That is so cute! I love the first pic. Mirtillo looks so much like my Baroo. Especially the spot on the back of his neck and the end of his tail. He is adorable. I can tell he will be a big strong boy. He looks very muscular already.
My dogs love plastic bottles too! They always get into the recycling and drag them all over my backyard and toss them. They are the best toys as far the are concerned! I don't know why I bother with the fancy ones!
Thanks for all the suggestions. I will look around for a different food and hope that helps.
There is corn glueten meal and wheat flour. Are either of those bad? Other than that, it is all meat and vitamins. That is the nutro max though. I haven't noticed her biting her feet since I switched back though. Maybe she is ok now. I will keep an eye on her.
Is it possible for a dog to be hyperactive? Thats exactly how Oba acts.
How cute! I love the bottom pic, he is smiling! She looks so innocent when she is sleeping, but we all know better! She is beautiful though.
Wow, I never would have thought it to be an allergy. I normally feed them nutro max, but I had to get the natural choice last time because the only store in town that carries it was out of nutro max. They have finshed it off now and have been back on the nutromax for a couple days now. I haven't noticed her licking since then now that I think about it. I know the two foods aren't that different, so I will have to look at the ingredients to figure out what it might be. I guess an allergy makes sense, I just never thought it would make her do that.
As far as exercise goes, she gets a long walk everyday, and I also spend at least 30 minutes a day playing with her outside. On top of that she gets bones or treats to occupy her. She does have a lot of energy, but she still has some behavior that I am a little worried about. She never seems to be really calm unless she is sleeping. Even when she is calm she just seems restless and always looking for something to do. Its like she can't relax. She can be resting and then suddenly jump up and try to get baroo to play or go looking for trouble and if she can't find anything to do she paces. She only pace sometimes when she is in the house, but I thought that was always because she just wanted to go out. She prefers to spend most of the day outside. She seems more comfortable there. That may be because the people she was rescued from kept her tied to a tree in their backyard all the time. Maybe she is just used to it. When she gets like that I try to play with her, and that helps for awhile, but even when I know she is tired she just keeps at it. She plays with baroo and when he has had enough he lets her know, but she rarely backs down and it is hard for her to relax afterwards. She also is really bad about chewing. At first I thought it was just because she is young (only a year as of this month) and maybe her teeth are still bothering her, but I think she is getting a bit old for that now. She chews EVERYTHING. Plastic is her favorite, but she will take anything if that isn't available. It really worries me, because I dog proof as best I can, but she still finds a way, and what is worse is that sometimes she eats the pieces. I have to watch her very closely. I know a lot of dogs chew, but I haven't seen on like this before. Not even Baroo was this bad.
She also barks for no reason, or at small things, like bugs or birds. I have never known a dog to bark at something like that. She rarely barks when I have her citronella collar on, but if I take it off she barks non stop at everything. Isn't that a sign of anxiety?
When we first got her I was concerned about the way she breathes. Even after resting for at least 15 minutes she still pants and breathes very quickley. I called the foster about it and she said she noticed it to and had the vet check her out, and she couldn't find anything wrong. She said she has always been like that. From my experience that just isn't normal. She breathes as heavily as she does when she is running, just for a long time afterwards. I don't know, maybe I am reading too much into it and that is just normal for her and I'm not used to it.
Oba is bitting her feet a lot lately. At first I thought there was something in her paw because she was licking it a lot and chewing on the pad, but then she started bitting her ankle and her other foot. I looked at it, and it looks a little bit pink, but not irritated. I have seen Baroo do this on occasion, but not recently. Sometimes she is very intent on chewing and licking like it is bothering her, but I can't figure out what it would be from. Do you think her paws could be dry and it is bothering her? I remember someone mentioning a cream to put on their paws, but I am not sure if that is the answer. I am starting to think that she is just doing it from being bored or anxious, but when she does it she looks like she is really bothered by something, and she bites more than just one foot. I have started to notice that she has a lot of anxiety. She will get worked up and it is hard for her to calm down. It goes beyond normal young dog energy and excitement. I am just waiting to see if maybe it is just because she is a rescue and has been moved around from home to home and maybe she just isn't adjusted yet. I am hoping she will grow out of it, but I'm not sure. I have seen herbal supplements that are supposed to help with that kind of thing, but I am not sure if I want to try them. Does anyone know anything about them? Is this something I should be worried about?
I do! We just adopted her a couple months ago. She looks a little more GS though. She does have the ears and some wrinkles and her tail does curl quite a bit when it is up, but she is a lot bigger and weighs about 50 pounds. Unfortunately she does bark though, and a lot! I think she is very pretty though, and I am quite happy with her. I only hope she adopts the obedience that germans are famous for! She is comming around though. When I was looking for a rescue I did see a few other B/GS mixes also, so you might have some luck finding one. We feel in love with her because I wanted another B, but DH has always wanted a GS, so she was the perfect compromise! I know there is at least one other member with one too. Here is a couple pics of her and my other B.
I can't tell you how sick I am of cleaning up a trail of stuffing strewn from one end of my house to the other! Once there is even the smallest hole in the toy it's a gonner! They still love to play with the destroyed limp shell though. I think it's part of the basenji creed. If it is stuffed it must be unstuffed, and the more expensive the toy the better!
Hey, Lovemybaroo, do I notice a tatoo on the underside of your B? The reason I ask, is my B Tosca (who we got from a shelter in Iowa) has one almost identical to it, but smaller and darker on her stomach. I am not sure if it is a tatoo or not (or am I looking at a um…male part? The pic was hard to tell
) but if it is I was wondering how he got it. I am asking because even though we got Tosca from a shelter she is originally from California, so I didn't know if it was a common breeder symbol or anything. And if its not a tatoo, just consider me dumb, but like I said the shape (Cross with circle) is almost identical to Tosca's tatoo. I have just always been trying to figure out why she was tatoo'ed, since the vet said a breeder would usually just tatoo a number on her, not a picture. Thanks!
lol! no, he doesn't have a tattoo. Thats his "male parts" you are looking at! And although I don't know much about his breeder, I do know he didn't come from this state. Interesting that your dog has a tattoo though…
Welcome to the forums! Nina is a cutie! Could she possible be mixed with Australian cattle dog or blue healer maybe? I see shepherd, but maybe something else too. Here is some pics of my B/shepherd mix. Her name is Oba (for now) we just adopted her a few weeks ago. She is more shepherd though. She is 11 months old and about 50 pounds!
Here is Oba and Baroo (my other furbaby)