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Location: Aberdeen, Scotland
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 44
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My dilema
I currently look after 2 Dogues de Bordeaux, one or two afternoons a week. The dogs live on the out skirts of Aberdeen and have a huge feild in front of the house to run around in but their owner never actually goes for a walk with them. He wanted me to give them a bit personal attention because he felt guilty, I guess, at how little they get. They have never been socialised with other dogs and tbh, I personally wouldnt want to be the one to take them out of their surroundings as they are very powerful animals.
My routine with them is that I walk around the field with them and let them be dogs, then we play for a while, if they get too boisterous, we stop the play and we walk, sometimes on lead and sometimes off. After this I give them both a groom.
Last week I had to cut it all short as they were just way too hyper and and were completely fixated on the play ball. Normally Suzey is very calm and Tali is excitable but this time both were jumping at me and running off etc. I began to get a little frustrated and decided that that wasnt benificial to any of us and cut the visit short.
On talking with the owner, he hasnt been excersising them properly, when he does take them into the feild, he takes a ball thrower, which is probably why they have now become fixated on the ball I take to play with them.
I worry that the dogs over heat etc , Suzey has hip displacia and what is the point of me trying to excersise them and keep them calm and relaxed.
They are seriously cracking dogs and i love them both, have spoken with the owner several times about these things as well as diet for Suzey, she is around 7 years old with hip problems.
Any tips on how I can make the owner understand the importance of him putting more effort into the dogs?