Sheridan

I am very tempted ...

*snigger* apologies .. it is immaculate and beautiful...BUT my very first mind flash was "topiary"

At least you acknowledge the person who was bitten is the victim, though like the others, I'm not sure why you blame the victim for being bitten. It makes me wonder if you also blame victims of crimes for being victims.

Well, this is a photo from dogshowpoop. Aside from your dislike of long haired dogs, perhaps you can advise what is extreme about this dog?

Er, two different subjects, surely. If you have a complaint about barking dogs then make a complaint (I would never do so myself). Cats shouldn't wander. Indoors or a cat palace. Not that hard to stop a cat from wandering. The guy shouldn't be threatening the cats but he does have a legitimate complaint.

Were they used to eating raw meat? We find some dogs resist for that reason. Fish meat is a very good source of protein, low in fat, and high in vitamins and minerals – when it is first caught. If you were to buy fresh fish and lightly cook it for your pets, it would be very good. Cost and effort may prove to be prohibitive to this practice. One must also be aware of the environment in which the fish is caught – levels of toxic heavy metals, like mercury etc, can be quite high in some parts of the world. It is also worthy of note that freshwater fish do contain levels of thiaminase, which can cause vitamin B1 deficiency if used exclusively as a diet. In the wild dogs may make the occasional attempts at catching fish in fresh water streams, but the only true fisherman are their close relatives, the bears. The one thing I don't like is food evangelists saying what is right or wrong for dogs. The best food for a dog is the food the dog does best on. Some dogs might do very well on raw. Other dogs do not and I wish, particularly those trying to sell a product, would not try to persuade people into changing for change's sake. Even more so when a dog requires a special diet. Thanks but no thanks. Also adding this forum rule that you may not be aware of:

wire, I get the vet to do it generally but if my sister would like to help ... :D

What I find with any topic like this is that people have good experiences and others have bad experiences. It depends on the individual dog. I don't think once a dog does well on a particular food, shampoo, insert topic of choice here that people should just change because, 'Oh, so and so had a good experience with it so I'll change over, too.' Taking the word of someone who may have no expertise in anything is rather foolish. This goes equally for shampoo, food supplement, kibble or raw enthusiasts. Leave your poor dogs alone unless the dog starts having a reaction to something. They're not home-based lab rats.

I bought some VAN for my dogs. They wouldn't touch it. What's the VAN view on fish as a diet for dogs?

I think the writer is confused between bull terriers, pitbulls and anything else with 'bull' in it.

I think 'bloody dogs' sums it up nicely. :D

Bit of a Grumpy update: he is doing very well. No runs, no vomiting, and he has the occasional gallop around the back yard. Waiting on my sister's return so I can rope her into helping hold him while I cut his nails and take him for a bath. We do have to go back to the vet for the KC vaccination but I'm holding off for a short time while I look into getting him a bigger travel crate.

Grumpy always gets terribly embarrassed about doing a poo in the house. I arrived home one hot afternoon when I left them inside to find one just inside the front door (thanks kids! was going to put my foot right there!). Both Grumpy and Mini had a 'Wasn't me' furtiveness about them but it wouldn't have been the Mini one.

Mini loves everyone but it's widely acknowledged she'd a bit of an airhead.

Grumpy has done the occasional poo in the house and one wee. I think he's just not making it to the back door in time. Like many old men.

I'd like to see the reaction if Ireland banned dog breeding altogether as you seem to think toy*dog. The Irish may not have huge amounts of their native breeds but they're bloody patriotic about them.

They can tell a dogs external heath - glowing coat, good muscle tone and fitness, clear and bright eyes, happy in itself etc. They can assess a dogs basic mental health - happy to be there, bright, aware, comfortable in what it is doing. They can assess a dogs structural health - how it meets the structural standard for the breed, how the dogs structure supports or hinders its ability to do its job, how the dog moves, that it is happy and comfortable moving at a pace and in a style suitable for the breed. They can NOT assess long term genetic or internal health or look into a crystal ball and see how the dog will be health-wise tomorrow or a year from now. But that is not the role of a dog show judge. A judge is there to judge TO THE STANDARD. The standard does not address health isses beyond the types of things I have listed above which can be assessed EXTERNALLY on the dog in front of the judge. Any further assessment of health is carried out by the breeder, sometimes under the auspices of official and formal schemes run by the ANKC, breed club or other organisations and sometimes not. Assessment in accordance with the standard by a show judge is just part of it and never ever have dog shows set themselves up to be a one stop shop assessment of all elements of the 'health' of a dog I haven't said so but such was inferred by Oakway in the original claim that a dog wouldn't win a BIS if it wasn't in good health.

And for an alternate view, we took a dog to a chiro and the dog was screaming in pain by the end of it.

The dog would not have to be healthy to win because a judge doesn't judge its health. And the reason for that is because a judge cannot tell beyond what a dog looks like. A dog can be in the 'prime of its life' and be really, really sick and not show a damned thing. It doesn't have to be old, Oakway.

Your original post did not qualify the age of the dog. I responded to your original post simply to point out that not everything is on show in a ring. There are diseases that a judge will never see. All a judge sees is the dog in front of them. A judge does not see hip and elbow scores or blood and urine test results and even if they did see the latter two, some tests only show the result of the day of the test. A judge cannot tell if a dog is a genetic timebomb of heritable disease and I used kidney disease as a deliberate example. How does a judge tell if a dog has kidney disease if no symptoms show? A double grand champion can have kidney disease and never show it until most of the kidney function is lost. How many times do I have to say we are not mind readers and we don't have a magic wand. It takes time to eradicate problems that appear. If I was interested in a breed that had problems I would seek out a breeder that was well on the way to eradicating the problem or wait till the problem was solved. I would certainly not purchase a breed with a known problem unless some guarantees were in place. Or better still I would Import from a kennel that had already solved the problem. Well, that's an answer to someone's post but it's not a response to mine. My original post upthread was about how a judge can tell the health of a dog in the show ring because of your positing that a dog wouldn't be be winning BIS unless it had good health.

Your original post did not qualify the age of the dog. I responded to your original post simply to point out that not everything is on show in a ring. There are diseases that a judge will never see. All a judge sees is the dog in front of them. A judge does not see hip and elbow scores or blood and urine test results and even if they did see the latter two, some tests only show the result of the day of the test. A judge cannot tell if a dog is a genetic timebomb of heritable disease and I used kidney disease as a deliberate example. How does a judge tell if a dog has kidney disease if no symptoms show? A double grand champion can have kidney disease and never show it until most of the kidney function is lost.

I'm curious to know how a judge is able to, for example, tell how healthy a dog in early stage renal failure is given a dog in this condition lose around 80% of its kidney function before any symptoms show. Looking forward to your answer.

The betterment of the breed has nothing to do with how well a dog is socialised. Different ethical point entirely.

Rats??

The best dog food for your dog is the food your dog does best on. If your dog does really well on dog rolls and Supercoat then feed him that. If your dog does well on raw then feed him raw. If your dog does well on Woollies Home Brand Sardines and a premium kibble like Royal Canin then feed him that. Take no notice of the food evangelists, just feed your dog what your dog does best on.