THE Large Dog Thread.. (I hope)

[ceecee]

Iams food is actually only rated a one star (out of 1-5 rating). Before P&G bought Iams it was a more quality food and now it's high in corn fillers which can cause skin and ear infection issues. I used Iams for years (the original Iams company was the town next to ours) and didn't realize I was paying twice as much for a super market food. We switched to Wellness and the ear infections are gone. Look for the top 4 ingredients being a meat/protein. Watch beet pulp (another filler) too for larger dogs it can contribute to bloat. Iams is cheaper but as stated in other posts they do eat less when they have a quality food.

 

[Jynohn]

We raise Great Danes, so I understand how it goes trying to feed large dogs on a budget! Like many others have mentioned, we feed Kirkland brand, and it's a great price for the quality. It really is too bad that you don't have a Costco nearby. Nutro is another alternative. It's a pretty good food for a decent price, and can be found at Petco and Petsmart.

Large dogs are more prone to bloat, so even if you have to skimp on everything else, make sure not to skimp on food quality. Most of the supermarket brands, and even some of the so-called premium brands, are full of fillers. Make sure that the protein is the first ingredient listed, and it should say a SPECIFIC protein (ie: chicken, lamb, etc.) not just "animal protein" or "meat." If there are any grains such as corn or wheat, they should be way down at the bottom of the list, definitely not one of the first few ingredients.

As for training tips, I always tell my new puppy families never to let them do as a puppy what you wouldn't want them to do as a 100+ lb. adult. That includes jumping on people, getting on furniture, begging at the table, etc.

Best of luck with your new puppy, he's adorable!

 

[mistee]

congrats on your new puppy,, sooo excitiing!!!!

I have a st bernard that turned 2 at christmas so i know alllll about the "large" dog!!! Last vet app he was 165lbs and he still hasnt bulked out,,lol!!!

He is 100% inside dog,,, drool and all!!!!

everyone has given you excellent advise..

have fun!!!

 

[Hardy]

If you do not have a Costco by you, their Kirkland food is actually made by Diamond. At a local pet store I get another brand called Professional which is also made by Diamond. I had my great dane on canidae all life stages but she was not doing well on it and switched her to the professional.....it was cheaper and she is doing much better on it. If you can find the Diamond, you want to look for Diamond Naturals.

 

[KristiKelly]

Congratulations!! I haven't read all the responses so I'm sure I'll be repeating some things.

1st do not skimp on dog food. We feed our dog Canidae, I can't remember the price (maybe $30-40 for 30 lbs.). Quality dog food creates less poop and they eat less.

2nd Frontline. We don't have a flea problem so I had never used it UNTIL Sept. when our dog was diagnosed with Lymes Disease. She now takes it year round because even in the winter I am still hearing about ticks in our area.

Toys - our dog loves stuffed animals, tennis balls, and plastic water bottles.

Enjoy your new puppy!

 

[tinan]

Hi...congrats on your new puppy!!......he is absolutely adorable.....well I read through several of the pages, but not all of them. The one most important thing I did not see mentioned here is what lab owners refer to as labralescence. LOL Basically, big dogs, but labs/lab mixes in particular take a lot longer to mature so they tend to have more of a puppyhood than some other breeds. I'm not trying to discourage you, but a lot of owners give up on labs and lab mixes because of this. As long as you have the patience to get through the labralescence, in my opinion they are one of the best dogs! We are a multi-dog household including a Chocolate Lab, Newfoundland, 2 Shelties, lab mix and cocker spaniel mix of which all of them live inside with us. Out of all of them, the choc. lab is the best behaved but it took him until he was about 2 1/2 or 3 to mature.

For the fleas, everyone else has already covered this very well.

The food, well we have used several different products over the years. Pedigree tends to be the most reasonable for us and agrees with our dogs. In the past we have used Purina, Bil Jac, Nutro Natural, IAMs and Science Diet. We have found it best sticking to the dry food and the wet food is primarily water based. Science Diet gives our dogs in particular horrible gas. Additionally, most dogs do better if corn is not the primary/first ingredient in the food. The majority of dogs that have "hot spots" is linked by a food allergy and corn tends to be the major culprit. That doesn't mean to avoid it completely, just not as a primary ingredient. Keep your baby on puppy food until about 6 months old to help with nutrients.

Toys, well as others had mentioned, it really is up to the individual dog as a personal choice. Our lab prefers squeaky fluffy toys. He likes the ducks that quack or the wooly toys with squeakers, but you can catch him playing with a tennis ball from time to time. He's not into the rubbery squeaky toys.

While housebreaking, make sure to kennel him when you're away and sleeping. As a general rule when we're housebreaking, we make sure to let puppies out immediately after coming out of the crate, immediately after a nap, immediately after some active playing and especially when they're younger immediately after getting a drink/eating. We go outside with them and go crazy/get excited when they go potty outside. It usually starts to click pretty quickly and we for the most part have ours trained within a month or so. If you catch them having an accident in the house, we tend to (I don't know how to type the noise), but an ehh ehhh ehhh.....go potty outside......in a stern voice. We are currently housebreaking two puppies at once.

Enjoy your puppy as he'll grow quickly......take lots of pictures!!! It looks like he's going to be a very big boy

 

[tinan]

I do have one more addition......about vaccines.

Until your puppy has had the full rounds of puppy shots which is usually 3 sets before their 4 months old, try to avoid going in public places like PetSmart or highly traffic puppy/dog areas. Puppies can pick up viruses and some of them can be deadly like Parvo.

 

[mommy2allyandaveri]

Not to get off topic, but...

I really think we need a whole section on the DIS dedicated to our pets! I know I'm lame but I want to see pics of everyones, especially the Grate Danes and St. Bernard!

 

[nestlejean]

I reccomend the dogfoodanalysis.com website to research the best dog foods. They are more expensive but the dog gets less of them and soils less often. It's especially important when they are a growing pup to get the right food. I have fed our 2yr old lab Canidae and she has no problems.
She love her Kong and I smear some peanut butter inside on the walls and put some broken dog treats or dog food inside. It keeps her busy licking it all out. Make some really stuck in there so she has to work awhile to get it all out. I don't use alot of peanut butter, just a thin coating inside.
I just Advantix or frontline for the fleas. I order it online, wherever I get the best price.
I also buy stuffed toys at Walgreens for the dog. They have milkbone brand for 2.00. She squeaks them awhile and eventually kills the squeaker and pulls out the stuffing. I mend them and they usually last quite awhile. She likes them but eventually destroys them so I am not paying more than 2.00 each.
Too many rawhides make her vomit so 1 once in awhile. I use the chips. A knotted one is too much and she vomits pieces of it up....yuk.
I use some of cesar Milan's philosophy and it has worked. When walking, when he gets bigger, you can use a prong collar. Mine walks OK but I like no pull at all. If I use the collar she stays at my side with my arm relaxed as we walk. If she tries to pull at all, I give a quick jerk and the collar tightens and gives a gentle pinch. she usually doesn't even need that. She knows what the collar will do and walks nicely. Without it, she starts a bit wilder but if I jerk her regular collar a little and say heal she will. I just have to keep at it more.

 

[DisneyMarathon]

Not to get off topic, but...

I really think we need a whole section on the DIS dedicated to our pets! I know I'm lame but I want to see pics of everyones, especially the Grate Danes and St. Bernard!

I totally agree. We need a section for pet lovers!

 

[asktriplets]

Congrats on your puppy.

We just recently added a new member to our family...he is a 7 yo black lab and such a sweetie.

I wanted to suggest talking to your vet. about parasite prevention. Everyone knows to treat for heartworm, but I can't imagine NOT using a "broad spectrum parasiticide" (we use Interceptor), which treats intestinal parasites, too.

One more REALLY REALLY nasty tidbit of info....the heartworm is a preventative, but the other meds for the intestinal worms just CONTROLS the parasites. This means that if your dog is at a dog park and picks up worms, the parasiticide just kills them every time you give the dog the pill...it doesn't PREVENT them from getting them.

Ok, ONE more, even nastier tidbit....the parasiticide is prescribed as once a month, but upon further digging, I discovered that within the life cycle of 2 of the worms it treats, the dogs can shed eggs in their feces after just 3 weeks. One of those worms can ENTER THROUGH THE SKIN (roundworm, maybe?) and those eggs are hard to destroy. Now, after talking with my vet, she explained that realistically, it wouldn't be likely that the timing would work out for a dog to ingest eggs, start the life cycle, and shed them all within those 3 weeks, but it IS possible. Upon my vets recommendation (probably when she saw me hyperventilate over the idea of having possible parasite-infected feces in the yard where my 3 kids play), I give my dog Interceptor every 3 weeks.

Now, obviously, we do our best to have the dog "use the bathroom" outside the fence from where the kids play and I try to pick up after him immediately, but it doesn't happen all the time.

When DH and I discussed this initially, I got the, ,"Oh, Good Grief, do you REALLY think this is a problem?!?!?". He still thinks that, but respects my parasite-phobia enough to remind me to give the dog the pill every 3 weeks!

 

[Sleepy]

Fleas, bath the dog in Dawn dish soap, kills them right away.

Fleas are a huge problem here. They eat Frontline for lunch Even the liquid Frontline that you can wet the dog in doesn't really work (not sure they even have that in America). Anyway, we had also tried all the flea shampoos with no luck. One day we ran out of dog shampoo and all we had was our human Tressemme shampoo. The one in the black bottle. When we began lathering him up, we noticed the fleas were surfacing, but not moving. Upon rinsing, they were falling off....dead. They were not stunned. They were really dead. Been using it since. He has not had a flea in over a year. He is a mostly inside dog. Another plus is that my cat has no fleas.

 

[PatriciaH]

Innova Evo is probably one of the best dry foods you can buy (we get it for our cats) if you have to feed dry. Wet is always better and raw is the best but a lot of work. You can order Innova online if you can not buy it near you. They ship it to your door. Do a search on Google. 6 star rating. Purina, Iams, Science Diet, etc. are all 1 star foods with corn and wheat as a filler. If Kirkland has ANY corn or wheat in it it is crap as well. They are doing to our pets what they are doing to us. Filling us all with cheap corn crap. HFCS is awful. So is corn filler in animal food. Wheat glutin is also awful and the cause of all the animal deaths recently. Dogs, cats and cows DO NOT need corn. They are not supposed to be eating it and are dying from it.

 

[walden]

Congratulations on your new puppy and family member. How utterly adorable!

Now you have a new pup, your first visit is to the vet for a well-pup check in and to establish a relationship. Inexpensive pup adoptions may need shots, a plan for neutering, and lots of great advice from your vet. Flea meds and flea control are somewhat dependant on age, but Parvo waits for no-one. If your pup has fleas please vaccuum the heck out of your house, now! Fleas are not nice.

Stepping on my soap box: I'm of the opinion that all dogs are adorable and I love mixed breeds. I'm not crazy about fancy names for mixes. I also really worry about people who adopt flea infested cheap pups from less than wonderful breeders (insert possible BYB and Puppy Mill here).

I feel that well-meaning dog-lovers are buying potential problems.

Seriously. If you go to a rescue you can probably get a pup (some pure bred without papers, and some adorable mixes) who is UTD on all shots, already fixed, not flea infested, and probably for less than you paid for your cutie.

Stepping off my soap-box. You have adopted a dog, and you will treat your new family member well. I know.

 

[fakereadhed]

Seriously. If you go to a rescue you can probably get a pup (some pure bred without papers, and some adorable mixes) who is UTD on all shots, already fixed, not flea infested, and probably for less than you paid for your cutie.

That is simply not always the case. While puppies from a rescue are up to date on shots(you will need to $ to finish them), they are usually not fixed, and they are not inexpensive. We could have paid much LESS for our puppy by NOT going through the rescue. For our mixed breed puppy we actually paid more than we would have elsewhere. All of our dogs have been rescue dogs, but it has not been because we were trying to save money.

 

[walden]

That is simply not always the case. While puppies from a rescue are up to date on shots(you will need to $ to finish them), they are usually not fixed, and they are not inexpensive. We could have paid much LESS for our puppy by NOT going through the rescue. For our mixed breed puppy we actually paid more than we would have elsewhere. All of our dogs have been rescue dogs, but it has not been because we were trying to save money.

I guess it depends where you are. My goal here is to protect people. That is all.

In my state a donation of $250 will get you a fixed, UTD on all shots, clean from fleas puppy (breed undetermined). All of this is subsidized by donations from people like me, because getting that pup there costs so much more.

Mixes, and fancy names, seem to retail at around (rock bottom) $200 from BYBs. The asking prices do go as high as $7,500 for a *designer* dog (read mix).

I have seen up to $2,200 for a *cockerrookachilabdane* "guaranteed non-allergic" from the worst of a puppy mill. Hah!

Paying for the basic shots and the fixing for the "pure-bred" that you fell in love with in the Walmart parking lot will cost $400+ in this neck of the woods. And that is not even considering potential genetic issues,

My goal is to warn dog-lovers against scams and to encourage rescue. If you want a pure bred to show -- then please do your research. It is buyer beware.

 

[fakereadhed]

My goal is to warn dog-lovers against scams and to encourage rescue. If you want a pure bred to show -- then please do your research. It is buyer beware.

Thanks for the PSA.

 

[Order66]

My goal is to warn dog-lovers against scams and to encourage rescue. If you want a pure bred to show -- then please do your research. It is buyer beware.

Unfortunately, there are also a great many "rescue scams". One should research and check references just as well on any rescue as one should when dealing with a breeder.

regards

 

[lucigo]

1st do not skimp on dog food. We feed our dog Canidae, I can't remember the price (maybe $30-40 for 30 lbs.). Quality dog food creates less poop and they eat less.

This got my attention. We recently switched from Pedigree to Purina and our dog seems to be eating 2x as much, and shedding like crazy.

 

[bnhasak]

I have a slightly embarrassing question. We just adopted a flat coated retriever (she is only 9 months old) who is having major gas problems. She went to our personal vet this weekend and was given a clean bill of health. What can we do to relieve some of her horrible room clearing stench. She seems to let loose mostly when she is chewing on her toys or raw hide. She also likes to lay under my desk which is right next to a heater vent. I don't think I need to explain how awful that is when she is tootiful as she is.

Help!?!?!?!