When Huskies Explode

flower

Well-Known Member

I wish I had a traveling groomer who would come to my home..You would have a job with me. My dogs don't travel well..even down the block they manage to puke. In Wisconsin I had a vet that would come in a van so I didn't have to go to the office even for rabies vaccinations.

So the pic is the 3[sup]rd[/sup] time…now I understand. I brush my dogs but nothing like a pro could do, and I can’t even bath the dogs in the winter time. The hair seems endless. So if you ever expand with a grooming truck in Illinois…I will be your first customer.

What am I feeding them???…My mother makes chicken for the dogs. She boils it and pulls it from the bones, then she stores it in a plastic container lined with a gallon baggie so at feeding time she scoops a little out at a time, then in a bowl with I'ams dry food (we used to feed them Eukanuba, but like a giant cat, Atticus refused it when he got tired of it) and a dollop of canned Alpo dog food. She puts it in a bowl all separated, no mixing it all like slop. I’m surprised my mom doesn’t hand them a fork and set them at the table. She also buys Jack links for doggie snacks or vinnies hot dogs.

I’m not sure a Chihuahua is a real dog, they are kind of rat like and sort of bark. Pugs are cool. If you love your ankle biter that’s all that matters. That’s the beauty of dogs, there is a type for everyone.
 

darthtang aw

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by MyLady http:///forum/thread/385239/when-huskies-explode#post_3378159
Yup, the shorter the fur, the shorter the life cycle of each hair and the more frequently it needs to be replaced. Hence, more shedding! Our pug sheds of course, but it's our "poodle" that sheds the most! LOL
Flower, first tell us what you feed, If you are already on a good food, there may be other things we can suggest to minimize shedding. And of course regular grooming done professionally will help. See if anyone in your area offers a shed reducing groom. It does cut down on the shedding because it simply gets more coat out than regular grooming alone. I offer it and have for years with great success. Just too tired after doing everyone elses dogs to do my own! Heck I use our poodle as a demo dog at grooming shows so I don't have to give him a hair cut LOL.
PS, you couldn't PAY me to own a husky! Not only the coat but they are screamers, whiners and SOOOO vocal. Most of the time when they are being groomed you would think someone was amputating a limb. The two I groom now are very quiet and sweet, but overall most of the huskies I have groomed over the years have not been the most trustworthy. If they didn't like what I was doing they didn't have much hesitation to show and try to use some teeth. I have known some wonderful ones, but they are not the breed for me.
I agree on the husky, whiners.
I am not a huge fan of the "shedding" Therapy. All our research shows a really good conditioner will do the same thing when bathed every 21-28 days. The average life cycle of hair for a short haired dog is 21 days. Case in point, Furminator, they have changed bottling suppliers three different times. Now they bottle it themselves...Furminator worked the best when Tropiclean was doing the manufacturing and bottling of this product. Groom your dog regularly and this should usually be sufficient to curb the shedding, period. The "shed therapies" are just an intense conditioning and blowout for those dogs that don't see the groomer often enough...The shedding products claim a period of 4-6 weeks of reduced shedding. Why? Because the hair cycles 21-28 days and most owners won't notice the start of the shedding till about day 28-42.....
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flower
http:///forum/thread/385239/when-huskies-explode/20#post_3378168

I wish I had a traveling groomer who would come to my home..You would have a job with me. My dogs don't travel well..even down the block they manage to puke. In Wisconsin I had a vet that would come in a van so I didn't have to go to the office even for rabies vaccinations.
>
So the pic is the 3[sup]rd[/sup] time…now I understand. I brush my dogs but nothing like a pro could do, and I can’t even bath the dogs in the winter time. The hair seems endless. So if you ever expand with a grooming truck in Illinois…I will be your first customer.

What am I feeding them???…My mother makes chicken for the dogs. She boils it and pulls it from the bones, then she stores it in a plastic container lined with a gallon baggie so at feeding time she scoops a little out at a time, then in a bowl with I'ams dry food (we used to feed them Eukanuba, but like a giant cat, Atticus refused it when he got tired of it) and a dollop of canned Alpo dog food. She puts it in a bowl all separated, no mixing it all like slop. I’m surprised my mom doesn’t hand them a fork and set them at the table. She also buys Jack links for doggie snacks or vinnies hot dogs.

I’m not sure a Chihuahua is a real dog, they are kind of rat like and sort of bark. Pugs are cool. If you love your ankle biter that’s all that matters. That’s the beauty of dogs, there is a type for everyone.
 
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smartorl

Guest
Flower, the dogs would be better suited getting the chicken raw, bones and all. When you cook it, the nutrients are in the water, this is why when people make chicken stock (for human consumption) they toss the carcasses, the good stuff is in the water. While they will readily eat the chicken, there is little nutritional value there.
After dealing with various allergies, all my dogs are on the raw diet. They have never been healthier or happier and I don't cringe everytime a food recall hits the airwaves. Before our cat passed, she was also on raw. She was a feline leukemia positive kitty that had a multitude of health and allergy issues and first prompted me to consider raw. Despite the predictions, she lived to be an old lady at the age of 17 (maybe older, we got her as a young adult) and passed away in her sleep.
While the Iams and Eukenuba are not the worst, there are far better, balanced diets out there. If you are interested, I can post up some links and studies. This has been a big area of debate on another board I am on and it can really be interesting to read.
If I were you, skip the Alpo, it's just junk in a can. The preservatives, additives, dies, and undigestibles in it really make it troublesome. There are high sodium levels which is not good for the dogs over the long term even in what we think to be smaller doses.
We make our own treats. I bought a cheapo microwave dehydrator and dehydrate real meats for them. They love them!
The Jack's links and the hot dogs contain preservatives as well as large amounts of sodium.
There is alot of debate and documentation that the reason we are seeing such a rise in cancer in our pets are directly reflective of all the preservatives we pump into their bodies.
 
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smartorl

Guest
Too late to edit, but I would like to make the disclaimer that I know that the raw diet isn't the be all, end all fix for everything.
In my case, my daschund had reactions to dyes and grains. He shed like mad and we had a hard time keeping weight on him. On a more wholesome diet, along with a regular grooming routine (we call them his "dates") I have no issues with him anymore.
 

darthtang aw

Active Member
Dogfoodanalysis.com. is a decent site to reference dog food at....stick to those in the 5 to 6 star rating.....
Drop the alpo......if you have to add a topping...by a product called sojos or something similar...dehydrated meat fruits and vegetables....even the orange bag would be 1000 times better than canned alpo. Don't cook the chicken......or any meat for that matter....pork being a possible exception.
Dog food brands I personally recommend
dogswell nutrisca
fromm anything in their four star line.
natures variety
taste of the wild.....
If money is tight or an issue, costco is carrying a grain free dog food now called pelican bay. It is a higher in the vege/fruit versus meat department than I prefer but still miles ahead of iams and eukanuba...will run about a dollar a pound...same as what you are feeding now. And it isn't made in china.
 

darthtang aw

Active Member

Too late to edit, but I would like to make the disclaimer that I know that the raw diet isn't the be all, end all fix for everything.

In my case, my daschund had reactions to dyes and grains. He shed like mad and we had a hard time keeping weight on him. On a more wholesome diet, along with a regular grooming routine (we call them his "dates") I have no issues with him anymore.
In my experience a raw diet will correct most issues...not all. But most.....when done correctly...can't be just all meat...and have to switch up the protien source for the best result and prevent developing allergy to a single meat source.
 
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smartorl

Guest
It works out really well for me, we have a family owned, small butchershop in town. I buy in bulk and whatever I can get a good deal on, all of it being human grade, so we often eat the same thing for dinner, I do make the concession and cook mine!
Alot of people freak out about the bones. Cooked bones are the dangerous ones, raw ones can be consumed easily and are an important part of the diet. I tend to feed more chicken bones because my dogs are smaller so most beef bones are just not practical. During hunting season, I can score the often discarded ribcages which the dogs adore (Florida deer aren't much bigger than the dogs).
When I had my mastiff's though, they were game for pretty much everything!
I just thought that while some breeds are notorious shedders, shephards shouldn't be leaving extreme amounts and it could be partially rectified through diet.
 

darthtang aw

Active Member
Get the antlers from the deer...dogs love em and it gives them something to chew on that is safely digestible....my four dogs have been working on the same one for the past month.......
 
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smartorl

Guest
I will have to try that. They also love when the farrier comes because they get to "steal" some of the horses trimmings. That is a doggie delicacy.
Because I have facilities to house several stallions safely, my barn is often the place where new purchases are quaruntined, vetted, and gelded before going home. My dogs are little maniacs and do the wackiest things to get to the discarded testicles. Puppy crack.
 

monsinour

Active Member
They do sell all natural elk antlers at treats. My dogs love them.
For the shedding, I do card out the coats when I do a shedless treatment. It works because it gets out MORE hair than the regular brushes, combs, rakes, shedding blades, etc. Any dog that has been fully groomed but not carded out that has a double coat, I can get a ton more coat out of. Also card out every dog that is clipped with a 4f or shorter as clipping isnt' good for the coat either. Carding helps keep the skin and coat healthy.
 

flower

Well-Known Member
Darth...are you ready to run screaming into traffic yet?
Anyway, I just ran the raw chicken by my mother the dog spoiler. LOL...I would think she would be happy to not cook 10 pounds of chicken for the dogs. She does not want to change the way she feeds them. She is old...she will get her way until the end.
After my mom leaves this Earth..(I hope in another 20 years, don't mess with the fantacy) I will change the dogs diet then to raw because I will not cook 10 pounds of chicken and peel it off the bones like she does. She did say she puts broth in thje bowl too...LOL
 

monsinour

Active Member
The first indicator that a dog isn't getting the nutrition that works for them is usually the skin and coat. It's something that most people can notice easily. The best nutrition isn't going to stop shedding and your dogs may just be shedding a normal amount for their breed. But if you think it's excessive a change in diet may do them wonders. I have found dogs that do great on cheaper diet and dogs that still struggle on the top brands. Feeding raw needs a lot of research and commitment to doing it properly to make sure it's a balanced diet. Feeding partial raw and kibble isn't helpful either because the kibble changes the digestive system and then the dogs are not able to absorb the nutrients from the raw properly, so it's one of those that is best all or nothing. My grandmother used to heat the dogs food up on the stove. She said we wouldn't want cold food so why should the dog eat cold food LOL. Eukanuba is full of a lot of carbs, grains and fillers. You may want to try just switching to a grain free food. Taste of the Wild is grain free and may even be cheaper than Eukanuba. It's not horridly expensive and my dogs love it. It has helped a lot with my dogs skin and itchies. Gas is still a problem though, I think it's more that they get food from the kids though.
Just remember when reading dog food ingredients "fresh" anything means that they have measured the fod by weight before cooking so it can appear as the first ingredient. once cooked the water is reomoved and no longer going to be the most abundant ingredient in the food. You are better off feeding something with chicken meal as the number one ingredient (or lamb meal or other protien meal) as that is a dry protien so if it's the first listed, you know it's actually the main ingredient. Don't fall for the hype of TV where they say "fresh XYZ is the first ingredient"
 

monsinour

Active Member
and Flower there may very well be a mobile groomer in your area. try findagroomer.com if you want to look. Most mobiles don't list in phone books and can be hard to find. most of my clients are referral based.
 
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smartorl

Guest
Raw definitely takes a large commitment. Once you get the hang of it, it's almost second nature but alot of research went into the entire process before I started. I can honestly say that it's not for everyone and alot of people start only to revert back with they realize the full impact of the task.
I have heard some really great things about the Taste of the Wild foods. Alot of people who I trust and who leave no rock unturned in doing their research swear by it. While it may not be the absolute best on the market, it ranks very high on quality and affordability.
I was blown away when a friend offered up a link that offered a brand of raw type food (commercially prepared) and looking at their feeding chart and cost, it would cost me about $600 a month to feed my three little dogs.
Buying in bulk and scoring free game saves me alot but it is difficult to have ample enough storage. I have two freezers in the garage for extra storage. The idea of a commercial preparation, all ready to go is tempting though!
 

al&burke

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flower http:///forum/thread/385239/when-huskies-explode/20#post_3378331
Darth...are you ready to run screaming into traffic yet?
Anyway, I just ran the raw chicken by my mother the dog spoiler. LOL...I would think she would be happy to not cook 10 pounds of chicken for the dogs. She does not want to change the way she feeds them. She is old...she will get her way until the end.
After my mom leaves this Earth..(I hope in another 20 years, don't mess with the fantacy) I will change the dogs diet then to raw because I will not cook 10 pounds of chicken and peel it off the bones like she does. She did say she puts broth in thje bowl too...LOL
Flower that is funny, my wife's Grandmother lived with us for 4 years, soon after she moved in our Schnauzer was having digestive problems all the time, I asked Grandma if she fed the dog people food, she totally denied it. I new she was by the Schnauzer can't eat anything but her dog food, Perofrmatin (i think is what it's called) SO one day I caught her giving her some people food, I called her on it - the dog was never sick again. It was just out of the kindness of her heart.
 

gemmy

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by meowzer http:///forum/thread/385239/when-huskies-explode/20#post_3378389
Have you guys ever heard of Blue???? It's in a bunch of magazines I have read....just wondering if it is any good
http://www.bluebuffalo.com/
Blue is pretty good. I used to feed my dog that, but I now have her on Wellness.
The main thing I would stress when switching dog foods (after you have chosen the food) is to allow for a proper transition time. Some dogs can get pretty sick if they are not weaned onto the new food. Some foods are much richer and takes a longer time to transition the food (example Wellness or Avoderm).
 

darthtang aw

Active Member
Blue is a good food...but they are having supply issues.....there production has increased so much I am expecting more recalls due to quality control short cuts made to speed up production.
 
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