Toilet training: Danny - 37, Owner - 2

Toilet training is ... not going so well.

We've had Danny for about a month now and he only pees on the newspaper when he is in his room. Once he's out, only poo goes on the paper, the other one? Well, it's a free-for-all.

Today was a classic example. In an attempt to confine him a bit more, mom tethered him to the railing and placed some paper in a corner right under him.

I went into the house to get something and when I came out, he had made a special effort to walk off the paper and take a leak on the floor.

I took the paper and spread it out so that it covered the radius of his leash. However, he was engrossed in a toy so I left one square foot uncovered.

I went back in again and I'm sure you can guess what happened.

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Yep, that's right. He peed right in that tiny spot and left the newspapers pristine clean. So cliche, right?

But that's not the end. Our friend decided he was tired (and maybe a little hot) and proceeded to lie down right in his own puddle! *Faints*

AND WHEN HE SAW ME, HE JUMPED UP AND PUT HIS PAWS RIGHT ON MY WHITE T-SHIRT! *FAINTS*

All my yells of "NOOOOOOOO!" just made him decide he really wanted to jump on me.

Anyway, normally if he steps in his pee, I just do a wet wipe on him. But this time, his whole underside was drenched. So I had to take the one with no sense of personal hygiene down for another bath. He just had one yesterday.

Rhoda likes Danny. So when she heard I was going to bathe him, she wanted in on the action. She held him while I took pics.

"Not again...Why me?"

"Is that a camera?"

"Yay! It's over!"

All things considered, I must say he's one better than Trakker, who thought the whole house was a toilet. Traks especially liked the fresh scent of the morning paper. By the time it got to us at breakfast, however, it wasn't quite so fresh any more.

Maybe I should be thankful Danny doesn't do it on the paper.

S. N. A. D.

Oooh! What's this?

Pretty, no?

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It's Danny's new collar!

(Top view)Here he is sitting on hubby's lap. He likes to do that. And yes, I know hubby has no exercise fashion sense...

(Side view)

...But Danny does! Doesn't he look handsome? *adoring smile*

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Eh? What's that? Why did I put a pink collar on a boy dog?

Oei! I'll have you know that it takes a real dog to wear pink! Besides, he's a sensitive new age dog and TOTALLY in touch with his feminine side, okay? So there! Humph!

(P.S. The owner likes pink so he has no choice.)

(P.P.S. Hubby says taking him for a walk like that will emasculate him, but he doesn't have a choice either. Hah!)

Things I didn't know: Food

A large part of my life has been spent as a dog owner. It all began when 8-year-old me brought home a puppy from my friend's place. She was a yelpy silky terrier and I changed her name about 10 times in the course of her life. When she was Sheila (or was it Suzie?) she gave birth to two puppies, one of whom mated with a fellow neighbourhood silky to produce Trakker. Two years after Traks passed on, came Chassard.

My point? You'd think that after all this time, I'd be a walking encyclopedia on everything dog. Truth is, I'm nowhere close.

To me responsible dog ownership is making sure he's fed, bathed and brought to the vet when necessary. When everyone else was talking about how much effort it takes to be responsible, I nodded my head gravely and wondered what the heck they were talking about.

With Danny, I decided I should do a bit of research...

...I wish I didn't. I'll start with food, shall I?


The BARF Diet

Have you ever heard of BARF? Yes? No? Well, it stands for Biologically Appropriate Raw Food. It's based on the theory that dogs eat raw meat and bones in the wild, hence that is the best way to get all their necessary nutrients. Appearantly dogs on the BARF diet are happy, healthy and free of the usual doggie ailments.

Sounds easy to do? Just get some cheap leftovers from the market and chuck them straight into the food bowl, right?

Haha. It involves a combination of meat, bones, fruits, vegetables, offal (aka spare parts) and other supplements, all mixed in the correct proportions. Specifically, it needs about 60% to 80% of raw meaty bones, such as chicken necks and wings, and 20% to 40% of the rest.

As organs like liver and kidney clear toxins from the body, some people opt for organic offal to minimise the toxins for canine consumption. Others also grind up the meat and bones in a meat grinder to prevent their dogs from chipping their teeth. And where do you get a meat grinder? Why you buy one of course!

There's also an assortment of other stuff like eggs, vitamin E, alfalfa and cod liver oil which supplement the diet.

If you're barfing at the BARF diet, you're not alone. I thought about all the cheeseburgers, goreng pisangs and pizzas that I eat, and frankly, if I put Danny on this, he'll be eating a lot better than I am.

Thus, I decided I'll go back to good ol' kibble (aka dry dog food).


Kibble

Kibble is what we fed Chassard. That's just about all he got. One bowl of Science Diet in the evening and one egg in the morning.

I thought of returning to that with Danny when I opened my big mouth at a pet shop. The staff were very friendly and helpful but I left with more info than I bargained for.

Ahem. Science Diet is generally considered a good brand, although it has its detractors. Chassard was all happy sappy with it and was actually getting fat, so I don't have issues with it. For dogs with skin problems, it's best to avoid the chicken version. However, the only alternative is lamb which results in smelly poop.

The brand some vets and pet shops are plugging now is Fish 4 Dogs. It's appearantly very good for dogs with sensitive skin as it is fish based and hence minimises the chance of allergies. The problem? Your dog gets fish-breath, which, as the pet shop peeps happily pointed out, I can buy a seperate pack of chews which function like breath mints. Yeah, right.

Then, upon a net search, I found people recommending Wellness, Canidae and Orijen. I was told to look for labels like "holistic" and food which does not contain corn, which dogs can't digest. Why is it in the recipe? Well, corn is used as a filler to bulk up the food.

I was also warned against vitamin K or menadione which is a controversial man-made vitamin. It helps stop or control bleeding but also weakens the immune system and induces allegic reactions among others.

So what's a girl to do?

Danny was on a mixed diet of dry and canned food. That's what he was getting at the pet shop. Unfortunately schnauzers come with a built-in beard and we have to wipe his mouth after each meal thanks to the wet food. Fun for him, cos he thinks it's a game; not for us, cos he was getting puppy breath.

Fortunately his canned food ran out. Being the efficient, responsible owner that I am, I failed to replace it. Now, he's left with his dry food (and his breath's perfect). It's ANF though, which contains the dubious vitamin K.

I don't know that to do when that runs out. I'll let you know.

For the record: Things dogs can't eat
Chocolate, garlic, onions, grapes, raisins, cooked bones, tomatoes and dairy products.