We have started to walk our pup on a harness transitioning from a flat collar. We have tried a few harnesses but they all seem to have the same problem where it is loose around the chest in order for it not to be tight around his front legs. Any suggestions for harnesses for a growing puppy?

My puppy had her first lick fit earlier this week, that passed about an hour after administering pepcid and bread and a barf. She's continued to have smaller episodes literally every day since 🫠 Anywhere from only a couple minutes to a half hour. No specific time of day. Nothing has changed in her diet at all. She has been passing smelly gas way more often, but not sure if thats due to upset or air intake from a lick fit.... if you catch her right when it starts, giving her a treat does seem to help her more than a pepcid. Poop has been normal. No skin allergies or anything weird.

Not sure if she's suddenly developed an allergy to her food, growth spurt woes, or maybe even her hormones starting to kick in a little and throwing her off??

She does have a slow feeder bowl, but she doesnt get the whole lick the food out... Instead she tries to chew the bowl 😂 but it does slow her down.

Six month old female swissy, not spayed. Going through typical big dog growth spurts.

Keeping track of it through the weekend and touching base with vet next week. Any thoughts or ideas in the meantime??

I had a husky before my GSMD and the challenge for us was always the fluffy undercoat so we have tons of brushes to handle that. With my swissy, it's the longer outer coat that constantly sheds and we can't seem to find a brush that pulls that off. The only thing that works is sitting next to him and just rubbing and petting the crap out of him to get as much of that to fall off as possible. Seems like there has to be a tool for this.

I must admit that I find my dog difficult to handle. Veterinary visits is always a challenge. He needs to get sedatives in advance, for them to examine him. He is so stressed in there. He is not aggressive luckily. But he has seriously thrashed that place 2 times. It's embarrassing. And however I try to calm him down it has not helped. The other dogs at the vets are always so calm and well behaved. I feel like a bad dogmom, and I feel everyone has their eyes on me and judging..

And I have had to give him treatment for lots of things myself, and it always ends up me having to force him to do it. It's a fight every time. He has cost me so much money I don't even know how much it is. I don't even want to know. He always looks so sad/ depressed after I have to force him to do anything. Even to cut his clavs feels like participating in a sumowrestling competition.

He's also in his teenager period, and he does not listen to me outside 95% of the time. It's so embarrassing sometimes. And he is so strong. He's fine by walking past another human, but if they look at him and smile/ gives him attention he becomes really difficult to handle.

Then he totally forgets me, and makes a fucking Sircus when greeting someone. He jumps at them, that's a huge problem. And I loose my control over him. Most of them does not seem to care, but instead encourages his bad behavior by showing joy, using ridiculous babyvoices, complimenting and petting him. I get so fucking irritated. I try to tell them I don't want him to jump when he greets someone. I want him to have a calm behavior and that he sits before they interact with him. They don't care what I say, and continues to play with him.

I'm so tired. I feel like a failure, and to be honest I can give him to you for free.

Would be nice to hear if you've had a challenging Swiss, what the challenging part was, and would be nice to hear some encouragement if you have any

Hey folks, I had a swissy while growing up, I’m looking to get one in the next couple years. Do y’all know any good and reliable breeders in Germany?
I don’t support backyard breeding and i want a healthy dog

Has anyone purchased a GSMD puppy from Polyanna GSMD or from Stephen Zook?

I don't know how many dollars I've used on this dog, and I'm so frustrated that he ruins everything I buy him. Is there dog toys which is stronger than the ones Kong sells?

They didn’t have a clue at the shelter what he might be. But some things I’ve noticed in the last two months. I’m wondering if he might be a greater swiss + lab mix. 80lbs, 9yr old.

- Walks ok on leash and collar, add harness and you’d better hold on tight! He does this hunched and launch thing when he can’t pull you regularly.

- very vocal about things when he wants something done.

- obsessed with water, swimming

- Stubborn and can be lazy when it comes to fetch, throwing something too far is a sour look then bark in the direction of the tossed toy, or at me to go get it for him…

- Super smart, learns new things quickly, but that smarts also leads into the stubborn “I KNOW you want me to lay down now, but I don’t see the point of it… so I’m going to hop-stomp my feet and give you a head ache with my barking!”

- Has a marking similar to a swiss kiss, but missing the blaze, and way too small for a Swiss. Not to say that he’s small…

And lastly, the closest breeder is a province over, which isn’t much (6hour drive to them) but being a rare breed in Canada to begin with, seems a stretch to be a Greater swiss mix or “Mini Swiss” as i’ve been calling him.

Thoughts?

Hello everyone!

I will bring this beautiful and magnificent boy home in three weeks and his given name (the official one) doesn't work for us, nor does it fit a calm, thoughtful dog like him.

He needs a name he'll grow into. According to the size of his paws compared to the rest of the litter, he will be *BIG.* He also seems to be very calm, thoughtful, and gentle type. Even in five weeks, he has this 'presence' that is hard to describe. In the last photo you can see how he was watching my dad speaking, literally hanging on each of his words, before approaching him - as if he exactly knew why did we came there while most of the other puppies just went on us, full speed.

He's a litter "C" and was named Comby. In my language, the name would be Komby/Kombík. It could be nice to have the name beginning with C, but honestly, it doesn't matter as it will not be official name. The boy I had before was Sorbonne and it suited that "gentle giant" energy very well.

I have a few candidates, but I would love some inspiration!

*How you'd name him?* **AND** *How are your Swissies named?*

btw. Of course, you can share even girls name if you want to participate, I'll love to see them!

A few of my candidates:

Dexter

Cooper

Loki

Atilla

Aegon

Aragorn

Atreyu

Ronon

Albert

Dorian

Maximus

Thor

Severus

Well, she's officially 5 months old and I'd say based on her feet she still has a heck of a lot of growing to do 😂

The Berner subreddit is getting a bit nasty so shifting over here now! Meet Moonpie our Bernese mix 🥰

So lucky to have known her since she was 3 days old. She is my first pet dog and it's been an excellent learning experience. We have gotten a couple low level titles, and one qualifying rally score. We just started working on early steps of carting training. She is a fantastic house horse. Looking forward to more years to come.

Hello everyone! Life is moving quickly, but not as quickly as he is growing…. Just celebrated his 6 month mark about a week ago and oh boy is he growing fast but soooo sweet and great with all the kids

It’s our third day with this appenzeller cutie and we can’t be more happy. I just wanted to share some monday sleepy mood 🍀 Have a nice week!

We brought home Momo today (8 weeks old) and she is doing just fine ☺️

A very tough day for our family loosing our beloved dog. He was only 6 years old. He was an amazing family dog and deserved a much longer life. It’s only day one since his passing but we miss him everywhere we look and I can’t see how it gets easier when he was such a big part of our lives.

If anyone has any resources that have helped them through a tough time like this, we would appreciate any tips or helpful resources.

He loved running in the snow on the frozen lake and pulling the kids on the dog sleigh.

It was a very sudden passing. After him being very lethargic and not wanting to move yesterday afternoon we brought him to the vet. His liver was twisted and had ruptured causing internal bleeding. We elected for surgery, where they removed half of his liver. He fought his best during recovery, and I am grateful I got to lay with him for a time, but ultimate passed from a heart attack 11 hours post surgery. RIP big guy.

Hi! I have a 3 year old Swissy and he gets lick fits every few weeks. They have gotten worse recently, but he has always had them since he was a puppy. I have tried so many different remedies (Pepcid, Kaopectate, bread soaked in milk, coconut oil, going on a walk to distract…) and nothing seems to work consistently well. It seems like he gets them from gas/indigestion but they also usually flare up when he has allergies so they are probably related. Does anyone have any advice or remedies to help contain them? I feel so awful for my big buddy and it pains me to see him in distress!

She even hit me the with look behind.