Big Paws Only Dog Forums

Seamus is kind of the opposite, he hates big dogs, but loves little ones.  At the dog park people are always freaking out b/c he trys to play with their chihuahuas or their puppies.  I try to explain the little dogs would do more harm than Seamus.  He seems to have no concept of his size.  It is one of my favorite things about him.

We have done Eukenuba/**** van Patten's mix and Innuva but now we use Solid Gold Beef and Barley with the **** van Patten's meat thing. Bear LOVES it! It is so healthy and has tons of vitamins/supplements in it to help his joints and keep a nice & shiny coat. He's a healthy 160 now and has excellent hips and elbows. Good luck in finding the right food.

As i'm sure you've read, we have so many food woes.  I'm so anxious to find a food that keeps weight on him, and keeps his poos solid.  Where do you get Solid Gold?  They don't have it at petsmart.  Do you have to order it? 
Bear is such a beautiful dog, I can't get over it.  His coat is so shiney and georgeous!  I'm willing to try anything that makes your dog look like that! 

I too recommend the dog park.  Seamus absolutely loves it, and I absolutely love sleepy Seamus afterwards.  If you ever play with her in the house I suggest cat toys.  Seamus loves tug of war, but i'm not strong enough anymore.  I've started buying those long cat toys with the feathers and stuff at the end.  He goes crazy trying to catch them, and it kind of wears him out too.  He also loves toys with noise makers in them.  He will spend hours trying to get the noise maker out.  Once he does it is kind of messy, but worth his happiness.
I walk Seamus 3 miles 3 to 5 times a day.  I had also hear the same thing about exercise, but I felt so bad keeping him cooped up.  We don't have a big house or yard, so it was the only alternative I had.  Seamus handles the walks fine.  We don't get our heart rate up or anything.  He gets to sniff and greet the neighbors.  He loves it. 
Also we play tag outside.  That game can sometimes be dangerous if he "tags" me too hard, but that doesn't happen very often. 
Good luck!

i don't want to tell you.  either i am a bad mom, or angus is a retarded puppy....but he is nowhere near that weight yet.

he turned 6 months yesterday, and last week at the vet he weighed in at a sad 43lbs.  

HE'S NOT A ST BERNARD....HE DOESN'T LOOK LIKE ONE, AND HE ISN'T AS BIG AS ONE!

LOOK AT HIM!  i took this is bed this morning.....do esn't look anything like all those other dogs.  

on a different note, just so you all know, i am going to steal spotakiss.  shhh, don't tell!

Which one are you talking about?  The little one with the black and white face?  He does too look like a St.!  He is adorable.  He actually has very similar markings as my little Seamus. 
I've been concerned about my St.'s size too.  He is really tall (like a Great Dane), but thin.  At 11 months he weighs about 115.  He was sick, but i'm sure he is over it now.  I was kind of disappointed that he wasn't growing to be huge, but someone on this chat board mentioned that underweight is good, as it means less hip and joint problems.
Give him time, he'll grow, and if he doesn't, hopefully he'll never have to worry about having to replace his hips.
On the plus side, you won't have to spend as much on food.  AND you won't have to worry about throwing out your back when lifting him up! 

I had problem keeping weight on my dane lady too. I have for years returned to the canine nutritionist consultant Linda Arnt, she is breeding Danes, and is extremely good when it comes to giant breeds and their needs. I did write what she is suggesting to feed in another topic "IBD, help" it is under general topics. That is what she recommeds not only when you have a problem alrady but to prevent them. I have been feeding more or less the way she suggests for 15 years or so. I will follow it religiously with our OEM puppy.

But with the problem already there, I would make sure he is not having some kind of bug, that wont go away, or worms??? maybe a vet. trip. But no matter who you talk to about the giant breeds, it is always way better that they weigh a little under what they should than being too heavy, for hips and elbows and a lot of other problems we are fighting with our big guys. And it is better they grow in a slow pace than too fast.

Please let us know how it goes, and please read in the other topic what she is suggesting for feeding, I have the utmost respect for this lady.

Marit

Thank you!  I'll see what she has to say.  I never thought about the fact that if he is under weight he may not develop hip/elbow problems.  I was just so excited to have a big dog that I didn't really consider the benefits of him being on the smaller side.  A 116 lb dog is not small by any means! 
Thanks for your help!

I have this same problem with Seamus, he seems to have a sensitive belly.  It was really bad a while ago and we took him to the vet.  As it turns out, the antibiotics he was on caused problems with his insides.  Anyway, the vet gave us a prescription for some type of canned Eukenuba food.  We gave him 4 cans a day for about 5 days.  He loved the food, and it stiffened him right up.  Now he is on Nutro and we kind of want to change it b/c he is eating really lightly now, and we have heard it isn't the best.  Anyway, it works well with him.  His poop gets soft if he eats anything new or weird, but it doesn't last long.  The treats we have found that work the best are nutro and eukenuba.  We got these Mother Hubbard all natural treats, and they were bad news!  You may want to talk to your vet and see if you can get him some really mild food to soften things up first and then see what else you can do.  That has been my experience.  Hope you find something that works!

I would definitely talk to a vet about the correct amount of exercise for a puppy.  I got Winston when he was about a year and we took long walks all summer and fall.  He loved being out, doing the meet & greet and he slept so well afterwards!  When the weather got bitterly cold, we started taking functional walks (do your business NOW 'cause mommy is freezing her a** off) and he got to be a chunky monkey this winter.  So we're doing longer walks, plus I got him a new buddy and they run around the yard like speed freaks every morning.  

Who told you no jumping for Saints?  I took Winston to obedience classes at Petsmart and on a few occasions he jumped the fence in the training ring to go say "hi" to other dogs in the store!  The trainer said if he could do that, then he could darn well do the agility stuff.  We got him to do hurdles.  It was pretty cool.

Hey just wanted to respond to your question about the jumping.  I can't remember where I read it, but it was when I was doing research before we bought Seamus.  It was some St. web site, it could have been St. club of America or something similar.  It's not that they can't jump, it is that it helps to avoid arthritus and hip problems (apparently).  Who knows.  I sort of feel like if they want to they should.  It seems to me that the more active they are, the more healthy they will be.  Makes sense for humans.

Should a St. exercise be limited before they reach a certain age?  I know jumping is a no-no, but what about long walks?