sandgrubber

Training wasn't effective. Watch her. Take her out, or call her out, when she's about to do it. Praise and reward her when she does it outside. It WILL eventually stick. Sometimes you have to persist. Sometimes puppies backslide. Mostly, you'll never know why because it's hard to get inside a dog's head. Forget interpretation. Just plug on with positive reinforcement and you'll get there

I have tried the full barf a couple of times, but I stuff it up by "overfeeding" him I feed a chicken-frame based BARF-type diet to Labs. The trick to weight control, in my book, is a HEAVY meat clever and a good cutting board. Also, not buying raw fatty bones (eg, my local supply of brisket bones is so fatty I can't use them, likewise most of the lamb flaps I've come across). Cut off fatty bits (not hard with chicken frames), and keep cutting the portions down until the dog begins loosing weight. Note that the bum end of the carcass is much fattier than the neck end, so if you've got a Jack Sprat ('could eat no fat, his wife could eat no lean') situation, give the thin one the bum end. Labs vary greatly in requirements. I have one girl who gains weight on one chicken a day; other girls who require one and a half. I also give the dogs coarsely chopped carrots as fill / fibre -- roughly three carrots a day per dog (I buy horse carrots in a 20 kg bag). They love them but don't digest them much (I can always spot the poohs from my dogs by the orange lumps in them).

I've skimmed all the posts and been surprised that no one has mentioned what my vet said was most important . . . getting air to the affected area. I had a lot of trouble with hot spots before I settled on a diet that seems to prevent them. Each time the vet SHAVED the area around the hotspot and gave me something to dry out the affected area. I don't think it matters a whole lot what you use to dry it out, so long as it isn't toxic or painful for the dog. Something that disinfects -- eg, containing chlorohexadine or peroxide -- is also useful. Harsh soaps work too. The last few times I had to cope with hot spots I clipped around the area with scissors (Labrador people don't generally have clippers) and used whatever I had around to dry the area out. Everything seems to work.

I breed labbies. On the size issue, all I can say is 'patience'. 19 kg isn't that light for six months, so I would guess that she's got some bone, which is good. And while I can't condone the breeder putting you off, 6 months is an awful age to evaluate. The imported dog I'm now hoping will come out as a good stud dog started growing rapidly in the bum at that age and his front legs didn't catch up until nine or ten months -- with the result that he looked awful. He's looking pretty good at 10 months. For all I can tell, the jury is out on the food question, apart from 'don't supplement calcium' and 'don't overfeed'. Everyone has opinions and experiences, but they point in many different directions. Big can be worse than small. The most fantastic looking litter I have had (bitch on breeder's contract, the owner feeds a strict BARF diet) filled out beautifully in their first nine months, all large and all well proportioned. Three of them have been hip/elbow scored. One had 3:3 elbows and at two and a half is limping, one had a hip that was so bad that the owner didn't get scoring done (both were castrated), and one had 1:1 hips but 0:2 (2 mm) elbows . . . she does beautifully in the show ring. Their lines have elbow problems (ie, scores of 2 on one side) here and there, but none of the immediate ancestors had problematic. The same bitch was put to a different dog and most of the pups came out slight (fine bone) and some of them short as well. None made it to breeding quality. If I were the breeder, the best way to approach me on this would be to ask for shift to main register so you can show, while offering to sign a Non-Breeding Contract that says you cannot breed for your bitch until such time as the breeder agrees she is of breeding quality. If you do well in shows, the breeder should come around in time and -- if you want to -- agree to let you breed from her. Most of us are proud to have winners out under our prefixes. Others may not agree, but I think it would be better if Limited Register allowed showing up to one year of age . . . that would give everyone a chance to get pups evaluated via the showring, and give breeders a better basis for deciding which pups to promote from Limited to Main.