SilverHaze

Yes well i can make my own website - can you make your own grooming frame???

I do Was given to me as a present - made by friend. We don't call it a grooming frame though.... We call it the gallows

I think Porkys Pets now stocks eagle pack - better to get it there than the petstock in cranbourne. However if they don't have your food in that brand, go down to Dishlickers Boarding Kennel in Pearcedale - they sell eagle pack and normally have the full range available. Thats where we get ours from!

I'm sure you could probably go to a junk yard and find an old tyre. Or just ask some tyre place - surely they could remove the metal inside bit? I have a number of old tyres we use for pull training at the start of race season. Working in harness all through winter keeps my guys in tip top shape for the whole year. And you sure can see and feel the difference in the dogs that do "light" work and dogs who have been worked in harness regularly when moving in the ring. Of course i think they scare some of the judges coz they are just bone and muscle under their coats instead of the usauly layer of fat many dogs have!

Thats why my feral headed boy doesn't get walked with a gentle leader - because a scratched to all hell nose just doesn't look good in the ring! But his very black nose has recovered from numerous skin loses and looks as good as ever

Don't know if this is too late or not. When my male siberian was 6 months he hurt his back. This wasn't picked up on until he was about 8 months. By then he had lost all muscle developement in his rear legs. We went to see the late Dr Alex Hauler, who manipulated him, told me it was a long process to get him right - and told me he couldn't pull. To say i was horrified at the prospect of figuring out a way of stopping this Siberian who is an utter maniac on a lead, pulling, was to put it lightly. Alex suggested a prong collar. I knew where to get one, but was still hesitant, i said i would try a gentle leader first. He gave me one of those "knowing" looks and siad ok you do that first. I think the gentle leader lasted 3 days. My dog was only doing more damage to himself on a gentle leader - ever seen how much presure a dog needs to put on their neck to keep pulling on a gentle leader? Well he managed it. So by the third day i had procured a prong collar, and off we went. While i must admit while it never stopped him pulling completely, the result was remarkable, and allowed for him to recover from his injuries. In the past have used a prong collar on a number of Siberian rescues, and the difference is wonderful. They allow for me to communicate with the dog much more quickly and precisely, and the dog is happier for it. While i am sure i could probably do with alot more training in using the tool, it is has been the most effective tool I have used when having to deal with over the top dogs (which classifies approx 80% of siberian rescue we have had through!). It is shame we are no longer able to use a tool which has the ability to safely and humanely train dogs which may in other circumstances be unrehomeable. While i don't use a prong collar on my male siberian anymore - i've resigned myself to get dragged along the street (the problem with running them in harness every winter), in the past when ever i brought out the prong collar my boy screamed his excitement and came to me with a smile and a tail wag. Not the hall marks of a cruel tool.

The Alaskan Malmute club run weight pull events at KCC park - check their website for when. Might have stopped for the summer now.

Why don't you just make a step for the big dogs to walk onto the hydraulic table? Isn't the idea of the hydraulic tables for big dogs who are too heavy to lift to a regular table? Put them on it then raise them? Using that table for SWF defeats the purpose and you just wasted all the money you just spent getting the table!

Two actually They are at my friends place - we buy the meat between us. She has two big chest freezers. She usually has around 8 dogs and I have 2-3 at my place, so between us the meat lasts us a few months. I just take what i need home whenever i'm over there. We also buy the carcasses whole from there as well - they take up a bit more room in the freezers - but great for the dogs to chomp on! Buying in lots of this size is the only way to go to save a good amount of money!

Beef and Lamb mince from the supermarket when ever i need it. Chicken mince comes from "pet meats" place that doesn't general sell to the public. They usually receive carcasses fresh in the mornings, ground them up and freeze immediatly to send on - thus no preservatives. We buy in bulk loads of 200kgs fresh, and rebag and freeze ourselves. Chicken is very fresh and great quality. And yes our sled doggies definitley get a high fat diet during race season. And most of them aren't taken off their high fat food during summer, just the quantity is reduced.

Just use sards - it will get rid of the stains. Occasional use will not dry out the coat.

LuvMyWhiteShep - definitely go the Sards - it really works wonders *lol* Jackson - You need an undercoat rake - http://www.petnetwork.com.au/images/mil11s.jpg Slicker brushes are pretty useless for double coated breeds. I do love my wide toothed comb as well http://www.petnetwork.com.au/images/ccs30.jpg

I don't think it really matters - but i always shampoo first, then use the sards while the shampoo is still on. Then rinse. If you are still seeing slight stains, or dog was really stained, go over again with sards - let it sit a few minutes (not too long as it can have a bleaching effect) and rinse. You should then have a sparkling white dog (only on the white areas of course!!!).

Shampoo the dog (i just use plain old rudducks snow white) and then go over the coat with sard wonder soap. It's the sard which will really get the whites white - and so much cheaper than all the fancy shampoos out there!

Not Bluo - i know someone thats uses that - and her dogs all tend to have a hideous gray tinge to their coats. I go the sard wonder soap on all whites - i usually wash first with a simple whitening shampoo ( i find some of the strong ones tend to bring a harsh white to the coat, i use plain rudducks brand) and then without rinsing i apply the sard on all whites. Rinse and if dog is truly dirty, another application of sards on the whites. Usually does the trick - and boy do we have dirty dogs at the end of race season!!!

We start running our siberians short distances in harness around the age of 6 months. By the time they are 9-10 months we are doing around 3kms with them. The youngest one we have is 11 months, straight racing lines, and has just graduated to doing 5km runs - and showing no signs of wear - she's looking better than the older dogs when we get back from a run . However please note these are short distances for dogs designed 10 times that distance in a day if trained correctly. The next older dogs we have who are approx 20 months now have been having their first real race season. They still however have not run much past 6 kms in one race. Next year the distance they run will be increased. Just thought i'd give you an insight into a breed that was designed to run. This excerise regime should not be applied to most breeds i believe.

I have hips done at Monash by Ray. Can't speak highly enough of them. Food for thought, a friend had hips xrayed and scored at monash on a bitch she was leasing. Person who owned the bitch asked for xrays to be sent to wyburn to scored as well. Ray scored harder than Wyburn.

Do some research into "Coat Funk" which is a skin/coat condition that affects malamutes. Sounds like this could possibly be his problem.

First of all - she is a puppy. This means that she has been taken from her litter mates, and is lonely, so yes she will howl when she's alone, you have to slowly get her used to being alone. If your at home thats great, the pup can spend time with you. As for your two dogs, it sound like you are letting them dictate how things are going to turn out. First of all you should be introducing them to the pup seperatly on neutral territory. For the first couple of weeks only allow them to play with her on a one on one basis. Once you have them accepting the pup on an individual basis, you can try putting all three together. It is very important that you do this, and that you also don't allow your dominant bitch to be too agreesive with the pup, you need them accepting each other, not having the pup terrified of the bitch, because in 6 - 8 months you will have a full grown malamute who will get sick of your bitch and her nastiness and you will have one hell of a fight on your hands, and i can tell you, my money will be on the mally. This can be worked out, but you have to learn to be the pack leader, not let the dogs rule how things turn out. As for the pup being scared of the cat, it's a puppy!!! Puppies are scared of all sorts of things, so this is totally normal at this age. It has nothing to do with breed.

I was also a client of Alex's who has transfered over the Barry now. Thankfully we had completed the majority of our treatment with Alex, and we also had a completly chiropractic problem. We now go to Barry for regular check ups, and he is always gentle with the dogs and courteous with me. While I mourn the loss of Alex's talents (and am very saddened by his illness) Barry has done his best to help out who he could of Alex's clients. I'm pretty sure Barry moved his practice and was cutting down, these are his retiring years, and all of a sudden he was swamped with business!

lol - Ray is my regular vet as well, but for all chiro work we go to Barry Haywood in Cranbourne.

Hi Tracey, If you need to keep her glucose try and tried and true method we use on the dogs when training them in harness. Add a spoonful of honey to hot water, disolve, add cold water until drinkable, and then offer to dog. Once or twice a day may be a good infusion for dakota. Definitly helps our dogs recovery rate when we run them. Cheers, Soph

BTW - a naked Sibe isn't a disqualification!!!

I can sympathise with you here...a shedding sibe is never fun to prepare for a show! You have a couple of options here, you can try your best to get rid of as much loose hair as possible, and end up with a possible naked sibe, or you can try to make the best of a bad situation and hope no one notices *lol* Personally when my sibes start shedding, and i mean the oh my god what happened to the dog kind of shedding, not just loose hairs, i just resign and try to get it all out as quickly as possible. The quicker you get it all out, the quicker it will all grow back in. To get it out, a number of baths in very very warm water will help loosen all the hair, and allow you to brush or blow it out. After the bath, if you can get your hands on a dog dryer, put on a face mask and get ready to blow!!! This is the easiest way to get out all the hair...but a touch messy...reccomended for out side only!!! If you manage to get the majority of loose hair out and dog is looking decidedly naked, you can turn to some tricks of the trade, volumising shampoos, fluff out etc...they should get you through the show... Now you could try to just control the shedding with brushing, but truth be told, your going to have to wash the dog, the make sure it's clean, so i would just go with option A. If you do decide to not try and get all the hair out, bathe in cold water, and just brush as much as possible...not a good look go in dragging tufts... Welcome to showing Siberians, the coat can drive you nuts...and don't presume just because it's winter they will keep coat and drop in the summer...never works out that easily *lol* Yell out if you have any more questions..

lol -she sounds gorgeous...my girl is a princess as well...though sometimes upgrades herself to Queen Bitch! Definitly sounds like your in need of a change of vets, ask around the dog world in your area and get some recomendations on vets. Once you choose a new vet i would definitly get another blood test!!!