Diva

Stormie, are they benign or malignant tumours you are talking about? Either way I must be 'winning the lotto level ' lucky, given all of mine who never had it and died entire, but I am interested what sort the stats are for. Eduted: just did some googling and came up with a 25% risk after four years of age for entire bitches getting any sort, benign or malignant, with some breeds more prone than others. That fits much more with my experience. Obesity is listed as a risk factor, which might explain part of my girls' luck so far.

I have never had pyro or mammary cancers in my entire girls, the only one who got a mammary tumour was desexed as a young adult. I am very alert for signs of pyro, especially in the higher risk period after a season. I am not particular concerned about mammary tumours, I have my hands on the dogs so frequently I pick up any lump or change very early. The risk of pyro to me the most compelling reason by far for desexing. I still choose not to though.

Thanks. That sounds like the value for external use, rather than ingested. I have only really heard of it for external application, I think I find its presence in food a bit concerning. But I guess they know what they are doing.

What is the nutritional value of emu oil?

My personal experience is that the expression of prey drive can be very discriminating. I know other people don't find it so, but I have always Borzoi and have never had a problem with mine relating to other dogs, even small fluffy dogs, as prey. Once they knew it was a dog they related to it as a dog, some might be too rough in play for littlies but they know they aren't for hunting. For other species my general rule of thumb is that I need to teach them as puppies about any prey animal I don't want them to chase as adults, and if they see a potential prey animal for the first time as an adult and it runs - I have to be ready to interrupt their response as they may well give chase and maybe catch, although the chase seems to be the part they want more than the catching. Interestingly those of mine who most wanted to chase weren't necessarily those who were most likely to catch, my most prey driven would wait until they had a real chance of catching before making the effort to run at all. High prey drive didn't make them any less safe with people either. There was no transference at all.

run free Charlie

Mine pick up the bowls and take them where they want to eat that day, and then lift the food out before eating. It is a pain if they spill it on the way to wherever.

But one of its elbows is almost touching the ground. what you call an elbow must be different to what I call an elbow. Probably, but this is what I mean. OK, I call that the hock joint, or just the hock. The elbow is on the front leg, below the chest. Hence my confusion :laugh: dog anatomy

Mine is broken. Would love a spare that I can take to dog shows though if you know where to get them.... I think they should be for hire at the gate. Either a hubby or a golf cart.

But one of its elbows is almost touching the ground. what you call an elbow must be different to what I call an elbow.

Rose coloured glasses

I am sure most people will think the diet is fine. But for me and mine, it has too much bone, too much fat (depending on the mince fat %) and not enough red meat.

You could try the natural pet food store online, as above. I haven't seen it in store.

Depends what you mean by 'jog' and 'run'. Show dogs don't gallop in the ring, if they did I doubt there would be a show ring big enough for my breed, and certainly no handlers who could keep up! They trot. I cannot run as fast as my dogs can trot though, so don't assume it's a slow pace necessarily. Depends on the breed and the current fashion as to speed, often faults show better at a slow pace so they are moved out quicker to look flashier. I don't have GSDs and am not going anywhere that debate, just talking generally. I don't like a lot of those photos though, have seen much nicer show shots.

Generally the smaller the breed the younger they come in on average, and 6 months is not unusual. The bigger the breed the later on average but individuals and lines can vary a lot. My personal record was 22 months old for a first season for a Borzoi bitch, who went on to have seasons that were regularly nine months apart. Nothing wrong with her, just how it can go with the big girls. If I were to desex I would wait until until six weeks after a season just to make it as easy as possible on the bitch.

But is it legal for an average person to carry pepper spray around with them? My understanding was that it isn't.

Mine were attacked by two large dogs a couple of years ago, when there is more than one and you are on your own it's scary. You can get between your dog and one, but when the other one (or two) comes around behind its hard. Still worry about it happening again every time I walk them. Hope your hand is OK.

toxic food article This is also quite a good article on the risks, and covers other toxic foods too.

Most sources say onions are to be avoided. I certainly do. I hear different views on garlic - in the small amounts usually used I expect it does no harm, I am not sure it does any good although some swear by it.

I don't think I care too much, I am not sure that is anyone else's business anyway, but I do talk about my dogs too much. My personal test is "how would I feel if someone was telling stories like this about their children". If the answer is bored witless, I know I have gone too far ..... :laugh: It happens often

I bought antlers for my two and they totally ignored them, I ended up tossing them in the bin

Me too. And none of my undesexed males have been hard to handle, not even with bitches in season on the other side of a chain link fence. Nor have I seen 'massive amounts of cancer'. Some cancers are more common in desexed dogs, the slightly increased risk of osteosarcoma in desexed animals is a factor in my decision to leave mine entire.

I love this stuff - bring on the research, LOL.

That would be a great thing to do for the breed. It is good to come up with a common convention for recording and identifying the dogs without prefixes too if possible - I found a lot of the old Russian dogs only had short names, no prefix and names were often duplicated many times and are still variously spelt. It adds unnecessary confusion. At the time they knew which "Almaz" or "Armavir" it was but it is harder a century down the track!

That's cool!