Miranda

Thanks Sags, fair enough. I'll have to look at the ingredients list etc. before I decide to try some.

Oh bummer Is it very different? Who's making it?

I don't think dogs would be able to break down the banana sufficiently to utilise the available B6 and if you feed too much banana you might have a runny poo problem. I'd say supplementation is the way to go if you really think your dog's deficient.

Great news, I hope it's as good as the US Nutro. Is there a list of ingredients available anywhere?

If your dog eats red meat there is no need to supplement with any of the B vitamins. Muscle meat doesn't contain folic acid, but liver is a good source. Bananas only contain vitamin B6.

Thanks Sags. I'll probably give it a try, I haven't been entirely happy with any other dry food I've tried.

Nutro is set for relaunch in a matter of days. Sags Do you mean that it's being imported again? Is it the same formula? Nutro was the best food I've ever fed to my dogs, they did brilliantly on it.

Seems a bit expensive to me, I have never had a dog stay overnight at a vet's surgery following desexing.

What he's doing is totally normal for an only dog, he's a baby and he's just playing

15 minutes is nothing, I've stood out in the yard for over an hour with some of my puppies. It's something that has to be done and it soon passes.

Advocate doesn't cover tapeworm. Personally I don't give monthly treatments because I don't believe in treating a dog for something that it probably doesn't have, but like everything it's a matter of personal choice. I worm 3 or 4 times a year and use Advantage if and when I find a flea which isn't very often as I haven't had any fleas here for three years now. None of my dogs have ear mites or lice and the chances of them developing demodicosis or sarcoptic mange are minimal at best. Droncit is the usual treatment for tapeworm, as your dog doesn't have fleas the chances of him picking up tape are greatly reduced so treating him a couple of times a year should be adequate.

oceanaussie PM Working Setters or FHRP, I don't know if they do field trials, but I know they work their dogs.

I have never heard of this, I feed fat both cooked (as in leftovers) and raw and have never had a problem. Dogs have a far greater need for fat in their diet than humans and fat, cooked or raw fed in sensible quantities won't harm your dog at all. Also salt is rarely toxic to dogs as long as they drink adequate amounts of water, it would be very hard for a dog to consume so much salt in a normal diet that it had adverse effects. I really feel that people are worrying unnecessarily about what they feed, dogs are natural scavengers and a normal, healthy dog can survive on just about anything within reason. Most things are fine if fed in moderation including fat and salt, your dog certainly isn't going to die from salt toxicity or develop pancreatitis if you feed it the odd slice of bacon. Of course if your dog has a predisposition to pancreatitis or any other condition then you must adjust its diet accordingly.

Brisket bones are fine, I feed them all the time, it's the weight bearing bones (marrowbones) that are hard.

Actually fleas prefer much milder temperatures and reasonably high humidity so blistering hot weather will actually inhibit their breeding cycle and may even stop it altogether although they will of course commence breeding again immediately conditions become more favourable. Ideal conditions are temperatures between 20 and 30 degrees with 70 to 80% humidity.

I don't think you're overworming, young puppies are frequently born with roundworms which pass to them from the dam and they don't acquire any immunity to them until about 6 months of age. I worm every two weeks from 2 weeks of age until 12 weeks, then every month until 6 months of age then every 3 or 4 months. I usually use the Canine All Wormer tablets from Vet-N-Pet direct, (I think you get 40 x 1 per 10kg tablets for about $70.00) and only occasionally use Drontal. If I were you I would definitely try another wormer and if your dog still gets diarrhoea you may have to change to one of the spot on products.

You can also use thinning scissors to trim the excess hair from the tops of the ears, I use clippers, but you can certainly do it with scissors. Dead hair can be removed from the top of the head with your finger and thumb pulling forwards towards the dog's nose, using a 'rubber thumb' on your index finger makes it easier or as settrlvr says use a stone. You should also remove any hair growing inside the ears to maximise airflow.

Well they'll still work but it will take you much longer to trim. I never use double sided, only single. If you only used them once and still have the packaging they came in and the receipt try taking them back and asking if they'll exchange them, don't say that you've used them just say you bought the wrong ones by mistake.

You still need single sided scissors, double sided scissors aren't suitable.

Yes you have, buy yourself some single sided, don't buy too cheaply because cheap grooming equipment generally isn't as comfortable to use and doesn't last long. Cut into the base of the matt a few times and then pull a comb through it and you should be able to tease it out. Cutting a matt off with straight edge scissors leaves a noticeable gap, it won't look quite as obvious if you use thinning shears. Of course in an ideal world one shouldn't allow a matt to form in the first place

I wipe out my dogs' ears with Malaseb diluted 1:30 with water when they have a bath which is every couple of weeks. I never flush out the ears and haven't had any ear problems for many years. I also remove any hair growing inside the ears as well as clipping around the outside.

No offence, but finding one or two fleas on a dog every couple of days is one or two fleas too many. Having a dog with fleas just isn't acceptable IMO. If you're finding just one flea on your dog it means that there are probably 100's more in the environment and your dog is going to be constantly reinfected. A dog with fleas will always have tapeworm and may develop a dermatitis caused by an allergic reaction to the fleas' saliva. I have never found a totally effective 'natural' product that totally eradicates fleas and if I do find a flea I use Advantage. I don't have a flea problem here and haven't found any at all this year, but I have a zero tolerance policy and unfortunately the only flea treatment that works for my dogs involves using chemicals. If I could find a natural product that worked I would use it, but I haven't found one yet.

saram dogs aren't humans and sharing is not something that comes naturally, in fact 'not sharing' is a survival instinct and the only time you'll see any form of true altruism in a dog is in a bitch with very young puppies and even then it only lasts for a short time. Your 'two little boys' are actually two young dogs and even though they're happy to swap bones at the moment I certainly wouldn't count on them continuing to do so for the rest of their lives. Sure you might be lucky and you'll have two dogs that get on really well and are happy to share bones, but having two same sex siblings usually isn't easy and that's why a lot of breeders (including me) won't sell two to the same person. Personally I would always feed these two dogs separately and keep them apart when they have bones, it's a sensible precaution as fights often start over high value items like bones, pigs ears, favourite toys etc. and they can erupt out of nowhere with little or no warning. I have six dogs here and they all get on, but I would never leave them together when they have bones and they're always fed separately in their crates. I've had the odd fight now and again and every one of them except one has been triggered by food and caused by my lack of supervision. I would be extremely surprised if you don't get some form of rivalry between these dogs once they reach six to eight months. Even if one of them is openly submissive to the other it won't stop the more dominant pup of the two constantly putting him in his place to reinforce his position and sometimes one pup becomes so cowed and bullied that he leads a pretty miserable life. Hopefully this won't happen with your two and you won't have any problems at all, but you should be aware that they can occur and leaving bones and food for them to 'share' won't help the situation.

Possibly. Personally I would never allow a dog to run with chooks unsupervised, if one of them startles and runs off flapping and squawking this could easily trigger prey drive in your dog and I doubt that rattling a chain will stop him. If I were you I'd fix the chook pen so that they can't escape and keep them apart, but of course it's entirely up to you.

I used to own chickens and I always kept them separated from the dogs in a secure pen. If I let them out the dogs were locked up and vice versa. In my experience dogs and chickens don't mix and it's far easier just to keep them apart. I also agree with Ceilidh regarding tying dead chooks around a dog's neck. IMO that sort of thing is in the same category as rubbing noses in urine and poo, yanking heads off with check chains and alpha rolling, old school barbaric training methods that thankfully most educated dog owners no longer employ