sandgrubber

I'm interested in this response too Ignorance of the region. I can't remember seeing an American bulldog in the 15 years I lived in Perth metro. Saw many many boxer crosses. I never lived in the east.

My dogs always wear flat leather collars, which are looser than the tick collar and lie over it. So collar chewing hits the leather. As for eating the trimmed ends, it's not hard to dispose of them in a way that makes this impossible. My dogs don't seem to find them attractive anyway. We have mostly lone star ticks here. It's quite possible that they are more responsive than your paralysis ticks. . . .and possible that ticks in Australia have developed resistance to various toxins due to widespread use of livestock drenches. Mine get in water daily, but for the most part it's in swamp and their necks usually stay dry.

Mine m(Labs) love eye contact, but not in all contexts. It has to be 'soft'. They are uncomfortable with staring and don't like it from strangers when body language is not friendly.

The level of danger to your dog may be different for different baits. Probably a good idea to get familiar with the most common ones and learn to spot their symptoms. I think it's pretty rare for dogs to suffer from relay poisoning (the technical name for getting poisoned by eating a poisoned animal), but better to be informed and know what symptoms to look for. Worth asking the neighbors if they are poisoning, and if so, with what. http://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/poison/mouse-and-rat-poison/ "There are four common active ingredients in mouse and rat poisons: long-acting anticoagulants, cholecalciferol, bromethalin, and phosphide rodenticides. Each has a totally different mechanism of action of poisoning, and not all are treated with Vitamin K1! It’s important to make sure you and your veterinarian have identified the appropriate active ingredient of the mouse and rat poison to make sure treatment is appropriate."

Thanks for replies. Wundahoo, what's the best way to take a dog's pulse? a pram for a 32 kg Lab may be out of my pushing capacity . . . if I could find one. Maybe I can rig a buggy and let the pup pull. By the time the old girl starts loosing it, she should be hitting full strength. She's inclined to pull even now with a flat collar. Give her another year and a harness, I expect she'll be fit to work like a husky.

I'd guess boxer X something, maybe staffie mix or AmStaff. Given the location, American bulldog seems exotic. Personally, I miss the old days when dogs were allowed to wander. But there has to be some way to deal with the small fraction of dogs who attack people or other animals.. . .or, rather, with their owners.

I've graduated from walking to granny-style running my dogs. Or do they call it jogging? I have three Labs, aged 9 mo, 4 yr 3 mo, and 9 yr 8 mo. I do about three miles a day. The dogs rarely get out of a trot and we stop a few times each mile. My concern is with the old girl. She's ok now, and I think the exercise probably does more good than harm. But I know how good dogs are at hiding their pain and how much they HATE being left out. What do I look for to decide when it's time to reduce her exercise? p.s. Yes, I know many of you think younger dogs shouldn't run that much, but I've exercised all my pups and have consistently ended out with excellent hips and elbows. The only high score I've gotten was from a pup that I had a friend raise . . . and she didn't exercise heavily. One of my vets told me that gradually increasing exercise that doesn't involve shocks was generally good . . . develop muscle along with bone. I've worked on that supposition and it's proven good.

I like to think this forum is about people being allowed to express concern about tje sharing of ideas that float around the internet but that have no proven history for working here, not elsewhere. Had you not decided to treat my concern with a somewhat patronising *sigh*, I'd not have responded further. If someone is deciding whether or not to use RG oil in one drop on a dog's collar because its way cheaper than Advantix, has "no adverse side effects" and is "natural", I think it only fair that they be given a word of caution about its lack of proven track record, don't you? That caution seems to be distiling into "caution, may not work". I'd say people should know that. They should also know that the impact of using RG oil in combination with other tick preventatives seems to be an unknown. I think that's important. But that's it from me. Far be it for me to rain on the parade of anyone advocating an idea for fear that dogs might suffer as result. My bad. I personally hate the idea of dousing your dogs in insecticide to keep them safe but you have to weight up the consequences of NOT doing it before you stop. Or to say it simply, If you don't like the heat, stay out of the kitchen!

As I read it, they weren't to capacity with the 30 day limit, so going to the 10 day limit means 1/3 as many dogs, hence 1/3 as much revenue. This would be the equivalent, in a boarding kennel, of decreasing your number of boarders to 1/3 the number. Having run a kennel, I know this would greatly increase costs per dog, especially if you were paying for full time staff that you couldn't just lay off and you had to pay financing costs on the property and facilities.

I suspect you could do as well by taking a normal dog crate, preferably with a low roof, and throwing a pile of doonas over it. Alt., bend a piece of weldwire mesh. Advantage: uses stuff you've already got and relatively easy to clean. The beauty of those is that there is no mesh/steel/straight hard walls ;) I am presuming that when a dog curves/stretches that a surface which moulds and moves is more comfortable than mesh ;) I make my own "dog rolls" from foam bed toppers ..rolled into a cylinder , and filled with bedding :) True, but as someone with a foot ailment that hurts badly when anything presses down on it -- usually covers or a dog resting its head -- I think an ailing dog might be better off with a 'cave' than with heavy covering. Nature has long had canines in dens.

I understand why, in the short term, they need to increase daily fees to cover costs, given that fixed costs dominate their budget and the 10 day period will bring in less revenue than the 30 day period. However, as I understand it, they have closed some facilities, which should bring down fixed costs (and effectively increase costs by a large amount for WA customers, who will now have to operate through the east coast). Without seeing their budget, it's hard to comment much further. I would be surprised if there weren't ways that they could bring the daily service cost down from $149 without effecting the quality of service.

Unfortunately,'stakeholders' with the biggest financial stake are the most likely to make it into the meetings where the real decision making takes place.

I've moved from Oz to Florida. We have scads of ticks here, fortunately not paralysis ticks, but lyme disease and a few other diseases show up occasionally. I was getting two ro three ticks a day each on my three dogs (Labradors). Then I tried a tick collar tried Preventic, active ingredient is amatraz. I have found only one tick in the last four months, and I haven't changed the collars yet. Pretty amazing cause they're only supposed to be good for two months. I know the buggers are still out there, cause I find them on myself every now and then. I've never heard this particular drug discussed on DOL. Given what a horrible problem paralysis ticks are, thought some of you might want to try it. It is available in Oz, and not that expensive. eg., http://www.vetshopaustralia.com.au/preventic-tick-collar-C99.aspx

I suspect you could do as well by taking a normal dog crate, preferably with a low roof, and throwing a pile of doonas over it. Alt., bend a piece of weldwire mesh. Advantage: uses stuff you've already got and relatively easy to clean.

Why call it breed specific legislation if it isn't even breed specific? 'Prejudice against certain looks' legislation would be more apt.

My vet -- one of them anyway -- told me not to worry too much about adults with the runs so long as they were looking bright and acting normal. Another remedy is pumpkin, canned or cooked fresh. There are lots of remedies and most of them work most of the time cause such problems tend to pass on their own. I don't bother fasting the dogs unless it is really bad.

Mars mostly markets confections, which wouldn't go very well in dog food. USDA and FDA both regulate pet food manufacture. They probably go pretty light on inspections, but I don't think recycling unsold human food would survive as a regular practice.

.No need to apologize. Sometimes some of us are quarrelsome, and there are a lot of people who, for good reason, are defensive about breeder bashing. The forum has had its share of trolls, and they are annoying. One factor I haven't heard anyone raise is the buyer's contract. If the breeder offered a guarantee on the pup's health to a certain age, that prevails. If not, some breeders will still accept responsibility even though they don't have to. For example, someone once bought a pup from me who developed late onset deafness, a condition rare in Labradors, but a similar condition did appear in a couple other pups with the same sire (I don't own the sire). Not clear when the condition developed. The pup may have been deaf for many months before it was diagnosed at two years. I gave them another dog, one I was going to rehome, to serve as a 'hearing ear' companion for the deaf dog;This was purely voluntary; it worked out well and I felt good about it. They were very good owners, and I was glad to be able to help them.

Not if it's an iPad . Sorry. Couldn't resist. <div>I think the general pharma rule is you can split tablets that have a score mark dividing them in half on one side.</div>

Market power tests aren't likely to be a problem with the acquisition leaving Mars a distant #2 to Nestles.

totally agree. Large fines for repeat offenders. Slap on the wrist may be appropriate for first offenders. Sometimes it takes a first offense to diagnose a fencing problem. Eg, it may be a surprise when you discover your puppy can dig UNDER the expensive fence you put up.

Sprocket, a rescue I had in the 80s, was big on doing jaw exercises with tennis balls, leaving them well coated with slime. Depositing a slime ball in a guest's lap was bad enough. Once she deposited one right into a friend's G&T. o,k. more funny than embarrassing if you have that sort of sense of humor.

Pull lovely smelling things out of the bathroom trash.

My dogs, and almost all the Labradors I've met, are obsessed with food, but paradoxically, not the least inclined to resource guarding. I don't regularly take their food off them, but I do periodically need to take something out of their mouths -- they pick up all sorts of crap, and a lot of it is literally crap, on their walks -- and sometimes I need to take it away from them -- like if it's a cooked bone. I get zero resistance, even if I put my fingers down the throat a bit. [A few weeks ago I went to remove something and it was well fermented cat poo, which I got all over myself and the smell was hard to wash out]. Point being, I suspect resource guarding is pretty rare in some breeds and if you're sensible with management of food, you won't have problems.

Given Mars is historically a candy manufacturers, I wouldn't expect attention to nutritional value, as opposed to the bottom line. Look for more product differentiation with price elevation for those who are willing to pay, as in the expensive breed-specifics from Royal Canin.