Hi new to the board have questions about saints?

[Goldensaint]

Hi my name is Tina and I'm new to the board. I have 4 dogs a golden a jack and 2 saint bernards..The jack is actually my moms and so is the male Saint Bernard.. I had some questions about Saints and you all seem very smart about Saints and X-large breeds so I thought maybe you could help...
     1. What should I be feeding my Saints? First they were on Purina Large breed then we put them on little bites because our other puppy wouldnt eat it.. Both breeders we bought them from were feeding little bites and I switched them to large breed. I dont know what kind of food is right. I saw a kind you guys were refering to on here,but they dont sell it at any store I live by so I was wondering what I should be feeding them?
    2. My female Sierra is 5 months old this weekend and she listens well most of the time, but whenever my friend comes over and then leaves she wont come to me or listen and when I call for her she'll come near me and pee and she has been housebroke since she was 12 weeks old. Why on earth does she do this? I'm afraid its me for some reason am I doing something wrong to provoke her to pee?
  3. My male cujo who just turned 12 weeks yesterday his toes on the outside look like there turning outward I dont know if its because he is so small and his paws are growing or is it something I need to point out to the vet? He was weighed last week at the breeders vet and he weighed 22pds. I have an appointment this weekend with my vet for him..
 
   Now the funny thing is my vet owns Saint Bernards but he is a large animal and small animal vet. He told me to feed them what I thought was best and didnt try to pawn off any other type of foods on me which is strange because with my other dogs he has. The only reason we went with Purina is because our golden eats Beneful and it helped clear up her food allergys, but I dont see the puppy food making him look any heavier he looks tall and gangly. My female was short and heavier and stockier as a pup and has tons of hair which he doesnt, but he has tufts of hair so I really cant even tell what coat he has. Smooth or long. Hes cute, but just looks funny in my opinion.
    Also another thing I wanted to ask on your guys advice my female had a bladder infection at 13 weeks up till present he has had her on clavamox 250mg twice a day and then went in for a urinalysis she still had it so he put her on more clavamox same did nothing another urinalysis now he has her on 375mg every 12hours. He told me her white blood count is still high and she is just getting ready to finish that. After being treated for this long shouldnt she be better by now or should I have him check something else? Or go to a different vet? I've been racking up the vet bills every week and dont know what else to do because Im worried about her. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated we are new to the breed both my mom and I. Thanks tina 

[PennyK]

Hi Tina and pups!!

I'm afraid I can't really help you much because Teddy (who is now 8 months) is my first dog - ever!!  LOL!  We are learning as we go!

As for the behaviour and medical issues, I have no idea!  But, we are feeding Iams large breed puppy food but most folks here say he should be on adult food already.  So, really, read as much as you can, and make your own decision for what works for you.

Love your saints - can't wait to see more pics!

[chaos270]

Hi and welcome to the boards your Saints are gorgeous!!

1. You shouldn't feed them puppy food as it can accelerate their growth so you'll want to go with a low protien adult food if possible.  I'm suprised your vet didn't at least tell you that, even if he didn't want tot make a recommendation .  We feed our girls Canidae but there are alot of good foods out there.  I highly suggest you check out the food forum and maybe if you start a new thread under there asking what to feed a Saint and give your options some of the more knowledgable members could help you.  Also you may want to look into adding supplements like gluocosamine for their joints.

2. Saints can be very hard headed and it sounds like she may be entering the teenage stage.  Her peeing I think is to be vindictive and jealous over something.  I know a female that loves to give the cold shoulder and pee to get revenge.

3. I good be just a growth stage but I'm not sure I can really make any judgement without a picture.  And if you're taking him to the vet then just have him look at it.

I'll ask my mom who's a vet assistant for her opinion on the Bladder infection as we haven't really had problems with my girls.  As for the vet you may want to look around and see who else is dout there and if you find one you like better go ahead and make the switch.

[Saintgirl]

Hello! First let me say that those two puppies are the cutest little things ever!!!I'm Leah and my kiddos are Hutch a 3yo Saint and Abbey a 3yo husky/shep cross.

About the food, I would find a different food right away!!Puppy food for our mega fast growing Saints only acts like jet fuel for them. They grow faster than they should be. For a Saint to grow up soundly you want the growth to be as slow as possible. They will still reach their predisposed genetic height, but the longer it takes to get there the better. Rapid growth causes too much stress on the growing joints, causing potential disasters down the road. A premium adult maintenance diet is great for your growing pups! As for the brand you use there are many great ones to check out. Juct check out the food discusion part of BPO and you can catch up on all of the goods!!

I wish that I could be of more help for the other questions that you have asked. As for your little girl peeing when your friend leaves I can only recommend changing the routine when your friend is about to leave. Perhaps you all go outside to see your friend off or maybe put your girl on a lead when you know that your friend is about to leave. This way when she is on her lead you will have full control of her and she won't have the chance to ignore you and pee on the floor.

And last thing, please post more pics of all of the fur family!!

[Goldensaint]

Thank you for all the suggestions where foods are concerned and my mom does keep saying shes just being a rebelious teen, I just thought maybe she didnt like my voice at times cuz when my allergys bother me I sound hoarse.Cujo is use to it, but I got Sierra during the summer and she hasnt heard my voice very rough and coarse till just recently due to fall coming.I have had dogs all my life, but this is our first with the giant breeds I have read to be careful about bloat and hips and joints and so much more.I always have been able to find good books on goldens and jacks so I did however order a book from barnes and noble would you believe no petstore or bookstore in my area has any real books on Saint Bernards??The guy said due to there not a popular breed they dont carry them and I told him well I beg to differ. So I'm going to try to post more pics for ya here it goes... AGAIN thank you guys so much..

[lins_saving_grace]

your puppies sure are cute!

[Gypsy Jazmine]

Here is a really good article on St. Bernard history that you might enjoy...Your dogs are just precious!

http://www.barkbytes.com/history/stbern.htm

[Saintgirl]

I have got to say it again.... those are some real cute pups !

[Saint and Mal mom]

First off, let me just say that THOSE are some beautiful Saints. Your Golden and Jack Russel are cuties too! I'm Marissa, mom to Zoey an Alaskan Malamute and Dolly, my first Saint Bernard. Glad you found BigPawsonly.co m! You will learn so much on this site, like I have.

I'm not a good person to ask when it comes to training questions as the only thing my two have learned is how to sit and that is when they want to!  But I may be of some help on the food question. Feeding large breed food is essential for large and giant breeds. The nutrition in it specifically targets their needs. Smaller breeds don't have the same nutrition requirements necessarily that big dogs do. So first off, I suggest putting both your Saints (maybe the Golden too) on a large or giant breed food. Next, feeding Large Breed adult or large breed puppy is up to you. There are two opinions on this issue, as you'll quickly discover here. One is that large/giant breed puppies need to grow slowly and should always be on large breed adult food so that the vitamins in puppy food don't make them grow too fast for bones and joints to catch up. The other opinion is that large breed puppy food was made with large breed puppies' needs in mind, therefore, it is safe to use. I'm not necessarily sure one way or the other, so that decision is completely up to you. Lastly, let's focus on brand. Brand name really is important. In this brand name-game, you really do get what you pay for. Purina is not the best food, ESPECIALLY for large breed dogs. It is very poor ingredient wise. But don't feel bad for not knowing this! I started my two out on Purina Puppy Chow too before I knew better! Avoid Purina, Pedigree, Beneful, and Iams. They rank very lowly on the totem pole of dog food. I'm not sure what kind of stores you have around you in your area, but if you're like us, we have to buy all dog food out of town to get a good quality dog food. Price-wise, Nutro Natural Choice is affordable, has a few good ingredients, is relatively easy to find (Petsmart, Petco carry them), and has glucosamine in it to help strengthen hips in large breeds. Now, I know it's not the best food, but I'll let some of the others tell what they think of some other brands. But I feed Nutro Natural Choice because I can afford it and find it easily.

Glad to have you here! Can't wait to learn more about you and your fur crew!

[Gypsy Jazmine]

 Brand name really is important. In this brand name-game, you really do get what you pay for. Purina is not the best food, ESPECIALLY for large breed dogs. It is very poor ingredient wise. But don't feel bad for not knowing this! I started my two out on Purina Puppy Chow too before I knew better! Avoid Purina, Pedigree, Beneful, and Iams. They rank very lowly on the totem pole of dog food. I'm not sure what kind of stores you have around you in your area, but if you're like us, we have to buy all dog food out of town to get a good quality dog food. Price-wise, Nutro Natural Choice is affordable, has a few good ingredients, is relatively easy to find (Petsmart, Petco carry them), and has glucosamine in it to help strengthen hips in large breeds. Now, I know it's not the best food, but I'll let some of the others tell what they think of some other brands. But I feed Nutro Natural Choice because I can afford it and find it easily.

Absolutly!...& there are MUCH better quality foods for less than some of the brands you just named...There should be a thread in the food forums about dog foods & ingredients lists.
As far as Glucosamine/Chordritan (sp?) in processed dog foods...IT DOESN'T HELP!!!...Samson & Pippin need 1000-1500 mgs. a day for maintenence... PROCESSED KIBBLE CONTAINS ABOUT 6 MGS. A CUP!!!...My dogs eat between 3 & 5 cups a day...You do the math.

[Goldensaint]

I have noticed that with this food there going through it like water and the puppy he poops so much like 2 times every time he goes out. Tonight he threw up all of his dog food, but I think some of that had to do with my accidently leaving him out and he ate my avon catalog which wasnt the best thing. I just want to see them both healhy.. Now should my golden be on puppy food too because she is over 2 well a little over 2? I have to be very careful what I feed her even treat wise she has a severe allergy problem to almost every food I have tried so far except beneful with the salmon in it. We tried her on Iams and science plan and alot of different foods and her hair just kept falling out. But if you feed her people food she wont eat dog food at all for days!!lol. I probley wouldnt either. I just cant believe what by products are after reading that today that seriously is so gross. Now I go to petsmart alot with these guys all the time and I have seen X-LARGE breed food but it is also from purina. I think I might need someones help at Petsmart to point me in the right direction. I did try blue buffalo food but after finding out the price of a 50pd bag here it seriously made me reconsider its like 79.00 a bag and with 2 puppies 50pds is not alot actually 44.9 pound bag if you get technical. Has anyone heard good things about Nutro Max because everyone seems to talk about it and brag it up when I'm up there shopping? Thanks again and thanks for the comments on the dogs they appreciate it around where I live people call them the farm dogs.lol. Ill check the food boards tonight and see what I can come up with for tomorrow. Thanks everyone:) and Nice to meet you all and you  all have very beautiful dogs I have looked through the pictures..

[Saint and Mal mom]

I would say that your Golden should be on adult food for sure. Any ideas what specifically she's allergic to in the food? We have some other dogs on here with bad food allergies and their owners can probably recommend some good foods as well. Nutro Max is what my girls are just coming off of. I've fed it since about July, but I'm not impressed with the ingredients in it, so I'm switching to Nutro Natural Choice. It's made by the same company, and costs only a little bit more. The biggest bag is what I buy of it- 44 lbs. For that size, it runs about $32. Not too bad. Nutro Max doesn't as many good ingredients as Natural Choice, but that's not to say that Natural Choice is the number 1 dog food either. It's just what I can afford. Let me find a link to it for you.

Here's a link for Nutro Natural Choice for large breed puppy;
http://www.nutroproducts.com/ncdoglbpuppy.asp

And here's one for Nutro Natural Choice large breed adult
http://www.nutroproducts.com/ncdoglbadult.asp

Now, I don't want to sound like I'm saying this food is the best for every dog or anything, because most people on here don't have that opinion (including me!  :) ) So here's some other links for food that is highly recommended by other Big Paws!  ;) I would love to try some of these, but they can be expensive.

Innova Large breed adult (you can look for puppy too)
http://www.naturapet.com/display.php?d=product-detail&pxsl=%2F%2Fproduct%5B@id%3D%271260%27%5D

Eagle Pack Large breed adult (look at puppy too)
http://www.eaglepack.com/Pages/HS_LGAdult.html

Chicken soup for the Dog lover's soul large breed adult
http://www.chickensoupforthepetloverssoul.com/formulasnew.php?PL=4&S=Dogs&FT=Dry%20Food&F=13

Solid Gold large breed adult
http://www.solidgoldhealth.com/products/showproduct.php?id=62&code=170

And there are a lot more than this. Those are the ones I can think of right now. Check around, and go with whatever food you think is best for your dogs. Good luck in your search! Let us know if you have any more questions!

[shi_ni_ke]

Nutro Max is ok, if you mix it with a higher quality food. We feed Natural Choice and a modified barf (bones and raw foods) diet. Along with the kibble, the dogs get a bit of cottage cheese, some yoghurt-helps prevent ear infections as most ear infections in dogs with floppy ears are yeast infections. Frozen Green Beans-no sodium added. A mix of rice boiled with chicken broth. Frozen carrots and then a meat blend of 85% lean beef, kidney, liver,and beef heart that I put through the meat grinder attachment of my Kitchenaid and make a sausage type meat. I keep it frozen in a container in the freezer and scoop it like ice cream and warm it for about a minute on 30% power in the microwave before serving. They also get raw chicken and bones to chew on. The bones to chew on help clean their teeth and helps keep them from chewing other things.
You can also feed baked yams/sweet potatoes instead of rice for a bit of variety and a spoonful of pumpkin works great to keep them regular. If they get the runs or get constipated, Canned Pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix) works great to correct the problem.
For the bladder infection, you might check with the vet on adding some cranberry. Also if the bladder infection is due to a yeast infection, yoghurt may help.

[bluskygirl]

Your Saints are adorable!  I am new to the breed as well, and my Bella just turned 4 months.  I did a lot of research trying to figure out what to feed her.  I initially put her on Eagle Pack large breed puppy, because it is actually formulated to be low protein, which I believe to be the way to go.  I am almost done with that bag of food, and am switching again becuase I haven't really liked it.  Bella is on glucosamine/Cetyl-M supplements, and I also give her Omega-3 supplements and Ester-C.  I have done more research and decided to try the Kirland Brand dog food. It rates fairly well (althought there are many better choices out there) and is affordable (and have heard good things hear from people on this forum). You have to get it at Costco, and I'm not sure if you have one nearby.  To learn more about dog nutrition, visit www.dogfoodpro ject.com, there's tons of info available!

Bella had a urinary tract/bladder infection when I brought her home.  I was given the same medicine I think for her, but she only took it for 10 days and it cleared up.  I would suggest making a visit with another vet, or talking again to your current vet, because it sounds like she's been on that stuff for a while now and should have cleared up. 

Best of luck with your Saints! I'm in new territory too, but I absolutely adore her and can't imagine living wthout her!  Nice to meet you!

[MasterDog]

Yours is cute. Mine is in need. I really really need to find a "weathered" saint dog barrel.  Help please. pleeeeeeeeease
[img width= height=]http://imagecache2.allposters.com/IMAGES/VLH/73985_a.jpg[/img][/img]