MissMonaro

Mine have the scrape the plate sound working for them. They know that as soon as they hear the plates scraping after dinner that means they get the leftover dinner scraps. Its amazing to see them all standing at attention. Selective hearing at times I'm sure !!

I remember once we found a huge piece of plastic / part of machinery in one of those dog rolls. Luckily we found it as we were cutting it up. Anyway we rang the manufacturer and complained and said one of our dogs could of choked on it. Their answer basically was "build a bridge, get over it......and heres a $5 gift voucher" We were lucky for our dogs of course, but I truly hope your friend gets a much better response than we did if it was indeed caused by the dog food.

My chocolate labbie has frosting around her muzzle from about the time she was 18 months of age. Often ppl ask me how old she is....um....3 now... But maybe the frosting shows that she is carrying the SILVER gene. (Sorry still laughing at the silver labradors in the general thread) But interesting that it is more common than I thought.

We use Septicide cream on our labbies ears. One of them has been attacked so bad that she had a big open sore on her ear. Problem with the cream is that the other labs lick it off. I have also tried vaseline (an old treatment used to keep flies of horses eyes) but same thing. Tried aerogard......but was pretty useless. Then I tried the purple anticeptic spray I keep for the horses. (Then you know which dog is licking the ear as they get a purple tongue. :rolleyes: ) The other dogs licking it has actually helped it heal. We picked up some of those fly traps as well. Disgusting looking things, but they sure work and help to keep the flies down as well. I reckon they have worked the best of all the things we have tried.

Congratulations !!

Just wanting to say goodbye to my in-laws great dane, Elly-May. She is taking the green dream sometime today. 8 years of age and was diagnosed just under 2 weeks ago with cancer. Sadly it has spread very very quickly and the decision had to be made. R.I.P. and may you now run freely and without any more pain !!

thanks ML and KitKat - I was going to ask that actually if it would be something I could get from a produce store.

Okay - where would I go to get "kelp" and obviously not the type at the beach either....

My chocolate bitch is very sun bleached at the moment and I think it has to do more with the yellow in the breeding, as well as being outside in the sun obviously contributing somewhat. I recently had one of her babies to visit - being a chocolate to chocolate mating and her coat was much darker and richer than my girls. Much much nicer. However, she spends a lot of time indoors out of the sun, as do many breeders I have spoke to that show their chocolates. They keep them out of the sun for the same reasons. Those with black horses would know all about the rugging etc to keep colours. However, I always wondered how come black dogs dont fade in the sun ??? Actually I have one of those. She will put her toe in the water then almost cringe. Though we are working on that and I have caught her a few times in this past heat actually standing in the clam pool, or in the water cube.

Our old dog has just turned 14. Occassionally he goes off his food and I think this is it, the time has come. Then the next feed, he eats it all. Sometimes he misses a couple. Sometimes in the mornings he doesnt stir when I go outside and I have to poke him to see if hes alive. Hes stiff getting up, sometimes hes not. We tried to bring him inside last winter, but he fretted being away from the other dogs so I bought him a jacket (which he loved) and he slept outside. He still chases the ball - can't really see it that well and cant run as fast as the labbies do, but still gets excited about it. This morning he still filled one of the labradors in for walking past him and looking at his feed bowl. This is the only worry. They do get in his face a fair bit as he is the top dog, but lately he tells them off more often, just to let them know hes still the boss. Sadly I think they are slowly realising he is old and they are younger and stronger. Anyway, I really don't panic too much now when he misses a meal. If he went more than a few days, then I would!!

We were told this by a produce store where OH purchased a bag when we had run out and couldnt get to our regular supplier. My regular supplier is between 5 and 7 dollars cheaper than most other suppliers so will try not to run out in future !! Sadly it might bite them on the bum. So far my dogs are eating it, not that labs are known to be fussy eaters.... Bonnie headstart is no longer available which is a shame as I used it for my own dogs when they were puppies and for their puppies as well. I tried the Bonnie puppy but did not like it at all. The biscuits seem drier and harder. Oh well - someone else now gets my puppy biscuit business !!

I feed mine twice a day. I was told to feed 2 smaller amounts than 1 large one, because labbies tend to hog their food down rather quickly and also because of the bloat thing. Plus they are always hungry !! :p Personally to me it would be heaps easier if it was only once a day !! But then again - don't think I could last on one meal a day either !!!

I was told that there is an organism in a dogs stomach that prevents them getting food poisoning from rotten food. As for dingoes and wolves not living as long - perhaps the fact they are never wormed might have something to do with it. I give my dogs a bone and they will have it for 3 or 4 weeks. How many people give their dog a bone, and the dog buries it, only to dig it up a month later and start chewing on it. Wouldnt that be a cause for something nasty ?? My dogs take their bones and sit down in the dirt with it. I used to take them back and wash them off, and they would take them straight back to the dirt. I am sure that dogs arent that dumb that they wouldnt go and eat it on the grass if they were concerned about the dirt factor. Often wild dogs will eat carrion (ie. road kill) and they don't seem to be any worse off for it. (not that I let my dogs do this)