Miranda

Working Setters, if you haven't got much coat on your dogs you may manage with just thinning shears and you can use ordinary scissors on the feet, I usually use the thinning shears, but ordinary scissors will be quicker. Just put your thumb between the toes and flick the hair up and then, with the points of the scissors pointing towards the dog's leg, just cut it off. When you've done that lift the dog's paw up and cut off the hair under the foot and at the rear of the pastern. Behind the ears put the thinning shears into the coat (against the lie of the hair), cut and comb out. Keep going until you've got out enough hair then turn the scissors so that you're going in the same direction that the hair grows and trim any remaining hair that may be sticking out. You can do the same on the throat, but it's slightly harder because you're trimming a concave area so be careful that you don't cut into the dog's skin. You'll soon get used to the technique If you don't have any scissors and you have to buy some I would recommend that you buy a good brand ($100+) as the cheap ones don't work as well, they're much harder on your hands and they don't last. Good grooming equipment is a must IMO if you want to get the best results. Yes Sandy imported an Irish and a Gordon from Sweden, I don't know the breeding of the Irish, but the Gordon is from Zettertjarns Kennel one of the top working kennels in Scandinavia. If you want me to send you those grooming diagrams PM me your email address and I'll send them to you. Good Luck

Oh t-time as a show person this idea horrifies me. I can see the practicality of it, but the thought of it......... All that lovely Irish feathering, such a shame.

Hi Working Setters, I don't know of anyone in Brisbane who could teach you to clip your dogs, but showdog who is more conversant with Irish may be able to help you. I do know of someone near Toowoomba, but that would be too far for you. If you want to do a show clip you will need to purchase some clippers plus a no. 10 blade would probably be the best for your purposes. You will also need some thinning shears with one straight edge and one serrated edge. I have some diagrams here, but you will find it much easier if you can find someone to show you how it's done. I can scan the diagrams and send them to you if you're interested, they are actually for a Gordon Setter, but the three setter breeds are all clipped in basically the same way. What lines are your dogs from? Sandy's? Are you intending to work your dogs in summer? Just wondered because of the problems with snakes. Anyway it's nice to have another setter person on DOL

I have never, ever heard of any vet giving any vaccination in the dog's bum, I think the lady must be confused or something, it just doesn't happen. Anyway the dog is nine years old, there is absolutely no reason to vaccinate her again.

Dr. Barry Haywood in Cranbourne is great, he is also a qualified vet. He has lots of racing greyhound owners as clients which is always a good sign.

Cooked liver isn't slimy at all, I certainly wasn't suggesting that it be fed raw

Don't give him too much at first 'cos it'll go straight through him, it's best mixed in with other food so maybe crumble it up and sprinkle it over his chicken wings? Dogs that are picky eaters are a real pain in the butt, I sympathise with you wholeheartedly

For a start I think that four meals per day is too many, I only ever feed puppies three times a day and for a puppy like this who's refusing food I would cut it back to twice daily. I would also dump the kibble and keep the chicken wings, if you can get him to eat a little cooked liver a few times a week and maybe some lamb flap you will have a reasonably complete diet. If you are finding wings too expensive, try him with chicken frames, I can buy them for $1.40 kg and six frames cost me about $3.00. A brisket bone a couple of times a week will help him with teething too. I really can't understand why you are so insistent on feeding him kibble, plenty of large breed dogs are raised very successfully without commercial dog food and if he doesn't like it and absolutely refuses to eat it I can't see any point in continuing. Chicken wings are good food and kibble, depending on the brand, may be adequate or just plain bad. If you are worried about raising the puppy 'sans kibble' check out the rawbreeder group on Yahoo, you may find it helpful.

I feed Jalna yoghurt and any brand of tuna in springwater. Don't feed the dessert yoghurts, most of them are high in sugar and of little nutritional value. Jalna yoghurts are excellent.

When I lived in the country my dogs used to hunt, kill and eat rabbits, especially young ones which were easier to catch...........I'll never forget those poos full of fur :p None of them had any health problems although of course they were wormed regularly. I don't think dogs would have a problem with roadkill, but I don't think I'd pick it up unless my car had been the one to run over it, at least then you'd know it was fresh.

Where do you live? I'm in Melbourne, but there are heaps of DOLers who feed Eagle so someone should be able to advise of suppliers whatever area you're in.

Sorry gossco57, I misconstrued the point of your post, I thought that you were trying to dictate what should and should not be fed. Your diet sounds ok to me, I'd cut out the rice, the corn and the canned vegetables, but other than that if it works for you then go for it :p

gossco 57 there is enough cereal material in Supercoat already, feeding rice and pasta in addition to the dry food isn't a good idea at all. A dog's digestive system isn't designed to cope with starches, it doesn't even have any enzymes in its saliva to help with pre-digestion. It should also be noted that pasta and white rice are the equivalent of white bread, processed, denatured food with very little nutritional value. Of all the canned foods Nature's Gift is one of the better ones, but I don't recommend feeding canned food either. The mince and a small amount of vegetable matter is fine although I would feed the mince raw not cooked. I feed raw with the addition of a small amount of Eagle Pack dry food. I do not like Supercoat, but if it suits you that's ok. ETA that I don't feed any supplements whatsoever.

Thanks for that info gossco57, I've been wondering about what you feed your dogs for ages, now I'll be able to sleep at nights

I can't vote on this, there are too many variables, all families are different and are looking for different things from a dog.

I use a stone on my dogs' topcoat, it is time consuming and quite hard work (compared with a Mars Coat King for instance), but it gives me brilliant results and the coat looks better in the long term. I think using a stone is well worth the extra effort involved. I only pay $5 for mine and they're readily available at any of the dog show vans.

Hi MumOf2LabBoys, If your dog has a very dense coat and has been getting wet and not being dried off properly he could have a fungal infection. Moisture gets trapped deep within the coat next to the skin and if the weather is mild this would be enough to create a 'hot spot' in a susceptible dog. Do you bath and groom him regularly and get rid of all the dead coat? I would be bathing him in Malaseb, leave it on for ten minutes and then dry him thoroughly with a dryer if necessary. Then give him a thorough brush and comb and try to strip out any dead coat. Repeat weekly and see how he goes. True food allergies in dogs aren't common, skin conditions are usually caused by fleas, fungal infections or external allergens like grass, wandering jew etc. Remember that vets make money out of the Hills range, it's in their interests to encourage you to buy them.

Someone once gave me some Supercoat to try which I did (reluctantly) and it went straight through my dogs. I wouldn't touch the stuff. IMO it's cheap and nasty rubbish

Oh ellz, that's fantastic, I'd kill for a butcher like that, here they charge $1.40kg for chicken carcasses.

I never feed raw offal (especially liver) to my dogs because of the risk of hydatid tapeworm cysts. If the dog picks up a tapeworm head from a fertile cyst it will become infected and will shed eggs in its faeces. If a human accidently swallows an egg after contact with the dog's faecal matter (can be on hair near the tail or dog's mouth) it will grow into an embryo which will travel via the bloodstream to the liver, lungs or other organs where it will form a cyst in the same way as it will in a sheep, pig, goat etc. Hydatidosis in humans can be fatal. This is why rural dogs should be kept away from dead stock or kangaroos and should never be allowed anywhere near if animals are being slaughtered. If you are buying human grade meat from the supermarket the risk is minimal, but there is still a risk, therefore all offal should be well cooked as heat destroys the tapeworm. I would definitely not buy liver or other offal from a pet food outlet. If you want to feed raw offal to your dogs feed chicken livers as chickens are not susceptible to hydatid tapeworm.

I might be wrong, but I think that meat bought at pet food stores is uninspected. I don't buy meat from pet stores ever, but if I did I wouldn't be at all happy keeping it in the same fridge as my food.

Thanks for the info guys, great topic

Hi everyone, I feed chicken wings, necks, brisket bones and lamb flaps and I'd love to feed chicken frames but they still worry me with all those little pointy bones. Has anyone ever had any problems feeding frames? I know I'm being stupid, but I just can't seem to get past all those little bones. Also does anyone feed lamb necks? I often look at them too, but haven't given them to my dogs yet. I just need some reassurance :rolleyes:

I wouldn't allow a C7 anywhere near my dogs, they get a C3 at 16 months and that's it. I would be finding a new vet.

kez, can you tell me where you get the breeder bags from? Thanks ;) Ring Anthony at Eagle Pack, and talk to him about getting the Breeder bags (don't tell him I told you so, he might be getting sick of me telling everyone to ring him ) - I sometimes have a bit of trouble getting them, but that's because I have to get mine ordered through PetStock. Thanks very much kez