If I Only Knew Then, What I Know Now

[shelly]

After reading Heather's new 'discovery' of Bison Helper, I got to thinking about how my knowledge about owning a dog has changed since my first dog.  I think about poor "Swayze".  I loved him.  He was our first baby BC (before children), but as I think back I feel so bad about how we 'treated' him.  He slept in the bathroom behind a closed door his first few nights with us and we let him whine and cry himself to sleep - Why?  Because that's what people did then (or did they?).  We bought him store brand dog food.  Why?  Because our thinking was, 'they're all the same'.  We brought him to the vet for his initial shots and check ups, then as he got older, we didn't take him as much.  Why?  No one had seen rabies for years and years.  We gave him rawhide bones.  Why?  Because he loved them.  Sometimes he would even vomit the last piece up.  Boy.... if I were to be judged on my lack of knowledge in my early years as a dog owner, I think I may be black listed from any breeder today.  BUT we loved him dearly, walked him daily, and played with him always.  He was my sons' first pet, their protector, their 'horsey', and their buddy.

  Thinking back on your 'first' dog, is there anything that you used to do that was a big "NO-NO"?????

[F, Calla & Luca]

Don't feel so bad. People are advocating for less frequent rabies shots now. Rex, the poodle ate awful dog food but I don't think it had anything to do with his death.But then I put both my kids to sleep on their stomachs all the time. Sometimes we learn to do things differently for good reason. Sometimes old ideas come back. We just do the best we can with the information we have. Of course, you have to seek out the best information you can find.

[Adina P]

My first dog is Rosco =) So he's pretty recent and I don't think I'd change much...but if ONLY I could go back to do better by our family dogs. They were mostly lawn ornaments I played with when I felt bad for them and thought maybe they were lonely. They didn't see vets, got the cheapest dog food, ate all sorts of table scraps that are probably not good for dogs, weren't trained or groomed. I'm not even sure they were walked...but I don't remember much. Seriously...lawn ornaments. Sad. But I was a kid and didn't know any better.

[shelly]

And! I found ALL of that GOOD information right HERE!!!! Thanks everyone!!! (although I have to admit.... my family- not my DH or kids, parents, sisters, etc.. thinks I'm nuts - but who cares... )

[Suzann, Rosey & Bandit]

DK's to you Shelly, Rosey is my first dog, Bandit was a gift for her but now my baby:) I wish I had known about DK when Rosey was a true puppy (first 9 mos) There are so many stories I could start my own website, and thought about it... if only there was a website where I could share all I have learned about my doodle... HA original thought;) Finally found DK on random google search, and boy oh boy JACKPOT, finally people like ME So thankfully I know a lot more now...otherwise Rosey & Bandit might be tryin to rehome me;)

[F, Calla & Luca]

I missed a lot of training tips and how to really raise a puppy until I got Luca to a trainer when he was about 6 months old. The books don't really explain most of it. Then when Luca was about 8-9 months old I accidentally discovered DK. What a serendipitous discovery.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

We used a corrective collar (choke chain) when we were camping to tie our first gentle Springer up outside. She loved being outside and could slip out of her regular collar, so we used this unsafe-when-unsupervised collar and thought we were being careful owners.
We also free fed her but without monitoring how much went into the dish so she got fat when she got old and we never thought we should cut down on the amount? How stupid was this?

[shelly]

Not STUPID, Nancy.... just naive. You're a GREAT doggy mom!!! I myself have learned so much for you!

[Camilla and Darwin]

Darwin is my first dog, and I think I've done alright, although there are a few things I might change. However, I can't help but feel sadness and regret about my first childhood dog.

My parents got me a dog when I was eight. Her name was Kallie, she was an eight year old black lab, and she was a retired bomb squad dog. She was gentle, and obedient, and wonderful. However, my parents only got the dog because I begged for one and she was an outdoor dog, all the way. On REALLY cold nights they MIGHT let her into the garage. My heart breaks every time I think about her with her arthritis out in the cold plastic "dogloo" we had for her. Ol Roy Food or whatever was cheapest, and although I did play with her, you are limited to how much time you can spend out in the yard with a dog, especially in the winter. She was such a great dog and I hate thinking about how unpleasant and uncomfortable her older years were...

[shelly]

I know, Camilla.... I just thought of something else..... we had a finished basement equipped with water bowl, food, doggy bed, toys. He would often go down there on his own to sleep (door open to upstairs) BUT... if we had people over who were afraid of this gentle giant, we used to put him in the basement by throwing a treat down the steps and shutting the dog after he ran down. I could cry just thinking about that....we were young twenty-somethings. We didn't know much. You are way ahead of the rest of us!

[Amanda and Quinn]

I grew up with a cocker spaniel, purchased from a horrendous backyard breeder at the height of cocker spaniel mania. My parents went to pick up the puppy and when they saw how awful the conditions were--something like 50 dogs in a filthy trailer--they brought home two puppies because they couldn't stand to leave them there. One stayed with us and my aunt took the other one. Both were full of problems clearly caused by inbreeding and who knows what else, and our poor girl started going blind around 5 or so. My family did pretty much everything wrong from the get go, but she was so neurotic that I'm not sure much could have been done to help. And everything we did wrong was from lack of knowledge. I shudder to think of our attempt at "crate training," which was basically sticking a terrified dog with horrible separation anxiety in a cage in the basement. Ugh. It made me determined to do better with Quinn, that's for sure.

[HeatherA]

It really does blow my mind. I'm 34 years old, we had pets my whole life... and just this last year and a half is when I would say I became a better dog owner. It wasn't lack of love. It wasn't because I beat my dogs, or was malicious. I simply didn't know better.

I am ashamed to talk about mistakes I made with my Bichons. Pet store puppies, both of them. I have never trained a dog before. The obedience class I took with Veruca was my very first. Veruca is the first dog I've owned that *I* potty trained. My Bichons were never potty trained... much less trained to do the basics (come, sit, stay, etc) I still have a lot to learn about training.. TONS. I bought several books recommended here... still a lot of room for improvement on my part, I still don't really know what I am doing when it comes to training but I am learning.

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[Denise & Hunter!!!]

I have never had a dog as an adult before Hunter. We had family dogs growing up but my mom always took care of them. The one I remember most was a Schnauzer that I named Puddles when I was 7 years old. There was a toy out at the time called My Puppy Puddles hence the name not her actions! LOL I give my mom credit Puddles was a pretty well behaved dog yet I don't remember my mom doing anything special training wise. She did used to cook her dinner every single night, she made her a hamburger patty and then mixed that with her Purina dog food and poured the hamburger grease over all of it. The poor dog was SOOOO overweight but we thought she was happy. I was VERY intimidated to get a dog, I was sooo clueless, if it wasn't for DK Hunter would be eating Purina with hamburger grease on it!