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[Hoppinchins]

My dad read in a few traning books that wet food isn't nutrious. Does anyone know if thats true?

Daisy is almost house tranined. Is it better to wait till she is completly house trained before I try to train her to sit, and what not?

Any good training ideas would be great.

THANKS!

[dianah]

wet food is nutritious, however, dry food is generally better for teeth (i have a greyhound and a deerhound/greyhound cross - breeds with their type of mouth tend to have awful teeth anyway and my ex-racer had a solid tartar build up all over his teeth because they feed them soft food) and other systems too.

for a puppy though.. i would probably do a mix of dry and wet food, then wean him off onto dry only. i have a great dane as well and we could not put any weight on him whatsoever so he would have a mixture of wet and dry - then he developed a thyroid problem and we cut out the wet food which worked quite well for weight loss. he was recently ill and would not eat but would have wet food - so it's a nice trick to have. i think if he was normally on wet food, he'd be off that as well.

it's up to you. if you're feeding complete food, either should deliver complete nutrition. i would not feed solely wet because of the teeth/kidneys etc issue but the wet food seems to taste nicer to them so for a puppy i'd do a little mix.

as for training, you can do sit etc training at the same time as house training. clicker training is great - you can get a clicker cheap and also very small 'clicker training' treats - it does require time but it works great. actually, with a puppy it will take no time at all. it's a bit of a pain in my house because i have three dogs so i have to take one to a different room and all. just choose a time when she's not excited and you should be good you could try without clicker to start with - i only got the clicker when we got the deerhound/greyhound boy, he's a rescue and he has quite a few issues so doesn't really respond to some stuff in the way he should (for example, if another dog growls and snaps at him, he'll go over and lick the growling dog's face - we think he was taken from his mum too early) and he was really good with the clicker.
so you could just do it with treats and a praising word.

[jmdebb]

i'm not gonna touch the food part, i hate any and all foods on the market, what i use isn't sold at pet stores, however yes, with what was already said about training, you do not need to wait to train. heck some dogs take a long time to potty train [like my bear, about 8 mos and i used a crate].  i always start training about a week after i get them. i give them a week to settle in, then start with sit, down. etc...

[megoony99]

Hard food is the best way to go.  As for training I recommend a training class.  It teaches you and the dog.  It also socializes the dog.  A win win for both you and the dog. 

[Debbie.nl.ca]

Yes my vet and trainer have told me hard food is best, but have you been reading ingredients??
Most are corn based, NOT GOOD for any animal. Well maybe cows
Look for one that lists some kind of meat as first ingredient.
We have A great one here found in the frozen meat section made by a breeder, but it's a soft meat product albeit raw, and expensive.

[dianah]

Yes my vet and trainer have told me hard food is best, but have you been reading ingredients??
Most are corn based, NOT GOOD for any animal. Well maybe cows
Look for one that lists some kind of meat as first ingredient.
We have A great one here found in the frozen meat section made by a breeder, but it's a soft meat product albeit raw, and expensive.

dogs are omnivores. for some breeds, too much meat is actually counterproductive. then again, some people feed meat only with excellent results. my little dog i rescued when i was a kid would not touch any food designated for dogs. so he lived on pretty much, cooked chicken (and some rice) - good job he was a miniature schnauzer! my lot would bankrupt me if they were to eat meat! he was about 16 when he died and he sadly drowned so it wasn't even from old age. his teeth were terrible though - he actually got blood poisoning because one of his roots got infected and he started growing these black tumours, then the vet sorted him out. soft food = not good for teeth no matter how much meat's in it. and his farts were lethal.

murphy, the goofy deerhound/greyhound cross, has worked out how to open the fridge (and the bin and the microwave) - he doesn't go in very often but when he does, he goes for tomatoes, mushrooms and stuff like that (even when he has to open the packet!!) while there's bacon and tuna right next to them. all my lot go mental for fruit and veg.

[Jhenderson27]

Before our husky went on her diet, anything that wasn't dog food was great in her eyes.  Broccoli, Spinach, tomato's pasta, chips, whatever.  The only reason we had to put her on a diet was because at a young age she had 2 knee surgeries and they don't want stress on the knees from weight.  Otherwise she is considered an extremely healthy dog, awesome teeth, perfect coat and she being a husky just loves to talk.  Lovingly now my family referrs to her as my sister...ha...shell probably do better in the will than me!

[dianah]

aww, i love huskies! they're so pretty! my neighbour had a few, he went skiing with them. one of them had different coloured eyes.

[Hoppinchins]

Thanks for all the advice. I hope to get her to sit and learn the word down this week. I will look at the ingredients of both the kinds of food. I was planning on feeding her less wet food, but she also needs to gain some weight and of course she likes the wet vs the dry. If I mix it together she just eats the wet.

I love huskies also!!

 dianah, you must be busy with 3 dogs. Thats funny your one dog licks other dogs when they growl. Thats funny how smart some dogs are and can open the fridge and stuff.