Living with a pack of dogs

When I was a child we had four dogs.  I do not know how it came about that we had a pack of dogs in our house, I can only conclude that my parents were the ultimate soft touch and instead of adopting one homeless dog they ended up adopting four, suckers for a sob story!
 
So as to avoid confusion we had four different breeds of dog, a Labrador, a springer spaniel, a collie and a setter.  They were all male and were given good old fashioned boy dog names – Henry, Max, Thomas and Jake.
 
You may think that four male dogs is a recipe for disaster however one was a natural leader, the lab, Henry, and the other three were the biggest scaredy cats ever seen (can a dog be a scaredy cat?).  They were cocky though, they would happily try and start a fight, for example bark their heads off at the Great Dane on his walk then hide behind Henry when the Great Dane approached.  If they could whistle whilst looking innocent then they would have.
 
Because they formed a natural hierarchy and were well trained they were relatively easy to look after.  If they had not have been well trained I cannot imagine we could have kept them all.  We always made sure they had plenty of toys at home, as we liked our furniture and furnishings we thought shelling out some money for toys would be preferable to buying new sofas and carpets. 
 
They were seen regularly by the vet and the only problem is that three of them developed various health issues meaning our selection of dog food would not have looked out of place in a supermarket.  
 
We had Royal Canin Urinary support for the slightly girly collie who had a tendency to develop cystitis.  We found this food helped manage his urine content and made him a lot less prone to attacks. 

The Spaniel from an early age had food intolerance.  He was often very sick after eating and after investigation and various food changes we narrowed it down to lactose intolerance and he thrived on Royal Canin Sensitivity Control which is free from lactose.

 

Finally, the setter suffered with renal insufficiency and was put on a diet of Royal Canin Renal food which helped lower phosphorous levels and neutralize free radicals. 

 

Luckily the Labrador was relatively healthy, he only suffered from being slightly overweight thanks mainly to his ability to inhale his food in seconds and move quickly onto the other three dinners which he fortunately also liked!

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