Scottsmum

Sounds very stressful and dangerous. Sorry you're in this situation. On a side note - I saw a really interesting snippet presented at SPARCS the other day about dogs who were given large amounts of exercise Vs one on one attention and mental stimulation and their improvement in their behaviour. Sadly that's all I got as I couldn't watch the live stream and don't remember the name of the person who presented. http://caninescience.info Really considering splurging and buying a membership to SPARCS so I can watch the videos at my own leisure... Maybe next payday...

Have started dabbling but I'm in Sydney. Loving it. Absolutely loving it learning lots and Scottie thinks its the best fun.

Bet it scared the ...um... living daylights :laugh: out of you both! Seriously - glad you're OK

Huzzah! A win:Win by sounds of it

It is a great park - we used to take our two there a lot for swimming back in the day :) Another great spot not far from there (technically on leash) is Lake Parramatta. Note: Parking can be a real cow.

I'm not an expert by any means but we've always bought lamb shanks - I had a bit of a crush on the butcher and can still hear 17 year old me saying "just one lamb shank today please - split down the middle thank you" .... transparent - but the story was the (and this is true) the foxie would eat the marrow, the rotty cross would take care of the rest...Scottie only really gets chicken necks and wings and the occasional bag of off cuts as he is a bit fussy and just a bit naughty and we often find anything larger then a neck hidden....

K9 nosetime is based at Hills District in NSW. LOL. Right you are. I was SURE they were vic based - but had googled many pages - possibly confused. The course we're doing is through Australian Canine Sports and training centre in box hill / kellyville http://www.lovesdogs.com.au

Ascophyllum nodosum, a particular species of seaweed, is absorbed into the bloodstream & in conjunction with saliva works systemically to stop plaque sticking to the teeth. It does make plaque on the canines easier to remove. Thank you :)

Scent work exhausts Scottie :)

A few good ones to look up. Thanks guys.

To each their own - I wanted something quite specific for Scotties bed and was willing to spend up to $100 on it. I was reasonably sure he wouldn't ruin it. All bedding in it is recycled / pulled from around the home. Most toys are $3.50 monkeys from kmart, tennis balls,old soccer balls. The most expensive toy we have is a light up ball ($17) Our kennel and trampoline bed were the best quality money could buy when they were purchased - Scottie is now the 3rd dog who has refused to use the kennel ;) (a little plastic igloo) and the 4th dog who has lounged on the tramp bed - it's even been loaned out to other family members when we havent needed it. Better to over budget and under spend I say...

ARGH! A Soggydonasarus!

Hey Maeby, we're pretty fond of it here. Use it as training treats too. The only one he'll eat reliably is the venison and fish. It is expensive, which is why we try to stretch it out - but I'm fortunate that he's only a foxie. I have a friend with a Wolfhound who is fussy and he loves it but - goes through a lot more then my Scottman.

Hey... I don't even want to think about costs of our "home made" diet. As a bit of a guide my 10 kilo adult fox terrier gets: This works for us. He's very fussy and reacts to grains. It's by no means perfect but I try to just get him to eat. High grade kibble, grain free, Ziwipeak, $42 per kilo - we make it last about a month. Supermarket brand grain free kibble - to help spread the cost / make the Ziwipeak last. This is about $7 a bag. Not sure how long it lasts - as long as it needs to. He's also being "forced" to finish off a bag of another brand which he tells me he dislikes... I mix it very very well with his mince .... at the rate we're moving through it it will last about 12 months! I use the kibble as the basis for his nutrition and try to get a daily serve into him over two meals. I have tried a tonne of different brands but this combo of Ziwi and supermarket brand seems to work. I won't bother straying from it in the future. On top of his dry he gets one or two of the following per meal chicken mince, or very occasionally premium beef mince from the supermarket. $10 per kilo max Grain free wet food - in the little 100g cases - always on sale at about 84 cents each.Will probably stop feeding this - I got a heap (like 40, last time they were on sale) and now he eats it more often I can notice a slight change in his coat and eyes - which are his two tells that he's reacting to something - so I think I'll put him back onto pure clean wet foods like mince when its done Grain free premium wet - only if its on sale, I was also given some samples recently. Wish I could afford to feed this more often but it's like $5 per 180g can Chicken necks and wings - don't know what I pay - always on sale and frozen til we run out raw meaty bones from the clearance section of the meat cabinet at Woolies -don't know what I pay - always on sale and frozen til we run out lamb shanks - the only bone I'll buy at full price. Lamb shanks are usually a full meal meal of their own Cheese, occasional training treats - woolies home brand greek yoghurt Eggs - as a quick meal or when he's been off his food for a few days - he'll always have an egg. I think the day he refuses an egg will be the day I rush him to the vet! Other meat to use in training (roast chicken, leg ham) I avoid sandwich meats such as devon or anything spicy as they've got too many other things in them, and I read that bacon is too salty but otherwise I give him pretty much any meat we eat. I also try to get a few veggies into him occasionally (like broccoli stalks - cooked, and mashed into his dinner) and a (human) probiotic. Anything else which I know he likes and doesn't react to (e.g. rice). All meat is raw, I usually cook the eggs. He's not a fan of fish. Like I said - not perfect but he looks great, his energy levels are great and most of the time he'll eat whats served.

Forgive my ignorance - What's kelp supposed to do?

Ah yes - totally forgot about that! Brain freeze kind of moment... LOL - its just that its listed out on Scotties adoption papers.

Just looked it up. Looks pretty good. :)

Hi All, I'm constantly editing and tweaking my RSS feed - looking for good blogs on a number of topics but I have to say since the death of Google reader I have found it harder to just explore and add good content. So here is the question. What's your favourite dog blog? Bonus points if it's Australian. On my current doggy reading list I have: k9 Pro http://blog.k9pro.com.au The other end of the leash http://www.patriciamcconnell.com/theotherendoftheleash/ Often has nice photography. Not enough content for me. Dog Spies http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/dog-spies/ pretty good - but it clips posts - which means I can't read the full thing in my reader. I'm very lazy and will only click through to a link if it looks like the most amazing article in the history of the world. (needless to say - I don't click through very often) Susan Garretts Dog training blog http://susangarrettdogagility.com *New too early to tell if I'll enjoy Do you believe in dog? (Aussie) http://www.doyoubelieveindog.blogspot.com.au *New read - too early to say if worth following Pawcurious http://pawcurious.com *new read - too early to call So hit me... I'm very very fussy - I cull / edit / curate on a very regular basis - I like my feed to be interesting, relevant and easy to read.

Kind of off topic (/ on the topic of 'poo eating') I was once told that adding pineapple to the diet made the poo less appealing to dogs (as if it was appealing to start with)...

I got Scottie in November last year (Mature desexed dog).... Off the top of my head, our expenses have been Kennel - owned from last dog Trampoline bed - owned A few "blankies" - preowned Collar and lead -$30 bed - $10 Other, better, New bed - On sale $90 jacket - $45 - on sale (medium sized weather beta) Countless toys - too much to tally Night light - clip on collar + torch for me to walk in the dark Pre-adoption Health check with trusted family vet $50 (+ Heartworm test + 2 emergency trips to the vet already + One check up cause I'm a worry wort) + heart worm injection Flea treatment (Comb + Cpmfortus) $110 Shampoo - $5 Countless bags of food to trial - I dont want to go there. Approx $60 a month for high quality kibble (Ziwipeak + a bag of supermarket grain free) +approx $15 per week on fresh bones and mince to accompany his kibble Treats - too much to add up training - casual obedience class $20 per week + one large expense / Scent sports training (6 week course) This doesn't even come close to the total of what we've spent on him. He does need a dental too - just trying to save a little extra up before we do that. Obviously this doesn't include the cost of adopting him or his vaccination, chip or desex as that was all done before we got him.

So week two wasn't as much fun. We had the trainer who is to be our regular trainer (she was off sick last week) and I think she was over compensating for missing last week. Too much theory - we only got two runs each (last week we got 4). I also got in trouble because my treats were too big (just smaller then a large kibble / large pal meaty bite)...

Oh poor little puppet. Hope she''s OK.

That is a non-negotiable necessity in our house. Maybe we should see if we can place a bulk DOL order with someone? (2 is bulk right? LOL)

I got a snuggle safe a few weeks ago. Can I just say - if you have had a moment of doubt - DO IT! I got mine for $45 with free shipping on ebay and have just had 3 days off work sick with a cold - I used it more then Scottie ... worth every penny. Also - do the photo shoot. One of my most favourite possessions is a canvas print of my old girl - photo taken when we took her with us for our engagement photos / wedding trial photos. I can not say how much it means to me to have it. Invest in professional photos of your pets I actually bought a package for another family member during my grieving process when we lost Guin last year.... (and Ruth takes amazing photos).

We just started a foundation to scent sports (scent tracking) and so far Scottie loves it. He's really taken to hunting chicken out of cardboard boxes (week one homework) like a duck to water. They say its for any dog with a nose. Scottie is 10 and we're just doing it for enrichment / something fun to do together. I'm in sydney but this victorian group have come up a lot during my recent google searches. www [DOT] k9 nosetime [DOT] com