She will let me take whatever she's guarding, but you can tell she would rather not. She's never ever tried to bite me or growl at me - I would not have a dog that did -  so I'm puzzled more than anything. There are toys all over the house and they all share them. I wondered if it was more a 'pecking order' thing, her trying to say she's the top dog. This actually was true before the yellow Lab arrived in July - now Lacey (Lab) asserts her own dominance and for once, Sage isn't big enough to argue. But she's always been this way with her toys/rawhides.  Maybe it's more for Grady's (Lab/beagle) benefit? Sort of "she may be big enough to boss me, but you aren't!" Other than this trait, she's a loveable dog who loves attention. BTW, I see we're close - I'm at the other end of the ferry.

So Lisa, are you saying that I should put each dog in a separate room to give them a rawhide? I guess the only things Sage really does this with are rawhides, since dog buscuits are consumed in nanoseconds.  Since rawhides take a while, she has more opportunity to 'snatch' theirs when they're distracted. Actually, she even saves her buscuits for a bit - maybe to sort of "ha ha" them when theirs are gone? Your advice when she does her 'growl-get-away-from-here' : should I just verbally correct her (as I've been doing) or actually take it away while telling her "no!"?  Or maybe just make her sit right in front of me when she has one to keep her attention away from the other two? As for her being thin when I got her, I don't know how much was underfed/wrongly fed and how much was a normal GSP puppy (never having seen one). Her skin was baggy - I described it as looking like she was wearing the skin of a bigger dog. Is that typical of GSP pups, or more due to being fed adult dog food? Since I got her at 10 weeks, she was on puppy food from then on and fattened up within a month or so. She's now on adult dog food and (another question) has developed a ravenous, almost insatiable appetite. Is this normal, or maybe a growth spurt? She's now around 50 pounds (hasn't been to the vet lately, so don't know her exact weight): is this a good weight for her? I really appreciate your tips & info for me. 

My male kind of saves his rawhide I think like you said to say ha ha I have one and you don't. None of them will snap or growl at me or my kids. They will growl to say keep away to the other dogs. I just tell Hunter it's okay they aren't going to steal it. It is kind of funny because he becomes the center of attention. As far as the size of Sage, has she been wormed? Sometimes that will make them eat like that. When I got Belle she was severely under weight. I could see every bone in her body. She looked worse than an anorexit supermodel. I mean you could see every bone in her spine her leg and hip bones. It was so horrible. How could some one do this to such a beautiful animal. I fell in love with her and rescued her. Any how sorry I got off track there. She was like a vacuum cleaner eating. It was like a year before she slowed down. She would squat down and keep looking around and cowering like someone was going to hurt her for eating. I had to sit by her and pet her and tell her it was okay. She was really quite a mess. I have had her 2 years now and she is fit and well. The weight thing is hard to say because there is alot of size difference in these guys. Belle is about 45 pounds, Mocha is about 50 and Hunter is about 56. I have seen some that were 65 pounds too. Some are taller than others. Also if they aren't exercised good they can get pretty plump. They can look like a barrel. She looks good in the pics though. I don't know if this is any help for you, but good luck and again; Welcome to the GSP Fan Club!!!

Hi Ace1,  glad to hear yours does that growl thing too. Maybe Sage isn't too naughty then.   When I first got her she did have worms and was successfully treated for them. Haven't had her checked lately - do you think I should?  I wonder if maybe she just reeeeeally likes the dog food? I know she much prefers it to the puppy food she was getting til recently. She was getting Pedigree puppy food, now she's getting our store's version of Beneful. Both she and the Lab/beagle get that and they just love it. Now the yellow Lab is trying to sneak into that as well instead of her puppy Pedigree. Sage seems to be just the right shape and size, not too thin or fat. She has a nice GSP shape, from pictures I've seen of them, so I guess I shouldn't worry so much.  Goodness, what happened to your Belle - was she a rescue? The poor thing. I guess the only good thing about those situations is seeing them come around and fatten up, huh? I don't understand why some people have dogs if they don't want to invest the effort in caring for them. Both Sage and my yellow Lab, Lacey,  were formerly owned by young ladies who clearly weren't cut out to care for them. I felt great satisfaction in just driving away with them, knowing that at least now they would be taken care of properly. Thanks for your comments.

Belle was a rescue. The breeder that I bought Mocha from took her back from the owner. He and his wife were getting a divorce and seems that they took it out on her. I called him looking for another pup because Mocha is so good, and he called me about a month later and told me about Belle. She was the cutest little thing. She was only about 8 months old and she had worms and everything. Every one is so amazed how she turned out.

Makes me sick when I think of how she must have been treated. As far as worming, you could get her checked. If the other dog was rescued too maybe that one had them too. It could also be the food. I feed mine Diamond High Energy. We occasionally will give them another food like kibbles & bits or beneful type. They will go through it like it's going out of style. It is kind of like a snack to them. I don't really like that because they have to crap way more. Not real sure why but they also seem to need to eat more of it to be full. How is her coat? Is it shiny or kind of rough? She looks good in the pics though.

You might want to watch that and see if that's why she's eating so much too! Just a thought and I may be wrong. That is just what I have experienced with mine. I am called the crazy dog man out here because I have 5 of them!! Never a dull moment here either.

wow, FIVE of them?? Talk about high energy! Which one is that in your avatar?  I really need to get a better digital camera. On top of Sage only sitting still for a second or two for pics, my camera has this hourglass delay of 3 or 4 seconds before it snaps the pic, so most of them are blurs. I think it's 5 pixels - what would be a better one for clearer pictures?  You know, it never occurred to me that Sage may be eating so much because it takes that much to fill her up. Hmmm... Since she turned a year at the end of August, that's when I switched her from puppy to adult food. And come to think of it, that's about how long she's been eating non-stop. Maybe I should try another food. Not only that, but she's also developed this terrible gas problem - it's SOOOO noxious! Guess I should look into another brand. Her coat isn't really shiny, but not rough either. Actually, before I heard of "ticked" the only way I could describe her coat color was "she looks like one of those old sock monkey dolls".   She really needs a PetSmart trip for a bath and 'manicure' - her claws look like talons again.  It's always something.  Thanks for the tip about the food!

Yeah, Like I said that's why they call me the crazy dog man. Funny thing is; I'm getting another one in the spring. The one in the Avatar is Mocha. She's my baby. I got her when my Grandmother passed away and she helped me deal with that. She's been a second skin ever since

This is Belle now. Not the greatest picture but this is her normal pose when she's in the house. She has come such a long way. I'm not sure on the camera, The pixels are just how clear the picture will be , nothing to do with the speed. Mine hase about a 2 second delay too. I am working on finding a better one. Maybe someone else reading this can give us both an idea? With the dog food, I am sure everyone on here has a food they like better than another. I just have found that my dogs do better with the high energy food. Another thing I have found out is if your dog gets dry skin (dandruff) I give them fish oil. I hide it in some peanut butter and their coats are so shiny and no more dry skin.  Mocha is the only dog I have that's liver and she is like a greased pig with the water. It literally runs off of her like she has a wax job. I am not sure if that is just the liver hair or because of the diet, but it is pretty neat. Any one else have that happen? My other dogs are mostly white and they get soaked through almost instantly? Go figure eh?

Picture is huge but this is Belle. Not sure why it didn't work the first time

ok, don't know what's going on, but I can't access my messages; I keep getting this error: You do not have access to view this tab within the portal.   Anyone have any help? I tried signing out and back in, tried closing the window and re-opening it, keep getting the error. Even tried clicking on the message tab under a screen name, same thing. What happened???

What browser are you using?  I've noticed that if I'm surfing with Safari, I can only see the emoticons--but if I use Firefox, I can access  all of  the tool bars.  Don't know about the PM thing though...

I use IE; it was all working fine this morning, then all of a sudden it wasn't. Still isn't. I've emailed their support and maybe I'll get some idea if I get a reply to that. I'm ready to toss the computer out the window!

Sorry about that!  That is soooo aggravating!

The blue boxes just indicate how active you are on the forum.  The more boxes you have, the more you have posted.  And the number of posts are also tied to a JH, SH, MH ranking as well.  As far as the stars go, I have no idea.  My guess is that there is a way to rank a thread (think Ebert & Roper), and I just haven't figured out how to do it yet.  But like I said, that's only a guess...

Yes the GSP's have a deep chest. Some have wider ones than others but these are definately made for hunting and athletics.

Prariefire, I have to say your' pics of the 3 dogs are awesome!!! I love the darker liver/ roan dogs. The whiter ones seem to be more popular up here in Michigan. My Mocha looks like the first dog you had posted. Awesome!

Did you find a better food for Sage yet? When you get a better one; don't switch her over all at once. Blend it in over a short period. Use smaller amounts of the old food and then eventually you will have her completely onto the new food. Just an FYI. Some dogs have problems when you switch their diet abruptly. There are alot of good foods out there. Read the labels and usually the first 3 ingredients ( I think) are the main ones. Meat is the best. I use the high energy food on mine by Diamond. My personal Preference. Any that have a high protein will be good for her. I hope she is doing well for you. How old is she now?

You must be thinking of someone else, Ace.  I'm afraid--or incredibly grateful, depending on the day --that we only have one dog.  He's a solid liver with a bit of ticking on his chest.  My avatar is pretty deceptive--makes him look like a roan with big patches (which I agree, are awesome looking dogs.  I drool over them every time I see them).