New dog advice needed please

andreac

I really would try and not give him tinned food, it has no nutritional value for dogs as its made up of really crap bit of meat and mainly water and tends to just run through them.

I would only ever use this as a taster for their main meal. Even boiled chicken and some rice or pasta would be much better for him, and maybe scrambled egg, tinned sardines or tuna too.

I would try and continue as you mean to go on, and that means offering his meal the dry food and leave it for about 15 mins then take it back up again and offer nothing, no treats etc until next mealtime. He will soon realise that this is all he gets and nothing else until his next meal, you will find after a few times doing this he will eat up as he knows he gets nothing else.

westies4ever

Prosperous Dave wrote: »

Each to their own I suppose but our Marley doesn't like the Bakers, to eat or to er "pass on" so I've stopped using it. As a stopgap, my wife picked up a few tins of Winalot dog food to keep Marley fed until the samples of Burns I ordered turn up. I gave him a tin last night and he wolfed it down, a whole tin in a few seconds:eek:. He would just nibble at the Bakers and it might take him a few hours to eat his bowlful but he evidently loved the Winalot. Ok, so it might be more doggie junk food but to him, its a step up from Bakers. I wonder how he'll take to the Burns now? Its a pity dogs can't talk to let you know what they like, it would certainly take away the guesswork!

Love this, I remember visitng my parents for a weekend with the dogs and I let himself pack for them. Of course he didnt pack any dog food. I sent him off to get some emergency supplies and he came back with winalot - they nearly ate the bowl and all!! Must be delicious to dogs. I'm sure a few days until you get sorted wont do him any harm - you could mix a small bit of the winalot through the burns until he gets used to it.

borderlinemeath

I always find a tin of wet dog food very handy for "hiding the tablet" in, it's the only thing that gets scoffed within seconds.

SlimCi

borderlinemeath wrote: »

I always find a tin of wet dog food very handy for "hiding the tablet" in, it's the only thing that gets scoffed within seconds.

Butter is also brilliant for hiding the tablet in, hide it in the middle and it melts and slides down the throat and the dog loves it too.

westies4ever

borderlinemeath wrote: »

I always find a tin of wet dog food very handy for "hiding the tablet" in, it's the only thing that gets scoffed within seconds.

mine wont even take 'the tablet' that way - i wrap it in a piece of ham or chicken - gets swallowed whole!

Kashkai

Oh you lot are so sneaky:D, but thats another tip I 'll remember when it comes time for Marley to pop a pill, thanks:).

Judging by the sticky goo left in his bowl last night, I can only imagine what got stuck to his teeth following his Winalot feast. I gave him one of those doggie dentasticks following the winalot. Good idea/bad idea? Oh and what do you think of doggie treats for when I'm training him?

andreac

Dentasticks arent great really, full of sugar so try not give them too often, they are fine every now and again.

I would cut out the treats though until you get your dog eating properly as these will only hinder his hunger so maybe cut them out for the moment.

Marrow bones from the butchers are great for their teeth and good at tiring a dog out through chewing.

Taltos

We had to stop giving our dentasticks - only food where they got hyper and agressive with each other.

We also have the front body harness - works a treat. Got them from DTI direct.
They even helped size for us.

Basically - goes over the head and clips underneath behind the front legs.

Well done on your new addition - hope he settles in soon

trio

Dave, if you use a dry food for the dog, then you don't need to spend money on specialist treats.

Just give him an individual kibble as a treat when training. Sure dogs don't know the difference between special treats and kibble - it's all good in their eyes!

245

I've a Border Collie cross for 12 years now along with a Lab/Collie cross. The only dry food that the Border Collie cross will eat is Hills Scientific. We used to feed them both Pedigree Chum dry food mixed with the tinned version (lured by discounts and fooled by marketing blurb) until the Border Collie cross had a few health issues and became an old dog in behaviour and attitude. We switched both of them to the Hills dried food and the change in both of them has been remarkable - its taken years off them. I don't necessarily recommend that you buy Hills but that you take time to look at the composition of the food that you feed your dog and try to ensure that it meets their needs as each breed can require a different type of food. I would definitely recommend that you buy a quality food - it won't cost much more but the benefits are huge.

As regards treats, Pedigree (I know, I know) Gravy Bones are very popular and not very substantial but the way to a young Collies heart is a small piece of cooked sausage. They will learn extremely quickly when they know that its on the way

Collies (and Collie Crosses) have huge amounts of energy so you need to burn some of that off before training becomes possible and meaningful. They always look to see how far they can push things so consistency and gentle firmness is vital. If you give way sometimes they will spot that and double your work.

FWIW, we buy our dog food from Maxi Zoo in Naas but our worming and flea treatments from our vet. We used to go to Moss Vetinary but we found that having a different vet every time that we visited didn't help our dog's treatment of ongoing issues. We moved to a vetinary practice in Athy but I reckon that you can find a decent one closer to you than that.

Cherry Blossom

Prosperous Dave wrote: »

Each to their own I suppose but our Marley doesn't like the Bakers, to eat or to er "pass on" so I've stopped using it. As a stopgap, my wife picked up a few tins of Winalot dog food to keep Marley fed until the samples of Burns I ordered turn up.

You need to get another bag of Bakers, you have change dog food over gradually or you'll have even more problems. What is the protein content in the Bakers? You can't just suddenly have a big drop in the the amount of protein you are feeding the dog or he will be ravenous! What ever you are going to try you just have to buy a small bag of, your samples of burns are going to equal a handful of kibble in total so not much good for anything other than seeing if the dog likes the taste, and they are generally delighted to have something new anyway, may not be as interested in eating it day in and day out.

Zapperzy

Prosperous Dave wrote: »

Oh you lot are so sneaky:D, but thats another tip I 'll remember when it comes time for Marley to pop a pill, thanks:).

Judging by the sticky goo left in his bowl last night, I can only imagine what got stuck to his teeth following his Winalot feast. I gave him one of those doggie dentasticks following the winalot. Good idea/bad idea? Oh and what do you think of doggie treats for when I'm training him?

As for pills I have a terrier with super sharp taste buds and have tried everything for giving them to him hidden in food. Only thing that works with him is getting a raw sausage, cutting it into 3 chunks, in one chunk shove the pill in the middle but be careful not to get the powder off it on the outside, give the dog an empty sausage piece, then give him the sausage piece with the pill and straight away give him another empty sausage piece, the trick being he swallows the piece with the pill as quick as possible without chewing to get another piece! I'v tried everything else but this is the only thing that works for me!

As for dentastix I prefer a raw carrot to work as a teeth cleaner, frozen if they are serious chewers. Much healthier and cheaper.

trio wrote: »

Dave, if you use a dry food for the dog, then you don't need to spend money on specialist treats.

Just give him an individual kibble as a treat when training. Sure dogs don't know the difference between special treats and kibble - it's all good in their eyes!

Mine does! Other than if he is really really hungry just before I feed him if I give him a piece of kibble as a treat he will walk away with it in his mouth and spit it out and come back to me and look at me as if to say 'you made me sit, spin anticlockwise & clockwise, stand up, give paw and stay in a down for 30 seconds with food directly in front of my nose for a measly piece of kibble'. I find small tasty pieces of cheese or sausage for training work really well, so long as you cut down on his daily intake of kibble to make up for what treats you gave him and so long as he doesn't get fussy eating his kibble.

Kashkai

After two days of Marley appearing poorly, I brought our fairly listless dog to a Vet in Maynooth Friday afternoon. Looks like I wasn't fretting over nothing. He has a serious gastro intestinal bug with a high temperature. The Vet gave him two injections and put him on a course of antibiotics for a week. I bought some pet food for dogs with tummy bugs from the Vet - "Pet ID" I think its called. While he's now eating this food (with his tablet mixed in), he still has diarrohea. However he seems to be coming back to himself and is playing with the kids again.

The Vet charged €54. How does this compare to other Vets considering my dog got two injections and a course of antibiotics?

Marley appears to be settling in after a week with us. He has learned his name and will come when called (mostly:rolleyes:). While hesitant to come into the house at first, its now a fight to keep him out as soon as the door opens:). He is getting a little boisterous too and he's jumping up on the kids and knocking the smaller ones down. Thats something I'm trying to put a stop to. I know he's just playing but the younger kids are afraid of him. I've also noticed he has a worrying habit of charging round to the front of the house when a car drives down the road and chasing it along the fence (luckily he hasn't gone out on the road yet).

The Vet told me to keep him in the garden for a week until I go back next Friday for Marley to get a course of vaccinations. While we have a one acre site, I think he's getting a little bored and wants to go out for a long walk.

portgirl123

my mate got a rescue couple of yrs ago and the same thing happened to her. for the first week or 2 she had a very quiet and obident dog then all of a sound the dog really changed. became as you said really hyper.she rang, i think the rescue for advise and they told her this happens. after the dog, usually around the 2 week mark, is feeling settled with the new family he will now try to asert himself and see what he can get away with. also was told his true personality is coming out. she was told to start the way she means to go on with dog, no letting him away with stuff because they feel sorry for him, eg if you dont want him jumping on sofa, kids etc then dont. she was also told to get a good trainer for the dog. my mate has now a well behaved well adjusted dog.
Also her dog came home with a bug as well think sometimes this can be expected from dogs been in pounds rescues etc as bugs just do the rounds. if though marley is bored it is a good idea to keep him away from other dogs as you dont want the bug spreading. maybe get him a kong and put his food into it and let him work at getting his food also scatter his food around his play area another good way of keeping them busy.

LucyBliss

Prosperous Dave, in one way, Marley's new behaviour is a clear sign of how much he's feels he's in a safe place and happy to be there so fair play to ye for getting him to that point. If he feels comfortable enough with you that he will try and be cheeky, that's fantastic for his development. Plus now that he's got energy and is looking for his place in the family, I agree with portgirl123, it's the perfect time to start teaching him the house rules and give him a bit of mental stimulation with a bit of training.

I know it can be hard when you have small ones in the house who are being bowled over by this new Marley but it's just a matter of redirecting his new energy. I also do that bit where I scatter food and broken up treats around the garden and tell the dogs to find them. Granted, I do end up with one of them looking at me as much as to say, what do I need to go down the garden for, sure don't you have one there in your pocket!

Great news!

Whispered

So glad to hear he's settling in so very well!

whywonder

One pretty quick way to stop him jumping up on people (though you need to get even the youngest kids to do it too!) is simply to turn away from him when he jumps up.

So if he jumps up on you, you turn and he falls back to the ground. He jumps again, you turn and, ideally, don't say anything or couple it with a strong 'no'. If you're consistent, he'll stop pretty quickly.

Also, if he's still having trouble entering the shed in the garden- enclosed spaces sometimes worry dogs, even those who haven't been abandoned/abused- having someone sit in the shed for a time (read a book; play games on your phone, whatever) until he gets curious enough and feels safe enough to come in to see you. This might take some time and may need to be repeated, but it should work. Don't try to coax the dog- just let him come to you in his own time.

Best done when the kids aren't in the garden, though, distracting him.

Kashkai

It's amazing the difference a week has made with him. When we saw him in the rescue centre, and when we brought him home, he was a quiet, shy even nervous dog. Now that he's getting over his tummy bug, he's a boisterous cheeky little furball:). We were out in the garden most of yesterday and he was charging round as if he owned the place. A local farmer was moving machinery in his field and Marley went mental barking. I was sure he'd end up hoarse!

Now that he's settled in, and is feeling better, I think it's time I trained him while he's still young enough to learn (he's 8 months old according to the vet). While he comes when called or when I whistle and he sits when asked, I'd feel happier if he learned down and stay as well (he's looking at the sheep next door a little too much!).

mymo

Collies need to work, be that training of some sort, mental stimulation or herding sheep, its what they are bred for.
They are fairly easy to train, if you have the sit command just get him to sit and take a step or two back while using the stay command (hand gesture too as that may come in handing if its noisy or he's a distance away). Return to the dog and praise or reward with treat. Increase distance gradually, and once he starts to get it you can walk a distance away and call him to you. Alternate stay and return to him with stay and call him to you, keeps it interesting and helps if he knows stay in different circumstances.
You can also use stay or wait command for when feeding, make him sit and put down the bowl before releasing him to eat. I use there you go command, works for giving treats too, stops the grabbing or jumping for treats or food bowl.

LucyBliss

Collies are extremely smart! We had one that would recognise the music for TV adverts that had animals in them and would come running into the room when they came on. She was also an avid watcher of Emmerdale. She'd sit in front of the TV and watch the entire thing and my grandmother wouldn't let us turn over so the two of them would be watching it together.

So you can pretty much teach them anything and they are happy to learn it.