Diva

LOL, I feed ox tongue sometimes, but I have to be feeling strong! Of all the things I feed, that's the one where its look completely grosses me out

It's a great routine. I had the privilege of watching the freestyle routines at the World Show last year, amazing feats of training

Hey that is my excuse! That and the fact that I never learnt to ride a bike. I was thinking about running the ET, but dodgy knees don't like that much either

I love it, most people complain about the jumping up, you decide it's time to get another one which will

I agree entirely, there is a risk and you need to know what's appropriate for your dog/s, which seems to me to be about both the size of the dog and their feeding style. Some are just gulpers and bones need to be big for their own protection. Mine tend to tackle any meal like they are doing a Rubric's cube, it's a very careful, systematic process - and I still keep and eye on them and pick up any leftovers, of which there are usually none for the softer bones and carcasses.

LOL. I do. Rabbits and chickens.

Me too. I've heard plenty of vets recommend dry before but they still suggested adding a suitable bone from time to time for teeth. This fellow made it sound like any bones at all were a recipe for certain destruction.

No, it was a local Canberra vet. He usually sounds OK so this took me by suprise. I understand there are risks, but I prefer the pros and cons to be explained about any diet when talking to the general public, not the 'the profession has now decided the only way is this way..' approach. After all, dogs were eating bones long before the vet profession existed.

Ahh now you are talking, you can't be a 'speshul' dog trainer without your own mysterious-sounding lingo. You also need an acronym, maybe Dog Orientation Opportunistically Facilitating Unusual Scenes? The DOOFUS exercise for short. I'm not a professional (not hard to tell!) but I was spectacularly tripped up a few weeks ago by my pup deciding she just had to pounce on a dead leave blowing along in front of me - and lots of people watching that one!

the celebrity Dr Jack on 3AW was talking a while ago about how it is fine to feed cooked bones. He actually repeated it several times as he said a lot of people wouldn't agree. Maybe things were a bit slow at his surgery that week! annieK No wonder people find it confusing

The local vet who goes on the radio here was telling people on ABC talkback that feeding any bones at all was now considered a recipe for disaster, he recommend no bones in the diet, much better to clean your dogs teeth or have a vet do it. I nearly choked on my b'fast cereal. I had cause to attend his clinic for something as it's 5 minutes from me, but saw another vet. I deliberately mentioned that I mostly feed a raw foods diet with lots of meaty bones and a little BARF, wanting to hear the reaction. She said that's fine her only concern was that meat raised by modern production methods didn't have the nutritional content it used to(which is true by the way) and I should make sure the diet included access to enough trace elements. No mention of bones being bad. So much for the radio advice!

When my 9 week old pup arrived from the breeder (yes, a registered breeder) with fleas I had to use Advantage to get rid of them. The pup came to no harm from the treatment and was much more comfortable once they were gone. Like you I would much rather not have used a chemical treatment but couldn't risk them spreading to the yard or my other pets, never had fleas here before. Best to hit them hard and be done with it.

Pics to prove it or it's not true! Borzoi. 'nuff said! Second most beautiful dogs in the world after Salukis. Yep, that's fair! They think they are the most beautiful, but then humility is not one of their virtues. Better not let the affies hear you say that though.

Good luck, poor pup!

They get what they need. Basic rules regarding acceptable behaviour are in common, but they get handling that is appropriate to their own nature, level of training and age. And they all get the occassional treat or pat just for being beautiful as well - doesn't mean they don't have to work for it when I ask, which is frequently, just that spontaneous displays of appreciation are all the go in our house, for all members!

You should also be aware that raw fed dogs may typically have a slightly higher normal blood urea and red blood cell count than cereal-based kibble fed dogs. Below is an excerpt from an article I have by Jean Dodds. You may be able to find it by google but I don't have a link. I bolded the last sentence, not the author. 'Raw Food Diet Study: In collaboration with Dr. Susan Wynn, we investigated the basic clinical laboratory parameters of 256 healthy adult dogs of varying ages and breed types being fed raw food diets for at least 9 months. The same laboratory (Antech Diagnostics) analyzed the samples from 227 of the dogs. From this group, there were 87 dogs fed the classical BARF diet of Dr. Ian Billinghurst, 46 dogs were fed the Volhard diet of Wendy Volhard, and the remaining 94 dogs were fed other types of custom raw diets. There were 69 dog breeds represented, including 233 purebreds, 16 crossbreds, 1 mixed breed and 6 of unknown breed type. The predominant breeds represented included: 28 Labrador Retrievers, 21 Golden Retrievers and 21 German Shepherd Dogs, 10 Whippets, 8 Shetland Sheepdogs and 8 Bernese Mountain Dogs, 6 Rottweilers, 6 Border Collies, 6 Doberman Pinschers, and 6 German Pinschers, and 5 Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, 5 Australian Shepherds, 5 Borzoi, and 5 Great Danes. Most of the dogs were neutered males (73) or spayed females (85), whereas there were 31 intact males and 32 intact females. Another 6 dogs were of unknown sex. The mean age of the group was 5.67 ± 3.52 years (mean ± SD); and the mean length of time fed a raw food diet was 2.84 ± 2.54 years. The data from this group of dogs were compared to the same laboratory parameters measured at Antech Diagnostics from 75 healthy adult dogs fed a commercial cereal-based kibbled diet. Preliminary statistical comparisons of results for the raw and cereal-based diets found them to be essentially the same with the following notable exceptions: • Higher packed cell volume (hematocrit) in all raw diet fed groups (range of 51.0 ± 6.6 – 53.5 ± 5.6 %) versus cereal-based kibble (47.6 ± 6.1 %). • Higher blood urea nitrogen (BUN) in all raw diet fed groups (range of 18.8 ± 6.9 – 22.0 ± 8.7 mg/dL) versus cereal-based kibble (15.5 ± 4.7 mg/dL). • Higher serum creatinine in the Volhard raw diet group only (1.20 ± 0.34 mg/dL) versus cereal-based kibble (1.07 ± 0.28 mg/dL). While a more detailed analysis of other parameters has yet to be completed, initial results indicate that dogs fed raw meats (natural carnivores) have higher red blood cell and blood urea nitrogen levels than dogs fed cereal-based food (obligate omnivores). Thus, the normal reference values for dogs fed raw food diets should probably be revised.'

For that price difference it will be worth a drive to Bungendore to fill the freezer!

But wouldn't your 'local organic butcher' be farming these rabbits in the same way that others would farm rabbits? Elsewise, how can they know what the rabbits are raised on? I'm not seeing the difference between the two (ie farming/not farming) in your instance. They are wild rabbits. Lived wild. Hunted, not farmed. Presumably they know what they ate because of the properties they came off. The organic is much less important to me than the wild, and cleared for human consumption, aspects. It's just that it's the organic butchers, 2 I know of in Canberra, that seem to carry them. Carcasses look quite different to farmed rabbits. Edited to add - if I knew any hunters capable of recognising diseased rabbits I'd happily get them from them - but my social circle is outstandingly deficient in hunters of any sort.

If you want to feed rodent, feed bunny!! My dogs love it. Rabbits are not rodents! Agree, rabbits are certainly not rodents! Close your ears to this LucyCharzie and other rabbit lovers. I often feed wild rabbit to my dogs, sourced from a local organic butcher and sold for human consumption. Costs a fortune, it's totally ridiculous to spend that much - but they love them and it seems a very species (and breed) appropriate diet to me, with the added benefit of making use of a feral species who hopefully led a very natural life until an, equally hopefully, quick end. I avoid the farmed bunnies, plenty of farm raised meat to get instead, not so much wild raised. I wouldn't feed rats or mice to mine, not something I'd be comfortable with as a food source.

I haven't read all the posts in detail so I hope I'm not off topic. But as dog owner in the eighties and early nineties my idea of 'socialisation', or rather the objective of it, always was 'neutralisation' as I understand it to mean. I was naively shocked, for example, when in the late nineties I joined the local dog club, and suddenly other trainers and handlers were wanting to feed my dogs treats. In my previous training experience, the good things came from me, not strangers and not the environment without my permission (to the extent environmental reinforcement was under my control, which it isn't entirely of course). I would address a dog's negative value for someone or something with positve reinforcement if appropriate, but didn't expect or want a strong reinforcement history associated with strangers or strange dogs in general. Still don't. Edited to clarify: I'm talking about pet dogs mostly.

I don't think so. But they can get quite upset if you suggest to them that their selfless love for their children is just a biological imperative I'd agree, but I tend to avoid using the 'drive' terminology myself because I not familiar enough with it's nuances. I just think of drives as just hardwired motivations.

If she is that clean she may be howling to get out for a wee, does she start at about the same time each night? If so can you set an alarm for a time before that so you can take her out before she has to ask? I usually agree with not letting them out while making a noise to avoid reinforcing that behaviour, but it would be unfortunate if she is trying to tell you she needs to go.

Just thinking aloud, but I have certainly had dogs for which my praise was a high value reinforcer, higher than food or play. And I taught those dogs to retrieve on cue, even though they had no inherent interest in retrieving. They obeyed commands to get the praise, which in effect meant to please me. But pleasing me is just another form of self serving behaviour at its core, as I control access to resources, and it's beneficial to be in with the boss, so to speak. In these instances I have taught the dogs what pleases me and built up a reinforcment history. Behaviours which build social bonds may well be inherently reinforcing anyway, given their evolutionary benefit? But I just think of that as another type of R+, not a desire to make me a happy person for my own sake.

It can be hard to adjust to a youngster when you have been used to an older dog, but she sounds like she has lots of potential.

This would have been my suggestion too, lack of security and anxiety, certainly not revenge. She isn't feeling secure enough, or doesn't have the robust nature, to handle your displeasure.