Mashlee08

And he was extremely restrained for an entire male that's for sure! Poor boy got so close lol.

That's only the second time I have seem them, sad cos she was a real nice lady too. But soon as she said that I was like oh hmmm maybe not. I might just stick to mornings at the park now too. Now that I know it's there :-P we need to have another fetch session there soon.

Sure was! Ha I was Just about to message if you knew the one I was talking about. Sounds like you do! No idea why they think it was good for her to be off lead this time, cos she wasn't having a bar of coming back to them lol.

Oh, and she was only 14 months old.

Title says it all really, I was at the park with indie, it was late not many dogs around, this beautiful GSD bitch came running up to us, had no recall whatsoever wasn't listening to the owners at all. Then I noticed she was in season, off lead, with no control whatsoever. Ok. Then an unfixed mutt came running around the corner and needlessto say that was a close one!! I asked when they planned on getting her fixed and they said "oh after she has had a litter of puppies" I say" are you going to hip score her, etc etc" Their answer was "pfft no probably not"Well rather then trying to argue with stupid I asked what kennels they got her from as they said Said she was working line with papers blah blah blah, and I must say she was very good looking, great movement beautiful dark coat and all around lovely. Battersea road they said so I thought how many GSD breeders will be down there! Ha little did I know. I didn't know there were so many breeders in canningvale!Well my plan has backfired as I have rung some kennels and none of them say its from one of their litters. So if you are a GSD breeder in WA and reading this, a british older 40-50s couple in warnbro WA are planning on breeding the bitch called Sky they got from you. Ha who thought it was so hard to do good! I will ring around tomorrow anyway but it's getting late here so better stop calling. If you can't tell, I really hate BYBs.

I have tried it for indie when she gets anxious (used too, it has helped a lot with curbing anxiety and we have weaned her off now so she doesn't need it in stressful situations at all) http://www.petplace....s-for-dogs.html Not the most insightful of links scientifically but they are helpful, and I wanted to try melatonin before any harsher drugs like clomicalm etc. melatonin in humans is th hormone that regulates your sleep pattern, and in dogs it has a calming and sedative effect. You need to play with dosages a bit, too much and they will go straight to sleep and to little and it won't have any effect at all. But when you get it right you will notice the difference. I would highly reccomemt trying it, after talking with your vet of course. Mine was all for it.

Does anyone know if you can get the frozen here in Aus or just the freeze dried? Have had such trouble with dog food since moving from NZ :-(

So wish I could have come and watched the trial on Sunday but I had work :-( I have only just started agility with indie so it would have been great to come along and learn a thing or two! I don't think I will ever compete with her if I get to that level , but she is a good guinea pig XD

Well I can tell you now we got a hang of a lot more stuff from hills and royal canin then that where I used to work. Like I said just my experience, people seem to be missing out where I said that..

Who paid you? Our clinic would love a kick back, my boss has never been paid for stocking Hills, Advance, RC OR Euk and our practice has been open for over 20 years, I think we are being ripped off! I'm just going by my experience here, and if this is not what happens in australia then my mistake, i am not from here. people can call it shelf maintenance or benefits, whatever you like and you know what, maybe I'm wrong, I am just a vet nurse, not a practice owner, but like I said, just going by personal experience. Maybe your talking about a rebate? For example, if the clinic sells x amount a quarter then they get a percentage back. Most likely! I haven't been vet nursing long so still learning. Happy to admit I'm wrong if its the case :-) I also haven't done much work here in Australia so it might be different here. I still wouldn't feed the food however. In America hills just got a patent to put polyethylene coating on the kibble to increase shelf life. Eesh! Yay I got the quote thingies right on the I pad this time lol.

3 months is extremely young to expect much toilet control out of a puppy even more so if it is small breed. It has probably learned that peeing in the crate is the other ok place to go. I'd hazard a guess and just say it needs to be taken out more often and that the crate needs to be thoroughly cleaned, they could also try feeding the pup in the crate.

The article I posted actually has some explanation to it also. Around the 260 reference mark. I know the study is American but the facts are still there.

Who paid you? Our clinic would love a kick back, my boss has never been paid for stocking Hills, Advance, RC OR Euk and our practice has been open for over 20 years, I think we are being ripped off! I'm just going by my experience here, and if this is not what happens in australia then my mistake, i am not from here. people can call it shelf maintenance or benefits, whatever you like and you know what, maybe I'm wrong, I am just a vet nurse, not a practice owner, but like I said, just going by personal experience.

I don't think carrots would provide any nutritional benefit in regards to calcium and other macro nutrients at all.

My old clinic got a monthly payment for having the food and advertising it out in reception. And I know more then one other then does the same.

I think you should ask her what studies there have been that prove corn is good :-P etc etc. it can be looked at both ways I think. Also, cost is a huge thing! I refuse to pay 130 for a bag of something where CORN and grains are the main ingredients. I can buy something with meat as the main source for half the price. Not to mention the debate on the DDD animals that companies like purina and proplan use. Prob a lot more companies then that really. Also a dog can't digest corn or rice or grains as well as a human. A humans digestion system as higher amounts of amalayze (sp) which is the enzyme that digests grains etc and a longer digestive tract. dogs have a shorter digestive tract therefor simply do not have the time in their digestive cycle for grains to be nutritionally beneficial as they poop it out to early! Not to mention they have less amounts is the digestive enzyme required to break down the grains in the first place. Ah that was hard on the ol IPad lol. Edit, vets aren't schooled much in nutrition either, the classes are paid go by royal canin or hills and advocate the products without much knowledge about ingredients. Also clinics are paid to sell the food as well. Not all vets are clueless about nutrition, some are great and understand people's choice but then there are some that just astound me.

It depends what you'd define as super premium kibble also, I wouldn't touch Hills or royal canin with a 10ft barge pole but that's just me. I feed TOTW high prairie which has good ingredients as opposed to by products and corn and as has meat meals as the main ingredients. With the Barf is pretty much the same theory for me with a few differences, its a more natural source of protein and less processed. Less carbs. Less ingredients that you don't need and more easily digested. It's a balanced raw diet, which is easy and everyone loves easy. And to me raw is the way to go for dogs, they need protein they thrive on it, so why not give them actual meat rather then kibble. I have some papers on raw feeding on my puter, just have to find them sorry! Edit: I posted this a while a go, not directly related to the subject, but it is pretty informative. And very eye opening. It's long though. http://leda.law.harvard.edu/leda/data/784/Patrick06.html

Double post whoops! Stupid iPad. I also second the BARF. It is much more balanced then what you are feeding right now.

Up the meat and calcium content, throw that breakfast out the window and give her some chicken backs or something. It's a dog, she doesn't need porridge for breakfast, she needs protein.

My pet hate, too! Can't stand TAFE qualified people calling themselves a BEHAVIOURIST. Pffft. And no, I have nothing against TAFE, I have done many years at TAFE myself, including starting their companion animals course a few years back. It's just a title people are claiming up way too easily and don't have the relevant university degree and experience to back it up. lolol thats like me saying I win the Xolo National every year here in Australia ( and I do) I hold it in my backyard and show them all myself! lolol Hehehe, had a good laugh at this lol. I have seen your dogs before, and my initial reaction was " I wonder how many people have them" lol

Yep, and off the top of my head I cant even make up on one hand people with a Uni qualification, but I can think of millions with just a cert or online course. Scary..

Good post Rach, the same goes for what people call Behaviorists, some are just down right awful,(nice people but bad trainers) anyone can get a piece of paper, the whole system needs to be regulated so people can get a fair deal for them and their animals, it's far too easy to get animals and far too easy to call oneself a "Professional" I searched for a while to find a qualified animal person to temp assess my dogs, I was surprised how many are actually qualified and capable, I had to use an interstater. Do not even get my started on that. " I have a bit of paper, I am a behaviorist/trainer" Gah!!! Drives me bonkers. I admit, I am looking into becoming a trainer, and I have been looking for a course for so long, because I just don't want to be another one of those people. There are enough as it is.

I know :) i wasnt applying it to all of them, I could train a dog to an extent, but most of them couldnt. Especially the ones in New Zealand where I am from, dont really know how it is here. Sorry for the blanket statement :) nah it's okay :) I find the Vet nurse bashing over PPS schools a little frustrating at times that's all :) I worked as a vet nurse, receptionist and groomer over 15 years and yes many of the people I worked with had no idea at all( and a scary lack of any idea to be honest) but I ran a very successful PPS with 2 friends for 8 years :) I can vouch for the lack of any idea bit too! That's what started me on my knowledge hunt about dogs pretty much. I think having nurses at least a little clued up could be extremely valuable for clinic and client.

I know :) i wasnt applying it to all of them, I could train a dog to an extent, but most of them couldnt. Especially the ones in New Zealand where I am from, dont really know how it is here. Sorry for the blanket statement :)

Just thought I'd highlight that bit, very important to remember that vet nurses aren't qualified to teach anything at all. (i should know, I am one) I wasn't even taught calming signals or anything at uni. So I strongly urge you to find someone accredited. I can vouch for paw prints pet training also.