Saint Bernard Update

Willy and Neo (the cat)

Basic Update on Willers:

Last May i wrote an article on basic Saint Bernard puppy information, today i'm going to write how that puppy from the pictures is doing and some tips for adult dog care.

Sometime around the beginning of last June, Willy stopped being a complete insane nut outside.  Prior to the beginning of June, when ever we went outside with him he would jump on us and grab our clothing.  Then, one day, he just completely stopped that behavior.  I'm not complaining about that either, i was glad he ceased being that way.  Perhaps he finally grasped the point of our angry tone, our yelling and our going inside every time he would do that.  From that point on though Willy has been getting calmer.

June 13th he turned 1 year old and is fast approaching 2 years now.  There's been quite a few changes in him

Running Toward Me

most notably his size and behavior.  He has continued to grow in height until just recently.  He sizes in at about 33 inches at the withers/shoulders, which is rather tall for a saint.  His weight is somewhere near 170-175 lbs.  He's still lean and gangly but slowly gaining girth and more muscle, by about 5 years old he should be completely filled out to his adult girth.  He has calmed down some but is still active, enjoying walks and running around the yard (note the picture), which keeps his weight in check.  During the summer we had to change his food over to Taste of the Wild adult dog food because Innova brand changed their formula which resulted in diarrhea for Willy.  Taste of the Wild has been good for him, he eats 6 cups of the dry kibble a day.  He's on the bison formula right now but also enjoys the wetlands formula.  We tried him on the pacific stream formula which has a protein source of fish...that resulted in very offensive stools and gas so we switched him back to the bison.  There were no issues (diarrhea, nausea, etc) transitioning him from one formula to the other because the only changes between the formulas are the protein sources, all the other ingredients remain the same.  He still has a fond liking for outdoor water sources, which is something that
worries us a bit.  No matter how fresh and cool the indoor water is he prefers rain water from puddles and ponds in the yard.  I strongly believe animals can taste the fluoride and chlorine in the tap water and that is probably why he (and a lot of other dogs and cats) prefer the outdoor water.  The downsides to the outside water are pollutants that occur in rainwater and bacteria from the water sitting and other animals drinking it, which can cause diarrhea and other problems.  Perhaps a filter is needed for the tap.

Into adulthood Willy still likes to chew and do other things that keep him active.  He picks up sticks and branches outside, thankfully he just rips them up but doesn't eat them.  Inside the house he chews rawhide bones and natural cow femurs (purchased at Tractor Supply or Pet Supplies Plus pet store).  He still thoroughly enjoys digging and "pruning" plants in the yard.  With his teeth alone, grabbing the sled rope, he can pull me a good few feet through the snow in a plastic sled.  We're thinking about teaching him wagon drafting in the near future.  Wagons are expensive though and the draft harnesses certainly aren't cheap so it could be a while before we get to that.  This spring we may get him a Lyme vaccine so he can go to the woods with us, he really enjoys sniffing animal tracks and following scents (which is what Saints were bred for).  Most of his indoor activities at this point include sleeping, eating, drinking, sleeping some more, playing with us with his stuffed toys and his rope, and then sleeping even more.  Saints are at their most active when outside.

Goofy Behaviors:

Even though the beast has calmed down considerably he still does some goofy things that are either gross or annoying.  One of these things is getting into the kitty litter box.  Yes, the dog eats cat poop every chance he gets, which is just nasty.  Even when we have the door on the cat box he still gets in it.  We keep the box clean everyday but often times the cat goes poop before any of us wake in the morning (cat usually does his duty at about 5am) so the dog is the first to know (by smell).  Hell, the dog knows the cat is going to poo before the cat does.  We've seen the dog sniffing the cat's rear end up to an hour before the cat has to go poo, then after the cat goes to the box the dog will sneak upstairs when no one's paying attention and pilfer the excrement.  There's been scolding, putting the cat box in places we thought he wouldn't or couldn't get to, but in the end that dog always manages to get to it.  I know a lot of people have issues with their dogs doing this behavior.  Dogs eat other dogs' and animals' feces for either territorial reasons (eliminating the smell of the other animal) or because they can smell/taste what the other animal has eaten in the poop (as is the case with our dog).  It is a disgusting habit that is difficult to break and can be potentially dangerous.  Other animals can pass diseases through their stool and the clay/paper kitty litter from the cat box can build up in the stomach/intestines causing a variety of problems, the most likely of which is a blockage.  One of the few remedies for cat box issues would be to put the cat box in a room only the cat can get to.  This is difficult sometimes and may require buying and then installing a cat door in the large closed door.  If one has a small dog, that too may not work because the dog could fit through the cat door.  There are alternative self cleaning cat litter boxes, such as the Cat Genie (it cleans itself by being hooked up to your toilet) but that thing is expensive.  Some people have had a bit of success potty training their cats to use the human toilet.  In the end though, it will probably have to come down to you (and probably me too) buying an edible treat for the cat that makes the waste taste awful to the dog.

Another of Willy's goofy behaviors is attempting to eat paper toweling.  Luckily he does this noticeably for attention (he parades the fact he's eating something by coming in the living room with the item and then running away) and we are usually able to get the toweling away from him before he ingests it.  Once in a while though, as he's running from us, he swallows the toweling.  Where he finds some of these pieces of toweling we don't know but sometimes he'll open the trash can to get them, other times he may even jump on some furniture item to pilfer them.  We've learned to set something heavy on the trash can lid and to not leave paper towels sitting on the tables or counters.  Due to his height, he can just put his face on the kitchen counters to take stuff, he doesn't even have to jump.  Luckily the toweling the beast has ingested has come out his other end successfully.  This dog forces us to keep a picked up home, which i suppose is a good thing, to a point.

Conclusion:

We've had this dog for nearly two years and we've learned a lot from him and he has learned a lot from us.  Willy still has a good deal of play and puppy in him but he's become the loyal, loving family dog everyone would like to have.  He barks and howls to alert us of strangers at the front door or near the yard.  He sticks close to us when we go places, leery of strangers (particularly older teenage boys and men--long story about that for another day--) but never mean about them.  Being quite fond of other dogs, he tries to approach them playfully on walks but understands when we tell him no and lets the issue go.  Sure, he's still stubborn about things but we like him to be that way.  He still insists that the chair in front of the windows is his and he insists on sitting in it to look out those windows.  Most of the time he'll still hop on our beds before us to try to keep us from getting the good sleeping spots but he'll move if we tell him too.  These little personality quirks he has are what makes him who he is.  Always though he tries to be gentle about things, even when he play bites or chews the cat, he's gentle about it and never hurts us (or the cat) with his teeth.  His paws on the other hand have smacked us a few times, usually when he tries to lay on us.  Of course he doesn't know that his paws are hurting us, he just thinks he is being cuddly by putting his paws and head on us.  So we let that go.  For the past 2 years he's been a good friend, never leaving us with a dull moment.  Willy doesn't look like a human but to us he is and he's a member of the family.  We respect him and he respects us.  He is a good dog, a good person and i look forward happily to the rest of the time we've got with him.

Chewing Branches