Minneapolis/St. Paul Nesties
jack | born 9.13.12 at 40w4d | 9 lbs 12 oz | 23 in
my puppy loves - chloe & jenson
pregnancy blog | chart
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
s/o pet food question - anal gland and treat questions
Ok - so it doesn't get lost in my other post since I have additional questions..
I don't think that C&J have problems with their anal glands.. but would I know just looking at them? They have both been to the vet withiin the month (for basic updates/well checks) and the vet didn't say anything.
If you are feeding grain free - what treats are you using? We are currently doing Old Mother Hubbard treats, Charli Bear treats, and then tiny bits of carrot, string cheese or nitrate-free hotdog for really special tricks/intense training.
ETA: thank you all who have replied to my questions! What did people do before the internet? I am so appreciative!
jack | born 9.13.12 at 40w4d | 9 lbs 12 oz | 23 in
my puppy loves - chloe & jenson
pregnancy blog | chart
Re: s/o pet food question - anal gland and treat questions
I sound like a bad mom, but we don't do treats at all because of the grain allergy issue. If we pick any at all up, they're Innova treats like our food, so they aren't much of a treat.
Instead once every two weeks we give them a hardboiled egg for their coats and when Kaiser gets sick we hand make all of his food which I think is more of a treat then his actual food. On their birthday we make them a real meal of steak or turkey and let them split it. and occasionally we give them carrots because they love, love, love baby carrots!
Also, you might find that your best bet is to do a little googling for message boards specifically for Boxers. I am a member of an online message community called Sheltie Shack and its all sheltie owners and all we do is love on and talk about our shelties. Those types of groups are way more valuable then just reading a book or article on your breed because the people on those boards know their dogs, and know what's worked and what hasn't.
They're 90% of the reason we found out what was going on with Kaiser, and helped us tremendously. I always felt if a book said one thing, ask the sheltie shacker's and they'd tell me the truth. They also helped tremendously when we were adding another dog to the house whether it would be best to have a girl or boy with in the same breed.
Chloe LOVES baby carrots too! It seems like such an odd thing for a dog to like, since they dont have much smell, but.. she goes crazy over them!
Both of our dogs are incredibly food motivated.. and with training Jenson, treats are the easiest way that we've been able to train him to do anything! We need to get him enrolled in obedience...
jack | born 9.13.12 at 40w4d | 9 lbs 12 oz | 23 in
my puppy loves - chloe & jenson
pregnancy blog | chart
We don't do a lot of treats. Usually, we put some kibble in a kong with a little bit of peanut butter, or freeze a kong with natural (no sugar added) applesauce.
Occasionally he gets an Old Mother Hubbard treat - I usually buy the chicken & apple variety, but they're not grain-free (the chicken & apple variety is wheat free, though).
Sam also loves "ice treats", a.k.a. ice cubes. It's so funny, he would do just about anything for an ice cube. Ice cubes are probably his favorite treat.
Mr. Sammy Dog
I'll have to look when we get home for the brand name, but we give Puckett a fresh meaty treat. It's sold in a big summer sausage kind of package, and we just slice it up into small pieces and refridgerate the rest until it's gone. We've also just used his dry dog food (and fed him a little less at dinner) if needed. That works just as well, but he's pretty excited about any kind of food
He also LOVES baby carrots. It's hilarious to watch him try and eat them. He'll chew on it for awhile and spit it out, then shred it some more. For such a small piece of food, it keeps him occupied for awhile.
We used to give him peanut butter in his Kong during the day, but it was causing some really loose stools. He now gets the Nature's Recipe canned food instead. It's got big chunks of veggies in it, and it actually doesn't smell bad at all! (it's this stuff: http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2750321&lmdn=Dog+Food+Center)
Your other thread seemed to be answered pretty well, but I thought I'd chime in here on food. We used to feed him the Purina One stuff combined with the Blue Buffalo (because of the price difference.) But we realized we can actually feed him a whole lot less Blue Buffalo, so the price evens out. He now gets the large breed adult stuff. He's about 65 pounds (should probably get closer to 60, but he gained some in the winter.... just like his owners. oops.) and he gets a little under 3 cups/day. The bag lasts us just about a month, and it's $49 for a 30lb bag. (It usually goes at least $5 off once a month at PetSmart though!) This is the stuff he's currently getting: http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=4001468&lmdn=Brand
Eat.Drink.BeMarried. Blog.
We do Old Mother Hubbard and Zukes treats at our house. We don't have food allergies to deal with at all so those are both working out fine.
The Zukes minis are great for training. They are tiny but pack a lot of flavor (so I assume since they are smelly!)
:-)
My guys LOVE what we call "banana butts"...they get the leftover tip of the banana left in the peel. They would cartwheel around the room if it got them some banana!
We used to buy Zukes, but I feel like they dry out and get rock solid pretty quickly. Do you find the same thing to be true, or do you go thru them fast enough?
jack | born 9.13.12 at 40w4d | 9 lbs 12 oz | 23 in
my puppy loves - chloe & jenson
pregnancy blog | chart
oh! We'll have to try the applesauce. Puck got a few slices of apples after I cut them up, and he's been stalking my apples ever since. I'm sure he'd love the applesauce too
He also LOVES ice cubes. Works well when he's been sick and not drinking his water, too.
Eat.Drink.BeMarried. Blog.
The seal on the bags isn't always great so we put the bag in a Ziploc and make sure it is sealed tight and they stay softer longer.
- Martin Luther King Jr.
We do Zuke's as well. Only the peanut butter variety, as Winnie doesn't tolerate chicken well. Mostly the minis, but she also gets half a Hip Action every day because she has luxating patellas. They haven't caused her trouble yet, so we're trying to keep it that way.
In her kong, I do pumpkin.
We aren't a big treat household, though. I'd say she averages two a day. Some days 6, some days none (other than the hip action).
Rusty eats raw so he doesn't get too many store bought treats. If I do buy them, I buy Zuke's.
He normally gets: hot dogs, carrots, blueberries, bananas, cut up cooked chicken (so I don't have to wash my hands after having him do tricks), chicken wings, peanut butter Kongs, frozen yogurt Kongs with bananas, canned salmon or I buy fresh sardines too.