Other dog forums

[janem_g]

Evening,

do any of you look on other dog forums? I will freely admit to being a fairly novice dog owner. 1 well behaved dog of my own, 1 successfully puppy walked hearing dog and a slightly insane terrier I have some responsibility for but I try my best,

I read The Doghouse on mumsnet and it’s a scary place at times. There is a current thread about someone with a ged/mal adolescent dog that’s growling and baring it’s teeth at her children. Some of the advice seems to me quite frankly crazy if not dangerous.

 

[AmyMay]

Off to look ? k

 

[AmyMay]

Actually most of the advice they’ve received is overwhelmingly spot on.

 

[[153312]]

Linky please ??

 

[AmyMay]

Linky please ??

https://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/the_doghouse/4521057-Dog-bared-teeth-twice-and-growled?pg=1

 

[Prancerpoos]

Interesting thread. Have to say I have never heard of this “hand feeding” thing.

 

[The Xmas Furry]

Actually most of the advice they’ve received is overwhelmingly spot on.

Yes, agreed.
I'd not be hand feeding a Mali X

 

[MotherOfChickens]

Interesting thread. Have to say I have never heard of this “hand feeding” thing.

Have heard of making them work for their rations but not actually handing them their dinner by the handful. Especially grim when feeding wet food..

 

[Prancerpoos]

Seems a very weird thing to do, but can’t be bothered to Google it ?

 

[janem_g]

Sorry I wasn’t clear. I didn’t mean the advice on that thread was crazy, just some of the advice in general on there.

 

[Christmascinnamoncookie]

But I know someone on here who advocates hand feeding all food on walks.

 

[Christmascinnamoncookie]

Yes, agreed.
I'd not be hand feeding a Mali X

But why not? I don’t have experience of the breed, but presumably they can be trained to take food nicely, like most dogs? Looking at my youngsters, the 85 year old neighbour insists on them sitting, waiting, taking treats gently, hand closed until they comply.

 

[Annette4]

I hand fed all 3 of my dogs exclusively until they moved to raw, it genuinely did wonders for mine and Dobby's relationship.

 

[Tiddlypom]

It's a 7 month old Mali/GSD that is in an inexperienced home with children, is hand fed and is currently given 3 to 4 hours of exercise a day .

The hand feeding is to train it not to resource guard. Wtf?

I agree that there was a lot of constructive advice on that thread, and a strong theme that a Mali x is not a suitable dog for the pet home that it is currently in.

 

[skinnydipper]

I hand fed all 3 of my dogs exclusively until they moved to raw, it genuinely did wonders for mine and Dobby's relationship.

I initially hand fed the dog in my avatar for this reason (he was a troubled soul when I got him at 18 months). Thereafter he always chose to bring his chews and lie close to me to eat them. Trust.

 

[Moobli]

Another case of the (very) wrong dog in an inexperienced pet home with small children. I do hope she takes the advice to rehome the dog to a more suitable environment.

 

[Equi]

I was part of a staffy forum for a while but it went down hill badly and think it isn’t going anymore. One poster worked in a rescue and believed their opinion and only their opinion mattered because they worked in a rescue, so every comment would be quoted and picked apart. Didn’t matter that I worked in kennels and had some knowledge myself. God they peed me off and are partly why I left it after my dog die rather than stick around to share advice to new owners. Can’t be bothered with people like that.

 

[Christmascinnamoncookie]

I hand feed treats, not the main food. I was laughing like a drain at the pups on their walk earlier, the desperation to get tiny amounts of treats for recalling is hilarious (and very useful)

I’ve always practiced putting my hands in their bowls/mouths/moving bowls to keep them slightly apart when eating. It just makes sense if ever there’s an issue eg Bear had a cow ear once and it got stuck, so I had to fish it out of his throat.

I have no idea what the mumsnet thread is about, but I often recognise writing styles of posters on here, so hopefully some sensible advice has been offered.

 

[FestiveG]

One of the first things we did with the rotters was ensure that we could put our hands in their bowls, while they were eating. We also made sure that they say nicely after eating, so that no one was looming over anyone else who took a bit longer to eat. Surely the dog on the mums net thread is trying it's luck at 7 months and if put back in it's box now, will stop being foolish about food?

 

[Christmascinnamoncookie]

One of the first things we did with the rotters was ensure that we could put our hands in their bowls, while they were eating. We also made sure that they say nicely after eating, so that no one was looming over anyone else who took a bit longer to eat. Surely the dog on the mums net thread is trying it's luck at 7 months and if put back in it's box now, will stop being foolish about food?

My first bit of training with the youngsters was keeping them out of Bear’s bowl, although he wasn’t bothered, such a good dog. All three are respectful of each other’s bowls and wait til each has left the bowl before checking for (non-existent) leftovers.

At 7 months, I’d say there’s every hope the dog will turn out fine if the owner trains it. Unfortunately, there are far too many owners who seem to think dogs are born trained or that what we would see as poor behaviour is the dog’s personality and acceptable.

 

[skinnydipper]

Sorry, I'm going to disagree.

I have never messed about with a dog's food once I've given them it, I think it is more likely to create resource guarding than prevent it. *

I have always been able to remove something from a dog's mouth if necessary, for instance doing a sweep of the mouth to remove the rotting dog biscuit found on a walk or the fish skin flattie the dog sucked to a slimy mess and then unsuccessfully tried to swallow - that was a fingers down throat job. Fish skin flatties now off the menu.

*Try messing with my food when I am eating and see where it gets you

 

[FestiveG]

Sorry, I'm going to disagree.

I have never messed about with a dog's food once I've given them it, I think it is more likely to create resource guarding than prevent it. *

I have always been able to remove something from a dog's mouth if necessary, for instance doing a sweep of the mouth to remove the rotting dog biscuit found on a walk or the fish skin flattie the dog sucked to a slimy mess and then unsuccessfully tried to swallow - that was a fingers down throat job. Fish skin flatties now off the menu.

*Try messing with my food when I am eating and see where it gets you

I think it just goes to show that there are more ways than one, to reach the same destination.

 

[stangs]

It depends on the dog really, doesn't it? I'd consider 'messing' with a puppy's food as a game where they're rewarded for their patience and are only showing slight resource guarding, but wouldn't dare do that to a dog with a history of resource deprivation to prevent them from resource guarding.

 

[SAujla]

Whilst my dog has never displayed any resource guarding issues I never disturb her when she's eating, she loves her food so I don't need to interrupt her enjoyment

 

[Christmascinnamoncookie]

I don’t mean to say I’ve forever got my hands in their food! I’ll chuck some extra kibble in or a sprat, I might move the bowls-youngsters have little lightweight metal bowls currently-if they shove them across the mat. The endless stones, sticks, fluff from toys needs removing regularly from puppy mouths.

 

[Clodagh]

I would guess that the hand feeding hadn’t caused the issue here.
I never interfere with a dog when it is eating, all of mine know that if I need to fish something out of their mouth I can safely rummage. I may, if I have forgotten meds or something, lean over to pop something else in the bowl but I’d prefer not to.

 

[MotherOfChickens]

I agree although tbf I would also never own a GSD, Mal etc so it might be good training with those.

I can take food away from mine/get into it if I've forgotten meds, stick meds down their throats etc so I know I can if I have to but I prefer to let them eat, same with horses. I also never feed mine together, I just dont see the point in introducing possible conflict.

 

[MotherOfChickens]

I would guess that the hand feeding hadn’t caused the issue here.
I never interfere with a dog when it is eating, all of mine know that if I need to fish something out of their mouth I can safely rummage. I may, if I have forgotten meds or something, lean over to pop something else in the bowl but I’d prefer not to.

When I was a kid we were never allowed near the dogs when they were eating, I was never left alone with them when younger, we also knew not to mither them if sleeping/tired and to never approach a strange dog without the owners permission. I dont know if that says more about dogs then, or people now or vice versa

 

[Clodagh]

I agree although tbf I would also never own a GSD, Mal etc so it might be good training with those.

I can take food away from mine/get into it if I've forgotten meds, stick meds down their throats etc so I know I can if I have to but I prefer to let them eat, same with horses. I also never feed mine together, I just dont see the point in introducing possible conflict.

Mine aren’t fed together. They sit and watch while I get the food then I walk the bowls to where they are fed.
I really like mals to look at. OH would like one. Idk. That intensity would be a bit much, but surely they are only dogs at the end of the day and most dogs (if well bred and had from pups) should respond to correct exercise, stimulation and training? But I doubt they’d be much good in the shooting field so we’ll never know!

 

[skinnydipper]

I really like mals to look at. OH would like one. Idk. That intensity would be a bit much, but surely they are only dogs at the end of the day and most dogs (if well bred and had from pups) should respond to correct exercise, stimulation and training?

I like them too. I love to watch them working/competing.

This video shows how smart they are. I believe it is French Ring, object guard. He gave up waiting for the decoy to try to take the basket and decided to speed things up

https://fb.watch/ceLGANf65K/