Continue reading... "how this freaky site works..."

If you happen to have a hyper, aggressive or generally intense dog, change their diet to a low-protein dog food without artificial preservatives (look for about 20% protein). Any protein that they're not using for serious growth spurts is essentially extra energy ripping through your dog's system. Like ROCKET FUEL. UNNECESSARY ROCKET FUEL. Think about it...

Whenever you change a dog's food, do it gradually, 25% of the new food at a time. A quick change in protein levels most of the time results in stank, rancid loose stool. I don't think this is what you want. (is it?)
So, do it 25% new/ 75% old for a week or so, and if the dog's system can handle that, then go to 50%- %50, and so on...

About the preservatives: dog food contains lots of fats in it, which tend to spoil easily, thus the need for a preservative of some sort. Some smart idiot took a chemical that was originally used as a rubber stabilizer/ insecticide/ pesticide (ETHOXYQUIN) and decided to use it to preserve the fats in dog food. (hey, guys, i have this great idea!...) So now almost all of the dog foods on the market use this pesticide/ rubber stabilizer, which means our dogs are eating it. Me personally, i don't think it's a good idea to give it to them. So, i feed Wellness brand, which is probably not THE best food, but pretty darn good considering what else is out there. And Wellness (owned by Old Mother Hubbard) uses ethoxyquin-free meat sources, and there are no chemical preservatives in there. Check your dog food bags at home if you want, chances are you'll see that "e"- word in there somewhere.

Oh, and Nutro Natural doesn't use ethoxyquin, either.

glorious meatball...

Hey! Long time no talkie.

So... how about I start off with the good news? Well, Meatball's platelet count is stable and though she eats like a horse and pees like a fountain, she's basically alright in the physical department. And the vet is decreasing her steroids and she'll be completely off it in about four weeks.

Now for the bad news.
At first it wasn't REALLY bad, I mean we just thought she was grouchy from spending a week at the vets, being poked at by needles and having her temperature taken, so when she got home, and the hair on her shoulders stood up at Rask, we just reprimanded her with a "NO!" and she calmed down.
But then, about 2 weeks home, she and Rask got into their first big dog fight. I was all happy and asleep in my warm fluffy blanket and suddenly I hear this sound like a demon's wolf snarling and yelping and barking and I hear Joann yelling for me to get down there. So with my overly large sweatpants that kept falling down when I all but fell down the stairs, I ran down and found my sister buried in this mass of bristling, barking, dog hair. My first thought was to get a bucket of water, then I remembered it was something else. So anyhow, Meatball and Rask were both snarling and yelping and barking and they were trying to get at eachother with my sister in the middle. So with superwoman force, I dragged them apart and for the next ten minutes, all anyone could hear was me screaming and yelling at the both of them while Meatball stuffed herself under a chair and Rask sat there forlornly taking my yelling with as much dignity as she could muster. Then both Rask and Meatball came out and sat huddled next to eachother until I calmed down. So I gave them both looks that could send any dog cowering and went back upstairs to sleep thinking they had both learned their lesson.
After I woke up, I found out it was that when my sister was petting Rask, Meatball came and she pet her too. And then when she tried to return to petting Rask, Meatball went crazy and tried to fight with Rask. So I just said, okay, it's a dominance problem, from now on, pet Rask first and give Rask her food/treats first so it will show Meatball that Rask was older and higher in the social ladder than her.
A few days later, I was once again asleep when I hear the same sounds, and I thought, this cannot be HAPPENING AGAIN. So I stormed downstairs to find them locked in mortal combat, this time, like last time, they gave no regard towards me (and I bet my face was so red from yelling) and once again, I pulled them apart and gave them both a good portion of "time out and listen to josie scream." While walking barefoot out in the concrete.
This time happened because Rask wanted to go to the bathroom outside and Meatball wanted to play outside, Rask accidently bumped Meatball on the shoulder and the fighting ensued.
Now to cut my really long email short. WHAT ON EARTH CAN WE DO TO STOP MEATBALL FROM FIGHTING WITH RASK?!?!
It happened three more times, the details which I'm not too fond in remembering but knowing that Meatball tried to steal Rask's food was enough.
Oh and she's reverted to being food possessive again but now after a few days of training, she's completely non-food possessive.
But this FIGHTING.
And I hope the steroids do not make her more manly.
(Now smaller problems, she growls at the vets and assistants and she tried to pick fights with dogs TWICE her size including a gigantic Shepherd mix at the vet's, but I think it's just bad memories of the place since I had to carry her in, she weighing about 38 pounds of meat and fur, and me at 100 or so, being embarressed as all the other patients laughed and smiled.)
Anyway, hope we can solve this, I swear if they fight again, I will be screaming into the next century. Today being the 6th time and I didn't even bother to find out why this time.

With exasperated sighs,
Josie.

read on for my professional response. sans caps...

Continue reading... "meatball strikes again. a question from a loyal reader..."