Lab_Rat

Just checked out both Artemis and Nutrience - both American made. What annoys the sh*t outta me is that the Natural Balance is locally made, but Im probably paying as much for a bag as someone else is for one of these two!! And it has less ingredients - which I like. Will definately be letting them know Im not happy! Just outta interest terrorbull, whats nutrience worth?? Rat

I paid $93.50................................for 15kg. So SK it may not be cheaper than Artemis!!!!! Wheres nutrience made? Rat

The best thing would be to either contact Natural Balance (check out their website www.naturalbalance.net.au or email them [email protected] ) or enquire at your usual dog food distributor. We live about an hour form anywhere useful, so Im really glad I found this excellent groomers/dog food suppliers/other doggy stuff shop. They are an excellent bunch. Good luck with it!! And let us know how you go! Rat

Sorry to hijack the thread SK, but labsrule - I just bought a new bag on Friday (the super premium,r/e) and the bloody price has increased about $20 Not very happy 'bout that! The shop where I buy it said it was a huge surprise to them as well. Dont know whether theyre catching up to the rest of the dog food prices, or whether it has something to do with drought/sheep availability-prices. Either way, Im not impressed and thought I might sent them and email telling them so. the dogs are doing really well on it, dont know whether to try the "non" super premium or not. Theres a slight difference in ingredients and amounts of. Anyway, Im glad you can obtain it over there..... Rat

Hi SecretKei - I raised my RR girl on Royal Canin. My breeder used this, so I continued on with it. She also had roo, veges and other meat. After a heap of tummy probs, she is now on Natural Balance, which is lamb based. (labsrule - how did you find feeding this?? I am surprised but happy to see a West Australian made food can be obtained over east!!) Both my girls are doing well on it, the ridgie and the kelpie. They also get raw lamb, chicken wings and other things with it. I too would love stop feeding kibble, but its far too convenient as a shift working, non-routine having person It certainly is a job trying to get all the information out there in some sort of order in your mind. But like other here have said, if your dog is doing well on a particular food, stick to it. Rat

:laugh: Lets keep this thread on Page 1!! Looks like theres a few of us working toward the same destination! Thanks to all the knowledgeable ones for their input Rat

Fair enough I will continue with using treats. They arent allowed in actual tests though are they?? And what about using the dogs name? Is that another no-no, in the ring I mean? Rat

I would love to get up and watch on the 31st, but at this time of year its toooooooooooooo hot and tooooo far! But if any of you take a camera it would be lovely to see some piccys. I just had a read through of what were up for in the obedience ring!! Im sure little Wandy is very capable of all that is required, dunno bout me though! I tend to fall apart, forget things under pressure. Like praising the poor dog, and being very articulate with signals and commands . I guess the only thing to do is practise, practise, practise!!! I know we need to work on heeling, stand on command and sitting when we stop without being told to. I think I will go right back to basics with her initially to get the heel up to scratch. Shouldnt be too hard afterall, Ive taught two ridgies to heel ;) For all you obedience champions, is using food rewards good or bad in the long run?? I dont really need them with Wandy, but Im not sure whether they are a good thing to start out with to really instil good habits or not. Sheesh i would go through a crap load with the ridgy Rat

for adding those few! Rat

Yeh, that makes sense Corvus. And they certainly continue with their playing after this occurs. Wandy sometimes has to let Zola know a couple of times shes being too over the top. But Zola is only 2 and not very grown up, whilst Wandy is 6 and has always been a "control freak" I would go with the nervous thing, as we have a few other issues that we are just about on top on inside the house. Thankfully its been quite a while since they have had a serious confrontation with each other. They are both desexed now, which has made it alot more peaceful in our house. Rat

Being a bit of a Ridgy-head, I have noticed there are a few WA ones missing! Can I spill the beans on them? Dont have one of my own, well I have my "imaginary" one, but thats NFP :rolleyes: I might get to use it one day................... Rat

ML if you check out this website it will give you a better understanding of what the dogrocks do. Zeolite (which is what dogrocks are geologically) is used in all sorts of applications, from agriculture, mining and even in a liquid form for detoxing yourself!! zeolite I hope this helps just a little bit more. I certainly understand it heaps more now! Just dont get the measurements - even though I have google them. Ah science, what a wonderous thing it is Rat

Ah thanks ML. Hmmm, now I wonder what amounts of nitrates the dogrocks "suck out" of the water, and at what rate. Any mention of that at the website? I suppose I might check it out myself right now. Was my ramble any help? Not so much my own opinions , but the actual mechanics of how they work? Rat

Thanks ML - now that does make sense to me!! I think! I will try and translate with my laymans chemistry, but I cant promise anything!! And someone with more ejakashun will prob'ly beat me to it anyway :rolleyes: "Paramagnetism - The property of substances,as liquid oxygen, which are magnetic like iron, but to a much lesser degree." from The Macquarie Dictionary.........So does the dogrock actually qualify as paramagnetic given its not liquid oxygen? I would think water, being Hydrogen and Oxygen would qualify though. Anyway.............................. So basically they are saying, the Dog Rocks act like a magnet and draw Nitrates from the drinking water, leaving no nitrates for the dog to eliminate in their urine, thus the grass is not burnt. I guess dogs on raw and high protein diets already have an elevated level of nitrates in their system so cant be removed. Anyone??? But from the above statement about dogrocks (in ML's post), there needs to be nitrates in the water to begin with. Wouldnt rainwater, being fairly unadulterated in a country rainfall area, be quite low in nitrates anyway? Our dogs drink rainwater 99% of the time, is why I query this. Also I would think that the levels of nitrates in "town" water supplies would have to be of a quite low level for human consumption. So would the exchange happening on such a minute (as in Ions) scale have any effect of the burning-ness of urine. Also in an ion exchange, something is exchanged for the nitrate ions?? What could that be?? Any boffins out there care to elaborate? :rolleyes: I dont even know if what Ive written is correct, so ML, it might be a good idea to wait for a "smart" person to confirm or kill my whole post... :D Rat.

Thanks...............ACV - It seems so bloody obvious now!! :rolleyes: :rolleyes: Your right Erny, the rocks are made up of minerals (not exactly chemicals though), but there was nothing in any significant levels that, to us, would seem to have any effect on dogs urine. But there must be some chemical reaction within the dogs system that makes it work, because for our dogs it did. Work that is. Whats the success rate with the ACV, and how much do you put in say 1 litre of water? Rat

There are no "chemicals" in Dog Rocks. I analysed them at work and they are just" Rocks" - nothing significant about whats in them from memory. I did this a few years ago, just looked for the report but I cant find it, sorry . The boss and I couldnt figure out how they worked, but they did for me when I was using them. What is AVC?? Rat

I would like to add my encounters of mouth licking to see what people make of this one! Our ridgy and kelpie play together quite well, but being a younger and larger dog Zola sometimes gets a bit carried away and Wandy will put her in her place. This usually involves a different bark and some growling. Sometimes Zola will stand up to her, other times theres no challenge and she settles down. THEN after this Wandy will go up to Zola and lick her mouth and all is okay in their doggy world . It makes me wonder if it is submissive behaviour, why is Wandy telling Zola off in the first place. Since Zola has been desexed she is challenging Wandy less (which is great!) in these situations, so it makes me wonder whether it is a submissive behaviour or not. Any thoughts?? Rat

Owwwww............that looked like it really hurt ness, you poor buggar!! Good videos though, thanks - now I know what the defferences are!! Rat

Okay settrlvr - for those of us who dont know you..............which pooch was it? The Shnauzer or the black Lab?? Agility sounds like fun too, but I may just start with one discipline first, see how that goes then move on..... What does Jumping involve?? Hmmm that just sounds like a dumb question, please dont tell me the answer is jumping Ptolomy - I see now that youre quite a regular in the K9 news :p Rat

After reading about titre testing and vaccinations late last year here on DOL I decided to follow it up with my vet. My ridgy girl started to develop allergies at about 12months old. Lots of gastro-intestinal upsets and itchy feet and chin. It drove me crazy - I couldnt put my finger on what it was that was upsetting her. After some blood tests the vet suggested that she had an allergy/intolerance to a protein of some sort. So we started her on an diet of RC vege-protein kibble. She was on this alone for about two months and didnt have the runs or vomit in this time. We then introduced lamb mince to her diet which she tolerated as well. Since then I reintroduced real veges, found a lamb based WA made kibble and she is going fairly well. I have also jsut recently introduced chicken again - wings, and this morning for the first time in a long time they had a chicken carcass for brekky!! Anyway - got a bit side tracked there :cool: , sorry.........After quizzing my vet about vaccinations, she was very agreeable to doing the titre test rather than vaccinating, agreeing that over vaccinating is a problem. (She is also a big believer in raw feeding, chinese herbs and bowen - ah, my dream vet!) The titres for Zola came back beautiful, 1:80 for both Parvo & Distemper, and 226 for adenovirus (whats this one again?) So I will be interested to see how she goes over the next few years with her allergies/intolerences. I will keep introducing different foods to her very slowly. At the moment she will only be on lamb and chicken. Next will be fish, then beef, then roo. Even though Wandy has shown no signs of anything, I will get her titres done next year rather than vaccinating. One thing that I would be interested in is what clubs, etc., think of titres rather than vaccs, and is it going to be allowable to show titre results instead of vacc cards when you join dog clubs? One club I went to here werent concerned about vaccinations - saying that holding their training on public grounds meant there could be anything there disease wise anyway, which kind of made sense to me. But what about State organisations that hold official comps?? Rat PS. Sorry if I dont come across as very articulate, but writing down my thoughts isnt one of my strong points

No worries Rubystar, the more people get advice the better. I just figured out what SFE meant and had a big giggle, my kelpie is so friendly she goes bananas when anyone comes close to her. Guess thats another thing to work on :cool: Rat

:cool: Ptolomy - definitely not up to that standard yet I dont think!! Although she is quite obedient - and very quick to respond to commands, she still doesnt see the point on heeling...............prob'ly because she lives on five acres, and Ive not really ever taught her. I would love to get up to K9 on the "wheneverth", but I dont have any weekends off this month. So I guess I should continue on with my weekly obedience club and training at home. I find it a bit difficult getting any info from anyone as its a very close knit club - a few people whove been there forever! I guess I'll just have to get over my woosiness and ASK! So at what point do people usually start to compete for titles, and what comes first? Sorry bout the dumbass questions, but all those names mean nothing to me at the moment. When I got my K9 news yesterday I had another look at all the titles gained in the back - most of them now make sense, but what on earth is a Gambler and Snooker Dog?????? I guess thats you in there with one of your dogs too, but havent they got the names round the wrong way? Thanks for the help by the way, makes it a bit easier! Rat

Goodbye beautiful Kelpie So sorry Shelley, what a gorgeous boy Fellow kelpie owner/adorer Rat ;)

Thanks!! I will get looking at all that in the morning - about to go out for a barbecue! Rat

This year I really hope to get into serious obedience training with my little kelpie girl. The showing with the ridgy didnt work out so I thought Id try something with the more agreeable kelpie My local dog club is affiliated with the state association, so thats a good start!? We have passed kindy class with a score of 85 about 18months ago but I havent done anything since. What I am wondering is this. Where can I find the rules, tests etc., for starting out and competing in obedience, and does my dog need to be registered if I want to do it "officially"? Im in WA, if that makes any difference! Thanks in advance DOLers Rat