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So all you feed your dog is meat and a very small amount of kibble? But your vet thinks you should be feeding him a meat only diet? I'd be looking for a new vet if I was you, one who would work with you on feeding your dog a more balanced diet that will give him the nutrients he needs.
This isn't meant to be judgmental, so please don't take it that way.
Raw meaty bones actually (not "meat only") My vet is extremely into a raw diet & proves its benefits daily in his clinic. He also advises plenty of offal, fish heads & says veg table scraps are ok.
I'm also a huge believer in a raw diet, so I guess it comes down to ones philosophy. I've tried adding raw free range eggs but he's not interested.
A dogs gut is designed to digest soft bone & raw meat. Commercial foods are garbage that goes straight through them. Dogs that are fed canned & kibble only, have loose foul stools, poor oral health with bad breath & are prone to all sorts of disease & even twisted bowel (because the bowel has nothing solid to digest & becomes 'lazy')
Diabetes was not a common disease in dogs when people got off-cuts from the local butcher shop to feed their pets before commercial foods.
My last Rotti was 50kg & ate mainly raw meaty bones from around 2 1/2yo. He lived to 14yo without any major health issues. At around 12 1/2yo at his last vet check-up, the vet made the point of saying that he rarely saw dogs so healthy in their elderly years.
The vet also said that he rarely saw such healthy teeth & gums in dogs half his age.
Even just before his peaceful passing, my beautiful boy had a shiny coat, wet nose, was alert & still interested in daily activity & up for a game of fetch.
The other thing that I noticed, was that although he loved his 'tucker time', he was the least food focused dog I've ever owned. I'd fast him at least once a week & he'd never come looking for food around his usual mealtime (unlike Legion - he knows exactly when it's 6pm - dinner time, lol)
OP, I have a big, very strong pup who is terrible about eating rocks. Mine wears a greyhound muzzle when she is outside. It's comfortable enough for her and who knows how many surgeries for blockage it has prevented. A greyhound muzzle won't fit a Rott, but someone somewhere makes a muzzle to fit that dog. Rock eating is a serious health hazard.
A couple of suggestions. Stop letting the dog decide the pace of your walks. Take that control back. You decide where you go, how fast you go, and if and when he is allowed to pee on a bush. When I walk my dogs, we are moving briskly, with the dog on a short leash and a loose "heel". The dogs are not allowe to sniff and pee until I stop and give them permission.
That does not hurt the dog's enjoyment of the walk. It improves their manners, puts me more in the control position, and it is much better exercise than lollygagging around from pee spot to pee spot.
I'd do a exercise called controlled walking, where you change directions every time the dog pulls on the leash or ignores your location. Then you laugh about it and make it a fun game, but the dog very quickly learns to always know where you are going.
I suggest an obedience class and you need to have a qualified instructor show you how to properly use a prong collar.
Halti is a good tool, but might not work so well on a dog with a short snout.
Trying to crawl into your lap is most likely not dominance, but if you don't want it, don't allow it.
He's not the only one? Don't know why that makes me feel better, lol.
I've got one of those muzzles on order at the local pet store. The XL in stock doesn't fit the big lug.
He once vomited up a cup full of gravel (at 3am thanks) when about 3mo. It's a big worry but relieved now he has a paved secure pen.
It should be explained that I'm an amputee with chronic ischemic pain. Although I walk short distances fine, I can't walk very far before the pain is severe.
To walk him, I bought a heavy duty mobility scooter.
Your suggestion of making sudden turns while on lead is an excellent technique & how I trained my other dogs to heel. It teaches them to pay attention to you. But it's impossible on the scooter plus the route I take has to accommodate our extra width.
I ride in the safety lane with Legion on the left on the nature strip.
So he's being taught to slow &/or stop when a car is coming before we go around parked cars, bins etc.
He's very good & never tugs, maybe because he can see the obstacle & hear the approaching car.
The problem is at the start of the walk where I think it's sensory overload. He settles eventually with constant reminding. So I don't really mind him setting the pace from walk to trot when the coast is clear (Rottis can overheat so I figure he knows when he needs to slow for a bit) He'd actually gallop if my scooter could keep pace.
At 12mo he'll be spending a week at the trainers where I got my 18mo. They're brilliant with dogs & will iron out & complete his obedience training.
At around 16mo, or when the trainers say he's ready, he'll be doing protection training.
It's more like trying to get behind me & push me off my lounge chair than actually attempting to get in my lap. If you saw the expression on his face when he tries you'd probably agree (while trying not to laugh), dominant behaviour.
I can tell when he's thinking about doing it. He'll grab a toy to distract me & then start pushing his weight against me several times before trying to lunge over/behind me. `
Most dogs like to be close to their owners & is why they want to sit in laps & sleep in their beds.
But with some dogs, it's a dominance thing because they see owners beds & chairs as 'the top spot'.
It's why I never allow dogs on furniture. They have their own spot.
I have an almost 6 month Rhodesian Ridgeback mix who is quite strong and stubborn. I have a trainer come every couple weeks and work with us. He responds to commands either by hand signals or voice.
For leash pulling he has me change direction multiple times on a short leash, as this pulls on the dog, he learns to stay by me; or we stop until he is calm. He is great on a leash until he sees a person or dog, or at the dog park. He has improved greatly, and we are almost there!
We are also doing nose work in addition to play time and dog park. It's obvious that he needs a variety of stimulation so he doesn't get bored.
The trainer has been invaluable. For instance, I could not get Dante to lie from a distance, and he pointed out that because my hand signal was in front of me, he couldn't see it. I moved my hand signal to the side, and down he went!!
The changing direction is an excellent technique & how I've trained my other dogs to heel.
Due to vascular disease, my mobility is restricted so I ride on a mobility scooter when we go for walks.
Whenever I try practicing in the backyard, he's too distracted by scents & grabbing things to eat. My perspective is to avoid setting him up for failure.
When the muzzle I've ordered arrives (so he can't grab things to eat), I'll try again with his favourite dried liver.
Yeah you're right, I really do need to step up the variety of stimulation. He's very intelligent. As someone else suggested, 'nose work' is a good idea.
I've been using a flat palm held over the dog for 'drop' (lie down) The advantage is that when the dogs at a distance, one holds the flat palm out like a Hitler salute that they can see easily (not that I'm suggesting that you change now - whatever works)
If you use a scooter, your pup is plenty old enough to start service dog training. It will make him useful and give him an important job to focus his mind. Working breeds need to have a job.
My friends who use wheel chairs have service dogs who pick up what they drop and fetch whatever they are directed to bring to their owner. Their dogs turn lights off and on and one friend has a dog that does the laundry.
Clicker training makes service dog training a breeze. I know it works, but I am too set in my ways to learn a new method. I can train whatever I want done, but I have seen the clicker training and how easy it makes training. I do recommend clicker training for fetch training and I will use it for that because it is such an excellent communication method.
1) Even within the breed, each dog is an individual. There are many personalities yet they all are Rottweilers. The OP pup still doesn't mean all Rottweilers are the same.
2) As others pointed out, at his current age he is a "teenager". Everyone who has children knows the phase. But in most cases, these behaviors (and others) disappear as the dog ages. At 10 years old, this Rottie may be a quiet and respectable senior, considering retiring to Florida.
Purchase the very very best dog food: a brand like Orijen or Royal Canin. That desire to eat everything is usually caused by missing nutrients in his diet.
Find a ball he loves and get him to carry it in his mouth on walks and/or keep some tasty snacks with you and praise and snack him when he leaves the glass/whatnot alone. And classes classes classes.
Look, I can see that you mean well & think that you're offering good advice so I don't mean to be rude but to feed a dog commercial rubbish like "Royal Canin", would be like feeding your child junk food at every meal.
Commercial food goes straight through a dog, doesn't exercise the jaws nor gives the stomach anything to actually digest & is the cause of increased disease in pets.
The pet food industry has a huge influence over Uni vet depts. as major contributors.
My last Rotti was 50kg, lived to 14yo on a raw diet & was the least food focused dog I've known. A raw meaty bone diet puts their digestive juices to work & keeps them full longer.
Legion has been eating foreign objects since 9wo & would strip bark of a tree straight after eating.
Carrying something in his mouth works until he picks up a scent that he MUST investigate. As I walk him alongside while I ride a mobility scooter this would cause problems of it's own. It'd be a good idea if I was walking with him.
If you use a scooter, your pup is plenty old enough to start service dog training. It will make him useful and give him an important job to focus his mind. Working breeds need to have a job.
My friends who use wheel chairs have service dogs who pick up what they drop and fetch whatever they are directed to bring to their owner. Their dogs turn lights off and on and one friend has a dog that does the laundry.
Clicker training makes service dog training a breeze. I know it works, but I am too set in my ways to learn a new method. I can train whatever I want done, but I have seen the clicker training and how easy it makes training. I do recommend clicker training for fetch training and I will use it for that because it is such an excellent communication method.
"Service dog training" is an excellent idea (here in Aus, service dogs are allowed to stay with their owner in hospital) When I looked into it I was told that all service dogs are neutered as a matter-off-course.
I'm dead against castrating males unless it's absolutely necessary.
I do realise that Legion definitely needs more stimulation & am looking into joining a club.
Clicker training, dog whistles, both work. My last Rotti responded to clicker, whistle, voice & hand signals. Rottis are incredibly smart dogs.
1) Even within the breed, each dog is an individual. There are many personalities yet they all are Rottweilers. The OP pup still doesn't mean all Rottweilers are the same.
2) As others pointed out, at his current age he is a "teenager". Everyone who has children knows the phase. But in most cases, these behaviors (and others) disappear as the dog ages. At 10 years old, this Rottie may be a quiet and respectable senior, considering retiring to Florida.
Exactly. He's not quite a teenager yet though, I've got that to look forward to at around 12mo, lol.
"10 years old"? I'm an optimist & expect him to have settled by the time he's around 18mo.
As I said in my rant ... er thread, the only issue that I have is purely puppy behaviour. If he was a little Jack Russell rather than a very strong 35kg, there wouldn't be a problem at all.
Wow, what a judgemental & snarky reply.
I've been training Legion since he was 9 weeks old. If you actually read what I wrote you'd see that I said he is "mostly obedient".
You'd also have read that I haven't RAISED a Rottweiler from pup, that both were acquired at around 18mo.
But please, don't allow your willful ignorance get in the way of your need to judge & correct others.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Legion777
My Rottie pup is now 7 1/2 months old & I'm starting to understand why so many are given up at around 9 months old.
Legion is a beautiful, intelligent, affectionate, mostly obedient boy, but when he puts his mind to it, he's as stubborn as a mule.
I've owned 2 Rotties in the past but were both 18mo & extremely well trained when I bought them.
Obviously I had no understanding of Rottie pups. Legion is an at times excitable puppy in a 35kg, extremely strong body.
At around 5mo, I asked here if anyone had any ideas that would negate the use of a choker chain to stop him from attempting to 'say hello' to every stranger that we passed on our walks.
Although he's learnt to keep moving past people, he's now going through the stage where he wants to sniff every tree, every pole & leave his mark.
The choker chain has little effect. When he tries to lunge when he picks up a scent, I just brace myself & give him full length of the leash & he'll pull as if it's not there.
Although he's choking himself, he's more interested in whatever scent he's picked up.
The first 5-10 minutes of any walk is a battle of wills until he eventually falls into line ..... mostly.
(He's fed a chicken carcass or large turkey neck twice a day, plus a piece of beef brisket) I've had to pave, concrete & build a large enclosure for when I have to leave him alone because he can't be trusted alone in the backyard.
I did read what you wrote. I stand by what I wrote. i will iterate some of it here.
Nowhere do you say that you have been training him since 9 weeks old. Being "mostly obedient" does not = you have been training him.
You had had two rotties, but never a puppy before. I am always puzzled by people who- especially those with large breed dogs- don't understand that they absolutely must immediately begin to work on impulse control and
age-appropriate training vis a vis loose leash walking. It is far easier to teach a puppy to do a lovely loose leash walk than it is to teach an 80 + lb. adolescent dog. Thus- since you had had two adult dogs previously and understood the breed, the expectation that you would begin immediately working with puppy on basic age-appropriate training that included loose leash walking. And my surprise that you hadn't enlisted the assistance of an experienced trainer when you surely realized at about 5 months that puppy wasn't responding to your training.
It is unfortunate that you dismissed my advice out of hand because you interpreted it as snarky because there was a lot of solid advice there.
Teaching focus and impulse control will automatically help keep his attention on you and less on environmental factors like sniffing and picking things up in his mouth. It will also go a long ways toward teaching him how to orient himself vis a vis body placement.
Choke chains have the potential to hurt your dog. You also don't want to allow your dog to practice bad behavior = running out to the end of the leash (and choking himself). While you are teaching your dog how to walk nicely on leash, a front clip harness will be a good management tool. About the frenzied excitement of the first 10-15 minutes of the walk- he does this because you allow it. Give him 5-10 minutes of "crazy" time before setting out on your walk, but then once you are ready to begin your walk, provide high levels of reinforcement for good behavior right from the beginning. Again, focusing exercises will be your friend here- your dog re-orienting to you and body position all need heavy reinforcement at this point.
About the pica and the raw diet. Raw diets are optimal, but they also need to be correctly balanced with the right proportion of muscle meat, organ meat, and bone/calcium.
The pica at this age tells me a couple of things-
1) your dog may have a nutrient deficiency. His diet may need to be adjusted to add additional- calcium? Or? You need to run this by your vet, and if they don't think this is a result of diet, then:
2) Your dog could be bored. In addition to the suggestions made by other posters to add in additional mental stimulation, I suggest that you teach him acceptable ways to use his mouth, e.g. tug, retrieving, or chewing on acceptable items like stuffed kongs. As well, working on focusing exercises and asking for his attention on walks will provide mental stimulation; that focus on you = work and the use of mental processes that will help tire him out.
I would say that 20+ years working with dogs, attending conferences and seminars by world-class behaviorists and trainers, and 15 + years actively training using reward-based training methods gives me a certain expertise. I have absolutely no attachment to whether you take my advice or not.
Last edited by twelvepaw; 05-28-2017 at 07:28 AM..
.......When I looked into it I was told that all service dogs are neutered as a matter-off-course.........
The agencies that train service dogs neuter their dogs. That doesn't mean you must neuter your dog in order to give him service dog training. You don't even have to need a service dog in order to give him service dog training.
You should be able to do the training yourself. No need to involve an agency.
Working breeds are happiest when they have a job. Your dog could be taught to bring you items, pick up dropped items for you, and to pull your wheel chair for you. It will brighten his life if you let him do that for you.
My Ausie is trained as a service dog. I had knee surgery and he was trained to pick things up for me. The joy he expresses when he is asked to do something for me is beyond obvious. He loves having a job and he loves to perform for me. Since my knees are healed and I can now pick up items myself, his job has morphed into gathering the dog dishes for me. It's a real tail wagger of a job and he bounces with joy when he does it.
Having a real job will give your pup focus.
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