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I've found that both my dogs are eating the buds from this plant which seems to be an Iris? On my research it seems in humans it's used for a lot of remedies although perhaps in dogs it's toxic. Can anyone shed any light i.e. what type of Iris this is and if it's known to be toxic or the possiblity my dogs are self medicating. I'm pretty sure it's this one: http://www.bushcare-kba.org.au/index.php/weed-identification/herbs-and-others/african-iris/

I read this... Bones, raw solid vegetables or fruit can replace the evening meal @ http://www.augustineapproved.com.au/feeding_guide.php

Are you doing the veges thing too? Do they get bones at all? I was thinking of maybe doing raw meaty bones one meal with this mix the next, as I'm not comfortable with them never getting bones. My dogs are currently on a commercial barf diet, once we run out I'll be using the Augustine Receipe. My dogs get the occassional bone but it's more enrichment that diet related.

In regards to amount to use, it's 5grams per 100grams of meat. We're using up our previous BARF order so I'm adding Superboost to their meals i.e. Leila gets 200 grams of Meat so gets 10 grams of powder. The container is 440grams so that's 44 days worth.

Phivo has given me his time on the phone to chat about his experiences and products and has offered help. I've never encountered him online but I'd like to think I'm mature enough to appreciate a product for what it is rather than if I like the person behind it or not. I think it's a good product that I see improvements in both of my dogs. If you don't like the person and are uninterested in the product apart from bitching about your personal dislikes/ethics of the person behind it then your contribution here is completely unncessary....I don't even understand why you would come into a thread you have nothing to contribute about personal experience with a product or would like to learn more from others about their experiences with the product to perhaps try it.. Let's be adults huh.

http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/cootamundra/dogs-puppies/mastiff-x-dane-male-6-1-2-months-old-free-to-good-home-/1015763960 We have contacted this family to offer help, they say they got the puppy from a rescue in Sydney, it is desexed. Is it someone from here? I have asked who the rescue is but no reply at this stage. Puppy is injured and keeps retraumaing it's leg from falling on the floorboards and playing too rough with the other dogs so therefore isn't being kept quiet. We can help if needbe as we have a carer only an hour away.

We used to do adoption first but after wanting one of my dogs back during the trial period because the person turned into a moron I can't take back what I have legally adopted out and accepted an adoption fee for so now I send out on trial and paperwork is done after the trial and thats when I take the adoption fee too.

Depends why the dog needs to see the vet i.e. if the dog was attacked at a dog park or hit by a car then that's not my responsability, however if there was neglect involved I'd be taking my dog back anyway so I'd be paying for the vet work. We have a 2 week trial sign off that lays out what we cover and what we do not cover. We do not do any other paperwork or accept the adoption fee until after the 2 week trial so technically the dog is still ours and we are liable for all costs involved.

It's like I've read this before? This happened to them another time as well yeah?

Don't feed the Troll.

We are 2 weeks into using Superboost supplement. We changed from the K9 Young at Heart supplement which I still think is a quality product but you need a HUGE amount of it for the daily dose which just made my Danes dinner all powder and little anything else. I'm very happy with it, My 12 year old Dane has more energy on it than she did on the Young at Heart and its not much powder in relation to her food. She's very happy to eat it as well. She's now got the energy for her walks again which is great and she looks good. Once we finish our current BARF order off I'll be trying the Augustine Approved home made diet, it sounds great. I also have my Lab x on it who were bringing his weight down, he's definately getting better duration and energy levels for his bike rides since he's been on it and he's looking good. He has environment allergies so I'm not expecting to see any change in that but we're earlu days and you never know it could help his general over all health deal with the environmental stuff.

For off lead work or when the dog is not in eye sight. There are plenty of positive reasons to use 'tools'.

The vibrate can scare the crap of of some dogs. We recently sent a collar to someone with a deaf dane and it did exactly that. The low level stims would have been far less worrysome. Those who aren't familar with c-ollar training won't really understand how stim is better than vibrate in some cases. Most of the low level stims I can't even feel myself. E-collars aren't for shocking the hell out of the dog - they can be used in quite positive ways.

I've haven't had any success with front connecting harnesses on a variety of fosters and have made sure I am using them correctly with different professionals, I have only seen them work on sensative dogs. I find I have less control with them that I would a flat house collar. I prefer this side clipping one if a harness type product is going to be used, it's one of a kind: http://www.completepet.com.au/shop/product/83-happy-at-heel-harness-lead-set http://youtu.be/0lUM9tKRK4Q I don't think any 'tool' is a cure, it's about implementing a training program with them.

HERO has too many other varibles, you'll need to provide a direct link for me if you wouldn't mind.

Hi Guys, Does anyone visit Wagga Pound that would be happy to take some photos of one of the inmates for me and see what she is like? Listed as a Mastiff x, 6 month old female. Would be very grateful for any assistance.

Pica can be a mental health problem however in humans it can be causes due to pregnancy as well low blood levels of iron and other minerals, I guess it's reasonable to make a connection between her season and pica?

Love it lol

So awarding a dog for its looks is bad but giving a prize for most handsome / prettiest x-breed is ok?

A link you may be interested in. We're using their Superboost supplement at the moment and had a good chat to them about their receipes being human grade: http://www.augustineapproved.com.au/recipes.php

Definitely get them checked, not that I want to scare you but one of our rescues got what looked like Moles around his penis area, all came up in about a week, turned out they were all Cancer. He's not an old dog either and it was completely random. Previous to this I would have just said keep an eye on them but this experience has now changed my stance on that.

How true is that and in reality it's so irrelevant - the dog needs a new home so just focus on that and not creative a story or add any negativity to it.

Because I personaly don't understand why, if a dog is allowed inside with its family when the family is home why it has to sleep outside. Dogs are pack animals and unless that dog actually wants to seperate itself from its pack and sleep outside I want it sleeping inside with its pack. My breed is a sensative people orientated one, most of the problem dogs we get have been the outside ones. I understand and appreciate there are good owners who have well balanced dogs who sleep outside, that's cool, that's up to them but not with dogs I adopt out. It's a constantly taboo subject on DOL but I'll never change our rescues policy on it and I won't knowingly adopt a dog to be an outside dog or an outside sleeper unless that is something that the dog feels most comfortable with...haven't had one of those yet. I'm not nieve, I know people lie or choose to change the way the dog sleeps - these things happen but I won't 'knowingly' send a dog to live or sleep outside. We have an awesome retention rate so I'll keep plugging away with what works for us and our dogs. We use a form as a base and then match individual dogs to individual homes that suit them best. We go out of our way to make new families get the best experience with their new dog and enjoy the process as much as possible. In reality everyone does something different, and it's not for anyone else to judge - whatever works best for them and the dogs in their care. Communication is the one thing that seems to need improvement across the board and that's probably the same in any 'industry'. Our adoption fees have recently gone up from $300 to $350.00. We don't charge above that no matter how much the dog cost us in vet work, behaviourists, boarding, other expenses etc etc. To me, I think if you start charging big adoption fees you're just forcing people onto classified sites and BYB's where they can get cheaper dogs.

I find it hard sometimes that I have to turn down great families for dogs just because the situation/environment isn't the right fit but I do tell try my best to communicate to them that it's not "Them" and that I will have a dog suitable for them in the future. I did have a woman challenge me recently because I wasn't able to help her with a 10 month old Dane x we had because she worked full time and didn't have another dog as a companion - this dog had already been moved on from his previous home due to his boredom behaviours and I didn't want it to happen again but unfortunately she didn't want a bar of the reasoning and I thought she knew better than me and sometimes of course we get people like that that are in the frame of mind "It's ok, it will be ok, I know what I'm doing". It's hard because sometimes people are getting turned down again and again and it's just easier to get a FTGH dog off a classified site. We are a fairly hard organisation to get a dog from however we deal with Giant dogs who are very sensative and prone to certain behavioural problems so finding the right mix to me is even more important and any problems in a giant breed is amplified due to size.I do admit that the cross breeds we take on that aren't giant/very large dogs don't have as tough as screening, still screening but not as anal. We do use forms and they are vital to our organisation, although if people have some initial questions then of course we answer that. There are some non-negiotable items our organisation has and I won't be swayed on them at all, no matter how much pressure from potential homes or other rescue groups. i.e. I will not home a dog where it has to be an outside dog, we home a sensative breed who are companion animals who are part of families that means they are with their families when those families are home unless the dog wishes to be elsewhere and they sleep inside with their families unless there is a valid reason why they cannot - I get grief about that all the time but I won't change that. We get told again and again and again from people that rescues don't reply to their emails or take too long. I'll reply same day no matter how busy I am because this is what we're here to do....find homes for dogs and if we don't have time to do that then we need to let someone else do it.

I don't think your percentages are correct. http://bakerinstitute.vet.cornell.edu/contentimages/library/File/Canine_Hip_Dysplasia_brochure_11_05.pdf If you can show a court that you did everything you could to prevent such a condition such as: - Hip score your breeding stock - Provide a suitable diet info pack - Keep in touch with family to try and ensure they were keeping to the puppy raising / diet info Then for a condition that is part genetic and part environmental I think it will show you have done what you can. If you offered me another puppy I don't think I'd take it given my experience already. As a seller you have the Three R's to provide: Replace, Repair, Refund. If there is a high possiblity that the consumer believes the product is defective it would be reasonable for them to decline a replacement. If I were the breeder I would have expected my Puppy Buyer to contact me and give me an opportunity to pay for a second opinion and to see the xrays if applicable - this could go against the seller if they did not do this. If you're being taken to court I'd suggest you speak to a Lawyer rather than a forum where you're going to get mixes messages some may or may not be factual and you'll not know which is which.