Miranda

I just thought I'd add that grooming dogs can be a backbreaking, frustrating, thankless job at times, just because you enjoy grooming your own dogs don't assume that you will enjoy grooming other people's. You will have to groom some absolute nightmares, some dogs will be matted to the skin, covered in sores and fleas and some dogs will attempt to bite you (and some may succeed). I have seen dogs that were actually flyblown and I've seen a cocker spaniel that was so matted that it was unable to defecate due to the hair blocking its anus. Also remember that you are dealing with members of the public some of whom have little or no idea of how to treat and care for their dogs and have little interest in learning. If you've got a reasonably strong stomach and enjoy trying to get through to ignorant pet owners who don't want to know then it's probably an ideal job for you, if not then I would think again. Of course a lot of the dogs and owners are fine and if you get a regular clientele happening it's much easier, but please be aware that it's not the easiest job in the world and if you truly love dogs it can also be extremely upsetting. I groom my own long coated dogs but there is no way that I'd want to do professional grooming and deal with other people's neglect which sometimes amounts to cruelty.

So what? Do you really believe that a Vet will say to himself "gee, I am going to push commercial food because 'so-and-so' brand dog food company contributed to my uni which enabled me to learn and become a vet"..................... Not bloody likely. No, but I certainly believe that some vets will recommend that their clients feed the specific dry food that they sell at their veterinary surgery. If you've ever attended a puppy pre-school at a veterinary surgery you will see what I mean, they always recommend that the attendees feed their puppies the brand of food that they sell. Some vets may not do this, but in my experience 90% of them are guilty.

Your dog may have been getting an upset stomach and loose, gassy stools because you were feeding too many and/or the wrong kinds of vegetables. To be quite honest I don't regard vegetables as a necessity, my dogs get a few very occasionally but certainly not on a regular basis. Why don't you go back to what you used to feed, but keep vegetables to a minimum, you may find that this fixes the problem. I would feed her chicken necks, wings, carcasses, lamb flaps (excess fat removed), brisket bones, canned mackerel/sardines/salmon/tuna, two or three raw eggs per week and perhaps a little yoghurt (real yoghurt such as Jalna, not the sugary yoghurt desserts) now and again. Give her any vegetables that you may have left over, but don't give her too many. See how she goes on that diet, if she's ok then you don't need to feed her dry food at all.

Take the dog outside, she's not going to catch anything from the cats, you will find this a much easier option.

Canned food is crap, I wouldn't touch the stuff.

Thanks panda :D

Thanks guys

I've just finished slowly changing my puppies onto Eagle Pack Large/Giant Breed Puppy Formula and I'm a little disappointed with it. I had them on the Advance Puppy Rehydratable and they did well on that, but I've had a few soft poos with the Eagle Pack and they always seem to be hungry. Also their poos are full of little specks which I presume is the finely ground corn which is obviously only being used as a filler as they're not digesting it. I already use Eagle Pack for my adults and I've been very happy with it, but the Puppy Formula doesn't seem to be working for these puppies. Has anyone else used this product? What did you think? Has anyone used the Advance Large Breed Puppy?

This could be a psychological problem rather than a physical one, anxiety and boredom are two things which can trigger this sort of obsessive behaviour.

Meat on its own is an incomplete diet, if you are only feeding meat she may have a variety of vitamin/mineral deficiencies. Feeding meat on the bone would be better, try her with some raw chicken wings/frames/necks/sardines/mackerel/eggs/yoghurt/left over vegies etc.

Dogs don't need carbs, they have no enzymes in their saliva to break them down and their GI tract isn't long enough to process them properly, their nutritional needs are totally different to humans.

Yes I feed them a few times a week, the dogs love them

Agree with showdog

About 4 hours per dog from start to finish and another 1 hour the day of the show.

You are spoiling your dog and making a rod for your own back, if your dog doesn't eat what you give him take it away and give him nothing until his next meal, if he doesn't eat that repeat the process until he actually eats. IMO none of the things you have been feeding your dog for breakfast are suitable foods for dogs, way too much cereal content, feed some raw chicken wings/necks/frames. BTW if the chicken necks you bought were smelly they were off, fresh chicken necks hardly smell at all, make sure you buy them at a supermarket not a pet supplies place. Changing your dog's food all the time and pandering to his little whims is turning your him into a fussy eater, decide on a DOG food diet, feed it and make sure he eats it, then you won't have any more trouble and your dog will be much healthier.

At the moment I am using Roseline straight scissors and thinning shears.

I use Heartguard once a month and worm my dogs with Drontal or equivalent every six months. I wouldn't use Interceptor for the simple reason that you are treating a dog monthly for intestinal worms that it very likely doesn't have. Sure it's convenient for the owner, but if you want to keep chemical intake to a minimum it doesn't really make sense. The same can be said for all the all in one treatments, if my dogs have fleas (touch wood I haven't had a flea on my dogs for over three years) I will use Advantage, if they don't have fleas why dose them with a chemical that treats something that they don't have. I also wouldn't use the heartworm injection, but then I don't give annual boosters either. I know of some people who give the heartworm injection at the same time as they give the (IMO) totally unnecessary annual C5 vaccination, chemical overload I think.

I don't live in Sydney, but I have heard very good reports of Karen Hedberg and Rob Zammit, however I don't think that they're in the south-west. I would be taking this dog to a specialist oncologist, I'm sure that if you check your yellow pages you will find one in Sydney.

I use a Mars Coat King on the topcoat of my Gordon Setters and it is absolutely brilliant. One of my girls is dripping in coat and it's the only thing that keeps it under control. I also use a stone, but her coat is just too dense to use the stone alone. I use a size 20 blade and I wouldn't be without it Toohey I've never used a 26 blade either, I'll have to buy one and try it. I need a finer blade in some places. Does it strip the coat closer to to the skin than the 20?

I would prefer the person with over 11 years experience.

well do you or any one know a suitable trainer, I live in Perth and was thinking about going to Bark Busters, does anyone know if they are good? Please share your opinions. Please do NOT go to Bark Busters, some of their trainers are grossly inadequate. I would never use them especially for a serious problem such as this.

Scat I am in Melbourne so I can't really help you with vets, acupuncturists etc. Are there any Perth DOLers who can help Scat with this sort of information?

Hi Scat, Please don't think that I'm questioning the competence of your vet or anything like that, but if he isn't an experienced HD vet ie. does a lot of xrays for scoring purposes, is fully conversant with all the latest treatment options etc. then I highly recommend that you take the dog to a vet who is a specialist in this field. Also regarding the surgery, my friend has a dog with extremely severe HD (the actual 'balls' of the hip are tiny and 80% out of their sockets) and she was told by the local vet that surgery or euthanasia were the only options open to her. That was two years ago and she hasn't had the surgery done and is now entering the dog in obedience trials. The dog is being treated with acupuncture, cartrophen injections and Sasha's Blend and she keeps her fit, well muscled (helps to keep the joints in place) and lean. I saw the dog last month and she can run and play just like a dog with normal hips, the only strange thing about her is that her hocks wobble when she moves. I suggest that you do as much research as you can about the disease so that you can make an informed decision, at the very least I would seek a second opinion, everything may not be quite as bad as you think :D

Why did they xray the hips when the dog was being desexed? Did you suspect that something was wrong and ask them to do it? Does the vet specialise in HD and its treatment? Have you had the xrays scored? If you have what were the scores? A lot of dogs get through life very well without an operation, don't rush into anything. I had a dog with HD who lived until he was 13, he had to be on medication in his later years but otherwise he had a long and happy life. He was not pts because of his HD, he died of a totally unrelated condition. Don't worry too much, there are lots of alternatives to surgery these days, it's early days yet :D

Hey guess what mickatie, I can actually understand this topic :rolleyes: I use Heartguard, Drontal every three months and Advantage for fleas when necessary. I haven't actually had any fleas for three years so I've been lucky. I don't use the 'all in one' monthly products because I don't want to put all those chemicals into my dogs every month to treat something that they probably don't have.