poodlefan

Miranda: Glad I'm not the only one. Clipping all the coat off some breeds leaves them with a short coat that doesn't shed water or keep out the sun. If you don't want to groom, you shouldn't buy a long haired breed IMHO.

My vet recommends pumpkin. Of course, digestable bones like chicken wings are good too. I do my dog's anal glands every time I wash them - so no less often that once per fortnight. Check with your vet about this and get him/her to show you how. If done under a running tap, its not too unpleasant.

Charmbug I would vary the veggies as much as possible but you might want to know that you shouldn't feed too many cruciferous veggies (eg. broccolli, cabbage) as it can affect their thyroids.. Why do you need to feed the kibble wet? You may want to try it dry - its more crunchy. Wet kibble makes me gag.

Yoooo Hoooo Showdog, Miranda!!! Working Setters those DOLers should be able to give you some tips. In the meantime, is there any way you can post some pics of your dogs? You don't see many working Setters these days and I'd love to see them. :D

Reddog, you can make your own patties if you get desperate.... and its cheaper. I'm happy to provide a recipie if you need one.

How much parsley did he get Inspector R... maybe cut back by half on the dose and see how that goes? My vet sells some blue liquid that you add to a dog's drinking water to improve breath... no idea what's in it though. Its probably ACV plus colouring.

I'm delighted to hear that all is going well - you must be so relieved! Just a note of caution on the exercise - please don't over do the walking. Many people (including me) are of the opinion that onlead walking is too much for young pups with growing bones. It can lead to skeletal difficulties later in life. My rule of thumb is no onlead walking (as a form of exercise) until a pup is 6 months old. Remember that you can give him plenty of exercise with play as well as walking.

Giving a vaccination in the bum! My first piece of advice would be to find a better vet! I'd be wanting to discuss a different vaccination protocol or the need to vaccinate at all with a vet accustomed to dealing with reactions to vaccinations. Your relationship with your vet should be one of communication - not blindly accepting whatever treatment they wish to give. A good vet does discuss these issues and provide options and the risks they may carry. There is always the titre option but its arguable whether a dog of this age would need ever anything other than parvo or KC...

Netti, hopefully a Tasmanian might know of something but your local Canine Control and any Tasmanian Hound or Sighthound club may be worth a call. We don't have any here in the ACT. That's why we travel to Sydney for it.

Sparty in Sydney cars, dogs, spectators and the lure course are all in the one big paddock.

Yep, the "huntmaster" (that's what he calls himself at Afghan Club) is good at using the speed and movement of the lure to encourage newbies, youngsters and littlies. I'd still not want to do much of it with a pup though. Towards the end of the day, they often get a couple of Afghan pups out for a play/go - great fun to watch!

Word of caution: If you consider that your dog is overweight or unfit, then DO NOT take it coursing. Coursing places heavy demands on a dog's body. It requires an explosive start and tight turns over ground that can be uneven. If your dog is overweight or unfit, or if you do not warm your dog up and cool it down properly then you are ASKING for trouble. Ruptures to cruciate ligaments would be top of my list of concerns. The sport is not without risk. My vet advised against doing it too frequently with a young dog. The recall issue is important - but you can use any means you like to recall your dogs - eg. food, squeaky toys. If your dog is very difficult to catch or recall, then that is something you can resolve with training. If you have concerns that your dog may 'nip' another dog and they are based on any sort of previous incident then the safest thing to do IMHO would be to run your dog muzzled. This is nothing more than showing consideration for other attendees. For what its worth, it seems unlikely that a dog will transfer its prey drive onto another dog unless that dog resembles prey (eg. SWFs or similar) When I go coursing with the Afghan club, there are a couple of owners who ask me to crate the poodles as a precaution when their dogs run - and I'm happy to oblige. Coursing is great fun but do your dog a favour and make sure that its fit to participate before you go.

I use flaxseed oil. I buy it from and keep it in the fridge. Some dogs can be allergic to it but mine don't seem to have any issues.

I think if done by a qualified chiropractor, the risk would be minimal but I suppose you get to weigh the risk of adjustments against the risk of developing issues like spondilosis etc. First time my chiro laid hands on my dog (Ted) he said, (after no input from me) "this dog has a T-Bone injury".. Ted had hit a solid jump head on a couple of weeks prior. He is very gentle and uses minor adjustments. There is no 'twisting' or 'snapping" and the dogs greet him enthusiasticlly .. they certainly don't resist the treatment. For what its worth, my human chiro never 'twists' or 'snap's either. I've never found it painful, just some pressure at times. Chezz, I pay $40 per dog per visit.

Chezzyr: Good question. I do it because: a. I have myself done regularly and feel the benefit. b. I can see the difference before and after in at least one of my dogs. c. I ask my dogs to do things (eg. agility, coursing) that place heavy demands on their bodies. d. I consider it an investment in maintaining my dog's so that they will be comfortable 'golden oldies'. Frankly, I know more people who don't get their dogs done than do. You can usually tell an older agility dog who has received regular treatment from one that hasn't. Dogs who receive regular chiro tend to remain more sound and flexible IMHO.

My three dogs (one competing, two retired) have always received regular chiropractic treatments. Their chiropractor trained in the USA on horses and started doing a few dogs some years ago. Dogs now form the majority of his business. My vet must think he's OK - she's done the same course now that he did!! My dogs are now also receiving canine massage therapy. The comment from the masseuse was that my 8 year old boy is 'remarkably flexible' for a dog his age. Coming from a horse background, you learn about maintaining their soundness - I simply transferred the philosophy onto my dogs. You also learn about the importance of fitness conditioning and SPELLING, a word rarely heard in the world of dog sports. Most greyhound and race horse people know of qualified animal chiros.

I started TRAINING my dogs the day I got them.. especially toilet training. Coming when called also started on day one... even if they learned to come to the call of "pup pup pup". (Still do actually) Ted started formal obedience at 5 months Lil started at 8 months (that's when I got her) Darcy started at 3 months. Young pups have the attention spans of gnats. A one hour obedience class is too long for them to concentrate. At our club, pups can begin 'kindy' at 3 months but the classes have lots of breaks for socialisation and frankly are more aimed at educating the owners about basic training skills than anything 'formal'. You can teach a dog the basics of respondig to cues and focussing on you without having to go into 'formal' obedience.

Shekina: Actually, he can. Raw chicken on the bone forms the basis of many a raw fed dog's diet. OK Plan B. He'll eat chicken wings... so if you segment them and mix them into other food, will he eat that or pull them out..?

Ellz: Ellz, it seems to me from the posts I've read that one of the reasons that Shekina is insistent that her pup eat the kibble is the price she paid for it. Perhaps I misread the situation but it does seem that Shekina is taking the pup's refusal to eat the food she has selected for it more than a little personally. Sometimes you have to put your feelings on the issue aside and look at it from the dog's point of view. The dog doesn't like the kibble. Its perfectly happy to eat other things that are not 'icecream' or 'treats' but merely palatable. Comparisons with human thoughts on food are not the same. If I'm wrong then perhaps Shekina can explain why she is prepared to force the dog to eat one food when it clearly doesn't want to. As I said, this pup IS eating... just not the kibble that Shekina wants it to. Why not try ANOTHER kibble or two?

Shekina: Why? The fact that you paid more for the kibble is not occuring to him.

Shekina, "stubborn" in relation to food is us rationalising the dog's reaction. Prolonged lack of appetite is cause for concern in my book. There has to be a psychological or physical cause behind it. I'd go for the 'eat or starve' option for about 4 days... if not improvement, I'd be exploring physiological causes. Do not write off food allergies. The only other thing I can think of is that the portions for each meal are too big.

Ellz, if all this puppy kibble is coming out of the one big expensive bag (or several smaller ones), there is another option to consider - its rancid. It does happen - the mix of fats and stablizers isn't quite right or the bag hasn't been shipped and stored in optimum conditions. I'd be having a really good smell of the bag and offering ANOTHER kibble as an option to find out what is going on.

I'd say your pup is exercising extremely good sense. Its not that he's not eating, he's simply not eating kibble. There's a small possiblity that he's allergic to cereal or it gives him stomach pain and he's refusing it as a result. Second grade cereal and protein with stablizers, and hydrogenated fat ain't my idea of a good meal. I'd recommend you kick the puppy kibble into touch. Starving your dog rather than giving him a raw diet is not going to produce the sound pup you want him to be. Furthermore puppy kibble usually has far too much calcium for a large breed pup. Countless numbers of people, myself included have raised pups raw from the word go and have happy healthy adult dogs as result. If your vet won't support your decison to feed raw, find another one - they are growing in numbers. Go out and buy Grow Your Pups With Bones, and give your pup the diet he is going to do well on. Its probably MORE beneficial he gets BARF now than when he's an adult. You'll relax, he'll thrive and you'll both benefit.

Its the collective, simultaneous groan from the crowd (when a fault occurs) that always gives me a giggle at agility comps. FHR won't be hearing any of those though.

You see quite a bit of crying at agility comps..