westielover

Fantastic pics everyone!!! Lots of awesome photographer's amongst you all Many thanks for the photography tip shell!

The wonderful Ruthless came by the other day to take some pics of my new addition - Flynn the Kelpie and one of my westies, Riley. She captured these terrific Bokeh shots! Riley Riley again Happy Flynn Flynn again and again Then I tried some of my own ..... no where near as good as Ruth's and I wouldn't have a clue how I managed to capture these!! Please post your Bokeh shots

The sleeping trio!

Found a pic of the twins!

I managed to capture a family photo of my fur gang the other day with my iphone of all things!!!!

Gorgeous pics becandcharch!! Here's a puppy eye pic taken by the lovely Ruthless of my boy Spencer.

They come in black and white too!!! Naughty me didn't buy him for Deshonko though ..... please forgive me!!

Are you planning to breed any BLACK west highland terriers?? The white ones are hard to keep clean!!! Maybe also a giant version - the small ones are a trip hazard!

You can't possibily have the 2 best dogs in the world because I have the 4 BESTEST dogs in the world!! :D ;) (oh except for maybe one day when my kelpie ate 9 wooden blinds on 3 different windows ..... he may have not been the bestest dog in the world that day but I still love him!!! )

Off lead dogs being walked around busy and non busy streets make me feel extremely uncomfortable and I can never understand why people do it. Does my head in! RIP Cooper :D One thing I don't think people realise is that dog's owner is liaible for damages caused by their dog being hit. For example - if a car hits a dog and the car is damaged - the dog's owner is liaible. If a car hits a dog and then crashes into a house - the dog's owner is liaible. Perhaps if people realised that they were liabile for these types of damages - then they may choose to walk their dogs on lead! Years ago a dog ran out in front of my father's car. Unfortunately, my father hit the dog as he had no time to react. The dog sustained an injury which required vet treatment but was otherwise ok. The bumper bar on my father's car was damaged and came off. My father sourced a second hand bumper to replace it at a cost of $95. He approached the owner about this and was told to f@*# off. Dad then reported it to the police. In the end it went to court. The dog's owner lost the case and ended up paying over $1500. He could have saved himself $1405 had he a) kept his dog off the street and b) agreed to do the right thing and pay the original $95. So - those people who walk their dogs off lead - be aware of the potential costs!!

+1 +2 x3. I didn't/couldn't watch the video to it. And I agree if she is like this now, imagine what she'll be like when she is older. Some people have no conscience and NO heart. :D x4 I haven't watched the video but all I can say is if idiots are prepared to publish their stupidity on the internet then they should be prepared to deal with the wrath that is the internet lynch mob! Pathetic excuse for a human. I will never understand how humans can be so cruel to animals ......

AWESOME photos and what a beautiful boy he is!!!! I just love a scruffy cairn x westie (I am rather biased though!!) efs!!!

Can you do Saturday mornings at St Ives? Link

:D Boronia & Poodlefan! Julia could be 'moving the breed forward' and introducing a new colour option - the west highland wranger terrier (Too much coffee today!!!) People used to ask me about my DOL name & Petrescue name and often asked if I was a fan of people who lived in the western suburbs!! :D ;)

I'll let you know how long my BARF/RAW fed dogs go when they pass on ..... currently they are 10 yrs, 9 yrs, 5 yrs & 18 mths. :D The 2 westies are the oldest and people always comment on how good, healthy and young they look! The photos in my sig were taken in May this year. The thing I find most interesting in this thread is the lack of vet visits ....... a lot of these old dogs rarely went to a vet which means they were rarely vaccinated and some were irregularly wormed etc. I find that fascinating and I reckon must be a major contributor to longevity!

The ANKC rules for agility are listed here in the 'Rules for the Conduct of Agility trials" and on page 7 onwards are the measurements for all agility equipment. I ahve been referring to these measurements a lot lately!!

Strangely, I thought that's exactly what this thread was about Indeed it is poodlefan but I have lost interest in the topic hence I removed my statement which was originally a question to you.

removed - I don't want to debate about raw vs commercial. Whatever works for everyone

Maybe this article may be of some interest to some.

BARF is a mixture of raw meaty bones with additional meat, table scraps, grains, supplements, as described by the vet Dr Billinghurst. Prey model is designed to mimick a prey animal carcass, most of these people do not feed vegetable matter or fruits at all, let alone table scraps or grains. I've met dogs that thrive on both diets. Dogs are very adaptable animals. Thanks for that Staranis. I had thought BARF & prey model were pretty much the same. I guess I feed a combination but no grains & supplemtents. The dogs get to chow down on big meaty lamb shanks, half a chicken, whole raw fish & heads, turkey necks etc - I can't imagine throwing down half a lamb carcass in the back yard and letting them chow down on that Oh Mr Heart what a mess that would be!!! (OT- I remember once when I was in my early teens, my father when to a mates place in the country and came home with a whole humungous pig. I got home from school and nearly passed out at seeing a whole body wrapped in sheets in the laundry ........thought my dad had killed someone till I saw the snout!! Mind you .... I must admit I am not big on pork these days. I think I was all porked out by the time I turned 15!!) I don't think anyone should preach to anyone about how they should or shouldn't feed their dogs. One has to try for themselves and see if it suits or not. When I used to rescue dogs from pounds - I fed the dogs both raw and kibble (not at the same time - one meal would raw and the other kibble), that way they would go to their new homes used to both diets and the new owner could choose what they wanted to feed.

Could someone please tell what the difference between BARF & prey model feeding is???

Hey juice - consider adding some memory foam to you older boy's bed. You can buy it at clark rubber or do a google search for 'memory foam pet bed' or similar. A memory foam mattress will do the old bones some good

I think with Diesel it would be a matter of taking him off any cortisone based drugs, giving no annual vaccinations and feeding a raw diet. It would take a number of months to see a big improvement. I am not a betting person but I would bet on the fact that you would see a massive improvement. Cortisone based drugs (whih are generally prescribed by most vets for skin problems) suppress the immune system - add vaccinations on top of that and the dog's system has no chance of being healthy. I can't remember if you have told me whether he still gets vaccs ot not but no vet should be giving vaccs to a dog with a compromised immune system. The 'raw feeding' breeder I purchased my 9 year old westie from has fixed a number of skin problems on westies by taking the dog from the owner for a few months and switching them to a raw diet and weening the dog off the drugs & vaccs. I have seen the results and they are truly amazing. To see a westie go from having not much fur, red raw skin and scratching itself to no end and then see transformed westie with a beautiful full coat and good skin is prrof enough for me. Also, when feeding raw - not every meal has to be balanced (I think a lot of people worry about this too much) - the meals are balanced over say a week. As long as the dog is being fed raw meat, offal, bones and green leafy mashed veggies every week - it should be okay. The raw diet isn't meant to be complicated.

My dogs have been on natural diets for pretty much their entire lives - except for the 2 pounds dogs and my first westie who was fed a commercial diet during puppyhood (to 10 weeks). My second westie came from a raw feeding breeder. So it's about 10 years of raw feeding now and they are very healthy. Mind you my naughty dad used to drop in with schmakos ..... I used to let him give them one and then tossed the rest of the packet out when he left I have now asked him not to give them schmakos and now he brings liver treats That said, I have read somewhere that a dog's digestive system can accomodate whatever diet a dog is being fed. So dogs on commercial diet can certainly do well based on that. It's when you throw the other stuff in like annual vaccinations, cortisone based drugs and bad genes that you start getting problems. The natural diet needs to be looked at with a wholistic view. It's not just the diet - it's the vaccinations, the prescribed drugs for whatever condition the dog might have and the breeding. It all comes into play.

Last night I finished reading a wonderful book and I highly recommend it to all dog lovers. It's called 'A Dog's Purpose A Novel for Humans' by W. Bruce Cameron. A Dog’s Purpose tells the story of a dog who finds himself reincarnated and decides there must be a reason, a purpose he must fulfill, and until he does so, he’ll continue to be reborn. The story is narrated by Bailey, a wise and funny dog who is very much...a dog. This book will make you laugh and cry. It's a wonderful story - I read it over 3 nights and the last night I just couldn't put it down and stayed up to 1.30am finishing it. It would make a wonderful gift for a dog lover