat, but feeding them quality food will increase the likelihood that they live longer and remain healthy.

[The Dane]

Have you thought about buying a crate for him? It works great for potty training and allows you to keep him in the house.

Yeah, I went that route. He got so he would pee OUT of the crate, get his little hips in such a way that the pee would be all over the floor, but he wouldn't have to lay in it. He only occasionally would poo in the crate, and then he would just wrap it up in his blanket, so he wouldn't have to sit in it. And then he figured out how to get out of his crate. He twists the whole thing sideways by jamming his face in the little gap and pushing. Once the crate is compromised that way, he sticks his paw under the latch and pushes it up. I showed his trainer how he does it and she was amazed at how smart he was. He's like a little Houdinidog. I put a lock on it so it couldn't open, but he kept at it, and I was afraid he might hurt himself, get his whole head in somehow and choke. So, the crate pretty much failed. So, now he's in a little Dogloo. We'll see how that works.

He's got a little screw loose around being left alone. He loses all his training and goes haywire.

[Long John]

That's probably something that was instilled in him with his first owner.

Appreciate the input everyone. Thanks.

[Lucky]

I'm now dealing with my first experience with dog ownership. I got him in June, a two-year old rescue mutt that the vet thinks is some mix of pomeranian and a miniature version of some sort of speedy dog, like a greyhound or whippet. He's tiny with long legs and he's fast as all hell. He looks like a little fox.

I usually feed him the "good" kind of dry food, but I'm guilty of giving him leftovers, but only meat and rice and, occasionally, potatoes. So, if i get Japanese food and have some leftover chicken teriyaki and rice, I usually give it to him. This happens maybe once a week. Does this make me a bad dog owner?

He seems pretty healthy although sometimes he gobbles his food or slurps his water so fast, he coughs and hacks right after, but not much puking. Right now, we are going through some training to get him over his anxiety that he gets when he's left alone. Little bugger is PERFECT when I'm around, but the moment I leave, he poos and pees all over the house. Can't have that, so he spends his day in the garage. I wish I could leave him in the nice warm house.

No, sounds like you are a good dog owner, one who cares about his pet's well being. That said, I think the controversy about feeding dogs people food is for a couple of reasons. One is that their digestive tract doesn't to well with some things we eat. Two is that they might like the scraps so well they don't want to eat their own food. Three is the problem you can create when you feed a dog from the table. They'll start camping out under the table or at your chair, maybe even whimpering for scraps. Not fun, especially if you have company over. But in sum, most dogs would love to have an owner like you.

The separation anxiety is a difficult problem. I think they worry if you are ever coming back. They don't seem to sense time too well. They're just as happy when you come back from a five minute trip or a five hour trip. I give my dogs a lot of special attention before I have to leave them at home alone...rubbing their ears, playing a little fetch, whatever they like the best. Then I tell them to be good, and I'm gone. When I get back in, I try to spend some time with them immediately. Sometimes it seems the only members of the household happy to see me home are the two dogs.

Your dog may have been treated badly before, so it might take him a while to get over all of that. He'll eventually take his cues from you, though. And remember, talk to them. They don't understand words, but they sure can understand tone of voice.

A lot of dogs wolf their food down, and sometimes it doesn't work out too well for them. And they slurp water really fast. I think they want to get it before something happens to it.

Here's something...I had a setter that I would have to leave at home by herself from morning to late afternoon sometime. I'd always leave her food in her bowl. She would never eat that food until I got back. I guess she wanted to make sure I was coming back before disposing of all her rations.

One time I had to leave my animals in a garage for an extended period. I bought one of those closed system oil heaters to keep it warmer in the garage. They don't make it toasty, but it helps, and there is no danger at all to the animals.

I'm very happy to have our dogs. For all the work they can be, they provide even more joy. We have both of ours sleeping in the bedroom with us, and it is the greatest alarm system I have found.

[Long John]

Try this for the separation anxiety. (I saw this on Dog Whisperer once.)

Grab a treat (don't let the dog see you) and get ready to leave the house. Before you close the door, use positive reinforcement (stay, be good, etc.). The first time, close the door, wait 30 seconds and then open it right back up. If the dog doesn't go anywhere or doesn't try to destroy anything, praise them and give them a treat. Stay with them for a few minutes then repeat the process over, each time waiting longer to come back in: 1 minute, 2 minutes, 5, 10, 20, 30 minutes, 1 hour. After 1 hour, stay with them for a few hours at least (or overnight). If at any point, they're destructive or misbehaving, no treat and start over. You may have to give your dog a treat every time you get home, but your house won't be in a shambles anymore.

Your dog just needs to learn that you're always going to come back. Good luck!

[Gregg]

Our dog has access to food and water whenever she wants it. She is trim and fit and does not over eat. She is 7 years old. About a year ago we had to take away her water in the morning. This is her main feeding time. We found that she would wolf down the food, drink water and puke it all up. Removing the water for about an hour has eliminated the problem.

We feed her a good brand of dry dog food. We learned very early in the game that anything with corn used as filler would act as Grandma Hammer's Pot Roast on Date night. So we are carefull about that. We have standardized on Nature's Recipe Grain Free dry dogfood.

[Hammer]

Our dog has access to food and water whenever she wants it. She is trim and fit and does not over eat.

I wish I could say the same for me......

[Gregg]

I wish I could say the same for me......

Me too.

I was so hoping you were enjoying/commenting on my reference to Grandma's potroast. Still the funniest story that has ever been posted in RJ!

[nullnor]

the average life span of all living things is 1 billion heartbeats. doesn't matter if you're a huiman, whale, hamster, dog or cat. for example a whale can dive and slow it's heart to 10 beats per minute, and a hamster 450, but both will reach their everage life expectancy at 1 billion.

dog's die from heart disease. cats die from kidney failure. and both also from cancer. thus i conclude that dog's have a too much sodium problem. while cats have a too much protein one. .it's the way hearts and kidneys are related. the bigger the animal the the tougher the kindey. and a heart and kidney is a system. the kidney can make the heartbeat a lot faster if it wants. but both probably get overworked. yet no-one really knows a better way.

the way to go is dry, tartar control pet food. i think. periodontal disease affects dogs hearts while in cats it's the kidneys. or you could also just brush their teeth once in a while. but canned food probably is bad for young pets. plastic bisphenol a in cans probably overwork kidneys too.

i don't really buy the argument over protein and by-products. unless it got cancer. wild animals similar to pets live about as long on so-called good protein as ours do on so-called bad protein. a proper raw diet for a young pet is probably hard to do on a consistant basis. and some of the things they add are for a reason. taurine for cats to prevent heart murmers etc.. so you'd have to send away for packets of ingredients of the good, tried and true, stuff they put in there for a reason. i mean the goal is to keep your pet alive so they can keep selling you pet food.

if your pet is thowing up a lot or you have questions, a blood chemestry and pressure test is the best course. both can make you throw up. it's also worth noting that dogs cannot throw up on command. yet, they aren't as picky as cats which can. so it's most probably a case of a dog eating something it shouldn't, which was unrelated to it's usual pet food or diet.

thats said, i like this graph. i posted it at my work last year. and left it up for a few months. im not really sure what it means to me tho.

http://www.petdoc.ws/lifespan.htm

[johnnya24]

http://www.petdoc.ws/lifespan.htm

It's amazing that parrots and cockatoos can live so long.