Filas

[Bunny82]

Oh, and she can also unlock/open the back sliding glass door. :yikes:

LOL boy Fila people are not kidding when they say these dogs will keep you on your toes are they? LOL I will have an almost three year old (when the time comes) and a Fila in the same house. Well at least being a SAHM will be exciting and I will get lots of laughs. LOL I guess its a good thing I have a good sense of humor.

Next your going to tell me that my garden is unsafe and when we get a Fila I will find out that s/he has gone and made him/herself a nice salad! Do they even like veggies?

 

[Buddy'sParents]

Uhm, your garden is not safe, lol. Sorry!

 

[Bunny82]

Uhm, your garden is not safe, lol. Sorry!

LOL thats okay I don't mind sharing. Fencing it in an attempt to keep a Fila out seems futile (ha keep a Fila away from food!) so the only reasonable options seems to be expansion (more veggies) so there is plenty for everyone.

 

[Buddy'sParents]

Well now, aren't you nice. You will have one happy Fila.

 

[Renee750il]

That is very sweet of you to say and I appreciate it. It truly does mean a lot to me. Thank you.

LOL and since it has been clarified that they really are 'ginormous alien cats' does that mean they housebreak easy too? LOL. In all seriousness though what is the best method for housebreaking a Fila. I am familiar with crate training but I don't see this working with a Fila. LOL I guess my bed substitutes for the crate right.

I don't have an answer for that, lol, since I haven't had to housebreak one yet, other than having Shiva sleep in the laundry room for a couple of nights. It just wasn't an issue with them at all.

You can crate train or not, depending on your own household needs. I've never owned a crate, other than a cat carrier. Bella does beautifully with hers though. I tend to discourage using one for any regular extended periods of time with a growing large breed dog, though. They really need to be able to stretch out and move about.

Oh, and they typically love almost any fruit or vegetable. Kharma has a fiendish passion for avocados and melons. She will also pick blackberries.

Oh, and NEVER leave a grill unattended. Not even when it's hot. You will find your dinner long gone, lol!

 

[Bunny82]

I don't have an answer for that, lol, since I haven't had to housebreak one yet, other than having Shiva sleep in the laundry room for a couple of nights. It just wasn't an issue with them at all.

You can crate train or not, depending on your own household needs. I've never owned a crate, other than a cat carrier. Bella does beautifully with hers though. I tend to discourage using one for any regular extended periods of time with a growing large breed dog, though. They really need to be able to stretch out and move about.

Oh, and they typically love almost any fruit or vegetable. Kharma has a fiendish passion for avocados and melons. She will also pick blackberries.

Oh, and NEVER leave a grill unattended. Not even when it's hot. You will find your dinner long gone, lol!

Were still up in the air on if we want to crate train or not. I think crate training if used the right way (not misued/overused) can be a good resource but I am home all day anyway so its not like I can't watch the pup out of a crate during the housebreaking stage.

LOL are there any fruits or veggies I should avoid if I don't want to deal with an upset tummy or do they pretty much have 'iron stomachs?'

(And I can't blame Kharma, melons, avocados, blackberries? YUMMY!)

 

[Maxy24]

Not a Fila owner but have been reading the thread and am popping in to say some things about crate training. Even if you don't plan to have the pup go in the crate often because you are always home remember when the dog has to stay at the vet's, or if he has to be boarded he'll have to be crated and it would relieve a lot of his stress if he is already ok with crating. Crate's are also great in the car unless you want to use a dog seatbelt. Some pups will not sleep through the night either and if the pup is sleeping with you he may have an accident, some dogs will sleep and not wake up until you do. If he's the type to wake up to potty you might want to crate at night as well so he has to wake you to go out and will not have an accident.

 

[Bunny82]

Not a Fila owner but have been reading the thread and am popping in to say some things about crate training. Even if you don't plan to have the pup go in the crate often because you are always home remember when the dog has to stay at the vet's, or if he has to be boarded he'll have to be crated and it would relieve a lot of his stress if he is already ok with crating. Crate's are also great in the car unless you want to use a dog seatbelt. Some pups will not sleep through the night either and if the pup is sleeping with you he may have an accident, some dogs will sleep and not wake up until you do. If he's the type to wake up to potty you might want to crate at night as well so he has to wake you to go out and will not have an accident.

That is good advice and I will take it to heart thank you. I can see where introducing our puppy to a crate would certainly be beneficial and we probably will do that but I am not yet 100% sure if we are going to crate train in a formal sense.

 

[Renee750il]

Were still up in the air on if we want to crate train or not. I think crate training if used the right way (not misued/overused) can be a good resource but I am home all day anyway so its not like I can't watch the pup out of a crate during the housebreaking stage.

LOL are there any fruits or veggies I should avoid if I don't want to deal with an upset tummy or do they pretty much have 'iron stomachs?'

(And I can't blame Kharma, melons, avocados, blackberries? YUMMY!)

Just the stuff that's toxic to any dog (onions, raisins, grapes, etc.) One of Kharma's favorite cuisines is Mexican food. She's especially partial to leftovers of camarones a la Diablo. She doesn't even get the farts. :rofl1:

And buttermilk. She LOOOOOVES buttermilk.

 

[Bunny82]

Just the stuff that's toxic to any dog (onions, raisins, grapes, etc.) One of Kharma's favorite cuisines is Mexican food. She's especially partial to leftovers of camarones a la Diablo. She doesn't even get the farts. :rofl1:

And buttermilk. She LOOOOOVES buttermilk.

Yay for no farts! That is always a good thing! LOL

We do grow a few of the foods that would be considered toxic to dogs. Do you have any suggestions on how to keep our puppy safe. I know the reasonable answer is not to grow those foods but I like growing my own veggies (tastes much yummier and I know they are really organic so I would like to continue)

Also this is probably the dumbest Fila questions ever asked but I was wondering, (and please don't laugh at me lol )

The ones that have a more houndish appearance do you notice they have more of a doggy odor. A stronger doggy odor is something I noticed with hounds and was wondering if this was something that was noted in the more 'hound' looking Filas. How does a good diet come into play? Any special coat care?

 

[Zoom]

A good diet will benefit any dog, especially in terms of odor and shedding. Coat care seems to be pretty easy, just brush with a bristle or hound glove every so often to get the dead hair off.

 

[Bunny82]

A good diet will benefit any dog, especially in terms of odor and shedding. Coat care seems to be pretty easy, just brush with a bristle or hound glove every so often to get the dead hair off.

Oh I hope my post did not dismiss the importance of a good diet in general ( I think a good diet is important for everyone- human and animals). If how I worded my post made diet seem unimportant I apologize as that is not the message I want to send.

I was just wondering if there was a special diet needed for the Filas that looked more houndish since like I said with hounds I noticed a stronger doggy odor and I was not sure if it was just the breed or a diet thing.

We had a cat (recently passed away) that we used to feed EVO to and he did well on that. Anyone feed this food for dogs? Opinions

 

[Zoom]

It didn't, I was just re-stating it for the lurkers.

I know Renee feeds EVO RM to her pack and there are many others on this board that feed that or regular EVO to their crew. Most seem quite happy with it.

 

[Buddy'sParents]

How does a good diet come into play? Any special coat care?

A good diet is just as good for a fila as any other dog, really. Bella started out on Innova and then moved to EVO after a year old and now on EVO RM. All of my dogs are supplemented with salmon oil, vit e, and eggs usually every other day or so. Bella will soon be transitioned to a raw diet which she has no complaints about.

As far as coat care.. uh nope. Never needed. The very few baths Bella has had to endure have been simply because I wanted her to have them. Her coat dries in about two minutes. Her ears are cleaned regularly and teeth are given a spritz of PetzLife spray as needed. Her "maintenance" is pretty simple.

 

[Bunny82]

A good diet is just as good for a fila as any other dog, really. Bella started out on Innova and then moved to EVO after a year old and now on EVO RM. All of my dogs are supplemented with salmon oil, vit e, and eggs usually every other day or so. Bella will soon be transitioned to a raw diet which she has no complaints about.

As far as coat care.. uh nope. Never needed. The very few baths Bella has had to endure have been simply because I wanted her to have them. Her coat dries in about two minutes. Her ears are cleaned regularly and teeth are given a spritz of PetzLife spray as needed. Her "maintenance" is pretty simple.

I did some reading on the raw diet and it sounded good to me. Part of the reason we put our cat on EVO was I liked the idea of feeding raw but my fiance was not quite comfortable with it and it (EVO) seemed like a nice middle ground for us. Maybe when its puppy time he will be more comfortable with the idea as that is what I really would like to feed. When you switch Bella to raw if you could please let me know how she does on it that would really mean a lot to me.

BTW tell Bella her name really suits her. She is beautiful!

 

[Buddy'sParents]

Thanks, she's definitely a special girl.

I don't forsee any problems with the raw. Feeding raw has done wonders for Buddy and Bella has had meals every now and then.

 

[Renee750il]

Kharma loves the EVO RM. She cleans plates, gets leftovers, some raw, and whatever she "liberates." I don't know if I'd characterize her as a "houndy" Fila, but she is from working lines and if you look at old photos of historic Filas from Minas Gerais that is what she looks like, especially in profile. She has very little odor at all (unless she's rolled in something )

Keep an eye on your future pup around the toxic plants and watch and see if it doesn't avoid them on its own. Kharma won't touch anything like that. There's no guarantee that yours will be the same way (Shiva once devoured an entire giant bag of Oreos and on another occasion she scarfed an entire pound of gourmet raisins I'd bought to cook with . . . how she managed to get either remains a mystery to this day), but it's not out of the realm of possibility that yours will instinctively avoid toxic foods.

 

[Bunny82]

Kharma loves the EVO RM. She cleans plates, gets leftovers, some raw, and whatever she "liberates." I don't know if I'd characterize her as a "houndy" Fila, but she is from working lines and if you look at old photos of historic Filas from Minas Gerais that is what she looks like, especially in profile. She has very little odor at all (unless she's rolled in something )

Keep an eye on your future pup around the toxic plants and watch and see if it doesn't avoid them on its own. Kharma won't touch anything like that. There's no guarantee that yours will be the same way (Shiva once devoured an entire giant bag of Oreos and on another occasion she scarfed an entire pound of gourmet raisins I'd bought to cook with . . . how she managed to get either remains a mystery to this day), but it's not out of the realm of possibility that yours will instinctively avoid toxic foods.

I think Kharma is stunning. I would consider myself very fortunate to have a Fila as beautiful as she is one day.

LOL I have a feeling you have tons of stories of things Kharma rolled in.

It is good to know that there is a possibility that my future pup will avoid any toxic plants but of course we will still take proper precautions just to be safe.

Oh and I have been known to scarf an entire bag of Oreos myself so I am right there with Shiva.

 

[Renee750il]

Thank you Kharma takes after her father, Gamble, and he was something very special. You FELT him enter the area - he radiated an intense charisma and he was extremely handsome, even in his old age. I feel very honored to live with my Kharma

 

[Bunny82]

I went through the forum and read some of your posts about your Filas. It is an honor that you are sharing them with us in your stories. I imagine life with them is a far greater honor than words can ever express. Gamble sounds like he was a magnificent creature.