KAT1

Hi All, Does anyone know of a shop that sells Kangaroo Mince in the Warrandyte area? My Sister in law is looking for a place to buy it for her dog. Thanks in advance! KAT1

Thank! I will check it out!

Thanks for that. I will check it out!

hi all, we are moving to Geelong and I am trying to source a place that sells kangaroo mince in the Geelong area. Does anyone know? Thanks in advance! KAT

Absolutely!!! :D

This is a great thread! My boy's name is Darcy too! Full name "Mr Darcy". I am a mad Jane Austen fan and I like saying "Mr Darcy is waiting for me at home"! ;) The first time I saw him (at 6 weeks old: see attached photo) he looked down his nose at me with this proud air as if to say "and what have we here?' just like I imagine Mr Darcy would in pride and prejudice! hehehe! He still does it sometimes.

Thanks everyone. I think he is the most gorgeous boy I have ever known and I am always trying to snuggle and hug him, but he is not so much into hugs! Ah well, it doesn't stop me though. I just gave him a special birthday tummy rub which he enjoyed immensely and now he is surrounded with his fluffy toys and ready for bed!

Hi Everyone, Today Darcy has turned one. I can't believe how quickly the year has flown by. It seems like only yesterday I was looking at him as a 1 week old. WOW! and he has grown so much (see photos below). Thank you to all who have responded to my various questions over the past year. You have been a great comfort and support, particularly as Darcy is my first pet and I pretty much had no idea what I was doing. Apart from our monthly vet visits he has been delightful! Not naughty, very obedient (most of the time) and a joy to have around. Here are some pics from our year together: KAT Darcy at 10 weeks old with his beloved Ducky Darcy at the beach. Darcy now with his beloved Ducky (the first Ducky had his beak chomped off, so thankfully I had bought two at the time and the second Ducky has so far been very much looked after!) Darcy as a 1 year old.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRONTE!!! Darcy is sending his doggy good wishes and he is looking forward to his 1st birthday tomorrow!! The year has just flown by! They are so little, and then suddenly they are all grown up!

Thanks Everyone. I appreciate your input. I just gave Darcy some vegies with cottage cheese egg and yoghurt. He was licking the bowl for 10 mintues after finishing!

Hi everyone, Thanks for that advice I will reduce the amount of veggies and increase muscle meat and other things. Another question I had is which supplements to you use? Also, where do you buy them from? For vitamin supplements can you use human grade from the chemist? I just realised that my dog eats better than I do!!!

Hi All, Well, after reading "Give your dog a bone" and freaking out about having fed my puppy dry kibble up til now, I have taken the plunge and have started giving him on a RAW food diet. I have started over the past week weening him off the kibble, towards the raw meaty bones (RMB) and veggies, and already I have noticed a HUGE difference in his output. He has always had messy poo, and I did try a few different premium kibbles, to no success, but now he has these beautiful small doggy nuggets which are, dare I say, a pleasure to pick up? His coat is also feeling softer (after only a week)! I went to the butcher and bought chicken carcasses, chicken necks, kidneys, lamb flaps, whole sardines, I bought myself a juicer so that I could give him veggie pulp (and myself yummy juice which is a bonus!) and have bought some flax seed oil and kelp powder. I still have to add eggs and cottage cheese to his diet (supermarket today). I am going to try and get a copy of "The BARF diet" but until it arrives I have a few questions which I hope someone will be able to help me with: 1. I read that I should be feeding him 60% RMB and 40% veggies. Does this mean that at every meal I should have that ratio? For example, I feed him twice a day, so does it mean I should feed just RMB (60% in weight of the total fed that day) in the morning, and in the evening a veggie meal (40% in weight for that day), or a mixture of 60:40 at each meal? 2. I am basing the amount of RMB and veggies on 2% of his weight. Is this correct? 3. Is there something I can do to make the veggie meal more appealing? I have discovered not to put chicken necks and veggies together, as the chicken necks are eaten but the veggies are left behind. Maybe adding eggs and cottage cheese? 4. Should I make patties with a mixture of veggies and mince? I read somewhere that mince doesn't have the benefits of RMB. Is it worth doing? 5. Is it possible to freeze the veggie pulp produced by a juicer without destroying the nutrients? 6. How much offal (kidneys/liver) should I feed based on his weight? and how often? Thanks in advance. I'm sure more questions will crop up as we progress. One other question: which supplements do you use and where do you buy them from? Are vitamins for humans ok?

That is horrible. I also had a bad experience with my goldie boy about a month ago. A 2 yr old full male and 9 month old puppy attacked him. As soon as I saw the 2 yr old I got a bad feeling since its tail was straight up in the air and it was growling, so I decided it was time to go. As we moved away this dog started running after us,and started attacking my boy, the 9 mnth staffy puppy just followed (although I think he thought it was a good game), one on either side of my boy (who thought it was a game too but didn't quite know what to make of it). It was the worst thing I have ever seen. I was yelling at the dogs and pushing them away, not thinking about what would happen if they grabbed a hold of me (I thought of that after the incident). The owner just did nothing!!!! Eventually after much yelling (from me) he called them to him, and after ages they finally left. So I put my boy on a lead and waited till I thought they had gone far enough away before heading home (since they went in the same direction I had to go), but then the dogs came back a second time. I couldnt believe it. Eventually the guy put them on a lead, but then he must have let the lead go of the 2 yr old, and it attacked AGAIN!!!! By that time I was growling at the dog like one very angry mean dog (even I scared myself) and eventually the guy grabbed him and said "he doesn't usually behave like this". It was so horrible, just thinking about it makes me sick to the stomach. Thankfully he wasn't hurt, and doesn't seem to a have been psychologically scarred (although I have been). I think he thought it was a game. Needless to say I have not been back to the park, which is a shame since my boy loves socialising with other dogs, but I don't want to risk him. It also made me think of carrying a retractable walking stick when I walk him, in case something like that happened again. I also called the council, and they said that if they don't know where the person lives they are unable to send a ranger to give them a warning. But they did say that they would send a ranger to the park to patrol it around the same time in the days following and if they saw the guy they would speak to him. Sorry for such a long reply, but i still haven't gotten over the incident fully.

Oooh I would love to see the video! I bought Darcy a reindeer dangly toy for Christmas and he searches it out and carries it around in is mouth and licks its head. He did start chewing the ears until I told him he had to be gentle with it, and since then he has been! The head of the reindeer has started to come off from all the licking. I have to reinforce it with my sewing kit! Here is a photo of him waiting VERY patiently.

I have a furminator for my goldie. It is really great! I started off with a slicker brush and a comb, which do remove some hair, but have found ther furminator is the best at removing the dead hair. Mine is a large which I bought on ebay. I also upgraded to a "deluxe furminator" (also from ebay from the US, you can see what it looks like on the www.furminator.com). It arrived two days ago and is even better than the the usual one. It has a button that automatically removes the hair from the comb section which saves time and effort. For me it means I don't need to remove it from the brush with the hand I am usually holding my puppy with, which means that an escaping puppy chasing and eating the hair thats flying all around him is almost a memory, although it is very funny! Also, I don't need to press very hard on his coat. I find that a gentle brushing action removes HEAPS, and it is better off in the bin than rolling around my house like tumbleweed.

Hi everyone, Thanks for the advice. I will try and reduce his walks and spend some more time on obedience after the walk. i guess it doesn't hurt to be a bit careful. and it won't be long till he will be fully grown and wanting to do much longer walks (I am assuming)! Rexiam: I generally walk at a fairly slow to regular pace, and we of course have to stop at every tree along the way in case we miss a smell and stop at every second tree to pee! He doesn't ever pull behind. He used to pull ahead, terribly, but I bought him a gentle leader harness which is FANTASTIC! and he has started walking really well next to me or a little bit in front. He also has that puppy spring to his step!

Hi Everyone, I was wondering if anyone might be able to advise me on how long/far I should be walking my 9 month old golden retriever . So far I walk him in the morning and the evening and we go about 2 km each time. I think he is probably capable of going further, but I don't want to overdo it, since he doesn't tend to complain when he is tired, he just flakes out later on. Thanks KAT

Help! My goldie puppy who is 4.5 months old (and weighs 15.6 kgs) swallowed a golf ball sized piece of pine bark while we were out walking this evening. I saw him pick it up and I went immediately to remove it from his mouth but when I opened his mouth it was gone! I am not sure if he swallowed it or dropped it, but I couldn't see it anywhere around so I have assumed he swallowed it. I called the emergency animal hospital and they told me to look out for symptoms such as vomiting after each meal and diarrhea and salivating in around 24 hours. I am beside myself with worry! What else can I do or should I look out for! KAT

Hi Erny I have started playing the "in your crate game". I use frankfurt sausage which is only for very special treats (toilet training and in your crate) and he LOVES!! them. I think that has really helped. I have tired him (and myself) out and tonight he went into his crate again - no crying... He is positioned in the lounge room, so he doesn't have a draft there. I tried putting him with a water bottle, but he just wants to rip it open BTW he is a golden retriever who is now 16.5 weeks old, and getting BIIGER every day! His crate is extra large and I no longer need a divider!! Thanks again for your advice! KAT

Thanks Mrs Tornsocks and Miss Moo. I might try leaving some tasty treats in there during the day to see if that will also help. KAT

Hi Erny When he first came home I introduced him to the crate, with the door open, and had toys and a blanket etc.. in there. The first few days he went in by himself and would go to sleep no probs. I even managed to leave him sleeping in there, with the door closed for a few hours. After about a week, he started getting very upset in the evening and howled for about an hour or more. My mistake on the first night he did this was to go in to let him know it was ok. Then he just howled and scraped etc.. even more. (It wasn't howling to go to the toilet. that is a different whining sound). I posted on DOL late that night, in mild despair, and recieved some great advice. So after that night if he howled etc... I wouldn't go in to check (based on advice) and it worked. After about 5 minutes of howling he would stop. I also started to feed him in the crate, and give him treats for going into his crate. I covered the crate, to make it more den like. I also try and tire him out with walks, play, training, lead training prior to going in, and usually when I put him into his crate and close the door, he whimpers a bit (long enough for me to have a shower while he is crying) and by the time I come out he has put himself to sleep. He doesn't usually use the crate during the day time. He is outside during the day when I am not at home and uses a kennel to sleep in. I have recently (within the last couple of days in fact) trained him to go into his crate when I say "crate".And last night he went in by himself. so perhaps we have turned a corner? The other thing was that I also changed the cushion he sleeps on from a waterproof one, to a softer material/wooly surface. This evening he went into the crate and when I closed the door he didn't cry at all. Maybe it is a fluke. I will see how we go in the next week or so... I have also half uncovered the crate so he can see out of it. Any further advice is much appreciated. KAT

Hi everyone, I was wondering if you can tell me your experience of how long it took before your puppy liked going into his/her crate at night? My puppy is now 16 weeks and I have crate trained him since I got him at 9 weeks. With a few sleepless nights in the beginning he now sleeps all the way through and doesn't need to go to the toilet until the morning. Only problem is trying to get him into the crate at night without him crying. He settles quickly (between 1-5 minutes usually) but I worry about the crying thing. Do your dogs still cry when they go into their crate? KAT

Thanks Ams, I am going to try your locking-unlocking door method and see how that works because Darcy still crys a bit on some nights when he goes into his crate. I do have a lot of trouble getting him in there initially, but once he settles down he sleeps right through until the morning and lets me know when he has to go outside (he has better bladder control then I do! ). I bought a video baby monitor from Dick Smiths (quite reasonable and excellent picture quality) so I can see what he is doing when he is crying. Generally he is lying down and whining... I don't go in, though. When he whines while he is sitting up (in the mornings) it means he needs to go outside. KAT

Hi Everyone, I have a 13 week old golden retriever and I would like him to learn retrieving, and eventually get involved in retriever trials. I was wondering how do I go about it? Are there schools that teach retrieving? Are there trials I can go to to see what it is like? I am in the inner west in Melbourne. I should also mention that I plan on taking him to obedience school when he has had all of his vaccinations. Thanks KAT

UPDATE My puppy is slowly getting used to crate training. If I tire him out with training and play I can now get him into the crate of his own accord! no howling. Otherwise he howls for about the 5 minutes before settling down (time it takes me to have a shower). Thanks for all your advice (and support)!! KAT