leopuppy04

Thanks Kajtek :). I like to make my own Raw - it's cheaper and I know exactly what is in it too :). Hopefully I can get him back on a raw diet!

Thanks for the info Karly. yep, it's quite normal for dogs to develop sensitivities later in life :)

Scootaloo I'm so sorry for your loss. Run free Robo. Look for a fun loving blue merle Aussie, Leo- He'll be the one making a lot of noise and making friends with everyone he meets - he'll take care of you. Tell him I said "hi" and that I still miss him every single day. It is important with heartworm (and mite) treatment to be aware of any drug that contains "mectin". This is very dangerous for collie-type breeds, including Aussies. It's not just Ivermectin. Carriers can also show a response, but it may not be as severe. Dogs can also have a cumulative affect to the "mectin" drugs. This list may proove helpful: http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/depts-vcpl/drugs.aspx http://www.busteralert.org/ I'm so sorry for your loss again Scootaloo and please don't blame yourself. I know your breeder will be just as heartbroken as you.

What made you go down this path if you don't mind my asking? What were your symptoms? And yep - that is what I understand too.

We have this booked in too! Hopefully in the next week or so

Interesting - I think it's worth chatting to vet about maybe - or do you think it's just better to keep him on the diet I think is best? I wonder if he does have *some* sensitivities to wheat/ chicken so I've tried to reduce all of this and it has returned best results... It sounds as though you have pretty much described my dog exactly! He likes to poop multiple times a walk, often spinning and trying to get it on bushes/ trees/ anywhere that he has generally been sniffing around. I'm always told that it's rare for a male to scent mark with feces so that's why I ruled that out. I was always getting 'normal' feces on the first 1-2 poops and then it seemed to loose form. I also found that the runniest (upset tummy exempt) poops I would get in the yard would be semi-formed - ie: fine on the ground but doesn't keep shape when you pick it up! His poops have definitely improved on raw food (but I thought maybe a type of meat might have upset him, hence the food trials) and no other symptoms of IBD/IBS other than pooping! Never vomiting/ lethargy or any weight loss (until now when he is on I/D and it doesn't have the same nutritional value to raw!) Didn't see this post before I wrote mine - so interesting to hear of other entire males that could be marking like this! Are the poos normal the whole time? They do get slightly runnier with each one. The last one is usually not even worth getting a bag out for :laugh: He does a LOT of scraping behaviour around it and will try to poo on anything that is slightly higher than the ground - bushes, tree trunks and even on rocks. But he is a bit of a drop kick that way :D Yep - we scruff and kick a lot too! Generally in built up areas - when out bush walking he will poop much less. On the beach, I tend to only get soft poops (which I always assumed was the salt water/ insane running)...

Hi All, I'm going through a bit of a food issue with one of my Aussies at the moment. We have tried a lot of things and are sort of at the point of really needing to cut back to basics, go bland and work out what his sensitivities are - if at all. The background: No issues with overall health, but fecal matter is inconsistent and he can go up to 4-5 times on a walk (never that much at home!). Range from 1st usually being normal, 2nd, fairly normal and 3rd semi formed (and so on). I changed his diet from a super premium dry to another brand, this helped for a bit, then tried grain free. This again helped for a bit and then we went to 80% raw. Recent weeks has upset his tum again (like I said, not the runs per-se... but just not normal!) and I now have him on Chick/Rice and I/D which is NOT improving things - he is still soft after being on it for a week and I would say perhaps a little worse. We ARE booked in for the vet later this week but I would like to hear what others experiences are and any suggestions. I am fairly experienced at food elimination trials and these sorts of things, so various addatives and such have already been tried. All under the advice of those more experienced of course! My Concerns: I want my boy to be on a mostly raw diet as I think this is what is best for him. I'm happy to try Z/D for a short period of time (to get everything back on track so to speak), but I really don't want to feed him on this for his life unless it is an absolute must. I am in complete support of keeping him on a bland/ simple diet for a short period (read: 6-12mths) is necessary, but I am also concerned that keeping him on a bland diet may increase his sensitivities (again, this could be absolutely incorrect and I'm just making things up!) Suggestoins welcome please!

WOO HOO!!! So glad I could be there to cheer for my favourite Spotted team and their awesome results! And I thought *I* was having a good day :p Huge congrats, I'm soooo happy for the both of you. Now I REALLY need to send through those photos from Warragul so that you can get 'em framed with "most handsome and smartest Dally ever" :D :laugh:

Thanks TSD. It didn't disappear - it was just 'awaiting approval' which I hadn't done yet. Thanks for your kind words - you made me cry again . I miss my loveable idiot so much. It's hard to not see him every single day and I think he was as special to me as Miss Bronte was to you. Why the good ones never stay long enough I will never understand. I got sent a lovely message from a friend saying "How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard". I have to say I agree. Yes, it hurts now, but I can't imagine what my life would be if I had never had/ owned or met my lovely boy. I wouldn't be a breeder, competitor and likely wouldn't be a trainer. He didn't make training easy for me, but he was the best teacher I could have ever wanted and every success we will achieve now and into the future will be, in a little way, because of what he taught me.

He certainly was that Keisha. A big loveable idiot. :)

Black dogs- on Tuesday we suspected lymphosarcoma and on Sunday he was gone. There were almost no symptoms and it was only me being an overly attentive dog mum that made me get bloods and some tests done. I just can't believe it. I thought I had months left. I miss him so much. I keep thinking I see him at home and I have to do a double take. Thanks everyone for your kind thoughts. I can't express how special my man was to me. He watched me and helped me grow from a teen to an adult and helped me become the person I am today. It is through him I made amazing friends. He is my dog of firsts. He was my very first puppy too.

I'm so sorry HDW. Run free Ted. Go find my boy and romp and play together.

I'm so sorry PC

I wasn't originally going to post in here because it's so seldom that I visit here now. But this is after all where my journey started. I joined t his forum back when Leo was barely 12mths old. I didn't know anything and I was amazed at this little dog community that just shares one little interest, and yet great friends have been made from here. We have done so much together Leo and I. I was a kid when we met, and I have a fully fledged career now, a breeding kennels and some pretty amazing achievements. None of which I could have or would have done with another dog. They say that one special dog walks into your life in your lifetime and I've had two. What I will do without my sidekick every step of the way I am yet to know. RIP my gorgeous gorgeous boy. 10 years was not enough. You have given me more than you will ever realise. http://pawsitiveaussies.wordpress.com/2014/06/30/vale/

Thanks HF :D

Hi All, I have misplaced my catalogue and I'm trying to find out if anyone knows the number of dogs in show and the number of dogs that were in group 5? Thanks!

That's my thoughts too Helen and currently the specs on the 70D outweigh the 7D. I know they are going to make a mk2 on the 7D but that will come with a higher price tag and I just can't afford it, so the 70D is a winner for me. The verdict is still out on the lens. I currently have the 18-85 basic and I HATE it at the moment. Maybe people can help me and maybe the lens needs a clean but it's ability to AF is 0 and it's driving me nuts. Constantly zipping back and forth and just unable to choose it's focal point.... Ideas?! So the advantage of the 24-70 is the lower fstop, but the overall versatility of the 24-105 wins out on me over that extra stop I think.... Why did everyone choose the one that they did? Another decision to sticking with my crop frame is that most of my lenses won't work on a full frame body

Thanks everyone for your input. So much to consider :) TLC - i think the hard thing is when shooting agility you don't necessarily have the time to move with your feet as if you did you would miss that 'moment'... so that is something for me to consider too. There are just too many choices! :laugh:

Re bodies - My first question would be how do you use your camera. Varies - on average a few times per month, but I may put it away for months and not use it at all. Do you use auto or manual settings? I'm assuming manual but just checking. manual Max ISO on the 7D is quite low so that may be a problem for you, but if you are getting a flash will you be needing to use high ISO? Both the 6D and 70D have high ISO and good low light performance. The biggest difference of the three models you have mentioned would be that the 6D is a full frame sensor. Obvioulsy that full frame sensor is the difference in price, $500 or so, so it depends how much it means to you. Max shutter speed is actually higher on the 7D and 70D than the 6D but I can't think of many applications where you would need more than 1/4000sec anyway =6629&compare[]=7544&compare[]=7592"]Comparison The ISO on the 7D worries me a little. I would like to start shooting night shows and such, which is where the ISO will outrank the flash - because you are shooting the distance and I won't set up flash umbrellas or anything like that, the flash would blow out the image. For anything indoors, I would probably vote to use the flash. The full frame worries me slightly as I love the zoom and I know you loose a little magnification with the full frame. So I think that alone rules out the 6D for me. Re lenses - If you like the pretty background bokeh that you would be getting from your f1.8 and f2.8 lenses you may not be happy with an f4 for portraits, although you say you are happy with your 70-200 f4 so maybe not a problem? Depends what I'm shooting - indoors or portraits I tend to use the fixed lens, however for agility shooting and playing around with the dogs (candid shots), the zoom lenses are far more useful than the prime lenses. I find I still get great Bokeh even with that 70-200. Prime lenses (fixed eg 50mm, 24mm, 85mm etc) tend to be sharper than their equivalent level zoom, which is why portrait photographers will often use a collection of primes rather than a zoom like the 24-105 or 24-70. If you will be carrying your camera gear around how important is it to you to have fewer lenses each with a large zoom rather than multiple smaller zoom or prime lenses? Are you happy to change lenses regularly or would you likely end up with one on there 90% of the time? Depends on the day - Happy to carry around lenses, but usually will just bring 1-2 lenses for the day and utilise those. Flash - are you doing night photography? If it's just dusk or indoors etc you may be able to use a higher ISO rather than a flash if you get the 6D or 70D. I have a flash and very very rarely use it. Would you only want to use the flash on the body or would you want one with a transmitter that can be placed off camera for fill light? Canon speellite's are generally good flashes but just depends what features you want and how much you want to spend. Mostly indoor photography - e.g.: photographing puppies inside - I don't like the flash directly on them (blow out of the image). but indoors can often be quite dark and you loose a lot of the quality of the image. How much do you want to spend all up? That may determine which body/lens combo you get. Not sure... but I can get a pretty sweet deal with canon equipment :)

I'm looking at upgrading my camera body and possibly a lens and doing some shopping around. I was wondering if you could possibly give me your opinion on what you would recommend? I currently have a 450D, which I've had for about 5 years. My main gripes with it is I would like a faster frame rate for agility. The ISO is also very low which means shooting in low light without a flash quite difficult. I'm currently looking at the 70D or 7D and wondering what he would recommend and the pros/ cons for both, given the 70D is very new, and the 7D is about 4 years old. I have also been recommended to look into the 6D but I don't know much about this camera. The other question is lenses. One of my main lenses that I use is the 70-200 f4 USM. Absolutely love it. I'm now noticing a difference when I use the 18-85 base model lens and find that the clarity is just not the same. Mainly for portraits I use the 50mm f1.8 or the 24mm f2.8 however I would like a little more versatile lens and I'm tossing up between the Canon 24-105 f4 and the Sigma 24-70 f2.8. Finally flashes - I would like to get a proper flash but I don't even know where to begin, what I should be looking for and what would make a good flash. Again, I've been recommended to look at the Yonangu (?) flashes.

Thanks everyone. I have booked her in for x ray and scoring at my local vet. The reason it was weird is I was quoted one price from the vet ($380) and she was quoted another ($500) as she wasn't a registered breeder. That's all well and good but still odd... Anyway- all is sorted now for a much more reasonable price :).

How much do you pay for your hip/ elbow scores? A puppy buyer of mine is getting the hips x-rayed (not read) before they commence agility trialling to make sure everything is ok. They have been quoted in excess of $600 from a vet clinic that I am positive did my last hip/elbow reading at under $400. Given the x-rays aren't being sent away for a reading, I'd hardly expect a $600 fee to be correct. What are others paying? Secondly in Melbourne - what would your recommendation of vets be that do good x rays for hip scoring?

Your girl is huge BBL! I don't know which thread to post in! Aussie shepherds due 1/1. But I think she will go before hand... I hate this waiting part

They are adorable Poocow!

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