sheena

The main reason for changing is that the VAN is such a sloppy food, that I wonder if it is the best thing for her teeth. She has been on it now for over 12 months & had a vet check a couple of weeks ago & she said she had lovely teeth & was in excellent condition, but I still am worried about the long term affect of having sloppy food each night. She gets RMB's as well each day & with all this talk about Black Hawk, it started me thinking that a more chewy meal might be better for her in the long run.

Proban is probably the best to prevent paralysis ticks but it is not 100%...you still have to check daily & it must be given every 48 hours or within an hour either side. Forgetting one night & giving it the next morning renders it useless. While Proban is the best for preventing paralysis, the ticks still have to get on the dog & bite before they get a dose of poison & fall off. You need something else which will actually repell the ticks in the first place. I have been experimenting with using 25 drops rose geranium oil, 25 drops lavender oil mixed with 2 tablespoons almond oil. A few drops dabbed on the cloth collar daily & some mixed with water & sprayed onto the undercarriage daily. Seems to work, but not 100%....probably about as good as the Advantix was. I also give proban 48 hourly..& I definately wouldn't recommend only relying on the oils to do the job

You have to put lots of value on his crate, so he just loves being in there. Get hold of Crate Games..dvd by Susan Garrett...you wont regret it. The crate has to become "His" space, his haven & a place that he just loves to run to at bedtime...just like little kids have a bedtime routine...so must your dog.

Buyer beware of buying anything from Clean Run that contains animal or vegetable product because 9 times out of ten it will get confiscated by Australian Customs & you might even end up with a fine I've bought fur from Clean Run without issue. Anything tanned is usually OK. Yep I've bought loads of fur toys from clean run, even things like the raccoon tail toy, without a problem . Interesting....after the phamplet customs put inside my last parcel maybe it depends on who opens your parcel. Allison (BC4Me) doler is turning out some pretty awsome tug toys at present using real fur....not sure if this link will work as it is to a facebook page, but maybe you could PM her through DOL http://www.facebook.com/?ref=hp#!/albu...mp;id=790924700 ETA...sorry (I'm not having a very good day)...they are not made of real fur...they are called Fur Real Tugs....still worth a look & she custom makes too, I think

Have you thought about getting him a crate

I am about to start my 3 yo border collie girl on BH. Currently she is getting Vets All Natural plus meat & meaty bones. She also gets daily Dr. Bruces Joint formula as a preventative for her joints as she is a very active dog participating in agility & herding & Livamol to keep her coat a nice deep chocolate colour. Also one fish oil capsule daily. I will be feeding her the BH with raw meat & RMB's. Should it be necessary to keep up the supplements or will I be overdosing her She still has 5 kilos of VAN to get through, so I will be alternating between the two until it is all gone. I posted this on one of the other BH threads, but got no comment

Buyer beware of buying anything from Clean Run that contains animal or vegetable product because 9 times out of ten it will get confiscated by Australian Customs & you might even end up with a fine :rolleyes:

Contact Julana, she is at Ipswich & I have just ordered a bag from her, she is very helpful :rolleyes: Thie is her website www.belledenstaffords.com

Is it a kibble....if it is a kibble, which I would imagine has gone through some kind of cooking process, then I would be a bit wary that it includes ground bone, :rolleyes: To me the name sounds a little misleading, having the word RAW in it you would expect it to be a raw food. I for one, don't like to be misled by companies wrongly using such words as raw, organic, lite etc in their brand names & as soon as I see it I immediately steer away, unless there is other data to indicate that the product is what it claims it is. IMO ETA....I just had another look & it does say that it is a raw procuct....sorry

I recieved my sample...thankyou & I have ordered a 20kilo bag down from Ipswich. Looking around to see who I can share it with & my mother has just got herself a new little abyssinian pussy cat, from the Rescue...she is 12 months old. Is it OK to feed this to cats or do I need to buy the cat one as well.....If I need to buy the cat one, does it come in smaller packages I still have 5 kilos of VAN to get through before I can feed it wholly to my BC, but thought I might alternate them until the VAN is all gone..& thought I would keep up with the meat & the RMB's when wholly on BH. Also in a dilemma whether to take her off the Livamol & Joint Formula, which she gets as a preventative, & the fish oil tablet when she is getting all BH plus meat...she is 3 years old & an active dog...What would others do , I don't want to overdose her with trace elements etc

I feed my girl Vets All Natural with meat added. She is doing well on it, but has never had any health problems, so can't help you there. All the ingredients are raw & are in a dehydrated form, which you add water to let stand for 24 hours, before adding meat etc. She also gets any vegies left over from our meal.

yep i think it will be useful, a lot you probably already know, but there are some things that may be new and some that will remind you of other things, i like how it is set out, so you can see mistakes the new handlers make when training.. helps you learn )) am also reading the book... The focused puppy.. so far so good, not a bad read and another good investment i think, i love dog training cause there is always something new to learn ... Well that does it I'm just going to have to get that 6 DVD set now. I have the book "Focused Puppy" & can vouch for that too. I am determined to be very prepared for when I get my next puppy & the more I can learn the less likely I am of making bad mistakes. Lucky my current BC is very forgiving & patient in her training of me

My girl has been having a tablespoon of Livamol every day for two years, & she has beautiful teeth...lovely coat too If you Google "satin balls malasses" up come lots of info about them plus recipes.

We get the opposite ..arrive at training & before we start setting up equipment etc. OH lets our BC out with the other two BC's, then gets out the soccer ball. Well, within a couple of minutes of playing soccer with them, comes the yell "put those dogs away, you will wear them out" Wear out a border collie....you have to be kidding :D

Sorry....do you mean that it is going mouldy Becoming popular I am so glad that is what you meant as I have just ordered a bag & your comment made me wonder, what is going to happen to 20 kilos with all this wet weather we are having. Maybe it would have been better if you had said taking off instead of "going off" :p

Sorry....do you mean that it is going mouldy

This is not a personal attack on you...you obviously don't mind buying animals from pet shops, & you love your dog, but I can't believe that there is a puppy farmer out there who is breeding chihuahuas with border collies I don't find that breed "interesting" in the least...I find it cruel, sick & grotesque that someone could deliberately breed such a combination. An " over the fence, once in a lifetime", encounter, by an exhuberant BC male or an "under the fence" event by a male chihauhua, could happen...but for someone to be out there breeding this to make money selling to a pet shop....well what more can I say

Is the Smithfield the same as a Stumpy Tail Cattle dog, or is it a breed of it's own? Looked up the web & some pages lumped the two together & another site said that the Stumpy Tail was bred from the Smithfield. Not sure if this is the right thread to post this in :D I did conclude tho, that it is an Aussie breed.

I have only ever seen it in produce stores in 20kilo bags....maybe one might be able to sell you just a couple of kilos....worth asking Maybe you could get some from the breeder of your pup, if that's what he has been fed on.

I feed turkey wings, necks & SMALL drumsticks to my border collie. She chews them up well & there is never anything left. I don't think they would be any harder than lamb ribs or especially beef ribs. I have gone off the beef ribs as the half eaten ones I pick up are all splintered & don't look good. I think from a dogs perspective, turkey would have more taste than chicken. Bindi loves them.

I feed my BC on VAN & have done now for over a year. I add meat, or sardines to it & she also gets a meaty bone each day.. I find she does well on it...has a nice shiny coat & good teeth etc. Her stools are probably a little loose, but if I microwave it for less than a minute, after I have added the water, her poos firm up. but not sure if maybe I am killing off something in the VAN's which would otherwise have been beneficial. I also give her supplements like Livamol, & Joint formula & fish oil. I am thinking that when this bag finishes, I might try Phuds instead, or even go to Black Hawk kibble + meat, just for a change. But, yes, I am happy with it.

I read a book last year...a true story called "A Good Dog" by Jon Katz. It was about a border collie that he got from a rescue centre & it was a real way out of control, terror (sounds a lot like your dog). The first problem he had with it was that it loved to "round up" school buses & he was always being called down to the school to rescue the kids from the bus..eventually falling foul of the law. To cut a long story short, he thought he would try sheep herding with it....but no way could he control his dog (dog had a ball). He called in several experts to help with this dog & eventually one suggested that he change the dog's name, which he did & . & the dog went on to win trials & all sorts of things. It was a lovely true story, but like all those storys it had a sad ending.

Just out of curiosity...& the rest of you will think this question is really mad..(well that's OK, just don't tell me).....but has this particular border collie got pricked ears

I agree........but we do have some choices to make life a little easier, for us & our furry friends. :D

Car sickness can be managed and usually is not a permanent issue, I don't understand what the big deal is. In my experience any dog no matter how well bred can suffer car sickness. I guess that is why people are puzzled? at your post. :D If you read my original post it wasn't about car sickness, it was a comment regarding minimising chances of getting a puppy with health problems by buying from a breeder with good healthy dogs (see my comment above). The car sickness problem my friend has with her rescue pup was not the issue, but some kind DOL's have given me some good advise on the matter. I mentioned that I havn't met the dog yet, as she hasn't been able to get it down her driveway, & for medical reasons, I havn't been able to drive since pup arrived. I never said that car sickness was hereditery, but I wouldn't be surprised, that it did run in the family, seeing that all the pups have the same problem. Maybe the parents had the problem when they were pups :D And I never said that getting a registered dog from any old breeder would garantee a problem free life. It is a known fact that if you breed together dogs that have allergies, sensitivities or joint problems, you will end up with some pups with the same problems...not necessarily car sickness, but I can't see why not.