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Originally Posted by Smokey2011  I am getting a bit confused.. I bought a few dental bones.. samples.. for him to try. He hated Greenies and I dont care for them myself. I am looking at a product from Zukes.com- a Z bone.. ingredients include Alfalfa concentrate, clove, parsley, fennel and rosemary to name a few. I've made my own dog biscuits from recipies on dog sites.. some with peanut butter.. some with parsley, garlic powder, cinnamon, etc. I see a recipe for doggie gingerbread men with all the usual ingredients- including real or powdered ginger and carob bits for the eyes and buttons. I've read on this site where peeps give them craisins for snack.
I am a fairly well-educated, pet savvy, cautious individual. I do almost all of my own cooking from scratch. I would cut my own throat if anything happened to Smokey on my watch and could have been prevented by me. Now I am reading (true or false, doesnt matter) about a Yorkie who possibly died from poisoning due to raisins or whatever the F the dog purportedly ingested. (I wouldnt feed raisins, so no probs there).
I certainly could limit him to a very strict diet with little variation just to be on the safe side, but do I really need to do that? In addition to this, dont let him jump because he could break a leg, no going down stairs (he doesnt know how and Im not about to teach him), no going outside without a coat- it was 10 degrees F here this morning (we only walk about three houses down and back and we dont go out in the freezing rain), no being left alone, even for a minute... Our place is pretty Yorkie proof and I dont take him to the bathroom with me. I do however, put him on my bed when I shower and he lies there quietly. Hasnt tried to jump off as of yet. He sleeps in his crate by the side of the bed.
My experience is with dogs 10x his size. I want to do the right thing. I certainly do not want to put Smokey in any kind of danger and I certainly am nobody's fool. He looks to me like a tough little guy. Where do I draw the line on keeping him safe without driving him and us crazy with all of this? |
LOL Sorry your post cracked me up. My boys are my first small dogs too. I always had big dogs. I didn't find yorkietalk until I had them for a year or so. By that point, they went up stairs, down stairs, jump off the couch from the back onto a tile floor, jumped off & on the bed, they ate shoes and power cords, had rawhide treats and were eating crap food, they escaped out the door more than once in my condo complex(one time I was sleeping and didn't know someone else let one of them out by accident when we were visiting family in Virginia, this woman starts banging on the slider door, I looked up and she's holding my Fletcher telling me he was outside under a car but she thought she saw me come with them the day before! God LOVED me that day! Im WAY more paranoid now!). I loved them and was careful with them but not over protective at all.
Actually I re read that and think how awful it sounds, however, they are good. My vet says their knees are great, they are healthy (I have since switched to a better dog food - Taste of the Wild) and they no longer get rawhide, greenies or dentabones (those had some MAJORLY bad side effects on them). They get milkbones, 1 a day because they LOVE them, and for a special treat, they get a bully stick. I'll google something before I feed it to them for the first time, but I don't panic if they get an M&M that my nephew dropped on the floor, just keep an eye on them. I try to not have dangerous foods out and around.
Ive learned a lot of things about them by experience. Keep your vet on speed dial, make sure your baby is not underfoot when carrying something heavy, watch that he does not sneak out the house when you open the door, get vaccinations, keep him on a leash more than not outside the house (esp around other big dogs)... but most importantly he's a dog. He's going to do DOG things! Enjoy him!
