Diva

Then... ...and now

;) (Sorry, couldn't resist the silly typo joke) I forgot about the Royal Canine version, if I had to go vego for the dogs I'd go with one like that from an established premium dog food company.

No, mostly they like to discuss with enthusiasm and commitment. And call people out when they claim expertise they don't really have or make contradictory statements. I kind of like all that, it's sometimes annoying but much better than the unthinking superficiality you get on a lot of forums. There's some of that here too, but you can never rely on everyone agreeing with you - which is great That's debatable too ;) When prey and predator have co-evolved I think the prey and other natural resources in the shared environment probably is the ideal diet. Dogs haven't 'evolved' in the same sense, given it's been controlled by man for the past couple of hundred years, but some of the animals my dogs were bred to hunt are feral species in Australia and I'd bet they'd go pretty close to an ideal diet if I could get the whole animal. Anyone working at it is doing better than those that don't probably. And don't worry, the supermarket food fans get a few comments when they post too - but mostly those posters say they can't afford more than that, and that draws more empathy and practical suggestions. I hope dogs can do well on vegetarian diets because some vegetarians are going to put them on one regardless, and I don't want those animals to suffer. But I'd be much more reassured by several 'thriving' generations to prove it works. Good luck with it.

That is a lovely book. Years ago I teaching one of my younger dogs to crawl. My old dog was sitting back watching, she was too old to bother with much by then. But on this occasion she must have gotten annoyed by how long the other dog was taking to learn the trick. I'd never taught her to crawl, but just from watching me teach him she suddenly sprung up from the bed, crawled over to me at speed, gave the other dog a triumphant look and went back to her bed. I nearly wet myself laughing.

High fat then? Mine have never had a lot - I try not to let them get any - but there is always that period when they are puppies and before the training kicks in when they manage to get past my guard and snaffle a couple. Never had any side effect except bad breath and a gagging owner, but then I don't think my breed is particularly prone to pancreatitis, I've never heard of one with it.

Good grief. Half the dogs on DOL would be on drips if cat faeces routinely did that to healthy dogs. It's rare that in a dog and (indoor) cat household the dogs haven't snaffled at least one 'cat truffle' in their lives.

Me too. I think agression is a normal part of the behavoural repetoire and it's whether its appropriately triggered and expressed that is the issue. But I wonder if I just use a different definition. I see a lot of behaviours in my dogs (and others) that to me are aggressive displays, but none actually involve fighting. They mostly involve communciation that sets boundaries without ever having to lay tooth on each other as far as I can see, and most are expressed, received and responded to in seconds. LOL, just went and read the heeling on the right side thread. Ignore my question, I'm asking about sublties and and a behavioural science def'n of aggression, and you guys are arguing a whole different ball game. Not one I ever want to play, either.

Excellent question.

Plenty of us prioritise making our dogs' diet as natural and species appropriate as we can, it's no joke to us.

As someone who was vegetarian for around 20 years, and still rarely eats meat at home, this is an issue I've thought about a bit. I don't think there is a satisfactory resolution between animal welfare belief system-based vegetarianism and keeping pets which need meat-based food. I don't think people who cannot compomise on such matters for the sake of the animals they choose to keep should keep dogs or cats. Just the compromise of using meat based kible and/or fish and eggs is enough, but if they can't go that far they shouldn't have dogs in my view. While dogs do eat other things I do believe that they are mostly evolved for a meat diet and will not thrive long term without animal based foods. Some vegos, of course, and primarily vegetarian for their own health reasons and I don't think the same conflict then arises. The same for those who are vego because of the impact of raising meat animals on the environment, because using feral species can address that. We can't assume everyone has the same motivation or conlfict.

I'm sure your friends don't lie to you anyway Staranais, let alone about this. Sometimes the mechanism and real causality is hard to pin down, and the best you can do is go with what works. Because mine are sometimes looked after by others they switch from a 90% raw diet to a kibble and/or cooked diet and back again. Apart from one losing weight when she goes off raw (and that could be fretting because I'm not there, not the diet) they cope fine. I have no qualms about a part good quality kibble part raw diet but would not be suprised if some dogs don't do well on it.

I think the theory comes from a similar non-mainstream theory in human nutrition, that I seem to remember had its hey day back in eighties. I don't subscribe to the theory for dogs or people.

Really wish I could do something, good luck. Must be very distressing to be there and not be able to help the little guy.

I think Staranais is a student vet and seems to be online now, maybe PM him urgently.

Did you read the post at all? No vets in reach.

I can't really suggest any home remedies as I rely on being within reach of a vet for anything serious. All I can suggest is pm'ing some of the DOLers who are qualified vets for advice, Charles Kuntz is one and Rappie is another. They are both very helpful people and as as you have no vet access where you are they may be able to advise. Poor pup, 5 inches deep sounds alot to me.

Sounds good. I must admit that if one of mine had done that to me at 14 months, I would have told it not to be stupid in a tone of great contempt, slipped a lead over its head and put it outside for a while to think about the isolation from the pack that was all the reward that acting out got it. Then I'd have instituted an NILIF program and taught a reliable 'off' command. That would be more than enough to resolve the issue with my lot. Not knowing your dog or you, I'd don't want to advise you to do what I do because your dog could be completely different to any of mine and the reaction you'd get to what I'd do could be completely different too. But its good you aren't going the hard and heavy approach, NILIF and TOT will most likely get you a long way down the track, unless more is going on than we can tell from your posts. Good luck. I look forward to hearing of your progress.

Yep. Appalling. RIP little one, you deserved better.

Ahh, that just goes to show you're a confident, kick-ass person. You DO rock

The vast majority of communcation between humans is non-verbal. Surely you don't think dogs have to be able to talk to communicate with us?

Now that's reality television! Seriously though, if I did to my dogs what Heidi is recommending they'd shut down on me. Or maybe tolerate it because I already have their trust and respect, but get terribly stressed and confused. My dogs have similarities to wolves. They are not wolves. (Their ancestors used to hunt wolves, and some of their breed still do, but that's another story). They don't think I am a wolf or dog. I do agree that clear communication is important, but those techniques would be an unmitigated recipe for disaster with my lot. As I understand it a lot of the entrenched beliefs about wolf packs are very dodgy anyway. Lots of the early observational work was done on reconsituted packs of unrelated adult wolves where behaviour is not typical of a stable pack. And there is a lot we still don't know. Anyone else hear the report of the recent study that showed that the breeding pair don't do the hunting? By the time they have the positon as the breeding couple apparently they are physically past their prime and leave the killing to the younger pack members. Maybe dragging the roo carcass home would be giving the wrong message after all.

With new sorts of offal I usually lightly fry it to make it more attractive. After a couple of goes like that my lot will happily take it raw. I think they need to get used to the texture as much as anything.

Well done.

Different dog on the packaging I wondered that so I checked their web site for the ingredients (OK, I admit I'm a pedant). The proportion of nutrients is actually different between the two, I'm sure the effect is completely irrelevant for one bag's worth and not even sure if it would make a material difference over a life time - but they are different.

If he were mine I'd start by teaching him to accept having his feet handled, then keep them trimmed myself. I have to do that for one of mine who has a heavy coat (not a GSD) and what I call 'pixie feet' - lots of long hair on them. The problem for her is not so much grass seeds but just that if they get wet they stay wet and she can start licking and irritating them. Now she has nice neat feet and just the rest of her looks like an old rug.