Edie MacKenzie

Edie MacKenzie is a published author, traveler, dog lover, and tortoise enthusiast. Passionate about what she does, her books provide peopel a firm grounding in the dog breed and their unique characteristics with a nice touch of humor.

Feeding Your Poodle (Part 2)

by Leave a Comment

There’s no exact answer on how much and how often to feed your Poodle because it depends on the size, age, and activity level of each individual Poodle. Feeding amount and schedule also depend on which diet you’re using and how cold it is outside. (Dogs who spend a lot of time outdoors in cold temperatures require more food.)

Begin by following the feeding instructions spelled out on the dog food package. Realize that these instructions are a starting point, and apply to all breeds of a certain weight. Your Poodle is an individual and every dog is different.

————————————————————–

Dog Food Secrets You Need To Know!

“In This Shocking FREE Video Report You Discover Why 87% of Dogs Die Too Early & 3 Easy Things You Can Do Today To Stop It Happening to Your Dog”

Dog Food Secrets

————————————————————–

Following that, observe your Poodle’s body condition:

Too Thin: An overly thin Poodle will have visible or easily felt ribs and hip bones may be visible. The waist and belly are obviously tucked up when viewed from the side. Increase food.

Just Right: The ribs should have just a little fat over them; you should be able to easily feel them with slight pressure. Your Poodle should have a waist when viewed from above, and the belly should be tucked up when viewed from the side.

Too Fat: If you can’t easily feel your Poodle s ribs and can easily see fat covering them, he is too heavy. His waist is absent or barely visible when viewed from above, or his belly may hang. Decrease food.

How often you feed your Poodle depends on how old he is and his (or your) personal preference. Pups must be fed several times a day, usually three..The average adult Poodle
can be fed once or twice a day, in the morning, evening, or both. Many owners like the idea of feeding twice a day, while others find it inconvenient and opt to feed once a day. Toy puppies have a very rapid metabolism and may require four to six meals a day to avoid hypoglycemia, a life-threatening drop in blood sugar levels. By six months of age, most Toy pups can cut back to three or four meals a day.

Dogs are creatures of habit, and seem to enjoy eating at the same time every day. Feeding your Poodle pup at the same time every day helps establish eating habits and makes housebreaking easier. Pups usually need to urinate or defecate after eating. If you feed him at the same time every day, you can predict when nature calls.

Note: Free-feeding, leaving food out for the Poodle at all times, is not recommended because it can lead to excess weight gain.

The Combination Approach To Feeding Your Golden Retriever

by Leave a Comment

Although you can get commercial food for your Golden Retriever, the ideal way to feed is to use a combination approach of both commercial food and fresh people foods.  Most commercial food is good for your Golden Retriever, although it lacks nutrients and vitamins that fresh food has.  Vets will tell you that fresh food is good, providing you don’t overdo it.  Golden Retrievers love fresh food as well, as they can smell it a mile away. If it smells good to them – they’ll want it.

Most commercial foods will offer your Golden Retriever great sources of protein and vitamins, although fresh food contains far more essential sources.  Chicken and meat for instance, have far more protein and minerals than any type of commercial dog food.  Fish is another great choice, as it contains a lot of the protein your dog needs to maintain a healthy brain.

All dogs are well within the capacity of staying healthy, although you need to provide them with the minerals they need.  Each dog is an individual, meaning that you can’t continue to feed him the same food on a daily basis.  Golden Retrievers love people food, and they also love variety.  What they need one day may vary the next, so you should always mix it up a bit and give them something different each day.

To be on the safe side, you should give your Golden Retriever a little bit of everything.  This way, he will get everything he needs with his diet.  When you design the diet for your growing Golden Retriever, you should always make sure to include animal protein.  This is very important for your Golden Retriever, as he has to have it.  Without animal protein, your dog will find himself literally struggling to stay healthy.

To keep your Golden Retriever healthy, it is very important that he gets quality nutrition.  Although quality nutrition is very important, you should never him eat so much that he gains weight too fast.  If you monitor his diet and know exactly what you are feeding him, he should remain in his weight class.  Sometimes this can be hard to help though, especially if your Golden starts to develop allergies to a certain type of food.

If you ever have any questions regarding the diet of your Golden Retriever, you shouldn’t hesitate to ask your vet.  Your vet could make some recommendations for you, even tell you the best type of commercial food for your dog.  Depending on his individual needs, what he requires may be totally different than what another dog needs.  As long as you keep your Golden Retriever on a healthy diet and make sure he gets the food he needs – he should grow to be a healthy dog with plenty of energy.

Adopting An Older Golden Retriever

by Leave a Comment

The Older Golden Retriever

Those of you who want a Golden Retriever but aren’t ready to go through the trials and tribulations of a puppy, should look into adopting an older Golden.  Older Golden Retrievers are mature, and prove to be great in homes where they need to spend a quality amount of time by themselves.  They are a very adjustable breed, being good tempered.  No matter how old the Golden may be, he will quickly become a valued member of your family in little to no time at all.

Many times, breeders will have older dogs for sale.  There are several reasons for this, which include show dogs that have lost their potential, studs that have been used for breeding, female Golden’s that have been bred a few times then retired, or other types of special conditions where a breeder is helping a friend get rid of his Golden Retriever.  There are other reasons as well, although whatever they may be – the adult Golden Retriever will be available for anyone who wants him.

Most older Golden Retrievers are already housebroken, and known a lot of behavior patterns and how to adapt to a new and loving family.  Although it will be a little hard on your new dog at first, if you give him plenty of love, attention, and patience, he’ll be just fine.  You need to keep reassuring your new Golden on a regular basis, and let him know that you are his new owner and that you love you and you are glad he’s a member of your family.

If you have been thinking of adopting an older Golden Retriever, you should make sure that you learn everything you can about him.  You should also determine his temperament, and whether or not it’s compatible with your family.  You should also learn important things as well, such as his diet, likes, dislikes, daily routine, and his habits.  Before you decide to take him, you should always make sure that the members of your family meet him as well, so you can talk it over and decide whether or not everyone wants the dog to be a member of your family.

With an older dog, you need to take care of him for the first days, and let him know where everything in your home is.  You’ll need to show him where he sleeps, where he should use the bathroom, and where his food is.  Take your time and be patient with him, as will normally take him a few days to learn how things in your home work.

You should always give your new Golden Retriever at least a month or so to get used to his new environment, before you start his new obedience training.  Even though your new dog may have some prior obedience training, you should still enroll him in a new class.  This way, he can brush up on training and you can work with him to help him understand.  Once you have finished training, he’ll understand your commands better and you and him will get along just fine.

All Golden Retrievers, regardless of their age, love attention.  Older Golden’s on the other hand, may have medical problems that you aren’t aware of.  You shouldn’t let this stop you from getting one though, simply because the rewards that you’ll find are far greater than any cons that may come to mind.  Although many people don’t give a lot of thought to getting an older Golden Retriever – they are perfect for families who don’t want to put up the time and troubles of raising a puppy.

————————————————————–

The Best Basic Training
For Your Golden Retriever

If you’d love to discover EXACTLY how to get your dog to stop urinating on
your carpet and actually ring a bell when he needs to potty. . .

Train Golden puppies to NEVER chew on furniture or expensive rugs – even when
you aren’t there to supervise. . .

Learn simple techniques for getting any Golden Retriever to stop barking at
strangers or from begging you to let him back inside – Plus a TON more
step-by-step dog obedience strategies THOUSANDS of regular people are
already using.

Check out Chet Womach & Bauer the Golden Retriever’s-
Hands Off Dog Training

————————————————————–

Less Adaptability As Senior Dogs Age

by Leave a Comment

Challenges In Senior Dogs

It is not uncommon to find senior dogs less adaptable to changes in diet, routine, or environment.

For example, my dog always loved riding in the car, bouncing about with a sense of excitement. He never missed a thing that passed by; now that he is older he prefers to lie quietly on the seat snuggled up against me or else on the floor. He may even get an occasional upset stomach and throw up while riding. And he steps in and out of the car with considerably greater care!

In the past it never seemed to bother him if I occasionally got home late for his supper. He’d jovially greet me at the door with little more than a “Hey, what’s up?” and race you for the food dish. Now I find that he has thrown up small amounts of yellowish-green stomach fluid due to the increased acidity of a stomach which contains no food.

I have found that leaving a small amount of dry food for senior dogs when I go out may solve this upset.

Speaking of stomach upset, whenever I had parties, he always joined in the fun and most of the time survived the party foods given him by my well-meaning guests.

Now he shows less interest in the goings-on, preferring to be by himself in a quieter part of the house. If senior dogs indulge in any party food, they almost always has some digestive disturbance.

Recent Blog Posts