Tilly

I feed PureSea (salmon gran free) to our two because the youngest gets an upset tummy from grains. Both dogs love it. Both are GSD's and are working dog. Older one is not so active now but the youngest is highly active. Both are doing really well on it.

Best to ring and check. I thought C5 was minimum - at least it is are Brisbane.

Keep the pup on a leash and socialise with the chooks. Reward ignoring chickens and calm behaviour. If pup starts to focus too much on chickens then get its attention and ask it to do something like sit and reward. When you can't supervise then ensure pup and chooks are securely seperated ...

pebbles - that reminds me of the time that our dog has a piece of food stolen from his bowl by a bird. He took off after the bird that flew on to the side fence ... unfortunately between fence and dog was a pool. Dog walked on water until about half way across the pool before sinking like a stone I will admit we did stand there and laugh at him but he did have the most shocked look on his face. He swam back to the step with a little encouragement ... and then returned to finish off his breakfast.

I placed an order last night ... brought just a few of the LED dog balls and a couple of other small things which quickly reached the $160 mark but then they also charged postage on the order. Waiting to see what is actually charged against the credit card.

http://www.warminstertownship.org/barkpark/index.htm I came across this website about a "Members Only" off-leash dog park ... basically you apply for a membership, pay your yearly subscription ($25 or $35) and you get a swipe card to access the park. Do you think this is a good idea? Would you use something like this?

We get these from Toys R Us ... they come as two for about $40. They are a bit better then the clam shells and they have a flat bottom.

It could be acne? ... dogs do get it

We have an inground pool which is currently not fenced seperately from the backyard. We have had 2 instances where the dogs have fallen in. One was our rottie (who left us in June 2007) and the neighbour climbed the fence and rescued him from drowning. We believe he fell in because both dogs liked to run along the side fence which is about 25cm from the edge of the pool - we think the other dog was running along the fence at the same time and push him in as they passed each other. We fixed this issue by blocking off the entrance to that area so it has never happened again. Our youngest fell in briefly a few months ago and thankfully I was home. He cut the corner a little too closely and his back legs went in. Our older boy barked to get my attention and then grabbed my hand in his mouth (when I went to the back door to see what he was barking at) and then pulled me towards the pool. The youngest was almost out of the pool by himself so needed little assistance. We will be fencing the pool area in the near future (to comply with the new pool regulations). We will also be installing an alarm to indicate if anyone falls into the pool (AquaGuard) - not for the dogs but because we will have small children around and pool fences are too easy to climb.

Our previous rottie used to answer to Mr Grumpypants ... our older GSD answers to Fatso and our youngest answers to Fluffy Butt. As for names .... Pepsi, Simba, Cadbury ...

I have two GSD's ... and at the moment I brush both of them a couple of times a week and am currently getting almost a bucket full of hair off them. It is worse after they have a bath ... but I am thankful they are outside dogs ;)

I took mine in to the vets on the way home (or the next morning if the vet is closed) and then taken them in at least once a week after that (as a social visit during a quiet time) to be weighed and to play with the staff. Usually most dogs go to vets for nasty needles and stuff like that so I wanted them to associate the vet as a fun place with treats and nice things. And the girls at the vets love watching them grow up from tiny bundles of cuteness to obnoxious brats ... ;)

My boys have eaten various objects ... garden watering system (microsprays), wood, rocks, plastic, concrete, plants, fish pond pumps, aircondition cables ... just to name a few. While they don't tend to "eat" too much recently they do chew on items. My older boy just loves squeaky toys ... unfortunately the angry green tree frog (while I am sure it sounded like a fun squeaky toy) didn't appreciate my boy's love and squirted him with some nasty smelling stuff which resulted in some vomitting and lots of grass eating. Green tree frog was rescued and after being rinsed in fresh rain water was released angry but otherwise unharmed ... in a safer dog free area.

When our older boy was very sick and admitted into the vet hospital (he was in there for around 3 weeks in total). I had to go in every time they wanted to do anything with him because he became more and more agressive with being confined and having "strangers" around him. He broke out of his cage in ICU and staff had to drag a cupboard in front of the door to prevent him from escaping into the main part of the hospital while they waited the 15 minutes it took for me to get back to the hospital. A couple of times they asked me to take him home for the weekend to give staff a break. He had broken out of his pen a couple of times so after the first week they had to reinforce the gate on a pen and rearranged the other patients so he had his own ward and the main door into that ward was kept locked with warning signs posted all over the door. After that experience his dislike for vets had risen so we never leave him unattended ... even at his regular vets. The last time he was very sick with a paralysis tick the local vet (not my regular vet) wanted to keep him in overnight as he was "critical" ... when I asked if someone would be there with him all the time I got told they would have someone come in every 3 hrs. I refused to leave him there ... they kept insisting he needed stay there. We almost had a full blown arguement because I insisting he was coming home with me (even after explaining he was a security dog and needed to have us around otherwise they couldn't touch him) and told them if he needed any further medical treatment then I could take him to emergency. The vet used the arguement of the dog requiring a stress free environment to rest and recover - which was just not going to happen in a vet environment - he needed to be home where he was comfortable. Eventually it was only after my boy bite the vet nurse on the hand (thankfully not a full bite but he did leave a couple of dents in her hand) that they agreed that he could come home with me.

If he can't approach his "friend" and ask for his dogs back ... then is there really a friendship to speak of?

I was replacing the tick collars ever 2 - 3 weeks ... and three days after a new collar when on we found a tick right beside the collar. We were using Frontline then moved to Advantix ... and still we got ticks. Nearly lost our older boy to a tick (an a $1,000 vet bill) - we were using Advantix (applied 4 days before) and a preventic collar (less then a week old). We now use Permoxin. The dogs get sprayed before they leave the yard and when they get home again. If they are going into a tick area (for work) then they may get sprayed again while at work.

I use a tin of sardines (in spring water), fish pieces, cubes of meat, chicken necks (left whole or chopped into chunks). I also try to freeze a nice juicy bone in the middle.

If you already have a bad relationship - I seriously doubt he would listen to any suggestions from you regardless of which approach you take. If you are concerned for the dogs welfare - then best to report it.

My youngest goes crazy at the hedge trimmer ... I have to lock him away while it is running as he tends to jump up at it. As a puppy he cut 3 toes by jumping up while I was trimming the hedge. We do lock them in the other side of the yard when we are mowing and using the whipper snipper (for safety) but they have no reaction to them.

This is on the DPI website http://www.dpi.qld.gov.au/4790_21020.htm

Previously Rottweilers ... now German Shepherds ...

Canidae Salmon Grain Free ... both boys love it. The youngest has gone off raw food at the moment but still eats his dry.

Best to work out what is causing the upset ... my youngest is sensitive to grains and beef. I find that running around lots and stress can also contribute. To make life a little easier and reduce the runs I include pumpkin on a regular basis - maybe twice a week (they love chicken and pumpkin so they think they are getting a treat), yoghurt and Inner Health Plus (or another probiotic). I was feeding raw but found my youngest was not keeping enough weight on and he wasn't "loving" it ... they now get raw with Canidae PureSea (was Canidae Salmon Grain Free) and both are doing brilliantly.

I have "caught" two dogs by opening the back of the my car ... and while looking for a second lead in the back of the car ... both dogs have just jumped into the car

Definately consult a behaviourist so they can look at his body language and his reaction ... it may not be "hate" but fear or even over excitement. I know my boy barks and lunges when he is over-excited.