Greytmate

We use Advocate. Most of the greyhounds that come into our program have been on ivermectin.

So why are you challenging the knowledge of people whose experience lies in a community setting rather than a vocational one after telling us that it will not be tolerated? I have yet to meet a person whose knowledge of dogs and dog behaviour is complete, regardless of a person's expertise in working with certain breeds or training dogs to perform specific tasks. While certain training implements are illegal in certain jurisdictions, those with 'sensitivities' could keep in mind that the 'uneducated' and 'unititiated' will have doubts about the credibility of people that are advocating actions that are outside the law. How about accepting the challenge to educate and initiate with good grace, instead of an authoritarian style post about 'what will not be tolerated'? The forum rules go far enough in my opinion, and at times on this forum there is a very fine line between people freely sharing information for the benefit of dogs, and soliciting business for the benefit of themselves.

I was at Gold Coast this evening, and a trainer was there with a couple of shaved dogs. He kindly allowed me to take a photo of one. It is a bit hard to see in the photo, I think that the dog was shaved a few weeks ago. The dog was red fawn, but where it was shaved it is a cream colour. The dog's head was not shaved or its tail. It wasn't shaved below the elbows or stifles either.

Do you know that the tail has a lack of feeling? Have you tested this? Has the spinal cord been severed? Does the tail hang limply after one of the breaks? If the answer is yes to these questions then consider amputation. If the answer is no, then perhasp not. Many dogs have had broken tails that leave permanent kinks, and it doesn't seem to worry them. Amputation will not affect the dog's balance in any way. A tail amputation takes a relatively long time to heal as there are fewer blood vessels going to the area. You will need to bandage it carefully and look after it, and make sure that it does not get infected. It can be quite difficult to keep a bandage on a dog's tail.

The vet will charge more because it is a much more difficult and dangerous operation. Much better to wait, unless you know that a male has already got to her. Sammy, we desex all of our greyhounds at GAP, and responsible rescue organisations always desex, but it is not clear who Paola bought her dog from. She may not have bought it from the breeder, and a lot of people that rehome their ex-racers do not get them desexed. Paola, I hope you didn't pay any money for an undesexed ex-racing greyhound. That is quite typical that a greyhound bitch will come into season as soon as she is moved to a new home. It is always a priority with us to get our bitches desexed as soon as we possibly can after they arrive to avoid this happenning. Please PM me with your address if you would like an information handbook about keeping ex-racing greyhounds.

Why it is not politically correct for responsible, informed owners to keep entire dogs in secure premises is totally beyond me. My entire dogs and bitches have never produced an accidental litter in over 30 years - it can be done, and I'm fed up with everyone assuming that ALL entires are responsible for the unwanted dog problem. Because it is not politically correct to label anybody as irresponsible and uninformed, and demand that only those people desex. Because there are more proven health benefits than proven disadvantages of having dogs desexed. Because desexed dogs are not the ones that are responsible for the unwanted dog problem. I don't appreciate some of the psuedo-scientific propaganda and conspiracy theories you spout in your anti-desexing campaign. I don't appreciate you telling us that dogs that are desexed have awful incorrect coats. A different coat is not an awful coat. If you are only talking about one breed then say that, otherwise you do appear to be talking bullshit.

What breed are you talking about? You are so anti-desexing, it seems that you will say just about anything to try to put people off desexing their pets, and sorry, but this just sounds like bullshit to me.

Good on you Imy for putting them on the diet. Keep going until you can show us a photo where we can see their pin bones.

You are doing well Imy.

You are not the only party pooper Trish. Imy your dogs are FAT. A greyhound's frame is NOT designed to carry a lot of excess weight. Their joints can't take it and it is also very bad for balance. If you do not get the weight down, your dogs will get arthritis, and then you will be posting in this forum, asking us all about where to buy sasha's blend, and asking us how much our vet charges for cartrophen injections. Or Your dog will take the corner too fast, it will slide out on your tiled floor and smash its shoulder to pieces, and the vet will advise euthanasia, even though you have a spare $5000 sitting in the bank to pay for an op, because no vet is willing to go ahead with the op. Is that what you want? No? Then stop worrying about how your dogs look, or worrying about whether other people think greyhounds look better skinny or fat, and get your dogs on a diet now. :cool:

At that weight, it is highly unlikely that they are hungry, and more likely that they have learned that acting a certain way will bring rewards. When there are two dogs living together they will often eat quickly even if they are not hungry, just so that the other has no chance to get the food. Feeding a dog because it appears hungry is a cause of obesity in dogs. It is often beneficial to reduce the amount of food given to a dog so that its stomach gets used to smaller portions, although this could be done very gradually. It would be better to give the dogs what they need for good health rather than give them what they seem to want. They cannot be expected to monitor and adjust their own nutritional intake.

Bonnie is made by Nestle, Coprice is made by Sunrice.

Cut down on the amount of food. Increase the ratio of veges to meat, and consider changing over to a lean beef mince or even roo. Cut down on the dry food. Your 40kg dog is dangerously overweight. You want to be able to see three vertebrae, two ribs, and be able to see the pin bones.

I will take a photo next time I see one. Probably have to wait until the really hot weather though.

I don't believe that a greyhound's coat can get to 6 - 7 cms long, but there some people that don't keep their greyhound rugged in winter, and it will grow an extra thick fluffy coat. Then they don't brush it at the end of winter, and it stays thick in patches and looks terrible. Then they shave it, except for the head, tail and legs, and it looks ridiculous.

But how do you know if you would be a good instructor or not unless you undertake an instructor's course and learn to be an instructor? People are not paying money each week to be taught by an instructor, they are paying to be a member of a club that has voluntary instructors. Skyesong, there were people just like that at our obedience club, they would also turn up to win the trophies at the in-club competitions. The only meeting they ever attend is the annual general meeting to collect their trophies.

Add to that the trainer who has chosen a dog that is very easy to train and compete with, that has little understanding or patience when working with breeds that are more challenging. If you have stayed long enough to title your dog, and enjoyed the benefits of club membership for so long, it is to be expected that those that have given up their free time to help you might appreciate you contributing something back to your club. Another way of reducing the 'stigma' and contributing to your club is to volunteer to go on committees, or take on other regular responsibilities. Most clubs are short of volunteers and especially short of instructors. The more people that take the time to learn to instruct the less pressure there would be on existing instructors. Most clubs would regularly assess their instructors, and expect them to have achieved a level of competancy. A person is capable of passing on knowledge regardless of whether they have entered a trial or not, there is a lot more to dog obedience and dog behaviour than entering trials. They may not be able to advise handlers on the finer points of ringcraft, but they might have an advanced working knowledge of training beginner handlers or puppy class. The majority of club members at any obedience club will never enter a trial anyway, all they want is to have their dog under basic control.Volunteer instructors are giving something back to their club and their community. There are plenty of people at obedience clubs that just take all they can without giving anything at all back to their club. Clubs depend on volunteers both instructors and committee members, and if it was not for these volunteers, clubs would not exist and all people wanting to learn would be forced to pay for private tuition. Unfortunately fewer people these days volunteer even on a casual basis, let alone make the commitment neccessary to become an instructor. I was invited to learn to be an instructor long before I gained a title, and passing the instructors course was a lot harder and required a far greater commitment than just gaining my novice title. Just because somebody has a title does not make them instructor material. Instructors need the ability to train people as much as they need the ability to train dogs. If somebody is paying for private tuition, they are paying for the right to have high expectations of service, and to have instructors with formal qualifications. But the people that are members of low-fee obedience clubs that don't make a personal contribution, yet complain about the standard of instruction or the management of the club, should understand that their club membership does not entitle them to anything other than a membership badge and the right to use the facilities. If other members of the club choose to give up their free time to make the club work, they should really be thanked, not whinged about. Edited, to fix errors I made because I was tired when I wrote it.

Aldi don't do the actual packaging either. Aldi places an order for the quantity that they want, and the manufacturers put the food that they sell to Aldi in the Aldi brand packaging. The food goes through exactly the same production, but the rolls of packaging are changed over on the machines.

I suspect (but do not know for sure) that the Aldi canned food may be manufactured by the Australian Specialty Pet Food cannery in Pyramid Hill in Victoria. The company manufactures food under a few different labels (Bush's, Home brand, Black & Gold etc). The only other dog food canneries that I know of are Uncle Ben's (Pedigree, Chum, Whiskas, Mydog) in Wodonga, and Nature's Gift in Moorabin. Does anyone know of other dog food canneries in Australia?

No, Julius is Aldi's generic dog food brand name. There is no company called Julius. The food is manufactured and packaged by other companies.

Not all canned foods are more water and cereal than anything else. Different cans have different contents. The ingredients listed on the side of the can will tell you what is in the can in order of most quantity to least.

Aldi treats are Nature's Gift treats, packaged specially for Aldi. If you are feeding enough treats that your dog gets the runs, you are feeding too many treats. Not sure who does the Aldi canned food.

You could keep on using the advocate, and use a killtix or preventic collar as well. Or you could use advantix, and use a monthly heartworm preventative tablet. Or you could use advantix, and get a yearly heartworm injection. I wish somebody would come up with a product that does ticks, heartworm, worms and fleas in one, that would make things easier.

A retired greyhound is an excellent choice for a first time dog owner. They are easy to look after and are very good with children. They would be happier with shorter walks than an hour though. They are suitable as an only dog.

We have a foster dog that also has a mysterious rash too. You could ask the vet about the possibility of it being a fungal infection.