WreckitWhippet

How about the "donate to xxx for his expensive diet food" seems like a bit of a contradiction to me.... Nothing that a cup of weight management in advance, SD, RC or Proplan wouldn;t fix, along with some steamed veg. It certainly wouldn't be expensive enough to warrant calling for donations to pay for the food. Doesn't Propla sponsor them anyway ? surely they could chuck in a bag of weight management, that would last for weeks.

I could formualate a breed specific food for SBT's, and it doesn't mean the breed has gone down the toilet in terms of health but to optomise the health of my dogs the formula would be grain free, preservative and colour free, contain omega 3/6/9, be a larger style kibble and would certainly contain glucosamine and chondroitin.

It's not about helping a dog/breed to live a more "normal" life, it's about creating foods that meet the individual needs of different breeds. It makes sense to put in additional oils, glucosamine, chondroitin, less gain, more protein, alternative protein sources etc. You are once again trying to make something out of nothing.

If your vet is not a specialist, see a specialist before you make any decisions.

Brings back horrid memories of that UK TV series and their pets.

You won't know the amounts the dog will need, until you actually start to feed it. I would think you would be looking at around 2 cups per day, depending on what else you include in the diet. I'd use either the Adult Chicken formula or the Active.

find something else to use and your training should be a couple of minutes at a time. Short and sharp, not dragged out over 15 minutes or an hour. Pups get bored very quickly

The only solution is to confine him to a crate, pen or an small area, when you cannot directly supervise ( this includes night time ) and to make sure that he is taken out for very regular toilet stops and that he goes while out there. Praise, praise and more praise for getting it right. You will still need to get up at least a couple of times during the night, as he's going to go whenever and wherever he needs to. Pups of that age basically urinate within a few seconds of waking up and taking the first couple of steps out of their bed. You need to be quick to catch him and get him outside. If he's downstairs and you're asleep in the bedroom, you have virtually no chance of that happening.

Yes you can be unlucky, but don't forget the Guy up the road may caused the problem by over feeding and over exercising. Many of the problems that we hear of can be also man made. I just get so sick of breeder bashing. (I am not saying that you are doing this) If it was a registered ethical breeder why didn't he just take it back. frufru was suggesting that the OP purchase from an ethical breeder, unlike what the guy up the road did

PF has touched on something regarding what Astro is learning from this and the potential this has to impact on his temperament in a negative way. Astro looks by all accounts to be a pretty stable and non reactive dog, any Stafford owner who is fortunate enough to have such an animal ( and there are a few of them around ) should absolutely cherish and be thankfull for what they have. Exposing him to aggressive and bullying behaviour from another dog, could well see him cease being the easy going, laid back guy with manners that he is. Astro's best bet would be as the role model for a young puppy. If you've got one laid back, happy Stafford, there's every chance that you can raise another and another.

How can he possibly make a decision about what to do with Missy without having her assessed and knowing what may be involved in any kind of rehabilitation?? He has already said he can't return the dog as she was a give away and the original owners have moved. I don't know about you but I could never make the decision to PTS without having a dog assessed first, unless of course it killed another dog or seriously attacked a person. The unhappiness of the current dog, should be enough on it's own.

I'd be having a seriously long and hard think about this girl, before you embark on any assessments, training and committment to spending time and money on her. You may get to a point where you can manage the behaviour, with the help of a professional BUT you need to ask yourself now, is managing that behaviour going to be enough for you and will you ultimately be happy having her in your home. If the answer is no, then return her now and look for a puppy or adult that is going to fit into your home. I would also suggest that you have someone assist you with any future introductions into your home. I could see some things there that had the potenital to end in a fight, especially when your child interacted with the dogs.

If the dog isn't pure because there are no papers, please tell me what cross breed that then makes it? It doesn't make it a cross breed. It makes it a dog of unknown breeding. No registration papers, no breeding records, nothing to indicate parentage. Small brown dog of unknown breeding. Yep

Whilst it might be true about finding another vet, some of the people on this board know more about canines than plenty of vets and the combined knowledge is astounding.

Raw egg, calcium syrup, nutrigel and powdered milk mixed together. Syringe it into her if necessary.

Good luck with the search. I know of lots of grooming positions that are avialable and have been very difficult to fill. Would you consider training someone and paying them well, in order to keep them ? Lots of groomers won't work for someone else, as the pay is generally poor.

I've sold one pup with a delayed closure, that was repaired at the time of desexing and I discounted the price of the pup to reflect the additional costs at desexing. New owners were more than happy with this. As for bites, unless it's go grossly under or overshot, so as to impact on the dogs ability to eat, then it's full price

and for that one dog that appears to be ok, I can show you a Dane pup that has been done at 4 months and it's horendous. Which ever vet performed that op, should not be allowed to practice .

I thought that someone had " stolen" your coat hangers I'm a bit slow today

Gary Barnsley or Peter Schofield are Sydney based

I'd be seriously rethinking your vaccination schedule for this dog. Owners and vets are often very quick to dismiss this and are told not to worry about it.

Play it by ear when it comes to one or two feeds. If the dog looks underdone then two, if not one will be fine and you adult diet will also be fine.

Find a dog chiro

I'd like to know what the checks will be. Without a microchip link to a petshop, how will they know?? I can see one good thing possibly coming of this. If the system can be tweaked, so that animals can be traced back to the pet shops, then there's no reason why it can't include ANKC registered breeders and those from WD registries. Finally , we may see some real date about where the pound dogs actually come from...

The best advice GayleK is for one to ignore any advice or opinions they don't like...don't become bitter and twisted over the little things! Dog shows, like life, contain content that's both positive and negative, if one cannot handle that and move on from any upsetting or annoying situations then it's probably not the hobby for such a person. The ideal exhibitor presents and handles each dog to it's best advantage, shows courtesy to the steward, judge and fellow exhibitors by being organised and accepts the decision on the day. Yes but often the people who are handing it out, invited or not, do actually know what they are talking about and it's the owner who doesn't want to hear it and is often too blind to see it for themselves. I don't know how many people have run around poor examples of their breed, not groomed correctly, handled poorly and get all bitter and twisted when it doesn't win. Everyone else can see it, judges included, except for them.