Big Paws Only Dog Forums

Happy Birthday!!!!!    Kisses from my boys.
Kathy

I have never heard that before, but it sure is appropriate at this time of year.  All you see in the classified ads this time of year is Christmas puppies.  All you will see at the pound in 5 or 6 months is Christmas puppies.  It sickens me to see how many people still give cute little puppies for gifts, not thinking ahead to when that cute little puppy grows up into a dog with noone to care for it or love it or walk it or feed and water it, once it is no longer a cute little cuddly puppy.  What if we did the same thing to babies?  Sorry, just my 2 cents worth.  Jake was turned in to a kill shelter when he was 10 months old, because he was too big, ate too much and barked too much. My cat Nicki was given back to the breeder at 5 months because he was "vicious".  My other cat John was given back to his breeder because something was wrong with the way he walked.  One hip was broken, the other cracked and both knees were messed up from his hips not being fixed.  He has no ball on either femur now after surgery, but he gets around just fine and is a happy cat.  They were both Christmas kittens.  Really makes me dislike some people.  Thanks for posting this.
Kathy

I would have the dog checked out thoroughly by a vet first.  If all is clear health wise then definitely go with training.  It sounds like the dog's true personality is starting to emerge and he may be very dominant.  We adopted our TM almost 10 months ago and his personality is still changing a little at a time.  Your mom is going to have to establish her dominance over him and if she is not comfortable doing it may need some professional help.  Our female Springer would bite when you brushed her hips (because it hurt) or if you tugged too hard on a tangle.  Her skin was extremely tender for the last few years of her life.  She would also growl and try to bite you if you rolled her onto her stomach, again because it hurt.  Our Pyr will growl at my husband if he rolls him over in bed, but if he tells him to move, he will.  It's kind of funny because he never growls at me no matter what I do.  He thinks it is a game with my husband and wants to play if he is pushing him around physically. 
If you encourage and coach her through it, she should do just fine.  One of the first things she can try is making him earn everything he gets.  For his food, he has to sit, stay, shake hands, down, something.  Same thing for treats, petting, going outside, everything.  Anything he wants from her he has to earn.  That way he learns who is in charge.  Good luck and I hope this is something she feels she can work through.
Kathy

Max is my first IW and I am curious about the size of other people's hounds.  Max will be 18 months old this week.  We were at the vet today for his annual checkup.  He weighs 162lbs.  He is 33.5" or 34" tall at the top of his shoulders.  I looked at the growth charts posted on the IW website.  According to both of them, he is average to short and heavy.  I talked to our vet about him today and he agreed that he is certainly not overweight.  You can see his spine, when he is standing or laying and feel his ribs and hipbones just under the skin.  The vet feels that he is very healthy and is probably about as tall as he is going to get.  He is still filling out.  His chest appears to be getting wider and his hips are definitely muscling up more.  How big are other peoples IWs?  Did your dog continue to grow after 18 months in height or just fill out?
Kathy

We give our dogs the large rolled rawhides.  At night or anytime we are not going to be here, I walk around the house and pick up any pieces smaller than the size of my hand.  Max will swallow large pieces and they get stuck in his throat.  He will come to you and lean on you, licking his lips like crazy.  We know he has a piece in his throat and open his mouth and pull it out.  My whole hand will fit down his throat, so it is no problem.  My Springers ate them all the time and lived to be 13.5 and 14.5, so I don't personally feel that they are a problem for my dogs, but that is just my opinion.  Hooves are gone in a matter of minutes, Max can crack and eat almost anything.  Any rubber toys, kongs, etc. that we have tried, he destroyed and we ended up picking up the little pieces that he spit out. Bully sticks, even though we buy the whole ones and saw them into 1' lengths, are gone in a matter of minutes.  The only thing that lasts are rawhides and frozen beef marrow bones.  Those will take 30-45 minutes for them to finish and then they swap off and eat each other's, another 15-20 minutes of swap the bone.  When you have a collection of "dead" clean bones, thread them on a rope and tie the ends of the rope into big knots.  They will play with that and chew it to death.  When Max was teething, I used to wet and freeze washrags for him to chew on.  You can usu beef stock or chicken broth to add flavor to the water you wet them down with and make them more appealing.  Another thing we did for him as a puppy was to take old tube socks, roll them up and stuff them into another tube sock, tie it in knots, with the rolled up sock in between the knots.  He would chew on those and carry them around for hours.  Now he would eat them, but as a puppy it was a great, basically free toy, as the socks were worn out.  Good luck with your new baby.
Kathy

We took these pictures yesterday when we were getting ready for the Winter Park Christmas Parade.







Jake is in the last photo, on the far left, hat and bandana on.

Kathy

I third all the ideas you have been given.  My son and his wife have 2 bull dog mixes that they got as puppies from our local animal control.  At 5 they have calmed down tremendously, but they are still racing around the yard and very active when they play with each other or get excited.  He has an 8 y/o son, 2.5 y/o son and a daughter on the way.  The dogs have never hurt or marked his children, even though they were nothing but bundles of energy when he got them.  Their cats have scratched them when playing, but never the dogs.  Do you have a local dog park?  Playing is a great way to burn off energy.  Bulldogs are the most incredible dogs with children, even small ones.  They are very patient and tolerate most anything.  When the 2.5 y/o was an infant, they could lay him on a blanket in the yard and tell the dogs to watch (when they were outside doing yardwork or cleaning the pool, etc.  He wasn't left alone outside.).  One would lay on each side of him, cuddled up so he couldn't roll around and stay until they came back to get him. They are great nanny dogs.  Good luck and congrats on the new addition coming.
Kathy

Congratulation s!  He is such a handsome fellow, love his ears.  Ditto on the photos. 
Kathy