OSoSwift

I have used dried tendons and beef wizzers, roo tendons etc with mine. Two can tolerate raw bones and food no worries, the ontehr can only tolerate a very lean, virtually no meat beef rib at mosta round once a week. They love these and the help keep their teeth clean http://www.australianpettreatcompany.com.au/ They are all australian, no added crap just dried. The beef tendons are quite hard.

Rommi is a little harder to motivate, food works wonders with her as you can lose the tips of your fingers if you are not careful! She will only work to a point though so it can be hard work keeping her 'up', don't train too often or long maybe every 3rd day for her. Lewis is very different, also trains very well for food, but a good play and he is happy or with a ball. He finds jumping very self reinforcing and if he is getting tired you give him a 15 /20 minute break and he is back into it. He also really gets off on being told he is clever. He is much more fun to train but due to being quite enthusiastic his work is flashy but he is more likely to break a position. Rommi is not as flashy but very solid. Lewis is find it rather hard to keep up with but is quite slow and careful over the A-frame and dog walk at this stage. Rommi is a little slower but far more confident on the A-frame and dog walk. I wouldn't class them as slow but they are certainly not BC's! They are very different to train, Lewis is more energetic and does a lot more exercise than Rommi. They both are very quiet inside though and in their down time

has this owner ever had a dog before, doesnt sound like it. Dogs are far better off lean. Its great lots of experienced dog owners are giving their views. A fat dog is not a healthy dog. This breed in particular should look the way your dog does. I am sorry do you mean have I ever had a dog before?????

She looks good to me. Personally I would keep her weight reasonably the same, maybe a very slight increase(talking half a kilo at the most) and just concentrate on giving her a good quality diet and getting and keeping her fitness up.

Thanks Ptolomy - the dogs will be fine if I don't get really nervous as per normal and stuff it up for them!!! Just don't laugh at me if I fall on my face

Your little girl sounds devine TSD. Does make life interesting when they are very smart though, trying to stay even one step ahead!! Well I am supposed to be training for Albany (mid Feb) Rommi recently had 8 weeks off due to a knee and toe injury, then she dislocated the toe again. We strapped it and soldiered on. We were going well but rusty as you would imagine. Then I got a virus and COMPLETELY lost my voice, I couldn't even squeak!!!! So no training for 5 days until I have finally got it back enough so I can give a comand and not sound like a squeaking door! Did some training just now thinking oh no how far back have we slipped and both the dogs nailed it!!! I consider myself very very lucky, I was ssooo proud of them. Happy bouncy heeling, very fact recalls - yes I did have one knee collection of fast moving Whippet, and very correct sits, stands and downs. Pheewww can breathe a small sigh of relief! Hopefully back on track again!

I have to fatten Howie up to show him. :D He would usually have three visble vertebrae and my vet says that's about right for a sighthound. I love my vet. My vets love mine as well. I could do with putting some more condition on them for the ring which I will do, but I am not putting on as much as some I have seen, I just couldn't live with myself!! I have been told it is refreshing to see lean fit dogs instead of the fat ones they see a majority of the time. I definately agree with the cruciate ligamnet bit. Most of the dogs you see that have blown them are overweight for their breed. Some have not very good hind leg conformation, some are just unlucky but being over weight increases the chances of injury many times over.

Oh I would feed her for maintenece for a bit as she may put weight on due to not having as much free running time anyway. Initially I would feed her what she is used to and change it in a few weeks at least and take a week or two over the change.

Personally I would like to see more photos, however to me she looks lean and how I presonally like a dog. A skinny dog has little muscle bulk, usually has lots of ribs sticking out and many verterbrae. If you had a sighthound then some visible verterbrae are fine, but as a general rule in your bull breeds they do not have visible verterbrae. YOu should be able to see at least the last rib or two. Being able to see no ribs is starting to carry too much weight. Am Staffs are not meant to be fat they are meant to be lean, have a couple of visible ribs and good muscle bulk, ie not really chunky but strong well flled out muscles. There is, to me, nothing worse than a bul breed that is over weight or fat they are a strong working breed not a fat slob. I know and have known many Am Staffs and the bitches in particular can be pigs and they do eat like they haven't been fed for a few days I do like her markings and colouring though very nice and I would like to see more photos. I am guessing you would not like to see photos of my Whippets. I keep them in lean condition with a visible rib or two and some visible verterbrae. To some people that show Whippets they would like more fat cover on them. I like lean mean running machines. They are certainly not skinny they are fit athletes.

I have Whippets on a farm. I have livestock fences around the 5 acre house glock. They have never done a bunk from there but I do not leave them out there unattended. They hang around and do not try and run off when I am with them. From the day they are brought home they are taught recall all the time (I carry treats everywhere for the first 6 months and fromt ime to time after that). They are taught leave it. Sometimes this applies to the cat/s with young babies. I teach them leave it incase of snake encounters. When I go walking through the farm they are one lead. We have come accross kangaroo's, rabbits and foxes. While they get excited they do not rip my arm out of it's socket or anything. I do not know that a leave it would suffice in this situation as I haven't had to use it. When they go chasing bunnies we go on the bike, they are let off in a certain area I follow them through that area and then they are called back. It is only rarely they need to be called twice. Having said that they are very fast so they can have seen something and be off before you have had a chance to even get a word out of your mouth, so no off lead near roads or whre they can get themsleves in trouble. As PF said they run fast but not for a great distance. Lewis will always come back if he hears an i squeak as he is totally addicted. When summer is over and the snakes have racked off a bit I will take them to the bunny hunting spot and see if the Isqueak noise will get him off bunny hunting. My dogs have loads of off lead time and haven't taken off as yet, but there are no major motivators for them to do that. I think A Standard Poodle may fit the bill there were some brilliant ones on the WA obedience and agility circuit a few years ago.

Doesn't look like it has slowed him down much bedazzled! He sure is cute.

I would try the take you and her to a location by car and the walk her home from there, somewhere she has not been before. I would think a confidence thing as well. You could possibly try using rescue remedy with her prior to the walks and that may help reduce anxiety if that is what the issue is. Goodluck

That's a thought worth exploring and experimenting with. I was trying to think what to colour it with, black texta maybe? There are a whole bunch of neurological conditions that result in people (or animals) misidentifying parts of their bodies. Sometimes the solutions are intriguing. You could always dye it with Condy's crystals, would help with any infection and will turn it a similar colour to her body colour.

Yep have to agree fully with that.

Oh NZ is VERY appealing to me. I was only telling oh the other day if I didn't have the ties here that I do I would move to NZ.

Oh my - I think I have something in my eye.

Hey Monah you are having a bit of a bad run at it lately!!! Did you see the snake strike at all??? if it looked more as though it was just trying to get away I have generally found they haven't struck at the dog as they are more interested in moving off. If they sit up and strike of course, different story. All fingers and paws crossed that it isn't a snake bite and you can have a break you poor thing. I am not sure about the type of snake or what your vets have but sometimes you can take blood to see if the clotting time is slowed and with tigers that can help let you know if they have been bitten Good luck from us

She was diagnosed at 5 and it was the reason I pulled her from the ring.

I was told not to jump her or let her do maddies at the beach, but other than that she was fine. I always made sure she had a very warm coat or two on when it was cold and she had her hottie every night. She died from Dilated CArdio Myopathy at 8 and a half years, but up until that point and after her intial course of tablets she was fine. HAd she lived longer I think she may have required pain killers, but when she died she didn't have any, ran and played (up until her heart had a wobbly) and had 5 kms walks and was all good.

Good to see you now know and it explains why she was in so much pain. My young Dobe had spondlyosis of 5 verterbrae in her back and her first two symptoms were an unwillingness to jump and limping on her left front leg. Also she would jump one direction better than the other. Acupuncture regularly helped her.

Spoke with manufacturer this morning, the New PP10 & PP50 available shortly 7-10 days, I am awaiting on prices and delivery. PP50 takes dog weight up to 20kg. •PP10/PP20/PP30/PP40/PP50s are made of high quality plastic, which are strong and durable. •Beautifully designed with a flexible cage lock, generously sized water bowl, funnel and litter tray. •Can be used as a kennel as well as a portable carrier. •Dimensions: PP10 33 x 33 x 48.5 cm PP20 37 x 37 x 52 cm PP30 43 x 45 x 62 cm PP40 44 x 53 x 73 cm PP50 56 x 60 x 82 cm All of these crates have been airline approved. I will let you know as soon as available. Thank you, the pp40 is not quite big enough but the PP50 will be perfect. I have a large Vari kennel but it is a bit big.

I do this as well. Less strict now I have Whippets instead of Dobes. A lead walk after a pigs ear I wouldn't imagine is a huge issue though. I wouldn't do rough and tumble off lead hooning though.

Wayrod are the new PP50's available as yet?????? these would be perfect adult Whippet size.

Incontinence affects 20 % of bitches and Pyo may occur in 25% of bitches???? Seems the odds are fairly equal. Also frustrating that so far I have a 100% strike rate with incontinence in my speyed bitches. One in five wouldn't annoy me so much. Have had one with an open pyo that then went on to become incontinent - always knew my animals were weird!

They can be if they have a vet certificate saying they are fit to fly. Yet another expense for breeders flying puppies to new homes. This will affect me considerably as if my puppies are not sold locally the less stress and locked up time option is to fly them. It is 8 hours (plus if travelling with puppies) by car and to me too risky if having to do toilet stops for babies as you would need to for that amount of time.