blakkjackal

Yep, we've tried every position possible, she's even escaped out of her harness whilst being held in the air. At the vet it takes at least 3 or 4 to hold her down. She's had her nails done regularly since she was born, she's just a terror. And of course she more she thrashes the more often a nail gets cut too far (black nails are awesome ) so that makes it worse. When she realises she can't go anywhere she bites and pees. Last weekend I had gardening gloves on so the biting didn't bother as much, but eventually it still hurts. She won't take treats or anything when she's like that either. Poor thing, must be terrified.Start s l o w l y desensitizing her to the clippers so that it'll eventually click in her head that nail clippers = food/pats/whatever positive thing your dog loves. If necessary start off as easy as grabbing the clippers off the table while she's in the same room -> throw her a treat. Don't try and cut any of the nails until she is fully and absolutely comfortable with having them around and touching her paws. It's a long process but definitely worth it, saves both of you a lot of stress. I myself try and cut mine weekly, they grow like bloody weeds I swear... He is so easy to trim, once I get the clippers out he'll roll on his back and wait for me to get started. :D

I don't give heartworm preventatives every month -- IMO that's way overkill. It's not actually a "preventative" at all, the drug is designed to kill possible larvae and cannot prevent them from settling in. I give a tablet/chew once every three months as this is often enough to target possible growing worms. I believe we over-medicate our animals these days and the whole heartworm business has crazy amounts of money involved. If you do decide to give it monthly though at least you can stop the treatment during winter (depending on where you live). For heartworm to develop it needs temperatures of over 27 degrees for several days in a row (although I think microfilariae can be ingested in lower temperatures than this, just means they cannot develop any further). Here's a good read. Edited to add link.

I personally don't see the point in comparing humans and dogs, no matter what the situation is. We are not alike, in any way.

Ooh, lovely. Not even far away from me, perfect. Might book an appointment soon! Thanks. :)

Who did you go see, Esky? I've been thinking of taking mine to either a canine masseuse or a chiro but don't really know of any decent ones.

Note that this breed also suffers from an extremely painful disorder called syringomyelia so please choose a breeder that acknowledges this fact and strives for breeding animals clear from syringo. Apart from the health issues cavs are absolutely delightful little dogs.

Worth a look definitely, they have a whole lot of reasonably priced EzyDog stuff.

This isn't rescuing or love -- this is polishing their own halos. I am disgusted by the selfishness of people.

I have to disagree with this. There is absolutely no way of guessing a dog's breed/cross based on just pictures with no info of pedigree, especially if you are trying to determine whether or not there is pitbull in the mix. This is what people supporting BSL are doing, judging dogs based on their looks. Please let's not let ourselves revert into that kind of thinking. I agree with the rest of your comment though.

BlackJaq I'm pretty sure there is no issue with blue Amstaffs, just blue Staffords. Maybe an Amstaff person could clarify as I'm not 100% on that. Chris001, I would be very wary of keeping her. From what you say she is already showing some behavioural problems. Devote your time and energy to the first pup, and see if you can return her to the breeder or place her in rescue. Devote the time and energy to your boy and I'm sure you'll be rewarded ten fold :) Everyone is breeding their blue amstaffs because the colour sells and a pup with "blue bloodlines" is something everyone wants. I'ts disgusting how a colour gets glorified like that. I'm never ever getting another blue bull type dog, I've had enough of the ill breeding practices and $$ involved. Unfortunately to me both sound like byb pups as from what I could see both had one red nosed parent?? If this isn't the case, contact the breeder of your girl asap. I'm certain they would love to hear about this situation directly from you before you make any decisions.

Edited because I probably need to start wearing glasses. 3 pages, not 1. Ok my comment was still valid, just read through the other 2 pages lol. Both meats are listed as fresh products instead of meat meal, which actually brings them even further down the list after the dehydration process.

Actually spaying/neutering slows down the metabolism and reduces energy needs by about 10-20% (from memory, don't quote me on this) due to no hormonal activity. To prevent weight gain I'd slightly reduce her food intake and see if she stays the same or loses any weight -- if weight loss occurs, bring her portions back up a bit.

I want to congratulate you for the responsible decision you've made! Most people I know will start feeling sorry for the pups and let them be born. Thumbs up for you!

Don't leave the bowl down if he doesn't want to eat. It shouldn't be up to him when he gets to eat. I give mine 5 minutes, if not interested the bowl goes back in the fridge (not that eating has been a problem for a long long time but as a puppy this one sure was picky!) and he gets another chance at his next meal time. Tough love is the only way to go with picky dogs IMO.

Awesome, glad to hear this. We should never forget that meat is the most important part in a carnivore's diet. Roo meat is a fabulous choice, game & free range. Low in fat though so if your dogs are active and you feed lots of it I'd suggest adding some extra fat into their meals. Hehe, "meaty meat".

Never had an issue and I feed almost every meal straight out of the freezer. My dog takes a fair while to eat (30+ minutes normally), the food defrosts a bit in the process too and he doesn't get to swallow more than very small bits at a time as it's very hard to tear large chunks out of something frozen solid.

I don't look at the balance of one meal either, I look at it over approximately one week. I don't feed more than 10% bone and feeding a turkey neck/any other edible bone almost every day would mean I'd have to pump up his other food intake heaps and that just doesn't work. I feed most of the meals frozen so that it works as a dental cleaner too. Either way I've found that big chunks of (frozen) meat works better as a "toothbrush" than bones as they actually have to sink their teeth in the meat, rip, tear and pull, use all their teeth for the work not just their molars. This comes down to personal preference, obviously. I choose to spend my money on stuff that I know will satisfy both my dogs nutritional and "recreational" needs and the best thing for that is a big frozen chunk of meat. My 2-year-old raw fed dog's pearly whites below; he gets a bone maybe every 3-4 days. /Jeebuz, sorry about the ginormous picture!

My budget for dog food is $5/kg and so far that has worked out quite well (the only thing that I occasionally pay more for is brains but that's a bit of a novelty treat anyway). Most of the stuff I buy is a fair bit less than 5 bucks a kilo anyway (e.g. whole beef and lamb hearts for $3/kg). I buy in bulk and stock up my freezers (got 2 dedicated for dog food) when it's cheap. I also regularly check the meat dept at supermarkets and see if there's any reduced stuff. If so I buy everything I see (most of the time this is what I do to get organs, they tend to sit on the shelves until almost expired and then I go and grab a whole bunch for cheap). I buy pork from Foodland when it's on special, it's always less than $5/kg then (I think $4.75) and I don't mind paying that as the other stuff I feed is still cheaper than that. If possible, make friends with hunters.. I have the opportunity to get boar and deer for $3/kg and that's pretty great for wild caught stuff. Unfortunately haven't had the chance to actually go and get some yet, but hopefully soon. The pet food shop around the corner from me is a real gold mine. The shop owner orders in stuff and grinds it at the shop so I have the chance of getting some before it goes through the mincer. The quality is superb, I almost wanted to eat some of the roo myself the first time I got some, it looked that good... :D So if you have any similar shops around it's always worth asking whether you could get something ordered in. Same with butchers, I had no idea I could get pig's heads from there but turns out they can order in a whole bunch of stuff. Generally the butcher can be a little pricier though. All in all, feeding "proper" raw does require a fair bit of dedication and investing in a good freezer or two is definitely a big plus, but once you've got that sorted it gets pretty easy. Buy when it's cheap and buy lots of it. I'm pretty sure most of the super premium kibble brands cost about the same per kilogram? I believe raw gives the dog so much more than just ideal nutrition and it is most definitely worth every penny I put in. I'm never going back to kibble. :) Oh, and if I ever get across any whole prey I'll absolutely jump at it! Rabbit or chicken culls, stillborn calves/lambs/goats/piglets etc., so if you know a farmer you could get very lucky! Crisovar; yes, turkey necks have some meat on them but at the same time the bone percentage is high and I don't like to feed such bone-heavy meals. This is obviously a matter of opinion (like just about everything else when it comes to feeding dogs lol..), but personally I believe the money I'd spend on turkey necks can be spent better.

Could you please explain what is wrong with the stuff the OP feeds her adult dog? If you do not feed your dog any of the listed things. What do they eat? Ithought it was a pretty comprehensive list. I'm not minyvlz but I agree with minyvlz's posts. I wouldn't feed too many things off that list either. Chicken necks, turkey necks and chicken frames are awfully bony, have very little actual food (=meat) on them and are pretty much a waste of money because the dog gets hardly anything out of them. Ox tail fed sparingly and in big chunks is fine, but still quite bony. I don't feed mince for several reasons, one of them being that I like to know exactly what goes down my dog's throat at dinner time. Second one being there is no actual "eating" (teeth using) involved, mince just gets gobbled up. Red (I think OP means raw?) meaty bones, no thanks. Another waste of money because of the crazy bone content. Raw eggs are good tho. Dairy products are not something a carnivore needs and the dry food bit hardly needs explaining.I feed lots of different cuts, mainly pork, roo, lamb, beef, turkey and a bit of chicken every now and then as the bone is edible and easy. Forequarter chops and hearts are my staple and I have a great supplier for huge roo chunks. I buy whole chickens and the occasional turkey thighs from supermarkets when they're reduced. I feed organs weekly, mainly kidney and liver but whenever I find brains I buy them. Bone always gets fed covered in meat (I like lamb necks, turkey thighs, half/whole/quartered chicken) and I only feed bone maybe 3 times a week. As I don't include fish in the dog's diet (too pricey) I give a vitamin D supplement and fish oil capsules for general health and omegas. This list isn't everything I feed, just the things I can think of right now. Anyway the most important thing about raw feeding a dog (especially a puppy) is to make sure that they get enough food. Real meat (red should be preferred although poultry does have its place as it is reasonably priced), not chunks of cartilage or bone covered in a couple of meat ribbons but a lot of various animals and a healthy amount of fat. Fat is the main energy source for dogs so it is essential to include that (pork is a good fatty meat). Always keep in mind that bone is not food, it is only used for calcium and the excess is just a useless stomach filler/bulk provider for firmer poops.

And avoid dog parks (just to clarify as many people seem to think dog parks are the perfect place for socializing). Don't let him off lead unless you trust the area 100% or it is fenced. Make sure you have him contained properly, an unpapered bull-type dog roaming the streets can be very bad news.

You said he was blue, that's enough of an answer.So no. Dogs with unknown lineage are mutts. Bull breed mixes, bull mutts, amstaff x, whatever you want to call them. But not "amstaffs" or especially "pit bulls". Also not every bull type dog with a red nose is a pit bull and it is impossible to determine a dog's breed based on a picture only. e: I still can't see the pictures though, there is nothing at the bottom left side of the page... :/

It's not so much that you like the look of something. Lilli's suggestion just sounded plain... weird. I mean, if you want a Dogo (the whole package), how could a large, flop eared white dog of mixed background even remotely come close to the real thing? The Dogo is so much more than just a large white dog. Most of the breed's charm lies in its temperament.

I do hope the sole reason for wanting a Dogo isn't just looks.

I come from a country where 99% of young people not living at home anymore live in apartments. And many, many of these people have dogs. Your chosen breeds are all quite common and I personally know several Lappies, a few Samoyeds and a couple of Dachshunds all happily living in apartments. The dog does not exercise indoors, so it doesn't matter if your home is small. You shouldn't rely on your yard for exercise either, so the size/existence of that doesn't matter. I lived in 1 bedroom apartment with a rough collie and worked full time. No problems, the dog got his morning and evening walks and we had a fenced off park nearby. All of the breeds have a tendency to be a little barky, but this is a training issue and if addressed early enough, won't be a problem. I'm planning on moving overseas again and given my circumstance over there I'll probably end up living in an apartment again. I'm not loving the idea, but not because I'm afraid the dog's not going to be ok with it. I just don't like having strangers one wall away from me. :D

That is incredibly scary! To steal dogs out of yards is bad enough but to try and steal one from the owner's possession like that is gobsmacking Owners were obviously very upset - what is happening out there with these dogs that are stolen? And why would they steal a husky - I didn't they would be considered "fighting" dogs Huskis have a think coat protecting the skin, teaches young dogs to bite and hold better and as you ca see in the you tube clip their is a lot of movement with skin and coat, when a lock jaw dog latches they don't usually go for a better grip, A huski may be able to maneuver a counter attack (defense) this teaches the dog to be weary of where it's opponent is and adjust accordingly. Small dogs are used to provoke the fighting dog into an attack, pig and rabbits are also used but the small dog promotes the idea of attacking it's own kind. Not all of these dogs are eager just to attack another dog more often or not they are worked into it. BC, retrievers, labs, huskis and similar even staffys are the next step. A docile friendly dog teaching the fighter the defense of it's opponent and go go after dog bigger than it's self. These dogs are also some times mussled to prevent injury or fear in the fighting dog. GS, Rotties,ect usually mussled usually have a fearless reaction to aggression and a fight back reaction teaching the fighter not to back away. Training a fighter dog may take months and require the use of possible 10 or more training opponents. I saw a very very old documentary on it based out of china and mexico that was decades old but I assume they haven't adjusted too many of their techniques. When someone uses the term, 'lock jaw dog' I know to ignore what they say. I was about to come up with something similar, also regarding the other things Angeluca said but as you've already stated... Best ignore it.