On Sat, 5 Jun 2010 12:48:14 -0700, (Debra Phelps)
wrote:

This is R little "Skipper" He is 25 lbs & 8 yrs old. He has some issues
when it comes 2 his eating habits. He begs us 2 feed him, (we give him
1/4 cup of food when he does eat) about every 3 hours. We feed him
Purina One weight management formula. He's overweight by about 7 lbs.
Neutered since April 2009 R Vet. has told us, that he has 2 lose the
extra weight BC it will effect his skeletal structure. Can any1 help us
with this behavioral issues of R little "Skipper?"

I'm not sure what the behavioral issues are that you're talking about.
If your dog is 7 lb overweight, he clearly needs to lose weight. If
he seems to be constantly hungry, try adding green beans to his food.
They low calorie and high in fiber so will make him feel full.

On Sat, 05 Jun 2010 22:26:12 -0400, sighthounds & siberians wrote:

On Sat, 5 Jun 2010 12:48:14 -0700, (Debra Phelps)
wrote:

This is R little "Skipper" He is 25 lbs & 8 yrs old. He has some issues
when it comes 2 his eating habits. He begs us 2 feed him, (we give him
1/4 cup of food when he does eat) about every 3 hours. We feed him
Purina One weight management formula. He's overweight by about 7 lbs.
Neutered since April 2009 R Vet. has told us, that he has 2 lose the
extra weight BC it will effect his skeletal structure. Can any1 help us
with this behavioral issues of R little "Skipper?"

I'm not sure what the behavioral issues are that you're talking about.
If your dog is 7 lb overweight, he clearly needs to lose weight. If he
seems to be constantly hungry, try adding green beans to his food. They
low calorie and high in fiber so will make him feel full.

the behavioral issue is this:

" He begs us 2 feed him "

Owners of the dog do not like that and want to change it.

Unfortunately we do not know how it looks like,
whining? barking ? dancing around the food dish ?
nagging at the owners ?

I will attempt to help as follow:

Skipper gets its food every 3 hours 1/4 cup,

that makes 4(?) feedings for total amount of 1 cup.

divide this amount into three portions and feed Skipper 3x a day

use scale and timer, increase the portion and extend the interval
so dog is fed same amount daily but within longer intervals.

continue this for apprx 2 - 3 weeks
meantime ignore "begging" or when begging occurs correct it with a "spray
bottle" and or by some other activities dog likes or dislikes
(note: this may create a different behavioral issue !)

And this a BEST (in this case) way to correct the issue:

OP goes back to Vet and demands her money Back !
Vet should know how to deal with the (feeding) issue and provide that
advice when diagnosed Skipper as overweight !
OP already paid for it. Vet may also recommend type of food and proper
amount. Looks like Vet recommended fast food for fast money and is
treating OP as milking cow ?

On Sun, 6 Jun 2010 04:53:24 +0000 (UTC), sonofdog
wrote:


the behavioral issue is this:

" He begs us 2 feed him "

I"d just as soon have my questions about a post answered by the
poster, if you don't mind. That way I don't have to rely on someone
else's interpretation of what the OP said.

Owners of the dog do not like that and want to change it.

Unfortunately we do not know how it looks like,
whining? barking ? dancing around the food dish ?
nagging at the owners ?

I will attempt to help as follow:

Skipper gets its food every 3 hours 1/4 cup,

I think that's a bad idea. You are responding to the dog begging to
be fed every 3 hours, which you said the owners don't like, by feeding
him every 3 hours. Now Skipper is really used to being fed every 3
hours. Who wants to be tied to a schedule of feeding their dog every
3 hours?

To the OP: feed your dog at normal meal times. If he begs to be fed
in between meals, give him a low-calorie snack like green beans or
carrots. Carrots aren't high in fiber like green beans, but some dogs
get satisfaction from chomping them up.


OP goes back to Vet and demands her money Back !
Vet should know how to deal with the (feeding) issue and provide that
advice when diagnosed Skipper as overweight !

I hope the vet wouldn't give that advice, because it's bad advice.

"sighthounds & siberians" wrote in message
...

No. The OP said the dog wants to be fed every 3 hours, but didn't
say how many times the dog is actually being fed. Actually the OP
didn't give much information at all. I still don't think it's a great
idea to feed the dog 3 times a day. I have dogs smaller and larger
than the OP's, and they do fine on twice daily feedings. I'm sure
they'd love to have 3 or 4 extra meals or piles of snacks, but they
don't get them, and because of that they don't bet for them, and
they're not overweight.

I must have the weirdest dog ever. When Murphy first came here, I was
feeding him morning and evening, till it became clear that he wasn't
interested in breakfast. I started feeding him only at night, and he was
fine with that. At one point, I thought that if he was getting only one
meal a day, it should probably be in the morning. Nope! He completely
ignored the breakfast until dinnertime.

On Sun, 6 Jun 2010 13:01:33 -0700, "Wingnut"
wrote:



"sighthounds & siberians" wrote in message
.. .

No. The OP said the dog wants to be fed every 3 hours, but didn't
say how many times the dog is actually being fed. Actually the OP
didn't give much information at all. I still don't think it's a great
idea to feed the dog 3 times a day. I have dogs smaller and larger
than the OP's, and they do fine on twice daily feedings. I'm sure
they'd love to have 3 or 4 extra meals or piles of snacks, but they
don't get them, and because of that they don't bet for them, and
they're not overweight.

I must have the weirdest dog ever. When Murphy first came here, I was
feeding him morning and evening, till it became clear that he wasn't
interested in breakfast. I started feeding him only at night, and he was
fine with that. At one point, I thought that if he was getting only one
meal a day, it should probably be in the morning. Nope! He completely
ignored the breakfast until dinnertime.

....proving yet again that dogs, like people, are all individuals. I
am always amazed when I hear sighthound owners talk about free-feeding
their dogs. Of my 8 sighthounds (four different breeds), there is one
(1) that wouldn't eat until she exploded.

On Sat, 5 Jun 2010 12:48:14 -0700, (Debra Phelps)
wrote:

This is R little "Skipper" He is 25 lbs& 8 yrs old. He has some issues
when it comes 2 his eating habits. He begs us 2 feed him, (we give him
1/4 cup of food when he does eat) about every 3 hours. We feed him
Purina One weight management formula. He's overweight by about 7 lbs.
Neutered since April 2009 R Vet. has told us, that he has 2 lose the
extra weight BC it will effect his skeletal structure. Can any1 help us
with this behavioral issues of R little "Skipper?"

He's begging to be fed because you are feeding him a weight management
kibble. They all suck and leave the animal feeling hungry, as you can
see. This isn't a behavioral issue, he's just hungry. You will have a
lot better luck getting him to lose weight if you go low carb. Feed him
a grain free food. Raw is best but there are some commercial foods that
are no grain (which translates to low carb).

I have no idea why vets push those special diets. None of them are
species appropriate and none work.

On Sun, 06 Jun 2010 16:24:46 -0400, Dogman wrote:

On Sun, 06 Jun 2010 15:34:13 -0400, sighthounds & siberians
wrote:

[...]
Though, they don't bet, either. I absolutely forbid it.

Not even $100 to win, on Mustang Sally in the Belmont?

Maybe. It *would* be nice if these guys would put forth a little
effort to help with kibble expenses, etc...

"sighthounds & siberians" wrote

...proving yet again that dogs, like people, are all individuals. I
am always amazed when I hear sighthound owners talk about free-feeding
their dogs. Of my 8 sighthounds (four different breeds), there is one
(1) that wouldn't eat until she exploded.

Ha! I though that was scenthounds but I guess it's both!

Cash is in the kitchen, eyeing the rotisserie. I bet he's thinking 'maybe
for once I will get some of the dark meat?'

Oh, one of his trained habits that predates us. When he really wants a
taste of some food item, he sits up and 'prays'. (Paws together under chin
and eyes closed but sniffing hard). Hard to resist!

On Mon, 7 Jun 2010 17:34:46 -0400, "cshenk" wrote:

"sighthounds & siberians" wrote

...proving yet again that dogs, like people, are all individuals. I
am always amazed when I hear sighthound owners talk about free-feeding
their dogs. Of my 8 sighthounds (four different breeds), there is one
(1) that wouldn't eat until she exploded.

Ha! I though that was scenthounds but I guess it's both!

I think it's true of many dogs, regardless of breed. With a few
exceptions such as Labs tending to eat odd, non-food items like rocks
(kind of like Siamese cats being wool-eaters), I don't really think
there are eating habits that are breed traits. Ex-racing greyhounds
are fed 4D meet at the track, but they're no more or less amenable to
raw feeding than other breeds, and they like kibble just fine.
Siberian Huskies eat a lot of fish during races, but none of mine
liked fish and one of them loved veggies and pasta and turned his nose
up at raw meat. Sighthounds and scenthouds are just subgroups of the
hound group, and while they have things in common, I think those
things mostly have to do with the purpose for which the breeds were
bred (hunt by scent or by sight). There are probably more
dissimilarities then similarities between the individual sight/scent
hound breeds.

"sighthounds & siberians" wrote
"cshenk" wrote:

...proving yet again that dogs, like people, are all individuals. I
am always amazed when I hear sighthound owners talk about free-feeding
their dogs. Of my 8 sighthounds (four different breeds), there is one
(1) that wouldn't eat until she exploded.

Ha! I though that was scenthounds but I guess it's both!

I think it's true of many dogs, regardless of breed. With a few

Yes, would be! Forgive lack of snipping but there's nothing snippable in
this thoght-line.

exceptions such as Labs tending to eat odd, non-food items like rocks
(kind of like Siamese cats being wool-eaters), I don't really think
there are eating habits that are breed traits. Ex-racing greyhounds
are fed 4D meet at the track, but they're no more or less amenable to
raw feeding than other breeds, and they like kibble just fine.
Siberian Huskies eat a lot of fish during races, but none of mine
liked fish and one of them loved veggies and pasta and turned his nose
up at raw meat. Sighthounds and scenthouds are just subgroups of the
hound group, and while they have things in common, I think those
things mostly have to do with the purpose for which the breeds were
bred (hunt by scent or by sight). There are probably more
dissimilarities then similarities between the individual sight/scent
hound breeds.

I had never considered this from this angle! Oh sure, I knew some dogs vary
(in fact, al do from one another which makes them interesting people to us).
I hadn't realized the close relation of sight and scent hounds. I thought
it was just a similar word applied to a 'hunting' dog and you'd have to hunt
high up the tree to find a common ground to 'wolf'.

If they are closer than that 'high up the tree split' then yes, as a group
they may have some common habits that most (but never all) evince.

I think there is nothing wrong in assuming a tendancy based on breed, if one
realizes an individual dog is just that. An individual dog, may show most
but not all of the traditional traits and in mixed breeds, it can be pretty
funny to figure out.

Would it be worth starting a new thread to discuss average breed behavior
generally associated with 'hounds' of both types? There's times where it
more fun to just talk with a living breathing person than 'go google'. To
me, this is one of them. I'd rather hear your direct thoughts and i'm not
going to castigate you if you say 'what seems to me is both scent and sight
hounds seem to be chow hounds best as I know from experience'.

Grin, if you agree, start it?