Staranais

I push my puppy around because I need to. If I don't 100% insist on her respecting the boundaries of our relationship now, I hate to think how she would be acting in a few months time. She does have time off to be a puppy. I do teach her new things in a purely motivational manner. But when I ask her to do something simple and she growls at me or talks back instead then yes, I do get hold of her (no matter how long that takes) then I calmly make her do it. I'd rather make her learn that commands are non negotiable now when I can deal with it in a low key, matter of fact fashion, than wait until she's physically big enough to fight me and win. I don't care if that's "positive" or "aversive" or whatever. I just think it's a necessary part of raising a high drive puppy. Edited to add - I should probably add that I do desensitisation as Corvus describes too, for things I know she has a big issue with, like me taking her bones away. But I don't pander to her when she all of a sudden decides that she's going to talk back when I tell her to get out of the drivers seat and into the back of the car or tell her to stop harassing the cat, etc. When she does that she's trying to work out how much she can get away with. And it's my job to calmly show her that the new behaviour she's trying isn't going to work round here.

that means the dog has not been taught bite inhibition which is what i was was trying to say. There is a massive difference in the power of the bite if the dog has been taught bite inhibition. A dog can have good bite inhibition though, as in can know how soft human skin is, but can still choose to bite hard if it feels threatened or stroppy. I would be interested in his research about the results of bite inhibition training though, has he published it? (genuine question)

Does she x-ray her breeding stock for hips? Hip dysplasia is a tricky one. You can contribute to it (exercising the pup too much, growing it too fast, keeping it overweight etc) so many breeders are reluctant to refund a pup with bad hips, since they feel they may not have caused the problem. But if you've exercised the pup appropriately and kept it at about the right weight, then I personally think the breeder should give you at least a partial refund of the purchase price of the pup to put towards the surgery. Pups who are kept at the right weight and exercised appropriately don't get hip dysplasia by 6 months old, unless they have a genetic predisposition towards it! Not sure if she has a legal obligation to do so (unless you got a written health guarantee when you purchased the pup), but I'd feel she had a moral one. She also needs to admit that there is dysplasia in her lines now, and take that into account in her future breeding decisions.

Hi there, this doesn't answer your question sorry, but just wondering did the pup come with a health guarantee from the breeder? If your breeder gave a health guarantee when you purchased the pup and is willing to honour it, then they may be willing to refund part of the pup's purchase price to put towards the surgery. Some breeders will, some won't, but it's worth a try, I'd think.

Yes, that's the problem isn't it? These things do cost money! If it's just for your own peace of mind, not for entry to dogsport organisations/kennels, I reckon you'd get away with titering once to prove to yourself your dog has responded to the C3 vaccine and then forget about revaccinating or titering C3 for the next 7 years. But if you need proof of immunity for some organisation, it can get expensive pretty fast with regular titering instead of or sometimes as well as vaccines. I'm also doing the 3 year vaccination (from the studies I've read, you're actually just as safe doing the 'regular' core vaccine only every 3 years as you are using the special new official 3 year one, it's just that the new official 3 year one is more likely to be accepted as current by kennels etc). I'll probably titre after that, but hope to be able to do it myself for cheap by then!

Titres are IMO most useful in adult dogs when done a few weeks after vaccination, to see if the vaccine worked for your dog. If titre results say that the vaccine did work for your dog, you can be confident that your dog is protected for at least 3 and probably many more years, no matter what later titre results say. If you just do a titre test 3 years after the vaccination and the result is negative, then either the dog is not immune, or it is immune but just doesn't have a high level of circulating antibodies. You can't tell which is the case from the titre test at that point, as you don't know if the vaccine worked initially, since you didn't titre after vaccinating. Most boarding kennels or dog sport organisations that accept titre test results require a current titre test result, so you may still need to titre test when your dog is "due" for a vaccination in order to provide the results to those organisations which are willing to accept them in lieu of a revaccination certificate. So if you get a titre test done then, and it is positive, your dog avoids an unnecessary vaccination. If it is negative, you will probably need to revaccinate, even though your dog may actually still be immune. Make sense? Edited to add: I'm talking about the 3 core vaccines here, parvo, distemper, and hepatitis.

What would I do with a dog that talked back? I ignore the talking back and make the dog do what we're doing anyway. We're actually going through a talking back stage this week at my house. Although strangely, she's still quite OK so far with having her nails done. :D I personally wouldn't class a reaction caused by fear as "talking back", though. "Talking back" means stroppy to me, not fearful.

No I dont think so. If you werent looking you wouldnt really notice it I suppose. Its turning slightly right at the bottom of the ankle which is why I thought it may be diet related. Its like she is pigeon toed a little bit lol. If it's only one leg affected, I wouldn't suspect a dietary problem as a likely cause. I'd suspect some sort of trauma as being a more likely cause. Can you post a photo?

Stormie could correct me here but I was under the belief food allergies are actually quite rare, people just think they are rife. Many dogs on raw diets have allergies too. Are allergies more rife now than they were 10-20 years ago because people kept breeding allergic dogs? True food allergies are much rarer than atopies or flea allergies. But dogs prone to one type of allergy are more likely to get the others, so you can't always differentiate between them. I too would not breed from any dog that had suffered from demodex issues (which are often an expression of an underlying immune problems), and would think twice about breeding from any dog that had any type of allergy. Even if it is just mild localised demodex, or a mild allergy, there is often a genetic component to these problems that result in the pups having a predisposition towards the issue. IMO it's just not worth it as there are almost always other breedworthy dogs that don't suffer from these immune problems or allergies.

I think it has more to do with what the meat animals are fed as they are raised, than whether they are wild or domestic species. What you say is certainly true of grain fed domestic ruminants from American style feedlots, however I haven't yet seen any evidence that grassfed wild game has a more beneficial omega 3/6 ratio than the grassfed domestic animals we tend to get in NZ and Aus. (But please share if you have data that contradicts that!) Incidentally, grassfed meat also tends to have more vit E in it than grainfed meat. Useless fact of the day.

We agree on the species appropriateness of that. EPO contains mostly the omega 3 known as ALA, we mammals need to change this to the omega 3 fatty acids DHA and EPA to use it in our bodies. We humans make that conversion quite inefficiently, dogs (and cats) are even more inefficient at converting ALA to EPA. So it's best to feed fish oil, which already contains the EPA that they need. I don't think EPO hurts, it just isn't a complete substitute for fish body oil for dogs and cats. Of course, you could argue that most wolves probably don't have access to fish oil, or even access to oily fish, all that often. But it's one of these things (like probiotics) that seem to enhance the health of dogs regardless of whether their ancestors ate it, so I think it's worth giving. Remember to supplement with E if you use lots of fish oil (or get the fish oil with E already included). pg 86 may be a little geeky for most, but has a nice diagram of how the various dietary omega acids metabolise into each other for those who are into that sort of thing: http://books.google.com/books?id=aqeCwxbRW...epa&f=false

That's what I feed my malinois puppy, half raw and half commercial, she's also very active, and it seems to keep the weight on her OK so far. If you just want to feed commercial food though, yes, there are big differences between good and crappy kibbles. Not sure if the super duper premium ones are always worth what you pay for them, but the supermarket brands are pretty much (IMO) junk food. I'd aim for something in between. You can also feed commercial but chuck her a few raw meaty bones or chunks of meat a few times a week to help with dental health. One of the biggest drawbacks to commercial foods is that most of them are pretty crappy for your dog's teeth.

For an adult dog, the NRC recommend feeding about 1mg elemental zinc per day for every kg your adult dog weighs. That's rather a lot, and hard to get from natural foods alone, though feeding a lot of beef muscle helps (oysters have heaps of zinc in them, but are pricey!) I suspect that many dogs won't need as much zinc as the NRC recommend, but on the other hand some dogs are more sensitive to deficiency than others. Although you probably already are feeding some zinc in the diet, zinc is a reasonably nontoxic mineral and quite hard to overdose on, so if it were me, I'd probably just supplement with the 15mg/kg/day & see if that made a difference over a month or so. Trying out the fish oil (with vit E) is also a good idea for skin issues. GSD's 4EVA - no only does our local weekend market not allow dogs in, but the meat and bones available are actually more expensive than in the supermarket. I'm jealous of your market!

Not really surprising if chicken was a very large part of their diet, because skin and coat issues are classic symptoms of mild zinc deficiency, and chicken is very low in zinc compared to beef or even lamb. Interesting, though. MissLotus, as Tomas says any food can be an allergen, but for some reason beef is one of the most common food allergies that dogs get. Not sure why they are more commonly allergic to beef than to other meats like lamb or pork, but it seems to be the case. You guys who get cheap raw are lucky - I do a reasonable amount of shopping around, and it's still approximately twice as expensive to feed my girl raw as reasonable quality kibble! Perhaps it depends where you live.

Do they vomit after you feed them other types of RMB? If they can eat other RMB without issue, then if I were you I'd just stop feeding the chicken necks and replace them with another type of RMB. Perhaps their little tummies just can't handle the chicken for some reason. All dogs are different.

Hmmm, technically every cancer is a cell cancer, there is no one type of cancer just called "cell cancer". So either your friend got the name wrong or the vet has no idea what it is and is hoping you won't guess. I'd strongly recommend your friend call the vet and ask the cancer's name, the prognosis if she doesn't remove it, and the prognosis if she does remove it.

Unless they're complete morons, it sounds like they just don't know how to deal with the dog and are doing the only thing they think will work. How about you grab the dog and a clicker one day and teach the dog something cool to show the owners when they come home (something like beg, spin, speak on command or balance a treat on his nose then flip it off, just some cool little trick that will impress them)? If you can demonstrate that you've already taught the dog something using your methods, then they might be more inclined to listen when you tell them the dog can be trained using your method.

I've only answered some. 1. Is 2.5% of adult body weight the correct amount to feed from day dot? Say and adult SBT is 15kg, so that's 375g per day. 110g for a cup of dry and 265g raw? That formula works OK for raw diets, but doesn't work for dry commercial foods. If you want to feed half raw and half kibble, then what you'll want to do is look at the side of your kibble packet and feed half what they recommend. And then feed 1 - 1.5% of your dog's adult bodyweight in raw. Watch your pup to ensure he's not getting too fat, growing too fast, or getting too skinny, and adjust your diet accordingly. 2. In terms of raw foods, our list includes, lamb flap, brisket bones, chicken carcass, chicken wings & necks, chicken maryland, turkey wings, lamb liver, lamb kidney & hearts minced, roo mince and pig trotters. Any important bits we've missed? I'd add fish oil capsules, & a pinch of kelp once a week. Canned or fresh fish can be a nice addition, as can raw eggs or natural yoghurt. I like to add some oats and some veges, but most dogs seem to do fine without those and some people prefer not to feed them. If you feed lots of fish or lots of fish oil, consider adding a vitamin E capsule once a week. Green tripe is great if you can get it. Of course, the proportions you feed these things in are as important as which ingredients you choose. Remember growing pups need lots of zinc and iron, so if most of your RMB are chicken, then most of your non-RMB meat should be red meat. 5. We don't intend to spend a lot of time measuring quantities, calories, and nutrient intake, so is it safe to just give a meaty meal (eg. chicken maryland or mince) for brekky and a meaty bone for dinner? I personally wouldn't just wing it, not for a growing pup. You'll probably get away with doing what you describe (especially since you're feeding half commercial which will tend to smooth out any deficiencies or excesses in the raw diet) but if it were me, I'd at least make up a rough diet plan to stick to every week, to ensure pup's getting about the right amount of everything over the week. 6. We also intend to add sardines, yoghurt, and eggs. Should these be included from day dot? raw or boiled eggs? I'd start adding ingredients to his current mince gradually, one new ingredient every few days. That way if he gets the runs, you can see what it is that has disagreed with him. Raw or boiled eggs are both fine. Some people also grind and feed the shells, which is good too. 7. Should we still apply the 15 minute feeding rule even when the pup is say 6 months+? Does that mean we take away a big juicy meaty bone after 15 minutes or let him have it for as long as he wants? I wouldn't take a bone away after 15 min if the dog is still actively engaged in eating it. If he wanders off and leaves the meal, yes, I'd remove it.

1. What is my relationship with the breed? (ie breeder, first time owner etc) Long time malinois admirer, first time malinois owner! 2. Where and why was the breed first developed? I'll leave this to the breeders to answer, since I don't know the specifics, except that they were originally a sheep herding/flock guardian breed from Belgium. Judging from my own girl's reaction to sheep, I'd suspect that the herding they did was more of a driving sheep ahead of the shepherd using voice/body language (rather than gathering sheep up and controlling them by using eye like a border collie or heading dogs tends to do)? 3. How common is it in Australia? Not sure as don't live in Australia. 4. What is the average lifespan? Early teens, I believe. 5. What is the general temperament/personality? Very active dogs. Sensitive and at worst can even be spooky or poor nerved - check your breeder's dogs and lines carefully for this. Intelligent dogs, learn quickly, so are great at obedience, agility and tracking. Really attentive to their surroundings, and aware what's going on in their environment. High prey drive. Very vocal! My girl barks at anything, it was a breeze to teach her to speak on command (teaching her to shut up is going to take a little more work though...) 6. How much daily exercise is needed for the average adult? In malinois, this can differ between show and working lines. I'm not sure if the show/working split is so pronounced in the other 3 varieties. My working line malinois puppy (nearly 5 months old) currently gets about 30 min of airscent training, 20 min leash walking, either a tracking problem or a 30 minute offleash run at the park, several car trips, and several trick training sessions every day. This just about keeps her on an even keel (she still digs me lovely holes in the yard when I'm not home, though!) I'm expecting to have to give her much more mental and physical exercise as she grows older. If you want a pet, or a competition malinois, I'd recommend the show lines. A show line can still be a great competition dog if that's what you're after, but is much easier to live with between competition. 7. Is it a breed that a first time dog owner could easily cope with? If you're motivated and really do your research, and are prepared to exercise and train your dog every day, probably the show lines would be OK for a first time owner. It wouldn't be my first recommendation for most first time owners though. 8. Can solo dogs of this breed easily occupy themselves for long periods? On the whole I wouldn't recommend one for an owner who was going to leave the dog alone for most of the day. 9. How much grooming is required? My malinois so far has just needed a brush down every few days and a bath when she's perfumed herself with chicken poo. So she's very low maintenance! Have no idea what type of maintenance the other coat types would need, but presumably more? 10. Is it too boisterous for very small children or for infirm people (unless the dog is well trained)? The belgians I've met so far have been good with children and social, but are still very excitable, very large, and can be nippy unless trained. I certainly wouldn't leave mine alone with children or infirm people unsupervised, even when she is well trained. 11. Are there any common hereditary problems a puppy buyer should be aware of? As above - hips, elbows, eyes for PRA. 12. When buying a puppy, what are the things you should ask of the breeder? (eg what health tests have been done (if applicable) and what is an acceptable result to those tests so the buyer has an idea of what the result should be) I've met spooky/fearful belgians, and have heard this isn't uncommon, so I think buying from a breeder that breeds strong nerved dogs is something to aim for. Otherwise, hips, elbows and eyes, as above.

Great post, Vickie.

Well done! I'm hoping to make one of these at some point. I've got a plan from a Yahoo agility group that I want to try, it's all made of wood (most 2 by 4s) and you can adjust the height/angle of the plank for training puppies on. Just have to save up for the timber. Your design looks cheaper and easier to build, though! Would love to see photos of your see-saw.

NRC 2006 guidelines for dogs suggest a "tentative" upper recommended limit of 75 IU vitamin E per kg of BW per day. So in other words for a 10kg dog, they suggest don't exceed 750 IU of vitamin E per day. For a 20kg dog, they suggest don't exceed 1500 IU per day. They say there is little evidence of vitamin E toxicity in dogs, except that there is a chance that very high doses it might interfere with the absorption of vitamins D and K (which could affect calcium balance and blood clotting respectively), hence their recommended upper daily intake limit. Hope that helps.

At uni they showed us a survey someone had done, where different vets had been asked to estimate the amount of pain an animal would typically be in after certain surgical operations (laparotomy, castration, spay, etc). The study found that female veterinarians, as well as more recent graduates/younger vets, tended to estimate the animal's pain as higher for almost every procedure, and were more likely to give the animal pain relief after surgical procedures, than male or older vets were. I though it was interesting.

Does she mean a mast cell tumour? If so, yes you can diagnose it with a needle biopsy since the cells involved look quite distinctive. If it's a mast cell tumour I'd personally go straight for removal of the lump, then send it off to the lab to check all the margins are clear (i.e that they've got all the lump out). At the least, I think your friend should get further testing done (they'll probably want to biopsy the lump and send the sample in to the lab for histology, which can give you information about how aggressive the cancer is likely to be, which is something you can't get just from a needle aspiration biopsy). I wouldn't leave it and just wait, mast cell tumours can be very nasty things.

Perhaps there should be a sticky thread at the top where people could recommend vets they had particularly good experiences with?