Birkat

Hey all, I'm as well interested in one of those cooling coats. I own a Bernese Mountain Dog with a fairly dense black coat, normally I simply walk here into the river where I walk along, but the water is nowadays lukewarm, hence zero cooling effect. However, are the cooling coats generally usable for all 'hair-types' or some better for long resp. short coat?? Thanks for your feedback. Birgit

Hi Dave, Great tip! I just joined the FB-group, waiting for being accepted in. :) How is this working? You meet at different places and the experienced photographers help the newbies? I have to admit that after one year I'm still pretty helpless with my Canon. Only shoting in automatic mode My pics are ok, but far from being good.......reading your exchange I have even no idea what lightroom is. Will google lateron. Cheers Birgit

I cannot believe that I missed this event I would have loved to do the competition thing with my Aussie and I think the recreational would have been perfect for the less competitive family members (hubby plus Bernese Mountie). OK, hope I will make it then next year!! Anyway where are those kind of events usually being published??? I seem to miss half the fun here in Perth...either I'm too late or I never hear about them. Cheers BK

I love his freckles

really enjoying your writing and the fabulous pics!! reminds me of what I'm missing here in Australia ...

nice pic and cute cat :-)

Hi Nackers, We are here on a 457 visa and bringing the dogs with us was my condition to accept the offer of our company :D ....... I was of course concerned about the long flight and the stay in the quarantine station (45 day), but all went well. They survived the flight and stayed in the Sydney station and when we picked them up to fly them home to Perth I was glad to see 2 apparently happy dogs. It was obvious that the guys in the station took good care of them. So wish you good luck with your future Bernese….hope to see some pictures…..Not that I posted one since I’m here in the forum…. Cheers Birgit

I think many of us pay more attention to a balanced diet of their dogs than to eat healthy stuff themselves....... :D Who agrees?

You said the Chihuahua belonged to your grandma? Question is whether she is she used to men? Is your husband talking loud? Does he have a deep voice? That might be one of the problems....

Hi Nackers, I have a 3.5 yrs old Bernese girl and here my 3cents. I’m not too good with grooming :-) and I booked our first session only yesterday (mostly I finally want her feet to be trimmed). Usually I brush her once a week with a normal comb. Sensitive area is her tail, she hates it when I start combing there and usually tries to escape. The rest she enjoys. I never did any nail clipping, but the nails are perfect, in contrary to her ears which are always dirty. Do not know why. I just clean them with a plain Kleenex. When she loses hair I comb her each day to have it over as quick as possible (we do have white tiles :D ) Then I also use a undercoat comb. Sorry I'm not sure about the correct wording. The shedding period is annoying, but we got a robot and he is doing a pretty good job considering the situation (have a second long-hair large dog and both shed at the same time) She has only been bathed 3 times in her life, but she is not smelly and she likes to roll in grass, so she anyway smells good :laugh: In summer she goes into the pool, but she is not too confident. Maybe it will be better in our 2nd summer. My girl is happy either with me on the sofa or to lay alone in front of the house door. She is alone during the day with our other dog and they both do fine. They do not need 24/7 attendance, but then they are used to it from the beginning. Unfortunately she is wary of people she does not know, but I think this is due to the fact that we did not introduce her to many people back in Europe during the socializing period. I really regret that now and know what to improve with any future puppies. She has a good bark which will hopefully drive potential intruders away, but I have never seen her charging someone. She recognize family and friends immediately and was very good with the kids of my sister. Though a big dog is a big dog and she is never unattended with kids. Note that we have brought her over from Europe last year and I was afraid how the heat might affect her, but with walks reduced to early morning she did fine. Though she enjoyed the airco as soon as we switched it on. I did NOT clip her coat. I usually do not take them anywhere except to our daily walks and to the beach, but no objections here as long as you get your puppy used to it from early stage. Whatever you do they will be happy to be part of your life. If you buy one, please please make sure you do not overfeed it!! I have seen so many overweight Berners who barely can properly walk! Back in Switzerland they were a working breed. Since here in WA I started raw feeding. She is doing very good on it, though I need all tricks to make her eat liver and kidney. Though she likes to steal from the kitchen should we leave something reachable over night. Last thing she stole was a pound of butter, and before my delicious beer can chicken. Sorry, I think I got carried away, but I hope this helps a bit, but of course this is just my very own dog, others might absolutely disagree with my views. Especially on the grooming part. Cheers Birgit

.. my husband is already complaining that the dogfood take toooo much space in our freezer..in addition he is now all the time asking: is this for the dogs or can I use it. :laugh: ...and he complaints that I take more care about the dogs diet than ours... which is NOT true... I swear :D

Could pls someone explain what 'weight bearing bones' and 'chicken marylands' are? My English-German dictionary is here not helpful at all..... :D I've started raw feeding as well and I'm always keen on reading what others are feeding. BTW: Did someone find tripe in WA/Perth? Checked with my butcher and he told me that tripe is being exported overseas, they hardly see any.... Is that possibly true? Cheers Birgit Yeah, 'raw green tripe' is hard to find. Butchers are apparently not allowed to sell or even have raw green tripe on the premises due to health regulations. You can easily get tripe (white), but the white stuff is bleached and no good as all of the good stuff has been removed. I buy the K9 Naturals Raw Green Tripe (fresh frozen) from Petbarn. It is around $12 per kilo bag. A local shop called "Pet Meat Suppies" looked at me like I was an idiot when I asked if they had any and flatly said that you can't buy it!?! There is a pet meat butcher in Bayswater that gets it in though - I will try and find the number. Hi, thanks for your info. Appreciated! Would be great to get the info abut the pet meat butcher in Bayswater. My google search didn't come up with anything.

Could pls someone explain what 'weight bearing bones' and 'chicken marylands' are? My English-German dictionary is here not helpful at all..... :D I've started raw feeding as well and I'm always keen on reading what others are feeding. BTW: Did someone find tripe in WA/Perth? Checked with my butcher and he told me that tripe is being exported overseas, they hardly see any.... Is that possibly true? Cheers Birgit Weight bearing bones are bones that function to support the animal as they walk/run - so legs (e.g. drumsticks, marrow bone, kangaroo tail). Chicken Maryland is a quarter of a chicken with the drumstick attached. If my dogs are a bit light I will feed them 1/4 chicken but the quarter with the wing attached. I hope that helps :) Thanks a lot for the explanation! Surely this helps :)

Could pls someone explain what 'weight bearing bones' and 'chicken marylands' are? My English-German dictionary is here not helpful at all..... :D I've started raw feeding as well and I'm always keen on reading what others are feeding. BTW: Did someone find tripe in WA/Perth? Checked with my butcher and he told me that tripe is being exported overseas, they hardly see any.... Is that possibly true? Cheers Birgit

Right, in Germany we just call them 'Schaeferhund' (=German for Shepherd Dog)and it's clear for everyone that it's the GSD breed.....if you want to talk about other Shepherd breeds you need to specify :) Cheers Birgit

I have started partially raw feeding my girls about half a year ago, so they get kibbles in the morning and raw in the evening. The raw consists of minced human grade meat, heart, liver, kidney, bones, mashed veggies, chicken frames + necks, eggs, yoghurt, fish (if I can get hold of decent priced ones) and oil. The girls are doing very well and gorge the stuff down within seconds……except the liver and kidney. While the Aussie loves it, the Bernese even does not approach her bowl when she suspects kidney or liver in it. So I started to outsmart her by cutting it as small as possible and mix with the minced meat. Here is important that there is more minced meat than offal……plus loads of yoghurt. This works ok, but now I found out that she actually eats the stuff, when it’s a couple of days overdue!! Not that it improves the smell in my point of view, but apparently in hers. So my question: Is that ok from a health + hygienic point of view? Or is this too risky? Cheers Birgit

Hi VizslaMomma, Yep, it’s pretty cold, but absolutely enjoyable when wearing proper clothes… :) Have a look here for dog friendly parks http://www.vetwest.com.au/pet-library/dog-friendly-parks-and-beaches-in-the-perth-metropolitan-area or here for dog beaches: http://www.westernaustralia-travellersguide.com/dog-beaches-perth.html We live in the suburb of Rossmoyne and have lovely walks along the Canning River, with off lead areas and footpaths. Cheers Birgit

Hi Bernie22, what do you mean with 'operation on bloat'? With bloat you mean the rotation of the stomach. Right? So the operation is an emergency one, whow can you be against or pro?? Or am I missing something? And I have a Bernese Mountaingirl, 4 y, and was not aware this breed is prone to this problem. Birgit

Cool, I have already put the 6th into my calendar! I'm sure my Aussie will love it, not sure about my Bernese girl, she usually happily leaves the ballchasing to the Aussie.... :D

Great pics CrazyCresties! So many gorgeous flying dogs!! Can everyone participate in the fun events or is there a certain training necessary? Will not be able to have a look on Sunday, but there is another event on the 6th July. Cheers Birgit

haha, Jessie does that when I try to bath her (not more often thatn 1xyear)she loves the pool, the river, the rain, but when I command her to go upstairs where the bathroom is she knows what lies before her. However, I have another rain avoiding individual at home, but this one is called 'husband'... this morning he was relieved that he had an early meeting in the office and pretended to be very sorry to miss our daily walk..

...talking about winter: walking my 2 dogs this morning early at 6am along Canning River I met exactly 2 other fellow dog walkers during 1 hour when it's usually about 20+..so I'm wondering whether it's the dogs being 'afraid' of water or their owners? :laugh: mine don't mind at all and towels to dry them off are waiting at the door.

WA went probably into hibernation :D

hmm, my Bernese girl just makes sure she is 'private' and opposite my direction, maybe I have to check where I'm standing. My Aussie is usually not waiting while she poos, she walks around in a circle especially nice now in the dark morning I have to search for it with a torch.

as well done for both dogs :)