Happy Birthday Niki!!

[greekblue]

My puppy Niki is turning 6 months old today!

Time goes soo fast!


HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY PUPPY,
I LOVE YOU!

[Swiftwind]

Umm... 6 months from the day she was born isn't her birthday, but no reason to not celebrate! Happy 6 months old day, Niki!

[Kuchi]

Wow that was fast. Happy 1/2 year!!! Do you still plan on showing her, she's old enough now!

[greekblue]

Yea, I meant ... Half birthday...

Yes, I am going to show her, but with her health problems recently, there is no money left for the handler and show grooming so I am going to wait for another month or so. She still gets brushed every day and bathed once a week by me, but show grooming is more expensive. Also, I want first to settle her tummy to a food she can finally accept and see how she will do all January before I stress her more with the show carrer (Niki had hard time breathing last week).

She is, however, continue her training (we finished basic obedience and start intermediate next week), and we will go all the way for the CGC. I am only showing her because I had promised her breeder that I will do. Niki will also follow my plans of becoming (hopefully) a therapy dog -- especially for children's hospital (Niki adores children!).

[Kymcole25]

Whoa, that sounds like loads of fun!! All of my babies have their CGC, and absolutely going out and about to mingle with people. We plan on starting therapy training with a few in the next couple months, hopefully.

What are you feeding Niki now? Do you plan on showing her in UKC, or AKC?

Sorry, I haven't been around much because of our puppy litters.

[greekblue]

Thank you all!

Kymcole 25 -- Well, Niki had problems with her stomach -- inability to digest her food and such (and hopefully there is nothing more serious with her) -- so with the food is kind of a mess.
The breeder was feeding Proplan, so I kept her a couple months on that, but I wanted a better food, so I started mixing and finally switched to Innova. The first 15 days, she did great; then, she started having issues, so we went back to Proplan. She did not do well either; in fact, she did pretty bad, and I tried Merrick. She did very good the first three days and then I had to rush her to the emergency twice. If it is nothing more serious since all the tests we did came normal, it could have been a serious allergy to Merrick. After all the scares with her health, now she is on W/D hills prescription diet. I am going to start mixing California Natural to see if I can hopefully switch her to that. I asked here (on the food thread) and people recommented me that food and I checked their web also; it sounded pretty good. I just wanted to find a food of the high quality of Innova that would work with her sensitive stomach. I am also planning to add to her food Enzymes and Probiotics after the breeder's recommentation. It is supposed to help.

I will show her in AKC.

Niki still has problems with puppy biting -- not even near to where she was before or as often as before, but still a small issue and it is VERY frustrating at times. I feel I am the only one with a six month old puppy still on the puppy biting mode.

She knows a few tricks (you can check my post on "see what my puppy can do," and today I was playing with her "Hide and Seek Items, my keys for now). I hid my keys in places, like on the table, under the carpet, in her crate half covered under her blanket, etc. and I was asking her "Where are my keys, Niki? Where are they? Find them." She found them all times! Then, I command her to bring them and we worked on putting them on my lap which she did after a few times because that was the only way for her to get her "Cookie!"

[Kymcole25]

Another great food is Chicken Soup for the Dog Lovers Soul. They sell it in puppy, adult, and senior. We've had several problems when it comes to finding a food these guys like, and so far this one has been the best, its also really good for them. Aside from that, we mix in different types of wet food. Wellness, a wet food made of organic Turkey, Sweet Potato, Carrots, and Barley. We also use a Merrick wet food called Thanksgiving Day Dinner, which is basically the same as the wellness, only actual chuncks on turkey and sweetpotato. My 6 yo AKK, Zoe, has a severe health issue, and can no longer eat dry dog food, so we feed her boiled chicken, rice, and a wet food called Organic by nature, its basically organic chicken, carrots, and peas all mixed together.

As for the biting, many puppies will give a light snip up until as old as age one, maybe longer. It is not usually to be aggressive, but as a way of saying "Hi, I'm here...pet me, pet me, pet me!!" I don't know what you've tried, but I highly recomend saying "ouch" in a firm tone, and then telling the dog "no" this way she knows that not only is she not supposed to bite, but that is also hurts.