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I agree with Softhug - at most, make it a family dog. 

I always thought of the family dog as MINE (we got her when I was five) and my mother was in for a shock when I moved out and took the dog with me.  There was no way I could leave without her, she was my best friend.  Unfortunately, my mom kept her affection toward the dog low key, and we didn't find out until the last minute that our plans for the dog were different. 

It's better to be totally up front with them right from day one.  That way, you won't have any battles down the road when everyone has already bonded and thinks the dog belongs exclusively to them. 

Good luck.  I'm sure your girls are not nearly as bratty as I was.

Thank you for the responses.  I'll be sure to keep an eye on him for the next week or two.  I love being able to come here for advice. 

Yea Zena!

I just finished making a card for my youngest.  It's her birthday today, too!

"Leave it" and "take it" are not part of Jasper's vocab.  He had already lived a long life when we first brought him home.  The only command I have been able to get across is "sit" and that only works if I am holding a treat over his head.  When he backs up to look at it, he automatically sits.  This now works w/out the treat, but I still need to hold my hand closed over his heard. 

How do you train an old dog?  We worked on "stay," for more than a year, rewarding heavily w/positive reinforcements, but he never seemed to get the hang of any verbal commands. 

We have been able to "potty train" him, which I think is a big accomplishment for an adult dog who apparently had never lived in a house.  We also have taught him how to come up and down stairs and go in and out of a doggie door.  He even figured out how to open the inner door that leads from the outer doggie door himself.  He uses a pull handle that had been screwed into the bottom of the door years before, for some mysterious reason.  He sticks his paw inside the handle and pulls it open.  Now he lets himself in and out whenever he wants.

He also did an excellent job of training us to "hop to" if we are late feeding or walking him.

We love greenies, but now you all are getting me nervous.  What else do people use that is easy and relatively neat?

I'm back from PetSmart w/40 lbs of Nutro Ultra for adults.  Their rep found me while I was looking around w/my list I printed from Shangrila and "sold me" for about 10-15 minutes.  I tried to tell her I was already convinced and I just needed to find it, but she was not letting me go until I heard everything.  She wanted me to go w/the senior formula, but I stuck w/adult because it had a higher protein count.  She also gave me a coupon worth $2.00 off.  She mentioned there were no byproducts which she said were intestines and hoofs.

It made me smile to come home and see LuvmyMal's post.

Shangrila,

You were right on with the weight (Jasper is about 67 lbs).  I tried to get around the budget question because I never really added it up.  However, even if my 40 lb bag is dirt cheap (no price tag available), I am already spending $.50 per day on his canned cat food alone.

I did go and pull the ingredients listing from his current dog food, Hannaford Healthy Mix.  (This is supposedly the generic equivalent to Purina Beneful.)  The top ingredients are ground yellow corn, chicken by-product meal, soybean meal, corn gluten meal, whole wheat, and corn syrup.  Then we move to beef tallow, beef, water, animal fat, etc.

His can of chicken and gravy cat food (one can twice per day mixed in w/his dry)lists water, meat by-products, and then chicken as the third ingredient.  I don't know why chicken is not the #1 ingredient in a can of sliced chicken and gravy. 

I am reluctantly going to explore what the meat byproducts might be.  I am really hoping the dead dog in dog food thing is a big misunderstandi ng.  Wouldn't the euthanasia drugs show up if horsemeat were used?

Thank you for all of your hard work researching this issue.  I will look to see if Canidae is sold near me.  Do you have any other dry foods to recommend?  I don't need the breakdowns, just a couple of names in case Canidae is hard to locate.

Since I follow a modified Atkins diet (meat + chocolate), Jasper would probably also benefit from some carb reduction.

Have a good day!