[Ed]

I think Visionary, the food Robert recommends, is grain-free. Perhaps you could call them up and see what they have to say about puppy diets.

There are possibly many non-dog driven reasons for grain to be pushed. For example, the dogs environmental footprint, raising other animals to be consumed by dogs, economics in that grain is a major component of large establish products, and so forth.

[Ed]

I’m going through a similar transition. From kibble to raw frozen. The concern I had was that if the new food was balanced, and I mix it with something (50% frozen + 50% chicken necks). The diet could no longer be balanced. Meaning the frozen may have 100% of the needed vitamins and minerals, but mixing it with the chicken necks he is only getting half of that <font face=”inherit”>from the frozen and I have to </font>perhaps<font face=”inherit”> supplement the chicken necks with something, for that to add back to 100% </font>of vitamins and minerals.

<font face=”inherit”>I ended up </font>transitioning<font face=”inherit”> to 100% raw frozen. When I budgeted I went off the </font>manufacturer’s<font face=”inherit”> guidelines. Turns out that was a lot more than the number of calories they were used to getting from kibble. So I portioned the meals based on the calories they were used to, and that made it within reach.</font>

[Ed]

Specifically on puppy’s needs. Robert referenced puppy food in a recent AMA or chat. He said the puppy food was different from adult food in that it had more calories, but otherwise that food is food. I asked the manufacturer of mine if I had to supplement it for the new pup and they said the food was good to go as is, which is inline with the above.

There is no grain in it. Ingredient List:

– Muscle Meat (Chicken & Beef )
– Organ Meat (Beef Heart & Liver)
– Ground Chicken Bone
– Fresh, Low-Carb Vegetables: Broccoli, Carrots, Sweet Potato
– Essential Vitamins, Minerals and Trace Minerals (includes Egg Powder)

[Ed]

When Val was 16-18 weeks a mother + 5 yo child asked to pet her. All was going well until Val licked the kid. The little POS then slapped Val and continue to advance towards trying to hit her again while yelling “no no no don’t lick me”

On a happier note, we go to a boardwalk and to a park that has picnic tables and families use for gatherings to expose my dogs to kids and noisy adults. We just walk of chill out and keep our distance. I do not let them pet my dogs. I have the patches that say “do not pet” and when the younger kids ask I just tell them “he/she is not the petting kind of dog”

[Ed]

When I first got my Pit he was 8 months. I tried to tire him. We walked and played for 4 hours straight. Did not work. The one time I remember he being tired as a young pup was when we hiked going up and down some pretty good hills for 7 hours straight. Lol.

Eventually we worked out his minimum needs (as an adult dog) were two 1.5 mile structured walks with me a day. That would get his mental state where he could have access to the whole house for the entire day on his own and not get into trouble. However, if we skipped this for 2-3 days something in the house would get chewed. From that I figured that it is not a question of being tired, but maintaining a good mental state. That however, was not sufficient for him to be happy. If we wanted happiness we had to add daily training.

So it is a long story, but what I gathered is that physically tiring some dogs is not really practical. However, there is a minimum amount of structured physical activity (work) they need in order to maintain a healthy mental state. In addition to work they also need to please you in order to be happy, and the best way to achieve that is training. What the training is about does not really matter.

Not sure if this is what you were referring to, but I hope it is useful.

[Ed]

One more thing… say you are doing a lose leash walk and you see a dog or a person approach. You then give him the “heel” command. That will tell him that now he is no longer just hanging with you, but he has a job to do (even if that is just a pet-type heel). The timing must be before the distraction takes a hold of him. Hope it helps

EDIT, also because you just asked him to do something a smaller correction can be applied as he stats to become unfocused

[Ed]

Oh there was a video where if you had the dog on the left side Robert would turn left during the loose walk. That would teach the dog to not be ahead of you.

Maybe we will try that someday. But I usually walk both dogs at the same time, one on each side. Them being a coupe of feet ahead is fine for us.

[Ed]

Some people may see it differently, but for us the loose leash walk is whatever leash you brought is the radius he gets. There is no lenience per se because it is understood that if you brought a 4 foot leash he can be 2 feet ahead and he is still “within the terms of the contract”.

The heel, again for us, is more of a command, whether that is a competition heel or a stay in this general area while we are walking. It is work for the dog so, depending on the dog, it is harder for them to keep it up on their own. When the dog is on heel the leash is just a backup.

One thing you could try is to get them “in the zone”. For me that is a resonantly brisk pace (as opposed to a measured stroll). Their ears go back and they look forward. They are still aware of their environment, but you can see in their body language that they are in work mode.

[Ed]

Oh, if you need the martingale to sit lower/loser, or if her standard collar is a flat one, you can use an extension (Amazon ASIN B07KM9GM7P).

[Ed]

Congratulations!!

It is great to see progress! I would try going to a long line 10-15 ft and stay in the area she is comfortable with. I would get a carabiner and hook up the end of the line to my belt and not touch it, continue with the ecollar and just have the hanging line as a backup.

I say this because I have had a few incidents after the dogs were doing very well off-leash in a low distraction environment. Once in a blue moon, when the distraction large enough, they would take off. I do not know how they would do today, cuz last time it happened I had bent over to pick up his poop and Bailey took off, picking a fight with another dog that I had not see approaching. It was a silly fight with a Tasmanian Devil dog ball and no bites, but that was enough for us to put an end to their off-leash privileges. Maybe in your case that could be a car backfiring a chipmunk or something else. If you can make it work with a long line it would get you that insurance.

Congrats again!!