Lyla

I'm on my first bag of Uncle Albers at the moment, heard lots of good things about it on another thread. It's great for my boy who struggles to keep weight on, but my pups are starting to look a bit weighty. Might give the Great Barko a go next time as its a bit lower in fat content. Wish I could afford the Royal Canin, ingredients look a lot dif to most of the other kibbles, but with 4 dogs, 1 cat, 5 birds, 3 kids and all the bills, it'd be a bit of a stretch. Should be rich soon though, got my annual litter on the way! :D :D In regards to the original question, I have used Bonnie in the past and it was fine, but it is rarely available at my local lately. Usually go with Coprice if nothing else takes my fancy, been avoiding Pedigree as it gives all of mine the runs.

Thanks Kitkat, my dogs do get more than just dry food and mince, I was trying to not write a short story They do get bones, chicken necks, eggs, veges etc, I just meant the the majority of their daily diet was dry / raw. Doing lots of research at the moment on kibble and balanced raw diets, it seems the deeper you are willing to delve, the more involved / controversial it becomes. Happy to hear everyones opinions and make an informed decision with lots of facts. BTW, what is your dog food of choice?

Thanks for the links. Some great info there, and a totally different perspective rather than just personal opinions. (not bagging peoples opinions tho ) I was always guided with my choices for kibble by checking the Protein and Fat %'s. After having a bit of a read of some of the reviews on Dogs Analysis I have to say I am shocked. I (stupidly) assumed that a higher protein content meant a higher meat content...obviously not as vegetable peel can be included to bump up the protein content. (!!??) I am also shocked that some of the most expensive Premium Dry Foods (Advance, Beneful, Eukanuba, Hills Science Diet, Iams are the ones I have found so far and I am only half way through the list ) are only rated 1 star with an iffy meat content and high corn, wheat, beet pulp content which are all fillers which are not good for dogs and responsible for lots of allergies. How can these companies charge so much for something of such low nutritional value?? The site is worth a look at least for educating yourself about what the ingredients actually mean. I have tried many different dry foods, and I also feed 1/2 raw diet, and I'd have to say my Labs (2 adults, 1 preg, 1 who has trouble keeping weight on, and 2 older pups are looking great at the moment and I am feeding them chiken & roo mince. Great improvement over feeding them straight chicken mince. At this rate I might have to ditch the dry....

Welcome to the forum ;) I have added you to the list - this is the first time I have managed a litter thread, so please if there are any errors or you would prefer your prefeix instead of the user name just let me know :D All the very best to you and your girl - look forward to updates - safe delivery and well wishes to you! Jess xo Thanks Jess! Good Luck with your litter too. And every one else. You're doing a great job with the thread BTW. :D July is going to be here before we know it! ;)

I had one of my puppies from a previous litter come and visit us just before his first birthday. I wasn't sure how my bitch (his mum) would react as she is not really tolerant of puppy shenanigans, and always has to be the boss. Within 5 mins of them seeing each other they were curled up together in the yard snuggling. I have never seen my bitch do that before. She was so gentle and affectionate, and after he left she went back to her old self, uninterested in my pups we have here. The funny thing is we retired this bitch as she couldn't care less about her puppies when she has a litter, so it was very strange, and rather sweet, to see her behave in this way to her son.

Mystic Purple Purple Polka Dot Violet Lights Go to Bunnings and pinch some colour cards, great for names

Mmmm, every ones comments have given me food for thought...so to speak. I have had issues with my bitches having a massive milk supply prior to whelping, and also had one litter of four pups who were all basically double the average size of Lab pups when born. I know that the bitches usually aren't fussed on puppy food either, and this time around it seems to have caused some diarrheoa with its introduction. My litter is due early July, so I think I might give the puppy food a miss and see how things go. I know this will cause some quietly raised eyebrows with my vet. I think for them the simple solution is pregnant bitch = puppy kibble. My vet does not seem to be a fan of raw feeding either, esp with newly weened pups.

Hi all! I am fairly new to the forum (can't believe I didn't join sooner!) and just wanted to add my expected babies to the list. My choccie girl is due around July 9 with our Lab puppies. Should be a black / choc litter, and will be a great start to the school hols. Very exciting time also as it will be the first litter I have had with our new stud boy we got in Feb.

Thanks, have added my prefix

We once owned a Husky who had a terrible habit of eating underwear, and I mean literally eating it. From the dirty clothes basket was preferable, but clean would also suffice. She became an outside dog after the second time we had to remove the remnants of OH's boxers from her behind mid poo. Even if the basket was put on top of the washing machine she managed to get it down. A friend of mine's Lab ate through 5 iphone chargers in 3 weeks. He only did it after she went to bed, so she ended up moving his bed into her room and started sleeping with her hand dangling down for him to nuzzle on. Seemed to fix the problem. :D

I am going to buy some of this Uncle Albers tomorrow and give it a try. Just don't know how I'll go with Labs and the higher fat content.

I had one who barked when we had a very set routine, ie: play time at 10am, feed at 4. I ended up having to swap things around a lot, which took a few days of confusion but when he didn't know exactly when to expect things he got a lot better. Maybe try pushing meal time back slightly, but going and distracting the dog with a game or something to avoid the barking becoming too ingrained.

I have Labs and they will pretty much chew anything. Not only did any type of bedding go, so did an entire wooden kennel! So basically my dogs have no soft squishy bedding, and our kennels are the thermo plastic type or colourbond. Every so often I have tried blankets, sheets etc, but they just get dragged around and used for tug of war. Tried trampoline beds. They got eaten too. Had a brain wave to try rubber matting for the floor of the kennels. That got dragged out and chewed too. Persisted at putting it back in every day, then gave up after a couple of weeks. Now that its cold I have put the rubber back in and it has stayed in there!!! I agree with Stitch, tough love might be the way to go. Good luck.

Kibble = dry food

I also ween my Lab pups onto raw / kibble. At the end of the day they are dogs and if they were in the wild what would they eat? Raw meat plus whatever else they could scavange. I also had a dog who would eat stones. I only knew because each time i picked up his poo I would see pieces in it. Maybe large marrow bones which can't be easily devoured would be a good distraction. Calling him to play with a toy might also be a good way to get him to drop a stone without making a big deal of it if you catch him in the act.

Wow! Great photo! My girl wont let my other dogs within 50 m of her pups! Doesn't care how many kids come traipsing through though.

I let mine eat them. I was always of the understanding that it was beneficial / nutritious. I don't have to worry too much about them not eating in the first 24 hours or so when they are too busy or tired to eat anything else if they have eaten the placentas.

Mine are on a raw / dry diet. At about 6-7 weeks I changed to half puppy half adult until pups are born, and feed puppy dry until pups are weened. My vet advised me to do all puppy while in whelp and until pups are weened. They still get their usual raw as well. Do you need any supplements if the bitch is on 100% raw?

Just a question to anyone who has used AI: from the litters I have seen born from AI there always seems to be a much smaller litter than through natural mating. Is this usually the case, or is it just coincidence?

I agree! I am also totally surprised at the harsh criticism that Adnil has received for voicing her concern on a Forum for "dog people".