Miranda

Where do you fit the prong collar on him? The mind boggles

Can you post a photo?

Take your dog to the vet, it may or may not have ear mites and you need to find out exactly what's wrong so your dog can receive the appropriate treatment. Please don't mess around with ear problems, if the dog has some form of infection you need to get on top of it quickly. Chronic ear problems in dogs are common, once an infection becomes established it can be extremely difficult to clear up completely.

Clipping will ruin the topcoat, once it's been clipped it's never the same. Desexing can also alter the texture of the coat and make it harder to manage. I don't know what breeds make up your dog, but kelpies, labs and GSD's should never be clipped. I would use a Mars Coat Stripper on her and a comb, I doubt that the brush is actually getting through the coat. The Mars will strip out a lot of the dead hair and make her look tidier, but unfortunately I don't think you'll ever get her coat to look really nice.

Joints can look swollen and 'knobbly' while a dog is growing and don't smooth out until the growth plates close. She may have gone down in pastern because she's teething or she may just have a bad front. As I said many small crossbreeds have atrocious fronts, but still seem to lead a normal life. I wouldn't be rushing into surgery if she's not in pain and her mobility isn't adversely affected. Hard to say without a photo.

Does the dog have pasterns and feet that turn outwards? If she does this is very common in small mixed breeds. Is she lame or in pain? Does she have trouble walking, running or jumping?

I have a hydrobath from Melbourne Dog Centre in Rosebud. It's excellent. I don't have a grooming business, but I do have five dogs so it gets a lot of use.

well, the lady i got Charlie from said that he has been flea and worm treated.. and i only got Charlie last week. but, i'm not so sure because when I bought Charlie home.. he had fleas... i had to give him a flea treated bath on his first day home! so, i'm not quite sure about the worm now.. that's why i'm going to take him to the vet tomorrow to check. Charles fleas transmit tapeworm so make sure that you use a wormer such as Drontal that treats for all intestinal worms.

Sounds like you've solved the problem

Another suggestion. If he has a lot of chicken necks and wings he may have very hard stools that are scratching his anus as he passes them causing irritation. If you're worming him regularly you need to check out his poos and take a look at his bum

Oh I didn't realise he's only 9 weeks! Probably not anal glands then, possibly worms or maybe something is irritating him. Have you looked at his anus, is it inflamed at all? ETA they should be wormed every two weeks at this age.

i haven't noticed.. but it's lighter in colour? Diet is important as dogs need to form firm stools in order to empty their anal glands, so a dog with soft stools is more likely to accumulate an excess of fluid in the glands. However some dogs (mostly small breeds) seem to have problems regardless of diet and need their glands emptied on a regular basis. If they're allowed to remain full they can become infected and if left indefinitely an abscess may form which will need draining and treatment with antibiotics. At worst the anal glands may need to be removed.

Once a week is better, depending on the dog. Some dogs seem to have nails that grow much quicker and stronger than others.

If you take off a little bit of nail at a time the quick will gradually retract.

He may need his anal glands emptying or he may be passing tapeworm segments. If he's been wormed for tapeworm recently it's probably his anal glands.

My OH spoils the dogs rotten, it doesn't matter what I say he's always slipping them treats and he gives them all a piece of toast when he has breakfast and some of whatever he has for supper at night. They're not fussy eaters so it doesn't make them picky about their dog food, but I do wish he wouldn't do it. Still I'm glad he loves the dogs, not all OH's do so I guess I'm lucky :p

Eaglepack is a brand of dry food (and cans) from the U.S. Stop pandering to your dog, you are actually exacerbating the problem by changing his food all the time, he's learned that if he doesn't happen to fancy what you put in front of him you'll give him something else. Give him his meal, leave it down for 10/15 minutes and if he doesn't eat it take it away. Give him absolutely nothing until the next mealtime and then offer him exactly the same food, if he doesn't eat it follow the same procedure as last time. Keep this up until he gives in, it may take a couple of days, but in the end he'll eat it and he'll also learn that if he doesn't eat what he's given he'll go without. It won't hurt him to go without food for a day or so, no healthy dog will starve itself to death.

I disagree with you, there are plenty of people on this forum who feed diets based on meat and bones and their dogs and puppies are perfectly healthy. Feeding a commercial diet is certainly not the only way to feed, dogs have a carnivore's digestive system and a lot of dry foods contain far too many cereals and fillers which is why some dogs produce high volumes of faecal matter when eating them, they just cannot digest the excess carbohydrates. Also if you're going to feed a commercial food some puppies may do better on the adult version of the food as the puppy varieties can be too rich in protein and nutrients and cause rapid growth. I feed a combination of super premium dry food, meat, offal, raw eggs, fish, yoghurt, bones and leftovers. Dogs are scavengers and don't need every meal to be balanced, as long as they receive all necessary vitamins and minerals over a week or so they'll be fine. I have nothing against those that choose to feed a commercial diet as long as their dog does well on it, but to suggest that commercial dog foods are the ONLY way to feed your dog a correct and balanced diet just isn't true. My apologies to the OP for going OT.

Bloody unbelievable :p I don't care how many years experience your friend has, I wouldn't have respect for any breeder who recommended such a method. Take your dogs to a vet!

And recycling

Oh ok I thought you meant you were walking her on a harness. I have no experience with harnesses in cars as I have a station wagon and crates, but I'm sure someone else will be able to help :rolleyes:

Most puppies grow out of it.

Why are you using a harness, why not a collar?

You could also try tipping the coat. I do it about every six to eight weeks, it looks better than allowing the coat to grow long and straggly. Although you're shortening the coat, your dog will actually look as though he has more hair with the straggly bits removed and he'll look tidier and generally better groomed. Also make sure that you wash pee feathers regularly (I do it every day) otherwise the urine will burn what coat you have and it will become brittle and break off.

When I lived in the country my dogs would catch rabbits (mostly the young ones that can't run quite as fast :rolleyes: ) and eat them, they would consume the whole carcass including the fur which would later appear in their faeces. They wouldn't catch one every day, but usually one or two a week depending on the season and the rabbit would be their dinner on that particular day. Personally, although I agree that rabbits are their natural prey and a very healthy food for them, I wouldn't be capable of raising rabbits as food for either animals or humans. I am perfectly ok with allowing dogs to hunt for food, but breeding bunnies in captivity just to feed to the dogs is a different thing entirely. I would think that you'd need a lot of rabbits to feed a few large breed dogs, but providing your neighbours don't object and you have the stomach for it then I think it's a good idea. However I wouldn't feed solely rabbit, as you say it's a very lean meat and dogs actually require much more fat in their diets than humans.