maddogdodge

I've just swapped Koda from Black Hawk to Meals for Mutts Salmon and Sardine. Very happy with it so far. I mainly swapped because I wasn't happy with his coat condition on BH... Have definitely noticed a difference in his coat since swapping, it's less oily and feeling softer :)

Seems an odd invention which I'd say probably has a very limited market considering I think most dogs would just drop the extra handle... I can think of one or two dogs who would like this. They are dogs who won't walk unless they are holding the leash... so something like this would give their owner some control while still giving the dog what they want.

Oh my gosh Dyson is gorgeous!! Makes me so sad how people buy Kelpies without thinking about how much exercise and mental stimulation they need!

I also haven't noticed a change in it and am generally happy with the quality of it. Having said that, my Aussie Shepherd's coat isn't as nice as I'd like so I think I might try him on Meals for Mutts just to see if anything changes. Also thought I'd mention that I have found the cat food isn't as great as it used to be. Or at least It stopped agreeing with my cats. I have switched all 3 of my cats off their food onto Meals for Meows and raw.

I have heard amazing things about this product helping recover coats damaged from clipping. http://www.ozgroomingworld.com.au/progroom-intense-treatment---deep-conditioning-1l-p1765/?filter_name=progroom I haven't tried it yet, but would like to one day for some of my clients dogs.

Thanks :D I know, he's growing up so fast! He's just about taller than Koda now!

I agree with this. I love the first shot!

So many gorgeous dogs in this thread Here's my lot... Dodge, now 11.5 years old, had a mammary tumour removed last year and suffering a bit with arthritis, but over all she's still doing well :) Koda, now 6 years old, my heart dog. He's taught me more about caring for and training dogs than I ever could have imagined. And my new baby, Finnick, or Finn for short. Now 7 months old and exactly what I was hoping for my next dog. Hoping therapy work and dog sports are in his future :)

My blue and tan Kelpie has this (Colour Dilution Alopecia - CDA). She's had a patchy coat from about 6 months old and is now 11. her summer coat often gets so thin in some spots that she's bald. In winter the parts of her coat affected grow in thick but short so have a really plush feel to them, there's no guard hairs in those areas, just undercoat. This is her winter coat And her summer coat

Until very recently where I live it has been totally legal for anyone to walk an off leash dog absolutely anywhere they wanted. They've only just changed the rules introducing dedicated off leash areas and rules that dogs must be on leash otherwise. The people where I live are ignorant and don't care enough to think about others though. I stay very far away from the dedicated off leash areas with my reactive boy and I still meet countless off leash and completely uncontrolled dogs. Dogs who have chased me and my dog across roads and really got right in my boy's face. I ask the owners to control their dog but am usually told "don't worry, he's friendly" : I had a lady who let her dog run at least 100m away from her while it chased me and my dog across a road (all the while my dog is completely freaking out because this dog is trying to climb all over him). Eventually the lady came and got her dog, dragged it away and let it go loose again 100 meters from me. 30 mins later down the walking track I see her and her dog off leash in the distance again... Dog spots us and instantly starts sprinting towards us, lady calls it, it totally ignores her... she ends up having to sprint to catch it before it got to us... Again, she dragged it away and didn't put it on lead! If I'm walking alone with my reactive boy, I carry a stick to ward off any dogs that try to get in his face... If owners are stupid enough to ignore me asking them to control their dog, I will use the stick. With some friendly dogs a handful of treats thrown at their face will work and give you enough time to get away.

I've been looking at introducing this to my Aussie's diet... He's 30kg but I want to get him down to 27kg.... Seems to be a common theme that people don't need to feed as much as recommended... I sure hope this rings true for my boy, that would be awesome!

IBD can be tricky... One of my cats has it too! How does she normally react to fish or any seafood? Technyflex is 100% Green Lipped mussel so you can be sure of what she's getting. I suppose the only way to know for sure would be to try it... How severe is her IBD?

My 11 year old Kelpie has really bad arthritis in both elbows and one hip. The vet prescribed all kinds of different meds for her, none of which worked. Cartrophen injections also made basically no difference to her. We took her to a specialist chiropractor, I think that may have helped her a little bit. We've taken her off the meds as we don't like giving them when they're really not helping. We've just started her on Technyflex which is a green lipped mussel supplement. She's only been on it for a week or so and I definitely think I'm seeing improvement in her. She's more active and seems generally happier. It's still early days but so far I'd say it's definitely something worth trying!

It's funny how you don't realise just how much you've spent on vet bills until you add it up I work at the vet as well, so I get discounts... it still adds up though! In the last 12 months vet bills have cost me over $700 for my old Kelpie. She had an emergency spay, as well as mammary tumours removed. She's since developed awful arthritis so the rest of the money was spent on meds, radiographs and chiropractor appointments. Last year I also spent over $700 to save my cat's life when he got FIC. In the last 12 months I've also spent over $1200 at the vets for my ferrets (This really shocks me, I didn't realise it was that much!). About $200 was towards getting my two youngest ferrets desexed. About $100 was for my oldest girl who had an ear infection... the rest was spent on my very first ferret Scrat who had Insulinoma as well as a lot of pain and other symptoms for an unknown reason... Caring for her in her last couple of months was an absolute nightmare and cost a fortune.

I always go on the friday to avoid the crowds. Crowds stress me out so its much nicer on the friday. I love the dog lovers show, haven't missed one yet :D I got to cuddle lots of poodles and Aussies this year which was nice. Plenty of freebies and lots of great specials on offer!

Dodge, 11 year old Kelpie - She get's bathed maybe 2 or 3 times a year... I never used to have to trim her nails until about 12 months ago, now she's got arthritis and doesn't run around so much I do have to trim her nails every month or so. She never needs to be brushed because of her alopecia. Her teeth are spotless because she gets regular bones, ears are always clean. Koda, 6 year old Australian Shepherd - He gets a full groom every 4 to 6 weeks. So I strip out all his undercoat, trim feet, hocks and lightly use thinning sheers on his ears. His nails are naturally short, I don't need to trim them. He gets a bath and blow dry as well. Teeth are also spotless because of bones. Ears are also always clean. He also gets his tail dyed every few months - Usually blue and purple :) Nothing I love more than a freshly blow dried Aussie! Finnick, 4 month old Standard Poodle - At the moment because he loves mud and cow/chicken poo too much he is getting a weekly bath and blow dry. So in this weekly grooming session I clean his ears out and lightly pluck them (he's not keen on plucking). Wipe the corner of his eyes with tear stain remover, brush from head to toe and bath + blow dry. Every two weeks I clip his face, feet and base of tail. I also clip his groin and armpits for hygiene, as well as a nail trim. This routine will totally change once I start clipping him all over though! For now I'm loving his silky soft puppy coat

My experience is no, a desexed male won't go after a female. However I have heard of the select few that do.

It's a tough one for sure! There are definitely pros and cons for both. I always used to think, why bother desexing if you're responsible... My Kelpie is now 11, we never got her desexed, not for any particular reason... It just never really happened. Now she's just developed mammary cancer. So she went under the knife in November to have that removed and to be desexed... Vet said she was also on the way to developing Pyometra, so it's lucky we got her desexed now! I always read about the increased risk of cancer in entire dogs, but never really took it seriously... Now this has shaken me enough. My next female dog I have will be desexed... not until 18 months though. Having an entire dog can also make things hard if you plan to travel a lot with them and get out doing lots of things. I've heard this before! It's scary! Last March one of my beloved ferrets died from this cancer... it's truly awful!! I've also heard that desexing (especially desexing early) increases the risk of endocrine issues in dogs. It's also interesting because something crazy like 90% of ferrets die from the same thing. In america most ferrets are desexed at around 3 weeks old before going to pet shops... and even in Australia, most ferrets are desexed fairly early as they can die if they're not desexed, not to mention they're much nicer to live with. Makes me wonder if it's the same in dogs.

Second link, the purple ones :)

Yeah if you're only using them a handful of times a year then it's a lot of money. I've heard good things about the Wahl KM2. I don't use Heiniger blades ( even though they're amazing) because they cost so much. I use Wahl blades... I hate Oster blades and tolerate Andis ones, but Wahl are my favourites. Most clippers will take any brand of blade, some may just wear out the lever a bit faster, but the levers are pretty cheap to replace so it's not really an issue.

My favourite clippers are the Heiniger cordless clippers. Absolutely love them, they're not cheap though... I've never much liked oster and wahl clippers, I just don't find them comfortable to use. I've had my heiniger clippers for about 2 years now, they get used very regularly for my work and they're still going strong as ever, haven't even had to replace the lever yet.

It all depends on if the coat is brushed regularly and maintained so it can breathe! My Aussie Shepherd has a very thick coat, but I brush and blow out all the undercoat regularly - He does brilliantly in 30-40 degree heat. At this time of year I end up clipping heaps of double coated dogs (I'm a dog groomer). I always explain to the owners the risk vs benefits of it and let them chose. There are plenty of thick coated dogs that I brush and blow out their coat regularly and they do just fine in summer... Dogs like Rough Collie, Border Collie, Golden Retriever, pomeranian etc etc I've found with most dogs, once you start clipping them, it becomes something that has to be done on a regular basis because the coat just becomes a wreck afterwards! The hair is brittle and faded, not to mention that the top coat tends to not grow back well at all, and the thick fuzzy undercoat grows back in excessive amounts. So the dog is left with a thick coat that offers no protection from the weather. I did a border collie a couple of weeks ago... he wasn't matted but his coat was in such horrible condition from constant clipping that I had to shave him to the skin. You couldn't pay me to clip my double coated dogs!

My dog was tested and came back clear, but I still avoid it. I've also heard that fresh faeces from livestock treated with ivermectin is extremely dangerous to all dogs, not just the ones with ivermectin sensitivity.

Although it is brilliant at what it does... I avoid it as much as possible. Not worth the risk with my Aussie Shepherd... I could use it on my chickens but I never will because I know both of my dogs like to eat chicken poo!

Some brilliant photos in here! Love the selective colour shot Teekay! :) My time to catch up 34/52 - My special boy, Kito 35/52 - My latest addition, Luna (or Loony Luna as i call her). Picked her up from a rescue about a month ago, she's the sweetest little thing ever She loves to give kisses! 36/52 - Koda... actually posing good for once :p 37/52 - One of my two broody hens. Got 5 eggs due to hatch on Friday :D 38/52 - My beautiful old girl, Dodge :) 39/52 - The ACD we're looking after at the moment :) 40/52 - Tank looking very unimpressed by the camera... 41/52 - Smiles!