Sandra777

Can't beat Cleo I'm guessing - 3am Christmas Day Best of luck with whatever you decide.

No experience with a progressive condition, but I have had a dog which died on the vet's table within 5 minutes of being vaccinated. There is a LOT of information out there about reactions to vaccinations. My opinion - do NOT vaccinate him again. Get a vets certificate stating the reaction, get some facts together and submit it to the committee of the club (along with the news that 3 yearly "boosters" are now the accepted protocol), and offer to have him titre tested if this is insufficient for them. Failing that, I would find a more accomodating club.

Is she a healthy weight for her age and breed? Is she growing steadily, active healthy and NOT FAT. I don't feed dry but... What sort of dry food are you feeding? Generally people will say take what it says on the packet and subtract 1/3 or more, but that depends on the individual dog and on what "other stuff" are you adding. As for lunch, I would rearrange her meals and give her two bigger meals morning and night and a snack for lunch instead of a meal, but this is with smaller dogs than a Lab. What advice is in the breeder's diet sheet? Usually I say they'll loose interest in one meal, but with a Labrador that's hardly likely to happen any time soon

Some dogs are extremely vocal when they play and without actually seeing (hearing!) what he's doing it's hard to know what he actually means by it - b u t - if the trainers are experienced and aren't concerned then I would guess he is growling in play. How do you propose to "correct" him without correcting him for playing, correcting him for interacting with other pups and perhaps creating a phobia about other dogs??? I would find him some (perhaps) older, (definitely) bolder friends and if he is being rude they will soon tell him so. An adult bitch of stable temperament is usually ideal for teaching a pushy puppy their manners

Well that's just stupid cause anyone can see that's a lassie dog

No. I don't source organic products for myself or the dogs Dog DNA is 99.9% identical to Grey Wolf DNA I am told. Closer related than us and Chimps but not by much. Benefits - the dogs enjoy their meal times, the dogs enjoy the "challenge" of eating - environment enrichment, I know what the dogs are eating (be it beef, lamb, whatever) and what the food looked like before they ate it. When we had our own cattle & sheep I also knew how the animal had lived before it became dog food. The dogs have clean teeth. The dogs have small crumbly non-smelly poops that don't require a backhoe to remove them from the lawn I have used dicotameous (sp!!!) earth and neem oil. I don't any longer and don't use flea treatments unless there is actually a flea siting - but do use tick control as I don't want my dogs to die.... Puppies are wormed with veterinary products. Bitches prior to mating same. Everyone else doesn't get wormed unless there is actual proof of worms (faecal count). Bitches with a litter get wormed with pumpkin garlic & ginger. Puppy shots x 1 or x 2 depending on the time of year and other circumstances, 1 x booster at 12-14 months. Minimum vaccination used - Parvo, Distemper, Hepatitis. Lepto vaccination doesn't work well enough to bother with (I have had a vaccinated dog die of Lepto & another die within 5 minutes of being vaccinated), KC not an issue except with the very young or very frail and vaccination doesn't work well enough to bother with. Would like the option of vaccinating for coronavirus without the added extras. It made sense to me that dogs would get more enjoyment out of eating real food than pelletised rubbish. The dogs of my youth lived to a good age on butcher off cuts and table scraps.

Sorry, don't feed dry so can't help with this one. Feed what is reccomended on the bag and feed more or less if the pup gets too fat/thin would be the best bet. This applies throughout the dog's life - feed it what it needs to maintain a healthy weight - there is no magic number Yes, all the things you've mentioned. Plus cheese, table scraps, any sort of meat cooked or raw except bacon/ham/salami and similar processed meats. Basically anything can be added with the exception of onion, chocolate, cooked bones of any sort and highly spiced food. I wouldn't feed a puppy 1/2 a pizza either But you need to avoid adding so much "junk" food that you unbalance the diet IF you are feeding dry food as a staple. ETA: corn tends to go straight through dogs and never EVER give him corn on the cob or the 'empty' cob - not even as a toy. They're deadly. I don't 'do' vege but you can start feeding a pup some vegetables at any time - but again avoid feeding them so much vege that the dry food (IF this is the staple diet) gets pushed out. Avoid onion and any of the cabbage family (stink!). Cooked is fine, raw is fine. If raw, pulverise it (blender) as dogs can't digest the cellulose in the cell walls. Mine start eating raw beef, chicken, lamb, pork, roo, turkey & fish at 3.5 - 4 weeks. So any time. Cooked table scraps are fine so long as they don't include cooked bones, onion or strong spices and again, avoid making the left overs the main part of the diet. Real. Chicken carcases, chicken maryland, turkey necks, lamb necks - all great for puppies. Personally I won't feed brisket because I have had a dog choke and die when he managed to 1/2 swallow a brisket bone (and know other Staffords which have done the same) but for a puppy it would be fine - but perhaps too fatty for many. The weight bearing bones of large animals are not good for Staffords because they have enough jaw power to crunch the bone - and break teeth in the process. Plus because they can break pieces off they will swallow them, and that much bone all at once can cause impactions. A puppy probably wouldn't find them all that interesting. IMO bones with interesting corners and curves are better for puppies - neck bones, tail bones etc. No, not really. Depends on the line and the individual dog. As long as your puppy is active, not fat and growing at a steady rate it's probably OK. Generally speaking my pups are about an inch under their adult height at around 5 months, but every one is different!

If you see it you will know! At this age I would want his feet pointing straight ahead when he's interested in something & he's at "full attention" - many pups not being fed properly get a very strong turn out from the "knees" down - not something you can miss when it's present.

With a puppy I would be feeding up to 10% of it's current weight not 1.5% of it's "expected" adult weight but this is when feeding 100% raw - with processed food you do (obviously ) have to adjust the amount. It depends on what sort of food - 1/2 a cup of some would be way too much, and not enough of others. Does the pup look a good weight, is he active bright and growing steadily? Avoid getting him fat and watch his legs, if they start to turn out more than very slightly you've either got a hughly fat puppy or an imbalance. And just as an aside 17kg is at the UPPER end of the standard - certainly not "small".

If you mean the adult canines are inside the baby ones at gum level then this is normal and where they should be. Can some Pom person just confirm whether this is a normal age for teething for the breed? Seems quite old to me for a canines to be erupting. If it was my puppy I would be giving it lots of chewy things, but I'm not sure this is really applicable to a toy breed. Is her breeder local - can they recommend a Pom savvy vet?

I don't use dry food that much, but I would suspect you need to be looking at two different brands or two different formulas for two such different dogs. Not much in life is one size fits all Try brands that offer sample packs, a money back guarantee or small (affordable) bags and see what works. Record the label details and your dogs' reactions - if they have a problem with some specific ingredient you'll see a pattern emerging.

Ditch the mince altogether - dogs have teeth and IMO don't need mince. Chunks of meat on the bone if possible - whole chicken maryland, sheep/lamb heart fed whole, that sized thing. If you have a chicken outlet near you ask if they can source "broiler" chickens OR if they sell boxes of whole chickens cheap - often ones that get damaged during processing aren't pretty enough to sell whole to the public so are boxed up and sold for commercial use. Chop these in 1/2 or 1/3 for a meal. Liver is important. Does he like sardines? Chop the liver up small and mix with sardines or something he likes. Mix with egg sometimes works. Nuke it in the microwave for a couple of seconds (warning, it stinks!). Some dogs seem to hate the "slimy" texture. Can even mix it with cheap and smelly canned food to help him get the idea. Start with just a little bit. Veges I've never been much of a fan of, but if you want to do it start with one or two simple ones - a leafy green (not cabbage with a Bull Breed) and carrot, apple, pear etc. Whizz together in the blender/processor and mix with egg or sardine or a bit of mince - later this can be a good place to hide the liver. Quantity? For a start I would use 1/4 of an apple (or something that size) and and 1/2 a silverbeet leaf (do you call it silverbeet in Aussie? Green Kale? don't know!)

Another thing - when she feeds the dry food have a game with it. Take the dog outside somewhere there's a concrete path or driveway and throw each piece of kibble (no, they don't go far!) so the dog has to MOVE to get it's food. Make the dog come right back to you before you throw the next piece (even if this means only throwing every second piece). Takes a little bit of time but adds a reasonable amount of exercise. Treats of pieces of carrot or fruit won't do a lot of harm and will help with the starving dog eyes

Not sure I'd want to be bullying a dog with sharper teeth than me If you adopt an attitude that the food really isn't that important and what I've got is way more interesting than what you've got then most dogs don't seem to have a major issue with giving it up..............even if they are usually pretty greedy.

Miss B - I do think resource guarding is to a degree built in, in many cases it can be trained out of the dog but if you've got a dog with serious resource guarding issues hardwired into it then I would guess you have to start early and be really persistent, and also accept to a degree that you are never going to solve the problem, just manage it. Personally I have never had a dog that I couldn't take something off and I would not tolerate one, other people have different opinions obviously! I start with pups at the point of weaning though, they are fed from my hands for the first few meals, then fed from a dish I hold, then given food which I mess about with while they're eating. Perhaps this makes a difference? Mind you I've also had dogs I haven't raised which have been OK with giving things up so perhaps it's a matter of attitude

Ah OK - could be that he views chicken necks as "just food" now, and this new bone is worth guarding. Start from scratch with the swapping idea (not taking things away, take something and give something better) Give him a different sort of bone every night if it comes to that (assuming you have a freezer and a varied source of bones) and he may well quickly decide bones are bones are bones.

Ham isn't actually pork - it's cured pork. I wouldn't be feeding any dog of mine ham bones - or bacon bones for that matter. I would teach him the fine art of swapping for something better before giving him any more bones OR I would give him a bone in a confined area, say crate, playpen, gated off laundry and leave him strictly alone until he's finished. Many dogs view bones as high value items and a fair number of people are shocked by their dog's reaction.

I was giving her 500IU daily in her food (putting a hole in the capsules and squirting the liquid on her kibble) Probably made no difference but made me feel better Applied to the skin after a major hotspot kept the scarred skin very soft and hair grew back just about overnight. Different sceanario to demodex of course

Rubbing vitamin e cream into the area probably won't make the hair grow any faster, but it could help keep the skin in good condition and this may help recovery.

You'd be surprised what a dog can swallow if they "have to" Did he have a long time to chew it up or did he have to grab and gulp? Does he usually get food he has to chew? Quite honestly, the chicken sold for human consumption is usually so young that their bones aren't all that hard, even the long leg bones. How long ago did he eat it and how has he been since? From the few first hand reports I've heard from people who's dogs have had problems with bones, if it's going to pierce his stomach or do anything else so dire it's likely to do so within a fairly short time of him swallowing it. Once the stomach acid has started to work on it my understanding is that this risk goes down substantially.

How many and what sort (I mean, what part of the chook). Did he crunch them up or swallow them (mostly) whole. I would be inclined to give him a small meal of fish in oil or canned dog food, just 1/2 the normal amount he'd get. This will help move things along. The biggest danger would be that the bone becomes impacted in his bowel so he can't poop, which is what I suggested something to move everything on Make sure you see that he poops tomorrow and if he doesn't or refuses to eat or seems listless or does poop but with blood, then take him for a check up. If he's only had a few and chewed them up then you've got a really good chance of nothing going wrong.

x2 Get a new vet for sure. Unwell dogs should never be vaccinated! Sounds like kennel cough to me. Nope, not generally an issue except with very young puppies but as puggy puggy said, secondary infections can be fatal, especially with puppies. Good luck.

Two litters (hopefully) due....might sneak in to November. Gotta be mad!!!!! Re-try of China & Piikki due 28th; Mouse & Smokey due 30th Staffords.

Just perserve. Get some really exciting toys and only let him have them in the run. Continue to feed him in the run (all meals). Put him in the run when he's tired and absolutely ignore any protests.