huski

I haven't read it but from what I can ascertain it sounds like a guide to raw feeding. She's a WA based vet and her website is an interesting read, if I had a vet I knew of like this in Brisbane I would definitely look at changing surgeries! http://www.claremiddle.com/index.htm

:rofl: ;) :rofl: You don't put them in the blender, the dogs need to chew on the bone. Geez. Do you think dogs in the wild had blenders????111?111?1

I don't think there is anything wrong with Pappy asking about the trainer's methods, just to get some other opinions. Yes it is hard to gauge what really happened purely from her description but such is the case when you post on a discussion forum. People ask about a variety of training methods all the time and if they didn't, how else are they supposed to learn?

Liver is OK if eaten with fava beans and a nice drop of chianti thsthsthsths My girls don't like liver. I tried to feed it to Poppy one time and she put it in her mouth and spat it straight out again and gave me a death stare like how dare I give her that horrible food haha I'll have the wine though :hug: Daisy spits it out too! In fact none of the dogs like it. I have to chop it up really finely and hide it in the BARF mix I make to get any offal into them!

Don't get me wrong Paps, I have no problem with aversive methods and some purely positive trainers can annoy me a bit as they can have a limited view when it comes to training, and with some of the PPT I have worked with, a holier than thou approach with the methods they use. But I think that it is important to find a club you are comfortable with - although the trainer in this class may not reflect the entire club, there could be trainers there that have a more 'balanced' view when it comes to training. I have no problem with checks chains etc but it is all about balance and using them when it is appropriate.

I tend to agree with others, pain like that has no place in a basic dog training class! Teaching heel is not difficult for an experienced handler and I never correct my dogs as a way of teaching them something - that's not fair to the dog. My dogs get a correction for failing to comply with a known command not a command they haven't learned. I wouldn't be comfortable with someone handling my dog like that and it is not something I would ever allow.

It is hard to comment without seeing it myself, but I wouldn't be comfortable with a trainer using my dog with methods I don't agree with. What was the owner's opinion/reaction? The obedience school I went to had the trainers using their own dogs for demos and on occasion they would get a person from the class to do a demo with their dog.

You're very knowledgeable about what DOL forum users are like for a newbie. Perhaps you should have a better read of the forum before jumping to conclusions about members and coming in here like you know everything? A quick read of the last couple of pages here in the Health forum would show that there are many people here who feed a BARF diet. My dogs are on a BARF diet and eat bones every day. One lamb neck a week is not enough bone IMO.

Hi Blackdog I'm not sure where you are located but have you considered having a session or two with a qualified trainer, to help you do some focus work with you dog? ETA: When it comes to visitors I taught the dogs to sit before they get a pat, and everyone is told to ignore them and withhold any attention whatsoever until their butts are sitting calmly on the ground!

I agree with Erny and Kavik! The haltis are just a tool like any other, they will not teach your dog to walk on a loose leash. I am not a fan of the halti for a variety of reasons, and like many tools if you are determined to use one you should have a qualified trainer or someone with experience show you how to use it properly. In most cases haltis are a bandaid and once you take them off the dog reverts back to pulling - it hasn't actually learnt anything.

Yep this is all I've done, worked to make sure the dogs learn that food is a resource I control. I let them eat in peace, too. I have never used the technique of taking food from them each meal time or generally harassing them, and my dogs have no problem relinquishing food to me. I have also heard of the technique where if the dog has something, you say 'give' and 'trade' what they have with a more high value treat.

Generally supermarket brands are not that crash hot - you can buy super premium food from pet stores or supply places or online. Supermarket brands tend to have a fairly high grain content as do some of the more expensive brands like Science Diet (which is ok but very expensive for what it is, I wouldn't feed it). It would be worthwhile to have a read of some of the dried food threads in the Health forum, but some of the super premium brands include: - Eagle Pack/Eagle pack Holistic - Artemis - Royal Canin - Nutrience - Advance There are heaps out there! You could also look into a BARF or raw diet. This is a great website that has a few of the above mentioned brands and does $5 delivery to a few cities: http://www.pookinuk.com.au/dog-special.asp

Daisy would do this when she was a pup (and sometimes she still does if she has to be confined when she really, really doesn't want to be ). Sometimes it is separation anxiety and sometimes they are just being whingers - Daisy never had SA, she just wanted out and was whinging to get her own way. She wasn't distressed at all. Definitely try leaving him for shorter periods and work your way up, I also found leaving her a bone to chew on and simply saying "bye bye" with absolutely no fuss helped too.. it made me leaving a positive experience and gave her something to occupy her.

The comments about Artemis have been really interesting, I have seriously been thinking of changing Cherry over onto it from Royal Canin. I just realised her small breed senior mix is very different in ingredients to the normal adult range (that I have fed previously) and the first ingredient is maize... so I am looking for something else to feed her.

You're welcome The bones are a really important part of their diet, of the 80% breakdown you feed equal amounts of raw meat and bone... so I make sure I give them bones that they can easily eat (like chicken and lamb bones). I don't feed brisket bones as part of their diet, they might get some every now and then to have a chew on and I always take away the left over bones once they are finished (but that is only cos I have three dogs and don't want lots of bone pieces lying around). Hope that makes sense

Hmmm not sure about a top ten things, but more so about getting the balance right. I feed 80% raw meaty bones, and 20% offal, vegies, fruit etc. For RMBs we feed a variety of chicken wings/necks/frames, lamb necks/shanks/flaps/forequarters, turkey necks and wings, basically whatever looks good that we can get our hands on! I also do a BARF mix of low grade human quality beef mince (not pet mince), with lots of raw vegies and fruit grated in as well as yoghurt, sardines and offal and the dogs get that a few times a week. This website has a great BARF FAQ http://www.njboxers.com/faqs.htm

IMO there are a lot better food out there than Eukanuba, and I have always found Euk to be very pricey for what it was. When I was feeding dried, a bag of adult Royal Canin would be around $100 for 15kg and I wouldn't need to feed as much because it had less grain content than other foods we tried. We got the free bag after 10 bags too. Now I feed a raw diet, it is cheaper again. I put a few tins of sardines in the BARF mix I make up but the dogs also get a meal of fish once a week, either a tin or sardines or mackeral. They love it!

I would feed the beef mince over any canned food, and like Laffi suggested, I would feed something other than Science Diet - Artemis or Royal Canin would be my pick! What kind of puppy are you getting? We need to have puppy pics!

I had lots of success with the change of direction technique too! I also found teaching 'look' really useful.

Yep I agree, Hills has a pretty large grain content and isn't the most appetising of dried foods - maybe try something like Royal Canin, Eagle Pack, Artemis etc?

Deelee, I don't think there is anything unreasonable about wanting to see how you can better manage her or improve her behaviour around other dogs! You obviously want to do what is best for her and it sounds like you have put a lot of work into her already, and are willing to continue to do so, I think that's wonderful! There are many people out there that put difficult dogs in the too hard basket, you should be proud of yourself for positive changes you've made to her behaviour so far

When I fed dried I would feed (for eg) dried in the morning and then bones at night - I can't quite remember the amount I fed them as pups but it was pretty 50/50... one meal dried and then the next meal, RMBs, or mince and yoghurt, or a can of sardines or mackeral etc.

When on a BARF diet, an adult dog will eat 2-3% of its body weight per day but a puppy should be eating around 8%. The break down when feeding BARF is 80% raw meat and bones, within that 80% you want to feed equal amounts of bone and meat. The other 20% is made up of raw vegies, fruit, offal etc. This is a great FAQ about BARF: http://www.njboxers.com/faqs.htm If you were feeding the dried food as well as raw meaty bones, I would personally feed one meal RMBs, one meal dried etc. I don't feed dried and raw in the same meal.

I feed the biggest meal in the morning and then the dogs have a smaller meal (even if it is just a couple of chicken wings each) at night time.

Hey, a lappy will be my next dog too I don't think they will be the easiest dog to train (they are still a spitz) but certainly a more biddable dog then I am used to We were able to get Daisy as a pup with Micha, as he is fine once he knows a dog We had them separated unless supervised for 6 weeks and now they are best buddies!