huski

I used to feed Royal Canine before switching to a raw diet. Some of the range is better than others, the one I have fed Cherry my elderly dog has maize as the first ingredient so I wasn't too impressed and have now changed her over to a better food. Having said that, my dogs did fine on RC and I don't think it's a bad food. The other brands I would look at would be Artemis and Eagle Pack, Artemis is not any more expensive than Royal Canin but IMO is a better quality food. ETA: For example - the Royal Canin I was feeding Cherry (small dog mature) has the following ingredients: The Artemis equivalent:

I have been following this thread, so glad you might have some light at the end of the tunnel Erny - fingers crossed it is all uphill from here

I feed around 3% raw - a little more in winter as they get more excerise. Sorry, I should have put 2-3%... I probably feed my guys a bit less anyway because they have such slow metabolisms! ETA: I just realised I said I feed them more, I meant I feed them less doh!

If you feed a BARF or raw diet, the general guide for an adult dog is to eat 2% of it's body weight each day. Is the mince cooked or raw? Do you feed bones or any extras too?

I would bring her home at eight weeks, I personally would not leave a pup at the breeder when it was in it's most crucial phase of development... there is a lot of socialisation, training, bonding etc that I like to do before the puppy's first fear period. I wouldn't bother with the day care, just leave her at home for the first week and see how she goes. She might surprise you!

As I understand it, the difference between a C3 and a C5 is that the C5 vaccinates against two strains of kennel cough, but because there are so many strains of kennel cough your dog is still at risk of contracting it. Even my vet says that if you don't board your dogs don't bother with it, go the C3 instead. ETA: with titre testing I think it should be around the same price because all the vets do is take the blood and send it to the lab in WA for testing, they don't actually test it themselves therefore there shouldn't be a big difference in price from vet to vet. Could be wrong though

Daisy usually sleeps on my mum's bed, but every so often she will decide to come into my room and sleep on my bed. I have no idea why she changes her routine or what makes her get off mum's bed and come into mine, but it's really cute when I hear her push my door open and wait for me to say 'up you get Daisy'. For some reason she has slept on my bed for the past two nights. She snores and grunts in her sleep

RubyStar - most DOLers I know who get titre testing done price it at around $60. I try not to vaccinate my dogs yearly, I wouldn't if they didn't board fairly regularly. Generally I just vaccinate them when I know we are going away as it is required by law for any dogs who use a boarding kennel (about once a year). Mish went about 18 months without vaccination before I had to board him at the end of last year. Cherry is never boarded so I gave her a C3 last year and that will be it for her now, as she's ten years old. There are over 30 different strains of kennel cough, Micha and Daisy were both vacc'd with a C5 last year and caught KC when they went to the kennels anyway. ETA: You might find this helpful to read: http://www.dogsadversereactions.com/Changi...eProtocols.html

Although now you mention it Laffi, I think someone (Bub off the top of my head) had a thread a while ago about feeding her dog an entire pig's head!! Don't remember if the dog liked it though

Yep me too and the salt content too. Sorry but I don't think raw pork has high salt content. Pork can be fat but it can be lean too, just like beef. You pay more for less fat/better quality pieces. Ah ok, I wasn't sure TBH - you hear so many different things about meat to feed dogs, I've not found good raw meaty pork bones as easily as I have found lamb, chicken, turkey or beef so I've never had to worry about it! I don't feed dried treats like pig ears or snouts either.

Yep me too and the salt content too.

Sorry you had to witness that Warls Hope the poor old dog is ok, as others have said it is so upsetting that he couldn't even be safe in his own yard.

Eukanuba has too much grain in it for my liking and I think there are better dried foods out there, but at the end of the day it is what your dog does best on that counts

I had a thread on fish heads and appropriate fish to feed dogs a few weeks ago. http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?show...=159814&hl= the general consensus is that they are fine. my dogs eat salmon and mackeral at least once a week and I've never had a problem.

Stand is often the hardest command to teach Trish so you've got the trickiest part down It took me ages to do it with Daisy and we're still not 100%, and she'll only do it on a hand signal not voice command.

If you want to feed raw it's largely feeding raw meaty bones anyway, I make up some BARF 'slops' once a month that I freeze in smaller containers and feed the dogs one container worth a week, but that's just to ensure they are getting the right amount of vegies and offal in their diet as they don't eat offal on it's own. I found this website has a great BARF faq: http://www.njboxers.com/faqs.htm

gremlins

Definitely Robbi Dogs are designed to get all the needed nutrients from raw food and cooking it means that the meat loses a lot of those essential nutrients. If you want to feed raw do a search on here for raw feeding or BARF, there is heaps of info around

Hi Jacqui There was a thread on this subject a couple of days in the General forum that you might like to read: http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?showtopic=162343 I love tug of war and often play it with my dogs, just on my terms I don't let them keep the tug toy, but that is because I want to increase their drive for it - I always put it away and only take it out when I want to initiate a tug game.

Encouraging if you do a quick search of this forum you will see that we have many a 'what do you feed' thread! I feed raw to two of my dogs and a combination of raw and Royal Canin to my third. However, I am looking at changing her over to Artemis.

Bobchic, both Erny and Cosmolo are great trainers who live in the Melbourne area so I am sure one of them or one of the other great VIC trainers will drop by to give you some opinions/recommendations From what you have described above it doesn't sound like anything to worry about to me

I would supervise them as they are eating them just to see how they go, I give my dogs a variety of bone sizes but I know they are both chewers and wouldn't swallow small bones whole.

I see turkey most regularly in my local Woolies. They have turkey mince, wings and legs pretty much every time I go in there

I don't see why not as long as they are raw.

I think because they are quite meaty, they don't take too long for them to eat. Daisy ate hers faster than Micha (she's a guts) but it didn't take them long at all. I think like chicken bones turkey bones are pretty soft and easy for them to eat. I saw them at woolies and I couldn't resist!! One turkey leg was a meal each for the day for the poochies. I will definitely buy them again