Gayle.

How big is the dog you're feeding? If it's a decent size, I'd probably just cut the whole chicken into 6-8 pieces. If it's a little dog, I'd probably strip off the meat and cut into bite sized pieces and seperate the bones. Having pieces to chew is better for their oral health and having raw food is better for their overall well-being.

I would just cut them into manageable pieces and freeze them in meal sized portions. Defrost them as you need them. I feed my dog all kinds of raw chicken pieces, bought from various delis, supermarkets and butchers...often marked down because they are near their use by date and I just freeze them when I get home. You shouldnt need to cook any of it.

His skin seems to be fine, it's clean, looks healthy and has an elastic feel to it. The shampoo I'm using isn't a cheap brand and it's soap free, so shouldn't have anything harmful but I'm happy to change to something else.

Do you think the oats could be causing it? He would get only about 2 cupfuls in 6 kgs of food and in the last batch of food I made up he didn't get any at all because I'd ran out and didn't replace it with anything. His coat is mostly black right through, but he does have a reddish tinge to that very soft fluffy hair behind his ears. He's had that for ages, but that's not the dry coarse area. The parts that are dry are black right through. A typical few days of food would be: Day 1, breakfast, 2 raw chicken thighs. Dinner, 350 grams of raw meat and vege mix (contains most of what I decribed in first post), snack or training treat, a small handful of Eagle Pack kibble, either inside a toy or given by hand. Day 2, breakfast, 1 1/2 cups Eagle Pack kibble, 1 tin of sardines in oil. Dinner, as above. Snack, a smoked pigs trotter, training treats, a few pieces of Purina Beneful kibble (I would probably use a small bag of this between two dogs in 2 months as treats). Day 3, breakfast, 3 lamb neck rosettes, dinner, as above, snack or traing treats EP kibble. Day 4, breakfast, 500grams (approx) of meaty brisket bones, dinner, 1 1/2 cups EP kibble and a tin of sardines. Treats, a dried pigs ear and some Beneful (a dozen pieces maybe). If you mix that up and spread it over a month.....add in some chicken necks and a few raw lamb chops and maybe a kilo of raw human grade steak, you'd have a good overview of his diet.

Ok, thanks. The puppy drop makes sense.....he isn't losing much at the moment though, Just a hairbrush or two full when he gets an all over groom, which I'd assume is about normal for his coat length and his size. I wouldn't have thought once a month was too much for bathing a dog. What if you show your dog? Wouldn't they get bathed before each show, even if it's once a week? Or do they just get brushed? His coat isn't so much oily as greasy to touch......I'll try and explain it as best as I can. it feels dry and coarse, but if you rub your hands through it, they come away with a greasy feel....not oily though. Similar to the feel you get if you touch raw fleece but not quite as extreme. Fleece is greasy, it's not oily. He definitely has a red tinge to the black...specially around the ears and flanks. I thought it was because it was summer and it was getting slightly bleached by the sun.

Thanks! Will try both of those things. I've heard good things about Aloveen so I'll pick some up this afternoon.

My 10 month old Australian Shepherd is fed a diet of raw meat and veges, eggs, cheese, oats, fish, yoghurt, plenty of meaty bones such as chicken pieces, brisket bones etc....as well as about 3 meals per week of Eagle Pack Holistic kibble. He is bathed about once a month with Troys Oaticoat soap free dog shampoo. Flea treatment is Frontline Plus every month and he is brushed thoroughly 2-3 times per week. I've noticed recently his coat, especially along his back, is dry, coarse and greasy to the touch. And it appears to be getting worse. It started off the area above his tail was dry and coarse as well as around his collar area but in the past few weeks and especially since having a hydrobath last week, it's extended right along his spine. I'm happy to try anything to give him back his soft, glossy coat and understand it will take 3 months or more to show results. Any suggestions?

My dogs get Eagle Pack holistic, which is excellent. Lots of good suggestions here but be aware that not all brands are available in all areas. I live in a large country town and the only choice I have is Eagle Pack, Royal Canin, Hills or Advance for premium foods. I think I can also get Iams, but I don't think it's as good as Eagle Pack or Advance. The guy at the local Petstock outlet told me that if I bought a large bag of premium quality kibble and the dogs didn't like it (a definite concern when the bag costs over $80) I could return it for a refund as long as it was over 2/3 full. That is something that's definitely worth enquiring about.

Hahah, that's funny. If I have a treat in my hand but haven't given a command, Benson will go through his whole repertiore in the hope that he hits on the right one to get the treat. Sometimes I just stand there with a Schmacko in my hand so I can watch him work for it.

Now that is one adorable puppy! She looks like she's halfway through putting on her eye shadow....and doing a very bad job of it! LOL! Way too cute for words.

Haha, I was thinking exactly the same thing. Wild dogs aren't known for their fabulous body odour or clean fresh breath either.

He's probably just losing his winter coat. My Maine Coon cat has been shedding fur like nobodies business lately and as she hates being brushed, I've resorted to pulling out the loose undercoat by hand, which she doesn't mind at all.

Jessca, most pups will look healthy at his age as long as they are fed enough calories to keep meat on their bones. But by feeding them a quality diet, you are ensuring a healthy future. Even with the additions of a boiled egg, calcium powder and minced roo and lamb as a treat, you aren't setting him up for a healthy future, in fact you're doing quite the opposite. Your puppy would be far, far better off being fed a diet of good quality puppy kibble and Natures Gift tinned food. That would give him all the nutrients he needs and be easy for you to obtain and feed. Then you could add in things like sardines, eggs, bones etc as treats.

I feed a home made raw mix of meat, veges, cheese, eggs, oatmeal etc as well as bones, chicken pieces and Eagle Pack Holisitic. Extras are natural yoghurt, sardines, cottage cheese, tinned mackerel, tinned asparagus, whole apples (as a treat to chew) My dogs are a 10 month old Australian Shepherd and a 13yo Lhasa Apso......they both like it and they are both thriving on it. I don't put up with fussiness....my old girl would be if I let her, but she's figured out over the years that she eats it or goes without. And if she doesn't eat it in a timely manner, it will be gobbled up by our other dog. Tonight they are getting oyster blade steak, which was on special in Coles.....chopped up into chunks. They don't get stuff like this very often but it's a nice treat for them every now and then.

I think the nearest one is in Morwell....Gippsland Obedience Dog Club which is the one I go to. Excellent club, I've only been going since July last year and absolutely love it. Obedience classes are 10.30am every Saturday morning (get there a bit earlier to settle your dog) and agility is 8.30am every Saturday. Classes resume on Feb 2nd.

My little old Lhasa has the occasional "tin" of My Dog (it's more like a foil tray) every now and then as a treat and she quite likes it, but she much prefers the raw food I make up for both the dogs. Mince, raw veges, cheese, eggs, oatmeal, cooked pumpkin and whatever else looks good....yoghurt, cottage cheese, tinned fish etc. If you want to feed a commercial food, try the Ecopet dog rolls. They smell nice and have no preservatives. Just slice and dice.

I was buying the Ecopet rolls for a while as a standby for when I worked late shifts and husband had to feed the dogs....he can't cope with having to defrost raw food in the microwave. Poor dear is kitchen-impaired. The dogs loved the rolls but when I bought the mince, I thought it smelled revolting and threw it out. It was well within it's use by date, and appeared fresh to look at but didn't smell at all nice. I buy human grade minced beef, roo and whatever else is on special. At least I know that if it's fit for human consumtion it will be fit for my dogs.

I was teaching Benson to give, the same way.....til I realised he'd cottoned on to the free and easy treats and was bringing me "contraband" (shoes, thongs, socks etc) and standing just out of my reach til I gave him his treat, then he'd release the object. When he brought me everything that wasn't nailed down in the house one night, I stopped that method of training. Now I give a treat to our other dog, who is very old and doesn't have to do anything much for a reward and make sure he knows she's getting something. He invariably comes to investigate and drops the item along the way, in anticipation of getting a treat too. He does, but only after he's worked for it. Sit, drop, stand, drop, roll over, stand, sit, shake......then he can have his treat too.

I keep a bag of Eagle Pack holistic as a back up to a raw diet. The dogs like it and it's very high quality. They could easily live on that with raw chicken pieces and some lamb bones for added interest.

I think it's a business issue too. I would imagine groomers prefer repeat business, so it's unlikely you'd find one who would teach you to groom your own dog, cos then you wouldn't go back.

It was part of someone elses thread, I think.....on the same topic. I was told don't take the pup anywhere and especially don't put it down on the ground. Now, I dunno if you've every picked up a 10, 11, 12 week old Aussie Shepherd pup but he was no lightweight. I was worried enough to contact the breeder as I'd remembered her saying something about getting him out and about and socialising him. Chatting with her is always a good thing as she's very knowledgeble and very sensible. In a nutshell, she told me that more dogs get killed through not enough socialisation than will ever die of a disease they'll pick up from being out in public. She also advised that I don't let him sniff around other dogs droppings or let him run with stray dogs, but any wide open spaces, beaches, parks and any places that he'd get to experience new things and meet people was a good thing, not something to be avoided. And she also advised I don't carry him as I'd probably give myself a hernia ;-) Anyway, that's old news but it also taught me something very valuable....and that is not to take anything I'm told on these forums at face value. Do my own research, ask my own questions and use the other resources I have to make my own decisions about my dog. I have another question about vaccinating a pup, but it's not for here and I'm almost not game enough to ask it on DOL for all the conflicting advice I'm sure to be given.

Once you've weaned him on to the type of diet you want to feed him, you'll find that variety is more important than exact quantities of each type of food. As he grows, you'll get a feel for how much to feed him, when to up the amount, when to cut back. I make up a mix that contains various types of mince meat (beef, roo, lamb, chicken), raw vege slush, grated cheese, eggs, oatmeal, cooked pumpkin (skin, seeds, pulp and flesh), yoghurt, tinned asparagus etc. I don't add all ingredients to each batch, but over the course of a couple of weeks he gets a good variety. I also feed raw chicken necks (cut them smaller if you're worried about him choking), apples for munching on, lamb neck rosettes, brisket bones and the occasional raw lamb chop as a treat. Another mix my dogs love is raw chicken necks, raw egg yolk, cooked egg white, grated cheese, oatmeal and tinned two fruits in juice. They don't get that very often cos I'm not sure the nutritional value of tinned two fruits is all that high, but they do love it for a change and I usually make up a couple of kg at a time and freeze in 500g bags.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...ER&v=glance If that's the one, it's $10 cheaper at Amazon. I often buy $200-$300 of books all in one go so even if one place is a little cheaper than another, it usually works out more economical to get them all from Amazon as they have everything I want and I only pay one lot of shipping. My 14yo daughter is going to start training our new puppy in obedience and Benson in agility next year, so I'll also be looking for books for her to refer to.

Thanks, I need to place an order with Amazon in the next few weeks, I'll add that one to the list. I can't concentrate on television for very long so I prefer books over DVD's.

I have read about it but not a lot and it's something I've been meaning to do more of this summer while dog club's closed. I don't really understand how it works which is why I need to read more about it, also I have a friend who has clicker trained her dog for obedience and agility and I need to talk more to her. The breeder we bought Benson from is a scientist in animal behaviour and studies the relationships between humans and their pets. She gave me a very long booklet she'd written with a lot of good advice and basic obedience training it in, and I often refer back to it. When I first joined DOL I asked about taking a pup out in public and was firmly told that no way should I be taking a 10 week old puppy anywhere in public until he'd finished his course of vaccinations....he would have been well past 16 weeks by then. I contacted the breeder, she told me different and gave me very valid reasons why.