New member of the family

[BrianR]

Originally Posted by Bullitt

What kind of food would you feed a two-three year old? Is that into the "adult" range of food? Specific toys they like?

That would fall into the "tweens"...juvenile stage of development. You can get away with good quality adult dog food. A good name to try is Purina One, available at most groceries. There are other brands including the newer "organic" and private labels available at your local PetSmart or the like. Mine is a garbage-gut and will eat nearly anything.

His favorite toys include Wilson tennis balls (I hate cleaning up the little balls of fuzz he loves to pull off though), Kong chewies, ordinary rawhide bones, rag-ropes (made of old rags, sold in Walmart and PetSmart) and a rubber ring that I cannot remember the maker of but is well-nigh indestructible. I read about it here. Pit bulls like to bite and chew but are rarely destructive with this if given sufficient proper outlets.

My dog enjoys tug of war second only to Tag. We have a fairly small backyard but it is enough to exercise a smallish pit bull terrier and a minipoodle, whom Junior regards as the ultimate playtoy.

Here is a pic of Junior in post #15

[Bullitt]

Okay that's good to know about the chew toys, thanks! We will get her a mix of things, rawhides, string knot ropes, tennis balls, etc. (that rubber ring link didn't work) I read that you ought to use a "rubber brush" on short hair dogs such as these, any truth to that?

[DucksNuts]

A standard rubber grooming mitt will be perfect for her.

Its just one that slips over your hand and is soft and flexible, she will swoon at the massage giving by this mitt.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Bullitt

Okay that's good to know about the chew toys, thanks! We will get her a mix of things, rawhides, string knot ropes, tennis balls, etc. (that rubber ring link didn't work) I read that you ought to use a "rubber brush" on short hair dogs such as these, any truth to that?

Be carefull of rawhides and pigs-ears, from third world countries, that use nasty chemicals in their processing.

[DanaC]

eew. I did not know that.

[BrianR]

Sorry. That site went down. I really need to clean my bookmark file again!

Look around for Labrador Retriever info sites, they are really enthusiastic chewers and anything that survives them should survive a pit just fine. Try here for a start.

[DanaC]

Nylabones are good. As far as rubber rings are concerned. I have yet to find the rubber ring my dog can't destroy.

He's not a destructive dog, except with toys. Those solid, heavy rubber rings he just dismantles...literally. He breaks them, very carefully into near uniform segments. Takes him a while, but he's quite determined. If he ends up with a segment that's twice the size of the rest he chews it down into two segments.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by DanaC

eew. I did not know that.

You should be aware.

Dr. Markway was right on target with his diagnosis and comments. Salmonella bacteria is often present especially if the rawhide comes from outside the US. Another problem is arsenic used as a preservative. This is, in essence, giving your pet poison! Other dangerous additives can include antibiotics, lead and insecticides. Some countries like Thailand even include pieces of dog and cat skin in these products. Health problems from rawhide chews include sore throat, choking, intestinal blockage as well as the acute pancreatitis Taco and Seismo experienced.

Symptoms of acute pancreatitis can vary from mild gastrointestinal upset to collapse and death. Most animals with common gastrointestinal upset have any or all of the following:

Vomiting
Not eating
Painful abdomen, hunched appearance (more common in dogs)
Fever or below-normal body temperature
Diarrhea
Depression
Dehydration (diagnosed by sunken eyes, dry mouth and the skin "tents" when pinched)1

If you want to do your own investigating, try entering "rawhide chew" + sick in a search engine. Be prepared for a lot of results.

[DanaC]

awww. Depression.

[Razzmatazz13]

Be careful of regular table scrap bones too, all dogs are different, most everyone knows not to have chicken bones but our dog gets sick on EVERY kind of bone, something about her stomach not digesting them properly...it makes her ill for weeks if she gets ahold of one. I suggest trying it though, cause doggies love a treat every now and then, just watch her.

[DanaC]

Also, talking of bones: modern domestic dogs have much thinner tooth enamel than their wild ancestors and bones are often too hard. It is not uncommon for dogs who are regularly given bones as treats, to wear their teeth down early and end up with dental problems. So, my advice is if giving bones, make it very occasional and get bones which have been treated rather than just from the butcher.

For more general chewing/gnawing much better to get nylabones which mimic the features and textures of a bone, but have a little give to them so that they don't wear the enamel down. They also are made with fibres that clean the dogs teeth as they chew.