ellz

If she is particularly prone to constipation on a canned food, I'd be wary of giving her too much bone content in her diet as that tends to bind them up as well.

If she were a skinkid I'd suggest using ice cubes in small sections to freeze the ice solid so that it can be cracked off easily without leaving too much residue (like putting a tablecloth in the freezer to get wax off it without leaving a mark). Failing that, maybe you could disolve it with a hot bath? Hmmm...dunno....what a dilemma. Hope she's ok and doesn't suffer too many ill effects. Oh and for the areas that might be scalded, maybe some sorbolene + vit E cream, or some aloe vera could be the go?

You could try increasing her fluid intake. That would be my first point of call for constipation. She may be eating the grass because of the water content so it could be related in that respect. If she won't drink willingly, try adding some brown sugar to the water or give her some weak chicken broth or chicken noodle soup but go easy on the salt which can create more problems in itself.

It's not unusual. My now deceased red boy was the same. And if a car happened to backfire near him, he'd fair on poo himself! Think about it from their point of view. They don't know what cars are. They are a lot smaller than a car and cars are very noisy for sensitive ears.

If he is happy to settle in your room and you don't mind him being there, then let him. He has come from a litter with brothers and sisters and a mother with him all the time into a new environment. He will feel insecure and look to you, his new family, for comfort. You aren't giving in to him provided you still set the boundaries and stick to them.

Dunno about that. It's pretty hectic at my place so it's probably only a matter of time! School hols are on us once again. So far I've already had to referee about 8 fights. *sigh*

Why ever not? And besides....the OP states in her first post that they went with a toy breed.

Yes, but in general, the OP gives a lot of information in her first thread. Certainly enough to see that it is a SWF of some description and therefore you'd be recommending toys that are suitable for toy breeds. And surely it is ok to ASK the breed and not get all silly and start suggesting the next great conspiracy and insinuating dishonesty and problems just because the OP hasn't been back to answer?

Ask by all means, but don't jump down their throats en masse and start getting all paranoid and accusing if they don't answer.

Why else would you post????? Tell me you're being sarcastic please!! You would post to ask advice, which is exactly what the OP did. She didn't ask for the third degree about what breed the puppy is, which isn't essentially anybody elses business except hers in reality anyway.

Sheesh, why is everybody so hung up on the breed? Does it matter in the long run? What IS it with DOL lately?

Hey guys, ease up. Pointless jumping down the neck of the OP now, the deed is done, rightly or wrongly. Now the best thing we can do is to help to make the whole thing easier for the OP and thereby make life easier and better for the puppy.

Unfortunately elongated soft palate is more common in Staffords than most people believe (or admit to). If your bitch is as severe as it sounds, then I certainly wouldn't be breeding from her. IMO jury is out as to whether it is genetic, but I personally feel it could almost certainly be considered a man made issue with the favour towards shortening muzzle length and increasing head size.

Some years ago, my the 17 week old Staffordshire Bull Terrier puppy shattered his elbow in a freak accident. At the time, the options given to me were surgery or......(insert the "or" yourself). He had the surgery and sailed through it. Pins, plates and screws were inserted. He was on crate only restrictions for 8 weeks and then gradual exercise after that. Once the fracture had healed, the option was given to either leave the hardware intact or remove it. I opted to leave it there for further support for growing (rapidly) bones. I never regretted the surgery and he made a complete recovery afterwards. In fact, his recovery was so complete that only those who knew the hardware were there could detect it. You could barely see the scars and his movement was as good as it had been previously. At the age of 10 months, he made his show debut and won a Specialty Best In Show from the Puppy Class under a South African Breed Specialist who was astounded when told what the dog had been through to make it that far. I'm so sorry that the accident happened, but trust in your vets and let them help you to make the right decisions for your girl. But above all don't beat yourself up because it could have happened anywhere, whether you were with her or not.

I gave up on them and went to The Barf Shop who provided EXCELLENT service.

Of the two, I prefer Doggyman. I like the way they work and they are also kinder on the hand/arm. However I've recently received a slicker from a friend who owns this business. It's great. Very much like a doggyman but feels a lot lighter in the hand IMO. Also comes with a dinky little comb to clean the hair out of the brush.

Because it can. Nobody knows exactly why they do it. Perhaps it is a throwback to dogs in the wild who may have cleaned up after themselves to remove their trail to make it harder for predators to find them. Perhaps it is a cleaning regime when they don't think their environment is clean enough. It is even suggested from time to time that it is a lack of certain vitamins and minerals. About all you can do is pick up as regularly as you can and don't let it lick your face unless you can close your mind to where its mouth has been! :D

Used to use it many years ago when working at a large breeding kennel in NSW. Didn't do those dogs any harm that's for sure. We used to go through a lot of it though so I'm not sure how cost effective it would be. It was originally created as a dehydrated food for the dogs in Antarctica because the bags used to take up less room and not go rancid as quickly as "normal" dry food.

I wish I could ST, but mine is so old the name has worn off it and I've not seen another like it in any of the shops. It was a Turbo Dryer of some kind. Has a button on it that you can push to cool the airflow down as well.

Have you thought about a Groomers arm? Groomers sells them, not too dear either. Had one, hated it, sold it on.

Yep, I've got a ripper hand dryer that I take to shows. Have in the past done a show bath on an American Cocker at a country show and dried the complete dog with it too. Just need to grow a third hand or have somebody else hold it so that you can brush at the same time. I like Plush Puppy pin brushes and Porcupine brushes for drying. A soft slicker is useful too but used incorrectly can cause a lot of pain to the dog.

I've typed and deleted and typed and deleted so I'll just come out and say what I'm thinking and hope you take it the right way. It's all in the approach. If you emailed the breeder in the same manner as your original post, then they are probably taking it as an accusation and are perhaps a bit reluctant to resume correspondence with you. I don't mean this in a nasty way, but quite often people attack without meaning to, or in this case, without being aware of the facts (ie that roundworm is not an unusual thing) and it can be taken in a myriad of ways. I can't speak for the breeder because obviously, I'm not in their head and I have no idea what you said to them in your emails, but I speak as A breeder when I reply. The old saying "you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar" rings true and there are definitely ways to approach such a subject which would usually get more results.

I used to use the coffee table too but when dogs with tails came along, the coffee tables disappeared from the living area because we had too many coffee cup casualties. Isn't unheard of to see me sitting on the floor in front of the TV with an American Cocker laying on its side in front of me. But again, they knew that if I wanted them to lay down, it was brush time and time to lay still because they had already been taught that on the table from the first time they were groomed. Most just go to sleep. The most important thing with anything is to start as you mean to continue.

Well, many here won't agree with what I feed because I feed Great Barko or Uncle Albers which are manufactured by the Laucke Mills in South Australia. Others here recommend premium dry foods but I find that my crew do just fine on the aforementioned. I add fresh, raw meat to it. My pet mince comes from a butcher who is also a dog breeder and it is just the best stuff. Coarsely minced with plenty of chicken bone and skin in it as well as the usual beef, lamb and a small amount of pork. I also feed table scraps and vegetables and rice or pasta (and sometimes barley if I'm cooking it for my horses), depending upon what is going at the time. Not as rigid as BARF, but my dogs are well-covered, happy and healthy. I also feed raw bones at least once per week and add chicken frames, necks or wings for calcium and crunch. For a 9 month old puppy, I'd recommend at least 3 meals per day.

Question to your game plan, what happens if he doesn't eat after a day or 2 maybe more and the food goes stale, do you still feed it the same thing or throw it out? After you throw it out is it a new fresh serving of the same thing, and what happens if you go through it again? If it is dry food, it won't go stale if you are storing it properly. If it were a mixture of dry and wet, even if he WERE eating some of it, you'd be throwing out the leftovers anyway after a day or so so therefore it really is a moot point. No HEALTHY dog will WILLINGLY choose to starve. Believe me, after 22 years of breeding dogs, it has been my experience that even the fussiest eaters will start to eat when they get hungry enough. And also, the OP has already stated that the puppy will eat the dry food if he gets hungry enough. It could just be that the OP is putting more down than the puppy requires in one meal, provided they are feeding him more than one meal per day. They could also be confusing him by offering too much choice. Dogs have very simple tastebuds. The wonderful range of flavours and seasonings that are offered in dog foods are more to please OUR sensibilities, the dogs truly don't care. They're more into smell and texture. Why else would they knock back an expensive, lovingly chosen plate of designer doggy food in preference for a munch on roadkill or something just as toxic (to us)?