Diva

agree, the black and white view is tedious. I'm yet to meet a purely positive trainer even though the Canberra clubs are pretty progressive.

That's interesting, I never thought it would have that effect. I've used lamb flaps, porridge and eagle pack power, as well as feeding a couple of times day instead of just one. Not that mine need to gain weight anymore, but as youngsters one of them was too skinny by far.

Mine love rabbit and hare, I'd say it's their favourite food.

That was fun

I picked up a compact pavillion there too.

Thanks Aidan, good link.

There are breed differences but I think we sometimes use them as an excuse. I have sighthounds, not the most hard-headed of the sightound breeds but still one waaay down the bottom of the list of 'trainable' by most judgements. With the exception of recall in the presence of prey, which I haven't pinged yet for all of them, they train very well. But only when I really train as I know how to, in a measured and structured way that takes advantage of how they learn. I used to have a working breed - they were much more eager to please, quicker to train but not really any easier to train well. I found them easier to stuff up really as they hated making a mistake. Not sure the 'zoi think they can make mistakes, they know it's always my fault, LOL.

The Barf rule of thumb for adult dogs is 2%-4% of the ideal body weight. Obviously that allows for quite a range but it needs to as energy requirements, exercise patterns and metabolism vary between dogs and over time, even from day to day for mine. The best measure is how your dog looks. If she needs to lose weight you want to do it slow and steady. when you can feel her ribs and see her waist, and her coat is good and her energy levels high, you are probably feeding enough.

Me too - have sent you a pm.

Hunting with Borzoi moved from being a practical task to a sport indulged in by nobility, so I imagine their diet improved over time too and had pretty reasonable protein levels. Especially as the Russian nobility liked their dogs beautiful as well as impressive hunters. I've found a description of puppy rearing in one of the big rich hunt kennels from the early 1900s that talks about milk, wheaten porridge, oatmeal, cooked meat and 'beef tea' for puppies, and they were given calves' hooves to chew on. Supplements mentioned were cod liver oil and bone meal. There is not as much detail given for the older dogs but a dedicated kitchen for cooking their meat and 'meal' is mentioned.

Good grief, stick the women in a cage and give the baby puppy to a good home.

I know there is no law in the ACT that they be have to be restrained in a car. They have to be restrained on the back of a ute, they can't travel in the driver's lap and they can't interfere with the driver. But there is no law at all that says they have to be restrained other than that. Danois' take on it is entirely correct when it comes to this jurisdiction.

Very sad to hear all this, they were a lovely litter. No advice for you, just wanted to say how sorry I am.

Tom's Poultry in Fyshwick sells wings, frames etc at a good price for larger orders. A freezer will be your best friend for feeding dogs cheaply and well. I noticed on the weekend that the chicken shop at Belco mall had frames for 99c a kilo, pet mince was around $1.50. I can often pick up the no brand sardines for 50c a can to add some oil to their diet, and meaty lamb bones at a good price from the supermarket or bulk meat supplier. If you can alternate a mid priced kibble with homemade BARF made with the mince, a little offal and in season vegies, and add some meaty bones, I'd think they should do OK -depends what triggers their allergies.

That's not a problem, I only meant there will be a lot of info.

If you mean like a Dremel grinder, then yes lots of DoLers use then. If you do a search for old threads with Dremel in the title you'll probably find quite a bit.

Ears can do very weird things when a pup is teething, that is what it looks like it may be to me.

The 3 Cootamundra shows were on at Harden that same weekend too. They drew 80 + in the Hound group most days, maybe a little less on the Sunday. Edited to add - I think there is around 100 in the group at Cowra this weekend

Remember to breath, it took me several shows to realise that I wasn't breathing for the entire triangle, LOL.

Oh that's nice to hear. Well done!

Very, if that is the case, and very much in-breeding. But I can't quite work out if it is what the OP means,

I am struggling a bit to understand your description of the pedigree, it must be too late at night for my brain It sounds like you are saying it's a half-brother/half-sister mating with a mother/son mating somewhere in there as well - I hope I am just confused, as mother/son matings are very close and rarely done, let alone to double up still more. If it is just a half-brother/half-sister mating then they are not common, but not that unusual either. As you say, such a mating cannot produce any new deleterious genes but it is likely to surface, somewhere in the litter, any that the common parent has, including sometimes recessive genes which can come as a suprise to the breeder. You would want the breeder to be very sure of the genetic health status of the parents and grandparents before doing such a mating, but if they are there need not be any problem. I wouldn't put too much stock in the champion lines though, they may say something about breed type but a championship title says nothing about health, except perhaps in that small number of breeds for which some health tests are mandatory before a litter can be registered.

She earnt that win!

Not entering is the best response, although I take your point Ozstar, but anyway it only works if you have been around long enough to know who's dodgy as. I don't usually, but I'm learning to ask around to check for an honest reputation before entering. It is a shame it's necessary though.

Doesn't suprise me at all to be honest .... in my breed the entries can vary between 10 & 40 depending on the judge at Melbourne shows. You're right, it probably shouldn't have. I must live in a world of my own