oceanaussi

That's the reason why in Germany only a hunter is allowed to get a weim.

Are you saing there are no pet weims in Germany???? ;)

Well, a pedigree Weimaraner with papers is only allowed to go to a hunter. That does't mean hunter as a profession but could be a sportshunter. Only in very rare circumstances are Weims given to a non-hunter. Unpapered Weims mainly coming from Eastern Europe are kept as 'pets only'.

And oceanausies weim we will pass as a fawn dobe, just needs some tan markings, nothing too difficult, shoe polish will do, and we will hope it doesnt rain. ;)

I should give it a try!

Weimaraners are actually now for their high prey drive and protective instinct. That's the reason why in Germany only a hunter is allowed to get a weim.

oceanaussie - weis are not known for strong protective instincts...

Only in Australia that is.

But for Schutzhund needs a strong working ability, perserverance and protective instinct. In Germany ANY breed can compete these days. Like I said I've done it with my Kelpie and will be doing it with my Weimaraner. Tracking, obedience and protection are the phases and IMO every dog who can succeed in that should be allowed in.

I'm looking for a tracking harness for my Weimaraner and was wondering what you're using? I had a look at the Black Dog one - does anybody have experience with that one?

When comparing Orijen & Artemis, it must be remembered that the entire Orijen range is grain free, whereas ONLY the Maximal in the Artemis range is grain free, the rest of the range is not but does not contain any corn. The protein level in the Orijen is 42% (Large Puppy & Senior). The Artemis Med/Large Puppy Protein level is 27% and for the Med/Large Senior is 18%. The fat level should be taken into account also for both your dogs, they are at the more critcal ends of the age group when it comes to selecting foods ;) In the Orijen the fat level in the Large Puppy is 16% and in the Senior its 14%. In the Artemis the M/L Puppy is 13% and the M/L Senior is 10%

For your 'more mature' girl even though both Orijen & Artemis include glucosamine and chondroitin - Orijen has 800mg/kg of G and 150mg/kg C ...Artemis has 1200mg/kg of G and 400mg/kg of C, I would still rather see a dog supplemented with a product such as Joint Guard for the arthritis.

I am not going to tell you which brand to feed but hopefully the above information will help you to see the substancial differences. Both Orijen and Artemis use very high quality ingredients so coatwise you should see about the same results.

That is a lot of information! Not sure if I understood properly, so you're saying the amount of G and C in Artemis is a bit high? I do feed her Pernese Powder. I might order them and trial both of them.

With my pup Im not to sure. Since he's on the RC Sensitivity Diet, he's improved but he's always hungry. But his stool (amount, frequency and consitency) has improved. I will keep him on this diet for another 5 weeks and then start introducing food to him.

It's funny, Schutzhund is a German thing and originally was used for GSDs only but meanwhile most dogs can do it. Hera, my Kelpie x GSD did her Schutzhund titles in Germany. I wanted to do Schutzhund with Quentin, my Weimaraner, and it was denied. I know heaps of Weimaraner in Germany doing Schutzhund successfully. Might have to take him there.

Quentin is only little but a pain to walk especially together with Hera as he's in her face all the time, so to get out of it, she goes faster and he tries to keep up. ;)

I currently use the Halti which he's slowly getting used to but I don't like the pulling on his muzzle so the Infin8 sounds like it pulls behind the ears. I will order one for him!

Thank you!

So ther training one is more like the normal Halti?

Can somebody explain to me what's the difference between the Blackdog Infin8 Halter and the Training Halter? Which one is better and why?

Would like to invite you to our next retrieving training day for Gundogs!

The United Field and Retrieving Branch conducts a TRAINING DAY on Saturday 14th June 2008 for beginners at Bald Hills. Our club holds regular training days during the year. These days are provided to help newcomers learn the ropes and test the waters with their dogs without the pressure of entering competitions. If you would like to come along, please contact Fran Jones on 3351 3667 for further information and to register your attendance.

It's free and great fun for all involved! Even if you've done some retrieving before and thinking about trialling or just want to do it for fun - come along!

Please just make sure that the RC is suitable for a growing large breed dog. Check to make sure the calcium/phosphorus ratio is correct and the protein and fat content isn't too high.

Gee, that's one beautiful pup in your signature!

What ratio should I be looking for and which protein and fat content would be too high?

Thanks, but Quen finished 'the hills rubbish stuff full of nasties' and is now on a RC sensitivity diet. His excrements have reduced size and frequency dramatically. His sample did not show any signs of indigestion or intestianl problems.

I've tried pumpkin + chicken before and there was no change. I gave him protexin and that only made matters worse.

But it's refreshing to see when you ask 100 people you get 100 different opinions.

Thank you very much for all your interesting posts! I've been to the Vet tonight with a stool sample. No visual sign of worm, undigested food ect. But I gotta wait for the cultures. The Vet recommended to put Quentin on a prescription diet of 'i/d' food for 2 days and then continue 6 weeks with sensitivity food. After that we add some different foods slowly and see if there's an intolerance.

Faolmor, sounds like what the Vet said.

Aranyoz, no it did start before his last vaccine/worming/tick & flea treatment.

Thank you all. Hope we can work this out!

Completly forgotten to mention one important thing: When Quentin started to have lots of runny, smelly poos, I stopped feeding him everything except for EP but nothing has changed.

Yes it would have been helpful if you'd mentioned that, would have saved me a lot of typing . Are you feeding EP Holistic as the ordinary varieties contain corn and both my boys have loose poo if they eat anything containing corn.

Sorry! But it was very interesting to read and I've learnt a lot with your post! Yes, I'm feeding EP Holistic. When I first got Quentin he was on Supercoat which I mixed with the ordinary EP - no problems, even with the veggies and all that (which I started slowly) but I then changed to EP Holistic and unfortunately I'm not 100% sure if that was when the problem began.

Sorry to go slightly OT, but in science dogs are viewed as omnivores NOT carnivores - they can conserve nitrogen and do some hind gut fermenting (like a horse) amongst other features. I'm not saying fruit/veg should form a large part of their diet - I'm just a stickler for detail

Thanks for that, Spotty! I should have remembered from my studies.

Thanks Miranda! I agree with most things said here, I'm just interested in other people opinion as the chat this morning completly blew me away. Having 20 people simultaneously saying "OMG - you can't feed bones to a dog!" just freaked me!

Completly forgotten to mention one important thing: When Quentin started to have lots of runny, smelly poos, I stopped feeding him everything except for EP but nothing has changed.

@Tess: I always thought dogs are carnivores as well but meanwhile lots of people (including breeders, vets ect) have told me this is not true...

@poodlefan: Yep, I'm feeding the right kind of bones. The veggies I cook until soften and then put them in the blender, except for the one carrot a week. There's no id possible of what's in the poo - looks all digested.

Wow, so many replies in such a short period! Thanks!

@Tess32: They do feed raw meat but no bones and yes I was very surprised by that! My Mum never used to allow raw bones but we lived in a flat with 5 whippets and 2 greyhounds, so I kinda understand... Apparently, in nature they wouldn't eat the bones either just the meat (so the people said).

@persephone: The vet said it could be a variety of things, like food intolerance, too much protein ect. I've given him a sample to analyse and he's developing a plan on how I should go about feeding. He thinks he might be intolerant to the food but he said the diet is ok. I do cook his veggies a little before I mix them with his food. But he gets raw carrots. As dogs are omnivores they should eat more veggies, I've been told. What do you mean with 'non-weight-bearing bones'? He normally get's chicken frames (1 a week).

@Miranda: The ratio of rice/pasta to veggies to meat would be 1:1:5. I feed the dry food in the evening as I'm not 100% sure that my self-cooked food contains all vitamins and minerals ect needed. But yes, I can try without the other things and see how he goes. Why can't dogs eat eggplant? He ate a piece the other day (it fell down) and really enjoyed it. And I'm not feeding all these things in one day either!

@Faolmor: Yes, Quentin is fine otherwise and I spoke to the Vet last time he had his injections and he wasn't concerned. When I came in this morning he was quite happy to do a stool analysis and work out a food plan, so we can see what it might be.

@jaegertheweim: Well, I did trial each of the items I feed. No problems then.

@poodlefan: Not sure which bones you mean can splinter. I normally feed raw chicken frames and they were totally against it! what are pulped veggies?

@persephone: Is tripe and rumen the same (sorry had to look it up on the dictionairy). I've never then that here. Where do you get it?

I'm the proud owner of a 4-month-old Weim pup and I'm a bit concerned about his metabolism. He grew 10 cm in one month and only gained 1kg (he's 48 cm tall and weighs 12kg). He poos about 10times a day and it's really, really smelly and watery. He also farts a lot (and they're very smelly too).

This morning I chat to the people of the German Weimaraner Forum (I'm German) and described the problem hoping to get some advice. Quentin gets 'fresh' food (cooked rice or pasta with raw veggies and raw meat) in the morning, a chicken frame or bone in the afternoon and Eagle Pack dry food in the evening. In between he gets a carrot or an apple or an eggplant or dry biscuits etc.

When I mentioned that the people in the chat were absolutly shocked that I feed bones! None of them feeds their dogs bones! And they're hunting dogs! they said I should feed some rumen and (not sure what it's called here) ox penis (dried like the dried liver we have here) and also dried rabbit ears, cow ears and ox tail.

I was really surprised by that and they said years ago everybody was feeding bones but there were a lot of problems (digestion problems, splintering, intestinal problems ect).

What do you guys think of this and do you feed raw bones or not?

Yep, tried that too.

I use Ester C for my pup and Pernaease Powder and Seatone for my old girl.

@4 Paws: I definetly will try Orijen on my old girl. Shs's got the GSD coat and sheds all the time. I vaccum every single day and after each shake of her it looks like there's a carpet.

@jaegertheweim: When I first got Quentin I used the purple one and then changed to the green bag. No probs at the begining but now (not sure when it actually started actually).

@Poodle wrangler: Yes, I know. She's about 52cm tall and weighs 25kg. She only gets one cup a day and walks 3 hours every day and she also does flyball. I've tried everything to take a couple of kg of her - nothing works. I've tried feeding her only half a cup a day but she didn't loose any weight either. She had an operation for her HD and is better now.

I had an interesting discussion with people from the German Weimaraner Forum earlier this morning which I will post seperately and I'm curious to hear your thoughts.

Thanks guys! I know there're heaps more premium foods, these ones I haven't tried and heard of before. I've tried RC, Eukanuba ect. I was looking for soemthing different.

@4 Paws: I like the 'less shedding' part! What's EPI?

@kelpiesrule: My old girl never farted either. just the pup. I only cook the rice or pasta - not the veggies or meat (except for liver).

I feed Eagle Pack in the moment with a combination of fresh cooked food. Now I've heard about Orijen and Artemis and was wondering which one would be the best to feed???

My old girl Hera, a nearly 9-year-old Kelpie x GSD has a bit of arthritis and is a bit overweight (ever since she was desexed).

Quentin, my 4-month-old Weim pup is very active but doesn't seem to put any weight on. His poos are smelly and runny even if I just feed him on EP. That's the reason why I'm looking into a different food. He also farts constantly and they're really, really smelly.

edit to say, if you have any other suggestions on dry food, please let me know and I add them to the poll.