melbournecritters

Why not get hubby to take the older one for a walk while you train the new pup.

OK when you said deformed I assumed you meant a congenital deformity or a deficiency. Thanks for clearing that up.

Did the vet say if it is a joint problem or a bone growth problem like ricketts?

I am looking for food for when we bring our new pup home. Can anyone tell me whether Advance has a seperate puppy formula for large breeds? The one that I seem to be able to find is "puppy plus growth". Is 20kg for about $100 a good price for this? If it isn't the right one but the price is good I'll ask them if they will do the same price on the correct type for me. I believe our breeder is on the advance puppy program so we want to stick with this brand initially.

Don't forget to encourage him to drink, the biggest risk with tummy upsets is dehydration. You could even use some electrolytes if you can get some

No worries, that's why I'm asking Thanks Alison

We have just recieved confirmation from the breeder that our new Basset pup was born on mother's day and he definately has a little girl for us so we are over the moon! I 'think' he feeds advance(we will of course confirm this in the coming weeks) and we plan to feed this initially but probably not in the long term. Our other dog(a kelpie) eats a mainly kibble (Coprice) and this brand seems to suit her really well, we always get comments on how healthy she looks. However I am aware of the special needs of different breeds and I want to make sure we do well by this pup. Being a large breed is there a barf/ raw food type diet that would suit? I personally am not that keen on advance(just personal preference) and I don't really have never ending cash to spend on super premium kibble type foods so I am just trying to weigh up our options. I am happy to add supplements, etc. if necessary as I buy alot of general purpose type supplements including a calcium supplement for my breeding birds (these are also suitable for dogs) Any advice would be great

There are thousands of those sites on the net, trying to trick people into paying them for 'ebooks' of info that they could get for free on a google search. If you watch the 'ads by google' in the top ad bar you will sometimes see ones about 'the secrets you never new about X breed of dog', they are the same thing. Often the same person is in the photos as the author who is miraculouly an expert on a dozen different breeds and has supposedly kept them all as pets.

Thanks, that was very interesting. We plan to keep her on the breeders diet for as long as possible, but as we are moving to the country later in the year we may be more limitted in what we have available. I would like to move on to a BARF type diet once she is grown. Is that OK and how do you change it to suit growing puppies? She is a Bassett

When our new pup comes home she will obviously be on the diet her breeder uses but we are trying to work out what diet to use in the long run. Can anyone who owns a breed that can be prone to bloat tell me what they feed please, also any no-no's?

When we trained our girl she didn't start in the crate until she was about 16 weeks so it was all new to her. She didn't like the crate at first so we started putting her in it three times a day with a small meal and closing the door. She would have her meal in there and if she sat down quietly after she had finished then she would come back out. The crate got associated with something she loved and now she will sleep happily in it whenever we need, I have even taken her camping in her own pop up tent! You can also put the crate next to the couch in the evening when you are watching TV and put a chicken wing in there for her to chew. Try not to have her up in the couch or bed at any time during this stage as she needs to know who's boss, especially a staffy! Once she is trained and well behaved then you can always chose to let her up on your terms only when invited.