Leelaa17

ETA: Hi Staff n Toller - Max gets 1 cup twice a day of dry food and about a third of wet food twice a day. He is lean and the vet always comments on his good weight. He is small for a male gsd and weighs in at 36kg. But I honestly don't think I need to feed him more, but I guess I could give it a go and try it out :) Edit: the amount of food he gets

Thank you for your replies guys! I'm sure he did get something very tasty. We don't usually leave things on the bench but the another dog we have is very sick and her food was just popped on the bench because we were going to give it to her later. We were usually vigilant with rat poison, it's no where near where the dogs go, but one day dad was moving the bird cage (with rat poison underneath it) and he kicked the rat poison out of the way and forgot about it, and then max ate it, We throw a ball around and play tug a war and run around the house and play etc, as well as exercise. They get bones once a week as my vet said it's not very good for them if they have it more than that. The bones they get are those really big bones (I don't actually know what animal they are from) Max has absolutely no interest in treat balls etc, although the treats in ice thing I think would work nicely because he looooves ice. I might do that tonight so he has something for tomorrow! Would you suggest anything to put in the ice? I cant remember what the first thing he got from the bin was unfortunately. And Rebanne - that is a good idea. I might give that a go. Thank you again for your comments!

Hello all, On here for a bit of friendly advice about my male 3yo GSD. About say 3 months ago, Max started raiding bins in the house (even in the rooms he knows he's not allowed to go into). He has never, ever done it when I am around. He only does it when I go upstairs (he is not allowed upstairs) to have a shower or to get something out of my room. He has also on occasion (the last time being about an hour ago) put his front paws on the bench and gotten food down and eaten it. We have another GSD, a female aged 2, but I'm certain its Max doing the bin raiding. The reason being is because Jenna isn't exploratory. You give her a normal dog treat and she can't work out how to eat it. Also, Max recently ate rat poison. He will eat anything. I'm concerned because we give him regular exercise, I walk him every night - although I will admit I have been slack the last two weeks because I have been busy and its been hot and I really don't handle the heat well at all. We feed him twice a day, a cup of dry food and a tiny bit of nature's own dog food (or nature's gift? Not entirely sure!!) I get different flavours and they never have the same flavors two days in a row. I was just wondering if anyone had any thoughts on why he suddenly started doing this when he never used to do it before?? Thanks in advance!!

Thank you all so much for your comments! I have heard of those connecter things skitch! They sound like a good idea. And SecretKei I was considering buying prong collars for both of them. I have used a prong collar on Jenna before and it worked wonders. thank you all again!!

That's ok :)

Sorry, I was dragged 30cm not metres. So collars are more effective than harnesses you think? (honest question), when I used to use them I felt like I had less control when they were on collars than now that they're in harnesses. And also, I didn't allow my dog offleash - he slipped out of his harness. Obviously because it wasn't tight enough. But I understand what you are saying and will try the pop technique next time. Thank you :)

The guy was lovely. That's why I'm not as mad as I would've been. And that is true Dogmad. Although Jenna is a very VERY small GSD (not tht that makes much of a difference, she's still got some strength behind her) but she's 2yo and only 26kg so she's quite small. I used to walk them one at a time but then decided to start walking them both together. They've become much better at walking with me as well. Maybe I should start walking them separately again. Thank you for being kind.

Hello all, It's been a while since I've been on here so I hope this is still the right place to post this question. I'll start from the beginning. I have been walking my two GSD (on leash of course) for about an hour every night around my suburb. When a dogwould be coming our way I would cross the road because Max and Jenna would go crazy and bark and lunge. Anyway, the past few weeks I have been training them not to focus on any dogs around us and focus on me. I have stopped (still across the road - we're not at that stage yet!) and talked to them and just tried to keep them calm, while i stay calm. Anyway, it has been a HUGE success. they are pretty calm when dogs walk past and neither of them bark anymore - I still talk to them though beause they still get excited somewhat... Anyway, we were walking to our local park tonight (not an off-leash park), because we walk through it... and I saw oan offleash dog just as we got to the entrance of the park. I stopped and held max and jenna firmly (I wrap the leads around my hands to get better control of them). They were fine. A bit excited but they weren't barking - just watching the dog. The dog was making eye contact (it was some sort of bordie collie looking breed, although it wasn't a bordie collie - I don't think!) and it was low down and started sneaking towards us. I spent the whole time keeping max and jenna calm - assuming the owner would put the dog on lead - he didn't - the dog came up to max and jenna, max and jenna went for the dog, the owner quickly came over and grabbed the dog and took him away. Think it can't get worse? Well max went between my legs and pulled himself out of his harness andwent over to the dog.Now I wasn't worried about max because I knew he would just sniff him. Which he did. However, I was holding Jenna and could NOT get max back in the harness so I asked the guy to hold Jenna for me (his gf was holding the other dog) while I fixed max up. I should note that when max and jenna went for the dog, i lost my balance and was dragged about 30cm across the concrete - for which i have a bloodied back and leg. My question, after all of that, is - did I do something wrong in this situation? Should I have done anything? Should I have turned around and walked away? I thought Max's harness was fine, wasn't too tight or too loose, but I guess I was wrong. I am just concerned because there were a lot of people in the park and I'm scared someone is going to report Max and Jenna for being "dangerous" when I don't think it was their fault...

What happens with hypothyroidism? Are there any other symptoms?

Thanks lilli! Thats good to hear! Thank you again and i will continue to keep an eye on it

About two weeks ago i was scratching maxs head and a little lump of scab and fur came off - it didnt hurt him, he didnt even notice. I kept scratching and a circle of hair came off with the scabby-like skin. I didnt think much of it and have been keeping an eye on it to see if the hair grows back. The skin was pink but now it has gone black. Im worried. He gets wormed regularly, but he has had mites before. Im more worried about the fact that his skin has turned black. His behaviour hasnt changed in the slightest and he is eating and drinking normally. Any thoughts/advice?

How would I get into that? Would I need to study something - I'm about to leave work so I will research a little on the way home. It would be awesome working with assistance dogs.

Thanks rusty&biscuit. I didn't think of all the massage and animal healing stuff! And I would still like to breed dogs - even just for a hobby. but I don't think I'll do that till I'm older so I can have more time to spend with the dogs. I hear breeding can be a full-time job. Thanks again for your suggestions - I wouldn't mind doing the lawyer thing but I'm just not smart enough! haha

I know what you mean. I volunteered for the RSPCA and that really opened my eyes up to a lot of things and so I left. This is just so difficult because all I want to do is be around dogs for my job but it seems that no matter what I do its going to end up badly. I'd love to breed dogs but I don't know the first thing about becoming vertified or actually doing it - and do you even make a profit off breeding? I don't know. I wouldn't want to do anything to do with breeding unless I'd spent time with an actual proper breeder and gotten experience and training in what I should do. I'm so stuck.

thanks for your advice guys. Still really don't know what to do. I'd be taking a pay cut as well and I am struggling to live now as it is so I really just don't know what to do. good luck spyke. hope you have better luck than me!