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Messages - Berner_Mom

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61
Food Discussion & Information / Forgot to thaw food.....
« on: November 27, 2008, 10:21:19 am »
Oh no!  I'm at work and just realized I forgot to take anything out for Tucker to thaw out for his dinner.
Is it ok if I stop at the grocery store and pick up some ground beef and/or chicken or something to give to him as soon as I get home?

Anything I should look for or to avoid when in the meat section of the grocery store?  I've only fed pre-made raw meals so far.

Thanks!

62
We are feeding Orijens large breed puppy as well...but only in the mornings now, and feeding a raw food diet at night for dinner.
The gas is incredible with Orijens, we did notice a reduction in the frequency of gassy outbursts when we stopped feeding ONLY Orijens though.
Have you thought of going raw?  Or partially raw?  It was a huge decision for us, but its one we have not regretted.  (Except for days like today when I remember I forgot to take anything out to thaw for Tucker's dinner, LOL)

63
Behavior, Housebreaking, Obedience / Re: Why would you eat your bed?
« on: November 15, 2008, 05:51:36 pm »
Tucker is bed-less tonight. (well, he'll be sleeping on towels, I won't give him nothing)  He chewed up his fourth bed (it did last the longest though!) while I was out for an hour today doing a few errands.

He's also discovered the fun thing of pulling out the carpet, one line at a time (like the unraveling of a sweater that the other poster mentioned) and gave a good go at it on the carpet in front of the door to our garage while I was putting groceries away.

AND...about 6 weeks ago, he tore up a huge spot of linoleum flooring, right down to the wood floor beneath it. How, we have no idea. It was smooth, perfect flooring, not like he got hold of a tear or something.  Oh well, hubby always wanted tile. ;)

64
Food Discussion & Information / Re: Eggs + Yogurt + banana + kibble???
« on: November 15, 2008, 05:17:15 am »
I don't think I could stomach the idea of giving Tucker a raw egg (shell and all) and letting him have at it.  The thought DOES gross me out, but I'm also a girl who ONLY eats hard boiled eggs, and ONLY eats the whites of the hard boiled eggs because the thought of eating the whole egg (scrambled all together, or fried all together, or even eating the yolk of a hard boiled one) is too much for me.

I know the yolk part is NOT the part that becomes the baby chicken...but at the same time I just can't bring myself to eat it. YUCK!

Also- to the poster who doesn't eat ribs...I don't eat anything off the bone either.  Can't stand wings, drumsticks, ribs, t-bone steaks- ANYTHING- where I'm ripping meat off bone (and getting veins, cartilage, fat etc....too).  DOUBLE YUCK!!

65
Food Discussion & Information / Eggs + Yogurt + banana + kibble???
« on: November 13, 2008, 06:40:46 am »
My husband, bless his heart, is really getting into this raw food thing. Unfortunately, I wish he'd stick to the menu I am slowly and carefully am getting together, instead of just randomly feeding Tucker items he thinks will be "good and interesting for him."

Grrrrr!

So, this morning, hubby fed Tucker his scoops of Orijens kibble, along with: two mushed up bananas, a few spoonfuls of plain yogurt AND the yolks of 4 hard boiled eggs!

My concerns: I know others feed bananas, so that's kind of ok, but can you feed yogurt and eggs to dogs? The eggs were cooked!?!  AND it was all fed WITH kibble!!

I'm hoping to not go home at lunchtime to discover a poopy mess in my kitchen from the food not agreeing with Tucker.  If there is one (or several, LOL) I am calling hubby home from work to clean it up.

Normally Tucker just gets kibble in the morning for breakfast, and he gets his raw dinner at night.

Thanks for any advice or thoughts.

66
Food Discussion & Information / Re: Bad to mix raw protein?
« on: November 10, 2008, 04:14:23 pm »
Phew, thank goodness.

Thank you for your advice and wisdom!

67
Food Discussion & Information / Bad to mix raw protein?
« on: November 10, 2008, 12:36:12 pm »
Hello!
My well meaning husband fed Tucker an early dinner tonight, and just texted me to let me know.  (He was off all day, I forgot to take something out to thaw for Tucker, so I texted him to get him to take something out...)

He took out, defrosted, and fed Tucker a combo of complete turkey dinner (which includes the fruit and veggies) and also some beef.....

Is it bad to mix and serve the two proteins in one meal?  I ask because any sample menu I've seen only has one protein per meal, I just hope its not upsetting to Tucker's tummy to eat turkey and beef at one time.  I guess we'll see!

68
Food Discussion & Information / Re: Friend feeding raw...and milk?
« on: November 06, 2008, 03:17:48 am »
I'm not going to give Tucker milk anytime soon- he hasn't had any since weaning, and he's fine.  I, myself, however LOVE milk and probably drink about 8 liters (maybe a touch more) in a week.  I also have two cats, one who can not stand milk, won't go near it, (she's 6 years old) and my other one (who is 2 years old) who LOVES it, and will dance around in front of the fridge doing this weird milk cry (we think it translates to "I want milk! I want milk!) and whose face will literally light up when we reach for a saucer for him and open the fridge to get the milk out. Go figure.

69
Food Discussion & Information / Friend feeding raw...and milk?
« on: November 05, 2008, 03:02:21 am »
Ok, so one of Tucker's friends is a Great Pyrenese who is 3 years old named Jackson. Jackson and his mom, Sherry, live about 4 blocks from us, and we walk together sometimes on the weekend.  Jackson has been fed raw food from the get-go of raw food, but I found something else interesting last weekend.

In the morning with his breakfast, Jackson is served about a liter of MILK (1%)!!  He still has access to water at breakfast, she's not giving him milk INSTEAD of water, its "as well as".  Apparantly Jackson just LOVES it and laps up the milk every time.

Is this nuts? Have you guys heard of this before? What would the benefits be of giving your dog milk? I thought she was nuts.

70
Behavior, Housebreaking, Obedience / Re: Why would you eat your bed?
« on: November 04, 2008, 10:45:24 am »
Its not just your dog...Tucker ate 3 beds, of different sizes, materials, textures.  We tried three different kinds, from cheap to moderately pricey....and this fourth one (knock on wood) seems to be unchewed so far.  Its just a plush, almost quilted, pad.  Rubber stickys on the bottom to supposedly prevent it from sliding around (they don't work).  This one cost $30 from our local Pisces pet store, I'm sure they have them in other places.

Good luck!
Sarah

71
Discussions & Information on Grooming / Good shampoo?
« on: November 03, 2008, 03:21:08 am »
Was wondering what everyone uses to bath their pups?  What are some good shampoo brands you guys would recommend?

Thanks!
Sarah

72
Hello!
Tucker is 8 months old, we started when he was very young (11 weeks or so) taking him to be groomed at our local PetSmart.
We started off SLOWLY, so as to get him used to the environment, used to the girls who worked there, used to being handeled etc...so that he could build confidence and enjoy going for a bath, brush, clip whatever.

It was going great, he'd had 4 visits there (the first one he just hung out for a couple hours, playing with the employees and not actually having any grooming done) and he seemed excited to walk into the PetSmart to go there, everyone loved him, commented on his progress with getting more comfortable with each thing. (First the bath, then the dryer, then the brushing, clipping nails etc..)

Unfortunately, Tucker's 5th visit was a disaster. He was put with a new groomer, who obviously must've been afraid of dogs, and maybe Tucker could sense her uncertainty/nervousness because he did not behave at all.

Now, of course I wasn't there, so I will never know exactly what happened this time, all i know is that when I arrived to pick Tucker up at the appointed time, the employee who did the grooming came racing out of the back room, screaming profanities at me, shouting that my puppy was the "worst behaved dog on the planet", that he was "ferocious, fierce, poorly trained, with serious issues", that I was an "irresponsible pet owner to allow a vicious animal like that around people" and that there was "no way Tucker had ever been there before, he was terrified of everything".

I was completely taken aback, I told her no one else had had such difficulties, perhaps Tucker had a bad day (he was only 6 months old when this incident occured) but that if he was being difficult to handle, why didn't they call me to come get him, and explain that he wouldn't be groomed today?

She said (I will never forget this) "oh no, I wasn't going to let him win. I have my ways" and then they brought Tucker out, who was perfectly groomed. I asked her "what does that mean?" and she said "I wouldn't let him get away with it."

Of course this had me really upset and worried- if he was being so bad and disobedient, how did she get the grooming done?  Did she muzzle him? Tie him up? Hit him until he was submissive???

I collected my dog, immediately went home to call/email the head office to express my concern and disappointment/shock at the way it was all handled- and I vowed that Tucker would never be groomed at any PetSmart location again, nor would I shop there for supplies/toys etc...

(Sorry this is so long, I didn't know the whole story would come out of me again once I started typing)

But, now- its 2 months later, and the after effects of this one PetSmart groomer are obvious with Tucker.  He is terrified of baths, hides if he hears running water from the tub (not the sink though), doesn't want to have anything to do with the brush, its near impossible to clip his nails now- we are literally starting at square one with him, which is so discouraging after making so much progress before this happened.

So we are wondering- anyone in the Calgary area (preferably the NW) know of a good, patient, understanding groomer/company that may be willing to take on Tucker and help us get him back to how he was before?

Thanks for listening, and thanks in advance for any tips!
Sarah

73
Will do.
We were going to be trying turkey patties and seperate veggie/fruit patties tonight, but alas dear hubby didn't read his cell phone in time, and didn't get my text to take the patties out of the fridge when he got home at 3pm...so they are still mostly frozen.

Tucker will be having them for dinner tomorrow, looks like tonight its Orijens. 

Its been working well, feeding his Orijens kibble in the morning for breakie and then raw at night for dinner.  We've already seen improvement in him- hardly scratching at all anymore, WAY less farting, and less poop.  So far, so good.

74
Congratulations to you for continuing to work through your dogs preferences.  I see so many people try raw and swear their dogs won't eat it and give up.  Each dog is different and in all honesty, some of my dogs have days where they don't gobble up whatever I am feeding.  That's okay.  They do without for that meal, but it's okay.  They just have their off days.  I can feed the same thing at the next meal, a few days or a week later and they will eat it like it's their favorite food.  Just like people, they have their quirks.  Good luck and it sounds like you are on the right track with Tucker.
Kathy

Thanks for the encouragement!  I have heard that from a few people I've been talking to, when they hear we are trying raw they say "Oh we tried that but Max never took to it." and I'll say "oh really?  How long did you give him to get used to it?" and the answer is usually "two days." or something as equally as short. My neighbor said "we tried it for dinner once, but it was not a hit."   My answer to that was "well, I didn't like broccoli the first time I tried it either, but my parents persisted and now its one of my favorite veggies!"  Funny.

I have to say, so far of the different varieties/suppliers we've tried, I think the MDF (Mountain Dog Food) is my least favorite (and Tucker's as well).  It is a better price, but the look of it when I serve it is so gross- not that raw food should have much eye appeal!- I have to fight not to be nausiated.  I'm thinking its going to be the one we feed the least often, which is ok, since its also the one with the least amount of variety (chicken, beef, turkey).

75
Thanks for tip on feeding at room temperature.  It has made a difference, and Tucker is now diving into his dish of food with gusto.  So far we've tried just plain chicken and just plain turkey.  We'll be trying a "complete" dinner of chicken/fruits/veggies tonight!  Its week 2 of raw, and so far we have stuck to buying the premade stuff, from a variety of suppliers (MDF, Urban Carnivore and Top Hand), and all are being eaten happily by Tucker.

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