Dog Owner Thread (All Dog-Lovers Welcome!)

[Noel]

I'm plan on switching dog food. Right now they eat Homestyle Kibble and Bits. I already know it's bad, but it's what we could afford at the time. They do like it and don't have any digestive problems. However my dog, Max has some serious skin allergies and chews, licks, and scratches to the point he has sore spots on random areas of his body. My moms dog, Chuck, has a couple of spots on her back where the hair is thinning.

I was thinking that switching foods would help with these issues a bit. I want to switch to what I believe is a top of a line food like Blue Buffalo or Merrick. Max ate Merrick when he was younger and he liked it and he had no problems with it. However I did a bit of research and read some recent review's on these foods and a few other brands I know were sold in the area I live. And it seems like many people who fed these really good foods for years and never had problems, recently started having problems with the food.

Now, I'm a bit leery switching to any of these foods. And I'm confused as to what to do or what food to try. I'd hate to buy a bag of this better food and find out it makes the dogs sick. Max is my baby and he's an old boy. He already has some issues and I'd really hate to make him even worse.

So, what food do you think would be the best to go with? Have you tried any brands you really like or really hated? Any bad experiences with a brand you tried?

[Polly44]

The family Cavaliar has been on pedigree small dog pouches since she was a pup and we never had any problems, until they changed it to having more pouches in a box (went from 8 to 12 i think) but they put less food in each pouch. And as we only feed her once a day, it was not enough, but we felt that 2 pouches would be too much. So we swapped her to bakers. Dry from a bag and wet from a box of several tubs. She has half a tub each day plus dry. And she has had no problems with this either. Well not that we know of. She does sometimes go off her food, but that could be because of anything.

I would probably recommend both, but of course, just because our dog liked it and had no problems with it, doesn't mean every dog will.

[Akronite]

What is your favorite dog breed (and why)? - I honestly couldn't say! I love all dogs but Saint Bernards are definitely up there, also Wolfdogs. I think overall I prefer Mutts and mixed-breed dogs than pure bred though.

Do you own a dog(s)? If so, how many? -I've owned several dogs but I am now currently owning one female who's 11 now. Her name is Maggie and she's believed to be a retriever x standard poodle {Retrodoodle} Next year though I will be training a guide dog puppy in an 18 month program called 'Puppy Walking' which sounds both amazing and exhausting!

Pictures of your dog(s) -

This is Maggie when she was a puppy. I'll post a more recent one later, unfortunately she's not as photogenic now {Was she ever? >.<} since in her twilight years she's gone a bit grey/brown and shaggy.


Anyway, how is everyone? And everyone's dogs? Maggie is slightly shaken up atm as she was attacked by a pit bull yesterday, She did'nt need stitches though so that's good^^ In fact there was only a small amount of bleeding

I'm actually really upset about that because Maggie's been around several lovely Pit bulls and Pit Bull crosses in her life and those dogs really don't need more bad rep.
The guy who was walking with the dog came running up and repeatedly kicked/punched the dog so I wonder where it gets it from .-.

[LunaHydreigon]

This is probably a stupid and really weird question so I hope I don't offend anyone. Also I don't know if I could also it here and so I hope it doesn't break the rules but... But is it natural to have gay dogs? Or is that a problem? Because I've never thought my dogs were gay. And poor Tina's all like: "o_o ..." the whole entire time, and ends up leaving Pooh and Teddy.

*PS: I do not have any problems about anything gay. So again, don't be offended! ^^; Sorry if offended!*

[Saren]

This is probably a stupid and really weird question so I hope I don't offend anyone. Also I don't know if I could also it here and so I hope it doesn't break the rules but... But is it natural to have gay dogs? Or is that a problem? Because I've never thought my dogs were gay. And poor Tina's all like: "o_o ..." the whole entire time, and ends up leaving Pooh and Teddy.

*PS: I do not have any problems about anything gay. So again, don't be offended! ^^; Sorry if offended!*

Well, homosexuality is quite common in nature! So I wouldn't be too surprised if your dogs were gay. It's also possible that they just get along very well, though.

[Polly44]

This is probably a stupid and really weird question so I hope I don't offend anyone. Also I don't know if I could also it here and so I hope it doesn't break the rules but... But is it natural to have gay dogs? Or is that a problem? Because I've never thought my dogs were gay. And poor Tina's all like: "o_o ..." the whole entire time, and ends up leaving Pooh and Teddy.

*PS: I do not have any problems about anything gay. So again, don't be offended! ^^; Sorry if offended!*

My mum and her siblings and parents were convinced their old Spaniel was gay, as they wanted to breed him. They got him a female and everything and when it came down to it, he.......uh.....well he didn't know what to do, lol. Hence the whole "oh he was gay, lol."

[LunaHydreigon]

Ah I see, I actually never knew that before! But they are best friends, if one's gone, the other one is too. Since we adopted them from a previous owner who left so that makes sense. ^^

[musette]

i got a new dog a while back c: he's a chow / shephard mix, and his name is june. i got him when he was about six weeks, and he's now six months.

xxx
xxx

[Patch]

i got a new dog a while back c: he's a chow / shephard mix, and his name is june. i got him when he was about six weeks, and he's now six months.

xxx
xxx

Oh my gosh! What a cute face! ^^

---

I just wanted to post about how excited I am to be taking in a new foster dog. He's a fox terrier mix, and he's super tiny. He's about 10 years-old, and a person at the shelter I work at said he was having seizures, and it's just not safe for him to be in a kennel. He's going to meet our Nala tomorrow then we can take him back home so he's more comfortable.

[rose;]

we adopted a new dog the other day C:
getting another boston terrier, our other passed away last summer
I'm not sure I'm ready for another dog though. >< our french bulldog passed away only two weeks ago, he passed away while I was on vacation and I wasn't told until I got back because they didn't want me upset while I was away... he was only 4, and we don't know what happened.
but we just fenced in our backyard for our boxer, so now he has a place to run around off a leash