The Spotted Devil

It might not be the whole solution, but the hair follicle type infections in Dals do tend to flare up following bathing, stress and hot/humid weather. The less I wash Zig the better his coat looks :rolleyes: Recently I bathed him, before 2 days at the pet expo (pretty full on so stressful) in awfully hot/humid conditions and it has not agreed with his skin at all. I have kept the skin dry, cleaned with warm salty water if necessary then blow dried before I applied a manuka honey based cream, which clears up the lumps and bumps overnight. The product is called Rescue Gel from http://www.livingnature.com Definitely avoid preservatives (and colours/flavours) like the plague - chicken mince is likely to be full of them unless otherwise specified. Most treats are full of rubbish too - I just feed cooked chicken, boiled egg, cheese, carrot etc. Feeding whole chicken frames/wings/maryland would be better than feeding mince but only as a short term option. I feed frames/wings/maryland every 2nd night and alternate with Artemis dry dog food, which I have found to suit Zig really well. If you want to feed a raw diet, you obviously need to adapt the diet for Dalmatians i.e. low purine, no organ meat etc.

PMSL - the Lagottos are cute but they're not particularly fast :rolleyes: ETA: The first one was so anxious

Loved the highlights package :rolleyes: OH lost interest in the footy all of a sudden when I showed him what I was watching

This is so cool :rolleyes: ETA: Zig's going nuts at all the barking

I actually do the opposite - on cold nights Ziggy is snuggled in his open crate in the laundry....thick D1000 bed plus a blanket, with a sheet/blanket draped over the top. In Summer, I set up his soft crate next to my bed as the laundry gets too hot and our room will get the air-con if it's on. There's usually a slight bit of confusion as the seasons change - he waits expectantly in the wrong crate for his biscuit-filled Kong, but he adapts very well No dogs on beds here.......that's a privilege reserved for the cats

Hi magicsmum! You need to pop into the Dally thread My questions are purely from a Dalmatian perspective......what sort of allergic reactions are you seeing? What sort of mince are you feeding i.e. pet grade? human grade? Freshly minced (in front of you)? Dals seem to be sensitive to preservatives and these are present in more foods than I care to think of, including human and pet grade mince unless otherwise specified. Do you know of anything your Dal is allergic to?

As we've got on to the topic of animal choices.....there is a fair bit of research trying to establish the use of animal choices in a controlled environment as indicators of animal welfare. Sounds simple, but it gets very complicated when the way the experiment is conducted (e.g. the length of time the animal has access to the choice) can affect the outcome. It's not clear cut but very, very interesting.

I thought large/giant breeds were more at risk, not less. I suspect Nekhbet meant they have a lesser risk of bloat IF they are fed 2 smaller meals :rolleyes:

Whatever I tell him to do I think he's got Easter and the following week off work - so he will probably sleep in with the cats over the w/e and we will go to some Comedy Festival gigs later in the week

Hey, I accidently ordered six 19 inch collars, from the US. All too short for my dogs. Reflecto collars have a highly reflective strip sewn between two layers of material. The inlaid design protects reflective material from wear and tear. Reflects up to 600 ft or more with 360 degree reflection. Perfect for airing at night. What size is Ziggy? They are black - reflective strip is orange. Free to good home!!! Sounds great for those pitch black early starts at the beach in Winter No idea what size he is but will check it out......definitely worth a bottle of vino. Do you still have visitors? Visitors, sure. On a bad note, 4 fires were recently lit by nut cases. Sure makes me edgy. Dogs are fine. Hey what are you doing for Easter. You can run Yo again. Staying at my parents in law country house, not far from the trial site. Gorgeous house.....that is.......if you like large old style country homes. No men allowed, us girls gotta have fun away. Friend from WA staying and competing and another from Victoria. Wine on the wrap around verandah - opposite a park for walkies - PERFECT!!!!!! That sounds awesome I'd love to run Yo again - we should tee up another training session soon (for me not him ) OH just said that it's a shame I don't like large old style country homes Problem is I won't want to leave! Stay safe LL. Bloody idiots should be strung up

Congratulations Magnus looks fantastic Zig had a look at flyball on Sunday as there was no agility. Fortunately I had already taught him a 'punch' command so it was pretty easy to transfer that to the back board. The trainers were (appropriately) being very careful so as not to frighten him but he just did not give two hoots about the noise etc. He was too smart and, when I asked him to 'get it' he ran around to the bucket of balls and started stealing them It will take a bit of work to build up his enthusiasm but we'll see how he goes

Good decision - I was going to leave Zig at home anyway, as he doesn't work in the heat, and just offer to steward.

That's fine laffi - thanks for organising it all

Hey, I accidently ordered six 19 inch collars, from the US. All too short for my dogs. Reflecto collars have a highly reflective strip sewn between two layers of material. The inlaid design protects reflective material from wear and tear. Reflects up to 600 ft or more with 360 degree reflection. Perfect for airing at night. What size is Ziggy? They are black - reflective strip is orange. Free to good home!!! Sounds great for those pitch black early starts at the beach in Winter ;) No idea what size he is but will check it out......definitely worth a bottle of vino. Do you still have visitors?

Um.....I'm looking for a matching collar and lead for obedience......any suggestions GayleK and LP? ;)

Clean Run Welcome to the dark side

Absolutely incorrect here LM. Remember I spent 3 days with captive wolves in America and with those who study and care for them each day and I will tell you that there is absoutely no way on God's green earth that you could compare these animals to our domestic dog. To do so is absolutely ludicrous. Whilst the interactions amonst each pack member were somewhat similar to what we see amongst our dogs (dog to dog), interactions between wolf and man is very different. There was much discussion about what would happen to you if you even raised your voice at them...all I can say is that it wouldn't be wise nor pretty. When they put the wolves on the lead to move them from the enclosures, they would hope and pray that the animal was in a cooperative mood that day. If that animal wanted to pull the handler to Kingdom come, it would and all the handler is able to do is let go of the lead and try to entice him back with a fresh piece of road kill. No e-collars here unless you wanted to end up dead. Captive or not, these are wild animals and are an extremely different animal to our domesticated dog who have gone through thousands of years of domestication and selective breeding. The comparison, unfortunately, is null and void. Very interesting Kelpie-i....I know someone in the UK who is a volunteer with wolf conservation and works closely with the animals and he would say exactly the same thing, in terms of both behaviour and diet (to open another can of worms )

The Artemis Maximal for cats is fantastic IMO - the girls are on a half raw/half commercial diet. Since starting them on the Artemis, they seem to be much more satisfied, probably a result of the higher protein levels. They are not as ravenous as usual although their food is still gobbled up quick smart. Miss Brontë eats anything so no problem with transferring over but Lilly took a little longer as she is not big on anything new and has to be introduced slowly. Zig is not on the grain-free Artemis (too high in protein) but he is doing well on the regular Artemis Adult - his faeces were soft when eating Eagle Pack and it's probably taken a month of feeding Artemis to notice a very dramatic change in that department. Ziggy eats pretty much anything so whether he likes it or not is neither here nor there

When a business gives you great service, it's nice to be able to plug it Previously I've ordered one big bag of Artemis for Zig via K9 + Katz Kitchen using PayPal and was very impressed with the prompt delivery. Over the weekend I tried to order some Artemis for the cats (we were nearly out), worming products etc but PayPal wasn't working. I eventually gave up and had forgotten to try again this morning. A knock at the door an hour ago and there is the K9 delivery man with my order He said they had noticed we had tried to order several times but PayPal wouldn't work and we could try again or use their direct deposit option (which I just did). Then he asked if I was happy with how Zig was doing on the Artemis and whether I'd noticed a difference feeding the cats the grain-free product (which I had). Great service and happy to recommend them to others

Either that or I can buy something else instead :rolleyes: Shame though - they made it sound great on the cover

Ah thanks ness....

don't tell me that! :rolleyes: I'm going to get this LP - we could do a swap......

Thank you oh wise CR addict I had my eye on the first and third jackpot toys so that's great - now to make a decision.... The book and the mag do look good for both Zig and me.....should I get both? I had to create an account just so I could keep up with my wish list

So many choices! Anyone got an experience with the jackpot tug toys? Bloody LP's fault Does anyone have this book...Learning Games...looks like a heap of fun Oh, and this one looks good too....Clean Run Special Focus Issue

A vet I know said she wouldn't own a Dalmatian in a pink fit! When I asked why, she replied: "I don't want to live with a dog that is smarter than I am"