So far so good...
Blaze has been doing so well at home for the past three days!! I took him to meet his vet on Monday (he isn't due for shots, but figured I'd get them off to a good start) and everything checked out fine. Got his flea/tick/heartworm medication on, and the vet showed me a strategy to assert my dominance over him, which I really liked, since I wasn't having much luck with the "turn back on him or walk away" approach. Blaze would just happily run along and nip me all the while.
Soooooo, time for plan B. What the vet did was gently flip (I said GENTLY..) Blaze until he was on his side and just hold him down with minimal pressure until he stopped fighting and trying to get up. No ugly tone of voice, no yelling.. just hold him down until he stopped fighting. When he stopped, the vet slowly released the pressure... if he struggled again, hands go back down. As he stayed quiet...the hands come off.... and then Blaze can only get up when we say it's ok. Once he's up, lots of cuddling and puppy kisses and we move on. I must say the change in Blaze's behavior is remarkable. He still nips and bites, but he knows what the consequence will be and he's doing less of it. I actually saw him literally stop himself from leaping on my toes as I was putting my shoes on... I saw his little mischevious head eyeballing my toe.... he wound himself up to leap... and then he started-- and sorta fell sideways to stop himself. It was the CUTEST thing I have ever seen. He's learning.
And.. my favorite part-- he has started frapping!!!! This is my FAVORITE corgi behavior-- it's so hilarious... he frapped all around the sofa, around the kitchen table, into the kids' bedroom, stopped to pant pant pant pant in the living room, then he was off like a rocket yet again.
I do have a question, though. Do you keep the dog food out all day and let them eat at will, or do you pull up the food after a certain period and then put it back down at "dinner time" or "breakfast"?? All my food bag (Science Diet) says to do is feed a pup this size about 3/4 cup of food a day, but Blaze doesn't eat all of it at one sitting. Advice/suggestions??
Soooooo, time for plan B. What the vet did was gently flip (I said GENTLY..) Blaze until he was on his side and just hold him down with minimal pressure until he stopped fighting and trying to get up. No ugly tone of voice, no yelling.. just hold him down until he stopped fighting. When he stopped, the vet slowly released the pressure... if he struggled again, hands go back down. As he stayed quiet...the hands come off.... and then Blaze can only get up when we say it's ok. Once he's up, lots of cuddling and puppy kisses and we move on. I must say the change in Blaze's behavior is remarkable. He still nips and bites, but he knows what the consequence will be and he's doing less of it. I actually saw him literally stop himself from leaping on my toes as I was putting my shoes on... I saw his little mischevious head eyeballing my toe.... he wound himself up to leap... and then he started-- and sorta fell sideways to stop himself. It was the CUTEST thing I have ever seen. He's learning.
And.. my favorite part-- he has started frapping!!!! This is my FAVORITE corgi behavior-- it's so hilarious... he frapped all around the sofa, around the kitchen table, into the kids' bedroom, stopped to pant pant pant pant in the living room, then he was off like a rocket yet again.
I do have a question, though. Do you keep the dog food out all day and let them eat at will, or do you pull up the food after a certain period and then put it back down at "dinner time" or "breakfast"?? All my food bag (Science Diet) says to do is feed a pup this size about 3/4 cup of food a day, but Blaze doesn't eat all of it at one sitting. Advice/suggestions??
Comment
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Comment by Sam Tsang on May 7, 2008 at 1:30pm
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Hills Science since day 1 here :) We follow the Vet's recommendation on the brand recommendation and not leave food out in the open all day, you can either serve the meal twice a day or once, it's up to you and your potty schedule.
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Comment by Twinky on May 7, 2008 at 1:12pm
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Yep, you are doing the right thing by putting puppy on it's back and waiting until he relaxes, it is their nature to not show their bellies, very vulnerable area for them and they are telling you, I trust you, you are in charge when they allow you to scratch and pet on their tummies. As far as the biting and nipping, Twinky was getting pretty bad with it when she was teenager (12-16 weeks) and I ended up getting some bitter apple spray, and when she would lunge and nip, I would tell her no, no biting and if she still wasn't listening I would give her a little taste of the spray. That put a total end to that after two times. She hated that stuff.
Iams and Science Diet are grocery store dog food now. They used to be vet only or pet store quality but they've downgraded their ingrediants the last couple years so it isn't the best. Go to your local pet store and talk to them about food, they tend to be fairly knowledgeable. As far as quantity of food, Many adult corgi's can't be free fed and only get about 1/2 cup twice a day so the puppy should be fed more than that, and on a schedule.
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Comment by Karen & Bailey on May 7, 2008 at 11:29am
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Ohhh and I am considering Natural Balance for Bailey.. either that or Canidae (I've heard such great things about both). I have to set aside a day when it gets closer to look at all these brands again upfront.
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Yes! and Corn, Wheat, Beef and Soy are the top food allergies among dogs! Another reason not to go with Science Diet/Iams!
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Comment by Kimberly on May 7, 2008 at 11:17am
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we do have a Costco in Birmingham and I can run by there to try the kirkland brand. I know Max, my previous corgi, had serious allergies-- if he ate stuff that he was allergic to his skin would just go nuts.. he would have hot spots, his hair would fall out, etc., etc., so I know I have to be careful with that with Blaze. Eukanuba worked well for Max's skin. Blaze doesn't seem to be crazy about the Science Diet, so I'm not worried about switching it out on him.
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Comment by Natalie, Lance &Tucker on May 7, 2008 at 11:15am
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I meant to say our breeder had recommended the Iams food not our vet.
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Our vet had recommended Iams food. We had Lance on Iams when we first got him, then he eventually didnt eat it. I called the vet and he said to take him off of Iams it is on the recall list of dog food! We switched him to Natural Balance Duck and Potato, which is an alllergy formula and he loves it. I fed him some wet food first so he would not associate Iams dry food with other dry food. He couldnt sit still for the wet food!!! He was so excited!! He now eats just the dry food from Natural Balance.
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Iams is a little (itsy teenie) better than science diet cause it does have a protein listed as the first ingredient.. but I personally still wouldn't recommend it - it still has corn, wheat, etc. There is so much food out there to pick from. If there are no speciality pet food store's in your area, is there a Costco? Their Kirkland brand dog food (they have puppy in chiccken/rice) and is actually pretty good (in my opinion) from reading the ingredients. - at least WAY better than science diet, iams, beneful, pedigree.. etc. In general - if you can buy the pet food at an ordinary supermarket (walmart, safeway/vons/tom thumbs, luckys, anyplace where you get your groceries) - its probably not that great for our doggies (packed with corn, wheat, by products, and other fillers). But Costco is the only exception I've found to this generality.
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I feed Bailey Nature's Recipe Lamb Meal and Rice puppy formula. I want to switch him to another brand when he's ready to transition into adult food the end of this year.. I'm still looking!
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good suggestion on the science diet.. I do have IAMS puppy food that I found at walmart. Maybe I should try that??
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