New dog rescue - a few questions

[woowoo]

Not sure if anyone is ever on this board, but I thought I would give it a shot!

We rescued a mix-breed (we think Lab, maybe some french bulldog, maybe some pit) 1 year old dog about a month ago.  She's WONDERFUL.  We had a rough first week during the "trial" period that the Rescue Organization provides, but since then things have been great.  She's now fully crate trained, potty trained (she wasn't quite there when we go her but after about a week she was fine), sits, lays down, will come without major distractions, and we're working hard on walking nicely on a leash.   But I have a few questions that I'm hoping to get some help with.

We're feeding her Fromm's adult dry food.  She's REALLY gassy.  It's awful.  Should we try different food?  Mixing wet and dry?  Doing three feedings instead of four?  I have no idea what to try.  She's really not interested in eating much in the morning, so we might need to switch to 2 small feedings in AM and Noon, then a normal feeding at night.

She's going to daycare twice a week just for fun and to burn off energy.  But we're still walking her at least twice a day as she was really bad on a leash when we got her (pulling, trying to play/jump on every living being that passed) etc.  We bough a Gentle Leader harness and that has been a God-send, however, I noticed today that her skin underneath her legs gets really red/rashy after a longer walk.  Is it not fitting correctly?  Or is this normal?  I hate to switch back to just walking with her collar because the Gentle Leader has helped so much with the pulling, but I hate to think it's hurting her in some way. 

We start doggie training on Tuesday!

Thanks for any advice you might have! 

[brittmk0922]

Is it the Easy Walk Harness you're talking about? We use and LOVE it for our pups. I have never had an issue with redness under the legs though. I would double check how it fits.

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[dearprudence]

Jun 14, 2013 10:06:16 GMT -5 woowoo said:

We're feeding her Fromm's adult dry food.  She's REALLY gassy.  It's awful.  Should we try different food?  Mixing wet and dry?  Doing three feedings instead of four?  I have no idea what to try.  She's really not interested in eating much in the morning, so we might need to switch to 2 small feedings in AM and Noon, then a normal feeding at night.

Is there a specific reason you're feeding her so often?  I've never heard of a dog eating 4 times a day! We rescued my lab mix when he was between 9month and a year and have always fed him twice a day, and my parents rescued a pit mix when she was 6 months and also have always fed her twice a day.  That aside (because I don't know that amount is related to gas) you could try switching foods.  It's possible that her gas is caused by what you're feeding.  Then again, it could possibly just be due to the fact she's a gassy dog!

She's going to daycare twice a week just for fun and to burn off energy.  But we're still walking her at least twice a day as she was really bad on a leash when we got her (pulling, trying to play/jump on every living being that passed) etc.  We bough a Gentle Leader harness and that has been a God-send, however, I noticed today that her skin underneath her legs gets really red/rashy after a longer walk.  Is it not fitting correctly?  Or is this normal?  I hate to switch back to just walking with her collar because the Gentle Leader has helped so much with the pulling, but I hate to think it's hurting her in some way. 

We don't use a gentle leader (we lucked out with a stupid dog that goes where we want him) but my mom does.  She doesn't have the leg issue, but the part that goes around her dog's nose gets that red rashy look.  It probably bothers you more than her, but you can try putting mole-skin on the lead so that the part that rubs on her is less irritating.  I'm also not sure whether your girl's skin is more lab-like or bully-like, but if it's the latter, she's probably prone to more skin sensitivity.

Congratulations on your new addition!

[kris356]

Our American Bulldog was super gassy when we got him, switched him to grain free (taste of the wild) we have eliminated his gas issues. It may be worth a try to switch food. I agree with everyone else, 4 times a day seems like a lot. Our AB eats twice, morning and evening. Our lab ate on the same schedule. Both ate two cups a feeding.

I have no suggestions for the harness except maybe add some moleskin or lambs wool

[brittmk0922]

I feed Taste of the Wild to our two as well. Have had nothing but the best experience with it for both our pups, especially with Dav having a laundry list of allergies lol! We also feed twice/day.

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[katietornado]

Cal chafed with a harness (he's an Australian Kelpie). We used a Gentle Leader for a while, and well...then we sort of gave up. He still pulls a little, but nothing like he used to.

As for food...Fromm is a fantastic, top of the line food. But that doesn't mean it's working for her. Try switching it up. If you got the Fromm from a store, ask the people there for advice. It could be the brand, it could be the protein, etc. They should be able to help you find something new that would work better for her.

[RoxMonster]

Are you using a Gentle Leader (this fits around their snout) or a body harness? I'm thinking harness because you mentioned irritation under the leg.

I would highly recommend a Gentle Leader if that's not in fact what you're using. Our lab mix pulled TERRIBLY on the leash when we adopted her, to the point our hands would burn and walks were just miserable. She still pulled considerably, though less, on a body harness. The Gentle Leader has been an absolute god send (it fits around their snout but is not a muzzle and does not restrict barking, chewing, etc. in any way). It has totally revolutionized our walks.

If you still want to keep using the body harness, I would search You Tube for the Easy Walk harness fitting video. We watched it before fitting her with it to ensure it was fitting properly. There is also a You Tube video for fitting the Gentle Leader as well if you do decide to use that.

[woowoo]

Thanks everyone!  I went to the store over the weekend and they also recommended Taste of the Wild, so we're going to give that a shot.
And I don't think I explained the feeding schedule very well!  We had been only feeding her twice a day, but she wasn't eating all of her food in the morning.  So we were trying to figure out whether we should give her a small feeding in the morning, another at lunch, then a regular sized feeding at dinner?  So two small, one regular?  She just doesn't seem to be a morning eater. 

We've been using the Easy Walk harness (I used the wrong name in my original post) - I added moleskin like PP suggested and that helped a little but still seemed to irritate her.  Her daycare folks assured me the fit was correct, but she just has sensitive skin.  I went and got a Gentle Leader instead but she FREAKED out when I tried to put it on her, even using treats and gentle coaxing.  We'll see if I can get her comfortable with it in the next few weeks.  She really panicked! 

Thanks for your suggestions!

[RoxMonster]

Jun 17, 2013 11:17:25 GMT -5 woowoo said:

Thanks everyone!  I went to the store over the weekend and they also recommended Taste of the Wild, so we're going to give that a shot.
And I don't think I explained the feeding schedule very well!  We had been only feeding her twice a day, but she wasn't eating all of her food in the morning.  So we were trying to figure out whether we should give her a small feeding in the morning, another at lunch, then a regular sized feeding at dinner?  So two small, one regular?  She just doesn't seem to be a morning eater. 

We've been using the Easy Walk harness (I used the wrong name in my original post) - I added moleskin like PP suggested and that helped a little but still seemed to irritate her.  Her daycare folks assured me the fit was correct, but she just has sensitive skin.  I went and got a Gentle Leader instead but she FREAKED out when I tried to put it on her, even using treats and gentle coaxing.  We'll see if I can get her comfortable with it in the next few weeks.  She really panicked! 

Thanks for your suggestions!

Yeah that sounds pretty normal. There is a video on You Tube about desensitizing dogs to the Gentle Leader. It begins with not even putting it over their snout--just letting them sniff it and feeding treats. Then targeting it, feed treats. Then moving up to taking a treat through the lead without putting it on. Then putting it just over their nose then feeding treats and taking off, etc. I'd highly recommend watching it because it helped us so much with our dog, who had a bad experience with the Gentle Leader from her shelter days (they did not fit them properly at the shelter and hers was so tight while there that it started rubbing fur off).

Oh! I found the You Tube video I used. It's called "Jean Donaldson gets conditioned emotional response while fitting Gentle Leader."