The Spotted Devil

Katty23, I just wanted to wish you all the best......hope you sort something out and also keep us updated with your progress

What did you think you where going to get when you got Ziggy? I just figured he'd come trained already....you know, like the ones in the movie? :D

Yep that was her and her brother Donald. I ended up keeping them both. They are almost 14 months now. Kept them both - LOL - I don't know how you find the time! They were such gorgeous snuggly little babies though

I use the same approach as PF mentioned above - lots and lots of socialisation/car trips/walks to the shops - I've got an incredibly well adjusted young dog....still a bit mad though As for walk length, at 14 months of age, most of Zig's exercise involves a 20 minute free run at the beach every few days. His walks (perhaps a couple a week) are around 10-20 minutes....they are for learning and mental stimulation rather than physical exercise. At the moment he is getting no walks and just his beach runs as I've had minor back surgery and OH is away. Lots of clicker training in place of the walks has worked wonders He's fast asleep next to my bed!

:p :p She's brilliant Phillipa I was so hoping you'd have some photos of your super-pug! You should post this is in the Dally thread too. Go Daisy I just had a thought....was she the little baby that was around when I visited the 'H' Litter? (i.e. Ziggy )

As Far As I Know

How awful for you and your dog With regards to the food - how is your dog doing on Hills I/D? Some dogs do very, very well on some diets when others don't. I don't know much about the dog version but have seen cats fed successfully on solely I/D wet/dry for many years as they don't tolerate much else. It might be worth asking your vet what it is about the I/D that benefits your dog and go from there. So, is it the % protein? The type of protein? I hope that makes sense...I'm loathe to give you a diet suggestion for what is clearly a complex medical condition. Perhaps the suggestion to consult a holistic vet is a good idea

JulesP: I think you've just hit the nail on the head! I just take my pup everywhere I can (within reason) - provides them with all the socialisation they need plus it tires them out mentally. One other thing I found with my pup is that he had no idea when he'd had enough.....would run and play all day if given the opportunity, getting more hyper and silly as he progressed. I'd see puppies his age sleeping peacefully under their owner's feet while he was bouncing around like a loon.....he just couldn't pace himself or relax!

As above Guide Dog puppy raisers often inform the vet that their bright, healthy puppy keeps getting intermittent soft poos. The first thing the vet asks is if they have resident possums.....and possum droppings in their yard. 9 times out of 10 the answer is "Yes" No cure unfortunately although maybe some breath freshener mightn't go astray :p

LOL - so you're either a meanie who makes their puppy walk or a nutty dog lady who carries it :p There is so much confusing information out there, although mostly it comes down to common sense. I admit I was fairly cautious with Zig - carried him everywhere (plenty of car trips, socialising, outdoor cafe lunches, trips to the vet just for a cuddle/treat) until after all his vaccinations should have been active. Our first walk out the front gate was so scary for him - he was this super confident puppy until his paw crossed the starting line....I ended up doing 5 or 6 (1 minute!) adventures out the front gate with him every day until he started to relax. He was one of those puppies that was absolutely OTT when he was awake but needed a LOT of sleep to balance it out (still the same at 14 months). Even now, I use walks for learning rather than exercise per se....relaxed loose lead walking, learning when sniffing and leg lifting is allowed (park/laneway vs letterboxes/shop fronts), meeting (and ignoring) strange dogs tied up at the shops or barking madly behind fences, being calm when meeting kids/adults etc. 10-15 minutes of this is hard work (for both of us ) and he usually passes out when we arrive home. I prefer to take him to the beach early in the morning for a free run to burn up that excess energy. Ziggy is an inside dog nearly exclusively - our yard is quite small and not at all suited to zoomies :D ETA: If I had the chance I wouldn't change a thing....Zig is super confident and nothing much phases him....loves dogs (a little too much but I'm working on that), people and activity and is more than comfortable with novelty and loud nosies (fireworks, thunder).

Absolutely That site looks like a lot of scaremongering to me. greatdanes - if you feed your Dane pup a diet like that which you posted in the BARF thread recently, that much raw meat with no bone will cause a growing pup (esp. such a large one) a lot of grief due to the high phosphorus/low calcium levels. You can't just randomly add a calcium supplement either because too much is as bad as too little. There is nothing wrong with feeding a premium quality dry food (e.g. Eagle Pack large breed - there are others too) if you can't be bothered fully researching a complete BARF diet - it's more than just making up a recipe...you have to understand what and why you are doing it. There's a wealth of information on DOL and some very knowledgeable people ;)

Adult dogs can tolerate minor deficiencies quite well but animals in a 'growth' phase such as puppies/pregnant (esp. 3rd trimester) or lactating bitches/performance dogs can't as easily. Of course these dogs in the wild have to cope with all sorts of conditions/food availability but they were probably a lot tougher (think survival of the fittest), had the most suitable conformation for development and didn't live as long. The way I feed my pup now not only determines his development into a mature adult but also the incidence of arthritis etc in his twilight years. That's the way I look at it anyway ETA: greatdanes - are you feeding the diet you posted above to your great dane puppy? If so I would have serious concerns for his bone development due to the P:Ca imbalance - sorry if this sounds impertinent but I truly only have the best interests of your pup at heart

Nice work Sharpie Now you'll have to keep that brain of his occupied doing things YOU want If you want to have some fun, take a look at the "Tricks" section at the top of this forum.....I really love doing clicker training and have recently taught my young lad to "touch" with his nose and "punch" with his paw. Loads of fun and boy, does it tire him out

I'm happy to be corrected if I've missed something in the BARF diet but raw chunks of meat would result in a phosphorus-calcium imbalance....which is why raw, meaty bones are used instead. As I said....maybe I've missed something

One approach would be to teach the pup an alternative behaviour. Off the top of my head......either have the dog sit to receive any attention whatsoever (a dog that is sitting can't jump!) or you could teach the pup to rest his head on a person's arm or in their lap when they are sitting down. I would probably use clicker training myself as I get really rapid results with my Dally. You can sit quietly and the second pup offers the appropriate response you can "click and treat" or give a verbal reward marker if you prefer. Good luck

I'm with you - wouldn't bathe a cat in a hydrobath unless they were really used to it (some cats don't mind being washed). Had a huge, young, slightly fractious Maine Coon boy in the vet clinic once that managed to cover himself with faeces from head to tail - very yucky, but as the mad cat lady I volunteered to wash him. Just used a gentle, warm running water from the bath hose to rinse the worst of it off, then sat him on towels to shampoo him (tried to make it fun by massaging him in the process), then a quick but thorough rinse off again. If it's just some gunk stuck in the fur I prefer to use a bowl of water and a dampened cloth to get it off. Can I ask why they want him bathed? I don't even bath my cats before a show

My young Dally has a thing for Sorbolene Cream I use it as a body mosituriser and the little rascal stands there, just about drooling while I put it on my legs. Then he dashes in for a couple of licks before I have a chance to tell him to "Leave!" :cool:

Think of it this way....you walk into a lift every day to go to your office and press "Level 2". Every time you do this the doors shut, the lift moves up, stops at Level 2, the doors open and you get out. One day, you walk into the lift, press "Level 2" and nothing happens. You press "Level 2" again. And again. You press it harder. You swear. You really whack the button. Still nothing happens. Eventually you give up and walk out of the lift and take the stairs It's the process of extinction - not reinforcing a previously reinforced behaviour. Your dog is so used to getting the same response that a sudden change makes him try harder and harder to get your attention. Stick with it, be persistent and be 100% consistent. If you give in now you will actually reinforce the behaviour more strongly than before (due to a process called variable schedules of reinforcement).

Taurine is present in raw meat and dogs can synthesise their own so I wouldn't get too hung up on it sourcing it from heart muscle. It is an amino acid and not an enzyme in itself.

My young lad has mastered the look of "pathos" He was just "banished" to his crate for giving the cats a hard time and is having a good old "sulk" Hard luck, I say.......don't behave like a git and I won't be the big meanie!

They've saved my fingers many a time when working in vet clinics - I remember wrapping it around the muzzle and then tying it at the back of the head (does that make sense?). I hate it that those dogs must be so bloomin' freaked out (for whatever reason) that they feel the need to bite.

My pup is having yet another growth spurt I've upped his biscuits by 3/4 cup as he looks half starved all of a sudden, he sleeps most of the day and spends the rest of it looking pathetic and yawning. Talented lad As I'm a bit restricted following some minor surgery we have been doing some extra clicker training. He has learned to touch my hand or anything else (book, CD, wallet, phone, envelope) with his nose or whack it with is paw.....I'm quite impressed by his ability to generalise the command to pretty much anything with very little training!

Must have been scary I wouldn't worry about your dog's watchdog skills to be honest. If your pup was nowhere to be found she may well have been frightened! My entire male Dally pup didn't even bark until he was 6 months old.....and nearly scared himself witless in the process He's now 14 months and will give me a warning bark if someone comes to the front door.....or climbs the neighbour's fence as happened recently! At 6 months there is so much for a puppy to learn and experience. You can reinforce appropriate behaviour, however...when my boy barks at a strange sound I tell him "Good boy!". Then I either call him to me (lots of praise) or simply ask him to "Steady" which he already knows means "Settle down and stop being a git" I had a wonderful ACD - great with kids, people etc....sweetest dog that never growled in her life. Someone broke into my house one night and into my bedroom when I was asleep Luckily for me, Dolly was sleeping on my bed and I woke up to see this figure in the doorway and my dog lying in front of me just about going rabid with fury at the intruder. She wouldn't let any strangers near me for a good 2 weeks afterwards - forever grateful and her response was as natural as breathing

The Dally Club of Vic is currently organising a date with the VCA for their endurance test - looks like being June but I will try to remember to update the thread if I hear something more specific. No word on venue yet

Antibiotics (and appropriate withholding periods...similar idea for milk products) are permitted so that part of his advertising is appropriate - a number of butchers advertise hormone free chicken....it's true so it's not false advertising but it really comes down to clever marketing.