CockersOnline Forum
Cocker Specific Discussion => Puppies => Topic started by: fudgesmammy on December 10, 2002, 11:38:56 AM
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We feed Fudge on Pro Plan Puppy she loves it. Does anyone else use Pro Plan? No one's mentioned it in any of the posts before. Is there a reason for it's seeming lack of popularity?
When we got her we were told she shouldn't be given treats or anything at all other than her 3 meals a day. She's 9 weeks old today and seems neither fat nor thin but we'd like to be able to reward her with some slightly more interesting things that bits of pro plan. Any suggestions? We did get her from a kind of puppy shop- we know we shouldn't have, at least we've done her a favour- so we're not always totally convinced about the advice they've given (they had about 20 breeds of pup in the kennel place) and we've been checking stuff out with our vet who lives next door- we just don't want to pester him too much cos he's our neighbour not just our source of professional opinion!!!
Also- we bought Fudge a little red ball with a bell in and she just barks at it- she won't play with it. why not?
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She probably won't lay with the ball because of the bell. That kind of ball is usually usec for cats. Get her a bnall without any form of noise maker and play with her so she gets to see what it's for.
As for the treats business. It is actually fairly sound advice not to give treats etc. What they don't mean though is not to reward her. They mean not to supplement her food with tit-bits etc as these can become habit forming and lead to bad nutrition and obesity in extreme cases.
When she has been a good girl it is OK to give her a treat to reward her. That will help encourage her to continue the good behaviour. Some dogs do enjoy a piece of the kibble. It's us humans that think they must be bored ;) You could try other things like pieces of Schmacko - dogs love them. You could make your own liver cake - which almost all dogs will do anything for. You just need to watch that you don't over feed her by giving too many treats and then her normal amount of food.
hth
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Purina Pro Plan is a good quality complete food - I do know quite a few breeders who feed it down here in the West country. I have found our very young puppies don't like it but as we've just won another big bag of the Puppy Food, I am going to try it on our 6 month pup & see how we go. If she doesn't like it, no doubt there will be a bag going spare soon ;D
Jane
PS Tiny pieces of cheese are also good to give as training treats (as long as you don't use crumbly cheese :))
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Our puppy loved proplan (we were given a bag free by the vet after her first check up) Then we found it really hard to buy it where we are (Eastbourne). We then tried almost all the other foods (she would eat them if we bought a small bag, but as soon as we bought a 10kg or so bag, she turned her nose up! (how Cocker of her!)
She now has Pascoe's mix with some fresh chicken (and she seems to love it - although we are only buying 2kg bags!)
As a healthy treat I'd recommend carrots - no fat, full of vitamins and good for her teeth. And she loves them (still!)
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That's really encouraging- we're not exactly pro's!
We accidentally dropped a carrot the other night and she ran off with it so seeing as they're good for her we'll probably use them more often! She likes cheese too- applewood smoked today but not stilton!
Will try and get a different ball- she seems to be fussy over toys- wont go anywhere near the squeaky newspaper thing but wont leave the squeaky tweety pie alone! Bizzarre.
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As a healthy treat I'd recommend carrots - no fat, full of vitamins and good for her teeth. And she loves them (still!)
My lot absolutely adore carrot ;D and brocolli too (the stalk not the florets :-)
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Cooper likes carrotts too, but he doesn' t eat them, he nibbles bits off and sptits them out so I end up with bits of carrot everywhere :-
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Candy loves apple. Is this okay to give her? Think I'll try her with carrot too; cheaper than JWB cracker jacks!
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Candy loves apple. Is this okay to give her? Think I'll try her with carrot too; cheaper than JWB cracker jacks!
Most fruits & veg are ok to give dogs - except grapes & onions I think (but even then you would have to feed a lot to cause problems, the odd grape now & again isn't going to hurt)
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Is it OK to give a puppy fruit or veg???? Don't want to upset her tummy ;D
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Sure Gilly - our pups love small carrot sticks & pieces of apple :)
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I'm gonna try her with some apple tonite ;D
Thanx
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Brook loves all fruit and veg but his favourite is green grapes. He only gets a couple when he fetches the letters and even then, its only when I actually remember to buy some ::)
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Cooper likes apples too, he thinks its an edible ball, rolls it around for a while and then realises he can eat it. Trouble is its the same as with the carrot - he eats some but then nibbles & spits it out! ;D
He absolutely adores cooked courgettes though! ;D
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I tried Buttons with some tiny pieces of apple last nite and she loved it ;D I might get more adventurous and try her with some carrott tonite ;D
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I tried Buttons with some tiny pieces of apple last nite and she loved it ;D I might get more adventurous and try her with some carrott tonite ;D
Way to go Gilly!!!!! ;D :D ;D
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We're going well on carrots and apples now. I noticed this morning that she'd been sick under the table- not sure when but within the last 24 hours- it was all bits of stick from the garden- bamboo cane- she just wont leave it alone even now despite it clearly making her ill. What should we do?? (apart from try and get rid of all the garden cane!)
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Puppies are little devils when they want to chew anything and everything :) The main thing I think is to try and supervise her as much as possible when she's in the garden, so you can stop her when she chews something that's not good for her. And of course, as you say, remove all offending objects when and where possible! ;)
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Cor- we just put our Christmas tree up- are we daft or what!! She just wont leave it alone- we've built a huge big wood surround for it and tried to clip all the bits within reach but she's determined to get the tinsel off the tree! She's mad!
No more garden cane in the garden- we had to take her next door (to our vet) last night because she swallowed a huge big bit of pine tree before we could get it out of her mouth- she's fine though- probably jsut going to be a bit painful to poo for the next wee while!!
We're currently changing food- our vet sells Hills Science Plan and we don't have much by the way of pet shop and pet product suppliers round here- thing is- she likes the new stuff so much that she picks it out and eats it then sits and looks as if to say- I don't want that old stuff can't I have more of that lovely new food?. She's a mental thing.