Ravyk

Its a stupid gimmick in my opinion. Why not just feed a high quality kibble and put fresh real yoghurt on top? And benefits from yoghurt surely would be lost when it is dehydrated into kibble form.

Oh Lordy! That women would have a fit if she saw my two playing! Their play is all growly and teeth! Had a few accidental tooth punctures in each other's faces but nothing serious. You were def. not in the wrong. The other woman was over reacting and she was in the wrong letting her puppy come up [and continue to come up] and play with yours without permission.

iltby is no longer on DOL, that is why PMs to her are not working.

Oooo how exciting! I'm looking forward to when we can get a 4WD. We camp a lot with our dogs. Actually I think there has only been one occasion we didn't camp with them. We take [just for the dogs]: -dog beds -leads, collars, harnesses, spare leads and collars -rego and IDs on each of the collars and harnesses -plenty of water [i pack 2L per camper [dog or human] per day] and a couple of water bowls -first aid kit -lots of towels or old blankets -treats -toys -poo bags Ours sleep in the tent with us, which they love! We generally let the dogs off leash around the campsite if no one else nearby, they stay within 10m of the tent and normally just snooze in the sun. There are some great places in SA to camp with dogs. We've stayed at some really nice places. Southend Caravan Park [beach camping grounds] is dog friendly all year round and is just past Beachport on the Limestone Coast. $6 per person per night for a unpowered site. There are toilets in the camp grounds and and there are showers back at the caravan park. Loveday 4X4 Adventure Park is on the Murray River, and has awesome camp grounds there which are 2wd access too. They also have 4X4 tracks which you can use too. It is $60 per vehicle for the 1st night camping, and $10 every night after. You can have fires if it isn't fire ban and you bring your own wood. It's the kind of place you want to go for a few days with some mates, as camping by yourself for 1 night is fairly expensive. There are toilets and showers up at the Tavern. Make sure if you go, that you take cash as there are no eftpos facilities and it is a fair drive into the park Chowilla Game Reserve is above Renmark [other side of the river]. Its a fair trek along dirt roads, but there are some lovely camp sites in there both directly on the river Murray and on full tributaries to the Murray. Also dog friendly. We couldn't find any details of costs for camping. There are no facilities at all. If you are thinking of going interstate, we found some pretty nice campsites near the river Murray in VIC too. Murray Kulkyne allows dogs in it. Just don't get confused with the Hattah-Kulkyne which borders it, which is National Park. Most of the places along the river in the park is dog friendly, just check your map that you get when entering the park. We camped at a really nice spot in there called Retail Bend but we passed many other really nice places to camp. It is accessible in dry weather only and most sites can be accessed in a 2wd even though the signs say 4wd only. Camping was free, except in the two locations with facilities [which are not dog friendly areas]. Greenlake, which is near the town of Sealake does camping for $6 a night and is dog friendly. Its a lake surrounded by bushland and is really quite pretty. We camped on the shore of the lake. You can have campfires there and collect your own firewood. The bakery at Sealake does the BEST burgers!

Driving is Fuuuuuuuuuuuuun! Exactly! Esky, are you wanting to go?

The only reason I want to drive, is because it will cost too much for me to take my camping gear across flying. ;)

I'm wanting to go! Anyone up for a 12 hour car road trip??

What is Op matey? Yeah can't be in the Piggy Pen all her life,since all raw she does not gulp & gutz it all down,actually chews for 3 hours on a single bone.....I'm amazed ......at the difference in the barf.....10/10 for me OP means Original Poster [starter of the thread]

Consulting a dog behaviourist is probably the best option.

300g is great!

Brennan's Mum, I do really appreciate your opinion and I understand that to make an informed choice, you do need to hear every side, so please don't feel that your opinion is not welcome. And I hope I didn't make you feel that way. If I did, I am really sorry.

Brennan's Mum, although for some odd reason I cannot access the facebook link you have posted, I can imagine what kind of pictures are there. Posting something like that is technically scaremongering, you don't know the story behind it, and most likely it is some piece of scum using the device to torture the dog. You posting the link is to try to put people off buying them, it's not calmly stating the pros and cons of the shock collar/anti barking collar. It is using shock tactics of horrible pictures to sway people to your opinion of them. Not everyone agrees with purely positive reinforcement training [rewarding desirable behaviour, ignoring undesirable behaviour]. I am one who doesn't agree. Although the majority of my training is positive reinforcement there is a need to sometimes reprimand a dog for bad behaviour, whether it be a verbal reprimand, time out, etc. There are some behaviours that cannot be ignored, and barking I believe is one of them, especially if there is a danger to the dog if it continues [as in this case the possibility of poisoning]. Anti barking collars works on a simple psychological term of 'positive punishment' [something undesirable is given to the dog as punishment]. In this case they bark, and either they get small zap or spray of citronella [the punishment]. The majority of dogs pick up on this, and cease the behaviour, although you do get dogs that the citronella has no effect on. To the OP, As others have said, anti-barking collars and shock collars do not harm the dog if properly fitted and used properly. It is best to find someone who knows how to use them properly and can teach you how, so a dog behaviourist would be a good person to go to. Just to clarify there are four main psychological elements of learning/training: Positive Reinforcement [giving something desirable as a reward/reinforcement], ie. giving a treat when the dog sits on command Negative Reinforcement [removing something undesirable as a reward/reinforcement], ie. dog stops pulling against his collar as it feels better on his throat Positive Punishment [giving something undesirable as a punishment], ie. spray of citronella from a collar when the dog barks Negative Punishment [removing something desirable as a punishment], ie. removing yourself from the room when a dog jumps up

I need some recommendations for decent breakaway collars for everyday wear in the yard.

:rolleyes: That is HUGE for a Malt. I have had great success getting overweight dogs to lose weight on a mixture of roo meat/mince and mashed pumpkin.

Hi folks, Today was a bitter dissappointment,weighs exactly the same,bit of a blow seeing Bindie has not cheated nor have I,I see the Specialist on Monday so will have word to him,must have to cut it back to 90grams to get her to 3kilos,when "we" get to that weight,then consider if need be 60 grams to be 2 kilos.No excuses,don't know what to think except to cut back further,I weigh Bindies but the others are loving the BARF,puppies don't even want to eat the mince,rice,pasta& veges for breakfast.......some-one has to eat it as I had cooked up 5 kilos in the freezer & just want it gone,great no more cooking. bridie, you NEED to feed your dog less. I had my Mother In Laws dogs with me for three weeks. Both grossly overweight. They should have weighed around 4-5kgs and were both at the 10kg mark. I fed them 100-120 grams of roo meat and mashed pumpkin [so all up about 50-60g of meat] and one SMALL chicken neck each day. No dry food, no treats unless it was taken out their meals. When they left my care after three weeks, they'd both lost about 2.5kgs of the weight. They weren't exercised much as I wasn't well and couldn't cope walking 4 dogs too much. She will be hungry to begin with, because she is used to eating a huge amount BUT it doesn't mean she NEEDS more food. She will whinge and whine and make big puppy dog eyes at you, lead you to the fridge or pantry and just generally try manipulating you into feeding her more. You NEED to be strong. Don't fall for the pleading puppy dog eyes. It is for her own benefit if you stay strong. I feed my dogs a combination of Barf/raw and I go by the rule of 2% of their body weight is what they get in meat. My 22kg dog gets 500g [because he burns it off very quickly and needs a bit extra] and my 15kg dog gets 300g. A chi who weighs 2kg at its optimal weight would be getting 40g of meat.

Teaching a trick properly is all a matter of perception and opinion. You seem to be saying there is only one way to teach a dog to do a trick properly. To me its like saying there is only one way people can learn effectively at school. We know that isn't true, people have different ways of learning [visual, oral, auditory] and I believe it is the same with dogs. Some dogs learn better with food rewards, others with toys or verbal praise and different training techniques work with different dogs-be it luring, capturing or free shaping. I really don't see the issue here, she has only just started teaching Riddick this trick, so hasn't progressed to the verbal command only yet. She shows you Rover at the end responding to the voice command and doing the trick, which she taught to him in the same way she shows teaching Riddick. LMSW I look forward to seeing your next videos!

Yes exactly! I was going to come clarify that because I was on my phone before. There are two other species known as the daddy long legs, harvestmen [which are also arachnids but not spiders] and crane flies both which are fangless and venomless I know what spider bit me because I saw/found the spider just after the bite occured. I did get bitten the other day by a spider whilst cleaning...no idea what though.

That is actually not true. Daddy long legs fangs can pierce human skin. Mythbusters did a segment on it ages ago, and got arachnologist on the show. The clip is on YouTube and Adam actually gets bitten by one.

Looks great Jen! Personally I am a fan of luring, it is how I have trained my dogs to do all their basic commands [sit drop roll, etc]. They respond to all with voice commands and/or hand signals now. I also teach my dogs tricks starting off with luring and progressing from there to hand signals or voice commands. It's all about what works best for the person and the dog. In some cases free shaping suits the trainer and dog more than luring might, or for certain tricks capturing works better. In this case there is no right or wrong way to train the dog to bow, its all about personal preference.

As far as I am aware you are more likely to contract the nasty bacteria that causes necrosis from a common garden spider than a white tailed spider. It's got nothing to do with venom of the spider, but what bacteria are harbouring on its fangs.

Can't breathe. Laughing too hard. Tears starting to flow.

Visit the Golden Retriever Club of SA website, http://www.grcsa.org.au, and select the "Caring Canine Companions" Link. You will find info, contact details, application forms etc. The program is run by the Club under the Federal Government Community Visitor Scheme, and encompasses all dog breeds and cross breeds. You can phone 1800 077 722 as well. ta furkidsforever

Anyone know if there are similar programs in SA? I wouldn't mind doing it with Spot once we've got the jumping up on people fixed.

They must be the same sort of people that we see at the off-lead park claiming that their hyperactive crossbreed is as fast as, or even faster than a greyhound. Then they let their dog off lead and it madly races across the park as fast as its luxating little legs can carry it while Coconut runs rings around it at a very gentle gallop. My cattle x is fast, and loves to run with whippets and greys, but naturally they are a little faster and zoom far ahead! But it wears him out really well.

Report it to the council and/or ranger.