The Doggie Thread

[Shorty]

I'm a huge pit bull advocate, and I love my baby Achilles, even though he is a terrorist.



(SPOILER)







I also have a boxer back home with my family - I'd like to get one of those again. I'm a big fan of bully breeds and big dogs (I'm going to own a dane one day). Tough-looking dogs make me want to love them all the more.



And a Cane Corso.

[Rye]

And now for a rant about dog food. (SPOILER)The majority of the major dog food brands that are out there are very unhealthy for dogs. The ingredient list should give you a good idea of whether a particular brand of food is good or not. The first things you should see is some type of meat. If meat is further along the list, that means that there's less of it and more filler. Anytime you see meat "by product" or "meal" it's a bad thing. By product is any leftover bits of an animal that is rejected for human consumption such as feet, neck, intestines, etc. Corn being high on the ingredients list is bad too since its unnatural for dogs to eat corn and they get very little benefit from it. It's basically filler. Pedigree, Iams, Science Diet, Purina, all these dog food brands and more have very low quality ingredients in their dog food. Some brands that I would recommend: Honest Kitchen, Wellness Core (this is what I feed my dogs), & Innova. You can check out Dog Food Analysis - Reviews of kibble for more info. A raw food diet is supposed to be the most natural for dogs, but it does take quite a bit more effort than feeding them commercially packaged foods. It's something of a mini-crusade for me - trying to get people to feed their dogs better quality stuff so that dogs can be happy & healthy. Also, here's a little info on foods that could be harmful to your dog. DOG TRICKS, TIPS AND INSIGHTS, Foods that are Harmful or Fatal to Dogs. Most people know about things like chocolate, but there's some surprising things on the list.

I didn't know about avacados! I know those are fatal to our pet bird, but I didn't think it was bad for dogs.

My parents are so bad about what they feed our pets. The bird gets fed pizza crusts, french fries, potato chips, mashed potatoes as treats if we've had that for dinner, among other things. I've tried to warn them that he's not a child and can't eat human food, but they don't listen.

Right now I can hear him begging for a cookie. I really hate the bird, but I wouldn't feed him bad stuff. It's not his fault that he's noisy and evil. He needs nuts for treats, not fatty foods.

[Marshall Banana]

There are so many things a dog shouldn't eat that it's hard to remember most of them.

Ever since I read that Xylitol is deadly to doggies (it's a sugar replacement in gum), I've been too scared to buy and bring home anything that contains it. You never know what could happen. XD

[fire_of_avalon]

A good friend of mine had quite a bad scare regarding Xylitol once. Her dog, a 4 lb. Yorkie called Baxter, ate quite a bit of her roommate's sugar free gum while my friend was away on a trip. Essentially a dogs pancreas begins making mega-insulin to combat what it regards as a sugar spike. For about a week they thought Baxter wouldn't make it, but he pulled through!

We feed out dogs with the most natural food available to us (we use the Lassie natural something something. I forget what it's called) and also supplement meats and some vegetables when the dogs will eat them.

Someday I will post pictures of my dogs.

[Shiny]

Not cool! Our backyard is right next to the community mailboxes. So my dog has almost cause heart attacks, flying over the wall while people are checking their mail. And he looks like a wolf too, so it's like WTF???

And then he runs around peeing in all our neighbors bushes.

Hahaha, this dog sounds amazing.

[Marshall Banana]

A good friend of mine had quite a bad scare regarding Xylitol once. Her dog, a 4 lb. Yorkie called Baxter, ate quite a bit of her roommate's sugar free gum while my friend was away on a trip. Essentially a dogs pancreas begins making mega-insulin to combat what it regards as a sugar spike. For about a week they thought Baxter wouldn't make it, but he pulled through!

I'm glad he's okay! :tikitobi:

[Quindiana Jones]

Bearded collies are awesome. Beardie/Border crosses are literally God's work.

[Sebastian!]

Dis is the only dog I know.

[Jowy]

[Quindiana Jones]

FYI; there's a dead zebra in your house.