2 questions. first, i have a silky maltese pup about 9 - 10 weeks old and i want to know if it would be a bad choice to get him shaved. im finding it real hard to keep him knot free. i only asking because its the midle of winter where i am.

the 2nd thing is his food... i feed him an average amount for his size and its good for him. my dad feeds him at the table and i tell him not to but he still does. the problem i have with this is that its not always the best dog food and its teaching him that food is at the table. what am i to do??

i dont know about the shaving thing, as i've always owned short to mid length haired dogs. as for the feeding at the table, to me... that's bad. first, dogs if given table scraps should be given at a BARE MINIMUM, if at all. I do not condone giving table scraps because a lot of people foods can be harmful and in some cases, even toxic. Also, feeding from the table leads to bad manners, begging, and associating the begging with rewards. People I live with kept trying to feed my pit puppy from the table. As much as I asked them not to, it kept going on. My pup started the begging habit. And once I even caught someone feeding her bits of onions which is a severe no no as they're bad for dogs. I've had to actually take these people aside and train them in a sense. My puppy knows better than to beg from me, because I don't give in.

Dogs only know how to be dogs and think of you and sometimes others as a pack leader. As a pack leader it is up to the human to do the right thing. Begging can become quite annoying once a dog gets older and you need to stop your father while the dog is still young. You've gotta sit down and talk with your dad. Not only is he reinforcing a bad behaviour, but he could also be putting your pup at risk. If need be, go off into the topic of how many people foods are bad for the dog's digestive system and are even toxic.

If you can get your father to stop feeding from the table, you could have the dog wait til you're done eating, then feed it its own bowl of its own food as a means to break a begging habit. Or, feed it its own food just before you sit down. If your father just wont stop, worst case scenario; place the dog in another room while you eat.

Good luck.