I can’t let Polaris on the bed, Goofie. That privledge is jealously guarded by my adult dog. I think it would break her heart if we tried it. (She’s already very nervous about her status right now. We’re going to let her decide when and if Polaris is allowed on the bed.)
Another question, folks: Is there any reason why I can’t give Polaris cat treats? The puppy treats I bought her at the pet store are too large and too hard for her to eat. She wasn’t even interested in them. The cat treats are more her size, and they’re soft and moist.
There is an axiom in veterinary medicine that says, cats are not small dogs.
The nutritional needs of dogs and cats are very different. Cats are obligate carnivores, dogs are omnivores. Totally different protein needs. I would be concerned that the cat treats would cause diarrhea in your pup.
In addition, the treats that are soft-moist are often that way due to propylene glycol, which is at least a little unhealthy.
I’ll second that motion. Cat treats may well give her the runs. She’s still very small and young, and treats are tricky, especially if she doesn’t eat her own kibble or doesn’t seem interested in it.
There are soft dog treats you can try (most of them made with liver), or even good ol’ pupparoni will work in a pinch.
I wouldn’t worry too much about warming up her food. At her age she technically should barely be weened… My current pupper is teething and hates his food totally dry, so I put some broth on it at every meal. Seems to help. I know he’ll outgrow the need for it, but right now, it helps his aching gums.
Traditional advice is that you shouldn’t give dogs cat food or cat treats, partly for the reasons vetbridge outlined, partly because of the taste differential. Cats are often more finicky than dogs, so their food and treats tend to have a lot more taste/smell than dog food and treats. It can be hard to get dogs to eat their own fairly bland kibble after eating tasty, stinky kitty food, and it’s unhealthy to give them a diet of cat food.
Stick with the dog treats. Break them up into an appropriate size for her, and put a bit of warm water on to soften them slightly. Or you could do what I usually do for treats after the Christmas stuff gives out and just get a few kibbles out of the dog food bag.
I tried that a couple of times with my older dog. It didn’t work. She gave me a look that clearly said, “Nice try. Do you think I’m stupid or something?”
Polaris growled at me tonight! The first time she did it, I was so surprised that I was unsure of what I was hearing. The second time, I picked her up and said “No!”, the third time, I put her in her playpen and walked away. She didn’t do it again for the rest of the night.
She’s getting more frisky, wanting to romp and chew. And bite me. We’re still working on that one. I’ll squeal “OUCH!!” a few times, then it’s into the playpen if she doesn’t cease and desist.
I tried a little training tonight. She has a really good follow response, but I can’t get her to recognize her own name, nor can I seem to get her to connect my vocalizations with actions. Probably still too young, but we’ll try it every evening so she gets used to it.
Thought I’d chime in on the chewing/biting thing… One thing I learned from the SPCA in San Francisco is that chewing is an IMPORTANT and necessary thing for puppies to do…
We have two other dogs and when we first got an 8 week old Golden Retreiver puppy they growled at her and snapped at her… We were horrified and thought they might kill her… But they were actually just putting her in her place…
After a few days, they started to let her hang around… Even on the bed, which was theirs for 8 years… (OK, ours, but we won’t get into that.)
After about a week, they let her chew on them, but taught her just how far she could go without them putting her in her place…
We were trying not to let her bite, because we had heard that it would be a bad habit that would get worse… But after checking out the SPCA site, we read that puppies explore by chewing and tasting things… including US… and that it was OK to let them chew, but not too hard…
I’ve gotta say that within a few weeks we realized that her “chewing” was becoming more and more gentle and didn’t hurt at all… She has turned out to be absolutely wonderful and doesn’t chew us at all… She is now 7 months old, has lots of toys available and chews on them in between chewing on the other dogs’ tails and ears…
Feel like I’m rambling, but just thought you should hear a different view on chewing…