bloss344

A main ingredient in this product is xylitol. I think it's what's in Extra gum, that keeps our teeth clean, so I guess it makes sense that it would help like a mouthwash. Xylitol can cause digestive upsets though, can't it?

If you try a marrow bone cut lengthwise, be aware that marrow is very rich and full of fat, and cutting it will make the marrow very accessable. A lot of dog's gets loose poops from it. Very nutritious though.

I hope you get some sort of answer, but often these tummy things can be difficult to work out. When my two got sick, we suspected poisoning/baiting as their livers were affected, but there was never any evidence as to what it was. The old dog was quite sick and on a drip for 3 days. Younger dog recovered much quicker with medication, even though his blood tests came back worse than the old dog's. My vet actually said you often never know the cause, just treat the symptoms and get the dog well with supportive measures.

Just a thought, could there be a leaking septic tank or sewerage pipes? If you've had heavy rains could be washed along from anywhere. Both my dogs came down with something a couple of years ago, made their liver enzymes go sky high, along with vomiting and diarrhea. The septic tank thing was something the vet asked. We never found out what caused it but they were very sick.

A lot of people vaccinate because Dog Clubs require it. Slowly, very slowly the clubs are also accepting titre tests. We will catch up with the rest of the world one day. I asked about Titre testing when I had mine vaccinated only last month and the vet looked at me blankly and said I was the first person who had asked her about it.

I just paid $72 per dog for C5. Included in the consultation was anal gland clearing for 1, nails for both dogs. Complete thourough check up. Last year I paid $68 per dog. We were with the Vet for about 40 minutes, so I think it was fair.

If there are other available classes there shouldn't be a problem changing. My club is quite clear if you don't get on with your Instructor or don't like their training methods, or any other reasonable reason, they are happy to accomodate. Training should be fun, positive and constructive not stressful. When the dog's are new to each other I prefer the quick "meet and greet". Just a brief 1 or 2 second greeting one dog at a time.

Perhaps your dog got a bop on the head from a dog door sometime in his past. We've had a dog door for years and I've had no problems getting a dog to use them until I got Leah. She was 8 weeks old when I got her. The first day she was here, Bob my other dog ran out the dog door, of course she followed, I wasn't quick enough and she got hit in the head with the flap. 3 months later I am still trying to get her to use the door to go out. She will come in the door if I leave her outside, but won't go out as she was hit from that direction. Even the fact that Bob and the cat use the door, she's still scared. Hopefully one day with my continued perserverence she'll get over it.

:thumbsup: and now there is coffee spray all over the place good one Dogfish

I haven't had experience with it but would it be worth trying something like Thrive D? Anyone? If he does eat certain foods and not others could be he's just a picky eater. Have you tried not offering a lot of variety, just a really basic diet, and not leaving any dry food down for him to 'pick at'. Sometimes if they are fussy and are getting a lot of different foods they will hold out for something better. Little devils.

Cat food isn't bad for dogs it's actually the other way around it's way too good for dogs. Cats have much higher protein and nutrient reqirements than dogs so it's quite rich. Knowing how fussy cat's are I imagine it's also very tasty. Did the vet do blood tests or fecal tests to rule out possible causes of the digestive problems?

Cold liver oil and Fish Oil supplements are different. Cod liver oil comes from the liver of the cod. Fish oil such as Salmon oil comes from the body/flesh of the fish. The liver of any species stores Vitamin A and it is in the CLO. There is also some concern that come CLO is polluted with mercury, as the liver is basically a big filter. The reason it's not good to feed too much liver in our dog's diet is due to the potential of overdosing with Vitamin A as Rappie explained. Cod liver oil is primarily used to supply Vitamin A and Vitamin D. Here in Australia we are rarely short of Vitamin D providing we and our dog's spend time outside, it's the sunshine vitamin, and it's easy to supply Vitamin A with a small amount of liver. The other fish oils are more used for anti-imflammatory benefits such as skin, IBD and arthritis.

Raw or cooked is fine, lots of people feed raw. If you feed only up to 25% fresh food apparently it won't affect the balance of nutrients of the dry food.

Well, Leah is just 5 months old and being a Goldie puppy I wouldn't be able to carry her if she got too tired. ;) Yesterday at in puppy class we went for a shortish walk, did some training and then went around the puppy confidence course. Leah is the oldest yet she was absolutely tuckered out before the others. I stopped and let her have a lay down, while the others kept on going, then we let all the dog's off lead and she got up and did zoomies with all the others. Instant recovery. They do get tired and hot and thirsty, but can recover pretty quickly if it's something they want to do. Tahni probably had a nice rest while you carried her. Smart puppy. I think it's just a matter of building up their stamina slowly.

I think the general feeling is that they do it because they can. I've asked my vet and that was his answer. Sometimes they will eat grass if they feel sick to throw up but usually they just eat it because they can and they obviously like it. It doesn't seem to matter what sort of diet they are on as you mentioned. Adding more veggies is often recommended but mine eat a lot of veggies and still eat grass. The time of year seems to also have a bearing on how intent they are on eating grass. I grow grass for my rabbit and Bob will take it out of my hands and eat it. Both of my dogs eat dirt too they are on different diets. It's obviously a common behaviour as there is a University in USA that is doing a survey on grass and plant eating if you are interested. It's been going for a while, I thought there may have been results by now. http://www.healthypet.com/faq_view.aspx?id=14

Feeding dogs/puppies can sometimes seem so complicated. The nutrient requirements for puppies are much higher for puppies than adult dogs. It's something like twice. Although the Energy will probably have a good supply of minerals for an adult active dog, as most dry food is oversupplemented, This food is very high fat at 30%. This equates to it being 591 kilocalories per cup. Puppy food has 412 kilocalories per cup and is 22% fat. You would feed a considerable lesser amount if using the Energy to avoid obesity during growth, which means you would be feeding less nutrients. The Adult food has 331 kcals per cup and has 14/% so you would feed more of that and perhaps get enough nutrients for a pup. Does that make sense?

With Bob I offered the treat in a closed fist, and as soon as he stopped mugging my hand I marked and gave him the treat on the flat of my hand rather than with my fingertips. Oh this reminds me, I got Blossom from a shelter and snatching treats was the only bad thing she did. I was at a friends place one day and he was making his lunch, you know, strass on the sandwich, a piece of strass for Bloss. She snatched it out of his hand, without saying a word he calmly picked up a bar of soap he had on the sink and offered it to her. She of course snatched it, spat it out, looked all offended and never snatched anything again. Many, many years later we still laugh about this.

Both of mine will work for anything, so at home I use just about anything including frozen green beans. :rolleyes: With mine it seems to be the treat is just the fact I hand it to them for a job well done. At dog club Leah gets cooked chicken breast and some treats I got at the supermarket, semi moist in the shape of a heart. Bob gets Glad Wags Lamb which they no longer make but I have a stack of packets of them in the cupboard. I like the Glad Wags as they are a solft strip which I can break bits off easily, no greasy hands and they obviously smell great, all the dogs like my bumbag.

EP Natural Formula in the purple bag is the same as the Large Breed Puppy. Same ingredients in the same ratios. The Natural Formula is cheaper. It's basically just marketing, people feel they need to feed a LB puppy food so EP made the puppy food.

You've summed up exactly how I feel about Bob. There are days when I wish it just would all stop, and he'd act like a 'normal' dog, but I'd never give him up. I'm sure Bob was put on this Earth to teach me so much.

Puppy food has more nutrients than adult food not less. Perhaps changing to another high quality brand with more digestible ingredients, such as Nutro, Nutrience, Eagle Pack or Royal Canin.

Would they realise though? I don't think Bob knows he's not "normal". He just "is".

Our club allows muzzles. There aren't many dog's who attend that are muzzled but there are a couple at the moment. I think that if it makes the difference between a dig being able to go to obedience or staying at home it's a good thing.

There's lots of good advice in the above posts. All I can say is it will get better. Yes it's cold at the moment and yes, it would be heaps better in the warm weather, and their timing isn't always the best, but all of a sudden it will click if you are consistent and you'll wonder if it really was this bad.

It's best to start training as soon as you bring puppy home. It's easier to stop bad habits now rather than waiting until they are not so cute and much more annoying. They can still be puppies but under your rules. If you don't want him to do something when he's mature, nip it in the bud now. As far as mouthing and nipping goes, I've been pretty lucky, my puppies haven't been too bad. When necessary I reprimand with a 'mother dog growl' arrrrhhhhh and then give a toy for chewing and praise, praise, praise for chewing the right thing. Pulling on clothes etc I use a similar method, a short sharp reprimand and steer the puppy into another activity. A lot of what they do is play and learning and can be turned into constructive play. Cute puppy