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Post by jimh on May 16, 2006 19:45:29 GMT -5
ok, if you recall from one of my post to Bill's thread on his new puppy i stated that my pooch had reached a weight that was a tad more than i wanted her to weigh. well in my research i also came to find out the cup we had been using was giving her about 30% or more than she should have been getting according to the table on the bag of food. she was getting 4 cups instead of 2 1/2 - 3 that they recommened and she is now at 73lb. so i'm now feeding her the "Proper amount" but i think she's pissed and hungry as she has taken to knocking over the trash can a few times now and hasn't in a long time. oh she'll get into it if we leave food in it and no one around but we will put it up and she never goes into it but that has seemed to have changed. i feed her twice a day and i'm wondering if i shouldn't start feeding her once in the morning and giving her the whole amount so she is content while we're away. any comments one way or another on this? i want to get her back down to 65 lb, she is a black lab and is a tad over two years old. one of my concerns is with her eating that much and not being able to hold it until we get home that day.
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Post by calsibley on May 17, 2006 0:27:40 GMT -5
Hello jimh,
What we do to our dogs in terms of feeding them is atrocious. My Giant Schnauzer, Franklin is not a hunting dog although I imagine he'd readily adapt to it. They're smart rascals, but still he's more a watchdog. I suppose if Franklin could talk and you asked him what he wanted to eat he'd probably reply, "It doesn't matter Cal. I'll just have whatever you're having." He should weigh about 75lbs. but is well up in the mid 90s. I'm retired so I'm home with him, and he's learned to milk me for all its worth. I don't think I've had a meal to myself in three years or so. My intentions were good. I got him as a puppy and fed him IAMS dry food with IAM can food mixed in. We ruined that by giving him whatever was left over from our meals. Now he pretty much turns up his nose at dog food. I've always been weak where my dogs are concerned. We learn to love them so much, and they have such short lifespans that we treat them like our kids, always trying to make life as good for them as possible. People like me should never have working dogs. That's for sure. My wife wonders why Franklin follows me around all the time. She says he idolizes me. He doesn't idolize me. He just knows I'm the dummy who's going to give him treats all the time. It makes you wonder who has trained who! Best wishes.
Cal - Montreal
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Post by jabba on May 17, 2006 6:36:19 GMT -5
Dogs are funny. My pup Piper... she's the one that got killed, was never even interested in people food. She'd crawl up behind me on the couch when I was eating in the living room, and never even consider that the food I was eating might be good. Cooper on the other hand... We have NEVER givin him food while we are eating, NEVER rewarded him for begging, but he is totally obsessed with watching us eat. It drives me nuts.
Jabba
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Post by jimh on May 17, 2006 7:11:21 GMT -5
i don't know if i'm being obsesive with this weight thing or not. i see some dogs that are just way overweight and i don't want that to happen to her. on the other hand maybe i'm just making up for the fact i can't control honeybunches weight so i'm taking this out on the pooch. boy my wife better not read this
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donnie
Grand Member
Posts: 584
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Post by donnie on May 17, 2006 14:15:52 GMT -5
Jim, IMHO one feeding per day is entirely sufficient. the amount you quote seems like a good place to start. Most likely plenty of food given here caloric requirements. Exercize her when you can it will help with the garbage can business too. Good luck!
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donnie
Grand Member
Posts: 584
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Post by donnie on May 17, 2006 14:16:50 GMT -5
BTW I'm calling your wife to tell her you got brave and talked crap!
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Post by Bill on May 18, 2006 23:07:13 GMT -5
I'm not complaining about my dogs weight. I just wish she weighed a bit more as she is all legs and bone. Don't matter how much I feed her she dosn't seem to gain any weight.
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Post by jabba on May 19, 2006 6:07:03 GMT -5
She's apup Bill. She's growing like a weed. She needs lots of calories, protein and fat right now. But no so much she gets dumpy fat as that can affect their skeletal health at this crutial juncture.
Jabba
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Post by Bill on May 19, 2006 7:44:08 GMT -5
Well DUMPY FAT she isn't by a long shot. I am following the directions for feeding on the bag and it just isn't happening. I also think part of the problem is the fact she wasn't the smallest of the litter but maybe 3rd up from the bottom and to get something to eat she probably had to work hard for it which also turned her into a vacume cleaner. Another thing I'm wondering about is lately she is growing. Growing so fast that you can tell from day to day a change in her size. One day its legs, the next day is her head and One day it might even be her tail. Its kind of comical really. ;D But something I also noticed is the fact that durring these growth periods she slows down a bunch when we play fetch. She still retrives and all but she is slow to get there and slow to bring it back. She also does not have the drive to do as many and tires of it fairly quickly. There for a while I would throw it as long as she acted like she wanted more and the first sign of getting tired of it I quit. This might be as many as 25 retrives. But lately its more like 10 when she goes thru these lathergic periods. Then she just lays down and acts like she is wore out. The walks were doing are getting longer too and more obediance traning than a walk but also socializing walks too. I started her on the whistle and am doing only one whistle for SIT along with the comand. In a 2 mile walk we might do 40 sits. Each corner we come to or each time she starts to go after something while on the leash we might get a whistle and command to sit. She does awsome at it, but the more obediance training we do the more she is tired out also and less likely to want to do a bunch of retrives. She is getting better at the biting thing except she gets into a mood that I call ZOOMING. This is were she just starts to run and run and might even go into a digging mode where she tears at the grass flinging it everywhere. If you try to play with her at these times you better be on your game or your going to get bite. And if your playing fetch and don't have fast fingers durring those periods ;D Its going to be bandaid time. Pups are a lot of fun But they can also try your patiance once in a while.
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Post by jimh on May 19, 2006 8:16:09 GMT -5
it's getting worse, the old girl wants more food. last night i heard a noise and popped up out of bed (3:30 am) and sure enough she had pulled a piece of pizza out of the trash can that had been pitched. during the night she nevers goes into the can even if food is within reach of the top. she's not happy about this diet thing one bit, i may start adding filler to her meals so she has a fuller belly. it's actualy pretty funny, she is a sneaky bitch. she will ever so slowly reach in, grab a hunk and slither downstairs and eat it out of site (which is where i caught her with the ill gotten grub) and then come back up and sneak another piece out. she ht the can for 4 pieces of pepperoni before she slipped up and made a noise that woke me. i had someone mention useing green beens as a low calorie filler. god knows she'll eat them, so i may get one of those big cans from sams and put a cup full in with her dog food.
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donnie
Grand Member
Posts: 584
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Post by donnie on May 19, 2006 17:13:47 GMT -5
Bill, Too many retrieves!! Ease up on the number she's getting, Remember we want to keep her always wanting more. If she is lacking excitement then that is your fault. You need to create the energy by getting REALLY excited with her when playing fetch. It's all in that book you have.
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Post by Bill on May 19, 2006 21:06:07 GMT -5
When I come home with my buttcheaks dragging behind me from working 10 hr days its really hard to find any kind of excitement for retriving. But I sure give it a try. I have cut back on the number and am even going to give it a rest for a day or so. Besides I need to work on stay and come for a while.
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Post by calsibley on May 21, 2006 4:32:27 GMT -5
If you're having problems getting the dog to eat you might consider the IAMS sauces (they're not cheap). They have them in bacon, pot roast, beef flavor and maybe one or two others. I mix IAMS can food and dry food together for Franklin and pour one of the sauces on it. He'll eat it although truthfully he'll sometimes still hold out to see what I'm eating first. I guess there's really just no pet food that can compete with what we eat. Best wishes.
Cal - Montreal
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Post by Bill on May 21, 2006 9:21:03 GMT -5
;D Cal, getting her to eat is NOT the problem. Getting her to quit eating is the problem. She would eat a whole bag if I let her. Plus I follow the directions on the bag and she still is skinny as a rail. I feed her more and nothing improves. Her matabolism just plain demands more than the bag says she should get but at the rate she is growing I can understand her hunger. She is more than double the size she was when I got her.
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Post by Jack on May 21, 2006 10:06:04 GMT -5
Bill, any chance she's got worms? That might account for her eating a lot and still being skinny.
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