anthony mazzeri

From several books. Other End of the Leash by Patricia McConnell I think was one. Could be mistaken about that though. From what I recall reading, alpha status as derived from captive wolf studies does not apply to infants/juveniles. Alpha is and can only be a fully sexually mature adult. Betas and juveniles squabbling for rank amongst themselves is just that, betas and juveniles squabbling. Alphas do not squabble. If a wolf has to snarl or bite to get his way, he's not the alpha. Ergo, a dog snapping is not doing it because he thinks he is the alpha, it's because he thinks you are not. Makes sense, don't you think? PS. Sorry for hijacking the thread with alpha talk.

The William E Campbell book I just bought says to suspend the pup off the ground a few inches until they calm down and stop. Don't say anything, just lift. One hand under the chest and one under the tummy, clear of their mouths. When they calm down, just gently let them down again. Just keep doing it until they learn that biting gets them a 'suspension'. Sounds too easy.

My vet mentioned that your situation is exactly the major use for it at the moment, to see how the dog's behaviour changes when the owners (inevitably the man, go figure) are reluctant to agree to the permanent surgery. He said most of them actually come back in well before the 6 month implant wears off for the full surgery when they see how much improved their dog is.

Ah, okay, my sincere apologies for misinterpreting it. I've just been hearing a lot of horror stories lately about enforcing alpha status with 'rollovers' and growling at them and such stuff being used on young puppies who don't understand it.

Could this be the problem? Alpha pack status doesn't apply until they are fully mature adults. Until then, the puppy's status is 'puppy', not 'alpha' or anything else. Maybe he's reacting defensively and scared and freaking out at whatever the 'forcing the issue of alpha' actually means.

Do you feed in the evening? If only in the morning, the food should all be digested by evening. So if she's only throwing up yellow liquid bile, then it may be because her stomach is empty. The instructions on the label say to feed twice a day. Makes sense as without grain you feed less and it passes through smaller and faster.

It's a pity he's split the topics between opposite sides of the continent, so people in Sydney don't get to hear his seminar on dog behaviour for example.

When I tried the sample packs a few weeks ago, my cat by the way turned his nose up at the bowl of Orijen cat kibble and went back to his Royal Canin Maine Coon kibble, which he loves. Alfred, on the other hand, scoffed the lot and walked away from the still full bowl of Royal Canin Medium Junior kibble which he'd previously eaten without any complaints. Also, I checked and the canned versions of Orijen for either dogs or cats won't be available in Australia, only the dry. Too much of a PITA with regulations to import canned pet food apparently.

The Brylcreem of dog foods. In theory, you feed much less of it so the total protein is the same as the other type food. I think. I'm actually confused by the instructions. The feeding guide has a chart which says 1 cup for my dog for example. But then below it says feed twice a day. So is that 1 cup twice a day, or 1 cup total? I dunno.

Thanks Settrlvr. That's good. Great actually. I'm very much liking seeing the words 'perfect coat' there. I'm of course assuming looking after the coat properly is necessary even as a pet to keep it looking top notch.

Basically, does it affect their coats? If so, how? Different/more effect male and female coats? The same or different to surgical castration? And/or any difference with different coats such as double coated English Cocker Spaniels or single coated Irish Setters? I searched and there is a Suprelorin thread from 2006 in it's early days of introduction, so would people now have any more longer term experiences or knowledge of it (and it effects)? If you know of any website with useful info, that would be muchly appreciated too, thanks. PS. Not for show purposes, but for keeping the above-mentioned breeds and other similar types as pets without the known side-effects on their coats which comes from surgical castration.

Bummer. In the other 'Nutro swap' thread, Pro Pac is mentioned as a substitute - the PP Lamb Meal & Rice is is listed on their website as protein 25%, fat 12%.

Cassie, your two guys would have big bellies to fill! And just to confirm my previous belief that swapping between 'premium' kibble without a gradual change-over doesn't cause the runs or tummy upsets. His poo has stayed firm and solid, although somewhat smaller now. The same thing happened when I switched him to Natural Balance overnight and then back again to RC. No problems at all. I think the premium kibble are all so similar to each other that the gradual change-over rule only really applies to el cheapo supermarket brands.

In theory you shouldn't have to worry I think, as per the manufacturer's instructions the food is supposedly designed to feed less in total amount while still supplying all the nutrients in a balanced amount, eg, 42% of 1/4 cup should mathematically be about the same protein as 25% of a 1/2 cup of mince.

Or run the dog 20 miles a day to burn off the energy! It's all relative anyway, as it all depends on the dog's lifestyle. A working sheepdog would need to eat a lot more protein than a couch potato dog. Most dogs as house pets even with daily exercise wouldn't need/use as much protein as a wild/working dog/wolf so the excess just turns to nervous energy evidenced by anxiety or aggression etc. At least I think that's how the theory goes.

Sure, if you take the water out of fresh meat, then you have high protein (per weight) compared to dry foods. For example, standard mince meat is approximately 25% protein per weight. Different flesh parts of the animal (ie, cow) contain different levels of protein, varying from 20% to 35% approx. Prime lean rump I believe is the highest, but I could be mistaken. In contrast, Orijen dry food is 42%. So you would have to feed 68% more weight in fresh mince than Orijen for the same level of protein. Standard premium dry foods are about 25% crude protein. The same % as fresh mince meat. Royal Canin Medium Junior is 32%, the high end of fresh meat. So fresh meat doesn't qualify as 'high protein' in any way when compared to processed foods. 'Equal' at best. Weight for weight, if you classify fresh meat as a 'high protein' diet in the context of dog food, then processed food such as Orijen (42%) and Ziwipeak (60% ?) must be 'ultra double high protein'. But it's the processed food which is 'high protein' not the fresh meat. So basically dogs are eating more protein through (overfeeding?) processed foods than they would in nature. Maybe... Some of them. Most of them? Hence the 'high protein' diet needing to be lowered.

Studies are showing high protein/energy exacerbates anxiety, aggression etc in dogs already prone to those conditions.

You may want to look at either NATURAL BALANCE (protein 23%, fat 13%), or NUTRO CHOICE (protein 21%, fat 12%). Probably other premium kibble out there, but the next lowest fat I'm aware of is Eagle Pack Holistic at 15% and the rest go up from there, 17%, 20%. I'm sure someone can correct me if I'm wrong. I think there may also be a specific Hill's Science Diet kibble for obese dogs containing low fat, but I'm not sure.

One bowl of the current Royal Canin Medium Junior and next to it a bowl of the newly acquired Orijen Adult. Alfred sniffs the Orijen, moves over to sniff the RC, then moves back to the Orijen and proceeds to eat the whole lot, not even distracted by the cat coming over to smell the new food, then after finishing it walks off leaving the RC bowl completely untouched. Oddly enough, to me the RC smells more meaty and flavoursome than the Orijen. I guess I don't have a dog's nose!

If noone's mentioned it before, leerburg.com is a site you may want to peruse. Especially this page as a DVD is something your family can sit down together to watch and know what to expect and do.

There's a thread in the general discussion right now about two dogs barking at the neighbour's cats through the fence, where one has picked up the behaviour off the other one. I don't think there's any underlying serious problems there, just an annoying behaviour they want to know how to stop. So if you have the same behaviour in your dog/s you want to curb and search only this forum, you won't see that thread or the replies and advice in that forum. The UK Cocker Spaniel forum has a separate behaviour forum (where I got the idea from) and it's extremely helpful just browsing through all the related behaviour topics without having them mixed up with other topics. Exactly why a separate behaviour forum would work better, I think. You more expert dog people can work out a questionnaire people have to fill out before posting a problem to give you a far clearer picture about the situation right from the outset instead of having to probe for information yourselves (how old's the dog, was it a rescue, who walks/feeds it, etc etc) over three pages when someone asks about dogs digging or pulling on lead.

Well, exactly, this is supposed to be an advanced forum (ie, Dog Sports), so where do the really basic How do I get Skippy to stop jumping on the kids? training/behaviour questions go? Do they come under the 'Training/Obedience' part of this particular forum? Or if Skippy is under 12 months, do they go in the puppy forum, so they're all over the place? A 'sticky' at the top of the forum can have a questionnaire type list for people to answer when posting their problem. Age of dog, number of kids, size of yard, amount of exercise etc. And surely things like digging holes and pulling the washing off the line don't require professional behaviourists? As Shell says, some things can be dealt by the people themselves with just with a bit of good advice based on common knowledge. If it's aggression or something, sure, then those problems can be referred to another 'consulting a professional bevahiourist, here's a list of good'uns' 'sticky' at the top of the forum.

It strikes me that Fred won his second Agility Trial is a totally different kettle of fish from Fred is growling at the kids, help!, both in terms of the dogs' level of experience as well as the owners'. At the moment these problem behaviour threads seem to be spread over this training forum and the puppy forum and even the general forum. It would help new or troubled owners find answers faster and easier as well if the problem behaviours and/or beginner's issues were in their own separate forum.

A bit of trivia. The guy at Kodak* who invented superglue in 1942 eventually developed it for use in the Vietnam War to seal soldier's cuts and wounds in the rain and jungle mud as it not only holds the skin even when wet or being knocked around, it also stops the bleeding. Basically you just hold the two sides of the cut together and put a dab of it on and it stays glued together even under duress, and the wound will heal fine being clean and exposed to air, which is a disadvantage of bandaging. You can also align the two edges better than a bandage to get a cleaner heal. I wish I knew about this when my own Wei cut his pad once. It took ages to eventually heal as it kept opening up as he walked on it. NB. This website says the superglue you can buy in the shops uses methyl-2 which may irritate some skin but not others so it's never been approved for medical use, so you can try using it but there are also non-methyl medical versions called Band Aid Liquid Bandage, a brand used by vets called Nexaband, and another version dentists use called Soothe-n-Seal. * He was actually trying to invent clear plastic to use for lenses, but ended up with a liquid that stuck to everything and wouldn't let go.

Get the vet to test his blood for toxoplasmosis. It affects vision.