Food   Supplements   Supplies   Behavior   Ears   Spay/Neuter   Bloat/Intestinal Twist

 

Recommended dry dog food

Dogs are carnivores. They should be fed a meat-based diet. Please note that when you choose feed for dogs of any age, corn must not be one of the first three listed ingredients. This much corn is not good for your dog; it is just a filler to add weight to the bag and ends up mostly undigested and shows up in the stool. Stick with primarily meat diets! It is also important to purchase foods that have the AAFCO certification seal on the label. You want the best out of your dogs so feed them what is best for them.

We prefer to feed Innova brand. Our pups go to their new homes with a few days supply of Innova Puppy Large Breed. To ensure high quality health and to allow our puppies to mature into all they can and should be, we recommend all our dogs be kept on Innova or a similar food from the following list.

 

 

The “Satin Balls” total canine diet recipe

A homemade total canine diet recipe attributed to Diana Carreon, RNC has appeared on various pet sites. Versions vary, some having chicken and/or hamburg, other without egg shells, etc and the comments and recommendations also vary. The recipe passed along to AAKS can be viewed on this PDF.

 

Recommended dog supplements

 

Recommended pet supply companies

We think the following companies provide a large variety of high quality pet supplies at very good prices. They also will have frequent sales of good products.

 

Socializing and obedience is important for all dogs

Owners must accept that they can/should never accept “alpha” behavior. Without firm correction, any dog (but especially a large dog like King Shepherds) can become dangerous. Owners must understand that correction and structure is not mean or cruel or abuse; it is necessary for the dog's happy future. It is the responsible thing for an owner to do.

 

As incentive to promote the best relationship possible between dogs, the owner/family and their community, any owner whose AAKS dog achieves AKC Canine Good Citizen (CGC) Program certification will receive a $50.00 check from us. We have a list of AAKS dogs and pups that have completed the CGC program.

 

How to combat your dog's car sickness

One of our puppy owner's was told to try ginger snap cookies the night before and a couple hours before the drive and he says it helped tremendously.

 

How to get your puppy's ear to stand up

In the beginning at AAKS, we experimented with several ways to help our puppys' ears stand up, but over time we have discovered that less is truly more. If your puppy’s ears are not “up” by 6 months of age, here is a simple, non-invasive technique that has proven to be our most effective way to give those heavy ears the occasional extra boost they need to stand on their own. And it's as simple as this:

 

1. Get fabric glue

2. If desired, clip some of the longer exterior hair on the ears before gluing to help lighten the weight, ease the pull of the ears.

3. Put a tab of glue on the fur 3/4" up from the base of the ear.

4. Hold the two ears together (on the inner edge where the fur is) for about 3 minutes or until the glue dries. (It dries rather fast.)

5. After 7-10 days, clip the ears apart at the glue spot and the ears will then be standing on their own.

natural ears

Zorro's ears in natural state

ears up

Zorro's ears glued

 

And that's all there is to it. This temporary gluing simply gives the ears a bit more stability to encourage their natural "standing up" position. Nothing in the ear, no wrapping, nothing to bother the puppy so they are quite likely to leave those ears alone. The less the owner or puppy messes with the ears, the less chance of ear cartilage damage. (Once cartilage damage occurs, the ears will never stand.)

 

About Spaying/Neutering

AAKS believes a King Shepherd Dog does not attain full growth until around 3 years of age. Because of this later maturing age, we ask our families — whenever possible — to postpone spaying/neutering until their pups are 2 years of age to allow them to reach full growth and breed standard potential. For a better understanding of how spaying/neutering affects dog growth, we recommend reading the 05/14/07 PDF white paper Long Term Health Risks and Benefits Associated with Spay/Neuter in Dogs by Laura J. Sanborn, MS Rutgers University. Please note that AAKS has worked in rescue for a long time and strongly believes in spaying/neutering all non-breeding animals. Especially with mixed breed animals, we can have no realistic expectation of what they will turn out to be as they mature. We are very aware of the responsibility pet owner has to ensure their pet is not going to be adding to the over-population problem that leads to millions of animals being euthanized every year. If a pet owner feels not altering their animal will create a problem for them, we agree that early spay/neuter is the correct thing to do.

 

About Canine Bloat/Intenstinal Twist

Gastric dilatation-volvulus (GDV) — also known as “bloat,” “stomach torsion,” or “twisted stomach” — should be considered a life-threatening emergency when it occurs because dogs can die of bloat within several hours. Even with treatment, more 25% of the afflicted dogs die. In bloat, the stomach fills with air and puts pressure on the other organs and diaphragm, making it difficult for the dog to breathe. Veins in the abdomen then compress, preventing blood from returning to the heart. Filled with air, the stomach rotates and pinches off the blood supply. The blood supply is disrupted and the animal's condition begins to deteriorate very rapidly; the stomach begins to die. Drs Foster and Smith offers more information on an online article on canine bloat we urge you to read.

 

This type of life-threatening condition is one of the reasons we believe it is important we post health and hip information about our dogs and their offspring. Our intent is that people will find it helpful and utilize it to the best interest of their dogs and the King Shepherd breed. We believe strongly that breeders who refuse to share this information about their own dogs pass on these health issues into their breed and the other breeds who utilize that pedigree line.

 

Lindsey, Baron W's owner, has allowed us to reprint an email she sent explaining a similar condition known as intestinal twisting. She lost her German Shepherd to this condition and hopes her sharing her experience and information may help fellow large dog owners be alert to some of the underlying symptoms of intestinal twisting. We also have posted a message from a Golden Retriever owner who found our information helpful in understanding what happened.

 

Page last updated April 22, 2011 ~ Amy's Acres King Shepherds/amysacres.com © 2005 to present date