SibeHush

Perfect day... took Dakota to Albion Falls for a nice hike in the woods.

I grew up in a low-income household full of girls who couldn't hang a photo or kill a spider Luckily for me, my grandfather was a master with wood and precision, while my uncle was the mechanical madman. If your houses roof is torn of in a tornado and your walls collapse... I can fix it.

Lucky devil... we're down around 4-7C but no snow yet.

Thanks Emma, I'll take a look at both the food and the site... but I'm still hoping someone here has gone through this before and can help me out with information about what worked for them. My biggest issue right now is Dakota can't have wheat, corn, or soy. Her current veterinary diet has two of those three ingredients in it. The one and ONLY Urinary Vet food without those ingredients, the one I'm supposed to have come in on Wednesday, it's not a "life long" solution and she cannot stay on it for more then 3-4 months- so I've been told. Once her crystals are gone and her pH is balanced, she's going to need to be transitioned onto a non-urinary dog food that will help keep her pH within a healthy range of 5.5-7.

Blue Buffalo is what Dakota was on previous to this epidemic... it's 90% likely to be the cause of it... mind you no food agrees with 100% of dogs. Your dogs could very well do awesome on Blue Buffalo but Dakota does not. She need something to Balance her pH levels and that brand does the opposite unfortunately

Dakota has not been at her best lately. Four days ago I took her to the vet because she was experiencing pain while peeing. Turns out she has a struvite crystals and a high pH balance of 8.5 that I've been led to believe is because of her diet. As a result she's now taking antibiotics, anti-inflammatory meds, and also a vet diet of... Royal Canin Urinary SO (disgusting). Originally she was given the kibble but after the first day I took the bag back to the vets and told them I wouldn't feed her another mouthful of that garbage- first two ingredients -- rice, corn-by product. Unfortunately the best thing I can do for the time being is switch her to the canned version $$, with the first several ingredients being; "Water Sufficient for Processing, Chicken Liver, Corn Grits, Pork-by-product, chicken, chicken by-product, etc. She vomited the original kibble up without reserve- kept nothing down. Now she's been doing better on the 'higher quality' (term used lightly) canned version, but is still vomiting it up, however much less. We've place a special order for a urinary vet diet that is wheat, corn, and soy free but we can't get it until Wednesday which will hopefully solve this issue BUT... now I need to know how to tackle this in the aftermath... The vet is telling me she will likely need to stay on a prescription diet for life but I have reservations... we just moved cities and our vet is new... little to no husky experience and I don't like him... still looking for a permanent vet who gets me and better yet, gets my dog. Whose has some knowledge on this subject? Whose been there? Who can help me out? I NEED GOOD, LIFE LONG, DOG FOOD TO HELP MAINTAIN BALANCED PH LEVELS!!

Never tried it and I don't see how that would prevent a dog from peeing in their crate. I'd consider jays recommendation of shrinking the crate- if it's to big they'll often use a corner to relieve themselves.

Mine was picky with her food when I first adopted her while back. My answer was to cut the portions back and now she eats every meal with enthusiasm. If she is hungry, she'll eat it. If she's overfed she gets super fussy.

My checklist... 1. Food Allergies 2. Heat 3. Stress 4. Change in diet 5. Over eating 6. Indigestion from physical excretion soon after eating 7. Illness (parasites, bacteria, diseases) 8. Eating inappropriate things (feces, grass, garbage) Hope it helps. Good luck.

I've flown with Dakota once and her predecessor twice- only once having a short 45min layover at which time I wasn't allowed to remove the dog. And while I wasn't allow nor would have had the time to check out and check-in my own dog during our short layover, you do have far more time. They might let you- who knows. You'd be best to call your airline ahead of time and ask your questions directly because every airline is different and these are things you're going to want conformation for piece of mind.

Smart? If I don't know the approaching dog or feel it doesn't have a friendly disposition.... I always step in between the stray dog and my own and get ready for a fight. >.< Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, my dog isn't the least bit a fighter. She won't even defend herself when attacked. I've found myself in a situation more than once where I've had to restrain an aggressive dog. One was a red lab like mutt who went after Dakota at a dog park (the dog had a reputation for going after soft dogs... normally wears a mussel but he slipped it off) and another was a German Shepard who came at her while we were on a walk. Oddly enough... despite my inhibition towards confronting unknown aggressive dogs, I've never been bitten. If an approaching handler has their dog on a leash, you should put yours on a leash while passing... it's just good manners.

It annoys me when people let their dogs off lead without retaining control... although I realize sometimes they simply get away from you- these things happen. But most of the time it's just negligence on the dog owners part. I've had countless dogs run up to me and mine but only once was the other aggressive. I don't appreciate it.

I'm not 'very' close to Huntsville. It's about a 3hour drive for me with good traffic (never is good traffic going through Toronto). I was inferring that 'if' I lived in Huntsville,.. I'd be camping every weekend due to it's close proximity to Algonquin park. It's really is quite gorgeous out there.

Thanks robke Ohh how nice it would be to be rich and travel as the whims take us... the places we would go. Huntsville is a nice place. Algonquin Park is just a skip and jump away... I'd be camping every weekend if I lived in Huntsville.

Took Dakota down to join the family at 1000islands for the weekend. Dakota laying at the edge of my grandparents camp site ^ Taken within the first 30minutes on the canoe... she wouldn't sit down ^ My sister and mother were in the other canoe and called Dakota's name to get her attention... following the picture Dakota almost jumped over the side to get to them but I stopped her just in time. I didn't want the task of pulling her back in the Canoe... chances are I'd have flipped it. lol. ^ After three or so hours she relaxed allot and was laying down with her head resting on the side of the canoe ^ We dubbed this tiny little thing... "Pee Island"... 10 guesses why. ^