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Opentarget posted:Its Doc's Choice dry for pups, so yeah, kibble I guess. It has 3 stars on DogFoodAdvisor but it is what she was fed at the store and that is what they sold us. It's crap, just googled the ingredients list. I'd check out the nutrition thread and get her on something better.
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Mar 28, 2012 05:08
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| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 05:24 |
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My dogs only hump each other after they've had baths. Then they're like, "WHO ARE YOU. ARE YOU A GIRL? ARE YOU A LADY? HI. HI GIRL." They always look really confused like they don't know what's come over them.
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May 5, 2012 12:40
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tonic316 posted:Is there any issues with a dog that is a mix between a pure bread retired show French Bull Dog(the bitch) and a Papillon(purebred as well I believe) family dog? My best friends mother had an accidental liter of these and is going to let me have one for free. She has bred the French Bull Dog before with another French Bull Dog and knows how to handle those 8-10 weeks of puppy hood (I am not taking it home until 10 weeks after they were born which was actually today). I am just wondering what kind of dog I am getting because I cant find anything about this mix besides two google image pictures from a designer dog website when you do a search for "French Bull Dog and Papillon Mix". It is a mix so there is no way to know. French bulldogs are rife with tragic health problems, so there's that. You can not make any predictions about the temperament of a mixed breed dog. The assumption that a conformation-line french bulldog would not be a walking health problem is an lol assumption and you should probably put up a couple grand for the health problems you may or may not deal with in the first year alone. Save up a shitload of money for vet bills and prepare for not knowing how your dog will turn out. also, "purebred." Dogs are not a wheat product.
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Jun 23, 2012 04:13
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tonic316 posted:I thought puppies (8-10 weeks) go to the bathroom every 2-3 hours? What are people supposed to do when they're sleeping if they have to be taken outside every time? Young puppies = 3 am potty breaks. Enjoy!  Petsmart's training programs are very, very basic and are more beneficial for the socialization they provide than anything else. They're probably alright for people who have literally no idea how a dog works, but for most people who can figure out how to operate a clicker they're pretty meh.
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Jun 28, 2012 04:35
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He's 9 weeks old. His bladder isn't connected to his brain yet. Just keep scooping him up and taking him out when he does it. Could take weeks or months until he's developed enough to control himself. He's an infant, "intact male" does not factor in at 9 weeks.
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Jun 30, 2012 00:32
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Yes, you can begin house training at that age, but he still does not have full bladder control or much awareness of whats going on with it until THE VERY SECOND pee happens. It's something that generally develops over the course of several months. All puppies hump. He's not piddling because he's a boy, he's piddling because he's a puppy.
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Jun 30, 2012 01:05
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Rixatrix posted:I consider any guarantee to be a bit suspicious. A good breeder will know you cannot give guarantees of any kind - they can only do their best, and something still might pop up. Figuring out a good breeder is very much a word of mouth thing since you cannot know in advance how the breeder will react five years on when the dog is having trouble. Moses came from a breeder I like. His guarantee: "HEY NOW YA'LL KNOW IF YA'LL EVER DON'T WANT HIM OR HE DON'T TURN OUT RIGHT JUST BRING HIM BACK HERE AND I'LL TAKE HIM BACK AND GIVE YOU WHAT YOU PAID FOR HIM OR ANOTHER PUP IF YOU FEEL LIKE WAITIN ON ONE" So if his hips poo poo themselves and I'm really mad about it, there is always a trailer for me to dump him out in front of. I can totally get my $150 back too!  A good breeder is knowledgeable and honest about what health problems the lines they work with are at risk for. I'm more wary of someone who ~totally guarantees~ against everything ever than someone who is up front about the gritty details of what they're breeding and any potential issues with it. Good breeders should health test, but a dog that scores well on health tests does not necessarily = perfect puppies.
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Jul 14, 2012 15:16
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A Magical Unicorn posted:I'm interested in buying a pair of Siberian Husky pups (after lots of research I believe I can handle their needs). I found a seller that was advertising a pair of "pure" huskies. They claim they have papers for the parents, but today they told me the papers have been misplaced. This is a BYB. Papers and vet checks mean nothing. Find a breeder who does genetic health testing (pennhip/OFA/CERF, etc) and either shows, works, or otherwise competes with their dogs. A breed club is a good place to start.
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Jul 19, 2012 14:12
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The dogs I've had neutered early ended up shaped weird as hell. The ones who were neutered post-18 months or so did not end up "weird" even if they were still structured poorly. There is a certain lanky, awkward, underdeveloped look I notice in male dogs who are neutered as puppies. Most pet owners will most likely not notice or give a crap, especially with a mutt puppy, so V0V And then there's all that bone stuff~
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Jul 25, 2012 02:18
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Malalol posted:Do you have any phographiv examples? Frankie is a p perfect example but I'll have to post pics later because work. It's not exactly scientific, just "you are lanky and ugly." It's like they get stuck in an awkward teenage dog shape and then proceed to never fill out.
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Jul 25, 2012 11:45
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A Magical Unicorn posted:I did a lot of reading after my first post - fool me once etc. This is the first litter the breeder in question has had in 2 years (she's been breeding them for 20), and without being asked she happily spoke about the bloodlines of the parents back several generations and why she bred them together. What does she do with her dogs (work, conformation showing, etc) and what genetic health testing does she do?
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Jul 28, 2012 13:36
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tonic316 posted:Best friends mother who has bred dogs before. So not some random BYB. They are well cared for and I have visited the dog multiple times. As for why so early, she seems to think 6 weeks + is ok. Can't they learn said manners from me but it will just take longer? So a random BYB.
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Aug 2, 2012 11:34
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Thwomp posted:I find that it's really hard to know when to praise for eliminating. You praise him twice, and not after he finishes, either- the party occurs during each and every elimination. I start as soon as they squat and don't stop until they're done.
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Aug 19, 2012 19:41
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TVs Ian posted:To be fair, calling someone dumb for making what seems like a rash and uninformed decision to us (people who are by and large more heavily involved in animal care than most) is exactly the type of thing that drives away new posters to whom we may be giving valuable advice. Pet Island is currently like a billion times more bland, chill, and tolerant than it has ever been.
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Sep 25, 2012 23:50
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Serella posted:Yeah, it's just not the same. We used to have so much fun. Alas,
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Sep 26, 2012 01:47
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Veskit posted:What's the difference between a toy and miniature poodle besides the severity of how annoying the barks are, and 5-15 pounds give or take? Miniature poodles can still do poo poo besides have gross weepy eyes and shiver I grew up with a mini poodle and she was a really good dog in spite of the horrible neglect she received. Insanely smart and awesome. Most of the minis I've met have been, they're just like standards. Most of the toys I meet are horrible little shits but they're probably just products of their environment.
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Oct 1, 2012 23:43
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Yeah kind of the whole point of kenneling is keeping stuff safe when you're not around. I would only leave very mature dogs home alone uncrated, if at all. Never puppies, no matter how well they're doing when you're watching them.
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Oct 6, 2012 14:47
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Puppies usually wear themselves out and stop yelling after a few days of being ignored. Every time you let them out and they're not quiet, it prolongs the amount of time they'll yell because they've learned that if they yell long enough someone will let them out eventually. When I raised a puppy in an apartment I gave my neighbors a heads up and told them it would likely only be a few days of noise and to let me know if it got bad. They were cool with it.
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Oct 6, 2012 15:04
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Instant Jellyfish posted:
This. I have had a meltdown every single time I've gotten a dog/puppy. I always have a few days of "OH MY GOD I CAN'T DEAL WITH THIS WHY DID I DO THIS BRING IT BACK" and then I get over it and I'm fine. It's normal.
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Oct 11, 2012 19:09
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2tomorrow posted:
Man, maybe I've just lucked out. I just lie about Moses' breed and I've always been fine. Pits are so ubiquitous here though that it's just kind of "wink wink, nudge nudge, this is not a pit bull"
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Oct 12, 2012 15:24
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^^Lmao oh my god. I am so sorry.
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Oct 13, 2012 02:19
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Hopping aboard the "high energy dog raised in apartment" bandwagon:  Moses was an apartment dog from the age of 9 weeks - 1.5 years. House training was by far a bigger problem than exercise- we were on the second floor and it was quite a treck for a small puppy to get to grass. It took him a while to understand that "directly outside the front door =/= STILL NOT OKAY TO POTTY YET." That, and I slacked sometimes on potty breaks because "really, it's 4 am and I have to get up, dressed, find baggies, put shoes on, find leash, and walk you all the way out there are you kidding me uggggh." We slogged through it though and it was okay. Puzzle toys, mental games, and tons of low impact bike rides kept him sane. It was a lot of work, but definitely worth it to have the dawg I wanted.
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Oct 24, 2012 21:27
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Citizen Rat posted:Yep. Mostly because breeders tend to be older ladies who have a vague idea that the internet is indeed a thing that exists and they harass a grandchild/niece/nephew into setting up a website for them that they then frequently forget exists. Half of the good breeders in my breed don't have internet access or like, indoor plumbing or an awareness that the civil war has ended 
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Oct 25, 2012 03:01
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That sure is a show breeder
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Oct 25, 2012 21:44
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^^^^ Don't get a triangle dog. 
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Oct 29, 2012 23:17
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Working breeders just about never outcross anything ever in my breed and they all live to be 100. There's my anecdote!
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Nov 27, 2012 12:53
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Pile of Kittens posted:Yeah, honestly, if someone sent me a 20 question email about birds or tailoring or something, I wouldn't say "You ask too many questions, go away", I'd say "That's a lot of questions and I'll answer some of these basic ones now and some more later because it's kinda overwhelming!" That first response is definitely not something you'd hear from a dedicated professional, and more from someone who is just in it for money and who doesn't want to bother with "high maintenance" customers. Yeah this. When I bred rats I'd answer questions that were asked conversationally no prob, but if someone sent me some spergy checklist style thing (it happened a lot) I wouldn't be rude but I might not even respond unless I just really happened to feel like it that day. Even when they didn't mean to, it felt like I was being interrogated and like this person thought it was somehow my job to convince them to do me the monumental favor of getting a rat from me and it usually made me want to tell them to gently caress off. If I sent any of the breeders I like a list of questions via email (lol like they know how to use the internet) they'd prob tell me to go jump off of something and that I'd never get a dog from them ever and that I'm prob a terrorist who voted for obama. It just wouldn't be well received by 99% of them.So basically yeah when scoping out breeders your best bet is to track them down at some breed related event/hangout and start a dog convo and slowly lead into any questions you have that aren't eventually answered by the natural flow of conversation.
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Jan 9, 2013 22:50
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It's a poo poo breeder breeding unstandard dogs for color. In a companion breed with no working purpose, you want to see conformation showing if NOTHING else, or some kind of competitive dog sport/obedience/etc. Bostons specifically can not be shown in any color but black, seal, or brindle so she isn't even doing the bare minimum of dragging her dogs around a ring. This is a BYB, you can do better. Edit: Also, please, get a boston with a couple inches of face. Extreme brachecephaly results in high vet bills for you, and a lifetime of misery for your dog. My Boston has no muzzle to speak of and it affects him in practically everything he tries to do, from eating to breathing to running. You and your dog will be happier if it has enough face to function normally and do such basic things as "go outside and experience sunshine without dieing." Supercondescending fucked around with this message at 02:50 on Jan 28, 2013 |
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Jan 28, 2013 02:47
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Paper Mac posted:Thanks for the advice!! I saw some pictures of brown bostons and thought they looked really nice, but I didn't consider that not showing might mean not breeding dogs that are able to move around much. I see a LOT of uh, variable looking Bostons around town and I'm not really sure what they're "supposed" to look like, is there some guide to what kind of dimensions the adult head should have to breathe normally? In the meantime, I'm going to look for a breeder that does flyball or something with their dogs. Its difficult because basically, show breeders do not breed for health- they breed to ridiculous extremes that are often detrimental to their dogs, even moreso in breeds with short faces and other unnatural features. Certainly not *all* show breeders do this, but many do in order to be competitive in the ring. The boston standard calls for as perfectly round a head as possible, and therefore asks for muzzles to be far too short to allow normal breathing. The dogs you posted are very extreme, while a dog with a muzzle like this:  probably has a much easier time breathing. Looking for someone who does dogsports with their dogs is a great starting point- just make sure they also do genetic hip, elbow, and eye testing on their dogs.
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Jan 28, 2013 03:10
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a life less posted:I assume you're in Canada (since your breeder mentions the CKC), The CKC may also refer to the Continental Kennel Club, which is a really crappy US registry for BYBs and designer dog breeders.
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Jan 28, 2013 03:12
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^^ Has nothing to do with inbreeding, and everything to do with competitive dog ladies taking breed standard interpretations to extremes and then having to outdo each other on the extremity of their dogs to win. Conformation showing is not about athleticism, it is an arbitrary beauty contest.  wtftastic posted:When brachycephalic is basically the show standard (more or less), then they aren't going to get knocked hard for having a dog that looks like it can't breathe. Exactly. In Bostons, the standard is actively detrimental to the health of the dog because the ideal is as close to a *perfectly* round head as possible- so the less muzzle, the better. Dogs with faces are less likely to be shown because they don't do well in the ring. In Bostons, it would be much better to go with a breeder who breeds sporting/competition dogs rather than one who shows in conformation.
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Jan 28, 2013 18:32
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a life less posted:For sure a bizarre coloured dog could play flyball. But a lot of these unusual colours are recessive. If a breeder is solely focusing on breeding a particular colour they may be (re: are likely) doing so to the detriment of other characteristics. "Pretty colour" is not a good enough reason to breed a dog if it's got hosed up structure, CEA, hip dysplasia, a propensity for human aggression, epilepsy, etc... Yup. Basically, the reason only black, brindle and seal are accepted Boston colors is an arbitrary one written in simply due to the fact that the foundation dogs used in the creation of the breed were largely purebred APBTs of various northern bloodlines (who all tended to be black or brindle marked dogs themselves,) various purebred bulldogs of several bulldog breeds (who all tended to be black or brindle marked themselves) and the mixes thereof. Part of it was that the parent breeds and foundation dogs were usually those colors, and part of it was that the people involved in the early development and standardization of the breed liked those colors and decided they could only be those colors. As with any non-working breed, the decisions as to what as accepted VS what isn't almost always boil down to "just because." Dogs with too much white around the head can have issues with deafness (as do nearly all animals with white spotting genes involved) so the specifics of Boston markings can be tied to health reasons, but not color. Because all unstandard colors were bred out early on, all the new ~pretty boston colors~ pretty much had to be reintroduced into the breed through crossing in other breeds (usually pit/bully type dogs) which isn't a horrible thing in and of itself, it's just that breeding for color is, like a life less said, a stupid reason to breed anything, especially when they're pointless unrecognized colors. Basically, if a flyball/agility/inser-dog-sport-here breeder has red/blue/rainbow colored Bostons and they title and health test their dogs, there's no reason not to get one. If, however, the breeder is doing nothing with their dogs but is breeding dogs in trendy colors that can't *even* be shown in conformation, they're being pointless and stupid and I'd walk away. FWIW, I got my purebred Boston when he was like 4 or 5 months old (so still a very young puppy) from a local rescue for pretty cheap. I see a lot of Bostons in rescue (dunno why, they're barky but otherwise easy dogs) so I wouldn't write it off- my other dog is from a breeder and there are definitely perfectly valid reasons to get a dog from a breeder, but if you just want a buddy, I'd at least browse local rescues and keep an eye out and see what comes up. Because Bostons are a pointless companion breed and I don't sperg out about them, I totally want a red Boston one day even though it's totally incorrect, just because I like red dogs and I think they look cool- but, because most "responsible" Boston breeders wouldn't produce red Bostons, my source will definitely be a rescue when my dog's batteries run out and I go looking for another stupid pointless Boston Terrier. So, if having a stupidly colored Boston is something you definitely want (which I totally understand!) I would definitely look in rescue unless you just happen to find someone with sport bostons who happen to be weird colors (and they are not actively breeding for those colors.)
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Jan 29, 2013 00:55
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MrFurious posted:
I mean it doesn't matter to me because I always thought yelping at puppies was loving stupid and have always used verbal cues anyway, but just saying
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Feb 4, 2013 17:47
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Surgeon General posted:Is there a way to look for a certain type of mixed breed puppies? You can, and you can also google breed specific rescues in your area. Honestly, as common as goldens are you could probably find one (or a close enough mix) pretty easily just browsing the city shelter. Retriever mixes are everywhere.
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Feb 10, 2013 15:59
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The Wonder Weapon posted:Alright Pet Island, I need your help. Like, does she even actively show the dogs, or is she just breeding them? What health testing and titling do the parents have? Edit: Oh okay, I just read her "guarantee." She's a byb.
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Feb 18, 2013 02:39
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Arsenic Lupin posted:I spent all night last night with nightmares about having bought two puppies from a pet store, and the reason it was a nightmare was I knew how angry Pet Island would be with me. I once had a dream that I had a whole bunch of random male and female pit bulls and they kept having puppies and I kept having to find creative and quiet ways to get rid of all of the puppies SPECIFICALLY so that pet island would not find out that I was a BYB and in the dream and I had a lot of anxiety not over the fact that there were constant puppies, but because "What If Pet Island Knew."
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Mar 6, 2013 21:11
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Rixatrix posted:I've brought all my three puppies home on the day they turned seven weeks, all from three reputable breeders who health test and all that. While I wouldn't have minded waiting a week longer, I fully understand why you might not want a litter of highly active, not house broken puppies running around your home for any longer than necessary (and seven weeks is the legal limit here). I might have had to work a bit harder on teaching bite inhibition, but that's pretty much the only issue we've had that I can tell. Yeah we brought Moses home early (like 7ish weeks) because most of the puppies were starting to fight each other.
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May 9, 2013 14:06
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I want a red boston terrier
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May 11, 2013 16:48
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ButWhatIf posted:After very recently reading a story about a French Bulldog puppy who was killed by a Petco trainer who lifted the puppy off the ground by its neck, I never recommend big box chains for training, socialization, any of the above. Yes, the stores are trying to make the shift away from "punishment-based" training, but they don't have any actual requirements in terms of the people they hire, there's no certification process (which is a whole other huge kettle of fish within the industry that our company is going to be lobbying for), and there's no guarantee that the trainer at any particular store isn't going to be doing something harmful or undesirable. The Petsmart near me has a new "trainer." I was surprised to see this person teaching there, because he has worked at this Petsmart for probably 7 or 8 years, giving terrible advice about everything in every department at some point. He went to college with a high school friend of mine, and apparently he dropped out and just kept chugging away at his retail job and is still there. He has *no* background in anything animal related and has literally never even owned a dog. It's like he just was there for so long they were finally like "welp, wanna train some dogs??" He most likely will just follow a script and be pretty inoffensive, but he's not going to have a clue what to do if anyone hits the slightest bump in their training and I think it's pretty unfair to market it to people as though they're getting advice from an experienced professional and not some doofy burnout college kid.
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May 29, 2013 22:59
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| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 05:24 |
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Pyrs already don't really give a crap about people. Two pyrs that are raised together will just crawl up each others' asses and form a feedback loop of barking, guarding random objects, ignoring you, and running away at every opportunity.
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Jun 11, 2013 13:36
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