toshman

Yes, I agree with that, and that's probably the only adjustment I make to the old girl's diet...she gets a little less than she would have done when she was actively doing agility and tracking etc. And I agree, too, that you adjust amounts to suit the dog at any age...I'm always just looking at my dogs and thinking (almost unconsciously) "She's looking a bit porky today - she needs a little less than usual this week" or the opposite for my boy Tosh as he has more trouble keeping the weight on. It's all a matter of common sense, isn't it? Cheers...

This will answer some of your questions... http://web.archive.org/web/20050404212053/...ary.asp?page=20 Tomas. I'm a bit cynical when dog food companies such as contained in the above link do write-ups and 'scientific studies' on what we should be feeding geriatric dogs!! They're in it for the sales, aren't they? The more different types of food they produce and can market to people with old dogs, young dogs, small dogs, big dogs, dogs with skin troubles, dogs with anything else you could possibly think of (and I see now you can even buy breed-specific foods!!) then presumably the higher their sales are. Fifteen years ago none of this stuff existed and dogs did perfectly well without them. So in answer to your question, if you're a BARF feeder then I don't think you need to think about adjusting your dog's levels of fat/protein/calcium/phosphorous etc. as it grows old - that's the beauty of a natural diet! I have a 13YO cattledog racing around the back yard here and she still gets the same raw diet she did 12 years ago. Her teeth are strong and white and she copes perfectly with anything I throw at her. Just like the younger terriers. JMHO, of course!

I hope someone will give us poor people who can't attend a run-down on the Sue Hogben workshops etc. after the weekend?

Can I hijack for a second and ask how the ADAA titles work? (assuming they do titles?) Do you have to register your dog with them separetely or use your ANKC registered dog's name to earn ADAA titles on? Oh gosh I hope I'm making sense I'm just curious is all! I can answer that! You do have to register your dogs with ADAA, and become a member yourself - a simple one-off process. Most people register and run their ADAA dogs in their call names, unlike ANKC, so it's a much less formal process too. And yes, ADAA have titles, which are different from ANKC. Just think two completely separate organizations which have nothing to do with one another.....

There's an American author called Suzanne Clothier who has written some great books e.g. "Bones Would Rain From The Sky" - her website is http://flyingdogpress.com/index.php (you have to register to see all the stuff) and she has written a lovely little booklet called "Following Ghosts - Developing the Tracking Relationship" about tracking...well worth the USD6.50 it costs. She also has an article called "Scent Games - Educating Your Dog's Nose" which is available free once you register on her site. Some good pre-training games for tracking dogs.