[QUOTE]Originally posted by turbo_pwr
[B]dude I'd gladly pay $35 to have someone else put their finger up my dogs ass.

 

I'd rather not think about the words "anal sac" and "tongue" in the same sentence, thank you!

 

Luder how old is your dog? Did you ever look into dog medical insurance?

 

He's 6 months now, just got fixed, is about 70 pounds of muscle, and $h!ts like a horse!

This is the first dog that we fed wet/moist food from the beginning (but have now switched to dry food).

None of the other dogs have ever had anal sac issues, but they've been fed dry food ever since entering our family. Before adopting Shaam, a GSD, we read that shepards are fairly suseptible to bloat; hence our decision to feed wet food. This was a very good track to follow seeing that he scarfs his food like it's his only meal he's ever been fed.

 

Any he's only 6 months old? Hopefully, as he gets older, he can process food better and you'll be able to dispense with the fork lift that you need to pick up his turds.

 

Vet says that Shaam is the strongest GSD pup he's ever seen. I need to limit his physical activity otherwise, his growth may become stunted.

There's just so much I can limit with this dog though. He's VERY obediant, very protective of my wife, yet sees me as Alpha male (love it just like this).

When we're out running, playing fetch or otherwise, I try to limit him from jumping. However, his favorite activity is playing tug of war with me, my wife, or our other dog. When the two dogs get bored, they go find something to play tug of war with even if I've put away all the rope and plush toys.

They don't chew on shoes or anything, but if all other toys are put away, they will find a shoe. BTW, the older dog knows how to open our shoe closet door. She opens the door, the other take a big shoe out. Funniest thing I've seen, but that's what they do.

His dung is normal, it's just so large. He used to go two times a day but now is down to once a day. I almost rather him have larger droppings. They are actually easier to pick up with the scooper I have, and there are no little fallen dingle berries that I step on like I used to when he was younger.

Food digestion with this dog doesn't seem to be an issue. He only eats and has eaten dog food. Where as the other dogs we've had, have eaten human food, and will beg for human food. Shaam doesn't care what human food is, nor does he even look twice when we sit down to eat.

What I do need to train out of him though, which I'm having a hard time doing, is to tame that protection instinct. When outside of the house with the wife, he is VERY loud and overly protective of her. No male can approach her without being warned....even male kids! He doesn't do it when it's only me, but does it when it's only her, or her and me, etc.

I hope that I'm not the one projecting this attitude to him, I know I'm a tad overprotective of my wife, but not when it comes to other people; only concerns are when she travels, drives, etc. (but those are really my issues from the past).

 

Our dog is the same with regards to being protective. She won't let any make come within 50 feet of her without giving out a warning growl. I've been told "tug of war" type games will increase the "aggressive" behavior of dogs as might be the case when a dog's human master does aggressive play with it. Games that instigate any kind of growling will contribute to this issue. Once fully learned is hard to "unlearn".

 

That's just it, my other dog's growl when playing tug of war, but Shaam is quiet and plays it as a game, as if he were playing fetch with me.

The only time I've ever seen him aggressive is when protecting my wife unnecessarily, when he eats (he's very protective of his food), and late at night when something startles him (such as a noise).

As far as playing rough with him, it doesn't happen. His paw swipes knock me over when I'm kneeling or sitting. If I'm not attentive while playing tug of war, he can and will topple me playfully. It's funny, he's such a compactly built load of muscle, it's almost unnerving how he's going to be when fully grown. I may have to change his name to Dino (remember the Flinstones).

Please don't think of me as a wuss, I can hold me own, weigh in at 165 lbs, and have been strength training for the past 8 months (trying to get back into the shape I was in college).