Norskgra

I agree with showdog. I give mine salmon, makeral, sardines or tuna once a week. I do give them each an egg once or twice a week. Personally I do not like Supercoat as there are much better dry foods available.

Hi Hazz, They can start to get their adult coat earlier than 12 months but do not really have their full adult coat to 18 months to 2 years. What you see in the ring is supposed to be natural and most of the Afghans around their coat is completely natural apart from their saddle and maybe tail which people normal pluck. Most of them aren't trimmed although they maybe thinned out a bit. Normally you would band the males coat in the areas that may get wet when he lifts his leg. You wouldn't normally band a female. They would also normally wear a snood to protect the hair on the head and ears when they are eating and drinking.

No Problems Hazz. When Afghans are in full adult coat, I prefer to give them a brush daily or every second day. It shouldn't take any more than 30 minutes. You need to spray/mist their coat before you brush them and Inormally use a leave in conditioner in the spray. You also need good quality brushes so that you don't break their coat. Our current Afghan will be 12 months old on Thursday and he is taking more grooming because he is losing his puppy coat whicjis prone to matting with his adult coat. NO, you don't shave the belly on a show Afghan. The standard actually states that coat must be allowed to develop naturally.

With the Afghans you have to have the right sort of brushes and spray/mist their coat. If you have the wrong type, you will break their coat.

When I had my Old English Sheepdogs, it seemed that all I did was grrom them. At one time I had 12 in show condition and I was constantly brushing them My Elkhounds only take a 5 - 10 minutes brush each once a week. The Afghan iis almost 12 months old and still has his puppy coat, so he takes about 30 minutes every couple of nights. I know this will increase when he gets his adult coat.

I would try them without being bashed first. I have fed them to our since they were young pups and have never had any problems. One of my girls was the most finicky eater you could find but she loves them and crunches them without any problem. They are also cheap.

I feed all of ours chicken necks for breakfast. They are healthy and good for cleaning their teeth. Even our fussiest one loves them and tries to steal them from our others.

I use Advocate.

Sorry Jaybee. That is one thing we don't have. They wouldn't work very well on the Elkhounds or Afghan. They have too much coat. A long haired breed is not really that hard to manage as long as you regularly brush and wash them. The Afghan is not as hard to look after as the Old English were and I had 14 of them at one time!

Thanks Perry's Mum, I will keep that in mind. The cost doesn't worry me when it comes to my babies health and comfort.

I have stacks of collars as well. Each of our dogs have their own specific colour and everything they have is in that colour. As soon as my daughter or myself see something in their colour we have to get it for them. Usually they only wear check chains when they go out but they still have several collars each in their own colour. Of course they have to have leads to match each collar as well.

I was tidying up our grooming box yet again and wondered why I have so much stuff in it. We need different brushes for our Afghan and Elkhounds but I have several of everything. I have the grooming box that I take to shows full, I have more in the pantry and more down stairs in the laundry. Some of the brushes and combs I first bought over 25 years ago when I got my first Old English and they have come in handy for the Afghan but we have still bought more stuff for him. We have so many different types of shampoos and conditioners yet we only use the conditioner on the Afghan and now wash all the dogs with Aloveen. I really think my daughter and I have really gone overboard on the grooming stuff. Some of the things we could use on both breeds but have got some for each breed. It is the same with leads and everything else for them. I am sure we have enough to open a pet warehouse! :rolleyes:

Thanks everyone. I will have a look at brands and ingredients when I go shopping on the weekend. I can see that Glucosomine won't hurt even if it doesn't help with the fracture. It will help with his back that he put out as well. It would also help my girl. I think I will put all of the dogs on it as a preventative. All my dogs get fish oil capsules each day.

Thanks again Sirmonsta. Cost doesn't matter when it comes to my dogs health. I am planning on mating the Elkhound in about 6 weeks and I want to make sure she is in top condition. The Chiro said there was no reason why we shouldn't mate her butgI want to make sure she is okay.

What brand do you use, Sirmonsta? I have to go shopping tomorrow so I will get some with chondroitin.

How much of the human Glucosamine would you give them? They weigh approximately 19kg and 25kg.

I will have a look at the thread. The Afghan is 11 months and the Elkhound is 21 months.

I had 2 of my dogs at the Chiropractor last night. My Afghan had his back out and a micro fracture to a leg. The Elkhound I took has a sprain to her shoulder and also had a misalignment to a vertabra and her pelvis. These were put back into place. I have never used it but would glucosamine or any other supplement help them?

As I said previousl, I have been to Peter Schofield and thought he was very good. We took our Afghan and 1 Elkhound to Gary Barnsley last night and I think he is fantastic. He was very thorough and good with the animals. He picked up injuries that we didn't know the dogs had and I will definately be going back to him if/when we need a Chiropractor again. I have to agree that he is the best. Thank you to those that recommended him.

There is no problem feeding an adult dog puppy food. We were advised to do this with our old Kelpie x to get some weight on her.

Thanks everyone. I have switched the dogs from Revolution to Advocate and I have washed them with Aloveen. They have stopped itching.

Thanks Hazz. I usually use natural remedies. I will try the herbs you have mentioned.

The problem started before they tried the new food and is affecting dogs that didn't try the new food as well. I am not sure whether it could be the shampoo we are using.

Hi Hazz, There are no new plants in flower. The ones that are inflower, have been here for a lot longer than the dogs. The itching has only been going on for a couple of months. They don't have any new bedding and the bedding they do use I made for them and it is washed regularly. We use Revolution on them and have not changed recently. Our youngest had a bath at her breeders before a show about a week ago and was flea rinsed but I don't know what they used. No fleas came out there or were sighted. This is why I can not work out what could be causing it. Nothing has changed. I know that the do not have flea allergy dermatitis because my old kelpie x suffers from it on and off. The house and surroundings are also regularly sprayed for fleas.

Does anyone have any advice as I am becoming itchy just watching them?