Red Mal

I agree with Lab lover. Wth breeds that can be predisposed to dominance issues (moreso northern breeds) it can lead to 'challenging' behaviour, as they always like an opportunity to win a challenge IMO I wouldn't do it. I've never done it with mine, and I tell my puppy owners not to encourage it either. It's easy to win over a puppy, but not so easy to win over a large dog that is challenging !! JMHO

I've known breeders of my breed and others who have fed pups on Barf and pups on commercial food, with no noticeable difference in either. Pups have grown at the same rate regardless.

I would be giving him 3 meals a day still. Work out what he needs daily then divide. I would still be giving him complete pup food too and not adult, as growing puppies need much more protein than adults. If she is an large dog as an adult she will probably need 80-100 grams per meal. Pups should be on pup food until they are 8 months, as messing around with their digestive system at such an early age can be really detrimental to them as adults.

Not sure if someone has pointed out the home cooked food is fine regarding meat, providing NO cooked bones are given. They are dangerous and dogs shuldn't be given cooked bones ever ! Feeding chicken wings etc, is fine from a pup and I know many breeders who wean their dogs this way. Try reading "Grow your pup with Bones". It will explain a lot and help you out

I certainly wouldn't just in case. If a Bitch knows she is in whelp and thinks her activities will be normal (doing agility etc), it's possible she could ingest the pups, thinking she couldn't cope being active and in whelp. It depends on the dogs instincts and some ingest out of stress too. Just my opinion though.

I would tough love it too I'm afraid. It isn't easy, but worth it in the end Gorgeous puppy too, I love Ridges, I have a family of 5 of them that live in my street and they are lovely :D

There is lots of conflicting advice around, however, from my own experience of knowing other breeders having problems with bloat, I always feed mine from the floor. I also soak too, as unsoaked food swells when in the stomach as it becomes moist. If it's soaked first, it's digested easier, passes through quicker, the stomach juices don't have to work so hard and therefore spending less time in the stomach altogether.

Me too, exactly the same :rolleyes: My dogs have never had an issue, and they are made to wait to eat, until given the signal, and until then they must sit and drool ;)

My dogs have been jabbed annually for years, until about 18 months ago. I started doing research on the vaccs and the ingredients, bought a few Veterinary Manuals (that the vets use) and looked into it. I now job 3 yearly. I know most people I speak to also jab 3 yearly, and even though most of these people show their dogs, the showing fraternity is more or less of the same opinion, so vaccination card checks have been overlooked of late (even at Crufts) The reason I was first alerted was when I knew of several people that vaccd annually and their dogs had began having fits almost immediately afterwards or within a few days. I looked into this more and found some interesting information regarding the overdosing of meds. My older dog also contracted KC, when by all accounts he should have never had it, having been vcc every year Some vets here agree with it, some don't and still insist on yearly. Having said that, since the 3 yearly jabs have been introduced, we have had 3 Parvo outbreaks in the UK in the last 6 months, so it depends on what you see as priority. With the risk of Parvo on the doorstep, I'm tempted to go and vaccinate again, just to be on the safe side even thought I don't agree with overdosing on medication ! Parvo or Epilepsy = tough decision but I know I would choose

Your dog knows best in this case Dogs are supposed to eat meat yes, but MOST canned food is 80% water and only contains animal derivatives, NOT meat. It's just processed to look like and have the consistency of meat. Complete dry food is much better nutritionally for your dog than any canned food, and your dog knows this, which is why he is now refusing the canned food. The farting will be due to the canned food too. A good quality dry complete food will have everything in it that your dog needs (vitamins minerals and the usual protein etc levels) If you want to change to a BARF diet, you must research it properly first. You can give yoghurt fine, but not all the time, but it's very good for them.

I don't mean to be rude but grooming a big dog is way easier as you don't have to bend down, whereas you do with little dogs, therefore causing back problems RNR - There must be an underlying reason, why they won't groom Bloo, if it were me, I would ask for the reason, if you don't ask, you don't get Our mobile groomers never had a problem and had a few Mals on his list and he loved them too which helped and played with them afterwards

When we were in Perth with our Mal we used to have the mobile Groomers come (can't remember the name) but she loved it

I find it hard to believe that the Indian Wolf is the centre of all origins of Wolf, since the Arctic Wolf existed at the Arctic long before human habituation was discovered there !!! Just my thoughts

This thread has been extremely gripping and it has given me a lot to ponder. It makes me wonder if there are only certain dogs or certain breeds that do in fact have more wolf instincts that regularly surface etc Has anyone seen the film "Eight Below" ??? It's about a sled dog team who had to be left at the Arctic to fend for themselves and all but one survived. Well, apart from being a big box office hit, it was actually based on true events (if somewhat glamourised). These dogs were left and in fact only a few truly survived, but that was due to the fact that it was much later when the musher returned for them, meaning many of the dogs would have died through age anyway. These dogs who were bred to be sled dogs, being fed, cared for and nurtured by humans, were left with nothing but their instinct to survive, and they did for a long time. They hunted, lived in temperatures of -40, formed a pack structure and this structure remained for the surviving dogs even when returned to civilisation. The dog packs that have been released that still hang around humans to scavenge makes me wonder. Are they doing this because they feel they have no choice, or are they doing this simply because it's easier to scavenge and therefore guarantee survival, than go and hunt for themselves ?

Is this question directed to me, or the poster above, RM? I believe it is an instinct and that more dogs "know" it (instinctively) than we might think, but that the instinct needs to be triggered - and I don't think this happens frequently. I had a human-aggressive dog "nose punch" me in recent times and have come across the behaviour once or twice more over the years past. No it wasn't directed at you Yes I think, once we recognise something, we start to notice it more, although I think some people don't understand when I describe it, they assume their dog does it. My sister in law (again) is a prime example, always said her JRT did it, until I watched him and the behaviour was totally different, to the 'nose punch'.

I agree Erny and sometimes it's us the humans that cloak this instinct without realising it. The first time my first Mal went on a Rig (to race) having never done it and never been taught the directional commands he followed the 'musher's' every command with complete focus and finished the race 3rd over rough terrain, in a forest, where usually he would have his nose to the ground sniffing and weeing What amazed me was that he had a harness and rig attached to him and he stood there like 'what the heck ????' until the musher mounted the rig and yelled on...........he was gone like a bullett without hesitation and I have since seen many sled dogs do the same. There's no other explanation except for instinct

I've spoken to hundreds of dog owners and breeders and exhibitors and only twice come accross people whos dogs did the 'nose push' ! Are you saying all the dogs you know do this ?

Ah, but do they know this ?? WE know they don't need to fight for survival, but does your average domestic dog feel this or is this the reason, there are a some dogs with serious dominance issues, hence the need to lead the pack for survival ???

Erny, yep you said exactly what I wanted to say. With Fennel it seems dogs feel punished for longer but without reason, it sends the dog into depression as they have already fogotton what the punishment was for. Rom, I agree here too. I believe that although I prefer Cesar's methods, I would like to see the dogs have more self control and he doesn't address this issue.

but if you could tell in brief I would be interested to know your findings, RM. I will be brief Erny Wolves push things to invoke a reaction. The Hunters would often do it to a kill to see if it was 'safe'. Mothers do it to their young to invoke a reaction or to make them do something. (I;m trying to be brief) and an Alpha would do it to a female to invoke a reaction from her to see if she was coming into season. I was amazed the first time I studied this and realised that the dog I have now does the 'Kill'. He picks up his toy monkey shakes the living daylights out of it (killing it) then drops it on the floor. He then proceeds to push it hard with his nose (mouth closed) and looks quite strange. Of course it's a toy, but the actions are exactly the same and obviously something inherant in him. Of course, I daren't tell my sister in law that when he does it to her, he's checking to see if she's in season :p

I agree, there are some very old studies that just wouldn't apply to the wolves we see in captivity today. Have we domesticised Wolves too, to a certain extent ? Are they too behaving differently because of us and the way we 'keep' them ? The Nanny wolves for instance werent seen often at all in the wild. Is that because they feel more threatened by us, that this is a role they have adapted being in captivity ? ....afterall a Wolves whole life revolves around survival. Do they now employ nanny wolves as a guard against us, their keepers ??? Well, as wolves are driven by survival instincts, that's why they wouldn't come near humans, although it would make sense that dogs would, as many of them would no longer have those instincts, then again, if they're like one of mine, they're just more stupid Definitely

I don't know anyone personally who has had training with Cesar, but I know of a few that have had training with Jan Fennell, and I will just say one thing. Her training methods seemed fine, and for a long time worked for the owners and dogs, but many have since complained that her methods made dogs depressed. At first I though it was just a few owners feeling sorry for ignoring their dogs. However, even in well mannered dogs who slip up once in a while, more and more dogs seemed to decline and effectively sink into a kind of depression. I personally know of a few non related incidents where dogs were put onto human anti depressants after this training method from Ms Fennell. Just my experiences though of friends etc, I've not tried her methods on my own dogs.

Amhailte - I wasn't arguing against any points, just trying to simplify things a little I don't think Wolves are romantic, by any means, far too suspicious to sit down at a candle lit dinner with one I think we look to Wolves more, because yes, in an ideal world, we would be able to study wild dog packs, but as there are very few and almost none in captivity, it's almost impossible to study them. Wolves are easier and more readily available to study, and as they are so closely related, we use that to our advantage. I just wanted to express that although dogs aren't wolves, many dogs and many breeds seem to carry through more wolf behaviours than we actually realise. I used to have an old male x breed many years ago, that pushed certin things with his nose, even people, but only certain people. We just thought it was funny. I now have a dog that has always done the same thing and never knew why until I started studying wolf behaviour and found that there is a very specific reason for doing it. Just one example. Another example, I currently have a litter of 9 Mal puppies who are barely two weeks old, yet as of 3 days ago, 4 of them, at the same time every single morning at 5.am (ish) are found sat up (if a little wobbly) eyes closed, head pointing to the ceiling, trying to howl, and succeeding very nicely. I've set my camera up so I can hopefully catch them at it again tomorrow at some point. Now at 2 weeks old, this is not a learnt behaviour as none of my dogs do this (unless on command), so the natural instincts are there somewhere...................and it is cute

Dogs are like wolves in a few simple ways ; 'Some' are more prone to be dominant 'Some' are more prone to be submissive 'Some' couldn't care less about being at the top, middle or bottom 'Some' carry through their instinctive traits (guarding, prey drive etc), some don't 'Some' recognise hierarchy, some don't 'Some' dogs have natural instincts, some dont. Domesticity can only remove so much, and sometimes, inherent trait come out. In some dogs they do, some they dont. This is why some people have hierarchial problems and some dont, It depends on the dogs. It's impossible to completely breed 'out' instincts, just as it's impossible to breed 'out' health problems. Even in the most selective breeding I've seen reccesive genes throw in a terrible flaw.

Yep, dinner time not always the best time .... Also, catch her unaware. When she's not expecting it, call her to you (treat for coming) then start the 'watch' session.