[DanaM]

Hey everyone,

I'm new here and just wanted to say hello from Michigan

I have two GSD mixes, both special needs rescues from local shelters. Atlas is 125 lbs and a blonde color. Loki is over 100 lbs now and is black. Both the dogs and I love playing frisbee and we go to the lake quite frequently.

This looks like a great forum and I'm looking forward to meeting and chatting with everyone!

[CorkyMax]

Glad to meet you! And thanks for rescuing and esp. special needs dogs! Might I ask what those needs are? What did you name your dogs? Would love to see pics---I've gotten so I don't ask that question of members much anymore because there has been some kind of glitch in this forum for quite a while now with pics not uploading BUT I see the forum was shut down a little while ago for some 'work' being done--Hopefully something was done to fix that problem!! I also don't know where new members get the idea that 50 posts have to be made in order to post pics--NOT TRUE!!

Maybe you already know about the problem a lot of German Shepherd Dogs have with being able to digest their food properly but this is worth repeating here anyway and just in case you aren't aware of this:Attention-german shepherd/and gs mixes

Hope you like the forum!

[DanaM]

Hey CorkyMax,

Atlas was a stray and the family who finally got him off the street decided to just release him in the house with their four cats. He killed three of them before they could stop him. I'm actually surprised a rescue would adopt him out at all, but I got him from Animal Control and they seem more lax about the dogs that leave their shelter. He doesn't have a human aggressive bone in his body, but he will kill anything that isn't a dog or a person. Therefore, I had to work really hard on his recall and I have to be very careful about where I walk the dogs.

Loki allegedly bit a child when he was a puppy. The family who surrendered him claimed that he bit her in the face "viciously", hard enough that she had to get 10 stitches right above her eye. Therefore, Loki was "special needs" with aggressive tendencies. Honestly, I think he was a scared puppy and was backed into a corner by a kid who was harassing him. I've never seen an aggressive bone in his body.

Actually, I tried to attach pictures to my first post, and it said I needed to wait until I had 50 posts in order to do that.

I feed the dogs a raw diet, so I don't worry about them digesting their food

Thanks again for the greeting. I've just mostly been doing a lot of lurking and looking at photos of everyone's dogs

[CorkyMax]

[B]I was just talking to one of the moderators on the phone last night and I asked her where new members get the idea that they have to have 50 posts. It is an old rule that is no longer in effect--but that wording needs to be taken out of the rules where you are seeing it!! It use to be that a lot of people would join the forum to try to get members to vote for their dog in some other 'place' and it was getting 'sickening' and old to say the least. These new members were not interested in the forum and were just here to get votes! If you try to post a pic and it doesn't work---It is happening to everyone--a glitch in the forum that happened a while back when the programmers did something wrong when they were in forum programming. I see they have been in the forum working on something the past 2 days--I am hoping that this is one of the things they are working on!!! The problem seems to be mainly with uploading pics in posts. You may be able to upload pics to an album though--not promising but can try. Lol, but I won't be able to see your album(s)! I made the mistake of clicking (As did some others!) on the blue words to the right on my profile page--albums for one. It froze me out because it took the words out that were under what I clicked---Maddening and another glitch I hope gets fixed but I am not holding my breath! Please do not do what I did--You will instantly be locked out too! I not only can not see my own albums but nobody else's either!

Glad you feed a raw diet--If any one breed could only be fed a raw diet---This is the breed that needs it the most! I don't have GSDs but the breeds I do have have a problem with not making their own Taurine (an amino acid) which can lead to a heart disease called Dilated Cardiomyopathy. I lost one (Cocker/golden mix) because of it. My purebred cocker has the beginning of it but I am supplementing now with Taurine capsules (human form) and I think it is helping. You might look in to that problem too. Being as GSDs have a problem with digestion--They might be lacking this vital amino acid. It has just recently been found out that this lack is causing that heart disease and commercial dog food (some of the companies) companies are adding it to their dog food now. Another thing (which makes it double trouble)--I feed a raw food diet too (along with some cooked) and taurine which is found in fresh (blood) is mainly in beef but not hamburger as evidently when the taurine in the blood 'hits' the air it must destroy it! I was not feeding a lot of beef as it was expensive so I was using a lot of chicken/turkey and hamburger. I only wish I had known about this sooner as I know my Corky would still be here! I don't feed any commercial dog food and if I were I would definitely make sure taurine was in it--and even then I would prob. supplement taurine--I don't trust dog food companies at all!

I will be right back here to add to this post--Want to go find some links for you to see about this taurine and that heart disease--So stay tuned or check back here later after I add to this![B]

I found the link in this forum that I did in here after I found out about this problem. It is a long thread and 2 pages--Please read it all.-->Dilated Cardiomyopathy (Heart Disease)

Will be back shortly here with another link I think you will find informative--It is also very long but worth the time to read it! There are 5 pages here.

Foods that are hazardous to a dog