aussielover

OMG 6 cups a day is way too much. I don't even think a working german shepherd would get that much! You can generally feed less of a premium food compared with a crap food. Which is what I found when Mindy was on PAL (yuck). Funnily enough, she actually had better poos on pal than on Advance, but she has since changed back to advance and her poo is normal. Though she is on a raw diet now because of her allergies and her poos are great now- small and she only goes twice a day. I only ever gave her a maximum of two cups of dry food a day (plus bones) and she does a lot of exercise and work. I'd say it is a matter of finding the right brand/diet for your dog. I don't know aboutu feeding GSD's but 6 cups is way too much- never go by what it says on the packet, it is always excessive. Additionally, 3 cups at one time is quite alot- I am sure you know that GSDs are prone to bloat and GDV- which is where the stomach expands and twists and it can be fatal. I would be inclined to give her smaller meals- but then again i am totally paranoid!!!

My dog has slept in the same crate as another. She liked it and they curled up on each other- v cute. I would say it depends on your other dog though- do they enjoy the attentions of the pup? Does the pup pester them a lot? Do they retreat to the crate to get some peace and quiet? Do you think there could be a serious fight or would the oolder dog just tell the puppy off? You know your dog's personality best, so I think its something only you can really decide. I am very happy, Mindy went for a sleepover at a friends house while I was away and slept all night in a crate without any fuss! I am pleased becasue we don't use the crate for sleeping, only for travel and short periods of confinement during the day.

No offence but that dog in the photo doesn't really look like the type to be stolen: aged, clearly a pet so prob desexed and not useful for breeding, scruffy and not a potential fighting dog. I suppose we don't have the full story though, and perhaps someone saw the dog being stolen. I would like to know how long she was in the shop for though Of course I am glad that they were reunited, but it was highly irresponsible to leave the poor dog tied outside a large supermarket like Coles of all places. It is one thing to leave a dog tied up at a local shop where you can see them all of the time or where you might only be in the shop for a minute or two but no one can get out of coles in less than a minute lol!!! Great that there was a happy ending.

Is she an outside dog? I don't really think an indoor Pom would need one- unless she was old and arthritic and even then, is she showing signs of being cold at all?

What do people think "crate trained" means? Is merely accepting the crate ok? Or do they need to actually like/love it? I think my dog doesn't really enjoy her crate but she will accept being in there and just go to sleep. I don't really think I could call her crate trained though. Her crate looks very comfy though!

Yes I use advantix 2 weekly (for the ticks) and comfortis monthly. My dog has atopy and is probably also flea allergic (though she has never had fleas), so needs really strict flea control. You really need to treat the environment as well, if you are not already doing so- so the dogs bedding, under furniture etc. Flea bombing doesn't really get under furniture.

It all comes down to whether you think it is ok for a dog to go running up to another dog and bummp it or get in its face. Do you expect the other dog to just sit there and ignore it? Sure some dogs will, in fact I would expect that my own dog would ignore it, but not all dogs have the same level of tolerance. The staffy is legally dangerous- it has attacked and injured another dog. Is it the staffy's fault? No, its not, it is the owners fault, the owner shouldn't have let the dog run up to another. Is the husky dangerous? No, because its reaction didn't intend to cause injury to the staffy, merely to cause it to back off. Just my opinion though...

I keep getting told by strangers that she is really skinny and she keeps getting mistaken for a lab cross. I guess she is smaller and lighter framed than many labs you see these days but her mum and siblings also have this build. You can't see any ribs on her, I guess if I am being honest she looks a bit "weedy" but not really skinny. Additionally, do you think she will "fill out" more as she gets older- she is currently 14 months old? Sorry about the photo- it isn't the best but it is the only recent one I have of her standing- It is really hard to get a photo of her not moving LOL\

In any case where there has been actual injury caused- the dog that caused the injury is responsible and the owner should pay vet fees for the injured dog. If both dogs are injured then I guess it would be the dog that "started" it ie. behaved inappropriately- to me this sounds like the staffy x in this situation. The husky responded normally imo, many dogs do not like being rushed and I think some kind of warning or like growling, barking, even pinning and a "tell off" is ok, so long as it doesn't cause injury to the other dog. I think it is really bad that the owner of the staffy ran away, and I hope you can track them down and report them. I am not against bull breeds either; but I think they can react to a challenge more swiftly and strongly than a lot of other dogs and they definitely don't back down and need to be managed by people who know when to and can intervene before this happens.

I'd love to get proper weave poles as I am sure they are much better, but at the moment I can't afford them (they are really expensive). I figure some bamboo sticks are better than nothing at all though.

I also think the prescription products are excellent. The normal range is good, but not what I would call super-premium. With foods, I think it comes down to what the dog does best on, and what the owners preference for feeding is. The staff at the Hills stand in Sydney were sales reps; not vet students or vets. Although, Hills are very supportive of vet students and sponsor a lot of events.

I am like staranais; I generally fit in most activities around my dog lol. I am lucky though and she accompanies me to work and uni. Most of my hobbies are animal related; if not I make sure I exercise and train my dog before I go out. If I will be away for a long period I get a dog walker for her. I am not really into house work; I am more the sort of person that lets things gets so messy until i can't stand it anymore, then I do a big clean! I actually get my dog to help me clean up, she can put stuff into the laundary basket and open and close doors, so she is reasonably useful When I am studying I like to take breaks to do some training or even a short walk or run with my dog as a break.

I felt very overwhelmed by my puppy initially. It took me about a month to really bond with her and for her to feel like she was "mine". But having said that, I have the strongest bond with her out of all my dogs- including the ones I bonded with instantly. I think the hard times and all the training we went through really helped. I would give it up to 6 months of age before I started getting really worried. I think maybe by then, if you haven;t bonded perhaps you never will??? But who knows, each dog and person are different

I think they were just sales reps. I almost had a an argument with them though- they didn't seem to be very well informed or "doggy" people. Fancy not even knowing what a labrador looks like :rolleyes:

I thought the people at the hills stall were useless. Firstly they insisted my purebred labrador was a lab cross and then they said she was 1kg underweight- err no, she is just what a healthy labrador should be. Personally I would never feed my dog dry only. I like to give bones and oily fish as i think bones are good for their teeth and fish is good for their coat. Dogs can certianly survive on dry only but in my opinion it would get boring for them. I am sure some dogs do better on dry only diets, but if you are happy with the condition of your dog I see no reason to change. The only time I would be more carfel and feed a mainly dry diet is if I had a giant breed puppy. There is no way that the "extras" you are giving him can "counteract" the benefits of kibble. And your dog is unlikely to be getting protein overload.

you are lucky, my lab did not EVER sleep!

Hey Leelaa, Im glad you're havng success with Jenna Well done!

I would treat her as if she is an 8 week old puppy: - very close supervision. when you can't directly supervise then put her in a crate/play pen or outside - toilet breaks every 30 mins- 1 hr with rewards for going outside - Invest in a crate and train her to settle in there- you can do this by feeding her in there, giving her lots of treats in there, you can even play games which involve the crate! - Otherwise you could teach her to settle on her bed, but this is generally harder as they can get up whenever they want, I prefer to teach this when the dog is used to the crate and has a reaosnable level of obedience. But the same principle applies- reward heavily for the desired behaviour. I think she will really benefit from being allowed inside sometimes, even if it is only for the evenings and night, so good on you for considering it I think you will find her overall behavoiur improves because she will be used to being around the family regularly and be part of daily events.

I think the wire haired JRTs don't shed as much.

Yes, funny you should mention cats, as we don't actually own one but I have noticed a growing number of them in our area of late. Wandering on our front yard & on the roads. The wash my vet wants me to use is called Dermadex dog wash. He said it smells aweful. Your right it will be annoying & difficult to do. I am reluctant to use it, there has to be a better way to cure her. I thought maybe if I swapped her over to Advocate or Revolution, would that get rid of it? When the weather starts to warm up again I could swap her back to Advantix cause the ticks in our area are really bad especially over Summer. The revolution or advocate will help IF the problem is mites

I basically agree with Erny BUT I do still allow my dog to play with other dogs at the park just my personal choice and opinion. I train in agility and obedience and work my dog offleash and she has never run off or rejected me for another dog. I do not allow her to greet other dogs whilst she is onlead though.

Our instructor told us to use bamboo sticks or tomato stakes. Cheap and you can arrange it however you like

HI Corvus, These studies are in dogs I am assuming? Could you PM the references for these (or links if you have them?) I love reading these sort of studies- I am such a geek

It could still be dermatophytes- cats can be asymptomatic carriers which is why I asked, but dogs can still get infections from the environment. Perhaps a second opinion from a different vet might be warranted here? I agree with Erny- would not use the wash- I assume it was amitraz wash? Can cause some adverese reactions like lethargy and drowsiness as you said and has to be done fairly frequently (annoying and difficult to do). There are other options for treating demodex such as advocate and revolution.

Depends on what they mean by minimal grooming? If they mean low shedding and easy grooming then a whippet or JRT If they don't care about shedding- a corgi