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She'll be absolutely disgusted and will have no problem sharing her opinion.

And I'm sure you will have no problem completely ignoring it 

Thanks guys, all said is what I felt like saying, but didn't, because I'm just not a clever come-back queen, lol. I also wanted to double check first, in case I was wrong...

This puppy is my first dog, my first personal responsibility with a heart beat. It's totally thrilling, and comes with a lot of "am I doing this right?". I spend so much time researching methods and trying my best, so blatant criticism was met with a bit of worry and sensitivity 

I was telling this story to a friend of mine who is a mother, and she told me to just wait till someone tells me something like this about my skin kid  I bet!

Funny, I was just logging on to post the same question.

MY newf puppy is scratching like crazy... no fleas anywhere though, even checked the base of the tail for flea excrement, as suggested, and nothing there.

I read that there is a myriad of reasons why a dog could be itching, but what is the best way to figure out which one it is? Anyone here been through this?

Congrats!!! It's always my favorite part of the St Patty's parade, when they march the Wolf Hounds

I'm to curious not to ask-- why from Poland?

But, it can be safe to assume that there is a genetic + environmental interaction that happens with these pups.  And, since there's nothing that you can do about their genetics, why not give them the best chance by reasonably controlling their environment/health?

But then, how do you know which aspects of their environment you should be modifying?

I spent all of last night buried in research articles about canine hip displasia.

I have found solid research that
-there MUST be a genetic link to the disease for a dog to have it
-that an environmental factor that does play on the gravity of the symptoms and the age of onset is nutrition/weight.

About exercise, I found that there are 2 major schools of thought found on the net:
-that exercise must be managed and kept to a minimum during puppyhood to reduce strain on the joints
-that the malfunctioning joints could actually benefit from exercise, seeing as stronger muscles would provide better support and aid in weight management.

The problem: these seem, so far, to be opinions, both of them. These were not research articles, they were not even scholarly sources. There is no citation to any research article, or even a valid authority on the subject.

Maybe I have not looked properly, correct me if I am wrong, but so far I have not found a single article containing evidence that certain forms of exercise will either hasten or worsen the onset of hip displasia.

 

There's even yoga and raiki for dogs. I spend too much time on youtube...

Ever noticed how in Disney there's Pluto and Goofy who are both dogs, but somehow Goofy can talk and is all human-like but Pluto is like a dog? But then, come to think about it, Pluto is a talking mouse's dog, so why am I even seeking any logic in this 

About Dino, I guess he is a dinosaur but when Fred comes home from work, Dino always runs over and knocks Fred down flat on his back, and licks Fred in the face. Totally dog! Well, not like my behaved little angel, but someone else's badly behaved dog of course