To me puppies and skin kids are a lot alike. Think potty training,, what not to put in mouth, no means no! Sit, stay, quiet. All are dirt magnets. Hanging on others. Yeah, it's a full time job.

Eirn, I'm with you. I'd take a pup any day over a skin kid.

If I see babies and puppies, I never want to hold the baby, but GIVE ME THE PUPPY NOW!!!

Puppies are so cute and soft and fuzzy. Ok, I may have to dognap my aunt's dog for the afternoon now...

Any way that you look at it, both are a lot of work. I don't have the energy any more for either.

Update: Riley ate some of his sister's food yesterday and his poops are more firm. I asked DD21 what kind of food Elliot eats and she said Science Diet (Jules - I did tell her it got an F on the recommendation list you gave me). Last evening after I got home I got a text from DD21. She was freaking out as Riley was just laying there and not doing anything. I told her to call the vet right away and try to get him in there. They didn't have an opening and she called around to see if any of the other vets in the area had an opening. He was drinking and eating a little but other than that he was sleeping or just laying there. One of her friends stopped by and, thank goodness, Riley perked up and started playing. By last evening, he was full of energy and was doing his normal puppy playing. I was so relieved. I think all the activity of having Elliot there wore him out. She, Elliot, is one wired up puppy. I told DD21 that it's a good thing she picked Riley out of the litter instead of Elliot. Of course, that can all change so quickly.


So he is doing better (as of last night) and it may be that he is having a reaction to the food and/or one of the ingredients in the food. She will talk to the vet about that today.

Lol, doesn't that figure. I won't use Science diet and have been told that they give vet students free food for their own pets while they are in vet school and that is part of the reason so many vets push it.

It is my understanding that corn is a main ingredient and that not only is one of the cheapest things on the planet but also not one dogs and especially not cats require.

That's my understanding as well. Heck, even humans have trouble with digesting corn. I sometimes think that giving dogs raw organic meat would be best. It's more natural for them to eat the meat as well as tear in to it. Think of wolves in the wild. I don't think on any show I have seen, have I seen a wolf eating veggies.

I did copy and paste the information you gave me about food recommendations and sent it in an e-mail to DD21. At least this gives her some food ideas to discuss with the vet. I also told her that dogs do have allergies and that a friend of ours had a dog that can only eat rabbit, duck, and lamb. They have to buy special food for their dog. This may be the case with Riley.

Yeah and the bottom line is there are tons of dogs that have lived long healthy lives on crap food.

I'm big on buying what I feel is a quality food, right now using Innova, but I do think much of it is genetic, as is most everything.

Dogs are omnivores, just like humans. They'll eat anything.

my dog, TinyMonsters, had serious allergies to foods. It was apparently genetic because some of his siblings had the same problem. The last 4 or 5yrs of Tiny's life, we had to feed him a special food that had fish as the main ingredient because he was allergic to so much stuff. Tiny had a lot of tummy issues. There were times that we'd feed him, and 10 minutes later he'd be in a corner puking it up. (and this may be TMI, but then he'd eat it again. That at least helped in cleaning up the mess)

He had a really delicate stomach. If he got really really stressed, he could get pre-bloat (Also known as "gastric torsion". serious medical condition in large dogs where their stomach gets twisted around. Bloat is usually fatal)

Luckily Tiny never went past the "pre-bloat" stage for all the times he got sick from tummy issues. (he was poisoned by a neighbor instead and died of kidney and heart failure instead) Tiny was actually doing great with tummy issues right up until he was murdered.

Thinking about Tiny a lot lately because of this thread. It's making me want to write a book about him, but I'm not sure I want to do that because I dont want people thinking I'm copying off the book "Marley & Me". (I still havent finished that book. The movie made me cry so bad)

My pup has a sensitive tummy-he puked almost daily until I removed peanut butter and all rawhide products from his diet. Now if I can just get him to stop eating branches & mulch, I'll be able to get new carpeting...

I'll never be able to have carpet. It is hardwood floors with cheap oriental looking rugs thrown down that can be hosed off in the back yard or tossed when sufficiently puked and/or peed on, lol.

That's what I dont miss about having a dog. Cleaning up after him. He left clumps of hair the size of small puppies, and piles of dog vomit and occasionally poo that was even bigger. I love and miss my dog, just dont miss the messes he created.

When we bought our house, it came with white carpet. (we didnt pick it) Last winter we got rid of the dog barf/pee/poo colored carpet and got a new, pretty beige color of carpet. (new carpet padding too!)

We had to have a piece of our hardwood kitchen floor fixed too, where my dog and my mom ruined the floor. (dog with his claws, mom and her laundry carriers) It was the piece that transitioned from the hardwood to the carpet. Our contractor pulled up the transition piece, re-sanded it and re-stained it and it made such a difference. I didnt want to spend the money on fixing some of the scratches in our kitchen floor. They're not as bad as that transition piece (which apparently isnt the same wood as the floor is) and I kind of like how TinyMonsters gave it the "distressed" look.

I'm hoping that someday, if I ever get another dog, that it'll come housebroken and I wont ever have to worry about cleaning up after it. I'm sure that wont happen, and I'll have to have a carpet cleaner on retainer like we used to. I'm just not doing another puppy. I want a teenage or older dog. (teenage dog = older than 2, younger than 4)