Maddy

I'd agree with that. I noticed that the company that makes those friendly dog collars (or whatever they're called) have yellow for "adopt me" so that further confuses things. Does your dog need space or are you trying to find it a home? Two very different things. Realistically, as others have said, unless it got wide publicity, it's a bit of a waste of time and it's also not entirely intuitive- red definitely would be a better colour.

Probably not. By the same logic, because humans can get energy from wine and chocolate, they are appropriate food sources for us. I did read the article in the OP though and they've politely ignored some very important findings on diet of wild dogs besides wolves. This series explains it well- (it's in four parts, nice and short for Minimax attention span :D )

We have large dogs in the house but there's no noticeable smell, especially not coming directly from the dogs. I suppose in some breeds, smells would be unavoidable but in my experience, greyhounds really shouldn't have any smell. If there are smells, treating the source would work a lot better than just covering it up- have the dog's skin checked by a vet and wash using something like Malaseb to bring down levels of bacteria on the skin. Wash beds very thoroughly (with some F10 through the final rinse) and then dry them outside. Leave them on the line until they are completely dry as moisture in the polyfill can encourage mould or fungal growth (which will smell). If smell persists, consider a change in diet- I noticed the dog smell pretty much disappeared when we stopped feeding kibble entirely. Have teeth checked and cleaned to eliminate bad breath as a smell source. Large amounts of natural oils oxidising in the coat would make some breeds (pugs, labs, etc) smell stronger than others but I'm fairly sure Plush Puppy make a powder for dry-shampooing so that might be worth looking into.

I basically agree with Alkhe but as a breeder I would also be worried about your attitude wanting a discount for a preceived fault. Sorry but I would be wondering what else you would want down the track if things didn't turn out how you think they should. Same amount of effort and money is put into "pet" puppies as show potential ones by most breeders. I'm not a breeder but I'd still be worried by that attitude- it's a dog, not a fridge or a washing machine. If the OP had concerns about the pup's timidity, that'd be fine (and very understandable) but it sounds more like the timidity itself doesn't bother them, more that they should get a discount on the "faulty goods". If I were a breeder, there's not a chance in hell I'd sell a puppy to someone who saw them as objects like that.

The hellhound puppy knows to bark to have a door opened- but only if he is on the outside. When he needs to go out to toilet, his usual approach is to walk to the back door, stare sadly at it for a minute or so (never long enough to be noticed) and then when the door doesn't magically open, he just pees right where he's standing. The elderly, grumpy hound also has bladder control issues when THE BEST THING EVA!!!! happens- that is, when we have visitors. I usually try to steer him outside to go to the toilet before coming in to flail about all over guests but sometimes.. too slow. Last time, after a few moments of brain-melting happiness at a favourite visitor, he stopped right in front of her and.. wee. It lasted long enough that I had time to go to the linen cupboard to get a towel to put under him. And then long enough after that for it to get awkward while we stood there waiting for him to finish. The same elderly hound also does the breathy whinge-whine as well as a deep breathing thing seemingly designed solely to annoy. He is also the master of the sudden bark- complete silence and then a bark so ninja that even ninjas are startled by it. And he crunches on things late at night. I check his area each night, pull his bedding out to make sure he has no food stashed in there but turn out the lights, get into bed and.. "crrrruuunnch... crcrcrcr..UNCH! crunchcrunchcrunch" followed by lip-smacking and the occasional hawking up of something to crunch it again. Then there's the whinging about his bedding- he can't sleep if his bedding isn't soft and freshly arranged for maximum bum comfort. So what does he do when he gets into his bed after I've made it for him? Scratch all his blankets out onto the floor, dig up the layer of vetbed so that it's scratched into a lumpy, uncomfortable pile (rubber facing up) and then finally, dig up the bottom cushion so that it's bunched into a corner. With his re-arranging complete, he does his three circles, lies down and then whinges because his bed is uncomfortable >.> The hellhound puppy is already learning the same trick. The Sandmonster is the only dog with no especially annoying behavours. Besides her sand fetish, that is. We made the mistake of putting in a sand area for the dogs, now there is sand on/in everything we own.

Assuming they do figure it out, I have no doubt that something like this would require a vet visit and for the treat to be eaten in the clinic, with the vet present, rather than taken home to be fed to god-only-knows-who.

We use either Advantix or Advocate on the dogs but I've found controlling flies generally made a much bigger difference. I use QuickBayt in all the areas the dogs like to hang out while outside and that stuff is amazing. This summer, despite the really hot weather, we've seen hardly any flies- started using the Quickbayt last year, knocked down the local population quite nicely and then this summer, started using it early just to make sure they didn't get a chance to build up again. It doesn't seem to work on blowflies (which sucks, I hate blowflies with a passion) but I can go days now without ever seeing a housefly.

From reading the reviews, it does sound like this also has to be filled with water so I'd assume the potential for mess is still there if the dog scratches or chews on it.

Using the name Smithfield in a description is likely going to confuse most people, given that isn't the correct or common name for the breed and that it might also be confused with the Smithfield dog- which looks not at all similar. Personally, I'd just say cattle dog cross- his mouth looks a bit loose, his roaning is too light and his ears are wrong but.. to the untrained eye, cattle dog. He actually reminds me a lot of pictures someone had of their roan pig dogs- not bull arabs- but a smaller type of hunting dog with a somewhat similar background (GSP in there and a variety of other things). I'd not say actual bull arab as his body looks too thick and the legs too short. Also no sighthound features. In most bull arabs, you can see the greyhound if you squint a bit :p

Ever seen a greyhound with high drive? They're just as capable of the same thing and it's certainly not abnormal. Some dogs have higher prey drive than others and sometimes in breeds you wouldn't expect. In this case, if it was an amstaff, I would consider some amount of prey drive to be pretty normal. Get a dog with higher drive, allow it to self-reward that drive by letting it hurt other animals and you have the makings for a situation just like this. A dog with drive like that certainly shouldn't be out unmuzzled and offlead (I have a high drive dog myself and we have to be very careful) but high prey drive does not mean the dog is aggressive or abnormal- just that it needs to be managed more carefully. Edit, typo I've yet to own or foster a greyhound that would rip out the insides of another dog. A cat or bird yes, but a dog, no. I have one- she's currently outside napping in her sand spot. With people and large dogs, she's lovely. Would I trust her not to rip a small dogs to pieces.. absolutely not. I've had to put to sleep a couple of foster dogs who were more drivey than she was so it's not abnormal, just on the upper end of the scale. High prey drive in a breed type that was designed to chase and kill is not abnormal, it's a trait humans have selected and bred strongly for. As for the damage the dog did, the ripping out the insides bit sounds terrible but when a dog picks something up and shakes it vioently, that can happen. When a dog kills something it intends to eat, the stomach is ripped open first as it's the easiest skin to get through- both of these things are normal predatory behaviours. Of course they aren't appropriate when practised on other dogs but that's why breeders/rescuers of dogs with developed prey drives need to help educate the public about drive and what it can lead to without proper management.

Ever seen a greyhound with high drive? They're just as capable of the same thing and it's certainly not abnormal. Some dogs have higher prey drive than others and sometimes in breeds you wouldn't expect. In this case, if it was an amstaff, I would consider some amount of prey drive to be pretty normal. Get a dog with higher drive, allow it to self-reward that drive by letting it hurt other animals and you have the makings for a situation just like this. A dog with drive like that certainly shouldn't be out unmuzzled and offlead (I have a high drive dog myself and we have to be very careful) but high prey drive does not mean the dog is aggressive or abnormal- just that it needs to be managed more carefully. Edit, typo

Eukanuba is utter garbage, in my opinion. And quality aside, they way they tested that food and treated their test animals was absolutely disgusting. I'd be looking for a proper super premium, something like Taste of the Wild, Royal Canin or, if you could afford it, Ziwipeak. With foods, it's a matter of trying a few things and seeing what works for your dog. A lot of people here recommend Black Hawk but I found it gave my pup very loose stools and made him manic and bitey- terrible food, in my experience.

The ingredients look really great but finding stockists down here has been impossible (so it might be hard to find, depending on where you live). Very expensive but then I guess it depends on how you intend to use it. I wanted it for training treats and emergency food but currently, it's cheaper to just make my own dehydrated meats in the oven. Edited to add.. Talking about Ziwipeak, I've not looked into K9 Natural.

Why do people have a "right" to someone's front door? Front yards are still private property, I don't think anyone has a right to it except the property occupants. I think it's actually the law. That a person must be able to get to your front door without being threatened by a dog. It rings a bell anyway. I padlock my front gate when Im out so that people cant set foot in my front garden as I have a dog in there. As far as I know, access has to be provided for certain people- police, fire, ambos, gas/electricity providers. Around here, the rule is simple- does aren't allowed to play in the front yard unless being directly supervised (as in, standing out there with them). It's a good rule to have for a number of reasons- safety of visitors, minimising any risk of harm to our dogs and to make sure that they can't get out (if someone were to open the gate without checking for the dogs first). It's easy to say "Oh, my big dog wouldn't hurt a fly" (I know mine wouldn't) but not all people are comfortable around big dogs and to have a big dog rush at you, even if the dog is just "showing a visitor that they're there", has the potential to really frighten someone.

We've done it several times before and never had any problems.

Maybe crating? Not all of our dogs get along so our plan involves bringing a crate for each dog. Being able to put them somewhere reasonably secure also really opens up where you can take the dogs.

Have to get Greytmate or GapVic to answer this one. It's quite rare and does not, AFAIK, exsist in the showbred lines. Dun in Australia is supposed to all come from the one dog. In other countries, it could come from other dogs- it's just that the author of the piece that mentions dun is interested only in dun in Australia. Bobniak is a confirmed carrier from Rocket Jet- in the pedigree of Fresh Fantasy, there's Bobniak recently on one side and then Rocket Jet is on the other- remembering that Rocket Jet is 1950ish and so the gene has been carried for more than 50 years without being lost. While it's true that Rocket Jet is a confirmed carrier of dun, every one of his pups has the chance of also being a carrier. And their pups had a chance. And so on down the line. He's not the only carrier, he's the first known carrier. Really, it's surprising that dun doesn't show up more often. The pedigrees of my own greyhounds look like they belong in a West Virginia mountain town (both also contains doubles of Rocket Jet)

Erk, skimmed through that and the first thing I noticed was the myth that wild canids eat stomach content first- despite researchers of wild canids pointing out that wolves actually shake out the stomach to remove contents prior to eating. Actively avoiding eating stomach content. I have no issue with food manufacturers adding vegetables to bring cost of production down but it bothers me when they spread misinformation to justify using cheaper ingredients, instead of just being honest about the reason. That's interesting about the stomach-shaking thing. I've always wondered if there was a raw diet where people fed their dogs just raw meat and no vegetables. Is that what they call the Prey model? I don't go for all the VAN grains hooey. Yeah, that's prey model, more or less. Personally, I don't believe vegetables are of any benefit to their health and that they've started to creep in to replace grains as fillers in a lot of foods. Potato might be a better filler than corn but neither are natural to a dog. Ziwipeak is the only food with an ingredient list that I would consider to be based on what's best for dogs, rather than what's best for someone's business- not that I feed that either though, I have access to fresh, high-quality pet meat (meat that is actually just meat, nothing at all added to it) so that's all I feed my dogs.

Erk, skimmed through that and the first thing I noticed was the myth that wild canids eat stomach content first- despite researchers of wild canids pointing out that wolves actually shake out the stomach to remove contents prior to eating. Actively avoiding eating stomach content. I have no issue with food manufacturers adding vegetables to bring cost of production down but it bothers me when they spread misinformation to justify using cheaper ingredients, instead of just being honest about the reason.

We didn't get the rain down here There was a tiny amount a few days ago and before the sun had even come back out, the ground was dry again- my yard is dust with clumps dead grass spotted about. Probably a good thing though, the greys are not overly fond of water and two of them won't go outside if they need to go to the toilet. This is despite the fact that one pees on his own front feet often enough to have earned the nickname Chief Peepaw of the Wetfoot Tribe. Maybe pee is okay because it's warm..

You forgot step 5 - send snarky emails to all DOl'ers who feed other brands :D Of course! That's Underpants Gnomes Economics 101 :p Ash is a byproduct of production (from how meats are usually prepared for pet foods) and is added back in for the mineral content- phosphorous, calcium, etc. Edit.. To explain that a bit better.. ash is basically what remains after incinerating a meat source down to its base minerals. Things like bones, once cooked, can't just be included as they are so they're cooked even further down, crushed and added back to the meat. Personally, I'd rather just feed my dogs raw bones for the mineral content but ash isn't an ingredient to worry about.

Apparently I'm "not qualified" to comment. Oh dearies :laugh: They did demand to know which pet food I manufactured though so presumably I am a bit qualified? Actually, I have a confession- I did make the hellhound puppy some chicken jerky tonight for training treats. I'm yet to start selling shares of my business in training treats for my own dog but when I do, I'm going to become rich, the business plan is amazing- Step one: Make chicken jerky Step two: Feed it all to dog Step three: ??? Step four: Profit.

Update time! I just got a snarky PM from a member with zero posts who "feeds their dogs the product" (but certainly wouldn't be involved in the business, oh no- insert Mister Rolley Eyes Man here) demanding to know.. Pro business tip- ^ that is a terrible way to do business.

Prior to switching to an entirely raw diet, my eldest greyhound was starting to look bad- he was skinny, scruffy and really looked like an old dog. Now, he keeps weight on well, his coat looks good and he can move a lot better. He's on a few supplements although I suspect he may suffering from lumbosacral stenosis so they won't make much difference once the back end really starts to go. Besides diet, I don't really do much else. They get vacc'd every second year, wormed out every 6-8 weeks, flea treated monthly (or fortnightly if the flies are bad in summer) and I try to make sure their diet is interesting enough to keep living for :p

We started feeding raw (with a large breed puppy) as soon as we got him at 14 weeks old. We've had no trouble balancing his diet, he's very healthy (besides congenital neurological issues) and he looks really good. He gets given kibble if I forget to defrost his meat but usually, he won't touch it (and will just wait until he gets his meat)