Monday, August 02, 2010

Food, Training and Discipline...

Recently Pa have been receiving plenty of queries about food, health, training and discipline questions. There are plenty of resources actually online... but who do you listen to? One thing I can tell you is that...

USE COMMON SENSE.

Which can be not so common really.

DogLover on the TagBoard asked about how to prevent the tartar buildup in Bruno's teeth dated in August 2009.

a simple solution really... Bone Meal. However, DogLover thinks that bones are bad for the dog's tummy, so thanks anyway.

...WOAH. Wait a min. Say what? Bones are bad for a dog's tummy? Notice our Big Long fangs? our sharpened molars? We were Born to chew on bones! For more info, you can read plenty of references like This One. I'm not saying to believe 100% everything on the sites that you read... But take it with some common sense.
Bruno and Myself have what you would call a Balanced Diet. This is what we have every day or so...

1/4-1/2 cup Kibble of any various brands including sample packs
1/3-1/2 bowl of Brown Rice cooked in Grated various veges
1 to 2 whole chicken spines
3 to 4 chicken feet
1 whole chicken liver
1 strip of Beef Tendon (The tough bits you humans hate...)

+Various other occasional canned and mixed meats, even cooked food etc.

In other words, we really have a varied diet. We deal with all sorts of proteins. How much does this all cost? Incredibly only less than $3.00 a day for each of us.
Training a dog has truly many various methods. And it would be VERY silly to imagine that 1 method fits all. One of the few things doggie people can acknowledge is that... There is no such thing as the Best way... but rather the Most suitable.

Auntie Eileen posted on the tagboard an interesting article from the Times no less. The Article was very strong in its stance of dog training. What was actually more interesting was the comments the article garnered. Go read it if you have the time.

Me? I happen to think that Discipline and Training is actually two different things altogether.
In one of the comments, the writer talks about his own training and his scientific opinion on why things happen the way its does... and of course the "success" or rather limited scope in his own opinion that he had.

But still, he deemed it a "success" anyway.

The article I'm highlighting is his experience with a female rottie. Apparently his theory is based on a Border Terrier... and a huge female rottie that gave him a low growl with her teeth 2" from his face... and he blames it on himself for "leaning in... a rookie mistake".

DUDE. You really have to understand that training and discipline is very different. Being able to discipline a dog is no different from disciplining an errant child. Its not about allowing the dog to do what it wants.

Its about the dog doing what YOU WANT.
Why don't anyone understand this? This.... takes both training and discipline. Extremely positive experiences build up through careful nurturing.To make instant friends and able to play with other dogs takes a lot more skill than what most other humans have. And that only comes with constant exposure to new and interesting places, people and dogs.

Whatever the case is, Read Read Read... then Read some more... and learn as much as you can. Adapt to what works for you... cause if it works for you, it'll probably work for us. If it doesn't, feel free to drop me a message on my tagboard or my little pluggin for Pushme to Pa's iPhone direct. (huh? WTF? how did i get roped into this?)

7 comments:

**~WingLess @nGeL??~** said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Crystal said...

Hi,
can i know did u send your do 4 training or you train it by yourself or your dad is a trainer?Lol. Coz as I see, it seems like friendly and it's not aggressive at all. Any idea on training rottie? Any website that u follow?? I really do appreciate if you can show me the way. :)

BigBrownBearBear said...

Dear Crystal,

My name is Bear... and I am the Rotti you see in the pictures here. My Pa is TK and he is the fat guy you see occasionally on my blog when I decide to.

I would love to say that I train myself... but most people would call me a braggart. Pa is really the trainer here and no... there isn't just one school of thought that he follows.

He mixes and matches what works for him... and gives his opinion when its asked... or when sometimes it isn't.

Commercial websites and professional trainers can sometimes give really good advise but beware the sponsors they sometimes have to please.

you can drop a message on the Pushme widget on the main page to contact Pa directly on his iPhone and he can make the time to meet up with you and your doggie if he feels you really need the help.

Crystal said...

So , the Pushme widget is directly send my message to your PA?

And I found out from your website that feeding a dog with raw meat is healthy. Is that true? Coz my mum keep telling me is not good for dog and will have sick also...Lol. Can you define it to me? Raw meat is it something which is uncooked?

BigBrownBearBear said...

Hi crystal,

Yes, the widget will have the message sent direct to the phone. However, remember to leave a way to contact u back.

There are basically 3 schools of thought.

1. Dog Food Junkies

People that believes that dog pellets and processed canned stuff is the only thing dogs should eat.

2. Home Cooked Food

HCF advocates cook food daily for their dogs.

3. Bones and Raw Food / Biologically Appropriate Raw Food

BARF actually has many schools of thought. Some just feed bones and raw meats while others promote dehydrated powder-like baby mash.

4. Bear Bear & Bruno's food

Which is a mixture of really... Everything.

Anyway, u can tell your mom that dogs have a very different digestive system. Eg. Their intestinal tract is a lot shorter and hence vege matter cannot be digested well.

Bones and meats are really their natural diet. And with different enzymes and bacteria in their tummies, that is why they can pick stuff off the floor and eat it without getting sick.

If your mom is really concerned about surface bacteria, you can microwave (30sec) or even give it a boiling water bath to wash the meats/bones.

The advantages are huge. Teeth, coat, skin, and the general health and excitement during the meals will be all worth it.

Crystal said...

Hi, So actually BARF is made of dehydrated food?

BigBrownBearBear said...

if BARF is defined as Biologically Appropriate Raw Food, then there are companies that are promoting their form of dehydrated food as BARF.

if defined as Bones and Raw food, then it consists of... well Bones and Raw Food.

anyway, it is dificult to converse here. you can leave your email add or number on the pushme widget.