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There is a product here called Nutrigel which is an appetite stimulant and vitamin additive. It is available at most petshops, produce stores/vets etc. Is there a similar product available there? Another product called Thrive D which is an old fan with Greyhound people particularly. If those products or something similar are not available, I reckon your best bet would be to contact Greyhound people over there and see what they give for this issue. A lot of the products used by racing greyhound breeders are high energy, super enriched vitamin formulas for that extra power needed to win that race! If all else fails, I would be happy to post you some but I think the Nutrigel would be "out" because of the new terrorism laws banning liquids! Edited to add: have you tried raw meaty bones with this dog?

Poor baby Thank goodness he has found a caring new home. You've received excellent advice thus far. I would just like to add that with the unfortunate beginning for this pup, he may not be used to large open spaces. Investing in a crate or a puppy pen might make him feel a little safer in his "new" environment. I'm not suggesting that you "lock him up", just a wire area because that is more than likely what he is used to. Then the overwhelming experience of the outside world will become a little less scary. Just a suggestion I am also curious to know if this was a registered breeder

Glad I gave you a giggle! I hope it all works out for you - sounds like moving is definitely the easier option Poor bloody scratchy itchy thing!

:D ADVANTIX & FIDO'S FLEA & TICK RINSE!! Spray it around the yard - wash the bedding in it or in Woolwash. You've GOT to bomb the whole place and get rid of the bastards! Don't leave it to some obviously USELESS pest controller (geez - you would've thought they'd have gotten rid of them by now ) Do it all in one day - take the dogs to get washed at groomer with the Fido's, get the groomer to apply the Advantix after their bath when they are dry, while they are gone wash all their bedding, bomb the house all closed up with flea bombs, get a watering can, do every inch of the yard and under the house(?). LEAVE for 3 days. Come back. Vacuum entire house. Get out the watering can AGAIN and do every inch of the yard AGAIN! Go and pick up your dogs. Water the yard AGAIN 10 days later. Reapply ADVANTIX after 14 days. Forget the ADVANTAGE - it is obviously not working - try ADVANTIX plus the FIDO'S. Malawash will also work in the same capacity as the FIDO'S (You haven't done it! I KNOW you haven't! :p Stop crying and DO IT, you poor thing )

Yes, I agree Nadia Just that the Preventic collars get wet and won't work - sometimes people don't realise...only reason I suggested the Killtix collars

I've also found the Killtix collars to be better due to the fact that the dogs can swim and get wet and it won't reduce the effectiveness. I have found ticks underneath Preventic collars! Personally, it's still Advantix for me

LOL Peachie :D My neighbour does a fast day once a week but HAS to give her Lab a little something "Just so she doesn't think someone cut her throat" Only reason I have a specific fast day is so I know EXACTLY what nutrition my dogs have gotten for the week. I'm always thinking I may have left something out as they tend to have different meals on different days of the week. ;) Even then, as I say, they sometimes leave their meals. I actually record what they've eaten and when they haven't to give me a better idea of their weight gain/loss progress - I have a couple of fussy little ones so I will bolster their meals with different supplements if they haven't eaten for a day or two - I will starve my BCX when she's escaped to the paddocks and eaten a tonne of horse/cow poo! I still don't force them to eat their daily meal and IMHO, if I left them to their own devices they would prefer to live on grass, chicken poop and horse dung Despite their size/breed/weight they would still gorge themselves and then hunt out another meal 2-3 days later My human interference would mean I am trying to make them eat a meal every day

OK, so, it's not foods so that's good. You can also try bathing her in soothing treatments - anything with oatmeal in it or Aloveen products are excellent There is a product called "Swedish Bitters" which is available in all health stores. Quite expensive initially (around $30 mark) but you can dilute it half and half in a spray bottle and every time you see Aly scratching, give her a nice spray. Get throught the coat into the skin. It is very soothing and you will find her scratching will decrease considerably within 48 hours. Keep it in a dark place and return usused contents into the glass bottle. This has worked with my dogs and many others so I hope it is successful for Aly's problem

Ally - give her these things INSTEAD of a meal :D Day One - Bikkies in a Kong Ball - it'll take her ages to get them all out, keep her busy AND give her a meal. Day Two - lge marrow bone - chew for hours AND give her a meal (remove at the end of the day) Day Three - mashed pumpkin, a third of her regular diet plus any supplements like tinned fish/glucosamine Day Four - Regular meal and you put up with the whinging Day 5 - Frozen iceblock of her favourite meal - too cold to eat all at once Day 6 - one whole chicken frame/another large bone Start it all again. What is she allergic to?

Yep - PUMPKIN, KONG BALLS and BONES - exactly what I was going to suggest

Yes Ellz, I agree with you which is why I wrote what I did and I didn't specifically say "it was the norm". As you say, 20 years ago many old-time breeders did think it was ok to let pups go before 8 weeks. Hope I'm making sense

Yes, that happened 20 years ago but now there have been many studies done and education has prevailed. No registered breeder in Australia is permitted to release a pup until it is 8 weeks of age. It's in the Code of Ethics. BYBs continue to send pups off at an early age....

Yes, my dogs will also fast themselves - either leave half their brekky or all of it. Even with a weekly fast day, they will STILL do this of their own volition. Despite the fact that our dogs are pampered pets, after thousands of years they are STILL dogs (Otherwise they'd be walking upright and ordering at the restaurant )

In short, wait until your puppy has had the 2nd vaccination before taking it to parks etc. As long as your puppy is well at the moment, there is no reason to suspect puppy has 'caught" any nasties. If at all unwell, do take puppy back to the vet. There are a lot of reasons that a puppy should stay with it's mother and/or siblings until 8 weeks of age. A major reason is socialisation - from 5-8 weeks of age, experiments with pack order, learns how to communicate with other dogs, manners and generally finds "its place" in the world. Those 3 weeks are a window to the world for the puppy and very important for social development. (Once again, the difference between a BYB and a registered breeder ) So it's not just about vaccinations

Later bedtime? One thing to try if you're not already, is a crate. I put my dogs to bed in their crates at night and then they don't "wake up" until I open the crates in the mornings. Mind you, I wake up pretty early and go to bed early - still a nine hour overnight is not unknown Unfortunately a puppy IS a baby Bladder control is still an issue with a pup so maybe your little one is being good and letting you know when he/she needs to go outside?

Cleo, dogs are on the limited register for a reason whatever that may be. A registered breeder is NOT permitted to breed dogs on a limit register and they know that. :D Speculation that this may be the case here goes straight back to the integrity of the breeder and as a result the OP should not be purchasing from this breeder

Lisa82, if you are wanting the papers for a specific reason ie breeding/dogsports/showing then go to another breeder and make your intentions clear. If your new dog is to be a pet only and the papers for your personal reference only, ask the breeder to make a photocopy for you :p By the same token, under those circumstances, she still owns the dog on paper. I don't understand why she would not give you papers as all litters are required to be registered in Qld so automatically have papers. There is a different system in other states. It only costs about $40 to have them transferred into a new owners' name Sort out the reasons before you buy the pup - maybe the papers do not exist....might be dodgy Don't purchase a pup from this person if there are questions about its breeding no matter how much you may have fallen in love with a pup - the whole point to buying a purebred dog is the history of lines and the security of a pedigree and knowing what you get is quality and health-tested. Ask to see the parents' pedigrees and what healthtesting has been done.

There are many nuances between someone who whacks 2 Boxers together in their backyard because they are "cute", and a registered breeder The main difference being that registered breeders HEALTH TEST their dogs. They have generations of knowledge about the chosen breed and pedigrees to enable them to determine the very best outcomes of the breedings they choose to do. With my dog, I can go back to the 1930's and know which dog is the ancestor of my girl :p (and know that her lines are free of genetic problems) If this breeder you know is NOT a breeder registered with the Canine Control Council in their State - please find someone else. These organisations have different names in each state and if you let us know where you are, we can give you the correct name. In most cases, even if you are buying a pet rather than a show dog, you will be given official registration papers with your dog. ANKC papers. This means you know where your dog is from, who the breeder was, know it's entire ancestry and there is also a high probablility with a registered breeder that you will be given a written health guarantee should there be any health issues with your dog in the future. :D The registered breeder CARES about what happens to their dogs in the future. The question you ask is "Are you a registered breeder with XXX?" All the breeders on the Dogzonline breeder pages are registered breeders (not the local council :D) Good luck with your search for a Boxer - they are a lovely breed :D

Well in my book - if the dog is getting a bone that day, it's not a fast! If I'm feeding a bone to my dogs, then that is their meal for the day! No food = fast. ;) All my dogs get fasted once a week. They get one meal per day in the morning and if they fuss over their breakfast and don't eat it - no more food will come their way until tomorrow morning Vast majority of the time, they eat their brekky KitKat, I have absloutely no problem feeding my guys marrowbones - they get a big one at least once a week.

And I'm just curious - if she's a Purebred malt, she definitely should NOT be 4kgs at 8 months of age You may find that she is too heavy to jump If she's a cross, then 4kgs *might* be acceptable. Not trying to slam you here, just trying to work it out 'cos most pups would at least try to jump up (regardless of whether they actually should or not ) But all that said, I agree with the others and you should wait to train her to jump up on anything. The height you're describing is still way too high ;) It just would LOOK daunting from way down there

Plush Puppy have a spray on sunscreen. You just squirt and brush so the dogs don't go looking for a lick

Yep! That's teething for you! :rolleyes: Having a puppy is like having a little toddler around - everything MUST be off the floor for fear of being broken/swallowed/drooled on Baby proof your house completely and you'll find life will be a little easier ;) Access to dangerous things is not an option and just tell the kids that if they want their "things" to survive they must pick them up This will last a good couple of months so get used to it Have a look at the "What has you dog destroyed?" thread a little while back and it might make you feel a little better

Some sort of temporary bowel blockage? ie. really hurt to go to the toilet at the time?? Not diagnosing here but a friend's Amstaff would behave in this way every time he had ANY chicken bones. He just couldn't seem to digest them and the bones would literally come out in (chew -size) pieces in his poo. He'd chomped them with his teeth and that's the way they remained. ;) Pushing them out really hurt the poor bugger. Just a thought

Rozzie, it would really depend on the worming product you are using as well as the prevalence of certain worms in the ground (ie. different worming regimen if there is livestock present etc) Personally, I worm the dogs once a month. I have horses and they are wormed once every 6 weeks. Am currently using a supermarket GoPet product which claims to do heartworm and intestinal worms. Regardless of price (it is by far the cheapest way to do things) I think it's working for me and my dogs. Vet is always trying to convince me to go onto something more expensive and 'trendy" but as I already use Advantix for tick prevention, it would just be too much of a whack to my wallet each month. And I can't see how, fair trading-wise, a product could claim to do heartworm and not actually cover it - if you get my drift. The heartworming is way more important in my book. If you use the one product, what is it and how long does it cover the dogs for?? Does the product do all worms and is it perhaps one worm causing a problem? Just some thoughts for you

Also to the OES owner - a halti or harness will be no good to you as you need to teach your dog about a lead and collar (and a slip lead or chain) for showing. You also can't leave the collar on all the time for fear of wrecking coat With the littlies, I put a hair scrunchy around their necks until they get used to the feeling, change it to a collar and then add the lead under supervision. Obviously, there will not be a scrunchy big enough for an OES puppy Leaving a collar on for a week or so intermittently shouldn't worry the coat too much at this stage. The pup must have the collar tight enough that he/she can't bite it or get the bottom jaw stuck, pull it back over the head etc. Supervision. Add the lead at any fun time like dinnertime, playtime, wee time, visiting etc. Let the pup run around with the lead on without you holding it. The idea is that all the other things going on are too exciting to worry about this thing dangling from his/her neck! (You may end up with a wet lead!) Once again, always supervised. Lots of treats or a favourite toy for distraction and during play or while pup is feeding, just gently hold the lead with no pressure. Begin using a bit of pulling pressure to get the pup to come to a treat, come outside, go to dinner bowl etc (never away from fun - at this stage whenever the lead is on a good thing is going to happen) Build it up from there. Over the space of a week or two, you should be at the stage where you can move the pup with the lead. Dangle treats in front of pup's nose as you move with the pup and give the treats frequently (no teasing!) Voila! A pup that will walk on a lead! Don't forget that a pup will play with anything - my friends still have a young-at-heart 17 month old who will playfuly grab at the lead in the ring - it's very cute, shows temperament as long as it's not "anti-lead" but not really to be encouraged - there are better toys than a lead! It is a time-consuming process but just be patient and you will soon have a dog begging for the lead to go on Good luck :D Look forward to reading your results in the Showring