Question:

My 2 year old female (spayed) maltese is having some issues. One is with her food. She will growl while eating and she eats very fast. I have tried a large object in the bowl to slow her down, I have tried feeding her by hand, I have tried putting small amounts in the bowl at a time, I have tried holding the bowl and letting her eat a few bites at a time, but she still swallows it whole, and when I put the bowl down she will growl. She sometimes growl when she is waiting for me to give her a bite. I feel I have exhausted everything. She is also “moody”; she will want to cuddle and play one minute, but sometimes if my husband or I go to pet her she will lower her head and growl. I don’t know what happened along the way, but I want this stopped. As a whole she is very sweet, but I’m getting very frustrated and impatient with this behavior. Please help!

Tonya

ANSWER:

Hi Tonya,

I am not surprised you are losing your patience with your girl – you have certainly tried everything to bring her around. Have you had her since she was a puppy? And if so, was she always like this or is it something that developed as she aged?

Normally guarding behavior develops when pups are still with their littermates and ‘survival of the fittest’ means you gobble as much food as you can as fast as possible. Once away from the litter, however, most dogs stop protecting their food although they may still continue to gobble it whole.

You may not like my suggestion but I would take her to an obedience class with a trainer that understands small dog mentality and aggression. Many small dog owners forget that their dog is actually a dog – just in a petite package. They let their dogs get away with behaviors large dog owners cannot tolerate just because their dog is big and cannot be picked up if it misbehaves.

Your dog thinks she is the boss and that by growling she can get her way. And so far it has worked! Obedience class will help you to be the boss and put her in her place in a way that she will understand. Find a trainer and class that is not about teaching your dog the perfect ‘sit’ but instead focuses on manners and behavior.

Let us know how it goes!
Ann

Question:

Hi,

I own a 4 month old Shih Tzu. I have read that Shih Tzu’s a little harder to housetrain than other dogs and that it requires preserverance.

I’ve tried toilet training my Shih Tzu since about a month ago, but she refuse to relieve herself whenever she’s in the toilet. Instead, she will urinate wherever she walks to – the den, the kitchen, room, any new area she manage to venture to! Once, she even urinated on my bed & while I was carrying her!

I’ve read that puppies need to go about every half hour to one hour. My Shih Tzu, however, relieves herself about 3 – 4 times in 10 minutes. Is this normal? How can i prevent my puppy from urinating as and when she feel like it and wherever she wants?

ANSWER:

Hi there,

It sounds to me as though she is suffering from a Urinary Tract Infection (UTI). I would take her to the vet immediately and have her checked out! Some female dogs benefit from early spaying as the extra hormones aggravate chronic UTIs.

Ann

Question:

I have an 8 year old beagle, we bought him a new comfy bed and now he lays in it and licks the entire bed every night, we also have a throw blanket we leave on the floor for him and he started licking it too.

Lazarus

ANSWER:

Hi Lazarus,

How odd although I am finding out not that uncommon. Did you happen to notice anything else that coincided with the new bed such as a change in food or an increase in thirst?

My first instinct is to have him checked over my your vet, especially his mouth and teeth. Infections, gingivitis, and growths can all lead to lick behavior in dogs but normally it is not reserved to just one or two items.

If he comes back with a clean bill of health, you may have to look at other options. Have you tried washing the bed since you bought it? It may be something it is treated with that would make it taste good. Remove the bed for a night or two and replace it with a different blanket. Does he still ‘wash’ his bed?

To stop the licking, pick up a bottle of Bitter Apple from your local hardware or pet store and liberally spray the bed. Most dogs do not like the taste and are discouraged from inappropriate licking or chewing.

Does anyone else have any suggestions on why the dog is licking the bed?
Let us know what the vet says and if he offers any other suggestions.

Ann

Gobbling food is a really common problem with puppies and young dogs as the dynamics within the litter are too eat as fast and as much as you can before your littermates eat it all up on you. Puppies come into homes where there is no longer a power struggle for dinner and outgrow the tendency to gobble their dinner. However, some don’t.

There are times I like to spend the time to retrain my dog but in this case, I don’t mind the quick fix and the Brake Fast Bowl is the quickest of all fixes. Like the blurb says, the bowl looks like the latest edition to your kid’s Lego collection with three big knobs in the center. However, those knobs work to slow down your dog’s gobbling by basically being in his way. They work great and with time, your dog will slow down even in a regular bowl as they learn that there is no competition for the food.

I have heard of people making their own cheap rendition of the Brake Fast Bowls by adding a big rock in the center of the dish. This would work too but I have some concerns about the food getting trapped underneath the rock. I don’t know about you, but I can see my dog either picking up the rock and dropping it on the floor or getting her tongue stuck underneath it as she tries to sweep the food out of its hiding spot. I like the idea of the knobs being a part of the dish – no rocks on my floor, no rattling around as the dog moves it about, and no weird tongue injuries that are hard to explain to your vet!

Question:

I have two dogs. A 1 1/2 yr. old chocolate lab, Kona, and a 10 month old rottweiler/great dane mix (we think, got him from the pound when he was 7 weeks old), Titan. Kona is a very small lab, she is only like 50 lbs. We are pretty sure she has ciliac, so we have begun feeding her a perscription diet. Our problem is this though, we did not know that the food we were feeding her was bad for her, well then she was allergic to it. She starting eating Titan’s poop as a result of never feeling like she was getting enough food. And then her own. And we cannot get her to stop. I don’t think it is so much because she is hungry any more, but because it is so much of a habit. She is stubborn is all get out, and extremely quick.

ANSWER:

Hi Shantel,

Question:

My 1 year old black lab is foaming at the mouth during excessive play and during eating time.

He vomitted yesterday, but still very playful.

Please help. thank you.

Laura

ANSWER:

Hi Laura,

Question:

I read that, “most people are better off forgoing pet insurance and instead putting the money they would have spent on premiums into a savings account. Pet coverage can cost $2,000 to $6,000 over the life of an average pet, and the chances are slim you’ll ever need to shell out that much for treatment.”

Click Here to read the article

Mike Keller

ANSWER:

Hi Mike,

Thank you for your response and the chance to hopefully clarify some of the confusion.

First off, the full plans that cover everything including flea products are not necessary and I believe that is more what the article you posted is referring to when it talks about the cost/versus lifetime use. At upwards of $150 to $200 a month for some of the high end plans, they are completely correct – no one needs that kind of coverage. The people that buy that kind of coverage are same type of person who buys flood insurance when they live on top of a mountain. They want to know they are covered under every eventuality and all the power to them if that is what they need to get a solid night’s sleep.

For the rest of us, each situation is different and must be looked at on an individual basis.

For example mixed breeds tend to be healthier then purebreds so I am less inclined to suggest to the owner of a medium-sized Heinz 57 to get pet insurance. However, if the owner of a Bulldog or Shar-pei asked me what I thought, well, I would tend to lean towards getting the dog covered – not the platinum $200 a month plan but definitely something that covers all foreseen eventualities for their specific breed.

I will point out that the mixed breed versus purebred example can backfire as well. I never bothered to get pet insurance for my pitbull x pup because she was a mixed breed and pitbulls in general tend to be extremely healthy dogs. At 13 months she developed autoimmune hemolytic anemia, charging up a bill of nearly $6000 in two weeks. It took me six months of Macaroni & Cheese to pay that bill off and yes, if I had known what the future held for my girl, I would have bought basic insurance.

The value of those emergency/basic illness plans that cost between $15 and $25 a month are priceless. What about for someone on a fixed income? Say the person does have the ability to put away the cost of the pet insurance each month and not touch it for any reason other then if their pet is in an accident or becomes sick. Emergency pet insurance covers all specified emergencies up to around $2000 usually but my concern would be what happens if the pet breaks his leg after six months? The $90 to 150 saved is not going to fix the leg whereas the insurance would cover it in full.

Like most things in life, pet insurance is not a strictly black or white decision – there are many shades of grey. For most people, emergency coverage is all they need but definitely take the time to think about the purchase, research the companies, ask your breeder and/or vet about what they feel is necessary for your dog and decide on your comfort level. Take my word for it, you never want to be standing in front of your sick or injured dog and have to decide if you can afford the emergency treatment it requires to survive, those decisions are better if based on what is best for the dog, not your pocketbook.

Take care,

Ann

Question:

Hello, I am writing with a concern i have about my dog…about 8 weeks ago we bought a boxer puppy, who was 10 weeks old when we purchased him, when we brought him home we kept him in the house for 8 weeks. We thought he was too small to be outside so we kept him inside until he got a little bigger..(big enough to make messes.) just this past week we put him outside in a pen, and now he wont eat..he will drink but just wont eat. There are no signs of vomiting or diarrhea. He is very active, we let him out every day to run and play with our kids, but we have noticed he has stopped eating his food. Could you please tell me why this is happening to my dog….thank you so much.

Brandon Carroll

ANSWER:

Hi Brandon,

I am trying to understand your situation and question here but I am a bit confused. You kept him inside while he was young yet now that he is five months old, he is outside exclusively with no inside time with you or his family? Did you gradually adjust him to his new surroundings by putting him in the pen with a new toy for an hour at a time or did you put him in the pen and then expect him to adjust all at once?

My guess is he is not eating because he is confused, has never eaten outside before, and probably anxious about his new lot in life.

Listen, I am not against kenneling a dog when they cannot be supervised. My dogs have all been kennel trained and it is a huge relief to be able to relax, knowing they are safe yet outside getting some exercise and fresh air. However, my dogs also came inside during the day to spend time with their people and slept in my room. In my opinion, it is the best of both worlds for the dogs.

To expect a puppy to adjust overnight to being ousted out of the house and into doggy jail is probably asking a bit much. Do you take him for walks? What happens in the winter when it is cold or raining and no one wants to go outside and play with him?

Boxers are extremely social dogs and need to be around their people for at least part of the day – can you find some compromise where he is outside for part of the day and with his family the rest of the time?

Puppies make messes – so do kids. Teach them properly and they stop making messes. Put some time into training, take him to an obedience class, and spend quality time with him and I will guarantee he will not only start to eat again, but end up being a lifelong buddy for you and your family.

Ann

Question:

If my dog has lost some hair on her rump and her skin has darkened. What can I do at home to help her grow her hair again? Vets want a lot of money for many tests that I cannot afford.

ANSWER:

Hi Susan,

Question:

how and why does my pup eat my cat’s poop?

Jessica

ANSWER:

Hi Jessica,

Ah, the kitty cat Glosette question – always my favorite!

The eating of poop is called coprophagia and unfortunately, dogs are not the only animals that partake in this particular habit. Gorillas also will eat poop…nice! So do rodents, flies, dung beetles (could have guessed that one, right?!?), rabbits, and even cows expect because of their four stomachs, it does not have to physically leave their body before they can tuck in to it – they just bring it back up the way it went down!
Many animals, including rabbits and cows, eat their poop because their diet is such that nutrients are difficult to absorb so it takes two passes through the digestive tract to garner all the nutrients they can out of a meal.

Dogs and other mammals eat their poop because of nutrients and digestive enzymes produced in the intestines that cannot be absorbed back into the body through the intestinal walls. It is a way of increasing the digestive enzymes in their stomachs, aiding digestion. In the wild, it is believed that wolves eat the intestines and stomach contents of their kill first in order to use the other animal’s digestive enzymes to help digest the upcoming meal. Nice, huh? Brings a whole new take to the concept of cannibalism.

Dogs eat cat poop because it is high in protein and, who knows, maybe it tastes good to them.

However, it is best to dissuade the habit due to the many parasites that can live in the poop and care has to be taken that the dog does not eat the kitty litter along with the poop, especially clumping cat litter, as it can cause a significant blockage. If your dog is one of the many that enjoys a between meal snack, place the kitty litter where they cannot get at it for safety and discourage cats from pooping in your yard!
Ann