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Dogomania

EMS66

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    Maryland
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    dogs, reading, cycling, snowboarding when I can get to a good mountain . . .
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  1. don't know a ton about the specifics of your question, since i don't know much about human supplements, but if i were looking to add more protein to my dog's diet, i'd probably supplement with raw meat rather than a human protein supplement. i'd imagine that you'd see more well-rounded results (better coat, digestion, muscle development) with that approach than with an isolated protein source alone.
  2. Sorry, I have only posted here a handful of times over the past couple of years, and I hate to intrude, BUT . . . For about five years, I've been involved in pit bull rescue in one capacity or another, and I want to note that those of us who work with pit bulls from shelters and abuse situations and so on have managed to determine a dog's soundness and reliability with humans [b]without[/b] matching or game-testing. So using the argument that matching is excusable because it helps determine a dog's sound temperament is, quite frankly, disingenuous. Even if a dog performs beautifully in a match, is focused on the other dog, and does not redirect its aggression to its human handler in the pit, how do you know that dog will not exhibit excessive protective instincts in the home? That it will not have any food aggression? That the dog doesn't have any other kind of tempermant issue that will make it act out in the real world, regardless of pit performance? Dog behavior and drives can be rather complex, and a game-test does not determine a dog's behavior in all situations--it only tests the dog's behavior and temperament when in the pit, when the dog is intently focused on one thing only--the fight with the other dog. Anyone who knows pit bulls well knows that for many of them, once they are turned onto the particular object that stimulates their drives, they remain focused on that object. In the pit that focus would be the other dog. So it never surprises me to hear that the most game dogs fighting in the pit are not distracted from their focus by human beings attempting to intervene. A so-called "cur" would lack that focus and drive and would become frustrated and lash out at the human being . . . with some pit bulls, I swear that when they are focused on something, they don't even know that anything exists outside of the object of their desire. Behavior in real-world situations, reliability with human beings, soundness in all situations, even when focused and even when all the dog's buttons are being pushed, even when food is involved, even when prey is involved, complete adoration for humans--those are the things that responsible pit bull rescuers are constantly looking for and testing for by putting the dog into situations it will encounter in the world--any signs of unsoundness, and the dog is humanely euthanized. We manage to do all this without testing the dogs in the pit. So in my view, game testing really doesn't prove much more than that the dog will not give up the fight and will not break concentration when distracted or manipulated by the people around it. Game testing proves gameness--that is, the desire of a dog to never give up the fight. I personally don't know that the average human being, pet owner, handler really needs a terribly game dog. If you're putting a dog into a performance home, I think there are other ways of determining the dog's ability to do the job . . . perhaps not "gameness" as the term is used by dogmen. But I'm not sure that calling a dog "game" is doing anyone--not even the pit bull bred itself--any favors. Despite the argument that the breed's gameness needs to be preserved. Do we really, in this day and age when dogfighting is illegal and this breed is in danger of being legislated out of existence, *need* to know that our dogs will fight to the death?
  3. Thanks for the replies, guys. Reba eats Canidae Platinum, and to supplement it she gets: 200 mg. vitamin E 250 mg. vitamin C a pure glucosamine powder supplement that she's been on for years a probiotic supplement a supplement called Fresh Factors that combines several different holistic supplements, including bee pollen and chondroitin canned salmon or sardines 2 times per week or so yogurt every day So I guess I need to start looking into yucca too . . . I'm in such turmoil over this. I know that some dogs do great on Rimadyl or other drugs, but I'm afraid to go there first--I think I'd rather use such potent drugs as a "last resort." My vet seems to think this IS our last resort as she's so badly degenerated already. But my boyfriend thinks that they are rushing into this without giving us time to explore other options first. I guess part of my worry is that she is so stoic and has shown so little clinical symptoms that I will never know when she's OK and when she is REALLY hurting, you know? :cry:
  4. I just got back from the vet with my old lady dog Reba tonight. She's 11, and she's had increasingly bad arthritis over the years. X-rays we had done today show that she's got pretty bad dysplasia in both elbows and in her hips. My vet strongly recommends that I put her on Rimadyl or one of the other NSAIDs, but I'm petrified of the side effects . . . especially with Rimadyl. Has anyone used Rimadyl, Deramaxx, or Medacam successfully? What was your experience like with it? Anyone use alternative therapies like acupuncture? I'm so afraid to NOT put her on the drugs, but at the same time, I don't want to kill her with toxins if I don't have to. I'm so upset about this and I'm not sure which direction to turn first.
  5. Free-roaming cats make me crazy. They're in my yard, in the park, under my car, trying to fight through the windows with my indoor cat and spray, spray, spray with that nasty cat pee! A person who intentionally lets their dog chase a cat is, as someone else said, a jackass. But free-roaming cats can be extremely troublesome too!
  6. [quote]So, all you posters out there. What percentage of dogs you have owned in your lifetime would kill twenty cats if they had access to them? For me, it would be zero.[/quote] Oh goodness, I've had several dogs that would have killed 20 cats if they had access to them. My parents were always big Weimaraner fans, and we had several hunting dogs in my family as I grew up. All 3 of our Weims were small-animal killers. Cats included. The dog who was the worst of the 3 was named Shadow, and she was a wonderful family pet, but she also would kill anything and everything that came into our yard. We lived in a pretty rural area, so the yard was literally a fenced pasture off the back of our house where the sheep grazed. Shadow brought to the back step groundhogs, rabbits, mice, birds, and, sadly, more dead cats than I like to think about. We had her till she died of cancer when she was 10 years old, a great dog. But also a cat killer. At the same time we had Shadow, we had another Weim, Shamrock, was a little more goofy and less focused on finding and killing small game. But sadly, he attacked and killed cats who roamed into the yard, too. I remember screaming to get my mother to rescue a cat from his jaws one day...fortunately, we managed to save the cat. And our last Weim, before my parents decided Golden Retrievers were more suited to them in their middle-to-older age, was Derek. By the time we got him, my parents had moved away from raising barnyard animals, which is a good thing because he would have liked to kill the chickens and rabbits if he could have gotten into the enclosure (he couldn't). I don't believe I would have trusted him around a cat either though I don't believe he ever caught one. My first personal dog, a GSD, could not be around cats either. He never killed any, fortunately, because I lived in the city when I found him and kept him as far from felines as I could! Just thought I'd provide those very concrete examples of good dogs who just were not cat safe.
  7. Allstate is not the only one: Nationwide (unless your dog has a CGC), Travellers, and numerous others have similar policies.
  8. Ha, this isn't a great way to introduce myself--I'm new to the forum, longtime lurker! My vote on ABs at dog parks is NO! I do some AB (and pitty) rescue for a group in Maryland, and I won't place dogs in homes that want to take the dogs to dog parks. Just like pit bulls, ABs can have some dog-aggressive tendencies and also like pit bulls, they are very strong dogs and again, just like pitties, people have a tendency to rush to judgment about the bullies. I've seen lots of people who insist on doing it, and they have no problems. I just think it's better for hte dogs and better for the breed to avoid the dog parks entirely.
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