I have two malamutes: Goliath: About 2 and a half years old. Very chill dog. Gets a little over-friendly with people by jumping on them. Not good on a leash...he walks me instead of the other way around. Bathsheba (Sheba): About a year old. I question if there's something wrong with her. ...mentally handicapped or something. Having a lot of trouble with her still pottying in the house - and she still chews on everything (destroying my house) even though she has her big girl teeth. I think Goliath stopped pottying in the house and chewing on stuff way before being a year old. But I could be wrong. She is also too jumpy friendly when meeting new people - and she will also pull me around when I try to walk her. Questions: What dog foods do you other malamute owners swear by? Mine are on Diamond Naturals. I think Goliath might have a food allergy (according to vet). They can tell by the ears I guess. And his stools are more often soft or "pudding like" than firm. Anyone else have a malamute that chews anything and everything? How did you get it to stop eating the house?? Or, is 1 year still young - and she'll possibly get over the chewing stuff sometime soon? If I want to exercise my dogs by letting them pull a little weight, do any of you have recommendations on what I can do in town? What is a good harness for malamute pulling, leads, contraption that they could pull, etc...? I don't where to look or who I can talk to on this?
I don’t know about malamutes but my dogs, Akitas, did have soft, and sometimes pudding like poops. Diamond Naturals is made by the same company that makes Taste Of The Wild, which is what I used to feed my dogs. The Diamond Natural is a a step down from the Taste Of The Wild. I switched my dogs to Nutrisource, on the suggestion of the manager at the pet food store, and there poops got somewhat better. Eventually, at the suggestion of my Vet, I switched them to nutrisource weight management, with the idea their stools where soft because of the high fat content. This improved them some more, but as my dogs are young (33 and 19 months old), they last weight and got boney, so I gave them 1/2 nutrisource weight management and 1/2 Zigniture turkey. This brought the weight back up and the poops were still pretty good. Then I eventually talked to the Zigniture rep in the pet food store one day and he suggested their guinea fowl for the loose stool. So now I feed 1/2 weight management and 1/2 zigniture guinea fowl, and their poops are better than they’ve ever been. I’m going to see if I can get them on 100% zigniture guinea fowl, and see how their poops do. It’s probably twice as expensive as the Diamond that you feed. Good dog food isn’t cheap. As for food allergies, chicken is the most common. You could try a limited ingredient food with a single source of animal protein. Acana, Canidae, Zigniture, Natural Balance are some of the brands that make a food like that. I used bitter apple spray to get them to not chew my stuff and my house. Particularly baseboards and the handle on my lazy boy recliner. You have to respray every day. If you have dogs that already pull when you walk them, I would suggest you not exercise them with pulling weights, as that’s what they already do with you. I’d suggest either a no-pull harness (my preference), or a martingale collar to help alter this behavior, although training and consistency is the best fix. I have 2 Akitas, weighing almost 160lbs between them, more than I weigh, and I walk them myself, sometimes on separate leashes and sometimes with one leash, with them connected together. If I let them pull I’d be flapping in the breeze behind them.
Diamond Dog Food is the manufacturer of many other named brands, and has recalled most at various times due to Salmonella and other infections. Many dry foods, under different brand names, which are recalled, are manufactured by Diamond Dog Food. This http://www.poisonedpets.com/your-complete-guide-to-the-diamond-pet-food-recalls/ shows many brands/types manufactured by Diamond that have been recalled at times. It is not up to date but it gives a good idea of the problems.
Toilet training Train just like a young puppy, take her out frequently on a lead wait as long as it takes, when she finally does go praise, but you need to be consistent. As for jumping up on people, don’t let him to get near enough to do so, put him in the sit when people approach and get his attention on you not other people teach him that he doesn’t need to meet and greet everyone. As for pulling on lead once again it’s up to you to train them not to, get a good collar (I use half checks) you can't control a dog walking them on a harness as you are strapping yourself to the strongest part of the dog and giving them all the power. I would go to training classes or get a good trainer on one to one. Rather than weight pulling which will make them stronger you need to give ‘mental’ as well as physical exercise.
Thank you all for your feedback. Was not aware Taste of the Wild was made by the Diamond company. Hm... The history around the recalls isn't very comforting. I have talked to my vet before about food - and they have recommended Science Diet I think, but I haven't tried it yet. And that "bitter apple spray"... Never heard of that. But I might give it a go. Does it stink up the house? I will try to work on a training program - or get some help perhaps by someone knowledgeable.
Vets recommended science diet because only vets can sell it (it’s a prescription food), so they make some profit on it. It’ not very high quality food, IMO. It’s also relatively expensive. Look up dog food ratings. The bitter apple spray doesn’t stink up the house, it just tastes bad to the dog, I highly recommend it.
You may want to check out https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/ and https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/food/whole-dog-journals-approved-dry-dog-food-list/ see what their top recommendations are. Should you change his food do it gradually.
