Mel774

I'm not sure whether or not this will exist - but does anyone know if any place in Melbourne hires out hydrobaths?

Hi Very long time! I am surprised anyone even remembers me!! I don't think I have posted in the last 3 years.

Hi All, I am writing on behalf of Guide Dogs Victoria. We're currently planning the 2011 Open Day event for February 27 and are seeking demonstrations or dog related performances. These would be performed at our demonstration stand in between Guide Dog and Puppy Raising demos. We would love to hear from anyone available to run a fun and interesting activity like agility, dog dancing or frisbee. This will be performed to a crowd of local dog lovers and will be a great opportunity to promote your sport. If you are interested, please contact Megan on (03) 9854 4522 or via email.. We have restricted internet access at the office, so we may not be able to reply back to this topic in a timely fashion. Thanks and hope to see you there! Mel

Have PM'd you with some recommendations

I agree - it looks awesome! I would definately try it on mine to see how they go if it wasn't crazy expensive ETA: said was expensive instead of wasn't

She has a trained recall, sits for her food, begs, kisses my nose (targets my nose with hers) and will jump on anything we ask. I have been toying with the idea of training her something else, I'm just not sure what yet. She is targeted trained to the chopstick and I can move her just about anywhere with it so it wouldn't be hard for me to get started. I just need an idea and the time/patience to get it done. I am going to go through my old tape footage and see if there is anything else I can edit and upload!

Tunnel and "table" (chair)

I have fed my pup Nutro Puppy exclusively and his coat is amazing. He's about 8 months old now and his adult coat is coming through but it is still so so soft and shiny. We get comments about the glorious colour of his coat and when they go to pat him they all make that "aaaaahhh" noise because he's so silky. One of the girls at the local pet supply store had her pup on the same (aussie tri) and the black was just the most magnificent black coat I've ever seen. It might seem like everyone is pushing Nutro, but it's just easy to rave on about. I was at the pet store today and a man saw us buying Nutro and started raving about well his Burmese cats did on it and how they all had such clear sparkling eyes since swapping them over. It's a good food and it keeps everyone happy My pup has gone over to adult food now (I was going to wait until about 9-10 months, but there was a problem with the bag we bought and because we couldn't fix it over christmas we ended up putting him on to our other dogs food) and is still doing really well, although we'll probably add a few sardines and bones occasionally to make up for the protein and fat. Our older dog is a Golden Retriever and we have had such a struggle with his weight (most goldie owners do). We made so many mistakes with him when he was younger and life would have been so much easier if we had started him on Nutro. He gains weight so quickly, we have to be so so strict with his diet to stop his ribs from disappearing. He does really well on both the Lite and Adult formula.

I wonder how pricey it is. There is an NZ company that makes similar food and the price is horrific. They sell cans and dry but my local pet supply store won't stock either because they can't sell it at the RRP. I asked them to order some of the cat food in for me once and they were telling me how they were going to trial a small amount of stock for sale but were doubtful that people would spend the money. Most places stock the treats which are quite good too, but they're about $7 a bag and my dog eats carrots willingly so we don't get them very often!

I'd feed A - I would not be satisfied with a product that lists cereals as the number 1 ingrediant, no matter how much "real meat" is secondary.

The best thing to do is treat the hot spot and dry it out - I'd say the baby powder would do that! Must be on to a winner!!!

Personally I LOVE Nutro, my pup has the most beautiful shiney adult coat coming through. One of the girls at the pet supply store brings in her black tri aussie shepherd pup who is also on Nutro and she has the most glorious black coat I've ever seen.

My goldie is 2 in a week or so and he still squats like a girl. Maybe forever

Dry food - "other" = Nutro

Get to the vet for a dental check up, could be a dental disease. A pups breath should never smell like bum!

As for price, I am not sure in full comparison because I never used to shop around much for dry food, but it costs me about $4 less than Royal Canin. (eta - this is in comparison to 2 x 2kg bags Nutro v. 1 4kg bag of RC. I'm going to get a big 15kg bag next time)

I'm using the Rice & Lamb Lite at the moment and will switch to Lamb & Rice large breed when he's at a weight I am happy with. I'm going to put my toller boy on medium breed puppy. Definately converted!

I know there's a bit of hoo-ha about plugging food brands but since I have no vested interest in any dog food companies and have a dog with weight and skin issues, I thought I'd post a praise for the brand I'm now feeding. I swapped to Nutro a couple of weeks ago after the woman at my local pet supply store was singing its praises. I decided to give it a go and see how it went. My boy now has his waist back (still has a bit to lose off the chest, but he's doing well and losing weight at a safe and steady rate) and his coat is in really great shape!! He still has allergies to grass (which tend to flair up in the warmer months), which makes him a bit red underneath. He has sensitive skin and is prone to ear infections too. Since swapping him onto Nutro his coat feels cleaner and healthier. He is scratching a lot less and his ears, while still requiring a lot of cleaning, are doing well too. He's still getting the occasional barf patty and bone so it's not just a change from red meat either (which he's never had an issue with). Since I used to feed him a super premium food, I didn't expect to see much of a change, but he's looking really healthy. He's leaving less hair mess on the floor (right up to when we started feeding it to him, the floor was a mess and had to be swept all the time). OH said to me "I know it's winter and he wont be dropping as much coat, but check out the floor - I haven't swept it yet!" Just my . I know I rely a lot on this forum for opinions on brands so I felt it necessary to add mine. If you live in Qld, it's really worth giving a go.

Most bones will still have a lot of fat on them, I find the ones we get at woolies have loads of fat on them, particularly the brisket, which I try to cut as much off as possible (but it's not easy!) I believe the lamb flaps are quite fatty too.

They should do, I think Brissy and Sydney are the main states they supply to. My local pet supply place stocks it now and is promoting it above RC and Eukenuba, it's not too expensive either. I'm really happy with it, I also struggle to keep the weight of my Goldie on BARF. I've had to just stick with the bones, very occasional BARF pattie and majority Nutro and carrot now. He's happy, I'm happy. He's got his waist back (still needs a bit off the chest) and his coat is in good condition. When I had the RC and Nutro mixed together to ease him onto the Nutro, he always went for the Nutro first. He's not thrilled with having a mostly dry diet now, but if I add a bit of carrot in he gets stuck into it like he would the meat. He's still getting bones.

I'm thrilled with Nutro now - going off to buy a BIG bag tomorrow. I've never committed to a dry food enough to warrent buying the huge bags before.

Don't suppose you have a readable version of this do you? My local pet supply store started stocking Nutro so I grabbed a 2kg bag today of their adult light (my dog's on a diet, he's been getting RC Maxi lite which has helped but I was curious about Nutro). Looks good, guess we'll see how it goes after I mix it in with his RC for a few days.

LOL well vets and incompetance with animal handling is a whole other issue!!!

A lot of trainers have naughty animals. It's often because they spend more time training everyone else's and not enough left for their own! A lot of people in the animal industry end up rescuing really difficult dogs too because someone else couldn't cope with them and they want to provide the dog a second chance. I had a really naughty puppy but it was great, he taught me a lot and I can walk into a class with him and confidently tell them everything he did last year as he sits calmly and patiently in the shade. So it's not the people with naughty dogs that make poor trainers, just the people who don't know what they're doing and are training without qualification or adequate experience.

My dog learnt how to run around off lead like an idiot and be a naughty puppy and ignore all instructions in puppy preschool. I'm not a fan of the ones that are all off lead, let the dogs run wild! It's too easy for bad things to happen too, it can happen so quickly. As an instructor for beginners (first time obedience and dogs right out of preschool), I'm often dismayed at what people have been told at puppy preschool. Too many vets get the junior nurses to do it with no dog training experience. It's really sad because for new dog owners, it's their first experience with obedience and an introduction into being an owner - I think the more experienced trainers should be handling them.