Sandra777

Agree with Persephone, sounds like half his problem is he's picking up your anxiety. Have you tried nutrigel? Great appetite stimulant and totally non-stressful to smear a tiny amount on a toy for him to lick off. What happens if you try using training treats? Will he take them? Easy enough to use pieces of cheese or cooked meat even if you are doing nothing more than rewarding him for looking cute.. have you tried feeding him somewhere totally different...I'm thinking *really * different like in the car in the carpark of the local dog park. Ok not a long term solution but you need to break the cycle of not eating so some times this needs way outside the square answers lol Yes it is a shame your vet didn't get you to start a food diary when this all started - but start one now and see what shows up.. Basic advice would be offer one sort of food for each meal and RELAX.

Unfortunately its not a myth.What people won't accept (and just watch the flak I cop for posting this) is that Puppy Mills exist to feed demand. You've got "Registered Breeders" who produce a litter every two years, subject prospective owners to inquisitions and onerous conditions, then bemoan that people buy fluffy crossbreeds from pets stores. At the end of the day, breeders can be as selective and exclusive as they want, but if the annual demand for puppies is X, and reputable breeders only produce Y, then X-Y must come from other sources. Of course you can sit back and say that puppy buyers should be better educated, and that half of them probably shouldn't be buying puppies, but the reality is what it is. Government regulation will only work if it is broad enough, and well resourced enough, to capture everybody. Conceptually its simple. ANYBODY that wants to breed puppies for sale, must be registered and regulated, and subject to a code of practice and monitoring. It wouldn't eliminate all undesirable practices, but proper veterinary care could be enforced, and overbreeding reduced. Requiring brood bitches to be registered and vet certified could also help. The problem, as always with any dog legislation, is WHO is responsible for enforcing it, and who will PAY for it. Agree with everything you say but the half that shouldn't be buying a puppy wouldn't be getting one off me (or any other ethical breeder I know of) so they don't count in the equation of X-Y (:)) At lot of responsible ethical breeders have been scared in to breeding less for fear of being labelled as farmers. Honestly, I'd rather the ethical ones bred 50 more litters a year and the BYB/PF bred 150 less. The AR crazies have done far more damage to the responsible breeding of dogs than many will see.

It's meant to be food - how can it possibly be nutrious and healthy if it is a few years old. Ditch it!

Speaking to the prospective owner's vet is pretty much standard for me. Photos, think that's a bit odd since as you say it could be photos of anything.

Totally agree, especially the bolded bit :) My first dog was a Stafford, when I was high-school-aged. He was MY dog, MY responsibility. How many times do we have to say it's not the breed it's the owner?

Aust to NZ is very expensive as the pup needs to have blood tests (about $250) whereas NZ to Aust is much cheaper. Less than $1000 for an adult bitch NZ to Aust, more than $1600 for her puppy to go back. This was without the GST nonsense which as Discodobe says, depends on who's on the counter. Dobes would probably be easier to come by in NZ than over here - she may need to be a bit more patient :)

Rotting tooth, something stuck in his mouth,tonsillitis or eating poop would be the best 4 guesses. Something seriously wrong with his stomach would be next but I think you'd see other signs if it was that bad. Time for another vet visit imo

Probably not a turkey neck but it will give him a good workout ripping and chewing the meat and tendons off it. A chicken wing - pretty sure he'd be fine, perhaps you'd need to give it a bash to crush the bigger bone or perhaps you'd want to just cut that one out and leave the skin and meat. Certainly better 'exercise' for him than swallowing a chicken neck whole anyway :laugh:

Instead of holding a chicken neck - you could switch to chicken wings or turkey necks (maybe half or quarter of the turkey neck, they're HUGE!)

Put HER in a crate or behind a closed door so if she wants to eat slowly she can and he can finish and run around as much as he likes but it won't gain him anything. Good luck teaching him to slow down, I assume you're feeding dry food or something that doesn't require chewing? How about giving him something that he needs to chew?

Had stable doors like this in a house years ago - it was great. Back to a baby gate now, which a couple of the dogs know how to open, cheeky sods! We don't have it so tight that you have to use the latch on top in case someone thinks our dogs have grown opposable thumbs LOL EFS

Staffordshire Bull Terrier vs American Staffordshire Terrier. Amstaffs are more placid, Staffords are more 'terrier' seems to be a commonly quoted difference. Of course this is a generalisation which depends on both pedigree and individual dogs. Some say Amstaffs are dumber than Staffords but again this is a generalisation lol Despite the similarity in names the two breeds are actually not all that closely related and are not varieties of the same breed. They have no common ancestors for over 80 years which is a long time in dog breed terms :-) Physically they are quite different, Amstaffs are pretty much rectangular while Staffords are much squarer. Their heads are quite different and the most obvious difference is size. Amstaffs are not meant to be white or mostly white, Staffords are perfectly acceptable in white.

At 13 years old I'm not sure I'd been randomly giving him chemicals without a bit more knowledge :) Does he actually HAVE worms?

You've probably got it sorted now, but the only time I needed a bottle in the middle of the night (so no options to go get a different nipple) I cut two or three tiny holes with a scalpel so instead of a hole it was a tiny cut (only a couple of mm long).

Giving probiotics while on antibiotics won't help all that much as the abs will kill off the probiotics - it's more important to give probiotics for a week or so after the course of abs is finished.

Wow - two weeks old and they're show QUALITY. You are a very brave person making that claim!

Double post

You probably need to find out what if any chemicals the wood has been treated with and don't assume that because it's a dog kennel this means the manufacturer would have taken any care not to use harmful treated timber.

Heard of a few having problems with drontal recently. Hope you pup is OK this morning.

Which brings us in a complete circle - just because something costs $200 for 5kg doesn't mean it's better for any specific dog than something much cheaper. PROFESSIONAL breeder? ummm where exactly is your puppy coming from?

And personally I don't consider many of the "top of the range" food suitable for my dogs - which is why it's impossible to be pedantic about the "best" food :laugh: I have a friend to insists Science Diet is the absolute best food and will pretty much rip your head off if you suggest otherwise - despite the fact one of their dogs is constantly itching and looks awful. No point arguing with them though.

Could be - but I would hope you're not buying a puppy off one of them! If you have ANY doubts that the pup is coming from someone who puts money above the welfare of their dogs, stop the purchase now. Otherwise - what the breeder recommends is the ONLY way to go for the first 2-3 weeks, until the pup's perfectly settled in your home. Only them have a good hard look at the pup - is s/he healthy, growing well, no skin issues, no poop issues? If everything is fine then no reason to change. The best food for any dog is the food it does best on. Royal Canin is widely regarded as a premium food - made one of mine horribly sick and another refused to touch it. Black Hawk is widely regarded as a premium food - made all of mine podgy and smelly. I feed Bonnie Working - widely regarded as a cr@p food. Raise pups on it, my adults get it - they are all sleeky, muscled and 100% allergy and itch free. Personally I would recommend Nutro or raw.

:laugh: same here. I was going to reply "not twice" Mine do a fine line in crow-catching too

No. Not unless a fecal exam suggests it's a good idea. My adults get wormed virtually never - the pups do get wormed regularly + mum when she's with the pups. Roundworms are the biggy here. Only if a dog has regular access to wild animal droppings does it become a real issue. Normal suburban dogs are at much less risk than the TV adverts would have you believe Depends on where you live. Google the life-cycle of heartworm. One of the basics is the temp has to CONSTANTLY be over 14 degrees for a very specific period of time, so in winter probably no - however if your not going to treat in winter you need to think about the need to testing before starting again in summer. Google is you friend.