goldielover

chezzyr, Go for one of the brands who will give you your money back if your dog won't eat it at any stage. I buy my Purina Pro Plan from Robbo's pet barn in Dandenong. It's currently on special there ($88 for a 17.5kg puppy pack). If you ask for an itemised receipt and your dog won't eat it (even after quite some time) Purina will refund your money. Good to know!

Hi Ellz, I agree with you, and i certainly understand that my puppies will be going to families of differing budgets, so i don't want them to only be used to Purina Pro Plan which is reasonably expensive. I'd rather them get used to a variety of foods! I'm hoping to re-introduce the Supercoat but starting in even smaller quantities. I just don't want them dehydrated from diarrhea - kind of defeats the purpose LOL. As i mentioned, i've also fed Supercoat in the past and had no problems. In fact i am using the puppy for my bitch now (well a bit here and there) and she is having no problems with it either, so it probably is a case of different foods suiting different individuals better.

LOL Pandora, i think with dog kibble you really get what you pay for (in general). I'm very happy with the Purina Pro Plan, and also a big fan of Eagle Pack. With these brands as well, you don't have to feed as much of the food so they are more economical than they seem. Just be careful as well as some brands are complete foods meaning you really shouldn't add much to it, otherwise the diet will become unbalanced. I have to say that i was disappointed with the Supercoat. I had raised a dog on this many, many years ago with no problems. I should probably let them get used to it slowly, but i hate to see pups with diarrhea, and they didn't have a lot of it in the first place! Probably is a case of a particular food just not agreeing with the pups,and the same food being fine for other's.

Hi everyone, I would be interested in knowing what breeders and people with very young pups are feeding their babies. I have weened my puppies onto Purina Pro Plan Puppy which i am also using for mum. I have been extremely happy with it. They all love it and their stools are decent. Slowly i have been introducing small amounts of other foods eg. yoghurt, cottage cheese, tuna, scrambled egg (small), etc to get them used to a variety of foods. Some of my puppy people were considering putting their pups on Supercoat Puppy, so i thought i'd introduce just a small amount of that... WELL!!! Sloppy poos from here to kingdom come! YUCK. Now, i understand that a change of diet could cause this, but they were fed over 3/4 Purina and less than 1/4 Supercoat - i wouldn't have thought it would be so disastrous LOL. Anyway, yesterday i fed Purina as normal with titbits of other foods - nice formed poo's again, so it looks as if it was the Supercoat! What has everyone elses experience been? I often feed Eagle Pack (which the dogs just love), but when purchasing a puppy food for this litter and mum, the Eagle Pack was out of date, so i opted for Pro Plan, and as i said... very happy.

I agree - don't shave him! Keep up the daily checks and spot-ons for prevention every 2 weeks. With a golden, you could get an undercoat rake to remove some of the dead hair/undercoat. Also grab a pair of thinning scissors and you can cut the coat around his neck/chest, a little on the shoulders and the rear/pants. Here's a link for grooming a golden: http://www.geocities.com/thebumperbox/grgroom.html Cheers, Jenny

I would rinse him off with warm water after a swim (cool water in summer is fine!), and maybe bath him once every 3 months with a mild shampoo like Fido's puppy & kitten. He shouldn't need too much.

Nutrigel is a great product - see if you can get your hands on a tube! It might stimulate her appetite as well. Also, don't fuss at all and don't offer ANY bits of your own food. Make sure you eat first and then feed your dog. Just leave the food out for 10 - 15 minutes and try again say 4 hours later. I have a girl who is a fussy eater and with her, it's all the lack of competition as she eats well when she stays with friends Sounds like you've tried almost everything. A lot of pups find Purina One or Purina Pro Plan quite palatable. Not sure about Purina One, but i know that if you buy Pro Plan and the pup won't eat it, Purina will refund your money (you need an itemised receipt obviously, though). How about cottage cheese with tuna or sardines? Very strange that she won't eat raw mince though. Have you tried putting some moistened mince through some kibble (don't feed just raw mince as pups need a lot more nutrients than that and large quantities of raw meat can lead to nutritional imbalances). I'm not sure what else to suggest as you've tried so much. Did your vet check her mouth/teeth for any problems?

Yep, i've got it too!

Thanks for that Hedds. I am actually sure i've seen it before, so i have no idea what i did wrong yesterday! I'll head out either later to day or tomorrow on my quest and try again!! KJ, i'm not sure about a breeders club per se, but on their website you can contact them for puppy samples which they will send out to the pet store you purchase Eagle Pack from, when they make their next order - hope that helps. I usually feed either Eagle Pack or Purina Pro Plan. Mum is doing so well on Purina Puppy at the moment, but i'm a bit peeved at their breeders club membership rules (you need to buy 100kg of dry before you are allowed membership, which is all well and good but i only own 1 girl!!!!). I can understand them not wanting to just give out freebies willy nilly, but 100kg!! Like others i don't just feed dry, so it will take me well over a year to go through that amount of dry food. Perhaps after a purchase of 2 of their 17 kg bags would be sufficient to join the club! Anyway, i've had by whinge for the day! :protest:

Alright, Hedds, if you're out there!! LOL I couldn't for the life of me find Porky's ... i found a fish & tackle place around the corner from Ford (unless i'm totally in the wrong spot in Cranbourne). Do you remember what else was around, or do you have a physical address? oh... bright idea.. i could look it up in the white pages hahaha

Awesome! Thanks for that. I might run down this afternoon. I've always been meaning to check Porky's out - my breeder told me about it, but have never made it LOL. Could use some hessian mats too! Thanks!

Robbo's Pet Barn in Dandenong also stock it routinely. Not sure of the price. Hey, Hedds... where abouts in Cranbourne do you buy it from? Cheers, Jen

I just placed my first order with Priceless Pets and received my items in 3 working days (Qld to Vic). Well wrapped, so very happy!

yep.. Priceless Pets. Limited range, but have all the flea and heartworm/intestinal worm combos very cheap! Otherwise i use www.vetproductsdirect.com . Huge range at good prices!

Gotta agree with the others. Drooling is a sign of nervousness, and sometimes car-sickness. He will most likely grow out of it, but in the meantime take some short car rides and make it fun (go to parks, friends places, etc). We used to use Blackmores Ginger tabs for car sickness, and they helped a little. Obviously if he does start to vomit in the car, don't give him anything to eat for some hours before leaving!

My girl has been a fussy eater on and off. After trying quite a few different dry foods, i've settled on Purina Pro Plan. I've found that Jazz seems to find Purina more palatable. They have a promotion on at the moment where you can try it and they will send you a cheque for the purchase price - can't hurt! The promotion is for Purina One, which is readily available in supermarkets. Not the cheapest, but you also don't have to feed as much. http://www.purinaone.com.au/

I like to distinguish between "work" and "play", so use a check chain when we are at obedience class and either a flat collar or one of those collars which are 1/2 flat and 1/2 check (sorry i can't remember what they're called) when we go on walks.

I had a Golden once who suffered shocking flea allergy dermatitis. I've always used Frontline, and now Frontline Plus and never had a problem with fleas.

P.S. The number for monash is 95447455. I guess in an emergency eg. any sort of accident, bleeding profusely, etc, any of us would go to the nearest vet.

Hi Haven, I also go to Ray Ferguson at Monash (i live in Narre Warren, so i travel about 25 mins to get to him). We have also seen Stuart at that surgery, who is young, but very good (haven't been to Mark Foley, but have heard he's also excellent). They are on the corner of the Princess Hwy and North/Wellington Road, so fairly easy to get to. I guess it depends on what you're after. If you intend on doing any breeding, this is definitely the place to go! Best of luck!

P.S with loose lead walking i would recommend still making him stay roughly on the left as there's nothing more annoying than a dog that criss-crosses in front of you all the time, possibly tripping you up

Hey alibear, I definitely can relate to your problem. My golden was quite a puller as well, and despite a lot of obedience training and training at home, really didn't start to settle until she was 1 1/2 years old. I tried the 'tree' method for well over 6 months, but she didn't seem to get the message. All of a sudden it all just fell into place. She is one of those dogs who walks beside you better OFF lead than on. One of our instructors was always talking about these dogs who do better off lead and i thought... yeah right!! LOL, until Jazz actually started to do it. I agree with the others who are saying there is a difference between making them heel alongside you and walking loose lead. Another thing you can try is to keep him focusing on you. If he's not food motivated, perhaps a squeaky toy? Anyway good luck! As you say, it's better to try and get on top of it now before he gets too big.

Hi Dremen, I agree with the others.. .you could use the weetbix. Dogs can have a small amount of ceral-based foods, but they don't really need it. If he loves it though, you could use it as a special treat. Kate C & poppii - if you are worried about giving your dogs chicken necks or wings, you could hold one end of it firmly while your pup starts to munch on it (the chicken neck, not your fingers, hopefully!). That teaches them not to just gobble them down. Chicken carcasses and lambs necks are great as well! They also love lamb shanks, but they are usually quite fatty, so perhaps maybe once or twice a week?

Hi there Byott, Firstly, i'd like to say that i'm very sorry to hear about your dog. My first Golden had HD, OCD, you name it, she had it! Our (Golden) breed average is 16 - 19 (depending on what you read and who you listen to), so either of those hip scores really aren't too bad. Personally if i was mating a dog with a hip score of 20, i probably would have used a dog with a lower hip score as a mate, but what your breeder has done certainly isn't unheard of. One thing i think needs to be mentioned is that the combination of genes resulting from a single mating runs into the thousands. All of your dogs' ancestors genes come into play. Your breeder may have fully researched your dogs grand parents, great-grandparents, etc., and have all available hip score information, but still genetics will throw problems here and there. It is not totally beyond our control (we x-ray hips, have hearts and eyes checked), but somewhere along the line there's been a problem that nobody has picked up. I know of someone else this has happened to recently. An acquaintence bought a dog for show/obedience. Both parents, grandparents, etc had good hip scores, but this dog threw a hip score of 40 at 1 year of age!!!! This was devastating for the person concerned, but there had been no instances of HD in the past. The sire has sired dozens of litters with no problems. So, while your breeder may have known about problems in the past, it's also possible that she honestly had no idea despite doing her research. Morally & ethically though, i would have expected her to either offer you a replacement puppy or refund part or all of your money. Perhaps it's worth phoning her again, rationally... be polite and don't accuse her of anything - just discuss your options. Anyway good luck! Jen

We can also vouch for Eagle Pack (www.eaglepack.com.au for suppliers) and Purina Pro Plan (which is what i'm feeding at the moment). I'm not sure about Eagle Pack, but i know that Purina will refund your whole purchase price if your dog won't eat it. You just need to keep the receipt which needs to state the product name on it. It's worth a shot. We find Purina Pro Plan to be the most palatable to dogs. You can get Purina One in supermarkets, but it's not as concentrated as Purina Pro Plan (most stock feed places should have it or be able to order it for you). Another thing to remember is that you don't want your dog getting overweight. You should be able to feel a thin layer of fat covering the ribs, but you shouldn't be able to actually see the ribs, plus your dog should have a waist! Hope that helps! Jen