New Dog

Fey!

Sorry if this has been covered ad nauseum; I didn't realise that this forum was here before today. Also, apologies if this seems long winded.

We recently got adopted by a stray dog. As it turned out, he had been housed by a shelter, but had run away from his new home. We managed to trace where he came from (newspaper ads, radio, gardai, GSPCA - the only people to charge for an ad were the Galway Independent; the Galway Advertiser and GBFM did it for free) to the shelter, and one of their representatives came out to pick him up. As we had been considering getting a dog, we asked them, and they let us keep him as they felt that we had gone to some trouble to find his owner.

The dog, now christened Benjy, has his vaccination certs (2 stamps in a book), has been chipped and neutered, and seems in pretty good health. We've gotten a license for him, collar, lead, harness, brush and chew-toy (though he prefers my g/fs slippers!), and are trying to figure out what we've missed. We're also trying to figure out what to feed him/what not to feed him, and what level of exercise is good for him.

He's a Carn Terrier/Tsi-tzu (sp??) mix, and is about a foot tall and 2 feet long with long beige hair, fluffy tail, and big paws. He's about 10 months old.

Thanks.

David.

alexdenby6

stick to dry food, its better for their teeth, just spruce it up with meat juice or something from your own dinner.

Rigsby

Congratulations !! Your new dog is lovely. You seem to have everything pretty well in order. I have a five y.o. dog quite similar to yours. I take her for a 45 minute walk in the mornings (she likes to amble along :rolleyes: ) and my wife does the same in the evenings. From time to time we take her to the beach or park and if there's not many people about, we let her off the lead for a run. Being so young your dog would love this. If you are not certain he will come back to you, use a long lead, call him and if he comes to you give him a tit bit and plenty of praise. After a while he should come to you every time. Nothing else I can think of except to enjoy the happiness a dog brings.

BTW never give a dog chocolate meant for humans. There is something in it that they cant digest and can make them seriously ill. You can get "doggie" chocolate in most pet stores.

CrowdedHouse

Many happy years with him,looks a grand laddie.
You seem to be well kitted out already.

Our two small dogs(Lhasa Apso) love 'Burns Mini Bites' dry food,its meant for pups and small breeds.Burns food has good rep.although it can be hard to find,Vets have it usually.

Everyone will have their own favourites/recommendations I suppose.



Lucy & Hayley

Alfasudcrazy

Don't forget - anti worming needs to be done every three months and anti flea treatment every month. A small tube of stuff that has to be put on his back between his shoulder blades - it gets absorbed through the skin.

I have also been warned against feeding a dog any kind of pork - seems there is some bug in it which is harmless to humans but can be fatal to dogs.

Lovely dog btw.

SuzyS1972

Fair play to you - fab looking little fella
My terriers can go forever - I suppose it's down to the individual dog but mine get half an hour at least off lead weekdays and one to two hours at the weekends
I feed Burns dried food and it's exellent - they love it and their coats shine on it - it also dramatically reduces the amount of " waste " produced too !!!

Fey!

Thanks for the all feedback and nice comments.

So far we had been feeding him pouches, as we got a pile of them when we didn't know whether he was staying or whether his owner would claim him. Maybe changing his food will help his digestion; his stool is a bit runny.

Speaking of which, he reminded us last night what we forgot to get; a rubber mat for the back of the car, and some upholstery cleaner. He also ate through the setbelt strap of his harness, so I'm going to be modifying that today!