Show us your pets

[DJR]

25 minutes ago, gemmerbal said:

................. My dogfather ..............

I love how Freudian that is, dogfather indeed!????

[Jurgens Smit]

1 hour ago, DJR said:

Talking about dog food:

I know people often recommend feeding raw dog food and I understand that it is the most natural way to do it. BUT, because I have Labradors, and they are notorious for gaining unwanted weight (some say they can get fat on the smell of food ????), and then being very difficult to put on a diet, I have always believed in keeping them on a very strict diet and never allowing them to get fat. My dogs are working dogs and unfit and fat is not what I want. So, I find that a good quality dry pellet diet is just easier to measure and control. They get absulutely nothing else. No treats, no extra helpings, no left-overs, except on a work day, then they get a double scoop that evening. 

By working dogs, do you mean your are labs gundogs?

[Andymann]

We've messed around with various foods but when Grace had her first knee repair and the Vet suspected there was lack of nutrients when she was a stray, he suggested Hills J/D.  I can give first-hand experience that the results were apparent after about a week - especially with her ability to move around.  It was too much of a mission though to try and separate the two dogs from eating each others food, so we just moved the other Dog to J/D as well.  When Lucy-fer the puppy arrived we opted for Hills Puppy but after a while it was just a free-for-all looting spree (????) with each dog for himself.  So we eventually settled on Hills Adult for all three.  Its a good balance my Vet says - not in the Yorkshire Pork category, but definitely better than el-cheapo.  We add a bit of collagen Power for the joints of the older dogs.

We also try and avoid the treats, but with a Food-Driven Puppy, training was done with treats, so the other dogs had to get too....

So now we have morning and evening Beeno biscuits.  And then also (much to the disgust of my Houghton family) what we call pre-wash before the plates go into the dishwasher.  We're saving water by not rinsing the plates I tell them....

[Duane_Bosch]

1 hour ago, DJR said:

So, I find that a good quality dry pellet diet is just easier to measure and control. 

When the decision was made to get Ulf we discussed some hard and fast non negotiables. From me it was training and walking. From my partner it was good quality pellets and nothing else and absolutely no human food ever.  I don't know if it as a result of this but when we have dinner he lies down next to the table and has a little nap. He doesn't beg at the table.

 

There is an exception. For training he gets chopped up viennas. But he's the only one that eats them and they are in a speciall little tupperware in the fridge that he is all too familiar with. When that thing comes out he knows it training or game time.

Edited July 15, 2021 by Duane_Bosch

[Andymann]

Ja we also tried that - no human food, no sleeping on the bed.........

[Duane_Bosch]

Hahahaha. Jaaaaaa....... The person who came up with the no dog on the bed rule was the first person to break the rule......

[gemmerbal]

5 hours ago, Andymann said:

We've messed around with various foods but when Grace had her first knee repair and the Vet suspected there was lack of nutrients when she was a stray, he suggested Hills J/D.  I can give first-hand experience that the results were apparent after about a week - especially with her ability to move around.  It was too much of a mission though to try and separate the two dogs from eating each others food, so we just moved the other Dog to J/D as well.  When Lucy-fer the puppy arrived we opted for Hills Puppy but after a while it was just a free-for-all looting spree (????) with each dog for himself.  So we eventually settled on Hills Adult for all three.  Its a good balance my Vet says - not in the Yorkshire Pork category, but definitely better than el-cheapo.  We add a bit of collagen Power for the joints of the older dogs.

We also try and avoid the treats, but with a Food-Driven Puppy, training was done with treats, so the other dogs had to get too....

So now we have morning and evening Beeno biscuits.  And then also (much to the disgust of my Houghton family) what we call pre-wash before the plates go into the dishwasher.  We're saving water by not rinsing the plates I tell them....

 

this is also a great supplement for fur-kids with joint issues. and dont discount the use of cbd oil when that dreaded C word makes its appearance...

Edited July 15, 2021 by gemmerbal

[gemmerbal]

2 hours ago, Duane_Bosch said:

Hahahaha. Jaaaaaa....... The person who came up with the no dog on the bed rule was the first person to break the rule......

haha, ja look, i tried with my rotties but it is now a hard no, they have lekker sheepskin beds at the foot of my bed. they are allowed anywhere EXCEPT on the big dog's bed

[DJR]

3 hours ago, Jurgens Smit said:

By working dogs, do you mean your are labs gundogs?

Yup. 

[Jurgens Smit]

Just now, DJR said:

Yup. 

So something I've wondered for a while and it seems to be 50/50 online, if you have any other dogs other than the working labs do you let them mingle, and do you treat your labs as pets?

I've seen a lot of people with gun/hunting dogs don't like to let them interact with other pets as they are worried about the habits, and f*** knows the reasoning behind the dogs living separate and only getting interacted with during training and hunts.

I would like to get a lab and train it for wingshooting, but I'm worried about how interaction with my current pooch will be even though he is well trained for obedience.

[DJR]

41 minutes ago, Jurgens Smit said:

So something I've wondered for a while and it seems to be 50/50 online, if you have any other dogs other than the working labs do you let them mingle, and do you treat your labs as pets?

I've seen a lot of people with gun/hunting dogs don't like to let them interact with other pets as they are worried about the habits, and f*** knows the reasoning behind the dogs living separate and only getting interacted with during training and hunts.

I would like to get a lab and train it for wingshooting, but I'm worried about how interaction with my current pooch will be even though he is well trained for obedience.

My dogs are first and foremost pets, or perhaps I should say, they are part of the family. I have no problem with interaction with other dogs and people, in fact I encourage it because the more they get to know, the better socialized they are likely to be. That is important because they must comfortably travel and work in strange places and with all kind of distractions, strange dogs and people. The old approach to keep a working gundog in a kennel, or in an outside dog run, is very outdated and a notion we inherited from the British upper classes. In the past few decades the worlds top retriever field trial dogs were almost exclusively from owner / trainers who have them as pets as well as workers. That allows the owner / trainer to bond very strongly with the dog, and that, I believe, is what produces retrievers that will turn themselves inside out to work for you! Where I do keep my young dogs separate from other dogs and people is for a specific situation when I teach them a new command or a new movement. Then you don't want distractions and I find a quiet field somewhere for that. As soon as they have learnt the lesson I test them on a place like Rondebosch Common where there are lots of other dogs and people. When they can obey a command despite the distractions, I know that part of the training was successful, and I move on to the next step.

Ok, sorry, the short answer is that, provided you get a puppy from a working background, where at least you know that it is likely to have a strong retrieving instinct, there is ZERO reason you cannot have a Labrador that will be your best bud, lick the chocolate off the faces of your kids, protect your wife and work as a retriever also.

After having had Labs and worked with them for many years, my wife one day went along to watch us work. She'd never seen it before and she was AMAZED at seeing what her pet could do. She said it was as if it was a totally different dog to the one she knew at home. Somehow, they KNOW what they are meant to do, and you can see them come alive, mentally, when they work. 

Sorry, I couldn't stop......I should write a book..............

[Jurgens Smit]

17 minutes ago, DJR said:

My dogs are first and foremost pets, or perhaps I should say, they are part of the family. I have no problem with interaction with other dogs and people, in fact I encourage it because the more they get to know, the better socialized they are likely to be. That is important because they must comfortably travel and work in strange places and with all kind of distractions, strange dogs and people. The old approach to keep a working gundog in a kennel, or in an outside dog run, is very outdated and a notion we inherited from the British upper classes. In the past few decades the worlds top retriever field trial dogs were almost exclusively from owner / trainers who have them as pets as well as workers. That allows the owner / trainer to bond very strongly with the dog, and that, I believe, is what produces retrievers that will turn themselves inside out to work for you! Where I do keep my young dogs separate from other dogs and people is for a specific situation when I teach them a new command or a new movement. Then you don't want distractions and I find a quiet field somewhere for that. As soon as they have learnt the lesson I test them on a place like Rondebosch Common where there are lots of other dogs and people. When they can obey a command despite the distractions, I know that part of the training was successful, and I move on to the next step.

Ok, sorry, the short answer is that, provided you get a puppy from a working background, where at least you know that it is likely to have a strong retrieving instinct, there is ZERO reason you cannot have a Labrador that will be your best bud, lick the chocolate off the faces of your kids, protect your wife and work as a retriever also.

After having had Labs and worked with them for many years, my wife one day went along to watch us work. She'd never seen it before and she was AMAZED at seeing what her pet could do. She said it was as if it was a totally different dog to the one she knew at home. Somehow, they KNOW what they are meant to do, and you can see them come alive, mentally, when they work. 

Sorry, I couldn't stop......I should write a book..............

Thanks dude, I was worried about it, because I don't want my dog to be isolated or feel "left out" being left alone in a kennel while I have other pets.
Did you crate your labs as puppies? I did it with my dog when he was a pup, but it was only a week or so to get him to learn where his bed is.

There is a lady close to me that breeds with working labs and springer spaniels, been waiting on her for a choc lab litter again(think they're called wildspirit gundogs or something similar) before committing to that.

[DJR]

2 hours ago, Jurgens Smit said:

...............Did you crate your labs as puppies? I did it with my dog when he was a pup, but it was only a week or so to get him to learn where his bed is.................

Yes, I do a somewhat modified version of the crate training in that I teach them home is wherever their traveling cage and /or their mattress is. 

Edited July 15, 2021 by DJR

[DJR]

2 hours ago, Jurgens Smit said:

..............There is a lady close to me that breeds with working labs and springer spaniels, been waiting on her for a choc lab litter again(think they're called wildspirit gundogs or something similar) before committing to that.

Very good place to start that!

[Duane_Bosch]

My guy.

I've started taking him to a different trainer. Just because they do agility training. They've got agility equipment there and he cruised over the tall skinny bridge first time no worries. I've got little traffic cones and a hoop that I set up for him to do. He's finally figured out that if he drops the ball I'll throw it for him and the idea of the game isn't for me to chase him. Attention span is a real problem. The trainer the other day said she won't use him to demonstrate a new technique anymore coz he's so clever she feels like it's cheating.

 

We took him into the mountains the other day and he was so in his element. He absolutely loved it. When we got far from people the lead came off and then he was in 7th heaven.

 

The cats are a real problem tho. His behavior towards them is getting quite scary. So much so that we've got one of those vibrate collars. As soon as a cat interaction happens he gets buzzed. I don't like it but I also don't want a dead cat.

Edited September 13, 2021 by Duane_Bosch

[DJR]

52 minutes ago, Duane_Bosch said:

My guy.

I've started taking him to a different trainer. Just because they do agility training. They've got agility equipment there and he cruised over the tall skinny bridge first time no worries. I've got little traffic cones and a hoop that I set up for him to do. He's finally figured out that if he drops the ball I'll throw it for him and the idea of the game isn't for me to chase him. Attention span is a real problem. The trainer the other day said she won't use him to demonstrate a new technique anymore coz he's so clever she feels like it's cheating.

 

We took him into the mountains the other day and he was so in his element. He absolutely loved it. When we got far from people the lead came off and then he was in 7th heaven.

 

The cats are a real problem tho. His behavior towards them is getting quite scary. So much so that we've got one of those vibrate collars. As soon as a cat interaction happens he gets buzzed. I don't like it but I also don't want a dead cat.

Lovely picture too Duane

For what it's worth, short attention span is an issue with any bright young puppy. All you need to do is to keep your training sessions short and not too repetitive. Throw in variation and the odd surprise. If you try push it and make it too long too soon, then boredom becomes a problem ...... and that is much more difficult to fix. You want to always keep them interested and excited. Attention span will lengthen naturally as they mature. When? Some breeds sooner, others later. In Labradors (my experience) that only happens around 2 years of age, but in others as early as 18 months..

Edited September 13, 2021 by DJR