JRzipper

I normally stop at the local greengrocer on a Saturday morning and they'll have a box of outer lettuce leaves, or celery, apples, carrots etc looking a bit past their prime. I just buy the other veges fresh to make up a good variety and then home, to clean out the fridge and see what else I can add to the ingredient list, and then set myself up for a big juicing session while bopping along to the radio and surrounded by a circle of dogs waiting for the odd fruit or vege snack! LOL... Having four Bullmastiffs makes any commercial product - raw or otherwise - a bit expensive to feed on a regular basis, and there is a weird kind of nurturing part of me that enjoys being up to my elbows mixing raw dog tucker that I've put together myself knowing that it's the best possible diet I can give to my dogs. JK

VAN = Vets All Natural http://www.vetsallnatural.com.au/Completemix.html Basically a vegie/grain/supplement mix that you soak and then mix with meat/RMB's to make a complete meal. So it is instead of pulping ur own veggies?? or another add on?? I only use it if I'm getting to the end of the week and can see I won't have enough frozen mince/vege meals to see me through until the weekend when I'll make up a new batch. In that case, I haul some mince (usually intended for us humans!) out of the freezer in the morning, and put some VAN in a bowl to soak and when I get home from work just toss them together and, waa laa, delish doggy dinner! JK

Hi Kati, I've been feeding raw for a decade and would never go back to commercial dog food. Learning ratios is a good way to start but as your confidence and experience grows you will probably start relaxing a bit and understanding how "balance over time" works. A couple of key things that I think are important are a) a juicer with grunt, b) a bloody great freezer and c) some standby for when you miscalcuate and run out of frozen meals. I always have heaps of canned sardines on hand as well as a bag of VAN. Freezing veges is quite OK. There is some nutrient loss but most of the goodness is retained if frozen immediately. One of the best places to find the sort of supplements you might be using for a raw diet is Greenpet. They are quick and efficient and pretty good value. Being able to buy in bulk keeps the cost down. You can find them online at www.greenpet.com.au. Just a final thought about veges which is always a contentious issue amongst raw feeders. I feel that veges/fruit aren't really essential but they have a number of advantages 1. They fill up dogs without adding too many calories (important in my breed that loves to eat but puts on weight easily) 2. They increase fluid intake, which is handy over summer 3. They help soften stools. Mine tend to have one hard stool (from their RMBs) and one softer stool (other meal incl veges) per day (God, the things we talk about LOL....) 4. My dogs love them, especially if I add other goodies like yoghurt, honey, cottage cheese or some table scraps! :-) JK

It's hard core raw at our house but I always have some VAN on hand in case I run out of my frozen raw meals. The dogs love it mixed with mince, especially if I mix some sardines and yoghurt in as well JR

I'm also a local and know how hard the Eaglehawk and Bendigo Club Committee's have worked to make the indoor facility a reality again this year. I have nothing but admiration for this little band of people whose passion and determination have seen them pull off something quite remarkable. The Exhibition Centre is normally used for BIG events like national beef shows, major expos etc that have the potential the generate the kind of income to cover the cost of the venue, so it is no small achievement for these two tiny clubs to stage a weekend of dog shows there. My hat is off to Carol and the gang :-) These clubs will have my entry on both days and I would urge everyone who is even just hinking of entering to support these shows, as the best way to help the Clubs in their quest to make this an ongoing arrangement and build a really fab weekend of summer showing in Bendigo is to make sure the shows are a success. If you're worried about slipping on the floor, throw some wax or non-slip spray in your showbag, but don't let it stop you from enjoying a weekend of no-fuss showing in the shade, and as Daneranger says, no putting up and taking down gazebos in the heat and dust! JK

Love my dremel! After years of struggling to use clippers on Bullmastiff dog nails, I brought a dremel, read the instructions on the link above and never looked back. Unfortunately my old dogs have never adjusted to the dremel and I still have to use the clippers on them, but all my young dogs get trained to the dremel as babies and it makes my life so much easier. About once a fortnight I do a couple of passes across all the nails (dogs know to expect a treat after each foot is complete) only leaving the dremel on each nail about 2-3 secs max. That's it! No struggling, cursing or swearing LOL... My tips for the dremel are keep anything that might get caught up away from the spinning head (eg: dogs ears , long hair, loose mattress covers), use coarse sandpaper and change when it loses its roughness, and just start with a quick light touch on the nail - building up to a couple of seconds as the dog gets used to the vibration. JR

I absolutely agree with this GayleK. I've been feeding bones for a decade and never had a problem but they have all started on bones as babies and once weaned my dogs have always had their own quiet place to eat their bones. They all carry their bones up onto their bed and take their time eating them. I've seen someone try to introduce bones to a "teenage" dog who'd never had a bone before and he tried to frantically gobble it down and choked almost immediately, luckily he managed to cough it out but I could see that this was a dog that would need to be closely watched.

My dogs have always loved apples and one of my Bullmastiff boys would climb the apple trees as far as he was able and knock the apples down to the rest of the gang waiting below This is a pic of Flynny Appleseed on one of his apple raids!