noisymina

I guess that made your day, Kirislin. How did you keep a straight face while she told you all this? Well my Poodle never grew that big. :D

"Pick it up" is enough. They can work out the next bit! :D If you are on the ball, you can stand by the door, and stop them from going out without the bone. Just as I used to stand by the door and stop her coming IN without her toy. That is how she learned "pick it up". :D

I'll bet the birds are enjoying the game too. Anything you can think of to deter the birds might help.

"Getting in touch with Your Dog" Linda Tellington-Jones http://www.amazon.com/Getting-TTouch-Your-...r/dp/1570762066 Cost of book, whatever it is now - $25-$30 maybe? Do it yourself. Good as Gold from Produce stores or on line eg Vet-N-Pet Direct $8-$9 for a sachet. Several doses for dog. One for horse. :D Aiden, I think recommended this a while ago. Add Brewer's Yeast and VitC (I use Calcium Ascorbate powder) About 1/2 to3/4 of a teaspoon of the first two, a bit kess of the C for my Dobe over a few days and she calmed well. I still am giving her the latter two. The B vits being good for the nervous system and the C might be helping the arthritis anyway.

"Getting in Touch with Your Dog" Linda Tellington Jones Trafalga Square Publishing Here: http://www.amazon.com/Getting-TTouch-Your-...r/dp/1570762066 Although I got abookstore to get it in for me ages ago. MM ...I've found the "pick it up" command very useful. .

You can get a book on T-touch - which is all I used. I recommend it. And yes, my OTT crazy Dobe is chilled out now. IMO There is a difference between hyperactivity and anxiety. Although, no doubt, they could both be there. Only you can tell I guess. It was only in the last few months that she displayed anxiety. The vet could not find a reason, so I tried the Good as Gold (plus Brewer's yeast and Calcium Ascorbate) and that certainly helped calm her. She was doing a lot of wandering around and whining. I still don't know why, but it only took a few doses and she's been fine ever since. But even so, the vet commented on how relaxed she was before that. Diet could be a factor too. When I got Kaisie I received no information on what she'd been fed. In answer to my question, all I got was "dog food". So, I guess I fed her differently. And soon after I got her I found DOL and Barf etc. It's not alwaysy been totally natural/raw, but predominently so.

Yes. I've never really had the skill/knowledge or even the need to try to push her. If something clearly puts her out of her comfort zone, I just ignore. Often it is not important. Some of it she has grown out of just through de-sensitisation. The vacuum cleaner, hose and broom monsters have been tamed! She will now stand voluntarily and let me run the hose on her full bore - and she actually likes it! Her first few baths took two people and a packet of treats. As for teenage males, I wouldn't want to be one of them meeting her on a dark night. She has a distinct dislike of them. A male thing also - but only young ones. Some of them she will eventually warm up to - others don't have a chance. That has not changed. T-Touch is a small miracle for dogs like that.

So cute. :p Our two are getting on quite well. Cat does have a half-hearted attempt to ambush the dog every so often. Dog just ignores it.

Yeh. I have not been able to train her in a lot of things doggy as she seems very timid and unsure and runs off when i ask her to do a lot of things. A legacy of her past, I'm sure. But the little eveyday things she picks up. I've got her waiting at doors and gates for the go-ahead, and "targeting" eg she's got used to nudging a door open if it's part closed - instead of standing and complaining to get me to do it! DH has trained her to "ask" before she opens the screen door to come inside. She would have been awesome if some bugger had not put the fear of doG into her at some point during her first 4 years.

Thank you. Yes, we are still here to report that it was quite safe to eat. Just not inside on the dog mat.

Geez Troy's keen for cooking isn't he? :)

Last night my 23 year old son and I were alone for dinner. He had brought home some take-away roast chicken. Being a very hungry chap, he'd bought an entire family pack for the two of us. Yeh - the extra goes in the fridge for later. They gave us a heap of roast potatoes - so as a treat, I'd taken one over and gave it to Kaisie, lying on her mat inside. She was a bit fussy about eating it, even after I gave her the mandatory "OK" to eat. I figured she was not used to eating inside and on her bed, so I got up, opened the door and said to her: "OK. pick it up." At which, she picked up the potato, got up, waltzed outside with it and proceded to eat it out there. My son is sitting there looking astonished at my training ability and the dogs intelligence. ;) Makes me feel like I must be better than I thought. ;)

Dunno. Mine does that a bit. Specially after a good drink. It does not seem to have increased over the years. Has done the odd chuck (as dogs do). She's still with us.

Now I guess they will all go to the Post Office in one hit. Poor Post Office. ;) ;) and then we will all be comparing arrival times and harrassing Aust Post for tardy deliveries. Poor Aus Post. .

I've never seen any recommendations for adding salt to a dog's diet. And I've seen a lot of recommendations in the last 6 years here. Edit to say 6 years, not 5. LOL

You could develop your own meatloaf recipe ..... human grade mince, carrot, egg etc - similar to barf, but without the bone. Give raw bones as a separte meal - eg a chicken neck or two for dinner.

:rolleyes: One fat dog coming up!

That is good to hear. Let's hope it is over with now. :rolleyes:

I just Googled and Good Manners is Tryptophan based too. Good as Gold comes in small sachets about $8 or $9 dolars - it's a single dose for ahorse but many for a dog. Good Manners may too...I don't know. Produce stores often stok it. Mine was slack and were out of stock when I asked for it, so got it on line. Sounds like either would be worth trying.

I used Good as Gold briefly with Kaisie as she was being very "anxious". It's an L-tryptophan based horse supplement. Very economical for a dog. And it calmed her within a few days. Vet-N-Pet Direct stock it on line.

Maybe try some of the Stay Calm or Good as Gold (with some brewers yeast and Calcium Ascorbate) to chill him out a bit. AND crate/put in sleep out. eta ..slow typist here.

Probiotics. eta .............but it will take more than 24 hours.

Yep. Too much food for the amount of work. Have you considered moving to a partly (or fully) "natural" diet?

My Dobe was on yearly heratworm when I got her. We continued with that. and every year she was given the hertworm along with the vaccinations. No apparent traumatic side effects for her. Luckily. But I was always a bit concerned/uncomfortable with hittting her with all that stuff at once and woudl never do it again. For the last couple of years, she's had no vaccinations and monthly heartwom administered every SIX weeks. There is quite a lot of information around to support the contention that every six weeks is sufficient. She is an older dog and I have yet to have a discussion with my vet on that one. I did not know about titre testing until recently, so if I were to get a new dog, I'd be looking at minimising the chemical/vaccination load as much as possible. And it seems we have some options as to how that can be done.

I always hose Kaisie's mouth if she's been toading. She's sort of trained to stand and let me do it now. The trick is to hose across or slighltly forward towards the front of the mouth, so that one is not forcing water back down the throat. When we get our act together and the hose at the right speed, I hose and she spits it out as we go. We make a good team. It does tend to serve as aversion therapy as she doesn't like me doing it.