FionaC

Hey Cynthia - I found Venison Ears in PetStock a few weeks back - they are listed as being fat free .... about the same price as the pigs ears (I got a bag of 10 for just under $20) and Morty likes them ..... takes the same length of time for him to eat them .... maybe these might fit the bill?

yup thats the marrow and it is quite high in fat - too much can lead to an upset tummy and messy poo but it can have no real affect either - depends on the dog and the quantity of marrow ..... if you're really worried about it then scoop the marrow out and just give the bone, or give half the bone and half the marrow ....

that is one seriously beautiful pup .... wow he is a stunner (in a completely "I know nothing about showing" laypersons opinion)

You can buy the Rescue Remedy (which is a combination of 5 Bach Flower essences) in lots of places - Health Food Stores, Chemists, Herbalists and even the supermarket sometimes .... the Bush Flower Essences (which also has a similar mixed product like the Rescue Remedy) is usually only from Health Food stores ... the larger kits are usually purchased through suppliers though rather than stores..... Bach Flowers have 38 individual remedies in their kit all for different treatments, Australian Bush Flower Essences have 68 individuals and I think 3-4 combination ones available.... The master kits can be expensive but brilliant if you use them in your practice (like I do) and sometimes Bush Flowers will work better for one person and Bach's for another ... but for general stuff the RR seems to cover most stuff for dogs and cats The Bach kits come in a beautiful leather wallet - sooo pretty

Yup, its used for humans, dog and cat in this household ..... I also use other remedies from the Bach kit and some of the Bush Flower ones as well - with great results in many cases....

Yeah we use the Hamilton Vet Clinic for both Mort and Talin - have boarded both there as well (although Mort only a single overnight) ... we did puppy pre-school through them as well .... have had nothing but positive outcomes from all our interactions with them ..... plus they are close (we live 5 minutes down the road)

Our boy gets an apple every morning - its cored and the cored area gets a smear of peanut butter and into it goes his fish oil and Vit E capsules ... he loves his apple and thankfully no runny poos or digestive issues as a result ...

Well my GSP (so a large breed like a Lab) at 8 weeks was eating half a chicken carcass for dinner each night - not smashed up or ground up at all ... from 12 weeks old he was eating a whole one for dinner .... we were worried about him scoffing it down quickly so we just gave it to him frozen ... took longer to eat and when teething it was great as it numbed sore gums

A lot do combine them both but there are also Herbalists that have studied and practice specifically in treating animals .... to be a Herbalist (human) you study fulltime for 4 years including supervised clinic hours etc ... there are a few courses you can do in terms of animal herbal medicine - the one I'm doing at the moment as a post-grad to my human herbal medicine qualifications requires 100hrs of supervised clinic working with a vet and although I've not finalized who I will be doing that with yet (won't be till next year) - I've spoken to a good half a dozen or so local vets that expressed an interest in me doing it through their clinic ....... many of those vets I know would refer to a Herbalist for complimentary treatments as part of an ongoing treatment plan if they had them available ......

I left the radio on for Mort for the first week, that and plenty of toys, a nice warm bed and area to play in and he was fine - we were really nervous about him crying/barking when we weren't there but about a month later we were talking with our next door neighbours (their house is about 1.5m from the side of ours) and asked them if he had been too loud at all and they were really surprised that we even had a dog cause they had never heard him

Wowsa and my boy Mort are practically the same age, I remember that you were getting him a few weeks after I was bringing Mort home.... I thought my boy was a good size at 30kgs but Wowsa is double + more than that! .... what a beautiful boy as well! I have loved watching him grow on this thread ... it was a brilliant idea to start

Hi Tanya Welcome to DOL and congrats on your GSP ... Yes TOT works well from a young age, I started our boy on it from 8 weeks old (when he first came home) and it was great! ..... I'd suggest talking to your boys and getting them to limit the amount of running they do around the pup, she seems to be seeing it as a game rather than them trying to get away from her, they are also old enough to be able to say "no" to her and turn away, might need a bit of practice with them but I'm sure they can do it .... I'd keep her on lead when inside at all times, that way you can manage the jumping behaviour and any interactions she has with your boys .... Plenty of good chew toys are also essential with a GSP pup .... things like Kongs etc that you give her when she is chewing on something else/or someone else - I seemed to spend most of my time with our boy saying "no" or "ah ha" over and over again but in time that has decreased (somewhat) ...... Come over to the breed thread (I sent you the link in a PM) .... we love to see photos too! Are you looking at Puppy Pre-school for her? maybe some Obedience training once she turns 16 weeks old? that might be an option for you especially as she will get to be quite a large size when fully grown (my boy is currently 30kgs and is 10mths old)

I am so sorry tooo LC and to your family. Ruby was a beautiful girl and I'm sure she loved every moment she had with your family ..... Run free Ruby ...

Oh Anna - wish you were closer! Poor Ollie .... I've got no suggestions I'm afraid as I'm battling the GSP teenage sillies myself right now - you might see him calm a little now he's getting desexed though? maybe?

My boy came to me on Eukanuba puppy food but we changed him over to Royal Canin after that first bag was finished and he has been on it since .... we are quite happy with it and he loves it (ok as long as it appears to be edible he would love it as he is a GSP) .....

Mort eats frozen chicken frames for dinner 6 nights a week - so i wouldn't worry about it He will also scoff the poor cat's chicken neck if he finds it before I can put it back up in his bowl ....

My SIL uses the Adamstown Vet for her GSD and she has quite positive things to say about them ... I use the Hamilton Vet Clinic for Mort (and Talin) and have only good things to say about them as well (they are very open to alternative therapies along side mainstream therapies which I like) - however I don't know their views on prong collars so I can't help on that one ......

We will be doing both - we are working our way through Obedience now (Mort is 9mths old) and will start Agility work when he gets to be 12mths (minimum age for joining the club here) and he gets to a specific level in Obedience (also a requirement of the club here) ....

The way I did it with Morty is to place treat in hand, drop hand in front of dogs face when saying "drop" or "down" and bring hand down to ground slightly forward of his body .... he just folded himself down after it ..... then give the treat and lots of praise ..... sorry meant to add, this is when I'm just standing in front of him without a lead etc .... if you mean drop command when on lead in heel position then I do a similar thing but standing to his side, bring the hand in front of his nose and to the ground and he drops once again - then gradually you can stop going all the way to the ground as they do it right and eventually (I'm not there yet myself when in the heel position) can just say the word and they go down .... Morty is quite food orientated so I always start with food rewards for something new or something he doesn't like to do (being a large lanky boy, he doesn't like going into drop much himself but he will do it pretty well if there is a treat involved )

Mortimer aka Mort (GSP) First night home from the breeders (8 weeks old) 2 weeks ago - so 8 mths old Another comparison I like First trip to the beach - at approx 14 weeks Trip to the beach - at approx 6 mths

Oh Bellatrix I am so sorry to read this - I remember reading your posts from the start when you first bought Lucy home as she was just a few months older than our pup .... Run free little Lucy ..... chase those butterflies little one... :rolleyes:

We have a soft crate and its all we have used since Mort was 8 weeks old - he is now almost 8 months old - he is a GSP and a chewer and scratcher - hasn't put a single puncture or dent into his soft crate .... also never soiled in the crate either - I guess that's the idea of crate training, they don't like to toilet where they sleep so it helps with toilet training ..... You can buy the biger sized crate and just put an insert into it - we had a piece of MDF cut to the same kind of shape and put it half way down the crate - as Mort grew we moved the MDF backwards to make more room... easy peasy and no need to buy multiple crates Also really like the soft crates as they are easy to dismantle and carry ... v easy to put back up again as well .... This is the seller and crate that we bought ....K9 Royale

I wish her brother was like that Morty pulls like a steam train (until we got the sporn leader)

We briefly tried the Halti (for about 2 minutes in which Mort was almost on the ground trying to rip it off) - we ended up with this one http://www.ozpetshop.com.au/product_info.p...roducts_id/1738 and absolutely love it - he is so much better to walk & we use it for Obedience Classes as well ... the nose strap is only neoprene and doesn't constrict the mouth/nose at all ...... edited to add - we are only just beginning obedience classes with Mort as well - we are also doing a lot of work at home with him between classes - I'd like to get back to just the martingale for walks but at least with the sporn leader one we can still enjoy walks and its not a problem for him to be wearing - if we had persisted with the halti, I think he would have ripped his face apart with his claws trying to get it off - he definitely hated even wearing it for a couple of minutes

We bought a couple for Mort when he first came home - after the 2nd day - he figured out how to climb the wire and got himself out .... so we didn't use it as a puppy pen after that .... however it makes a GREAT cat litter box cage to keep him out of there - we just opened one side just wide enough to fit the cat - put the litter box inside and voila - Morty can't reach the litter box anymore and Talin has some peace and quiet when he needs it