Staff'n'Toller

Try the Eagle Pack fish and perhaps just chicken bones - chicken carcass instead of beef or lamb bones. If you get no improvement then I would head off to the Vet. Mel.

The holistic range has oatmeal and brown or white rice. The grains are not *usually* the issue though- allergy dogs are more commonly allergic to large proteins, beef, colours or preservatives. Mel.

Hills Z/d Ultra is worth trying for 6-8wks as the *only* food. It has proteins that are very low in molecular weight- therefore the body doesn't recognise the protein as an allergen, and create a histamine response. Mel.

I think a fair few people do it these days. I don't see why you and your dog should miss out if you find another club that offers different things. :rolleyes: Mel.

I would consider getting a referral for intradermal skin testing at Melbourne Vet Referral Centre in Mt Waverly. That is going to give you the answers you want. Food allergy however is hard to test for- what food brands have you tried so far? Mel.

How would you make the dog eat something that tasted awful?? Dogs aren't stupid, that's a bit cruel don't you think? The OP's question also stated the only option was one type of food- not two. I have one dog on a prescription diet, and theoretically she should not have any other food. Luckily the food smells good and is tasty enough that she would be happy to eat it as training treats (and I do sometimes use it with the other dogs for this purpose). But I dont see anything cruel about taking the dog's daily allowance and giving it throughout the day as reward, rather than in a bowl twice a day. Mel.

Yep raw foods and high value stuff fed separately in my house. A lot of dogs can share without incident, but I have seen a situation that went very very very bad....not worth the risk. Mel.

Oh sorry, they're my dogs, not fosters. :D That sentence I wrote was a bit vague though. I think you can have just as many probs with pups as with adult dogs. It is really easy to create separation anxiety so I would read up on what to do before you get your next pup, things like making leaving and arriving very low key and low stress for the dog, modifying routines, building up your 'away' time very slowly and giving the dog things to do when you leave etc. Also anxious mother dogs create anxious pups, and then you are behind the 8 ball as well, so yes, research the breed, then the breeder, then the parents! Mel.

Wow that's fantastic! Thanks for updating. ;) Well done to you also, for getting the food changes going. Mel.

Sounds as though you just need to find an adult dog who really quite enjoys being by themselves. ;) I have a couple of dogs here who would choose outside rather than inside most of the time. Mel.

Not sure what the story is though? Why did you see her in the first place? Mel.

I'm guessing Bronson does 360's?

I'm wanting to have a second agility club to train my Toller at, and maybe do some competition obedience later on. I like to check it out first to make sure it's a club I can train at without wanting to tear my hair out! I was pleasantly surprised with what they had to say in first timers. There were lots of hot dogs though, so good on them for keeping the intro class short. Mel.

I was there, I didn't haven't a dog with me though. Which breed did you have? Mel.

If you're going to compare every new dog to the smartest (read easiest to train) dog you ever had, then of course you will be disappointed every time. There are breed differences in every dog one trains, and then there are personality and drive differences within particular breeds. Probably the thing you battle most with is overworking a puppy who is shutting down. That's why she appears 'dumb'. I'm not sure why you need to have every new dog do every single exercise and trick in the book, as early as possible? Mel.

Just on the flip side, apart from the PTS numbers etc etc. I believe that a multi-national company that is quite obviously rolling in it should be supporting shelters, and it can only be good for those dogs who were eating the lowest of supermarket crap before this, or whatever was donated so their food was constantly changing which IMHO is worse. Royal Canin sponsor Animal Aid Trust down here in Vic. If Animal Aid or RSPCA are going to be selling super-premium foods then I think the company should at least be supporting those dogs in care. But anyhow that is off topic. You will get heaps of different opinions here My senior dogs are on hills as they look fantastic on it, my younger dog is on Eagle Pack Holistic because EP seems to suit him more than hills. Also I would say beware of estimating the cost of each based on the amount you would feed each dog regardless of the brand because if I fed my dogs the amount hills recommended- they would be huge! ;) Mel.

The best laid plans.....springs to mind. Puppies -especially two- are like babies! Most of your timeline will probably go down the toilet, but that's ok, we're here for advice! Mel.

Desex ASAP too - or Suprelorin Injection if they are both boys, it won't fix all the problems, but they are coming to an age where it will only go downhill from here (the fighting) if you don't remove the hormones. Some dogs just can't eat together, my lot are very heavily supervised they all have their place to eat- but they would scuffle if there wasn't a human there. Mel.

If you want to be affiliated with the VCA as an Obedience Club, you must run 2 trials a year, and run a committee that is acceptable under the code of ethics set down by them. Mel.

Yep I would definitely go day-on day-off just for now, so you don't get a backup of bones in the system. They are soft bones so technically it shouldn't matter, but better to be safe at the beginning. ;)

Pretty fair price as far as dentals go here in Melbourne. If your dogs do need to have teeth out then you should be guided buy the Vet's decisions on the day. It's not half as traumatic as it is for humans and dead teeth cause many other problems such as systemic infections if they are left in. Mel.

Leonards also have alot of chicken offcuts but not sure about their prices. If you are just beginning to feed bones- go easy, too many bones all at once may cause tummy upsets to dogs that are not used to them.

What a farce this is becoming.......

Yes essentially you are correct, if you do a google search I'm sure it will come up with heaps of stuff. The whole-dog-journal.com published a very good article about it just recently called 'Biscuits, not rolls, why you should never use the alpha roll and what to do instead'. Beware though that if you google it you may get a lot of sites who support it as a training method. We now know there are much better ways of leadership without having to roll your dog into submission. Oooh here is a great article too: History and misconceptions of dominance theory I haven't posted it for a while and nearly forgot about it! Mel.

Sokay- we're all a bit in the training forum.