Kiara&Heidi

I have a Staffordshire Bull Terrier and a Chihuahua, both female. I also live with two male poodle x cocker spaniels, (they are not "mine"). All four get along fine, but my two bond more don't really take notice of the poodle crosses. We also occasionally look after an old female maltese. So in my experience it doesn't really matter what sex or breed.

You can buy human grade beef mince from Coles for $6/kg. It is quite fatty though so depends on whether your dog can handle it.

Thanks Corvus and Sheena that makes sense. I think I have been doing it right then.

Is this right?: 1. I see something I know my dog will react to 2. I say "look at that" to alert my dog to the stimulus 3. Dog looks at stimulus 3. I click 4. Dog looks at me 5. I give my dog a treat But then, what do I do if my dog looks back at the stimulus as soon as I give the treat? Click and treat again? I'm kind of worried I'm doing it wrong and encouraging her to be reactive...

When Kiara was a puppy she ate an entire lemon meringue cheesecake off the table, which I had just made for visitors. She has chewed lots of things in the past, but that's probably the worst thing she's actually eaten. Heidi chews a bit, but she has not been able to make a dent in anything It's so much easier having a tiny puppy.

I don't clop Kiara's - they wear themselves down. And she sometimes chews her dew claws LOL, like a person biting their nails, so I don't have to do them either.

The brand I buy is only from the super market but the only ingredient listed is Goji berries. I'm pretty sure (but not 100% sure) that it needs to be listed in the ingredients as a preservative in Australia. I know a lot of dried fruit has sulphur dioxide added, but it is listed in the ingredients and I never buy it. Either way, I don't feed them often enough that it would be a problem, it would be less than once a month that she gets them. The blueberries I feed are fresh, so no preservatives there. I tried to grow a Goji berry plant once so we could have fresh berries, but Kiara ate the whole plant

My dogs love spirulina too. I bought it for myself but it's so it goes to the dogs haha.

If he likes the chicken necks I would look into a raw diet - in my opinion there is no better diet for dogs but that's for you to decide. Otherwise I can recommend BARF (Biologically Appropriate Raw Food) patties which are quite expensive if you are feeding anything bigger than a Chihuahua, but you could mix one in with his dry food (it is a mushy texture). My Chihuahua is fussy but she will not turn down her BARF - it smells quite strong which I suppose dogs love. ETA: Can you post some pictures of him :D

Itchy skin is quite common in young Staffords unfortunately. Kiara had such bad skin that it looked like mange and she was red raw in places We had tests at the vet and they couldn't find out what was wrong so she was put on antibiotics. The antibiotics worked until they ran out and she was off them for a few days. The vets recommended that she just stays on antibiotics for the rest of her life which I was not happy with. I switched her to a raw diet and it cleared up within a week . You don't have to feed raw because I know it can be a hassle for some people, but as others have said try eliminating grains and beef from his diet and see how that goes. Ideally try eliminating all red meats at the beginning and add new things gradually until you find the culprit. Also try and stop him from rolling in grass because that can cause itchy skin too. Give the diet change a go and if there is no diffrence or it gets worse you really should see a vet regardless of how much they charge or it's not really fair on Oscar. Good luck

I have had multiple problems with vets: - Trying to convince me that RAW feeding is dangerous - Trying to sell me Science Diet - Trying to change my mind about yearly vaccinations - Trying to convince me to give my dogs the heartworm injection - Not listening to my concerns - because I am young maybe or because I'm not a vet, who knows - Not explaining all options properly when it comes to decision making - Calling me in the middle of class to tell me I have to quickly make a decision about what type of surgery I want my dog to have while she is under anaesthetic because they miscalculated and now I have more than one option, forcing me to make a decision based on very little information - Telling me my Stafford, who this particular vet had never met, was likely to be aggressive and hurt my Chihuahua - Getting frustrated when I ask questions because they are clearly in a rush - Looking at me like I am an idiot when I ask for something to be explained further - Giving general (opinionated) advice that I didn't ask for - Or even if they are good that usually means they are not available when I need them The list goes on... Needless to say I don't really stick with any one vet and usually the vets I do like end up moving away or there is some other problem I don't think it's anal, you naturally just want the best you can find. I do envy people who have one vet for years and never have any problems with them.

Thanks Aussie

It's my favourite part of the day, but I don't like walking more than 2 dogs than once which I do sometimes. It's also a good excuse not to do other things.

I plan to call my next dog Rocco or Rocky if it's a boy... although I think other non-dog people might find that sad ETA: I probably won't be getting another dog for 3 years

sorry a bit off topic, but talking about house training its along the same theme at least are you in the chi thread i can't remember. but just to address this, we've had some buyers come back after giving them a pup or young dog and they've come back with, "the dog isn't toilet trained". basically doing what you described up top. my advice to one person was, don't stand there with the dog they never do anything when you are with them as they would see you as their one way ticket back inside the house and because they are dying to go they will wait until they are back inside then go. so what we do with our young pups is either have an area that they can always use that already has their own smells there or don't stand with them leave them for 5-10 mins outside by themselves. usually works better when you have other dogs around going too though. this lady that told me that, only had the one bitch but it did work what i told her to do. we usually have a word like outside now or out and they know its the toilet break, so we do that every hour or so after them being inside, works like a charm for us. but then again our dogs are trained from day dot to do this and also the young pups do follow the adults and learn that way. bit more difficult when you only have one dog. or puppy. Last night Heidi was not happy being outside because it was cold and the grass was wet. A while after I brought her back in she went on the pee pad inside which is fine. I don't like leaving her outside at night because there are owls and she is very small, so I have to stand with her. I am in the chi thread - Heidi is the one with patchy hair if you remember . I have also PM'd you before re: patella luxation - I have changed my display name from Arielle to Kiara&Heidi. Sorry to the OP for going off topic.