Crisovar

It really depends on the dog and they manner in which it chews its food rather than the breed. My 35 kg GSD can safely eat wings. All RMBs need to be thoroughly chewed, ensuring that the bone inside the meat is crushed before swallowing. Some dogs gulp their food and swallow pieces that are far too large.

But it's not the dogs choice, it's yours as an owner and the dogs need to comply with it. It's part of everyday handling and routine care of the dog. I'm amazed, although I shouldn;t be, at the number of owners who allow their dogs to get away with such things. Brushing and nail clipping are the simplist of tasks, yet many dogs seem to rule the roost when it comes to them. Add medicating to the list too! Thanks everyone. There are some great ideas being presented and I will read through them all and try some of the different techniques. Medicating and grooming are non issues with him thank goodness. He was vaccinated 3 weeks ago and he just sat through the process... the proheart needle, the other needle and the Kennel cough serum up the nose... didn't move a muscle He is my third Ridgie, and I have never had the same problems with the previous 2. They didn't like, but they accepted it. I was actually thinking more along the lines of owners who cannot dose their dog with tablets. All part and parcel of pet ownership and dogs need to be trained to be accepting of it from puppyhood.

But it's not the dogs choice, it's yours as an owner and the dogs need to comply with it. It's part of everyday handling and routine care of the dog. I'm amazed, although I shouldn;t be, at the number of owners who allow their dogs to get away with such things. Brushing and nail clipping are the simplist of tasks, yet many dogs seem to rule the roost when it comes to them. Add medicating to the list too!

I'm sick to death of dog owners who don't keep their bloody dogs at home! The more roaming dogs that end up with a bullet the better.

To explain the health benefits to feeding a premium food. The problem with that is that every dog is an individual and finding the best food for that dog is the key. It may well be one of the higher end supermarket foods that is the answer. For some dogs it may be no processed foods at all, raw may be the key. It is not written in stone that all dogs will thrive on a whiz band no grain, no fillers, mortgage the house type food. If it doesn't suit the dog it is crap in a bag despite the price tag or factory it comes from.

It really does depend upon being able to source your RMBs and Meat at good prices. We have no pet meat outlets unless we drive to another town so we rely upon specials at the supermarket and driving around several butchers to source our stuff. It all became somewhat silly at one point so we have been forced to develop a much more relaxed attitude to feeding the mutts. If you can get boxes of frames and necks and other RMBs in bulk it does work out very cost effective even with a few big dogs. Supplements such as oils etc I find I have to buy online. We have been trying to get bulk turkey necks for months with no luck, so are relying on woolworths and have to fight for them

It is not a widespread problem, one preventable tragedy does not equate to the nations dogs running amok devouring residents daily as the hysteria would suggest. We have problem with a small percentage of moronic owners.

Permission to share please.

One of my dogs reacted very badly to Clomicalm, once we took him off it he returned to normal toileting. It could be the drug could be the food could a combination of both. You may need to experiment to see which one it is.

Sounds like a training issue.

What happens is entirely up to each individual case and the future well being of the animal involved. The Breeder has stepped up and refunded on the pup, what they do now is their business alone.

I agree, it will take some work though to convince them, I have a feeling most of our pollies are as ignorant as our friend MB when it comes to dog attacks.

Agree. I wonder if the People who disagree with this all have wills that say that all their dogs go back to their individual breeders, even if that means splitting them up, sending old dogs interstate etc. I know that certainly won't be happening with my dogs - no one knows my dogs better than me and I've made decisions based on their best interests. We are talking about totally different scenarios here, I want to be given the opportunity to step up to the plate and take responsibility for my own if they fall the cracks and end up in Rescue or the pound. Private agreements between individuals are a different case again. Whilst I hope that anyone who has one of my dogs would contact me if they run into trouble and allow me to help that is out of my hands once they leave, however I simply cannot understand why more Rescues and Pounds do not even give the Breeders the opportunity. There has been talk bandied on forums like this of using microchips to identify where animals in rescue and pounds originate. Would all Breeders get lumped into the same basket when most I know would step up and take their own back if only given the chance. If one of my dogs landed in rescue and its details were recorded do I become one of those uncaring breeders who just don't care and are contributing to the kill numbers when in all probability I would have no knowledge of it.

It appears to me that there are a huge amount of demands and expectations made on Breeders to do the right thing to provide people with the very best puppy they possibly can. To do this requires heart and commitment alongside the knowledge and experience. Then some of you expect them to just walk away unless of course an unfortunate health issue arises then you want the supportive and caring Breeder and their wallet back back. It stinks.

Many of us experienced that exact thing when QLD BSL killed the thousands of innocent lives, and are haunted by the memories. It was a scene that was repeated over and over.

I feel very strongly about this topic. As a Breeder I would always take my own back, desexed or not, and I would expect to be given that opportunity. What irks me is that whilst rescues and shelters are crying out for assistance, and whining about too many animals and not enough resources to take them, they will not knock back the purebred ones and many do not allow the Breeder to take them back. Makes no sense to me, why not ease your burden by giving the Breeder the responsibility for their own when they are willing. As far as microchipping goes the whole system is BS, when push comes to shove the system fails, it fails the dogs, it fails their owners and it fails their breeders. It lulls people into a false sense of security and often people learn this the hard way. We also have too many data bases and too many instances of human error with data input.

That comment is as bad as the ignorant comments lately regarding PBs, Rotties etc.

Anything without ANKC registration to prove what it is could well be on the hit list in the current climate.

Not on the ones I know ;)

Sounds like a case of Rectal Cranial Inversion!

It always pays to ask around other dog owners and local Vets etc to find what products are found to be effective for your area. Fidos Rinse every 3 days is another option too. Proban is now out of manufacture so after current shelf stocks run out that is the end of that.

Yeah but don't you think that it's a problem that at the moment you can buy an animal without knowing anything about them? Without knowing anything about their nutrition or exercise requirements or even their obligations under the law? I think that's a really signficant problem which not only contributes to things like dog attacks but to significant animal welfare issues as well. I know people who know nothing about worming, parvo etc until their dog gets sick, if the dog doesn't get sick they remain in blissful ignorance. They don't learn until they have to learn, and sometimes it's too late. You can say exactly the same things about people becoming parents! IMO the most important decision any person can make. Maybe if we start back there then a lot of our problems as a society would go away. The fact is we as dog owners/breeders are over legislated now and those laws already in place are not policed. Adding more laws to make the pollies, law makers and emotional public feel good will do jack shit.

And all on the basis of attacks that were largely NOT committed by APBTs. Geeze people could afford to learn from history. Can't let the facts get in the way of hysteria and vote gathering.

Simple. Round up anything with a big head, smooth coat and weighing over 18kg that isn't ANKC registered and kill the lot. Anything red or brindle will be first in line. And don't think it can't happen. Exactly! does no one remember what happened in QLD?? Thousands of innocent dogs killed, because of the way someone thought they looked, THOUSANDS! Crisovar - can you please clarify what you are referring to? Thanks The thousands of dogs that were seized and killed in QLD starting in 2002(?) These dogs were seized or forcibly surrendered simply on looks because the Qld government bowed to the hysteria to rid the state of the killer dogs. There was no temperament testing no actual acts of aggression they were killed because they looked like pitbulls, baby puppies included. Some owners tried to save their dogs by sending them to safe states, some hid their dogs, some left the state with their dogs, but thousands were killed. I don't know if the old BSL & EDBA threads are still available here on DOL, but there were many from that time.

Simple. Round up anything with a big head, smooth coat and weighing over 18kg that isn't ANKC registered and kill the lot. Anything red or brindle will be first in line. And don't think it can't happen. Exactly! does no one remember what happened in QLD?? Thousands of innocent dogs killed, because of the way someone thought they looked, THOUSANDS!