aussielover

I noticed Mindy's coat went from dry, coarse and flaky to shiny, soft and healthy looking when i started regularly (3x per week) feeding her sardines in oil and bones. She is also at the shedding stage- if you run your fingers through lots of hair will come out! You can also buy omega 3 supplements or give them fish oil tablets if you don't want to feed sardines. There is a huge variation in labrador coats with the blacks often being a bit coarser, but I would be concerned if there were bald patches. Maybe he has an allergy or something?

I use a martingale collar if I am going to a high excitement situation such as obedience or socialisation days. Although my dog is usually responsive to voive commands, she may get over excited sometimes especially upon seeing a large group of labradors LOL and lunge on the lead. The martingale is safer in this situation than her plastic buckle collar whihc may snap off.

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I would say malamum would use at least half a large frontline spray bottle every treatment. I use a third of the large bottle each time on a labrador, so i am guessing she would need to use alot more. Proban is also a flea killer.

It is a shame that things did not work out for Banshee, however perhaps it was for the best. I think Yellowgirl did everything possible to ensure the adopters were fully informed and willing to take on Banshee. I don't think either party was really "at fault", sometimes things like this just happen.

I would not recommend a tick collar only for a malamute. The tick collars generally proteect the head, neck and chest reasonably well, but often don't penterate to the back part of the dog. On a coated breed like a mal, I would be using proban tablets and a spray on such as frontline or permoxin spray if I was living in or walked my dog in a high tick area. Comfortis can be used with any of these products, however, as these products also kill fleas (supposedly) I personally wouldn't be using both unless the fleas were proving resitant to frontline and permoxin (advantix). If you are using a spray on product, you need to cover the dog fairly well and massage the spray into the coat so you can't really use it as a "spritz". I use Frontline spray on a young labrador and applying it does take some time (around 30 mins) to fully cover her so I'm not sur ehow long it would take to do a malamute- probably a while. With my Aussie shepherd who was longer coated and so harder to tick search, I used Proban and advantix in combination. We also clipped her for summer as an added precaution, as we nearly lost her to a tick as a pup

Permoxin is the same ingredient that is in Advantix so there is really no advantage to using both. You would probably be better off using Advantix and frontline spray. Or you could just use the permoxin spray by itself and just drench the dog in it as Tilly suggested Or proban tablets and permoxin or FL spray if you are really concerned.

Seems to me all poodlefan was doing was asking a question which required you to examine your feelings for the pup. That is the point of starting the thread isn't it? To examine how you are feeling about the pup? Resentment is a normal emotion. Why are you getting so upset about it? You asked for advice and my advice is to look deeply inside yourself at what motivates your feelings towards your pup - those are the feelings which may be causing the 'lack of bonding'. If that advice upsets you (and I do understand that the natural reaction of people is sometimes to be defensive, as they may not actually want to look too deeply at their own emotions) maybe it is not really 'advice' you are after but some kind of reassurance that it simply will work out fine? In which case, you better change the title of the thread. It may all work out fine, but it may have a better chance of working if you are wiling to do some deep soul searching rather than arcing up when people try to help you look deeper for possible answers to your question. I didn't think that I sounded resentful about my pup destroying my house. I think I've dealt with it pretty well actually. I fixed up a pen for her that's safe and has nothing in it that she can destroy that I can get upset about. I'm only human and when my pup starts to eat the side of my house, I didn't jump for joy when I saw the damage but I didn't yell, I didn't punish her, I just cleaned up the wood and ignored her until I was calm again. And to be honest, I think what motivates my feelings towards this pup is failure. I'm terrified of failing with her. And to me failing is getting to a stage where I have to give her away. She's not a bad puppy at all, when I first took her to puppy classes I realised that. She even fell asleep next to me while the other pups were going mental. I just want her to grow up to be a social, happy, obedient and healthy adult dog. I'll do everything I can to make that happen. Can anyone give me any advice on how to show a pup/dog? I think there are special show classes, like obedience classes but with a focus on all the things needed for showing, that you can enrol in. Is your breeder going to help you with showing at all? often it helps to have a mentor. Hopefully someone with show experience will be able to give you some better advice

Aussielover My dog does NOT need to be "walked" at all. She has five acres to zoomies on whenever we are out there - and when we are not. She is predominently an outside dog. What sort of deterrant is she if she is locked inside? Defeats her purpose. Good on you for asking. I cannot complete your survey because there are no options to fit the situation here. Hopefully you will realise there are lots of different roles played by dogs, different reasons people own them and the way the dogs "needs" are met, and dogs that have different needs to be met!. These all can be quite different to what you yourself have experienced. If I answered your survey and said my dog was outside all the time (whcih she is not, but that would be the closest match) and that I never walked her, I would, according to your judgement, be a very bad owner. Which, of cousre. I am not. Is she a working dog? The poll relates to companion dogs only, I should have clarified sorry. I also didn't say what I thought would make a good or bad owner. I am jst interested to see what other responsible dog owners do (I do take the liberty of assuming most people on DOL are responsible)

Tango looks so cute! he looks like he's going to do some welding or somehting LOL How is the second one different form an ecollar? I only used an e collar with my pup after spaying for the first 2 days after.

Just some general questions about doggy things. I personally do not understand the point of having an outside only dog. I've also never had a dog that didn't need to be walked at least once a day (inc a SWF) I couldn't get away with not walking my dog due to bad weather. This morning we were the only ones out (it was raining) but we both had a great time! edited to add more options

Apparently feeding them pieces of pineapple stops it. Doubtful that it would result from underfeeding or diet lacking in nutrients. It can be the result of a boring diet though eg if you feed the same dry food everyday. My dog is absolutely disgusted by poo LOL She won't touch a toy or ball if it touches a poo! Sometimes she'll be sniffing, come across a poo and recoil back in horror. I'm not sure if thats normal not though

Agree with this advice! Although in my experience most dogs bounce back after 2 days and are back to their normal selves which makes it harrd to keep them quiet. We only had one day of Mindy feeling miserable, and she didn't receive any additional pain relief either (at home that is). Animals always amaze me at how quickly they recover form what would be MAJOR surgery for us. You don't see many people wanting to run around and jumo and play or go for a run 2 days after abdominal surgery!!!!!

Yes i am also feeling a bit confused and lost now too. Are we still talking about the blue Amstaff pup? What was the pup that was rehomed? I think it is a pretty hard call to make to rehome a pup- obviously you want to give it the best chance to find another more compatible home (and younger puppies tend to find homes easier) but at the same time i really don't feel 13 weeks is old enough to make that decision. I would give the pup till at least until 4/5 months to settle in and bond to you, unless you absolutely can't stand it and feel very angry with the pup all the time. Why don't you go to puppy school or obedience class together. Finding a good school/teacher who can help you learn how to get your dog to work really well with you would great for you guys I think. I find training, even trick training at home a very rewarding experience for both of us.

Could you build a dog run or fence off a separate part of the yard? we have double-fenced our yard for the dog She had access to a smaller section when she is left outside, not visible to the outside and fenced off from the steeper areas.

Couldn't you leave the puppy in the yard? that way no mistakes can happen

You're a darling. It's ok, I got the info that I needed and we'll have some Royal Canin and Advance for the monsters to do a Taste Test. OH and I will continue doing training over dinner - it's when they're most motivated, we can tell that they have fun ... They eat out of a bowl no problems ... they're healthy, happy, intellectually stimulated. I'm not sure we could ask for more, so as far as I'm concerned, there's no reason to stop something that's worked so well for us. I'm not saying other people should do it - it's just something that's worked for us and Elbie's focus and tricks have gone really well - in my view anyway. Hoover's are definitely not as polished as Elbie's yet but they're certainly very cute and enthusiastic. And yes, that is the evil Hills Kibble that Hoover is trying to gulp out of my hand We had big problems with advance ;)mainly resulting in very sloppy, yucky poo A few of the other on the lab thread have also found the same thing.

Mindy used to be a nightmare- waking at 5.30 an demanding to be wwalked or played with. Now i've gotten her into a routine of out for toileting at 6.30am, a quick breakfast and then back upstairs to sleep in till about 8am. Daylight saving has made a big difference. if i don't go back to bed, she won't choose to go back to sleep though.

Ok, thanks for clarifying that! I was a bit shocked myself to see the bit about shocking them at the end. everything else sounded really sensible though! Should you reward a slow recall? My pup used to have pretty much 100% recall, it was like a conditioned response for her, she would hear her name followed by "come" and then just stop whatever, turn around and run back to me. Pretty cute. These days, she is a little more challenging, sometimes she will stop, look back at me, and then slowly saunter back to me sniffing the ground the whole way. I am really torn between rewarding her for at least coming back (especially if it is off a big distraction like food) even if it is slow. I usually just give her a piece of kibble for these sorts of responses. But I have heard you don't reward slow recalls?

I am a little confused because of this statement. Can you clarify - is the drug labelled 'not for use in animals' or is it that the use in animals is omitted or not shown? I know a number of dogs on Fludrocortisone (florinef).

Florinef- states for human use only by the tga Any thoughts - comments on this drug anybody? would appreciate some help. what was it being used to treat? It is sometimes used to treat canine Addisons disease. although it is only registered for use in humans, it may be used "off label" in animals. As long as your vet was treating addisons disease or a similar condition affecting steroid production, the vet boards will consider it appropriate use.

Did you use a shock collar on them? I don't have a problem with the appropriate use of a shock collar but I do think anyone who is not experienced should seek the help and direction of a professional when using one. And her brag at the start about a 15 week old puppy recalling from other dogs, isn't that fantastic and not a great example imo. At that age, the pups aren't yet pushing the boundaries. My puppy also had perfect recall at that age, it is only now we are having some slight issues (6 months) so its back to the long line.

Most puppies have very little to NO immunity after the first vax (6 weeks) due to maternal antibodies interefering with the vaccination. Puppy class is a relatively low risk environment which is why they accept puppies from 8 weeks. How old is your puppy? Most puppies usually receive another vax at around 8 weeks of age when they leave the breeder anyway. It does take two weeks for them to mount an appropriate response though. I would only be carrying the puppy in public places if it had only had one vaccination. Puppy school is probably fine, but there is always a slight risk.