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Call Me Pavlov

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There are times I need them to calm down but don’t want to restrain/restrict their movements too much. It’s their attitude, not their behavior, I want to affect. And I want them to learn.

Toward this end, we’ve tried a number of behavior modifications treats things over these last few months. The one that works the best, and is currently in favor, is Chewies. Chewies are semi-squares/rectangles of rawhide, “processed in the USA or Mexico.”

For BIG dogs

It’s taken a couple of weeks, but when I now say, “Chewie!” they behave appropriately. Missy jumps up on the couch– this is all taking place in the Den and it really messes them up when I give them a chewie in the living room– and Rocky assumes the seated alertly position on the floor beside her. He’s protecting her in a certain male-y sort of way.

Yes. That is a small bag of some Dollar General mid-priced puppy food. (It’s funny to think them as puppies. But they still are.) That’s not what they eat on a regular basis.

suek– this is for you!


Long-time commenter ‘suek’ said in a comment

You must have gotten her [Missy] at a critical growth point. If the food shortage lasts long enough, they don’t make it up.

One of the Mexican’s at the barn is Fernando. His son is
“Fernandito”…meaning “little Fernando”. Well…over the last two years, Fernandito has gone from being just a tad shorter than his father to being about a foot taller. With a _very_ substantial build. Not overweight, just substantial. In other words, he’s beginning to look like a football player. I told his dad that he isn’t very “dito” any more. His mom is smaller than his father. So naturally, I wonder. They’ve been in the US for a pretty long time, though I don’t know how long. Childhood nutrition?? _No_ idea – but looking at the son, I’m just guessing that there was a lack of protein in his (the father’s) early years. Son has the genetics for size, and living in the US, has gotten the nutrition to match. He’s going to be _big_! Pretty soon, we’ll be calling Dad “Fernandito” at the rate the son’s growing!

[my emphases]

That’s exactly right.

What does it take to grow from a single fertilized cell with two sets of DNA into a very large dog who can learn to sit in the small corner of a couch and look cute while she awaits her chewie? Or a Fernando?

Well. You will need a plan (genetics), and you will need the stuff you will need to execute the plan (protein, fat, carbohydrates, and their components, + water & a few other things), and you will need an environment in which these are abundantly available because your proportional needs change over time, depending on where you are your growth trajectory.

27% protein

15% fat.

21% protein

10% fat.

The reason I prefer the high fat content puppy food is simple. I think the endocrine system is interesting.

8 Responses

  1. Protein is unquestionably a critical component of the diet – but only to a certain point. After that, it’s sort of useless, since it’s primary “job” is muscle building. When it finishes that job, it’s just a very expensive energy source. I don’t know how much protein dogs need for growth, but I’d guess it’s pretty low – in the category of 50 to 100 grams per day. Even for a big dog.

    From an energy standpoint, protein is 4.4 calories per gram, fat is 9 grams.

    I tried looking up actual numbers, but haven’t found any. I did find this article – which is fairly useless. Although it recommends various levels of protein – depending on the dog’s lifestyle – it states the requirements in terms of energy requirements. That’s not a good guideline. Nursing bitches and pups need high levels because of milk production and growth. Working dogs need high levels due to breakdown of muscle tissue and the need to rebuild. Non-working dogs don’t need high levels because their muscle tissues are _not_ being broken down especially fast – they just need maintenance.

    If they have an energy requirement, fat is a better source.

    Another random fact about fats. If we humans consume 100 calories more per day than we need for maintenance and work requirements, we’ll gain ten pounds of excess avoirdupois per year. Ten pounds per year equal 100 pounds per decade. 100 calories is approximately the energy count for 1 tablespoon of butter – or comparable fat.

    So. If you consume one tablespoon – one pat – of butter in excess of your energy requirements per day, you’re in line to gain 100 pounds over the next ten years! How’s _that_ for discouraging!!
    http://www.ehow.com/list_6579392_dog-food-protein-requirements.html

  2. Oops. Sort of lost track of that link…it should be up higher.

    Not very worthwhile anyway…!

  3. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jmor.10927/abstract

    http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-7580.2006.00565.x/abstract

    Before I was a veggie farmer:

    “Dietary protein is a limiting factor in mammalian growth, significantly affecting the non-linear trajectories of skeletal growth. Young females may be particularly vulnerable to protein malnutrition if the restriction is not lifted before they become reproductive. With such early malnutrition, limited amino acids would be partitioned between two physiological objectives, successful reproduction vs. continued growth. Thus, the consequences of protein malnutrition could affect more than one generation. However, few studies have quantified these cross-generational effects. Our objective was to test for differences in skeletal growth in a second generation of malnourished rats compared with rats malnourished only post-weaning, the first generation and with controls. In this longitudinal study we modelled the growth of 22 craniofacial measurements with the logistic Gompertz equation, and tested for differences in the equation’s parameters among the diet groups. The female offspring of post-weaning malnourished dams did not catch up in size to the first generation or to controls, although certain aspects of their craniofacial skeleton were less affected than others. The second generation’s growth trajectories resembled the longer and slower growth of the first malnourished generation. There was a complex interaction between developmental processes and early nutritional environment, which affected variation of adult size.”

  4. Heh. Found a good one:

    http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/182902.htm

    Looks like approximately 2 grams per kilo…or make that about 1 gram per pound.

    Our Doberman eats approximately 1 lb of dry food per day. Maybe a bit less. Lets say 400 grams. Dog weighs about 70 lbs.She’s pretty active – runs about 2.5 miles per day. We feed an Alpo dry food – 21% protein (had to go look!) That puts it about about 80 grams of protein per day – which is about right by the numbers. She looks good – which is a good measure any day!

    1. “She looks good – which is a good measure any day!”

      There you go!

      I choose a dog food whose first ingredient was NOT corn! Plus, they get scraps which I think is very important. Kept Suzy alive for 17+ years!

  6. LOL. We actually call it ‘people food.’ When Suzy was alive– especially in her later years here at the Farm– John would really make extra people food for Suzy.

    The crappy old book I have about dogs– American Kennel something from the 30s or 40s– recommends feeding “goodies.”

    I wonder how many commercial dog foods there were back then?

    “The Recent History of Dog Food.”

    I wonder if we could get funding for that??

  7. We got my first dog in the early 1950s. It seems to me that Gaines came out with an “easy to feed” kibble about then. That’s what we fed. A neighbor paid me some measly sum to feed their dog while they were on vacation – their dog got a can of horse meat every day.

    Yes…actual horse meat. Labeled “Horse meat”… in a can.

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