Diva

Are they ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The worst sulkers I've had have been sighthounds! They mke you PAY! As much as I hesitate to anthropomorphise - do they ever! Aggrieved sighthounds are seriously good actors.

I wish I had been there to see it Elkie, congratulations!!

Woo Hoo! Fantastic guys!

Just the Monday for me

shoes.com? But shipping will add a bit

A vet that will really listen to the owner is priceless. I don't want to vet bash but I've had some really awful and distressing experiences with vets who are poor diagnosticians and who don't listen. One example - I took a dog to a large local vet practice because he was lethargic - I knew this dog, it was a big deal. The very senior vet dismissed me to my face as an over-anxious female owner, found nothing on examination and tried very hard to just send us home. I insisted in the face of complete disadain on the vet's part on a blood work up - the dog had immune mediated haemolytic anaemia and a red blood cell count so low he would have been dead in days if I hadn't insisted on following my gut. OK, one bad experience but this was a major practice, it couldn't happen twice could it? So I stayed with the practice and one day took a lame older dog there. I was pretty certain given her age, the site of the pain and her breed that it was highly likely to be osteosarcoma. I had had the breed for years, the vet (different to the one above) had never seen any before except mine - but he was certain it was a cruciate ligament injury, and dismissed entirely the possibility of bone cancer. I so much wanted it not to be cancer that I agreed to the cruciate operation he wanted to do. But I insisted both to him and to person I spoke to when I dropped the dog off that if they found osteosarcoma when they operated she should be pts before waking from the anaesthetic. I would not put her through an amputation and wanted to minimise her distress. When they operated, they found osteosarcoma. So had they pts as instructed? Nope. No-one had taken any notice of my explicit instruction on what to do if it was bone cancer, the dog was awake before they even rang me. Needless to say I haven't darkened their door since - and I'll always get a second opinion now if I don't think what a vet is saying rings true to me. Our dogs have no-one to advocate for them but us.

I'm afraid his cat issues mean I can't help. Is he good with other dogs?

Lure coursing please!

I'm not even sure that is always true anymore, I know in my breed a lot of the top dogs and their handlers are advertised heavily world-wide.

How horrible. I'm so sorry for your loss. Did the vet check her heart?

I believe the rule on inter-variety breedings for Belgians has been different at different times and in different countries, as some of the varieties have had small gene pools at some points in history. Currently in Australia inter-variety breeding is not allowed, except with specific permission from the ANKC and that is only to be given with serious and strong evidence of the benefit. Even with such permisson only the following breedings can be approved. Progeny are then registered according to their variety (eg coat colour and length) Groenendael x Tervueren Tervueren x Malinois Laekenois x Malinois

Because it makes me question whether it is as good as I think. Particularly when references back the 'natural' diet of wild canines is used to justify such a diet. Eg the 'feed your dog like a wolf' type arguments - not only are dogs not wolves in terms of nutritional needs, farmed meat isn't equivalent to wild prey meat either. I don't advocate a purely kibble diet, unless medically advised, but with a number of parameters changed/changing and some in ways most people aren't aware of maybe including a premium kibble along with raw is an optimum choice for many households. Not for mine necessarily, because I'm a dog nut willing to put in extra effort, but for many. I also posted those comments because I was hoping it might draw out some better, referenced, information on that issue. Edited for typos

What she said Traditionally as far as I can tell oats and barley are the two grains recommended for sighthounds. Not that your pup is a sighthound but I'd go porridge over weetbix if you wanted to feed one of them. Although the breeder of one of mine did recommend weetbix - puppy wouldn't have a bar of it though.

The spin on the spot in play bow position - so quick you can hardly see it but they do a complete 360 in a crouch. And the slow motion pounce. Pouncing with great elevation but hanging in the air for as long as they can for effect. And Borzoi zoomies on the couch - which end up with the couch jumping halfway across the room (yes I know I should stop them, not just psml )

The one that really gets me is the person who rehomes/dumps their dog after having a baby not because they can't afford both, or don't have time for both, or think the dog is a danger to the child - although they may use all of those reasons. The real reason is too often because they were only ever using the dog to meet a nurturing need of their own. They claim to have loved it and spoilt it - but even in loving it they were only about meeting their own needs to nurture, not at all about the dog's needs. So the dog ends up literally 'spoilt' - no boundaries, no sense of appropriate behaviour, no training - and then they have the 'real thing ' to nurture so all that love they claimed to have had for the dog evaporates because they no longer need it, they don't care that it needs them. They are just exploiters of animals as far as I am concerned but often get away without condemnation because everyone around them just goes along - 'of course she has to put the baby first now'. If they genuinely can't afford the dog or look after it, or do think it's a hazard, that's different and they have my support. But I see the 'users' too often. As far as I am concerned such people should never be allowed the privilege of owning another dog. (rant over )

I go to ridiculous lengths, even I can see they are ridiculous, like getting wild rabbit, hare and vension into their diet and giving them a wide diversity of meat sources, types of offal etc. But I also know I could do half the work for a third of the xpense and still given them a pretty good diet they'd do OK on, even including a premium kibble. I just enjoy the efforts I go to

I always have two cautions in the back of mind when I wonder if a raw/barf /prey model is absolutely the best food for my dogs in this day and age. The first is that the nutritional quality of the human grade meat I buy has itself changed with farming methods- for example, I have read reports from human nutritionalists on how much less iron is in a chicken drumstick from the meat birds bred today than even 25 years ago, and the lesser amount of that nutrient today in the same quantity of chicken was staggering. I have also read that the nutritional analysis of a grain feed animal isn't the same as in a grass fed animal - the amount and proportion of different types of fat is different for one thing. Not as much of an issue here as in the USA but a lot of our meat animals even here are finished off on grain. The second thing that sticks in my mind is the anecdotal stories from people with breeds similiar to mine, and these are relatively old breeds, that their traditional diets were nowhere near as rich in fat and protein, and that nutritionally dense 'western' diets are not good for these breeds. It's just anecdotal but it kind of correlates with the article stormie posted. It reminds me not to get too precious in recommending a prey model diet - which is what I mostly feed - as if it were a perfect answer.

deleted - thought I knew of a place but on checking it's not suitable

Thanks! If the weather is good I'll be there. If the weather is bad I'll be at home nice and warm and thinking of you all

I have mine what did you want to know ??? Mine haven't arrived yet, could you tell me how many in the hound group and how many Borzoi? Thanks!

Well the UTI and ear infection are totally curable so I wouldn't be taking them into account in deciding if her 'time is near', I'd be fixing them. Arthritis and epilepsy are both treatable, so for me the question there would be if the treatment enables them to be effectively managed so she has a reasonable quality of life. As for not being happy - well I'd not be happy if I had a UTI and sore ear either.

If that was happening to me, I'd stop saying no before I got to her. Just quietly walk up and take it from her mouth? To improve the behaviour generally I'd try giving her more mental stimulation, if she isn't already going to an obedience class it would be a good start.

I also think it's the first example, each listed ingredient is rated individually, not by 'type' of food. Highest percentage based on the detailed list comes first even if it's only a small percentage , as long as the other ingredients individually are smaller still. It's the reason I think that you'll often see different grain inputs split to a fine level of detail, so each comes down the list and meat gets pushed up it. But add all the grains together and the picture is quite different. I tried to make this point in my previous post with rice as an example. Eg I'll see white rice, brown rice, brewers rice, rice bran, all listed but add them together and the percentage of 'rice' is quite a bit higher than it looks at first glance when they are split like that. (I'm not anti-grain, but I don't like it as a high percentage of the diet. And I'm not talking about the product in the op, just generally.)

He looked lovely on Friday longdogs, and his handler really shows him well.

Yay! Go Lochie! ;)