Frustrated!!!

[Elly_the_lost_penguin]

Okay so I'm hoping someone can help me out with my Milo. He's a great dog and i love him so much but lately I've been so frustrated with him. When I first got him he learned things really quickly and listened so well but lately he seems to be ignoring me. I'll tell him to come and he'll look at me then keep doing what he was doing. He'll catch the frisbee and then run off with it and not bring it back. He wont obey leave it or drop it at all. His seperation anxiety is really bad. he's fine in his crate if I'm in the same room but as soon as I leave he goes crazy (he always knows that I'm the one who left the room even if he can't see me). When we are in the yard if I am out of the gate he barks and whines and goes crazy even if he can see me. He still cant be around my brothers Maltese because of aggressive play but lately I dont know if its still just playing because of new behavior Milo has developed. When Milo is "playing" with Riley, Riley will roll over and Milo goes for his throat and wont let go when I tell him. I have to go over and drag Milo away. The other day Milo actually grabbed his throat and started shaking his head back and forth. I was terrified. Is this behavior something he will grow out of? I don't know what to do. He is my first dog that I am raising by myself and he's the biggest dog I've ever lived with (24 inches tall but only 32 pounds). Hes a dalmation/ aussie mix.  

[Elly_the_lost_penguin]

Also while I'm at it I need to know what and how much to feed Milo. He eats about 3-4 cups a day of purina puppy chow. I've tried a whole bunch of different foods and the puppy chow seems to be the only one he likes but I don't know how healthy that is. He's really thin and It worries me. He's 32 pounds and 24 inches tall at the shoulder. I don't want to leave his food out for him all day because I don't want him to overeat.  

[Cowgirl-with-heart]

how much exercise does he get? cause that is a LOT of protein, he will need a lot of exercise so he doesn't end up super hyper (that could be a big part of your problem)  

[Elly_the_lost_penguin]

Cowgirl-with-heart

how much exercise does he get? cause that is a LOT of protein, he will need a lot of exercise so he doesn't end up super hyper (that could be a big part of your problem)

I dont think its an exercise problem. I walk him alot and we can spend over 6 hours at the dog park and when we come home he'll still torture the poor Maltese.  

[Elly_the_lost_penguin]

My mom has been saying I might want to try finding someone who is more experienced with dalmatians to take him. I don't really want to but if it would be better for him than I wanna do the right thing. Anyone have any advice?  

[Cowgirl-with-heart]

you might want to add something about a dog in your title, so the guild members know what its about, sorry I can't be of much help, I am more of a cat person :/  

[CrissAngelLover12345]

(I know a lot about both cats and dogs. biggrin )

It might be best to separate them for a little while, and allow them only to have supervised interaction, starting off with both dogs being on leashes. Praise them a lot for desirable behavior so they know what is acceptable and what is not. Once Milo is consistently well behaved with leashed interaction, then try them without leashes, though still supervised.

How old is he?

I'm familiar with dalmatians since I have a relative who has always had dalmatians for as long as I can remember. I don't think they have ever done anything of this nature, and from what I can tell, they are fairly easy to train.

Aussies are really high-energy herding breeds. It could be herding instincts. Maybe you can try some agility with him. When playing frisbee, maybe bring another frisbee and/or some treats and praise him for bringing the frisbee back and dropping it and work on gradually removing the treats to where he'll reliably bring it back and drop it without them. If you decide to bring a second frisbee, eventually stop bringing it when he is consistently bringing the other one back and dropping it and allowing you to pick it back up without having to use the other one.

For feeding, I'd suggest switching him onto a higher quality food if you can afford to. Purina is one of the many low-quality foods. Other brands to avoid are Iams, Science Diet, Eukanuba, Kibbles 'N Bits, Ol' Roy, and other brands you can find in any grocery store. They aren't able to get all the nutrients they need because of the ingredients in them. Most of the proteins in that food come from grains, especially corn. Their bodies can't even digest corn. What little bit of meat is in there are by-products, which are the discarded parts from processing meat from human food production, such as the egg shells, feathers, beaks, feet, fur, less nutritional parts of the head, scales, tumors, noses, etc. The food is preserved with BHA, BHT, and/or Ethoxyquin, which are chemicals that are also used in non-automotive anti-freeze, pesticides, and rubber hardening agents. Those chemicals have also been proven to cause cancer and have been banned or heavily regulated in the human diet. They also contain fillers, which are ingredients that have no nutritional value to the food, but are added to increase the palatability to the animals to get them to want to eat the food.

If you can afford to, I'd suggest switching them to Blue Buffalo (grainless lines), Wellness Core, Orijen (the best processed dog food), Acana (grainless lines), or Taste of the Wild (there are a few other good brands out there, these are the ones I could remember right off lol). They won't have to eat nearly as much of these foods to get the nutrition they need since their bodies are able to process and use about everything in the food. Of these foods, Taste of the Wild is the least expensive and Orijen is the most expensive. The others fall somewhere between the two.

If you can't afford those brands and have a Costco near you, you can get Kirkland's Best dog food. It's not the best food, but it doesn't contain corn, by-products, BHA, BHT, or Ethoxyquin, making it a somewhat higher quality food.

Raw is the best diet, though it is also the most expensive diet.

Here is a nice formula for determining the amount of kibble your dog would need (though keep in mind, this doesn't really account for the activity, so it might be somewhat different, but it would at least take into account how much food they would need per day minimum.) :

Resting energy requirement (RER) in kcal/day= 30(ideal body weight in kilograms) + 70
(to get the body weight in kilograms, you would divide your dog's ideal body weight in pounds by 2.2)

Once you have your dog's RER, then you need to figure out how much food you would need to feed him.

It would be RER/X cups = (calorie content of food)/cup
Solve for X

So to do that you would: RER/Calorie content of food/cup = number of cups of food your dog would need to eat per day.

This does not take into account any treats that your dog gets. You'll have to find the calorie content of the treats he gets on the package and subtract that amount of food from his diet. This is also not taking the dog's activity level into account either. You might have to increase the amount if your dog is more active/has a higher metabolism. It could also have to be decreased if the dog is not active and/or has a lower metabolism.

Can you post some top view and side view pictures of Milo so I can get an idea of how thin he is?  

[Elly_the_lost_penguin]

Thank you so much! I had no idea about the food. I think I'm gonna start making them my own food. Milo's favorite thing is carrots!

Milo is 9 months and Riley is about 17-18 months. Once he is older I am going to get him into agility.

My friend told me the problem between Milo and Riley could be because Riley is too submissive and Milo is too dominant and thats why he bullies him. I can't post pictures because he ate my camera a week ago but he is really thin. I can see his ribs. He looks like I starve him but he acts like his heart beats caffeine rather than blood  

[CrissAngelLover12345]

Elly_the_lost_penguin

Thank you so much! I had no idea about the food. I think I'm gonna start making them my own food. Milo's favorite thing is carrots!

Milo is 9 months and Riley is about 17-18 months. Once he is older I am going to get him into agility.

My friend told me the problem between Milo and Riley could be because Riley is too submissive and Milo is too dominant and thats why he bullies him. I can't post pictures because he ate my camera a week ago but he is really thin. I can see his ribs. He looks like I starve him but he acts like his heart beats caffeine rather than blood

You're very welcome! With making your own food, make sure it's raw (cooking it destroys too many nutrients, which will then cause deficiencies). You'll need the right balance between muscle meat, organ meat, and bone. I'm not sure exactly what that is yet. I'm still researching it myself. There are other members here who feed their dogs/cats raw diets and would be able to help in that area. smile

The lovely teenage period... It might be something that he'll grow out of. It very well could also be dominance. Try what I suggested and see how that works. smile

How much can you see his ribs? Is his pelvis also sticking out? Dogs at an ideal weight are supposed to have their rib cage somewhat visible with a small layer of fat over them. Simply changing his diet to a high-quality food might be enough since his body would be able to digest everything, having much less of the food go to waste. He might need more food than the amount the formula would come up with since he is such a high-energy dog.  

[Elly_the_lost_penguin]

CrissAngelLover12345

Elly_the_lost_penguin

Thank you so much! I had no idea about the food. I think I'm gonna start making them my own food. Milo's favorite thing is carrots!

Milo is 9 months and Riley is about 17-18 months. Once he is older I am going to get him into agility.

My friend told me the problem between Milo and Riley could be because Riley is too submissive and Milo is too dominant and thats why he bullies him. I can't post pictures because he ate my camera a week ago but he is really thin. I can see his ribs. He looks like I starve him but he acts like his heart beats caffeine rather than blood

You're very welcome! With making your own food, make sure it's raw (cooking it destroys too many nutrients, which will then cause deficiencies). You'll need the right balance between muscle meat, organ meat, and bone. I'm not sure exactly what that is yet. I'm still researching it myself. There are other members here who feed their dogs/cats raw diets and would be able to help in that area. smile

The lovely teenage period... It might be something that he'll grow out of. It very well could also be dominance. Try what I suggested and see how that works. smile

How much can you see his ribs? Is his pelvis also sticking out? Dogs at an ideal weight are supposed to have their rib cage somewhat visible with a small layer of fat over them. Simply changing his diet to a high-quality food might be enough since his body would be able to digest everything, having much less of the food go to waste. He might need more food than the amount the formula would come up with since he is such a high-energy dog.

Yeah his pelvis sticks out too. His ribs feel like they are covered by just skin. I will try what you suggested and see how that works out smile  

[CrissAngelLover12345]

Elly_the_lost_penguin

CrissAngelLover12345

Elly_the_lost_penguin

Thank you so much! I had no idea about the food. I think I'm gonna start making them my own food. Milo's favorite thing is carrots!

Milo is 9 months and Riley is about 17-18 months. Once he is older I am going to get him into agility.

My friend told me the problem between Milo and Riley could be because Riley is too submissive and Milo is too dominant and thats why he bullies him. I can't post pictures because he ate my camera a week ago but he is really thin. I can see his ribs. He looks like I starve him but he acts like his heart beats caffeine rather than blood

You're very welcome! With making your own food, make sure it's raw (cooking it destroys too many nutrients, which will then cause deficiencies). You'll need the right balance between muscle meat, organ meat, and bone. I'm not sure exactly what that is yet. I'm still researching it myself. There are other members here who feed their dogs/cats raw diets and would be able to help in that area. smile

The lovely teenage period... It might be something that he'll grow out of. It very well could also be dominance. Try what I suggested and see how that works. smile

How much can you see his ribs? Is his pelvis also sticking out? Dogs at an ideal weight are supposed to have their rib cage somewhat visible with a small layer of fat over them. Simply changing his diet to a high-quality food might be enough since his body would be able to digest everything, having much less of the food go to waste. He might need more food than the amount the formula would come up with since he is such a high-energy dog.

Yeah his pelvis sticks out too. His ribs feel like they are covered by just skin. I will try what you suggested and see how that works out smile

That is way too skinny. I hope it works. smile  

[Elly_the_lost_penguin]

CrissAngelLover12345

Elly_the_lost_penguin

CrissAngelLover12345

Elly_the_lost_penguin

Thank you so much! I had no idea about the food. I think I'm gonna start making them my own food. Milo's favorite thing is carrots!

Milo is 9 months and Riley is about 17-18 months. Once he is older I am going to get him into agility.

My friend told me the problem between Milo and Riley could be because Riley is too submissive and Milo is too dominant and thats why he bullies him. I can't post pictures because he ate my camera a week ago but he is really thin. I can see his ribs. He looks like I starve him but he acts like his heart beats caffeine rather than blood

You're very welcome! With making your own food, make sure it's raw (cooking it destroys too many nutrients, which will then cause deficiencies). You'll need the right balance between muscle meat, organ meat, and bone. I'm not sure exactly what that is yet. I'm still researching it myself. There are other members here who feed their dogs/cats raw diets and would be able to help in that area. smile

The lovely teenage period... It might be something that he'll grow out of. It very well could also be dominance. Try what I suggested and see how that works. smile

How much can you see his ribs? Is his pelvis also sticking out? Dogs at an ideal weight are supposed to have their rib cage somewhat visible with a small layer of fat over them. Simply changing his diet to a high-quality food might be enough since his body would be able to digest everything, having much less of the food go to waste. He might need more food than the amount the formula would come up with since he is such a high-energy dog.

Yeah his pelvis sticks out too. His ribs feel like they are covered by just skin. I will try what you suggested and see how that works out smile

That is way too skinny. I hope it works. smile

Me too. I'll keep you posted!!!  

[Azusanga]

He can't be allowed to think that that's acceptable behaviour. Give him a firm no and take him out of the situation when he goes after Riley. Do a lot of training with him, and re-teach his old tricks when he's on a lead so you can keep his attention. Keep the sessions short, and give him a play break to rest his mind.  

[Elly_the_lost_penguin]

Azusanga

He can't be allowed to think that that's acceptable behaviour. Give him a firm no and take him out of the situation when he goes after Riley. Do a lot of training with him, and re-teach his old tricks when he's on a lead so you can keep his attention. Keep the sessions short, and give him a play break to rest his mind.

I have tried removing him from the situation and waiting until he's calm before releasing him but he goes right back to torturing Riley  

[Cowgirl-with-heart]

Elly_the_lost_penguin

Azusanga

He can't be allowed to think that that's acceptable behaviour. Give him a firm no and take him out of the situation when he goes after Riley. Do a lot of training with him, and re-teach his old tricks when he's on a lead so you can keep his attention. Keep the sessions short, and give him a play break to rest his mind.

I have tried removing him from the situation and waiting until he's calm before releasing him but he goes right back to torturing Riley

then remove him again, you have to keep at it, and be consistent.