KitKat

He takes incredible pics doesn't he!!! And the Poppet sure is a handsome devil!

Hehehe...i got once very nice ribbon for my black fluff-coat pup It was baby puppy of breed...he was the only one entered

Wonderful!!! Since i was wanting a show dog next (and i prefer the fluffy GSD's)...i may not change breeds after all Or at least the GSD in the house will be showable as well as whatever else i get :D ETA - tho i now really regret giving my B the snip so many years ago :D He loved going to the shows even if he didn't get into the ring ;)

I'm still hoping to get there - i had to work unexpectedly today so have to chase up a few things tomorrow - if i get all that sorted i'll pop by and visit

For the most part they were getting; lamb shanks, flaps, offcuts, roo tails (hot huge part of diet tho), turkey tails, necks, wings, legs, chicken mince, legs, thighs, wings, necks, maryland, halves and whole Beef offcuts, neck pieces Pork feet, necks, off cuts The mince they got as well was mostly chicken with mulched vegies, some fruit occasionally, eggs, yogurt, and offal through it all and frozen into blocks. I've had the same issue, as i said on some kibbles, if i fed the same amount of RC/Bonnie/UA/GB/Proplan etc as i did the Nutro for example the dogs would have been the size of houses within a week or so - even they could even stomach that much food. But the Nutro, like the barf/raw, just seem to evaporate into nothing. I even got the big dog (i think it is) pre mixed barf rolls again and they were going through huge amounts of it that it just got too expensive. And it wasn't as if one was eating the others food - as they were both skinny! And i also watched them to make sure they weren't 'sharing unevenly'! ETA - i have nothing against raw feeding etc, and know a number of dogs who are stunning on that diet. My only issues are with people who PUSH as if anything else amounts to cruelty to the dog. I'd have issues if people were pushing a brand or type of kibble as the ONLY way to not be cruel to your dog. ANd i'm off to give my guys their dinner of hearts and kidneys...

Sadly my guys would only eat the fish heads once they were old enough to collapse and they had to decide if they were going to eat it or roll in it

What do your dogs do? How many kg per dog did you have to feed? At the time my dogs were going for hour-ish walks per day, dog training once a week, 10-15mins of training each night, Bronx would work with me in-store on one day a weekend and any play they did through the day. At once stage i was feeding up to 4-6kgs per day per dog every day - i even got them vet checked and he was surprised that they could be that skinny eating that much since they weren't in growing stages. They were getting barf mix (mulched chickens as meat based) as well as meaty bones (lamb, turkey, chicken, pork as main meats) that they could eat the entirety of, so that weight didn't include uneaten bone. That is jsut unbelieveable. 4-6 kg for a dog that is 30-40 kg? My dobes are about 40kg each, they do about 45min leash free running a day, two play basically non stop all day. Training once a week, sometimes more often. Those that play non stop eat 1-1.5kg of whatever I give them a day the one that doesnt play eats about 1kg and is always a bit fat. My boyfriends dog - apparently mastif x ridgeback eats about 1.5kg a day, he is less active then my dobes but goes to work with the BF that is a tradie so he is up and about all day. 5kg for a GSD is insane, how much dry do you give them? 3kg each? Unbelieveable? no kidding! My guys were at that stage at a good weight of 40kg and 45kg - as in balls of fur and muscle, lean good weighted dogs. Hence why i don't feed them BARF anymore and won't feed them that as a diet ever again, and hence why the vet was surprised. At the worst of it the two dogs got down to basically fur, skin and bone - if it wasn't for the fluffy fur it would have looked even worse - put your hands on the dog and all you felt was fur and bone. They do this on some kibbles mind you - i tried the nutro performance and also had to feed huge amounts while they dropped weight with seemingly no matter how much food. I'd continued to up the barf/raw as i was told that they obviously just needed more barf/raw. I did that for a bit until i came to the decision that it was just stupid to be feeding that much (and paying that much for it) when they obviously weren't doing that well and decided to put them back onto Royal Canin (performance 4300 or 4800 or something?) of which they got roughly 700-800gms or so a day. Within 4 weeks they were looking and feeling great, no longer always looking hungry and i even cut back their food. On average now they get between 400-700gms a day of kibble - one burns up his food a tad quicker then the other so he gets more. If they are getting bones as a meal they get 500gms or so for one and 600-700gms to the other. ETA - re the telling me to feed more it was with the reasoning that the dogs processed more of the raw food and so needed more as they were obviously using/needing more then they were getting. The amounts were fed over 2-3 meals a day.

I walk both my GSD's at the same time, even if Sabe isn't acting the pork chop most people move to the other side of the road, or turn down other streets, on seeing us coming towards them! ETA - i should say tho - even with Sabe in full idiocy mode i have had the odd person want to introduce their dog/s to us while we are out - never quite understand that!

That for that PF The lil guy was bred to be a working dog, but wasn't up to scratch - but was the sweetest, quietest, loving lil guy (especially for a 6mth old) and would have been perfect the long awaiting home that he was going to if it wasn't for the surgery complications - i seriously considered sneaking him home on more then one occasion.

Indeed a moving and lovely tribute to Paddy - Fly free and sleep well Paddy.

Could be a low level ongoing infection - but it may not be anything to do with a UTI either Apparently a UTI can create a similar scent to a bitch in season.

What do your dogs do? How many kg per dog did you have to feed? At the time my dogs were going for hour-ish walks per day, dog training once a week, 10-15mins of training each night, Bronx would work with me in-store on one day a weekend and any play they did through the day. At once stage i was feeding up to 4-6kgs per day per dog every day - i even got them vet checked and he was surprised that they could be that skinny eating that much since they weren't in growing stages. They were getting barf mix (mulched chickens as meat based) as well as meaty bones (lamb, turkey, chicken, pork as main meats) that they could eat the entirety of, so that weight didn't include uneaten bone.

Royal Canin do a Giant Breed formula, Advance do a Large/Giant breed forumula - at the very minimum go for a kibble made for large breeds. Has your breeder suggested a brand?

Any chance of him having a UTI?

I've read the books, followed it to the letter and it didn't work for my mob either. I have no issues with BARF/Raw but i won't feed it to my dogs - only because they've not done well on it. I don't knock that way of feeding either - I also work (casually as 2nd job) in a store that stocks both a variety of kibbles as well as two types of BARF. I give people information on both types of feeding as it's a fair way of doing it and they can decide which way they want to feed their dogs/cats. Give people the information and let them decide and try for themselves - stop trying to force feed it to them...

My vet is suggesting that it is a contact allergy to grass (and perhaps something in the dirt here) - we thought it might have been beef at once stage but ruled that out. So it seems both myself and one of my dogs is allergic to our grass.

Geeze Moselle - did i actually read that you suggested those of us who don't have wads of money to throw around should own only a goldfish?? ETA - one of my guys is allergic to something in which he comes in contact to and or eats, we've changed diets, got him off certain meats - i've had him on Polaramine (and not it doesn't make him drowsy...which is a pity!) on a semi regular basis, i've changed his diet again - oddly enough right at the moment he is getting less raw then usual and an average kibble - but he is looking better then he has in a long time - perhaps it's just the change in season Normally they'd have nights when they gets bones, and other nights when they get kibble - or a bit of both.

Lil poppet, I thought you deserved a thread of your own, instead of just my post in the 'Dear...' thread. Poor little guy had a few issues before hand, but nothing stopping him from being a wonderful pet - then complications from surgery took even that from him. He has a spot at the Bridge with my old Harm (RIP). Love you lil guy. Me

The GB/UA seems to be one of those foods they do well on - or not, not so big an inbetween as many other foods! Raw meaty bones or raw meat?

NOt sure if someone may have already said this - but have you tried uncle albers/great barko? Royal Canin also do a performance line which is very good (i used it to get my GSD's back into condition when they lost it badley on barf/raw)...i think they were like 4300 and 4800? or something along those lines - i know places can still order it in but i'm not sure how common it is as a general stock line these days.

Sorry - i tried barf/raw on my two GSD's - and i will never ever ever do it again - it proved to be very expensive as i was having to feed huge amounts of food to keep any kind of weight on them - in the end we were going through several kgs each per day and the dogs were nearly skin and bone. If it wasn't for the fact i was watching them i would have thought something was stealing their food. Certain kibble also does the same for them - in that they have to eat huge amounts to keep any kind of condition. They are now on a mix of certain kibbles and butcher bones, eggs, anything else i come across that i think they will like, or that i want to try them on. One is in perfect condition (tho i have to shed his little extra winter weight), the other is recovering from allergies - but he is now recovering and looking better every week. I used to have in my sig something along the lines of "The best food for your dog is what your dog does best on - packaged or unpackaged". Perhaps i need to put that back in my sig.

Personally...i wouldn't give anything expensive to one of my guys while they were in the chewing stage - mind you my 'good' boy would never have eaten something he wasn't supposed to My other boy is still a scruffnut and will eat somethings he's not supposed to, but with other things he'll just leave out in the weather etc. For example i have two tramp type beds - on those beds is a fairly expensive cushion each and under that is a thing foam bed between the good one and the tramp bed. Bronx's bed is as if it were made yesterday - nothing out of place...Sabe on the other hand has the expensive cushion partly in, partly through and partly outside of the tramp bed, i think the thin foam is still there... ' I think if you were getting one of these beds for inside you'd probably be fine as you can teach the pup to not eat it while you are there etc...i think if it was an outside bed...it would be fair game

It could be that Christmas time is easier to get longer leave when kids are on school holidays etc...makes it easier to get started with a baby puppy - i know i always take a couple of weeks off or a new pup - and if i had kids i'd be planing around school holidays...Christmas being the longest of them...

From memory it doesn't even include chicken fat

I can't remember if it has already been suggested (or if i already suggested it!) - but ProPlan is readily available and is based on salmon - so a novel protein source, they also have a lamb and rice version.