BCPuppy

I agree they are just the best! My OH made one when she was just a puppy but it was becoming a bit of a squeeeeze so managed to find a large one at a reduced price online. There are still some large ones around, you just have to search a bit more, I got mine at a good price as it was old stock. It does reduce the opening of the door but we have three doors out onto our veranda so no probs. Stunningly easy to put in, even I managed to do it on my own, OH was most impressed ;) Really like being able to put it in the fly screen track, as most of the year the glass bit remains open, dont have the security issues as we are in a small town, but I do remove it when we go away.

Unfortunately not everyone is a responsible owner. I used to rent my home out and had tennants with pets that were brilliant, but after one particular lot with two dogs completely destroyed my garden and most of the blinds, & chewed everything they could, and their owners just laughed when i tried to get them to replace items, I had to charge extra bond to ensure I was covered. Most seem to be quite ready to pay the extra, but I understand that not all would be able to. I also had 'friends' stay for several weeks for free and their dog(toy poodle) and cat made an absolute mess of the place. Efin i hope you find someone to help you soon sounds like you have excellent references, if only all were like you.

Cant realy help you with the allergy thing, have heard beef can cause problems, also my brothers BC gets allergic rashes when certain grasses are out. Never considered prey diet, too difficult to get fresh animals here. I feed raw meat & bones. Can only tell you about my BC. Up until 5-6 months Marlin was pretty much eating 3 meals a day, she decided that she would cut one out (breakfast), aparently that is normal, so now she gets a small treat or bone in the morning, meaty bone for lunch, raw kangaroo or pet chicken mince, vegie slop, offal, for tea. She gets fish & veg twice a week, and one or two days will be just bones. I make vegie & fruit slops every couple of weeks, and freeze in 100g chunks. I just get one weeks worth of food out on a Friday night (anywhere between 3 & 3.5kg worth) about 50% RMB, and portion it out so she averages around 400g-450g a day, sometimes more sometimes less , pop it all in daily bags, take one out each night. Usualy ends up with 2 nights fish, 2/3 nights mince, 1/2 nights RMB, Only extra is a splash of omega oil, yoghurt and occasional spoon of gravy, she loves real stock, a hard boiled egg occasionaly. She does love her treats tho, so I only buy oven dried buiscuits, dried fish, dried roo. She used to spit out offal of any type and I despaired getting her to eat liver, I think it was the smell, but I found that cooking it very slightly in the microwave and covering with vegie slops and she will eat it no problem. For several months I could only get her to eat dried liver & kidney, which was great for training treats. Only changes I have made is the bones have got bigger and some more suited to adult teeth and more vegies/less meat to fill her up and control weight. She is thriving. From what I can gather you will not be able to source green tripe in Australia. Sounds like horrible smelly stuff anyway. There is lots of great info in the raw feeding threads in this forum. Happy reading!

Always such a dilema knowing what to give our furkids isnt it Marlin has had bones since she was 6 weeks old at the breeders, she is not a gulper fortunately, the worst we have had was a rib getting stuck across the top of her mouth and that was easily fixed with a flick of the finger. At 5 months she was daily getting a choice of bones, lamb offcuts, chicken wings, turkey necks, chicken necks, chicken drumsticks, roo chunks, chicken carcass, we get great big bags of meaty bones that are mainly roo and goat. Recently introduced her to brisket and the other night when we had guests she had a smallish lamb shank that kept her occupied for hours Infrequently I giver her a quarter marrow bone, not my favourite as I find it makes her a bit smelly and poo is runny. Sometimes the supermarket bags of offcuts are great and all meat, but occasionaly i do have to cut the fat off. Know what you mean about the dogs diet being better than our own, I have it down to about an hour on a Friday preping the next weeks food and putting each days into a bag ready for defrosting, Marlin is raw fed, and a couple of days are bones only days. I have labels DAWG MONDAY ect. Couldnt put her name on them either OH swears she has more freezer space than we do.

We are in country WA, breeder was in Qld, no choice but to rely on her choosing the right puppy for us. She asked us lots of questions and we had several phone conversations, did not even know if we were going to get a boy or a girl right up until a week before she was put on the plane. She couldnt have matched us better, we adore her and she is perfect for us and our lifestyle Good luck with your puppy

I was in the same position, remote WA, only part time vet surgery, we did eventually get a puppy school run by one of the local vet nurses for a few weeks when my girl was about 6 months old, a one off and is no more Make a list of all your friends who have pets, check with them that they are up to date with their vaccs, and organise play dates for your puppy, ask people around to meet your new puppy, great excuse for a party, especially ask the neighbors in case of puppy noises . Take him/her everywhere you can, mine loved the car rides, still does, introduce puppy to anyone and everyone, I carried her around in my arms until she had all her vacs, and there arnt many people who can resist saying hello to a cute puppy, Marlin got to meet so many people just standing in a car park near the shops.(I used to pretend my OH was in the shops). The hardest task for me was to introduce her to kids as I have few friends with any, but the car park and a local play area solved that. Read Ian Dunbars books Before and After you get your puppy, free downloads and lots of good info. Go to the library if you have one and read all you can. Lots of good info online about training and obedience, some especially good stuff on utube, some rubbish too. I have learnt as I have gone along, fortunately Marlin is very forgiving of my stumbling. Best thing I bought was a clicker made it so much easier. I am more than happy with my girl, she loves to say hello to everyone, if they dont want to reciprocate it doesn't phase her, she only approaches people or animals when I give permission and will sit until they indicate that they are happy to pet her, then she is all wagging tail and submissive attitude. She has no issues with dogs of all sizes and is naturally wary of dogs much bigger than her and hides behind me until they prove they are going to be gentle with her! Good luck and have fun.

Not much when we were waiting for her, but there were computer issues, more contact since we brought her home, I send photos and updates regularly she always responds so I figure she likes to see how one of her puppies is doing, and we have spoken a couple of times on the phone when I have had silly new owner worries .

How about brisket, a piece big enough to force him to chew, mine is pretty good and chews everything for hours, spent about two hours on a smallish lamb shank last night

Love it Marlins latest involves sticking her nose into open floor drains (we are building atm) and huffing, she runs between them huffing each one, I think it amuses her that they all make different noises. She is also a fan of jumping on the monsters under the bed covers, it is her favorite early morning game.

Yep, I feed raw, so bones every day since she was 8 weeks old. Be careful you supervise tho, Marlin once got one stuck across the top of her mouth and I had to flick it out with my fingers, didnt stop her one bit, try some variety as well. Some seem to be more entertaining than others chicken frames are very precious here and only to be eaten in private and great for keeping teeth clean! You may have to cut back a little on the other food, does depend on how much meat/bone ratio. I have two days a week were she only gets meaty bones, chicken frame, lamb shank, brisket, roo. Balance is the key.

AWESOME :D

We recently had this problem, dog was going off all night, on the third night I banged on their door at 2 in the morning, and got no reply except the dog getting more frantic . It was a moonless weekend and some other neighbors were partying allbeit quietly, dog could hear voices but didnt know they wern't trying to get into his yard Figured out owners were on holiday and poor dog was alone day and night except for someone feeding it . Dropped a polite note at the door explaining the problem and suggested they leave a light on so dog could see, problem solved, neighbors able to sleep again :D I did sign my note, name and address, and was careful to be nice.

Lick lick lick lick lick until I cotton on she wants toilet. Nudge nudge nudge with toy to play. Stare stare stare to convince me she is starving

Marlin has long ago found all the places I hide treats and visits them all in turn before I even leave for work If you dont mind a bit of a mess, I put treats in small (stout) cardboard boxes and she has to rip them apart to get to them, old socks with treats in, the kong of course, anything she has to work for really. She got bored very quickly with the knotted rope I had hanging from the beams and now ignores it. Summertime the frozen treat blocks last about 5 minutes here and food goes off very quickly, so have to be careful what i put in them. She would be happy if I left a sprinkler on as that is the best fun in the world, but would come home to a complete mud patch! She has play dates with a friend the odd afternoon, we take turns in whose garden gets destroyed.

Some very inventive people here, love it Marlin loves cardboard boxes, messy but hours of fun ripping them apart to get to treat inside box inside box inside box.

Aww, so hard, so sad RIP beautifull girl

The Kong red one, even I can throw it, and hubby recons I throw like a girl

Vacuum/cryvac sealer. If you can, find one that will take generic bags and you can buy packs of 1000 food grade at wholesalers for just a few dollars. Some makes you have to buy their bags (usually the ones that have dimples on one side) as others dont work so gets a bit expensive. Found my last one at a garage sale for $10.Worth it for ease of storage and no blood on defrost. Added bonus that food keeps much better in them too. Also I use Lock & Lock plastic containers, they never leak. We often camp out and cant keep the dog food seperate from the human food and drinks, they are the best I have found. If you buy them in a pack they work out pretty reasonable around $4-6 each, dishwasher, freezer and microwave safe, and stack really well.

;) :p Know just how she feels, I hate a scrunched up bed myself.

I sympathise with you, we went through the same thing. When we first got Marlin we had several weeks where one of us was allways home as my OH works shifts. I was a wreck thinking of her being on her own for a full day , we too too did not confine her other than restricting access to certain rooms, and she has a doggie door, and garden was well puppy proofed. We did 'practice' by leaving her alone for a couple of hours at a time, with toys, kong and treats. I recon like all puppies she slept most of the time anyway :D We have been incredibly lucky as she was independant from the start and would take herself off for time out in her fav places, a chair outside, her shell in summer, or just lounging on the grass watching the birds. She has destroyed very little, a pair of shoes that I was silly enough to leave out, the odd hole in the garden. I regularly leave a treat inside a cardboard box which she is allowed to tear apart and that seems to satisfy the urge to rip things up, allthough lately it has become a box inside a box to slow things up, and she has sussed out all the treat hiding places and checks them out even before I leave! Always left things she was allowed to chew, and I also used to leave a t shirt (worn) in her bed. Is there any way you can check on her through the day or get a friend/neighbor to do it? I used to miss my lunch to drive home to spend 10 minutes with her have a play, then leave her lunch and change toys around, but now have no qualms in occasionally leaving her all day. Well I lie really, she makes me feel so guilty standing at the gate watching me leave for work! But then this morning I left her happily chewing on a bone, no way she was going to leave that to see me off! Allways great excitement when I get home, used to pee herself, but now just demands tummy rubs accompanied by little squeels of excitement. Roll on retirement when I can spend all day at home Only you know your dog, trust your instinct, good luck and dont feel guilty!

I recently won a local comp with one of my photos. The prize was my photo mounted on canvas. I was so impressed with the quality I asked for details of where it was done and was given this website. I will definately be getting more done. http://www.canvasartprints.com.au/ apologies if anyone has already pointed to this, btw I have no links to this business.

same as everyone said, ice cubes too, Marlin loved getting a couple just before bed, still thinks they are a great treat even now :D

I find melting a teaspoon of cream cheese/peanut butter for about 10 seconds in the microwave makes it coat biccies or kibble better and makes it harder to get them out.

Marlin has two milk crates full of toys, one outside and one in, balls, soft toys, tugs, kongs,chewy things, noisy ones. I often find her rummaging in the crate looking for a favourite. She is not destructive, she still has the soft bunny that she arrived with, but as soon as the stuffing starts to come out of one she will keep at it until every last bit is spread around the house I often give her carboard boxes with treats hidden in them, to satisfy the need to rip things apart. The only time any toys get destroyed is when she has a play date with her kelpie friend and they have tug of war games Recently bought a pet pack on daily deals, what a bargain, $25 and about 8-10 various toys and other bits, OH ;) Bought her a weasel ball for her birthday, what a hit that is, only allow her to have it supervised and for a short time, but she loves it to death We have had some toys she will not play with or doesnt like so I just pass them on to the local shelter, she absolutely hated the squeeky chicken .

Oh Jed, I cannot begin to imagine your grief at the loss of so many, they will always lie buried in your heart. I hope your pain can be transformed into a new beginning with the huge support you have and the positive vibes from all around you to help face the challenges ahead.