poodlefan

LisaM if you've been seeing changes after switching from BARF to Vetsallnatural, is this going from feeding no grains to feeding grains??

Unless you want him to look shorn like a sheep, I'd be inclined to leave a little bit of length on the top of his head, and on his legs and perhaps his ears. What blades have you got for you clippers?

I'd be inclined to give him a 'soft' meal every few days.. more vegetable fibre. One of my boys also becomes constipated if he doesn't get regular vigorous exercise. It's all about keeping things 'moving'.

You can always do what I do.. pack the car, get everything ready and make the decision when you get up in the morning.

The widest range of Heartworm preventatives I know of is at www.vetproductsdirect.com.au They have various brands of daily and monthly tablets including Proheart.

Out of sight stays. Scent discrimination might be good.

Do you feed raw meat on the bone Jeanne?

Brendan, before making any assumptions that this is a behavioural issue, I'd eliminate any physical reasons for this reluctance. Pain is one possibilty. When was the last time she had a check up at the vets?

Jeanne, I think the fastest way to allay your concerns about find out what is happening is to take your pup to a decent vet. If it is nutritional, then the faster you get onto it the better.

Jeanne, I just wanted to point out that a proper BARF diet should not have a phosphorus imbalance. Only diets where meat is fed without bone or excessive amounts of egg are fed without shells are imbalanced. Diets were RMBs and eggs with shells are fed have an appropriate calcium/phosphorus balance.

Jeanne, one of the most readable books I've read on raw feeding (sort of a newbie primer) is Natural Nutrition for Dogs and Cats by Kymathy Shultz? (sp). Its the first book I recommend to potential BARFers.

I'm fortunate I don't have a lot of concrete but I used to have a lot of pavers in my previous place. I use Delete kennel cleaner/deodorant (linky here) and find it very effective. Daily poo patrol also helps.

Q1. balanced trainer = a person who doesn't take a "one size fits all" approach to training dogs and handlers, who can draw on a range of tools and experience, who recognises dog training is as much about training handlers as dogs and who can see a place for thoughtful and appropriate use of positives and aversives in achieving training outcomes. A balanced trainer to me is also someone who knows their limits, regardless of their skill level. Q2. Nope, nowhere near being a great trainer. Every dog, every class teaches new skills and I've got a range of goals for myself that I have yet to achieve.

No, no experience with it here. Any chance it's contact dermatitis?? I'd have thought you'd get a more widespread reaction to a food allergy but I'm no skin expert.

How long have the walks been that you've taken her on?

FHR: Little Polo? The "little" dog that weighs four times as much as a mini P!! Yep, it was Polly I was thinking of and I agree that the change has been remarkable. Apparently, and not surprisingly, birth can be quite hard on a pup.. our Chiro has done pups as young as few weeks. The other experience that our Chiro says that can be quite hard on a dog is a general anaesthetic.. if they get moved around while they're out, it can really put them out! I recall Alan couldn't do too much with Twiggy though.. he's good but no miracle worker and an crumbly old whippet with spondylosis isn't going to be bouncing around after a visit to the chiro... more like a more an animated stagger.

Ness, I think it's important to remember that many dogs will not display signs of pain until they are in quite some level of it. I take my dogs to an appropriately qualified person, not just any quack that's thrown up a shingle and cracked a few dogs. I see a chiro myself so call me a convert. I understand that many people are skeptical but I see the results of good chiro too often to doubt it myself. I can tell you that any good chiro is going to be a lot happier tweaking a basically sound dog and not a dog that's got a chronic problem.. .my human chiro is the same. ETA: My youngest dog has been done from the time he was 3 months old and frequently doesn't require adjustment. .

Yes, my dogs are checked monthly. I get them done from the time I get them as pups and my retiree is still done too. I see chiropractic checks ups as preventative, not just curative. I've seen a mildly cowhocked pup straighten up a lot with some regular chiro. My dogs also get regular massage.

I'll confess to being gobsmaked that trainers who regard themselves as "purely positive" recoil from check chains, prongs and e-collars but vigorously advocate the halti. This is an item, that, when intially fitted, many dogs literally claw their faces to remove. "He'll get used to it" is the encouraging advice provided and sure enough, most dogs learn to tolerate it. Note the word "tolerate". This is a training device, that in use or not is aversive to many dogs. Yet this is the device advocated for improving control by many many positive trainers. Even walking perfectly on it, most dogs will find it aversive. Poorly fitted, it is tormenting the dog - I've corrected handlers that have it fitted to interfere with the dogs lower eyes. Yet this is "kind" or "gentle" and check chains and prongs by their very nature are "cruel". Whilst I'll confess to not knowing the composition of the material that makes one, or it's breaking strain, I can see that many dogs find them uncomfortable that they have great potential for misuse. To see a dog being walked by a none to gentle child on one of these makes my blood run cold. I've seen head checks applied that made me shudder and at that point I say something. At my own club... miniature poodle being "trained" by a +6 foot guy with a none to gentle correction... why???? "Because it's kinder than other collars". Picture the angle of correction and the level of force from even a gentle tug on the neck of a dog that weights no more than 7kg... "Gentle Leader" my @arse!!!

Pinnicle: .I'd argue it isn't with haltis Much of the damage occurs to muscles and ligaments, not externally. People are told these things are "kinder" than a check chain but I've seen dogs heads reefed on a halti in ways a check chain could never accomplish... Since we seem to need scientific evidence of any statement made here, I tender a letter to APDT from one of Australia's leading chiropractic vets as evidence. I can't quote his name because I've been unable to contact him to get permission to but I could PM it to anyone who wants it. Right now, in most states Jo Average can't go out and buy an E-collar from Petbarn. Personally, I think the only way someone should be able to get one is from an accredited trainer who instructs in its proper use. Anyone can buy a halti. Ask yourselves which training item is doing the most damage to the most dogs. I see dogs tied up with them, dogs lower than knee height walked on them for more control.. any number of potentially damaging situations and I see them all the time. It's a pity we don't see the same level of caution applied to the halti.

Will you be participating if given a chance PF? Generally, audience participation is in the form of questions for the panel to discuss. I'm sure I'll end up asking one.

I know for a fact that Ian Dunbar believes that e-collars have their uses but from memory I think he may see them as purely aversive tools used to treat highly undesireable self rewarding behaviours like stock chasing. Myzska I've delivered myself a mental headslap!! Should be a very very interesting session. :D

Myzska I will be there. I have not seen any reference to a discussion on E-collars in the program (linky is here but given that many APDT members are Delta trained, I'd regard the outcome of any such discussion as fairly predictable. Why must there be only one right and humane way to achieve an outcome for a dog? I don't use e-collars but I can see that they have their uses. I don't use or like halti's but I can see that they have their uses. Both can be abused. One has the reputation as a benign and positve tool and the other as something akin to a tool of the spanish inquistion. However, your average pet owner is far more likely to own and misuse a halti. What's going to cause the greater damage to Australia's dogs? Any training tool including a flat collar can be abused by the ignorant or cruel. The right tool is one that the handler can be taught to use correctly and humanely - and that's going to vary. I feel that the purely positive vs some use of aversives training philosophy underlies this debate. Once again, does there only have to be one right and humane way to train a dog? For any piece of scientific research, there will be another contrdicting and refuting it... I prefer to experience and judge the use of any training tool by watching the reaction of the dog in front of me.

Kowai: I've seen dogs jumped on, attacked and had a dog stick it's nose under my bitches bum in stays. Believe when I say breaking position is the least of your worries. Pretty much in every case, the handler knew the dog had issues but chose to do stays 'for the experience'. I prefer dogs that need more experience get it from training, not trialling and ruining other dogs chances. Give some dogs the wrong experience in stays and you set the dog back months. I speak from bitter experience. I strongly prefer it in Novice and CCD when they have one set of stays for dogs passing and one for the rest.

Arrive in plenty of time to check in, find your ring and set up. Set up somewhere fairly quiet and be sure to take a crate or mat your dog is familiar with. A chair for you, some water and treats and something high value to reward after ring time is good. Don't endlessly practice or tune your dog up before going in. If your dog doesn't know the exercises that morning, training then won't help. Focus on showing your dog a good time at his first trial. SMILE, be happy, reward your dog between exercises and try to make being in the ring a positive experience. Don't as I did, act like an undertaker leading a funeral procession and make your dog will want to be anywhere but with you. I do correct and use second commands in the ring but I ask the judge first. I trial as I train and there's no point allowing your dog to do poor work because you won't encourage or correct him.. you ain't going to pass anyway. Do say thanks to the judge and stewards (who are usually forgotten) and don't hang around in the ring.. there will be others waiting their turn. Think twice before taking your dog into the stays if you're not passing and he may break.. those on passes won't appreciate it if he blows their chances.