Working Dogs

Dear Readers;

We have been humming and hawing for the past two years about getting a working dog. We finally came to a conclusion when our son Rama moved back from British Columbia to help us out on the farm. Rama is a big dog lover! He found a Great Pyranees cross Belgian Shepard puppies for sale over in Nova Scotia. We all agreed to take a drive over to see if they would be a good fit for our needs. Unfortunately when we saw them Rama and I wanted the fluffy female and Gord decided on the multi coloured male. In the end we brought both of them home!

Rama and I wanted the white bitch for my protection. The brown male will be used for herding the cows.

Our one big problem about acquiring dogs is feeding them. We did not want to feed them store bought dog food so we did plenty of research on the nutritional requirements for these puppies who will grow to be quite large.

On a daily basis one of us cooks a large pot of grains,beans...veggies...especially root veggies such as carrots,parsnips,beets or turnips for the puppies. We also add  apples and a few tablespoons of coconut oil to the mix.

 All appeared to be going very well until one night after feeding them a soupy kale mix, Rama came into the house and said that the dogs were badly bloated. This is quite deadly for this type of dog. I put my headlamp on and went out to investigate. Yes...both puppies were round as little bears. Their stomachs were hard.....but...they did not appear distressed. They were happy and jumping around as usual. Hmmmmmm...although it was a dark...cold and windy night we decided to take them for a walk anyways. They walked as usual...peed and pooped as usual so we put them back into their enclosure.

We sat around and thought about this problem. Should we phone the vet or not?

I then asked,"How much are either of you feeding them? More than one cup four times a day?"

We all had to admit that we had all been secretly feeding them double that amount! We were in fact killing them with love. Dogs...especially puppies will eat themselves to the point of making themselves sick so it is up to their caregivers to regulate the amount of food that they consume.

We all vowed to measure the amount that we feed them. The fat tummies were just fine by the next morning but we do keep a close eye on them to make sure that they are growing up healthy and strong.

We also watch a lot of Cesar Milan videos to get some good puppy training advice because being responsible dog owners takes dedication.

Until next time,
Hare Krsna