dogcop

I agree with Vehs ideas but you may also try to hold the tail and rear leg together lift up and gently brush opposite leg and bum area. By doing this way you actually craddle the rear end and minimise injury to the dog ie weak cruciate ligament etc. With cross breeds you dont know what problems are there so taking precautions is my main concern. Chris

Dachshund Lover I'm puzzled how do you boost the immune system ???

I have a product made up for me by a client who is a homeopath etc. She made it actually for her own dog who suffers fear. It worked well and the dog now doesn't have it all. I use it on other dogs that also come to me that display signs of fear or agression, it seems to work well with about 90% so I'm happy with that. It has no side effects and doesn't dull the dogs senses so there ther is no recovery time to worry about. We also used it on a dog before going into the show ring but forgot to give it a drink of water, we had a perfect trip home LOL. I would always try this style of product before medication.

Whilst I know its not chocolate ONION is a no no in my book too. Onion can cause enemia in your dog which could cause it to die. Not in all cases but I would prefer not to let my pets have any anyway just in case. I wouldn't like to be like the man that lost his dog after eating left over onion keesh. Yes I have met people whose dog s have had onion and suffered no ill effects. So what is ok for one might not be for another. Cheers Chris

Adding garlic into the dogs food every day will help. any form of garlic will do, clove,crushed, powder,minced but not garlic salt as they don't need the salt and oduorless garlic doesn't work because it is processed. dogs will not smell the same way we do from garlic so you can give them a decent dose and it wont hurt them. do try some of the other suggestions for natural remedies as they all seem reasonable. One other thing we use is wheelie bin cleaner (Phenol) mixed 5 parts water to 1 part wheelie bin cleaner and spray that around the yard etc every 5/6 weeks. It is also a repellant for snakes too after loosing my show dog (Saint Bernard) we always make sure the perimeter of the yard is done in the warmer months. Remember herbal and natural remedies only work because of repitition so don't expect it to happen overnite. Good luck Chris

We vaccinate our pups. We only have had one bitch that was revaccinated and she is the only one with cronic skin problems. All the others are fine. I have tried to contact the department of primary industries and try and get things changed so it isn't law for boarding kennels but suprise suprise no reply!! anyone know how to kick public servant arse ??

Hi Larry, Your right 85% is good. Most common brands you supermarket stuff is low digestion rate. But I did open a can of Pal Professional one day in my pet shop that I used to own and i found offel. When I takled the rep about it an argument erupted and he and his products were shown the street with the final shot fired by him calling me a puritan saleman . Yes it would be gr8 to buy OZ if we can find a company that is OZ owned and ethical ( I think that word still exists LOL) They probably exist so I will rely on you good folks to educate me. One other good dry food I had In my shop was called KINTA, it was made in Yarrwonga Victoria dont know if it is still going probably is it was a good product but I couldn't sell it because bloody vets were selling it sales tax exempt so I couldn't match or beat their price. Vets should not be permited to sell retail products, you don't buy milk and bread etc when you go to the doctors !! Very unprofessional I think.

Hi we have a Saint Bernard 5 yrs old he get two lambs necks whole per day for five days then he has 1.2kg chicken necks with a can of Mackrel (home brand) in oil with a couple of cups of supercoat dry food on the two remaining days to give him change in diet. This costs about $25 per week depending on where you get it from I live in Portland vic but buy most of our meat in Colac because it is better and cheaper. We have the Alcoa smelter here in Portland and I think the traders think we all earn big bucks and have no brains! We also have a tribe of Shih Tzu's seven in total and they would cost about $28 per week depending on what you feed them. You can feed your dog well without spending a fortune. Our Saint Boogie weighs in at around 95-100kg. Hope this is of interest or helps Chris

BMP when breeders breed they try their hardest to breed faults out of their stock I am led to think that in some cases this can take upto seven generations to do. With the likes of the GARDINER that was on tele promoting Xbred dogs all of the hard work can be undone in the first Xbreed. As a result I have seen all to many dogs with HD, Weak cruciate ligiments and a host of other problems we would normally think its a big dog problem but its also appearing in smaller dogs (I was going to say breed but Xbreds are not a breed). But the bottom line is if it has good temprement pure or cross does what u want etc BONUS ! also HD can be enviromental ie slippery floors etc but I would tend to think this would be more of a prob in large dogs.

I've been gooming since 85 when we got our first Saints. When I started I would put my handi-bath in the ute with about thirty towells a cheap ladies hair dryer, clippers etc and off I would go. I covered an area that went from Mt. Hotham to Yarrawonga then from Benalla to Holbrook. The only other guy doing anything was a man in Albury. We were so we were told from sources in Sydney the only mobile dog wash people between Melb and Sydney. It was doing so good I decided to go fulltime and open a pet shop too. Then along came PAUL CLITHEROW you know that money show on tele and told everyone how to make ten bucks washing dogs. Well it only took ten minutes and there were 18 mobiles operating between benalla and albury. I lost heaps of dollars because I had planned to float the shop by using the dogwash as support until the shop got up and running. But alas it didn't happen so I just do it part time now. I drive a truck in the mornings and groom in the afternoons and weekends. If find that I have to work in different ways in order to not tire or get hurt (back ). It is interesting to see others have the same difficulties. But hey I do enjoy doing it knowing I helped a dog and see the owners so proud of their dog especially one of my clients who's girl is autistic and the way she interacts with Monte.

Raz sounds like you will have to use a crap cap,then discharge the static before removing the cap LOL then proceed with grooming. Sorry yes static can cause explosion of flamables. Can you imagine the obituary groomer killed by static blast !!! Heaven forbid

Hi we have had excellent results using Tinea Spray Powder. This has worked well on our Saint when he has had them caused by licking, wet dry wet dry. Potatoe products and probably many more can cause them too. But we have found that by treating it like tinea and using the spray powder we get good results with minimal hair loss which is handy when you are showing. Hope this helps Chris

Greentea if you get a cotton ball put a little baby oil on it a just put a smear of it on his/her bottom every day everything that is meant to slide off will this should give your some relief from the rubbing it off. Remember if it doesn't cost its worth trying if it sounds reasonable. If the rubbing persists get the gland checked if you can't do it yourself. As for the original problem here it really is your call as to how often you bath your dog. If it doesn't stink and is basically clean has no problems because of this then only do it when you think it needs it. The benefit of having it done by a groomer is they will be able to tell you if you if you can do something that needs to be done. Good Luck Chris

Just whizzed through peoples replies seems no one mentions absorption rates. i.e. amount actually absorbed by dog average dry food or can 35-45% the rest is waste product as you would think. the better quality products have generally better absorption rate meaning you don't feed as much so you don't get as much waste. The best dry food I have come across is MERA DOG it has. It is an imported German product that has an absorption rate of about 80% with no dietry problems putting them on it. But you might get some going off it to a lesser product. I believe that there would be suppliers of this product in all capital cities. Chris

V.E.T. = VERY EXPERIMENTAL TREATMENT = VERY EXPENSIVE TREATMENT!!! Pharmecutical Companies give doctors bonuses aren't VETS DOCTORS? Keep hammering away people maybe we recognise more of the bad effects we see in our dogs than what we care to think of in our kids ? I won't appologise for having attitude on this subject. For way too long we have been intimidated into thinking we are being looked after (by that I mean our dogs) by honest caring highly trained people. Let me give you an example. Vet location North East Vic graduated W.A Specialty Dolphins. Mountainous area Victoria ???? Terrified of horses Yet gets around with sticker on 4x4 VET ON CALL SILVER BRUMBY !! Diagnosed mare as being pregnant performed tests to confirm with posotive result. Later found to be suffering from aggravated bowell syndrome !! Gave a lab anesthetic to bath it dog was dead when owner came to pick it up ! Little girl got dad to take her gold fish in to see what was wrong with it. Vet asked if it has been URINATING more than usual. Dad replies yes i've been taking out a glass and a half of water evry day. Five minutes late dumbo realises what it has said. Not suggesting that all vets are like this but it does make me wonder. Too many of them concentrate on being sales people. When will we be able to buy bread and milk from a doctors surgery maybe get our hair done. Its good to see a few Brits and Americans coming clean hopefully it won't stop there.

Well I'd love to see a dog spitting green balls LOL. I know they eat veggies some more than others so its not unatural. They know what is good for them by their natural instincts we just have to be smart enough to interpret why they do it. I was going to be smart and suggest maybe starting up a doggydairy or think of entering the melbourne cup you never know. BUT I WONT !! LOL

Hi just had a quick look at what people have said and has anyone asked if you have anyone in your area that is a racing greyhound expert that does chiropractic work. We have one in Warrnambool Vic and he is amazing. I also noticed that someone suggested ACV. If you try that you might also try 1000mg caps fish oil with omega 3,6. cold press flax seed caps have omega 3,6 & 9. which might be even better. these caps have natural anti inflamitory which provide pain relief. Most importantly see if you have a dog chiro around our man here charges $10 per visit and you get an honest opem minded opinion. Best of luck hope this is of help.

We currently show shih tzu's and have one Monte that has this problem. As it has been stated it could be hair but more often the reverse hicc-up. we have found that it is excitement, fright and jerking on the lead that can cause it. it doesn't last long but nearly always at the worst of times