Red Fox

Playing with the Kong with your pupis a good idea. Another thing you can do to make it more fun for him is to make it really easy to start with. Put some dry food in there (his whole meal if you like) and roll it around a bit. The dry will fall out easily so he will only have to nudge it to get a reward. He will work it out eventually. The other thing you may find is that he might not like peanut butter Like people, dogs have different tastes. My boy isn't at all interested in peanut butter or honey but will go mad for a bit of cheese spread. I found that the Kong puppy paste was good for getting him interested too. I only ever bought one container of it and then moved on to other things (dry food, cheese spread, mince, chicken necks, yogurt etc.) but he LOVED the puppy paste while it lasted and it certainly got him interested! I also had the fresh breath paste (I think it may be chicken flavour?) which he didn't like at all, so again it depends on the tastes of the dog. Good luck

If you change her dry food just do it gradually by mixing the new with the old. You can phase out the old completely over a week or two period. I can understand why you would think that human grade mince would be better, the problem with human stuff though is that is doesn't have any bone in it and growing puppies need the calcium that the bone provides. If you buy you pet mince from the butchers it will be of good quality so nothing to worry about there. It doesn't hurt to feed a little plain mince every now and then but you need to make sure your pup is getting enough bones too. If you are interested in feeding raw I'd suggest you get a copy of the Ian Billinghurst BARF books. Also check out the health forum here at DOL

Chicken mince is fine but you need to buy the one that has BONE in it too, not human grade. It costs around $2kg from most butchers or Leonards and is basically just minced chicken frames. Puppy milk is not really necessary or in fact very good for dogs, you really don't need it at all. If you want to moisten her food warm water is fine. Other things you can add to her dry to make it more appealing are natural yogurt, sardines, raw eggs, minced fruit/veg etc. Whatever you decide to add do it gradually, one thing at a time and in very small portions so as not to upset her tummy. And no, she is not too young for bones at all. Try her with a small chicken wing or neck and see how she goes Oops, forgot to say welcome to DOL! and Danois is right, if you got her from a breeder you should be following their instructions first before trying anything else.

If you decide to pen her try a tarp under the pen to protect the carpet, If she tears up newpaper you could use old towels or dry bed instead, or otherwise the cot/bassinet matress protectors that you can buy from Target and Big W are fantastic (and cheap too) Hope all is going well now

Nothing wrong with feeding garlic, just dont overdo it. You will find some info that says not to feed garlic as it is related to onions which can cause anaemia(sp?) in dogs, however a small amount of garlic can be beneficial for most dogs. I have also read that it can help prevent fleas but not sure if it's true or an old wives tale though I add minced garlic to my vegie slops which equates to around 1/2 a tspn per day and never had a problem.

Damn, I only like the pink ones. I think I may need to borrow that whippet of yours :D Kei's favourite pastime at the moment is standing in the vegie patch and munching away at whatever takes his fancy

I agree with the others that you need a new trainer :D The other thing that you could do is to work on teaching your dog to pay more attention to you. You can do this through games, clicker training etc. Even just clicking and treating your dog every time he looks at you or saying his name and imediately rewarding him can make the world of difference. It will teach him that good things come from you and he is more likely to snap to attention when you say his name. Another good game to play is to take your dog into a large enclosed area (or put him on a long line) and let him sniff around doing his own thing. Every time he comes to you praise and treat him then release him back to do as he pleases. You can also run away from him suddenly and then reward him when he catches up to you. Sounds odd but dogs seem to enjoy this game and catch on quickly. It does take a lot of time and patience but you will get there eventually. The book 'So your dog's not Lassie' has some really good tips for training difficult dogs. It's available from Angus and Robertson for around $25 :D eta link: http://www.angusrobertson.com.au/search/Fisher+delzio/

That would normally be my thoughts too. I'm not keen on canned as an actual 'food choice', but was thinking it might make a nice occasional treat in a frozen Kong. Much better than PAL anyway Thanks Persephone Thanks for the tip. I might check out Natures Gift next time I see it. I just did a google search on the ingredients of SD canned. It doesn't seem too bad (to me) however it does seem to have a fair bit of salt in it so I am thinking that if I do grab some that it would be a very 'occasional' treat. It is a good price though at around $2 a can. Big W seem to bring these thing in and then all of a sudden they disappear. Six months ago they had Ziwi Peak treats on special for $2 or $3 a pack Silly me only grabbed one pack and unfortunately they disappeared as fast as they arrived and haven't seen them since. Anyhow, here's the ingredients if anyone would like to offer their oppinion Canine Adult Savoury Chicken Entrée Water, Chicken, Liver, Cracked Pearled Barley, Ground Whole Grain Corn, Meat By-Products, Soybean Meal, Dried Whey, Chicken Liver Flavor, Soybean Oil, Calcium Carbonate, Iron Oxide, Choline Chloride, Iodized Salt, Vitamin E Supplement, Magnesium Oxide, Potassium Chloride, Zinc Oxide, Ferrous Sulfate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Niacin, Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Biotin, Calcium Iodate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Riboflavin, Folic Acid, Sodium Selenite. Gourmet Beef Entrée Adult Water, Beef, Liver, Ground Whole Grain Corn, Cracked Pearled Barley, Chicken Liver Flavor, Soybean Oil, Calcium Carbonate, Chicken Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), Potassium Chloride, Iron Oxide, Choline Chloride, Iodized Salt, Vitamin E Supplement, Zinc Oxide, Ferrous Sulfate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Niacin, Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Biotin, Calcium Iodate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Riboflavin, Sodium Selenite, Folic Acid. Puppy Healthy Development Savory Chicken Entrée Water, Chicken, Ground Whole Grain Corn, Cracked Pearled Barley, Soybean Meal, Liver, Dicalcium Phosphate, Iodized Salt, Iron Oxide, Calcium Carbonate, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Vitamin E Supplement, Zinc Oxide, Ferrous Sulfate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Niacin, Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Biotin, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Calcium Iodate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid, Sodium Selenite. *more info here: http://www.hillspet.com/hillspet/products/...;radioLifestage=

Our local Big W has just brought in a huge lot of Science Diet in both dry and canned varieties. While I don't normally feed Kei commercial pet food (he is on BARF/Raw) I'm debating about buying a few cans to use in his Kongs every now and then for something different. They're very cheap at around $2 each, and of course cans can be stored easily so also convenient. However I've no idea what the ingredients of the canned food are or if it's any good As I'd only feed it in small amounts as a treat every now and then I'm not really concerned about how nutritious it is, but I am concerned about things such as preservatives and any other nasties. Anyone know?

Don't beat yourself up over it PeiLuvR. You did your best, most people would have dumped him at the pound and forgotten about him. It's extremely sad that they decided to pts a dog that was obviously so wanted. You have not failed this dog at all- it's the vet and the pound that did this, not you. I'm sorry this had to happen to you. RIP Bob

RC and Eagle Pack. Though Eagle Pack seems to have a higher choice of variety compared to Artemis. So if you were already stocking quite a few different varieties of RC than Artemis might be more practical in that regards? I've never used EP for the dog but am feeding it to my cat with fantastic results. I would love to be able to buy it from my local vet rather than having to order it on-line. Not so much for the price as for the convenience factor

If he doesn't eat it pick it back up and put it in the fridge. As long as you're not keeping it for days on end it won't hurt him and until he eats what you've given him then don't defrost/buy anymore :D

Thanks SparkyTansy I might try cutting out brekkie for a week and see how we go. Being a Ridgie (aka garbage guts) I get worried about him when he goes off his food. I keep checking on him to see if he's okay, he keeps looking at me like I'm an idiot

Arrgghhh. Kei is doing something really weird lately. Every morning when he wakes up he rushes to the kitchen and sit and waits for his breakfast -normally chicken frames or wings, then he runs outside and sits and waits for me to place his food down and give him his release command to eat. Well that's all still happening but for the past week instead of bolting down his food like he normally does when I release him he runs over, sniffs it and walks off I got a new batch of frames on Friday so thought it might be that but so I tried giving him wings instead, but no, same thing. If I leave it laying out there he will eventually go and eat, but that's not a habit I want to be getting in to so I normally gather it up and put it back in the fridge until tea time when he's happily eat it without issue. He's perfectly fit and well, no signs of illness (apart from the occasional grass vomit) and eating his dinner without a problem. It appears that his appetite is still there as he's still hanging around me drooling while I eat my brekkie, lunch, snacks etc. So it's odd, not to mention annoying that he's not eating his own breakfast. I figure that he'll eat when he's hungry but this is really doing my head in! I'd rather feed two small meals than one large one so what do I do here? I was thinking of either fasting him for a night or two or cutting his meals right back to see if that helps get him hungry and back in routine. Any other ideas why he could be doing this?

When Kei first came home he would get up at 5:30am That's the time his breeder had been feeding the litter their breakfast so he was kind of set in that routine. I stretched out out s-l-o-w-l-y over a few weeks until he was getting up around 7-7:30 and he still gets up at this time now. As for going to bed he's usually asleep within half an hour of eating dinner so about 8pm. Though if I feed him earlier he's still out like a light

Oh cool, thats cheap! Where did you find it? The cheapest I've been able to find was Vet n Pet direct- $39 for a 6 month supply of Intercepter tablets at clearance price, the chews were $46 (or $28 for the 3 pack) eta: those prices don't include delivery

Hmm, I've thought about it a few times but I'm too worried I'd forget. With the monthly tablets I put the sticker on the calender each month to remind me and even if I do forget I still have a few extra days to give the tablet. $2 is cheap for an all-wormer tablet. I've been paying $10 a pop for the cats all-wormer at the vets so I'll be looking into that! I buy all my stuff online. Mainly from Vet n Pet Direct as that's where I get my cat food from, or otherwise Priceless pets because it so cheap. No driving around for me

I just spread mine both sides with cheese spread and he eats it no worries. Sounds like the chews might be a bit tastier though

Ah so they're chicken flavour now? (tablets are beef). Maybe not such a bad thing after all Was debating whether to grab the tablets again (as the few places that still have some left are clearing them out cheap now), or to try the new chews out. Just don't want to be stuck with a 12 month supply of something he hates :p Maybe I'll grab the 3 pack and try em out...

Yep, my pup had this. Fairly normal but if the discharge is a funny colour or smells odd then straight off to the vet. I got a bit panicky too, especially as the first vet I saw told me it was a grass seed and she needed to do exploritary surgery asap :p . Needless to say we got a second opinion and no grass seed! We tried 2 types of antibiotics (which did nothing) and were told to wash with a solution of diluted Betadine twice a day (helped a little but I ended up changing to saline instead which was milder). After about a month of this and no improvement we took him to his breeders vet who did a swab test which showed nothing. The advice was to just leave him and it would clear up on it's own which it did. Most male dogs will have some form of discharge so it's completely normal. Puppies just aren't very good at cleaning themselves up yet

Time to order new worming tablets and I've noticed that both Intercepter and Sentinel have changed from tablets to chews. Is there much of a difference between the two, or any change in palatability? (for the dogs I mean ) Is it still the same formula?

A few weeks ago I bought Kei a dried roo bone (Vpd Treats Kanga Large Dog Teeth Cleaner) which he absolutely loved -meat is gone but he's still chewing on it. I was planning on getting a few more but at almost $6 each (+ postage) it's not the cheapest treat around. So I did a quick internet search and found this place: http://roochoos.com.au/index.html Their prices are excellent but this statement caught my attention- So here's my question. Does drying bones at high heat make them brittle in the sense that cooking bones does and if so would that make them at all dangerous? In our case Kei likes to tear the meat off and then chew on the ends of the bone but does not seem to be interested in actually ingesting the bone itself, so I wonder if this makes a difference I don't think I'd feel comfortable in giving something like this to a dog who I though would try and ingest the lot. And yes, he does get plenty of raw bones to chew on -I was just looking for something a bit different to give as a treat every now and then. Oppinions appreciated

Both the dog and the cat absolutely love it! I often sprinkle it on something I know they're not too keen on and it usually gets eaten. Our cat Appollo has bad arthritis and has had a remarkable turnaround since we started him on Sachas Blend, Kei doesn't really need it but he gets a bit on top of his dinner every now and then anyway. I highly recommend it :rolleyes:

I wont answer all of the questions, just the ones that relate to me as I would only be repeating the other replies 1. What is my relationship with the breed? first time owner 3. How common is it in Australia? I live in a large country town and have only come across one other in my town and two other 30 minutes drive from here so not very common. Although I have come across a few cross breeds. 5. What is the general temperament/personality? Aloof with strangers, not an overly friendly breed but once you have a Ridgies trust they are a friend for life. Very soft and sooky with their owners though. Ridgebacks can also be very stubborn when they want to. 6. How much daily exercise is needed for the average adult? I walk mine for 30-60 minutes per day plus time each day training and playing. The rest of the time you will find him on the couch! 7. Is it a breed that a first time dog owner could easily cope with? I'm a first time owner :D Although they're generally not recommended for first time dog owners I think that if you do your research and know what you're in for you'll cope. Make sure that you take the time to meet a few different breeders and their dogs and really listen to what they have to say. Understanding the requirements before you commit to a puppy and being prepared means there are no nasty surprises later on down the track. But if you want a dog that will be easy to train and dote on your evey word then get something else 8. Can solo dogs of this breed easily occupy themselves for long periods? Not really. Although they can be an independent breed they really need to be with their 'pack'. 9. How much grooming is required? Very little. A brush once a week (or every few days if they're shedding), weekly ear cleaning and nail trimming and a bath every few months is enough. 10. Is it too boisterous for very small children or for infirm people (unless the dog is well trained)? I would say yes, especially when they are puppies. An older dog may be okay. 12. When buying a puppy, what are the things you should ask of the breeder? (eg what health tests have been done (if applicable) and what is an acceptable result to those tests so the buyer has an idea of what the result should be) Hip and elbow scores of parents. Pups should be checked for Dermoid Sinus (along with an overall health check from the breeders vet.) Also ask about things like diet and excercise requirements, worming, vaccinations etc.

Hi natamalie and welcome to DOL!! I have a ridgie too As the others have mentioned leaving bones unsupervised it probably not a good idea, same with pigs ears/rawhide chews. I will leave Kei alone with a large marrow bone now he's older but thats about it otherwise I am constantly checking on him. He' on a raw/BARF diet so he gets lots of bones (mainly chicken) but always when I'm home to supervise. As as a baby puppy I would mix kibble with yogurt and freeze it inside his Kongs. I'd give these to him when I went out, along with biscuit balls and Kongs with cheese spread and dried liver inside. The frozen ones were the best though as they kept him occupied for ages As for brisket bones my breeder recommended them too but we were unable to get any so use lamb flaps intead.