JeffnCel

The vegetable content for wild dogs come from eating the contents of the stomach of the animal they have killed (usually a herbivore) so they do get a variety of foods in the wild. Our Buffy is on a BARF (bones and raw food) diet which we prepare ourselves. While the bones are good, you have to be careful your dog does not get a little constipated. We give Buffy bones in the morning, and a meat mix at night. She had her weekly meal that included oats and lentils last night. We swapped her over from Royal Canin as she was getting terrible flakey, dry and itchy skin. I originally thought it was the beef in the dry food, but I think it was just the preservatives. Find what works for your dog Everyone's different

I don't know, Buffy's nails are pretty thick! And they're black too, so I can't see where the quick is. If she was a smaller dog I wouldn't consider a dremel.

I haven't attempted Buffy's nails yet as they were quite short when we brought her home, but I read somewhere recently about using a Dremel ? instead of clippers? Does anyone know if it's possible? Or even a good idea? I'm kind of freaking out about clipping her nails as they're black and she's like a jack rabbit on speed sometimes

Tollersowned do you think it would be ok that we've frozed ours together already mixed up? We use a combination of carrots, pumpkin, sweet potato, cauliflower, apples, pears, brocolli and zuccini. We don't drink the juice, we just tip it down the sink. It seems wasteful, but really, cauliflower and apple juice isn't that appealing We were buying our chicken frames from Lennards, but I think our specific lennards is just so cheap they did not leave one bit of meat on the frames. So we get them from a butcher now, 50c each, but there's quite a bit of meat on them.

LOL fbc... this is our second batch and we're still learning as we go along. We read the book by Billinghurt "Give your dog a bone" and went from there. Vegie pulp is the remaining goop in the top of the juicer after you've juiced your vegies. This is apparantly the best way (I know of anyway) to get the vitamins from vegies into your dog. I'm not sure on the mix between vegies and mince... I think we do about 2/3 mince, 1/3 vegies. I don't think it's 1/2 and 1/2 but then again, I don't really measure. I just put in what I think looks to be like a good mix. I probably should measure. Yep, chicken frames are just the left over skeleton that the butchers don't use, and have realised they can make money out of !! Our butchers "pet mince" has offal in it, but Buffy doesn't like offal, so he puts some plain minced up chicken frames aside for us when we need them. I think it's poodlefan or sivaro, they have a really good barf recipe. Have a search in here and I'm sure you'll find it. Really, we kind of follow the Billinghurst book, and by the looks of Buffy, she is just so healthy and full of energy, I think we're doing an ok job. We also have some mixes that are plain minced chicken frames and minced roo, and another that is roo and veg. We also give Buffy plain chicken mince, and we add in sardines, yoghurt, an egg, and we always add missing link to her nighttime meal. Hope that helps

Thanks for that info, that's a good tip!! We were down to our last three meals for Buffy, and I think Hubby has actually put them at the back of the freezer!!! I don't think I want to fish them out, but I will remember not to give them to her when we eventually get down to them.

Yes we write on the little meat parcels the date, weight and ingredients, as we make some different ones up. This time is a bit more than expected. This is our freezer We're not quite sure what we're going to use as OUR freezer space ;) but at least Buffy will be well fed. edit.. forgot to mention that we also had to use some freezer space at a friend's place, as it all wouldn't fit. If there's any hungry doggies in the Brisbane area they are very welcome at our place Next time, I might try what you do, freeze vegie mixes, that would be MUCH easier than making up 7kg of meat goop

We get our missing link from Mrs Flannery's Health and Wellbeing shop. Apparantly, they're not getting the "dog" one but the "human" one is exactly the same. So really, I'd think you could get it from any health food shop. I would love to be able to make Buffy's food up every night, but our silly (but lovely) butcher insists that we buy at least 5kg's of mince at a time. This latest batch has given us a 2 1/2 month supply!!

They're part of your natural raw dog food diet. Whatever mince you choose, say minced chicken frames, mix it with vege pulp, and voila, a BARF pattie. When we feed it to her, we also add Missing Link (supplement), and also throughout the week we add in sardines, yoghurt, eggs. We use a combination of minced chicken frames and kangaroo mince. Buffy's not big on beef, but she does enjoy the beef bones. But she's mainly a chicken and roo girl. Our patties make up her night time meal, with bones being her daytime meal. And she doesn't get a night time meal the nights we do training, she eats enough treats those nights! EFS

I went to the butchers today as I had ordered some minced chicken frames to make a fresh batch of raw meaty goodness for Buffy, and the darling butcher gave me an extra 2 kilos for free because "it's christmas". I'm just a bit worried about how long you can freeze your own barf patties for? If they're wrapped up well, do you think they'd be ok for about 2 months? I'm guessing that's how long this batch is going to last for. If not... anyone in brizzy need some home made barf? Thanks everyone

Yes... we too witnessed out 6 month doberman "air humping" a number of times... apparantly it's to do with their hormones. Don't be too worried about it. A friend's 3yr old female GSD tried to "hump" Buffy only last weekend.

We give Buffy roo tails, they're about 15cm long pieces, and they last her a good day. The meat is gone in about 5 minutes, but the tail must be really hard because she just chews and chews and chews. We did however put one in her crate the other day with her, and after about 1 1/2 hours we could not find any remains, so maybe she was hungry Our butcher charges us $1.50 for marrow bones, but maybe that's because we're such good customers. I think I spend every other day there!

Putting sardines in Buffy's food when we originally started the raw diet certainly helped us, especially the ones in tomato sauce. Someone suggested cheese as well in their food. Buffy isn't crazy about cheese, but some dogs are. What about some nice human grade mince or steak to get his appetite going? Not sure sorry, hope he starts eating soon !

We looked into the BARF patties when we brought Buffy home, but found the amount to give her PLUS the added bones and stuff it worked out very expensive. We now make our own mixes as well as feed different bones, and the last time I worked out how much it cost, for about 500g a day, was around $1.70 per day. That's chicken frames/wings, brisket bones, off cuts, roo tails, and our mixes are mainly minced chicken frames, with roo mince maybe 2 times a week. Last time we made mixes we had about 7kg of mince, took us around 1 1/2 hours to make the mixes, but that was about 5 weeks ago now. We're almost ready to make another lot.

I recorded her yesterday, total barking from 7am to 8:30pm was about 1minute 40seconds the ENTIRE DAY!!! I really don't understand these people. Today she's been out in the rain (which she hates) and has barked for about 30seconds since 6:50am. I am doing the recording whenever I go out, and while I'm at home I have a log book for all her barking. We are also noting down everything else other residents are doing that is "illegal" in the body corporate eyes. I work funny hours, maybe 3 hours in the morning, then come home, then go out for another 3 hours, but in that time hubby has come home, so Buffy is not on her own all that much, and most of the time I bring her into her crate inside if I know it's not going to be a long time before someone is home. She is also having her first season at the moment so her behaviour is a bit off right now. If I can prevent it, I don't want to get a bark collar. I don't know about the citronella ones? The refils seem a bit expensive. I don't know, maybe that Dogtra collar from K9force set on low might be the way we'll have to go. If these people are serious about getting rid of our dog, no amount of proof it's not her barking is going to stop them. They'll probably bait her. We've already found some rawhide chews thrown into our yard on 3 occasions. Grrrrrr I hate some people

We have received an official complaint from our Body Corporate stating Buffy's barking is "excessive". There is no definition of what "excessive" barking is, and we are not covered by our city council because we live in a body corporate. I have taped Buffy while I was out today, with a total of about 30 seconds of barking all up. I also had a friend who is an obedience trainer out today for her to take a look at what could be triggers, and just generally get an outsiders view of our doggy. I emailed K9force(?) about a month ago getting info on anti-bark collars, but I am hesitant at this stage to get one, especially because I really don't know if I should trust these people regarding the complaint. The people across the road say that Buffy hardly ever barks, and the others that have complained have a problem with the owner of our house, so I personally think it's that they just want to tick us off. My question is, I recently heard about an ultra sonic device that you can put up on a wall or something outside? I read today that they are only about 10% effective if you have a problem barker. If Buffy isn't really that bad, do you think it could be worthwhile giving one a go? They're only about $100. Does anyone have any experience with them? Thanks everyone

Yes Lablover but at 5am I'm not properly awake yet LOL. She's actually quietened down a lot the past week. We've been ignoring her and she seems to have learnt that whinging doesn't get attention. We brought her inside the other night, and put her blanket out and I told her to "plahtz" and she stayed there really well. Her stays are getting much better, and she even stayed still enough for our cat to venture up to her!! First time ever!!!!!! I was very pleased. So slowly slowly slowly, like any other training Thanks to everyone who responded :cool:

My hubby desperately wants a malinois to do IPO with since I have a doberman... oh my gosh this is just too tempting. I can't tell him, we can't have another dog yet, no we can't

Ok I'm going to try putting her on lead and getting her an inside blanket. I have actually tried it before with her lying down next to me while I was on the computer, she lay there happily for about a minute, then she was off running around the house just generally being silly and wanting to explore everything. Myszka, everytime she comes inside she's jumping and running around like a mad chicken. Even to get her into her crate it's like she just bursts into it at 100km/h. When she has been inside (being crazy) I probably have been a bit frazzled which probably hasn't helped the situation. But I'm going to try the lead and reward thing, then I can gradually build it up to her lying down inside during a study session, then a movie, then hopefully all night. I need to make her a special part of the house that is her own, or teach her how to behave inside then I can leave the crate door open and she can just go in and out as she pleases.

Arya thanks so much for the reply that was awesome advice!! I have started tracking with her, but since my new job I haven't been able to go with my club, but I was just saying to hubby this morning that I want to start going on my own. I've never owned a high drive dog before, but I am happy with her excitement level, especially when I see others begging their dogs to be a little more active. I do training with her everyday, but I could step it up a bit more. We don't walk Buffy at all because of her growing joints, but she does get taken to the dog park every day for a run, and lots of tug work, and also for the distraction with obedience. A friend is loaning me a leerburg dvd tonight, so I will watch and take lots of notes to use. Please don't get me wrong, I love Buffy's energy level and her drive it's fantastic to begin a new sport as a beginner and have a dog that is kind of easy to work with, but it's just the inside thing at the moment, and her whinging that is really getting to me. I will perservere Thanks so much

RAW feeding is awesome IMO, our Buffy has improved so much since we swapped from dry food.

We use any easily cut up leftovers, snags, meatballs, rissoles, ham and chicken roll, plain chicken roll, and if we can get it, VIP dog roll. The Pet Cafe in brissy sometimes have sample VIP roles they give away for free. It's fantastic and saves buying a massive role that you have to throw half away. We used to use the liver treats but Buffy doesn't chew her treats so they kind of gagged her. And anything biscuity has to be chewed well, so we've found them not good for us. Haven't tried cheese yet, but have heard it's a good one.

So we've got Buffy, the crazy 8 1/2 month old doberman, and we're doing IPO with her. She's got fantastic drive, and when she's listening her obedience is really good. We train twice a week, exercise daily, and always have cuddle time. She is an outside dog, she comes inside to sleep in her crate, and she's been fine with this for the past 3 months. Lately, she started whining/whinging/howling early in the morning (before sunrise). We though she just needed to go toilet, but whenever we'd take her out, she wouldn't do anything, and after 20 minutes would just bark at the kookaburras, so we'd bring her back inside. Now it's like a game for her every morning. I think it's that she's lonely and wants to be with us. I would desperately love to have her inside, not in her crate, but she is just bounding with energy there's no way I could trust her. Even after she's had a run until she's buggered, she could come home and still be jumping around being crazy. She just never seems to run out of energy. Can anyone suggest any training techniques that I could use to teach her that she can jump around and be silly outside, but inside is quiet and calm? Or am I just kidding myself with this crazy doberman puppy? I love her energy, she just lives to have fun and she is just such a happy dog, but surely there's some way to quieten her down just for a little while? Thanks everyone

Alrighty thanks for that I really don't know where I'd be without my prong

Hiya Erny I got a pm asking for a submission about prongs, but I've got no idea what to write except they're fabulous and our dog has no bad feelings towards it Any tips, ideas??