bloss344

So I'm not the only one who will only buy clothes with pockets. OH thinks I'm crazy I find the perfect pair of trackies and then won't buy them cos no pockets. I guess no pockets means no bulge at the hips. :D

Bob too. I'm working on the same issue. Reducing treats/not bribing. There must be a few of these dogs around. This is a great informative thread.

We pretty much have a break, but I keep doing things like tricks and games. It's been too hot for Bob to do much of anything lately. We've been doing more walking and socialising which has been great for Bob. Looking forward to getting back to training though.

I second this. Dog feeding is not rocket science but there's been a lot of research done on the requirements of dogs since this book was written. What concerns me more than anything is the fact that these are growing puppies not adult healthy dogs who's health can be more forgiving on a diet that is not supplying all required. The diet described sounds like it is shortchanging their needs. I don't know what sort of amount of calcium the Farrels has but adding extra calcium can throw out any balance that is there and make the calcium/phosphorus more unavailable to the pups. If the Farrells kibble is not a specific puppy kibble then these pups are not getting enough calcium. Adding half a teaspoon of dolomite per week is not going to cut it. Calcium needs to be balanced with phosphorus, this has probably been done in the kibble for adult dogs. With the copper pipe, yes it may work, but how can you know if your pup is getting enough or too much? A diet such as Tom Lonsdale's or the BARF diet would supply liver which is a very high source of copper, iron and zinc. A commercial food would have copper included in the correct amount but I'm sure even the dogs eating those diets still get worms. Best thing before making any decision on how to feed your dogs is to research, research, research. We certainly don't agree on one method of feeding on this forum but it all comes down to what is best for the dog.

Isn't Farrell's kibble, just a mixer with no actual animal protein in it? From memory I think it's designed to be fed with meat. Coleby suggests feeding a very small amount of meat something like 10% of the diet. Not good for any dog but horrific for puppies. Although her book covers dogs, cats, rabbits and gp's her main expertise is goats. The other supplements in this diet are also too hit and miss for my liking. There are a lot of very good puppy foods on the market that are balanced for the critical growth time of puppies.

Mine too, my older dog got quite ill. She'd managed not to get kc for the first twelve years of her life without vaccinations. The following year I did C5 and no problems. Apparently quite a few dogs react to the intranasal.

Did the vet do any blood tests? This has been going on for quite a while hasn't it?

Good luck at the vet. Hopefully all your pup will need is a change of diet, but it's worthwhile having the bloodwork done in case it's something like kidney disease which can manifest with vomiting in the early stages.

Fish oil is actually 'fish body oil' and Cod Liver oil is from the liver. The CLO is very high in Vitamins A and D which should never be fed in excess. Cod liver oil does have it's uses for dogs and people and is fine to give if you need the vitamin A and D, it doesn't contain much Omega 3 though. A balanced diet shouldn't need the addition of these vitamins. For skin and coat always use fish body oil. Wild salmon is the best if you can get it.

The thigh is no where as lean as the breast. The reason you want low fat is that once the intestines are inflamed fat is usually pro-inflammatory. By the time you trim the maryland and debone it, it's probably not going to be much cheaper anyway. Some butchers sell the breasts at about $7 kg which isn't too bad. Your vet should have told you when to start reintroducing her normal diet.

Like Leopuppy, this year Bob and I have really worked well as a team. And although we always did, it somehow has just come together for both of us. Maybe it was because around the time Bob turned 3 in October, he finally seemed to grow some brains. We've been doing Advanced obedience for a few months and although sometimes we struggle, I figure it's not too bad for a dog and handler that was told by an instructor that the dog would never amount to anything, and would never be trusted off lead, and that I should just accept that. This year has been a great learning experience for me.

Good post Leopuppy. I was there at 10 am as a spectator and the few dogs I saw competing were really struggling with the heat. Apparently there were a lot of scratchings.

It might help to start teaching the 'leave it' at home, inside where there are no distractions. It's going to be hard to teach an enthusiastic dog to leave it out on a walk. Start off, with a 1 second leave, then gradually increase it. It won't happen overnight but it will happen. My Bob is a real foodie, acts like he's never had a square meal in his life. Last week when I let the dog's out, he ran into the yard and picked 'something' up. I told him to leave it from about 10 meters away, and he did. When I retrieved the object it was a peice of cooked bone, obviously dropped by one of our many resident crows. Leave it can be a life saving command.

Is that the book about the guy who lived with a pack of stray dogs when he was a kid, and asserted his place in the pack by taking to the pack leader with a stick?

Check they aren't feeding a lot of treats through the day. Sometimes we forget that all those treats add up and usually taste much better than the usual food.

Yeah, beautiful colours aren't they? They could be quite high in fat too which can cause Mr. Whippy's.

This was my reaction as well. A pup needs to be rewarded very quickly to have any idea what you are rewarding her for. You don't have to pretend to eat the pup's food. On "It's me or the dog' it was done for a specific purpose. That was an extremely dominant dog and not a puppy. If you tell your pup to sit and she sits then reward her straight away by putting down her bowl. Timing is the essence with dog training. Soon you will be able to wait a little longer before putting the bowl down. Is your pup getting plenty of exercise? The biting of your feet sounds more like a game she wants to play rather than dominance. She's just a baby after all. All she wants to do is eat, play and sleep.

When we first got the birds we got a Honeywell Air Purifier rather than one of the little 'domestic' type you can get at Myer/Harvey Norman, to help with the bird dust. I'm don't think it did a lot for smells, but this is an old quite dusty house with a few animals and at that time we were both smokers. The filters were quite expensive, which is why I stopped using it. With any of the portable ones you'd probably need one in each room to get any effect. I also found it to be quite noisy. Now I just do lots of fresh air circulating with fans and open doors/windows, all year round, much to OH's disgust.

I'm glad you've been back to the vet, hope your pup feels better soon. They can get sick so quickly but also bounce back so quickly with treatment.

Puppies have high nutrient requirements due to their rapid growth and need more than chicken mince which is low in zinc, iron and copper and veggies. As Mel suggested a good quality dry puppy food would supply all his requirements he needs during this crutial time. If chicken mince is ground chicken with bone, please don't cook it. Cooked bones even ground up ones become very brittle and sharp, often as you go through the mince you will find some quite largeish shards.

Oh, ok, I wondered why they stopped targeting. We did it in Basic 1, then the Basic 2 instructor said he didn't have a clue what to do with them. I don't care what I teach Bob, anything is good, to keep him on his toes. I love tricks, they are fun. I think I saw your beautiful dog last week in the Open ring... was that you? I highly recommend Croydon too.

That's good to hear. I was just thinking about her last weekend.

They are just a bright yellow bandana at our club. A triangle of material. There are also these 'give me space' vests which I think are a brilliant idea, as often people don't notice the bandanas especially on a longer haired dog. http://www.petsplus.com.au/pet-shop.asp?id=684

Is this because many people are using heartworm preventative, just as vaccines have reduced the incidence of other diseases?

Croydon is positive. Bob and I love it. They do use food, but I have a feeling that they stopped the target sticks recently.