Prada would like me to, on behalf of dogs everywhere, pay specific attention to last night’s lecture and share it as well as I can. Food and treats and toys!
Dog food
Dog guides do not have a special formula that's outrageously expensive. The food that we use here isn't the cheapest on the shelf but it's not going to break the bank. For example Prada eats 4 cups daily of Purina One or Proplan. Proplan's what we use here but they say Purina One is interchangeable, cheaper, and easier to find outside of pet-specific stores.
Treats:
Dogs shall not live on kibble
alone…
(I rewrote
this entire section because it didn’t convey much useful information)
The trainers
at TSE told us most dog treats can actually cause serious health risks. after listening to the lecture I take it with
the same grain of salt that I do when listening to the child safety experts who
say that swings should be banned from parks because a child might fall
off. While some treats can splinter and
cause throat lacerations or choking hazards dog guides are large-breeds and can
handle most types of treats. Do watch
how your dog chooses to consume the treat, just in case, but I wouldn’t worry
too much. However, to save money you
should know that dogs can’t actually taste the difference between treats and
kibble. You can carry a few pieces of
kibble around with you as a reward—unless your dog is smart like Prada and
knows the shapes, as well. In that case,
get a box of the small-to-medium-sized milkbones and break them up into smaller
pieces, thus making more treats rather like Jesus feeding the 5,000.
Toys:
Stores host
a daunting array of shaped, scented, flavored, and textured toys. Most of these features do not affect the dog
at all—they are designed to sell to dog owners. Dollar store tennis balls are sold in
packages of 3 and one of those packages will last you about as long as one
special steak-flavored, super-grip Power Pet Tennis Ball from PetWherever for a
fraction of the cost. For dog guides,
again, they’re big so big toys avoid the choking hazards. Tennis balls, squeaky things, ropes and Frisbees
make for hours of great pastime. Of course,
there’s the staple nylabone, too.
(Prada’s
favorite is still an oven mitt, see later post)
See, the thing about rope toys is that when they're playing with them, they sometimes shake their heads. A knot the size of your fist and hard as a rock is not something you really want to have slamming into your leg....
ReplyDeleteActually--hile that is a drawback, the most important issue with rope toys is that at the end of the knot there is often a tassle, or frayed end. If the dog is a chewer he/she'll pull those threads right out and then you've got digested rope bits and potential choking/intestinal blockage issues. So...again, those are greattoys but should be PG
ReplyDeleteMost definitely. Is Prada turning into a chewer?
ReplyDeletehaven't found anything rearranged into little tiny pieces yet--she'll gnaw on her nylobone but so far that's the extent of it. If she's happy that way, I'm happy to lether remain so. Her personality says 'tug-of-war' to me so I may try a rope toy at some point but I don't fancy the idea of big shepherd teeth exploring the innards of various household objects so chewy toys won't be investigated unless she developes the habit.
ReplyDelete