erinonthefarm

I make my own barf food, but while I was on holidays with my dobe I bought the commercially prepared barf patties and was shocked at the cost- it was at least twice the cost of making it myself and I buy all human grade ingredients. My boy has been on it since he was weaned (his breeder put me on to it) and he is pretty healthy and his bones have formed very well. He was desexed at 9 months so he is a little taller than the Dobe standard

We shoot feral cats at our place. They are a threat to already diminishing native reptiles, birds and mammals in our area. I don't feel any guilt for that, better to die quickly than for one of our dogs to catch one. Not having that option in Alice Springs when we lived there, I obtained a trap from the council and caught our neighbours cat who had been climbing all over our car and pooing in my sons sandpit. My husband diplomatically returned the cat to the owners and said next time it would be taken to the pound, and they of course assured us it wouldn't happen again... I bet you can all guess what happened. I know of people who keep their cats indoors or in enclosed backyards, and I applaud the REAL effort to be a responsible pet owner rather than insisting kitty has a right to do as it pleases wherever it pleases. Like others have said, I hope it is comfy under your bridge chubbsie

Good luck. I've tried and can't. I feel so empty and hungry unless I eat some sort of animal flesh and I'm afraid subsitutes like tofu etc. just don't cut it. That just the eating habits you have slipped into. If you put as much effort into buying and preparing quality vegetables and other ingredients as you do meat, you would find them satisfying. Instead you eat a big lump of meat , and then garnish it with a small amount of boiled-up frozen veges. (that's what you describe here) If you ate a good vege dish, like a well-made vege lasagne, you wouldn't miss the meat as much. If you ate more vegetables and better vegetables, you would get used to that way of eating and wouldn't have to rely on meat so much. I confess you've described me to a T. The thing is I crave meat (or is it the fat?). And chicken and fish. I really enjoy eating animal flesh. I don't find veges and all the protein substitutes for meat anywhere near as tasty or fulfilling and they're so much more work to prepare compared to (example) chucking a steak in the pan. I don't blame you. I bloody love meat too. I really miss lamb and beef, but I've yet to find somewhere that can guarantee me that the animals have lived their lives completely on pastures and not be finished off in a feed lot. I don't think there's anything wrong with you wanting to eat meat. But I think that anyone eating meat should be making the effort to source free range animals that have lived a semblance of a normal life. I have access to Camel meat, and it is as close to cruelty free as you can get in my opinion. There are no feedlots involved and by eating camel you are one by one ridding Australia of a pest that causes a huge amount of damage to fragile desert ecosystems and Aboriginal sacred sites. The flavour is comparable to beef and is not a gamey meat at all, our butcher makes a camel and date sausage in Alice Springs .

Because as soon as one video is released there is a plethora of people who suddenly convert to vegetarianism. This has been happening since before you were born and the whole time you were eating meat. I don't see how now suddenly it's really a statement of how fed up you are with animal welfare practices. As for being a vegetarian ... what about eggs, fish and dairy. All of those industries have their own poor practices too. Vegetables ... what land did they clear and what poisons have they been spraying which has been killing the environment for years. Do your grains come from farmers who poison native wildlife? Keep going like this until you starve to death. If people want to make a difference they need to support DPI, RSPCA and other welfare related groups in regularly checking establishments and doiung random spot checks at least 4-5 times a year. All abbatoirs and knackeries should have surveilance installed as a rule as far as I'm concerned, and not only should the staff member be charged but the entire company too for not keeping staff in check. Why do you have an issue with someone being vegetarian? Its a perfectly logical and unhypocritical response to watching an animal be killed and thinking "I don't want to be responsible for that nor could I do it myself" Whenever someone argues with me about why I should eat meat, I wonder why if they are so happy doing it without remorse why do they need everyone else to be doing it too.

My OH had a blue/grey kelpie with fawn markings and light coloured eyes, very beautiful boy

I think Black and Tans are the most recognisable Dobe colour, not sure about most popular. I think the b&t look better with less effort in the show ring. You really have to watch the browns don't get bleached in summer. Most people think Sniper is a GSP or something, especially with the whippy tail. I think the Blues and Fawn look great, just a shame about their poor health. I'm yet to see a registered breeder offer those colours, especially with all the care most take with avoiding hereditory problems. I love my brown baby, and hopefully we will have a brown girl to add next year. I want the hair all over the house from the red/ brown animals to match

Tough situation. Can you advertise them both to be rehomed? Maybe the right home for the right dog won't leave the decision of which dog up to you, if you want them both equally. A large cross breed adolescent versus a older dog would be a difficult choice anyway. I personally would try to manage both dogs but thats because I am home all day and able to rotate dogs out of crates/ outside, not really practical if you work, although I'm sure it can be done with perserverance. Either way, don't feel guilty if you have to rehome one of them, you are doing it for their welfare

Listening now, very good! Thanks for reminding me

This. We tried to spray things with bitter spray, and left the bottle outside where it would be handy to get to.... it got chewed too!

What is DOL for if not to rant! I feel your pain. Luckily for me having a dobe normally puts people off approaching and smaller dog owners normally give us a wide berth. When they don't, Sniper makes a big scene and we get the same reaction that you did, I had someone run past with an off lead dog last week, the dog put its head down and hackles up and came bolting towards us, nearly gave me a heart attack and the runner gave me a dirty look because I yelled at the dog!

Good work Sheena! I went for a walk with the dogs yesterday (I'm looking after 3 extras) and weeded the garden for a couple of hours. Haven't run yet, I need to get up early and go before it gets too hot. I used to put all my running clothes out in the doorway to my room so I had to walk over it to get up, so I couldn't just "forget" to go- I might have to start that again. Good work with the wine, alcohol is full of calories, why does it have to taste so nice on a hot day

I'm glad I resisted the urge to get another pup when we got Sniper. I have just puppy sat 3 other dogs one of which is a puppy and there have been holes dug, toys shredded lots of barking....... Sniper really enjoyed playing with the puppy but even he got over it eventually and wanted a rest (he is 1yo)

Doesn't eucalyptus oil remove chewing gum, that will add nicely to the peanut/ gum medley in her foot

I need to regain my fitness, since my Dobe girl passed away last year I haven't had the drive the go running that I did before with my partner My 1 yo Dobe isn't allowed to go running yet so I'm a bit of a couch potato. Count me in, might try a run this week by myself although I worry about wild dogs too (but I like having a dog with me for that reason and I carry a stick just in case)

I can totally relate to looking for an escape route!

I am a member of a buy swap sell group on facebook, and for the small town the group is relevant to there are a large number of puppies from byb for sale. Someone I know questioned if a community group was an appropriate place to sell puppies (not to mention the free to good homes adult dogs and cats). Of course there was a huge response to this, both positive and negative, but the moderators removed the comments saying if you have a problem with someone selling something, get over it, don't look and move on. I've since seen on a thread about some puppies for sale (unvaccinated, unmicrochipped, unwormed ect) other people bagging people such as myself who don't want puppies to be sold on the group- where is the moderator now? Are they not commenting on something thay don't like? I got a BYB puppy once, and one from a pet shop before that, but that was because I didn't know any better, and I still got them microchipped, vaccinated and desexed. If someone had pointed out to me that there were better places to get a puppy from I would have been all ears. I can almost guarantee that those puppies won't be desexed by their future owners, let alone all the other basic things they need, they will just open a bag of puppy pal and relegate the puppy to the backyard. What makes me the most angry is that most of these people who want puppies for sale on this group think that $300 for a desexed pound puppy is WAY too much, and that you can get a puppy and if your circumstances change you can put it back on the site and send the dog (or cat) onto the next home and no one should critisise you for it. I get it, because I have brought a beautiful 8 week old puppy before and they are irrisistable, but only 2 or 3 months down the track they grow up so fast, and I can tell you all I will be watching and if any of these puppies turn up on the RSPCA website or the facebook group, I will be giving it to the pathetic humans who told me and others that we should just look the other way . In a related rant, my Brother in Law has bred his two kelpies, and while he walks them everyday and does love his dogs, he has let them have puppies because it is good for the mother! WTF who even thinks that anymore. He sent us photos of the puppies at their birth and I haven't spoken to him about it but my OH was asked to spread the word so Bro in Law could rehome them. I told OH not to get involved, his brother made his bed and now he can lie in it. My OH is dissapointed that his brother did this, as he has already had complaints from neighbours about dogs barking (he lives with his three kelpies in a townhouse) and he works very long hours. These puppies won't be getting any basic puppy healthcare either.... I really just wish that the human species could evolve......

I know my dobe is fine with other males desexed or otherwise as he is desexed. Can your friend have the rescue dog on a trial? I think a week or two would give her a good idea about how they get on

OMG 2 puppies and 2 Babies!!!!!! Does she have nannies or something? I got a puppy when I was pregnant and I invested a lot of time into the puppy until my son was born and then my priorities shifted and I got way slack. I can only imagine the horror of raising 2 giant breeds and twins And good luck getting a good breeder to give her a puppy or 2 in those circumstances.

I kept my puppy indoors for a while because there had been a puppy with parvo in our yard, but like secretkai and fuzzy82 have said, you have to go to extreme lengths to totally eliminate the risk, and now I have had to do extra work because of the socialisation my boy missed out on while I was being paranoid

My dog went through this as well. I fixed the problem by going out in the rain with him and using his wee command until he went. Sometimes I still have to do this at night, he won't go to the toilet until I go and stand on the grass with him. So when you take her out after naps and meals, does she do her business and then still have some in reserve for inside the house or is she not going outside when you do this?

"IT'S absurd, a nation that considers dog to be man's best friend doesn't even know where its puppies come from." Chris Brown Um yes Chris :rolleyes:

Oh so it is the same guy, I got confused because last I heard the bondi vet was expousing the virtues of oodles so I thought it must be someone else! He is probably changing his tune because its bad PR to support breeds which come from puppy farms, I doubt he has any real concern about where someone buys a dog, so long as they watch his show. On the up side, at least he is saying the right thing now, must have got a new manager By the way, there is an oodle in Renbury at the moment who was surrendered because she gave the child in the family allergies, so much for being allergy free.....

Hi there, what a cutie Tyson is! Be careful, Dol is very addictive have fun looking around

I am minding three other dogs for the next three weeks and they all eat cheapish brand dog biscuits so the poos are enormous and have to be cleaned up every day, sometimes twice a day! The other three dogs are all small x-breeds and have bigger barker eggs than my Dobe who eats raw food, I would hate to see the size of his if he ate biscuits