bloss344

What about a DAP infuser. It secretes a smell similar to the hormone the mother dog makes. It's used to help pups settle into a new home or stressy dogs. Your vet should have them. http://www.pethealth.com.au/index.cfm?Fuse...p;wysiwyg_id=58

Along with the great advice you've already got here there is a book Feisty Fido. "Help to the Leash Agressive Dog" by Patricia McConnell. She uses two simple methods in this book, focus and going in the opposite direction of the other dog. I didn't think it was too bad, might help a bit, perhaps your library has a copy. I use focus with food and going in the opposite direction with Bob and it does help, it's a slow process but well worth it.

I feed 50/50. Same size meal each time. Works for us.

As I said before I went the home prepared elimination diet route with Bob simply because all the so called hypo allergenic foods contain so many ingredients. If the dog reacts you don't know if it's the protein source, the grain or one of the many supplements added to make it a balanced food, and many foods have added chicken fat, which I was told has no protein so there shouldn't be a reaction, but I'm not convinced on that. Sometimes it's one step forward and two steps back. Bob has a very very sensitive tummy and yes, I consider them the cause of them to be intolerances rather than allergies. I give Bob vitamins and minerals to make up the shortfall in his diet and he can tolerate one brand of Vit B complex but another brand will cause his ears to flare up. Everything has been trial and error, but in the end I have a dog who has reasonable poops, no gas, no nausea, he eats, his ear infections have cleared up and his skin is good even if he does itch a bit. Now we seem to going a similar route with the new pup. I must just be doomed to have itchy, scratchy, loose pooped dogs.

Yes, there is something to be said about not giving a dog everything and anything. I heard of a lady in USA who actually had to use frog legs for her dog's elim diet. She had fed that dog on everything imaginable. I still have a few novel ingredients aside in case Bob develops an intolerance to his current foods. So far he has been stable for 18 months.

Lectade is an electrolyte mix that is specific for animals. It's about $5 for enough powder to make up 2 litres. I get it fro the vet or Mega Pet.

EP Holistic Chicken Meal and Rice is suitable for small and medium puppies and small and medium adults so it should be fine. Remember that as a puppy she will be eating twice the amount an adult gets so that's actually more protein per day. I think all the EP foods are on the lower side of protein recommendations but all fall within AAFCO guidelines. If you are at all concerned email them, they've been very helpful to me with my problems with Leah not coping well with certain foods. [email protected] ETA: The EP Small and Medium Puppy Food is only 28%. I think that it's not only how much protein a food contains but what type of protein is in the food. A food with higher protein may in fact not have such a high bioavailability as a fair bit of the protein could be from vegetable sources, so it's all probably much of a muchness.

I always have some Lectade on hand to keep them drinking, but only give small amounts at a time.

Thanks. I've never tried it as I didn't like the sound of it and the ingredients, was easier to do a true elimination diet. I didn't realise that it affects the calories so much. Interesting.

Oh ok, couldn't you just feed more then or wouldn't that work? I wonder why they can't up the calories. Always learning something new here.

My Bob has IBD, and is a great itcher. He has food allergies and environmental allergies. I found the only way to work out what foods upset him was to do an elimination diet. A true elimination diet has one novel protein and one novel carb, so you might use something like duck and let's say millet if your dog has never eaten either of those before. That is all the dog eats for about 8 weeks, nothing else touches his lips. Usually intestinal symptoms will resolve pretty quickly, if you have eliminated the offending food. Skin problems can take much longer, hence the 8 weeks. Of course if the skin problems continue then it may be an environmental allergy such as grass, dust, dust mites, cleaning products, etc, etc, etc. Hill's Z/D is often used as an elimination diet, quite often it does work. The food itself wouldn't have caused weight loss unless your dog refused to eat it. Raw diets are great but bare in mind that a dog with IBD most likely will not be able to cope with the naturally high fat content of a raw diet. Fat is inflammatory to the intestines, especially so if there is an underlying problem.

Congratulations. :p It's a great feeling isn't it? I have a handler in the class I instruct who's dog is 8. Yes 8 years. This dog, although they had her since she was a pup, has never been trained to even sit, she just stood most of the time and did her own thing. First week we ran through sit. The following week the handler made of point of saying "Look at this she is sitting". He was so happy and obviously proud of her and himself. Last week we did drop and again he was so chuffed his dog actually did it.

My Obedience club has an "Off the street Level 1" for dogs over 6 months, who haven't had any previous formal training. Younger dogs go into OTS Puppies if they haven't been to Puppy Pre-School. You'll probably find your club has similar classes as they will want to set up all dogs to succeed.

Some people use the doorbell if the dog barks when it rings. Someone at dog club used the house alarm. With Bob I actually needed to go 'woof' and that got him to bark. He tends to bark really quietly like he's trying to talk instead. The hand signal I use is fingers like a duckbill opening and shutting, if that makes sense.

Hopefully the antibiotics will work. Must be awfully painful. I rescued a cat years ago that couldn't eat properly and drooled. Took her to the vet and she had an enormous salivary gland cyst under her tongue. They operated and she was fine. Recovered really well and although they said it could recur she lived to about 19 with no problems.

I've had Leah on that for a few weeks now and she's been the best poop wise since I've had her. She has an extremely sensitive tummy. I bought the last bag at Petstock about 3 weeks ago and went to get some more on Sunday and they were out of chicken and several of the other varieties. They don't know when they are getting more in. Anyone else having trouble getting some of the varieties? I know a while back some varieties were out of stock for a while. If the supply is unreliable I'll have to change her to another brand.

A vet visit is the only way you'll be able to find out if it's a bacterial problem. There can be parasites, coccidia and giardia which cause soggy poo. The poops can improve a bit and then revert back to soggy. You'll only go on a merry-go-round ride if you keep changing the food without eliminating other causes first.

Both my dogs had a very mild dose of KC after the intranasal vaccine a few years ago. Since then they've had C5 injections and no problems. I think a few people on here have found their dog's have reacted mildly to the nasal stuff.

They are all owned by the same company. A staff member at PGD told me they were owned by Global Pets which also owns PP and Warner Bros World and a Coffee Shop franchise as well. I think they are all franchises but technically all the same.

Oh dear, not quite what they expected. At least they are doing the right thing by taking it to PPS. Hopefully they'll keep up with the training. Sounds like it's going to be a big strong dog. Some mate they've got.

Beautiful boy. I met my first Brittany yesterday. Superb looking dogs. Great size. Hope he finds a good home.

That's Bob and my favourite game too. It's a great way to practice out of sight sit stays too. I've never tried him with household items though, great idea.

Yes, I don't dispute that there is a loss of nutrients but there is still nutrition there for the dog to benefit from if the owners feel they need to cook the meat.

Canine: How come you've got the EP Holistic Large Breed Puppy but the EP rep told me it won't be available until the end of the year?

Cooking doesn't so much take away the nutrients but it does change the food somewhat. Minerals are pretty much stable even with cooking. Vitamin B's and C are heat sensitive and so will be reduced. Some dogs do better on cooked foods for some reason or another. Someone with a dog with a compromised immune system may not want to feed raw due to the potential bacteria on it. My Bob doesn't tolerate fat, so I cook his meat, drain the liquid and fat away. Some people just prefer to feed cooked. Dogs don't have any problem eating and surviving on cooked meat; they've been doing it for generations.