MissMonaro

I have heard that parvo is a bit rampant down in SA at the moment. I do hope they find out what is wrong with your little baby. Best wishes.

Thanks for that. :rolleyes:

Laura - would this be the D-Bay library ? (if they have one)

It was recommended to me for my chocky lab. I was told it well help to deepen the colour. Slack arse me just hasnt got around to getting any and actually trying it. (I knew horses had it, but didnt know about dogs till someone told me)

Just to add........at my club all heeling is done on lead. As you graduate and learn stuff.....eventually you can drop the lead on the stay commands (but this is only allowed when the dog is stable). When the dog is stable and not likely to take the bolt etc...we use a "cheat lead". Its a light weighted piece of cord attached to a piece of conduit (so if the dog does run for any reason you wont get rope burn). Anyway as its lighter than a lead, the dog thinks its offlead but you can still correct if need be. One you get to the top class then we do exercises of group off lead heeling and group recall exercises etc. Problem being is that when you are doing offlead heeling your dog needs to be focused otherwise you'll turn a corner and your dog will be off with the pixies. Plus I wouldnt be doing offlead for dogs that are unstable as you have no way to correct the dog and put it in the right place if you dont have the leash attached. Just IMO anyway.

*double post*

Well just to throw a spanner in the works........when we do heel work at obedience when your dog is in the heel position the lead should be loose.......many ppl starting out with heel have the lead tight to keep the dog in position (this is wrong), but the object is the dog should be in the heel position at all times without the lead being pulled tight - hence "loose lead".

When one of our pups had trouble pooping and it was starting to cause concern so I rang an a/hours vet and they said a tablespoon of olive oil. So we gave her that. Vet said if nothing in an hour - give another and then if nothing then we would have to see the vet. She pooped just on the hour. One releived pup - very relieved people.

Hmmm interesting topic !! My dogs eat everything !! I had some leftover salad in the fridge from dinner the other night...it included lettuce, tomato, cheese, onion, cucumber, celery and a tray of squishy strawberries I dug out of the back of the shelf too. The dogs got the lot and they ate it all too. (well they are labs ) There wasnt much onion so I didnt stress about that...but didnt know not to give them tomatoes.

Dont be fooled by the things that you cannot see !! I know of a bitch that has what is classed as moderate hip dysplasia. She shows no signs at all. Runs, jumps, swims, everything. To the naked eye you would not even know. I have seen the x-rays and that shows a whole different picture. BTW...you cannot have the pup hip and elbow scored as it is too young. The parents need to be done. This costs upwards of $250 and more.

I have five dogs here to feed (not including puppies)....thats the times my food bill goes up - increasing bitches intake or fussy dietary needs and then food etc for puppies. But as a rule - Bag of Bonnie Complete $32 (last 2 weeks) Eggs - cost NIL - have own chickens Table scraps - cost NIL (they'd be thrown in the bin anyway) Bones $4 a week (1 dog has no teeth so cant eat bones) Box of Bonios for treats $16 - they last a month - sometimes more, sometimes less Dog rolls for old dog and pet mince bought as well. I'd say it costs me about $25 a week to feed all 5 dogs.

13.09.05 to 15.09.05 To our little chocolate baby boy - RIP Cadbury - you were not here long but you stole our hearts in that short time. We loved you dearly and are certain that you have gone to a better place now. Your memory will be with us forever. :D :D

As we have our own chickens we always have lots of eggs...my dogs love them. I break them over their biscuits and find they eat the egg first, then the biscuits and finally the shell. My pregnant girl though wont touch the shells at all at the moment. She wont eat dog biscuits either. I used to save them and feed them as scraps to the chickens. Because we used to breed birds many moons ago, egg shells were also good for them for the calcium which helps to harden the egg shells they produce as well.

ML - yes what you have said is true. They do underestimate their size when around small children. Not intentional but they do get excited and especially young children topple easily. I let people know that they dig and they chew - they are also incredibly lovable and loyal as well. But as others have said, depends on your situation. And I for one hate the old assumption "but labs are fat, lazy dogs". ;) Definately not true at all !! A fat dog is a lazy dog - but people make their dog fat !!

Hahaha..I'm not so sure the horse probably didnt help them share it. The dog food is kept under the pergola but she obviously decided she would come in there and hang out with the dogs for awhile. She managed to stand on one of their dog bowls and bent it. Then I noticed other things that had been put up out of the dogs reach suddenly were all around the yard. We have now put a temp fence up to keep her out of the pergola and moved the dog food inside. I remember 12 years ago we had a shetland pony and one night there was a ruckus out on the front patio of the acreage rental house we were in, and the pony had come up the front stairs to eat the dog food. He would eat anything !!

I no longer buy it so I couldnt tell you the price. I do know a bag of Supercoat puppy just cost me $33.00. Bonnie puppy does them up until they are 12 months of age, so yes you could feed it to both of your dogs. I don't see why you can't feed it to your dogs as well as the BARF diet. I don't feed BARF at all.....well not as such. My dogs gets all table scraps and leftovers out of the fridge as well as bones to chew on, so I guess in some ways thats a kind of BARF. But as I have labradors they are closely monitored for any weight gains. Except the other night....the dam horse knocked the dogs feed bucket over - would of had about 5 kg of dog food in it....not anymore. A couple of fat doggies that night that didnt get any food.

Bonnie headstart is no longer available as they replaced it with the Bonnie puppy. I get all my dog food from my local produce store as its cheaper than any of the pet food stores. But I also find some pet shops also stock it. The big chains only seem to stock the dearer dog food.....I guess they make more money on it.

I feed my dogs on Bonnie Complete and the pups on Supercoat Puppy. I did prefer Bonnie headstart, but they replaced that with Bonnie Puppy but I didnt like that as much. I do not like Eukanaba or Hills Science Diet as I think they are way too overpriced. I just know some people that have used those brands and the dogs have skin allergies and bowel problems and all sorts of things going on. My old crossbred dog who is approaching 15 and apart from the signs of old age has only ever been fed on things like chum, pal (whatever was basically on special at the shops), table scraps and yes, even cooked bones. Back in the days when thats what dogs were fed on. He doesnt or hasnt had any weight problems, skin allergies, bowel problems ........nothing.....just the signs now of old age creeping up quickly. Now he gets fed Bonnie complete but only cos thats what the labbies get. Or cos hes old he'll get dog roll or whatever he wants (cos hes old). Each to their own I guess !!

It happened in one of my bitches last year......."cold tail" I was told. It was the day before a show. We had washed her and I think that was what caused the problem...a chill got into it. Can't quite remember now. I noticed that afternoon....the tail just hung there. Well she tried to wag it....it went out then 1/2 way along it just hung limp. I freaked at first thinking it was broken - because thats the only explanation for the way it just hung there. We went of to the show (daughters first go at junior handlers) - but their was no happy waggy tail to be shown. But I was told my others there that it was "cold tail" and that it should be right in a few days (but to keep an eye on it of course). I was told it was quite common in retrievers that are partial to swimming and water activities.......but have to admit first time any of my labs have ever had it and they are always in their wading pool.

I did the 30 day challenge for both my dogs and cats.....they actually sent me out a bag of food for each....when I filled out the report I told them that as I have 5 dogs and 3 cats there was not enough to do it for a month. Used the dog food as treats instead at training.... :rolleyes: I used to feed my pups on Bonnie headstart, but they stopped that and replaced it with Bonnie puppy.....crap, crap and crap....my youngsters didnt like it...(and as I have labs thats a big call for a lab to refuse any food... ) I then switched to Supercoat puppy and I find it works well. But in saying that I have not tried any other puppy foods yet. For my adult dogs I feed Bonnie Complete. People often comment about the nice shiny coats my dogs have. It works for me. I do not or will not feed eukanaba (too overpriced for starters and have seen quite a few dogs with skin complaints) or hills science diet (I was once told that one of the special ingredients in hills was crushed dog bones from the rspca...and not beef bones either !!)

We used a homemade wooden one the first time. It suited the purpose, but was too hard to keep clean and hygenic. I like the blue pool thing.......and never even thought of the plastic ones. We looked around at a few fibreglass ones - like the one from conmurra (and they are great). We ended up getting one built from a fibreglass place as we wanted one a little bit bigger (its maybe a bit tooo big - probably a good size for a st bernard... ) Although it basically kept 8 active puppies contained until around 4 weeks of age, and very easy to keep clean.

Well back in them olden days our dogs got the scraps off the table....including cooked bones - but never ever chicken bones. Never had problems. Our old dog now still gets the old t-bone to chew on (gums it to death as doesnt have many teeth either). With the purebreds though - well they get pretty much everything, except cooked bones, grapes, avocado, citrus. Actually they eat pretty much about anything.....pizza, salad, milk with their cornflakes - heck I think I've even seen one all but swallow a chicken frame whole. Like watching a snake eat a mouse but in fast motion. One of my dogs has a habit of getting raw bones stuck in her mouth, so bones are only given when I am around to monitor. Its amazing how good their hearing is when dinner is over and they can hear the plates scraping.

Mine all have weatherbeata coats. But the labbies won't keep them on, hence they are only used whilst at obedience training in winter and they are sitting in the crate waiting their turn, then I pop a coat on them. The old timer we have (14 1/2) he wears his at night during winter. We tried bringing him inside out of the cold, but he frets too much for the girls and wants to go outside. Since we got him the jacket, he gets up so much better and he loves it. I have actually started putting it on him the last few nights as it has started to get a bit cool and being as he doesnt have the labbies thick coat, he shivers a bit.

I am sorry to hear this - please keep us updated !!

Could be an infection like tinea. One of my girls had it a while ago on a front paw....chewed it absolutely red raw. We got some cream from the vets and she had to wear a sock for 1/2 an hour so she wouldnt lick the cream off, and it healed up pretty quickly. or she could of been bitten by a green ant between her toes.