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I completely feel you about being scared he might get injured. My dog, Otto, was quite the gulper. When he was only about 3mo old, he got a hold of a raw chicken bone (it was a leg bone, he had found the cat’s dinner…). I saw him take it, I ran over to him and told him to leave it (yup, this was before he knew the command “leave it”), but it was too late, he had broken it into 2 pieces then swallowed them. I thought for sure he wouldn’t make it through the night, but we kept an eye on him and he was completely fine.

The above suggestions to help with gulping are great. My current gulper, Loki, will get any of his raw meat frozen. He still eats it very fast, but at least he breaks it into kibble-sized pieces, as he doesn’t like swallowing large frozen things… Brrrrr!

I’ve never done a real raw diet with my dogs, I’ve only read the books and web pages. I hope you can get a good routine going with your guy, and I’m sure he’ll remember to chew soon 😉

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Trying rotational diets would be good, but with our animals, it has brought out pickiness even more. Be sure you avoid table scraps and extra treats, as that could just encourage her to turn her nose at the food.

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GizmoMom, thank you for doing the math for me XP

Yep, if your doggie needs 149 calories, then 5.8oz would be right. Just be sure he gets dental chews and (if possible) regular teeth-brushing, as canned food builds up on teeth really fast.

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Thank you for the advice. I will check into that.

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I don’t think there are treat reviews here, but my favorite for training are Zuke’s minis – soft treats about the size of kibble. You have to really watch the ingredients though, as Purina just bought them out, so the formula might change for the worst.
Also, if you like a certain brand of food, I’m sure the brand’s treats would be good too.

Personally, I enjoy just making my own treats the most. There are tons of great ideas online from baking to freezing. Plus, making your own treats would make sure you know /exactly/ what does and doesn’t go into them. When I bake my treats, I usually do them at 300* for about an hour, so they get the nice crunchy texture…you could, of course, cook them shorter for a chewier treat. If you want any recipe ideas, just let me know.

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Bones do an amazing job, yes, but I will always brush my dogs’ teeth. Cassy had chews/bones her whole life, but I didn’t brush her teeth enough and she needed one pulled. Then our cat is on the raw diet, so she consumes whole bones daily, and she got an infected tooth at age 5.

Certainly though, if brushing is difficult to do, then bones make a close second for good dental care 🙂

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@InkedMarie: that is a good method, yes, but one of my dogs absolutely DESPISES the taste of any dog toothpastes, so I have to brush his teeth w the paste. Sometimes I just use tartar gel, dog mouthwash, sprays, etc on the brush. I’m soooo glad all of my dogs learned to hold still for it, lol! They all hate having their teeth brushed,but they know they’re obeying me and know they’ll get some kisses and a treat afterwards.

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*some dogs are a BIT tougher, not but. (Autocorrect…)

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Aj, I wondered if it might be a problem to get a brush in there, some dogs are a but tougher to do. I would advise having the vet do a dental. It’s a bit spendy, but we had our senior lab’s teeth cleaned, and it was incredible! When she gave us kisses, there was ZERO odor to it! Plus, if you can get at least one dental cleaning in, it’ll be WAY easier to stay on top of dental care with sprays/additives/chews/etc. I also know many people who add a spoonful of organic coconut oil to the food, it is very good for oral health.

Best wishes to you and your furry friend! What breed is your dog? 🙂

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I’ve honestly never used a deshedder/furminator, simply because I just never have quite been persuaded to spend so much on a brush. I hear lots of good comments on it, but if it damages the coat, then I’d avoid it.

I make sure brushing is a part of my boys’ daily routine. They know how to stand still for it, and turn around when I ask. I use an undercoat rake for their winter fur, and then just a regular slicker brush. During the summer, after I’ve sprinkled them w dry shampoo, I like to use a regular horse body-brush to help “flick” the powder out of their fur.

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If you’re getting canned food, be sure to take good care of those teeth with regular brushing 😉 Even though my girl had kibble and regular bones, the time I skipped brushing her teeth was the time she got a nasty infection and needed the tooth pulled 🙁

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Since we are on the topic of coconut oil – I once read it’s great for oral health, and that some people brush their dogs (or even their own) teeth with it. Does anyone here know if it is/isn’t good for oral health? Because for some reason, I got the tooth-curse with all my dogs, LOL! They all get water additives, teeth-brushing 2-5x weekly, tooth spray/gel/foam, and various chews all the time, but two of them still ended up w teeth that’ll need to get pulled soon.

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GizmoMom is right – almost every 5 star food leaves out soy. Many 3-4 star foods do as well. Hopefully your pooch isn’t intolerant to any other ingredients, as allergy-prone pooches are bummers 🙁

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Mom2Cavs, pure balance sounds right I think. Yes, there was a GF and grain-inclusive (30-40$ for a 30lb bag, not a terrible price, really). Honestly I might consider it if my dogs don’t do too well on their new food.

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@Ajchavis, I don’t give her whole birds… We don’t have the resources for it. Instead? We slice the skin/meat off of a chicken leg, then put it in the food processor with some liver/heart, and let her eat the whole bone. Goodness she is a picky cat!!! If I add any supplement powder to the mush, she refuses. If I add too much liver, she refuses. Why did we start raw with her? Ever since we rescued her (5wk old), she refused to eat ANY type of cat food. Canned, bagged, frozen, kibble, you name it – she hates it.

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Mom2Cavs, that’s great you found such a wonderful vet! I’m not even sure how far it’d be to find a vet who actually knows /real/ nutrition, but it’s probably too far to be worth it. So I will just avoid the topic of “food” at our vet from now on. Luckily, they’re fine about it… They’re always asking “how many treats? Any table scraps? Careful about obese dogs!” He said that after weighing my recently rescued shelter dog, who gained 2lb and could easily get another 5lb without looking tubby, LOL! Yeeeeah, my one biscuit a day and occasional rice/meat/fruit is gonna make my working Aussie obese.

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I recently saw one dry food at WM, I can’t remember the name of it for the LIFE of me! All I remember was they had a grain-free variety… Seems like the bags were dark and had pics of fruits/meat/sweet potatoes/etc. If I’m ever back there, I will try to let you know what it was called…

Every WM is different tho, so what I have, you probably won’t have. Like one person said they found Paramount GF food there (a brand I know very little about, but I’ve tried it since it was at a liquidation store for $1/lb)

Hopefully you can find something that works! If your WM doesn’t seem to have anything that’ll work for your dog, I know several people who order all their dog food online – might be worth looking into.

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That’s good. I thought the fish bones were great for animals, just wanted to make sure. Picky Maddy sometimes spits them out, but she usually eats 80-90% of them.

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Very interesting… At least I still have this awesome website to make sure the foods I feed are quality! 😀

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Ah, I see. Thank you for the info… Don’t vets take a course that’s sponsored by Hills, that’s why they think it’s the best?

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What you’re doing sounds pretty good. The others have definitely given helpful advice – adding various veggies might help give her a boost of nutrients. I give my dogs raw eggs – straight from our hens, coconut oil, ground flax in their treats, fish oil, and multi-vitamins.

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Thank you, lilyh… That might be a possibility of how I word it. 🙂

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I’ve honestly never dealt with an allergy-prone dog (except food allergies), so I honestly have no idea if it would help or not. I’d go ahead and give it a shot though, coconut oil is great for dogs, mine all get a scoop of it! I’ve heard someone say they have dogs with awful skin problems, not seeming to be food-related. He got the dogs on a good multi-vitamin and a tablespoon of local RAW honey twice daily. They cleared up in a few weeks.

I’m sure other people on here will have better suggestions, as they’re much more experienced I’m sure.
I hope you can find something that works for your guy! 🙂

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I don’t know much about healthy oils, but I’d agree with Betsy in avoiding canola/rapeseed oil…

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Now y’all get to see Sir Inigo Montoya (aka Iggy), the bestest Holstein steer in the world! 😀

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Alright, thank you. I will just have to experiment with her 🙂 I think her current supplement has MSN, maybe one other thing…but I really can’t remember.

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Can I vent on Beneful a little more, guys? I saw another commercial for it… They seriously know NOTHING about dog nutrition! They said “with wholesome dog-friendly ingredients like soy, wheat, chicken, and egg!” Then the pictures of grains is right there on the bag… I mean, heck, it looks good to people – must be good for my dog, who cares absolutely nothing about how fancy the picture is, what shape the Kibbles are, or what color the food is – right?

I wish people would somehow be forced to read even a paragraph on the basic NO-NO’s of dog nutrition. I’d bet Beneful would go outta business after that!

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Yes, I will just have to keep dropping hints without sounding mean or annoying, LOL! Did I forget to mention I’m terrible at wording things nicely? XD

His dogs are still energetic, and have healthy weights, but they smell AWFUL (he thinks it’s since they’ve never been bathed in their lifetime…but my girl gets hardly any baths, but she smells fine), yep they shed, their breath is smelly… Ears are good at least.

It took me quite a while to realize smell comes from diet, not hygiene. I thought our Lab’s foul/sour smell was from #1 she’s an oily water-dog #2 she has a skin condition. Once I switched her food finally and noticed her smell was virtually unnoticeable within a month, I was severely a strong believer that food changes everything! Now, I can bury my nose in her fur and smell nothing but cedar-bedding and occasionally that slight dog smell (call me weird, but I find it to smell almost ricey, and sometimes kinda good… I know, I’m pathetic)

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Thanks, Patty. Right now, she’s already on a basic joint supplement (I forgot to mention that)… It actually has 650mg G, maybe 200mg C. in it, but I think she needs some more, so I may keep her on a full tsp daily.

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Grapes and onions are the only ones I can think of to avoid. Then of course try to avoid seeds/pits. I’d agree w Patty – try to stick with things that are high in nutrients. Might be good to avoid tomatoes, many dogs are sensitive to them.

I honestly don’t add much to my dogs’ kibble, but every summer, the dogs get all the apples they want (assuming the cow doesn’t gobble them up first!), and they get veggie leftovers. If you have picky eaters, pureeing them might help. Freezing would be good if you want to stock up when produce is on sale. One of my boys is EXTRA picky about what goes in his mouth, so if I got him started on veggies, I’d probably add a bit of home made chicken stock to hide the icky healthy taste ;D

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Acana is definitely a good one. Agreed – avoid Hills… My vet once told me Hills was the only thing he recommended because of the science/research behind the company. I thought “oh, the vet says it’s best, so it’s the best!” And bought a bag without reading the ingredients. Wow was that a waste of money! I think next time I will try Dog Chow and get better luck with my dogs!

Just as long as the food as wholesome good quality proteins and a low amount of fillers, your pup should do good 🙂

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I’ll mostly agree with the other posts – I’ve liked Diamond products so far. I buy my guys D. Naturals – $40/40lb. Kirkland (branch of D.) makes 4star foods, I find them to be about $25/40lb. I’d definitely try a trial-size bag first, as D tends to be either love it or hate it. My dogs all do great on it, but my friend tried her dogs on DN and they reacted horribly (diarrhea, shedding, stinking, etc.)

I gave my guys Nutra Nuggets lamb n rice for quite a while, too. It’s about the same price as Kirkland, but it’s only about 3 stars (my dogs did just as good on it as they do on DN, honestly. I had to get off of it though since one of the dogs was getting sensitive to wheat)

Hopefully you can find something that works for your wallet and your dogs! 🙂

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I really would like to find some pages about dogs getting severely ill on it, but I’m sure he’d mention the fact that his dogs have been on it all their lives and haven’t been sick yet.

Patty, I was afraid an answer like that would come along. I will just have to keep dropping little hints here and there, I guess.

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Big time no-no to Royal Canin. ProPac seems to have a high rating on this site, but for a growing pup, you really want to avoid anything that has corn on the top 5 ingredients. Corn is 100% filler, and many dogs are hyper-sensitive to it. My APBT/Lab/Rott has sensitive skin, but surprisingly didn’t react to corn. We fed him 3-4x the amount of dog food when he had the stuff with ground corn. It literally went right through him – his stools were full of the corn grit. I think I could have fed him sawdust and gotten better results!

I looked up Sam’s Field food. Even though it /does/ have the corn, I noticed chicken and chicken liver were the first two ingredients in the dry puppy food. It’s not /the/ best out there, but if the price is right, then I’m sure your pup could do fine on it.

I know options are slim around your place, but if you could try finding #1. Make sure real meat is the first 2-3 ingredients. Then try to avoid corn/soy/wheat, and even skipping grains entirely is great. If you can’t find all of that, then I’d say Sam’s Field should be fine – my dogs were amazingly healthy on a food with wheat as the 3rd ingredient.

Best wishes with your pup! I hope you’ll find something that works for her growth, tummy, skin, and your wallet/convenience! 🙂

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Maddy was originally on Cat Chow, so yeah- hair balls galore there!

She’s seeming to do much better on the new food. I haven’t seen a hairball in a while (well, I don’t really see them. My bare toes feel them in the middle of the night!)

It sounds like fiber and “lubricants” are fairly easy to add into a diet without getting a special extra-spendy-but-full-o’-fillers food.

I’m a little concerned about her weight right now. She’s been checked out totally healthy, and acts completely normal, but she feels pretty scrawny. I was hoping adding the canned was going to help (she hasn’t really ever had anything but dry), but she will eat no more than 1tbsp daily, even though I try to offer it to her twice a day. The worst? I honestly haven’t seen her eat the dry in a while – she only eats the canned now. I’m still keeping my fingers crossed that she eats dry when I’m not looking, since they have free choice dry.

I tried mixing dry with canned, but she refused. Picky picky girl! Are there any quality cat foods that have an extra calorie boost maybe? She doesn’t like raw meat at all, otherwise I’d try her on that.

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Thank you for the advice. I’m not sure how I’ll phrase it to him, as I really don’t want to come across as basically calling him a bad/uneducated owner for feeding his dogs that, because he’s one of the best dog owners I know!

I will probably end up just sending him the link to this site, and say how surprised I am about how high (or low) quality some foods are….maybe he’d get curious and check his food out.

I’m definitely going to ignore the canned food for now. Honestly, it’d be incredible if he kept them on Alpo canned, but switched them to a 3-4star dry food. I think one of his biggest issues is the fact that he probably doesn’t really want to make time to go to a feed store for better food (Walmart and grocery stores are all we have around here other than the feed stores that sell dogfood – PetCo/Smart/Costco are 50+mi)

Any extra moral support would be great though, because this guy is…well, he’s more like a second grandfather to me than anything, so there’s a high amount of respect to get through.

I’ve already told him about a great deal on joint supplements, I told him the cost on this is about 1/4 what we were paying on regular supplements. He said he’ll probably do it when they start showing signs of joint problems – they’re 7y.o. Now, so it’s really the perfect time to get em started /before/ the signs come. I just told him I’m getting my 6yr boy on it… Trying to avoid saying, in any form, that I know everything about dog health (because I DEFINITELY don’t)

Thanks again guys, I will keep you posted on any updates, that’s for sure!

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@Suzie, I’m sure there’s some food out there…possibly a lamb formula? It would probably be very expensive and difficult to find. I’d suggest starting your dog on a raw diet: http://www.dogaware.com/diet/homemade.html

Even a raw diet will probably be very tricky to omit those proteins, so maybe talk to your vet about any suggestions?

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Did the dandruff happen right after the bath? My lab gets dandruff after her baths too (the only shampoos that don’t cause dandruff are WAY too mellow….they get zero cleaning accomplished). Since I only bathe her once every 1-2mo, the dandruff doesn’t cause any redness/irritation/itching, and it goes away in a day or two.
If it’s not bathing, maybe adding some fish and/or coconut oil into his diet? I do that for my dogs if their coat seems to be getting dry or flaky. Like whenever I know I’m going to bathe Cassy, I give her an extra dose of oil for about a week before and after the bath, just to make sure her skin keeps producing her balancing oils.

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Jeff, thanks so much for the info on honey!

We are by the Oregon Coast (the land of liquid sunshine…aka rain…aka sideways rain!), so luckily things stay fairly constant with us, and the dogs don’t seem to get seasonal allergies. I’m not sure what Loki had, but when we adopted him last spring, he was sneezing non-stop, sometimes if we ran him hard, it’d get to the point of where he couldn’t breathe and started choking. I took him to the vet and asked them, they looked up his nose and said everything’s normal, but he might have some grass seed lodged in his snout. I kept an eye on him, and within a couple weeks it went away. It hasn’t come back yet, but I will wait and see if something about the spring blossoms caused it.

Loki is totally healthy other than that, he has the softest, shiniest fur out of the 3 dogs. I wonder if his sneezing was just from his initial acclimation to a new environment? We adopted him from a shelter that was about 50mi away, in a city. We live out on 5acres, about 2mi away from the nearest small town. If the sneezing starts up in spring though, I’ll get onto that honey for him!

About the shampoo…that’s a genius idea! I just hope my super wiggly Loki would come to the idea of liking it, LOL! (He can’t hold still for more than a fe moments…but heck, he’s a 2-3y.o. Kelpie/Aussie, who can blame him?) Our lab randomly got a nasty hot spot on the underside of her foot – she gnawed in between the toes until it was raw. In all her 12yrs, she has NEVER gotten a spot on her foot, it’s always been her back/rump. Luckily, I put some ointment on it and it went away the next day, but should it happen again – should I try the wash method using her Virbac Hexadine shampoo in he he ziploc bag?

@Sue, that’s weird your vet said no honey. I do see why they might say it’s sugar, but if it’s local raw honey, and just a tablespoon, the benefits are WAY greater than the chances of your dog having too much sugar! Be sure your dog isn’t at all sensitive to wheat/grains when you put it on the toast though. 😉

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Jeff, I’ve never heard using honey could work, but that does make sense, as honey truly is a wonder food! Do you give your dogs the honey/yogurt even when their skin is fine, or only when you know allergies are coming?

We have two beehives (funny story, really…we got the hive, then a friend gave us one of his swarms. That swarm left within a few weeks, but some wild honeybees moved in and STUFFED it w honey in just a couple months! We won’t harvest it until summer though, of course. Have to make sure they’re settled in), so I’d imagine giving her a piece of the honeycomb daily would work, doesn’t get much more organic and raw than that!
Now I’m craving a spoonful of honey…:P

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(About all my pets were rescued, actually, lol! The dogs, the cats, the cow, the pony…I guess the chickens, ducks, and fish were bought at pet/feed stores, hah!)

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Jujubeez: awesome you got a rescue!!! All of the dogs I’ve owned were giveaway rescues…they’re all amazing. (well, my newest guy was my first shelter pet. I’m SO glad I got him….I’m fairly experienced w dogs, so I can work around anxiety issues fairly easily. Several people had a hold on him, solely because he was the most unique-colored and only blue-eyed dog at the shelter. Almost nobody living in town has the time/experience to exercise and maintain a high-drive, super anxious Aussie/Kelpie. Luckily, I’m not in town! I’m on 5 acres, so he doesn’t have to worry about cars whizzing by, dogs barking at him, and he has plenty of running room)

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It more than likely is related to food, possibly environment. TotW is okay food, but I usually have found better quality food at the same price, if not, cheaper. Not always is grain-free food /the/ best, dogs often have intolerances to potatoes, other fruits/veggies, chicken, and occasionally even fish. I’d try some of the above suggestions for food, and maybe try adding plenty of fish oil to his diet (assuming he has no problems w fish…There are many vegetarian oils that work almost as well. Coconut and flax are two of my favorites for the dogs, they also get raw eggs regularly).

I wouldn’t recommend using the borax/peroxide, that might make him even worse, as Borax often causes “burning” to sensitive skin. If his problem is mange, and I doubt it is, the vet would sponge him down all over w medicine.

If there’s any possibility, I’d try doing the BARF diet (bones and raw food) for a while, that way you would know /exactly/ what’s going into his system, and you could customize it to give him optimal results! It’s a bit tricky and overwhelming to start the BARF diet, but the raw diet forums on here would probably get you to a great head start.
The raw diet might not nessicarily work though – I know a sensitive pooch who would get all red and inflamed whenever he was on raw.

I’m really sorry you have to deal with these problems, I’ve gone through skin issues a few times (it was with my lab, Otitis is the name.), it is definitely one of my LEAST favorite health issues to deal with – hands down!

Hopefully you’ll figure out the problem and get him back in good shape soon!

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Haha that’s okay 😉 how old is your GD now? Sure is a handsome one!

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I’m in Oregon…

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I wonder if it would be possible to use on cats too? Maddy is super picky, and usually won’t eat the treats…but she might accept a few drops if it was mixed in w her canned food?

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Ah I’m so glad I discovered Actiflex! I’ve been looking for something affordable to give to our older Lab…and I’ve always had a hard time understanding why it has to be so expensive! I’ll definitely be trying Actiflex for her. At only 3/4tsp daily, I figure it’ll be wayyyy cheaper to pay 30$ for about 6mo worth, instead of $20 for just one month. Keeping my fingers crossed I can find some and it’ll work for her!

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Yes cows get very pushy, that’s for sure! I’m SO glad I taught Iggy a solid “wait”, because cleaning out a stall and pouring grain is very difficult when there’s a giant cow shoving his way around. Sometimes, he slips into the stall before I say “okay”, so I march right in there, slap him on the rear, and he remembers the definition of “wait outside!” Reeeeally fast! We have taught him to respect people though, so he is generally very mellow. Sometimes he tries to roughhouse with us, but he calms down when I tell him to quit. It’s very nice that he’s not pushy to new people, he’s sweet as pie around them!

InkedMarie, I’m guessing those are your three doggies in the picture, as the breeds match up. 🙂 they’re all beautiful!

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I forgot to talk much about our cats:

Panda,5, and Millie,6, were rescues. They are half-siblings, found at our local paper mill when they were tiny babies. They’re both indoors, but they’re not exactly the nicest of cats. Panda will be lovey-dovey maybe 5min every day? Millie never meows, almost never purrs, and never really enjoys being pet. Panda has the colors of a showeshoe/ragdoll cat (I can’t remember the technical name…it’s basically like a Siamese w a white underside), and Millie? She is the oddest colored cat I’ve ever seen. I think the technical name is “chocolate tortoiseshell”, but you can google “Siamese tortoiseshell” to get a basic idea for it. Then she has a line straight down her face. Half is white, half is dark brown.
Maddy is 12 now, she’s also a rescue. Dad found 4 tiny kittens dumped in the woods, so he brought them home. We gave one away within a few months, then one passed away when he was 3-4 (I think he may have had a heart attack. He got scared of EVERYTHING. At night, he’d walk down the hall and see his own shadow, then completely freak out!). Then the third one died just a few months ago…he was an outdoor kitty, so we suspect he got in a fight with something he shouldn’t have. Maddy is a 100% indoor girl though, so she won’t be cougar bait! She’s a very petite kitty, and is a beautiful long-haired silver tabby color.

Then we have 7 hens and a rooster. They’re all crack-ups. Who needs TV when you can look out the window and see chickens bumble around? There’s Zsa Zsa and he sister Eva, Lucy (the red hen), Amelia (the flyer), Roxy and Isabelle (black hens), and Phillis (the fluffy white one…seeing any correlation yet?…). Our rooster is “Theadore Roostervelt” or Teddy. Then we also have two ducks, Petunia (named after my favorite children’s book) and Olivia.

Our miniature horse is Jazz. She’s about 11y.o. And is a been there, done that, kinda gal. We’ve only had her for a year. Poor girl, I think we are her 4th owners now? She originally was in a home of abuse and neglect, then someone rescued her from that. Then our neighbors ended up with her and rented her out for 4-H. Now we have her. She’s a sweetheart and super gentle, but people definitely aren’t her favorite. She just doesn’t really get bonded to anyone very well, but I can’t blame her! If I had that many people let me down, I’d start to think grass is my only friend too!

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Aww Patty, you had me at “border collies” and “horses” LOL! I’ve always wanted a horse…we just never got in the right place to have one sadly. My cow is a pretty close second, I’ll admit. The nice thing about cows: everybody who owns/trains them says they’re closer to teaching a dog than a horse. That worked out great for me, I guess, since I’ve only worked w dogs and never horses. That’s also so neat you have so many chickens! Are they very tame, or do they just do their own thing? Ah, what a bummer your calf is a freezer-baby. Our guy is definitely going to live a good long life with us, going for walks down the street, going on trail rides, and maybe even doing a parade or two. 😉

I’ve always wanted to do agility competitions, but both of my boys have horrible temperaments around new dogs :/ I felt SO bad for Loki (my Kelpie/Aussie) because agility would have been THE perfect stimulating sport for him (especially since he’s not allowed to herd our other animals). I talked to a professional trainer (she got to go study with Cesar Millan. Jealous? I think yes!), she said Loki’s issues will probably never be fixed since it’s a temperament thing, not something that can be solved with just a “no” and a leash tug, or a “good boy” and a treat.

Mom2Cavs, aww your doggies sound so sweet! I’ve always wanted a little doggie, myself! 😀
That’s cool your gal was a demo dog! Shasta is also one right now. I’m a volunteer assistant in an obedience class (both Shasta and Loki went through it, each at different times. Loki didn’t improve at all, but although Shasta already had obedience ACED, he learned to obey me no matter how many dogs are swarming him). Shasta is such a show off for it! Whenever we have to sit in the corner and wait our turn to show a command, he starts doing all the tricks he knows, just for attention! The main trainer still has to use one of her dogs for some demos – like weaving between the dogs, because Shasta gets soo grumpy (at least it’s all bark and no bite. He never attacks, he just growls and raises his hackles…reminds me of by cross between his wolf, and a grumpy old man that woke up on the wrong side of the bed!)

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