Archive for August 2012

Sarah Jones answers:

No, there should be no unsupervised time spent together. I’d worry that the puppy would play too hard and damage his growing bones.

Sarah Jones answers:

Corn alone will not cause bloat. Large dogs with deep chests are prone to bloat. Allowing the dog to gulp too much food or water are bigger factors than corn. A large dog should be relaxed prior and post eating. Water should be withheld a half hour prior and post as well. Some dogs will get bloat no matter what you do or what they eat.

Being bloated and having bloat are two very different things. Bloat is from the stomach twisting and the other (being bloated) is just having gas. WOW!!!

Luckily I have never had a dog with bloat. However, the signs to watch out for are, sudden expantion of the stomach, several attempts to produce a bowel movement or extreme projectile diarrhea much like water as the body attempts to flush the blockage plus vomiting that produces little or no matter. Some vets will stitch the stomach when spay or neutering a dog for a little more. Time is critical with bloat and it can happen even if the dog hasn’t drank or eaten for a while.

Sarah Jones answers:

Try toys that are meant to keep dogs “busy” so to speak.

Like a Kong Toy, filled with Peanut Butter, or peices of her kibble or whatever treat she can tolerate.

Food dispensing type toys come in two general varieties – the puzzle and the chew toy. Both kinds of toys are frequently recommended for distracting and amusing the dog when it is left alone. One should note that there is no toy that is 100% safe, so unsupervised use does have some risk. Select a toy of an appropriate size and degree of sturdiness for your dog and you can minimize the risk. Balanced against the usually low risk of danger from the toy itself is the higher risk when a bored dog makes something into a toy that was never intended to be one. Growing in popularity is the idea of feeding the dog’s entire meal using these toys.

There are a lot of variations of this kind of toy. Be careful. Some are poorly made and can end up being dangerous.

You can look them online, and see which ones you think would be the right, safe choice for your pet!

Hope that helps!
Good Luck!

Sarah Jones answers:

Depends. If a pug is bred with something with a longer snout (like a beagle) it could eleviate some of the breathing problems, but a beagle’s energy w/ a pug’s lack of tolerance to a lot of activity could spell out some heart problems down the line.

Sarah Jones answers:

I love English Bulldogs. I own one and she is great. They can have afew medical problems, and you can not let them get to hot. They will die quickly if they get to hot. They love everyone, and are great with kids. They do not make a good watch dog, because if you will pet them they would let them walk out of your house with everything you own including them. Ido think mine would protect her family, but only if she really thought we were in real trouble. They have wonderfull personalities, and are super cute though.