joelle

Ellie has been limping for a few days, we have kept her as quiet a possible but she is still doing it so off to the vets tomorrow.

I have checked the leg, foot, knee and shoulder that she seems to be limping on, (front left) but can't see or feel anything and she lets me handle it ok.

My question is....I read somewhere that if a dog limps it is actually the opposite diaganol (sp) leg that is sore So should I be checking her right rear leg, or is this an old wives tale?

Have others experienced a front leg limp and if so what was the cause?

Ellie is a x breed large dog whio has had a huge growth spurt recently, she is all tall and gangly, I dont know if that is a contributing factor. I know the vet will help tomorrow but our appt isnt til 4 pm and that a long time for me to be imagining the worst.

Any words of encouragement that all may not be doomed would be appreciated.

Also did I read on here that dogs can have human vitamin c tablets to help their joints

ETA: UPDATE

WELL its now September, Ellie is nearly 9 months old. We didnt go with the surgery. Instead, we crated and rested her. We gave her one very gentle short walk every other day. In her food we added 1 glucosamine tablet each day and gave her 2 fish oil tablets daily. I also started adding apple vinegar as a measure to stop her urine staining the grass. She slowly improved to the point of now she has at least 2 walks daily, at least one of those, sometimes both, is off lead, galloping round a huge dog exercise area. And I mean GALLOPING. If I have the kids with me, I keep them very close to me if Ellie is coming in our direction (Ellie forgets to stop )She runs as fast, hard and long as little petite neat Mollie and shows absolutely no sign that she ever had a sore leg. SO anyone who is quoted $3,000 or a death sentence, take heed. REST, REST, REST, GLUCOSAMINE, FISH OIL. Maybe the vinegar too, who knows?? Im not saying it will work for everyone but dont ever lose hope, I mentally was having Ellie PTS as I couldnt see any future for her. Now she is 110 %. I will continue with the fish oil and glucosamine until she is at least 18 months, possibly more, as a preventative. P.S she also had 10 days worth of antibiotics and 1/2 aspirin daily for the first 10 days.

Hi, I cant answer this but I hope someone else can for you? I am more interested in how you get them interested in a couple of square metres as a toilet? Do you always take them there on leash? I would like mine to learn this as they go wherever they want in the garden and it is making patches in the grass. They are now 6 months and 3 but I wonder if I could re train them? :D Just realised as I was writing, this would be hard as they have the run of the garden when we are out

Back to topic, I think your doing well if they go there most of the time at 9.5 weeks keep up the consistency Maybe there are nightime visitors who are leaving unwelcome smells, a cat perhaps?

Good luck, BTW they are beautiful dogs :D

Ive only ever had one dog at a time when younger but now have 2. Got the pup first, then 3 yr old when pup was 6 months. Great fun, but miss 3 sometimes needs time out to chill from baby face

Pup is well mannered but luckily miss 3 is better mannered, so pup seems to be learning from her too :p its a great leaning curve for us too, In saying that I dont know if I could handle 2 puppies togehter Good luck with whatever you decide

Tell the kids to suck it up - why would you want to play and not have the dog join in? whats the fun in that??

They dont mind Ellie joining in as she is too puppy clumsy to win. Mollie is a different kettle of fish altogether, far too good for them

Just sore losers I guess

Footy - keep the one that you dont want ruined away from the dogs, let the dogs have theirs to chew

ha ha, sounds easy I know, but I may have to be a detective on this one...you see, the boys LIKE having the dogs there I have discovered, sometimes they laugh at them playing with them, sometines they whinge when the dogs win the ball..................which is 99 %

What they want is the dogs to play with their footy while they are playing with theirs

Ye I know, TRAIN THE BLOODY KIDS TO BE CONSISTENT

I got mine a puppy tyre on a rope, they love it. Very durable too

What about an empty milk carton? they make a mess I know but it can keep them occupied. Take the top off though (put some treats in there too )

Mine also love the footy but the boys dont like them having it (obviously) any hints on how to buy the dogs one of these without confusing them that any old footy will do, they can only have their own

BTW mine also love soft toyus / teddies, Ellie wants to cuddle them, and hold them all day; Mollie wants to chew them, what the story there

I use cubed chicken sandwich meat, roast chicken, pieces of sausage, cubed pieces of cheese, cabanosi, and various combinations of these.

My dog wasnt focussed for 2 sessions, trainer said she just wasnt hungry and I should not feed her all day before training (the day before she means, training is 8 am) I had given her the morning feed but skipped the evening one. I tried different treats that she doesnt normally have and it worked fantastic. I can even give her both meals the day before, although I give the evening one earlier and less of it.

vary your treats, so she is intrigued and interested as to what she is getting next Good luck

I once knew an old boxer girl who was a gentle as a lamb with everything in the world, including chooks........SHe sniffed them, they squawked and flapped, she barked, they flapped a bit more, game on.....Only thing is, she didnt actually mean to kill them, she was a maternal dog who wanted to cuddle little things like kids and teddies, and chooks the chooks got dragged to her bed and sat on / cuddled to death, never a mark on them, but not a breath left, poor things. Couldnt blame the dog though, the owner just made the chook pen more secure. I think thats def the answer here, but as the others say if you dont trust the pup, better to rehome him, will you treat him like part of the family if you dont trust him?

My dogs are gentle but I certainly wouldnt be trusting them with small thing s that moved quickly, we had a guinea pig but he was never allowed any where near the dogs. its like having a cat and mouse together then blaming the cat for killing the mouse.

Thank you for replies, after taking all replies into account, I think I'll make an executive decision and keep her on the adult food. She gets 2 n half cups per day, plus 2 chicken carcasses. Or 4 / 5 cups daily with no chicken. These are spread over 2 meals. She gets bones and pigs ears regularly too. She also gets a cup of tucker time most days for training treats too. . She is doing well and gaining weight, maintaining her lean build, so I'll keep her as she is, thanks again.

It is a very interesting topic though

(She is on slightly more food than 3 yr old staffy - who was on same diet, but I have noticed she (3 yr old) is gaining weight so have cut her down to 1 n half cups kibble, still with the chicken, tucker time etc.)

I agree with the fear thing, I said mine was being dominant, I should have said trying to be dominant, prob through fear / anxiety. The t'ime out' thing did work though, maybe because it taught her it was unacceptable to snarl but without encouraging the anxiety by reassuring her not to be scared / anxious if that makes sense......................... I know what I mean anyhow

Try again........ I was told if you reassure them when they are scared, you are giving them permission to think there is a reason to be scared. make sense

There should be an obedience school or trainer that you can go to before 6 months. Our local club accepts puppies from 12 weeks I believe. And the classes are much better run than the vet nurse ones. Good luck!

I agree, Ellie and I are now doing the canine good companion training where most of the dogs are over 6 months, but there are a couple of young ones i.e. 12 weeks

Good luck and happy hunting.

Hi, I am nowhere near expert level, but I can offer personal experience We too, did puppy preschool and Ellie was cool the first couple of weeks then snarled and snapped her way through the next couple

SHe had also been snarling at my 4 yr old son and we were VERY worried. Luckily we had a good trainer (She worked for us anyhow ) who thought Ellie was simply being dominant.

Ellie was given time out every time she snarled at school (at dogs) or home (at 4yr old). She was given no attention. i.e reassurance, or negative consequences, just time out ) When she returned to class, or room, she had settled down. We had to continue this every time she snarled. This appeared to work for her, she now appears fine with other dogs and LOVES children i.e no aggression at 6 months old.

If your dog does think he is protecting the child (which I doubt, at that age), try getting child to help feed and train, this will help dog realise that child doesnt need protecting as he is above the dog in the pack.'

Just our experience that worked for us, may or may not work for you but no harm in sharing experiences :D

Hope this makes sense

Ellie is 6 months and can hold on, she is about 25 kg.

I feed Advance Large Breed Puppy - it has less calories so as not to encourage rapid growth. He will be eating this until 18 months - 2 years of age and is looking fabulous on it.

Is this the same as 'Advane Growth Large Breed'?

Thats what I feed and they are thriving on it.

Yep...sorry!

And for joelle....in general, the quickest growth rate is until about 5 months and then, if you double that, it's a fair approximation on what their fully grown weight will be. After that they really slow down - Zig puts on around a kilo a month and I barely notice him getting bigger any more. I keep him nice and lean and he gets a chicken neck each night for his bedtime treat Definitely get some large breed puppy food but remember to swap it over slowly...don't want yucky poos

Thank you all, She was about 20 kilos at 20 weeks which is about 5 months so probably approx 40 kg fully grown? I'll run with that. Thanks heaps everyone

Agree with what everyone here has said - 'large breed puppy' is what your pup should be on - it has different levels of certain things (calcium, etc) so that the pup grows at a slow steady pace. It is designed for pups of large breeds. Adult food has different levels again so is probably not the best for a growing pup?? I don't know what to do with the 'large breed adult' food you already have - maybe get some of the 'large breed puppy' and mix it in?? Donate it to a shelter (if you can afford to)?? Maybe a more qualified person can advise - or speak to a vet (who knows about nutrtion of larger breeds)

I have a 3 yr old who can have this one. i was buying a medium bag of puppy and a medium bag of adult, but following vets advice, just bought one large bag af adult. So it wont go to waste, the 3 yr old will eat it.

Thanks everyone

Exactly right, IMO, as long as you are feeding a large breed puppy food rather than regular puppy food (which you are )

Im not though :D I was giving her 'advance' large breed puppy, but I just swapped this weekend onto advance LARGE ADULT after other advice from trainers etc I paid $80 for it aaagh what do you recommend, buy the puppy food again

Well....a large breed puppy food should have the right quantities of calcium, phosphorus and protein - the calcium-phosphorus ratio is critical and the energy supplied by the food is also important. What breed of dog do you have?

i would have thought so too, you would think if it is made for large breed pups, it would be specially formulated for them???'

Sorry, should have mentioned, I dont have a breeder, she is a rescue x breed. To date the following breeds have been mentioned as possibilities, mastiff, APBT, great dane, labrador, staffy, boxer. The staffy bit was feasible when small but now????? She is 25 kg now so even if she doesnt grow any more, (impossible at 6 m I know ) she is still large.

Keep advice opinions coming, all appreciated, thank you

I use Science Diet Large Breed Puppy. It is fantastic and I totally recommend it

Thanks :D My vet etc etc told me the puppy food generated growth too quick as it had too much calcium, protein etc for the large breed dogs????

Im totally confused

Hi all, I need your opinions / advice please.

I was told by my vet, puppy trainer and now obedience trainer that I should not feed my dog a puppy food as this will generate faster growth which in turn is not good for a large breed pup. I have now switched to adult food but others have said she should be on puppy formula until 18 months of age.

All advice appreciated

Thanks

we have a fairly large dog of unknown heritage we dont walk her as much as our 3 yr old staffy x, and we try to limit her play time too as she tries to jump like a small pup and we are concerned about her joints later on. SHe does run free at the beach 1x or 2x weekly and half n hour walk every day. This is in addition to her free play with the staff x in the yard. fetching her toys, obedience training each day (5 - 10 mins only) Is this ok? SHe is about 25 kg and 6 months now

I walk mine after meals. No reason really, just fits in our family better. usually about 40 mins after each meal. although OH will walk them during day if he is home, just for the fun of it!

What can I say

They get down when told to ;)

classic pic. where do you sit??

My dogs are NOW allowed on couch, bed. We got one form a puupy and she wasnt allowed on at first, she is now 6 months and gets up BY INVITATION only. SOmetimes, being a pup stll, she will try it on when Im not looking, but usually she is really good and waits to be invited. Our other is 3 yrs old and we only had her a week, but someone obviously did a good job with her as she will sit and look and wait to be invited. SHe will also get down when asked.

They know their place in the family too I am boss and they know it

Hi there

Our pup and child did this too, to the point of me wondering if i could keep both the pup and the kid We persevered and 100 % supervised, and taught the child the basics, got him to help feeding etc but child continued even after being reprimanded. I hate to say it but the pup did actually nip and hurt (slightly thank God) the child. Guess what happened then ? Child never hurt pup again. They are now best friends. :D Hold in there, but never understimate the powers of supervision and including the child in the general care of the dog. I guess we were lucky our child wasnt hurt, but he is a very exciteable 4 yr old and the pup couldnt handle it. (She was a rescue) I Dont blame the dog, I cant handle 4 yr olds sometimes myself As i say, with perseverance, supervision, training and TLC on both sides we have a happy ending. Good luck

While we are on the subject of food, I bought some chicken necks for my 6 month old pup and the butcher threw in a full chicken carcass to try. These are ok for dogs too arent they?

Yup, so long as it's raw.

Thanks, I gave her it raw, she loved it. Were off to the butcher tomorrow to buy a job lot How much nutrition is in these, ie are they a treat or to supplement a meal. She is a large dog. Thanks