Explaining the Chi needs to DH - this is long, so please bear with me

[jessiesgrrl]

I will preface this with I never ever ever wanted to have a Chihuahua, they are yappy bitey nasty little buggers who smell…

Back in Sept 2014, I was on the hunt for a dog, I wanted a big dog, I wanted a family dog. But I lived in a cottage style home with no fenced yard…so I decided a smaller to med breed with a low energy drive would be best…so I adopted a ChiX :eek:
Who cares how it happened, but it happened. We then moved in Feb to a farm with a larger home…yes the irony is very obvious.

Miss Maple is not a chihuahua…well she is technically, but we treat her like a big farm dog and she acts appropriately lol She is better trained and better behaved then our 9mth old Lab/Shep X who was supposed to be our “big farm dog” but stopped growing already and only weighs 44lbs…he is a petite big dog

anyway, from the minute I got Maple, I have researched the crap out of Chihuahua’s…and general consensus is:
1 - be the alpha or they will
2 - be prepared for them to bond strong with only 1 family member (the alpha) and like the others, if they have too
3 - their teeth are only in their mouths for a little time unless you treat them like gold…proper food and care
4 - They can gain weight on air, be diligent on portion control and good food, no people food! Unless you feed a raw diet, then no junk food!
5 - they are the most comical semi-retarded acting dogs, you will love them even when you hate them, because in all reality they are smarter then most humans.

All of these have proven to be true with her.
Vet is always very impressed with her at our check-ups, good teeth, healthy weight and coat, and a real people and dog lover.
She is fed a 100% Grain free large kibble, high protein dog food we buy from Pet Value. It cost $80/largest bag they carry.
LabX eats Feed Mill dog food, it is on the better end for feed mill stuff, but not grain free, tiny little kibble, and protein is average. It cost $40/same size bag.
LabX eats 3cp/day
Maple eats 1/2cp per day.
In reality, Maple food actually cost us LESS due to the portion size difference.

We went away for 2.5weeks and DH family took Maple. They have 3 dogs and they are all fed with a semi decent Feed Mill brand food.
When we got back I was told by my MIL that Maple stopped eating, so she gave her the Mill food and she gobbled it up. She no longer likes her food so I should just start buying the Mill food and she will be happier.
DH of course says “Well my mom is right, we buy the big dog mill food, why does she need this special food?!”
ARGGHHHHHHHHH!!
Maple gained 1lb when we were away*, she now had a perma roll across her shoulders WHEN SITTING OR STANDING and her breath smelled like A$$!
NO! She is on this food for a reason! Of course she gobbled the other food, it’s like always eating salad and health food and then being offered McDonalds…DUH!
Also, she does not do well when her alpha (ME!) is gone away, her routine changes and she worries, so she stops eating. DUH!

Anyway, after hours of arguing…I told him if I ever caught him feeding the Mill Food to my dog, I would start making him special dinners that include the same Mill feed…I think he got the hint I was pissed.

A Month has gone by with no issues and Maple eats just fine. She may occassionaly leave a kibble or two in her bowl, but this is when I have given her too much.

This morning…DH was up at dawn for whatever reason, and being the awesome hubby he is, decided to feed the dogs and do their morning routine for me :o
AWESOME!!
So when I walk out of the bedroom, the dogs have just started eating. The labX doesn’t look at me cause…hey there’s something to be eaten…
Maple goes “MY ALPHA!! OH How I have missed you! I am supposed to be eating but it wasn’t served by you like all other mornings so I am not quite sure I want to eat. Also I usually eat on the mat and the mat’s not there so I am all out of sorts”
So I give her the command to eat again, then go and get ready. She doesn’t eat and just wants to be by me, so I put her bowl up on the counter and say she will eat later.
DH comes to the bathroom door 5 minutes later and states “I gave Maple the Mill food and she gobbled it up. I really think we need to get her onto a Mill food”
ARGHGHGHGHG you have GOT to be kidding me!?!?!?

So I proceed to state my case…again…of the long term benefits of being on this food. Why she wasn’t eating. and why she, of course, would scarf the Mill food.

He just doesn’t get it!!! He doesn’t understand why my dog is so special that it can’t just eat this Feed Mill garbage like all his farm dogs and the other dog we own.
And I explain that Maple may act like a farm dog, but her genetics are predisposed to have all her teeth fall out by 4yrs old and be an obese gopher-looking heart attack on 4 legs, if not given proper nutrition!!!

I would also like to point out Maple has nice firm proper sized poops only twice a day…his LabX hasn’t had a solid sh!t or a regular pooping routine since the minute he started that crap food!!!

Okay I think I got this off my chest. Thank you if you made it this far in my ranting raving lunatic style diatribe

Any suggestions of how to “prove” or otherwise shut this ongoing (apparently) issue down?!?

*Maple only weighs 4lbs…vet stated that should be her peak weight due to her size and structure. Adding 1lb to her is the equivalent of 20lbs to the average 5’5" 130lbs woman.
It won’t kill them but it isn’t healthy.

[Laurierace]

Just tell everyone that you will handle feeding from now on, thanks anyway. Not worth fighting or getting upset over. If you have to send her somewhere else for care again send along some freeze dried raw. They never turn their nose up at that so whoever is caring for her wont feel the need to tempt her with something crappy and tasty.

[SuckerForHorses]

Yep - put ALL the dogs on the better food.

If the Mill Food isn’t in the house, DH can’t feed it to Maple, and maybe his dogs will benefit as well.

[Laurierace]

Even better!

[ilmjumper]

I feel your pain. My in-laws have a very different way with dogs than we do and anytime they watch them we always have to do some hardcore retraining when we get home. One time his mom looked at me in all seriousness and asked if I was aware that my dog (my dog, that DH got and brought home without asking me…but yeah, my dog) didn’t know how to eat off a fork. I thought she was kidding…think I finally stuttered out something to the effect of “um, she’s a dog…” Our dogs now have special “Sitting” bags that go with them when they need to stay with in-laws, I highly recommend it Food, treats (in-laws are big rawhide fans, even though we’ve said many times our one dog can NOT have them…finally had to pull the “If you give them that, you have to pay the vet bill” card and that stopped it!) leashes, etc…makes a big difference.

At home, I’d either make sure I feed the dogs all the time, or have food already measured out and ready for the next feeding. Maybe get DH to along to the vet so he can hear from the expert why the special food is better?

[ilmjumper]

[QUOTE=SuckerForHorses;8280667]
Yep - put ALL the dogs on the better food.

If the Mill Food isn’t in the house, DH can’t feed it to Maple, and maybe his dogs will benefit as well.[/QUOTE]

Way better idea

[jessiesgrrl]

I tried…
I said when we got LabX that they can both have the same food.
He was doing great for the first 2months, then we discovered he had a parasite (Not related to the food) and DH associated the runs with his diet (?!?!) so put him on the Mill feed.
Then of course the parasite got resolved with vet care…and oh wait, he has semi firm poops so the Mill feed is good! Oh wait, those 3 days of good poop was when he was on the vet type gastro canned food…which he is now done with so guess what…mushy poops randomly all day long started!!
But DH just doesn’t/can’t seem to get past that Mill food. His dogs always got it, his parents dogs always got it, and his parents parents dogs got it type mentality…

I honestly think it boils down to buying 2 different kinds of food, and since the Mill stuff is cheaper lets just buy that one.

So I am going to just by the food myself, feed the dogs myself, and board Maple when we go away.

I would love to have them on the raw diet…but I honestly think my DH would lose his mind if I started that lol

[Laurierace]

You aren’t painting a very good picture of your husband! Is he really that dense or just too stubborn to listen to reason?

[JanM]

There’s another factor also. The my mom feeds this garbage so that makes it ideal. That mindset isn’t changeable. I agree with the boarding kennel instead of mom petsitting.

[S1969]

What is “Feed Mill” dog food? Does it have a brand name?

I agree that it sounds like your husband is either dense or stubborn. If it’s stubborn you may be fighting a losing battle.

[asb_own_me]

Does he “get” that you feed less of the more expensive food, so you wouldn’t be spending as much more as he thinks to switch “his” dog over?

[Bensmom]

I have the same sort of problems with my DH – in fact, at his home growing up, not only did the dogs never have to have a “special” food, they were treated pretty much like garbage disposals – given whatever was left over, or needed to be cleaned out of the fridge.

He wanted to feed my dogs as well as his this way when he first moved in, and I would not let that happen, but the couple of times he insisted on trying something, my Scottie paid him back by developing runny stool and his skin allergies would go bananas. With him living in the house with him, he quickly saw the causation, and after the second or third time he gave him people food, he quickly stopped that too. He also regularly would throw up people food, and that quickly turned DH off of giving that as a treat!

We live on a farm, but don’t have a fenced dog area, so the terriers have to be leash walked – when he was in charge of walks for a while (one of the only good things about my being injured!) he learned very quickly that he would rather go for a longer poop walk only once a day. And that the good bag of dog food made Taggie itch less as well.

I cracked up the day we had taken him on a trip with us, and one of his family members tried to give Taggie something from his plate and DH very seriously informed him that a) we don’t feed the dog from our plates, and b) he can’t have that because it will make him sick, I was so proud!

Can you get her to throw up the Mill Food when your DH has to clean up after her? Too bad that would be hard to plan, because that worked quickly for me.

[ilmjumper]

[QUOTE=Bensmom;8281016]

Can you get her to throw up the Mill Food when your DH has to clean up after her? Too bad that would be hard to plan, because that worked quickly for me. :)[/QUOTE]

This is fantastic plan Puking on command

[jessiesgrrl]

It’s stubborn…and lack of education though he isn’t dense lol In most things he is usually very smart. When it comes to animals he just doesn’t seem to “get” that cheap food comes with a price.
He tried to get it to flow into my horses well being, but he had no place of reference beyond “My parents have horses” so I quickly shut that down.

I am going to take the same approach now, and point out he has never had a “special” needs breed, so he has no point of reference. And then take over all responsibility for Maple.

[thatmoody]

As a long-time chihuahua owner, I totally sympathize with you. My chi’s have NEVER had anything other than a pleasant puppy odor, even the 17 year old one, and I attribute that to good food and rabid dental care. So when you listed the myth that chi’s stink I was like HUH? but then I remembered my former MIL’s chi who I carefully avoid (he only sits on HER anyway LOL so it’s not an issue). So yeah, and yeah, just because something works ok doesn’t mean it could be better. And what you save on “mill food” (we have that around here as well) eventually gets spent in vet bills for those little dogs.

[arapaloosa_lady]

Even if he doesn’t agree with your reasoning, I’d hope he loves you enough to feed YOUR food to YOUR dog just because you say so.

In your shoes, I’d stop trying to reason with him. I’d just tell him she was my dog & this is how I want her treated. Period. No more to that story.

[GypsyLover]

Buy only the food you want to feed and keep it under lock and key and only you feed.

[S1969]

[QUOTE=jessiesgrrl;8281167]
I am going to take the same approach now, and point out he has never had a “special” needs breed, so he has no point of reference. And then take over all responsibility for Maple.[/QUOTE]

I’m not sure I think Chihuahuas are a “special needs” breed any more than any other small dog. Nearly all breeds are “special” in one way or another - whether it’s because they are prone to skin issues, or eye issues, obesity, allergies, teeth problems, short life span, etc.

Obviously small dogs have some different needs than larger ones, but not sure that larger dogs are less “needy” for special care (and may actually need more care because of their size.)

I think that you shouldn’t try to convince him that your Chi is more special than the others, but that all dogs need food appropriate for their size, breed and health requirements.

It sounds like (from your description) the “mill feed” dog food is crap and you should probably work on him upgrading the other dogs to a better feed. (And if it’s not “crap”…maybe you are trying to make your small dog more special than the others…perhaps he has images of it being fed from crystal table ware and sparkly collars while the others are tied outside?)

[Riley0522]

My childhood dog is a purebred AKC registered Chi, he stayed with my mom when I moved out 8 years ago. He has been obese (15+ lbs) and eating crap food (Blue Seal for the longest time and now Canidae so not as bad) his entire life free range. His teeth didn’t start falling out until 3-4 years ago, and he only had one professional veterinary cleaning in his whole life. He hasn’t died of a heart attack. He turned 17 2 weeks ago and still goes up/down stairs and can jump off the couch unassisted. Just in the past 6 months he has not been able to jump on the couch himself.

My mother also has a 2nd Chi who eats the same as the first who has never been obese, hasn’t lost a single tooth, and will be 14 on Christmas Eve.

Just saying that not every dog needs to eat a super special diet and I never found Chi’s hard to manage.

FWIW I do feed my own dogs a very high end, grain free kibble and one of them has a VERY sensitive stomach so if he eats anything else it’s a long 2 or 3 days for us…so I feel your pain there.

[jessiesgrrl]

We had another conversation last night…it went very well lol

He explained that he meant maybe we need to change her flavour of food (from chicken to maybe lamb or something) so she eats with more gusto.

Right…that’s what you meant dear…I’ll just agree that I will stay with the same brand, and when this 80lb bag of dog food is done (in like 6mths) I will look into another flavour.

In the meantime, I said maybe if we change to a new flavour his LabX could get on it too. He asked “why, what is wrong with what I was feeding him??”
I said “Nothing dear if you feel thats the best option for your dog, I’ll respect your choice. It’s not what I would feed him, but your dog your rules” Smiled and walked away.

I think he got the hint lol

I know not all Chi are “special”…and by calling her a special breed I meant not the typical mutt farm dog that eats everything and anything, lives outside 24/7 and eats the table scraps from the whole week like a hog on a farm…and never has a medical issue and lives to god knows how long as you never can remember when you got them.

When I met Maple at the foster home (when we were doing first introductions), she was having stuff coming out her front and back about 3 times in the hr we were there. I asked what they were feeding her and she said “The Mill calls it chicken soup, its for special little picky eaters like Chi’s”
Um obviously it’s not for her…she can’t keep it down!!!
And her breath smelled like butt! Possibly from the puking, but I wasn’t sure at that point.

But I felt a connection to her and knew she was mine. It’s hard to explain but she is mine no doubt about it.

We went through 3 different types of food, and then found this one which she eats well and agrees with everything. Her breath also doesn’t smell like butt anymore lol