Mel774

Royal Canin labrador retriever is pretty good, I feed that to my goldie. We switched him to this (accompanying meat, vegies and raw bones, never canned food) when we were trying to get some weight off him. He has slimmed down, he certainly isnt skinny but he's not fat now either and no one has said he's overweight. There was a huge difference in his temperament actually. He used to get Supercoat occasionally - he acted like a little brat on red cordial!!! Kaden used to turn his nose up a bit at dry food but now when I give him just meat and vegies he looks at the window and begs for some of his dry food. So if you're still feeding dry food, I could recommend RC Lab food (we get a 3kg bag and it lasts ages, not the suggested week because we feed it with other stuff). Try replacing some of the canned food with some nice raw meaty bones.

Nooooooooooooo dont shave him! Shaved goldens look like a lab gone wrong! As a goldie owner in a tick area I know how stringent you have to be but you will find them if they are there. Just make sure you feel the skin with your hand. They can be hard to spot (and easy to loose "was that one?" "that what?" "oh crap I cant find it!") but if your skin can run along the skin you can notice differences in colouration. Kaden had a few scabs during last tick season (from trying to climb the puppy fencing!) that gave us a good scare but we did find them all and he also had a tick that we found in his puppy coat - which I found even harder to look through because it was so tight and fluffy, harder to see the skin. I am going to get some advantix for the tick season and keep up with the checks. If you do it all the time and they are used to it you shouldnt have a problem. You can shave them if you want but it's not nice and you shave it once, you're shaving forever (and each time earlier than the last)

Seriously?? I LOVED grooming big dogs. A million times easily than the little slipperly ones that wont let you touch them. Such a long way down in the hydrobath too. Most fun I ever had was washing a 9month old Burnese Mountain Dog. Had the same personality as my Kaden, he was adorable!!!!!! I jumped in the hydrobath and said "Come here for a cuddle!" and he leapt into the bath and I closed the side. He was sooo beautiful, I love those dogs and this one confirmed it. Just gorgeous!! I gave him a big brush and sooo many cuddles, he was the best. I didnt want him to go home!!!! The amount of little maltese X dogs I had to groom and they were all owned by people who didnt brush them and rewarded their fearful behaviour so they were hard to do anything with. I dont have a problem with little dogs, but big dogs are a sinch! (I'm not a groomer now btw, I only did this for 2 month)

When I did grooming I found a few things really frustrating: -Hairs in the skin!! Getting tiny little sharp hairs stuck in your skin, especially sensitive areas like inside your elbow -Dogs covered in their own filth matted to their bums, dried up poo and urine stains all over them and they wonder why their dog doesn't come back sparkling white after you had to cut all the s*** off them and their "2 inches left on" is still brown and putrid looking -Dogs with horrible infestations of fleas, lice, etc. Like because they are getting a flea bath it means its ok to not treat them for fleas and to bring them in with millions of fleas -People that are NEVER happy with the cut despite them keeping it in a horrible condition. I did a clip once for a woman who insisted we use a 7 blade so it wouldn't be too short. I used a 5f and she complained that I clipped it far too short and not how she asked for it. We told her that I used a 5 blade to make it longer than she requested and she still cracked it. -Dogs that scream in pain when you put the scissors on their nails even though you havent started cutting and people think you are being a monster. Damn liar dogs! -Dogs that will not let you touch their feet under any circumstance and makes a quick job veeery long -When you can tell an owner is nurotic by how their dog behaves!

OH I REALLY HOPE IT COMES TO BRISSY!!!!!! Sounds fantastic. I am really keen on click to calm - I don't own an aggressive dog (hehe I cant even imagine Kaden being grumpy!) but I really need to learn how to deal with aggressive dogs.

You and Stewie are in my prayers. May you have many happy days together

ME ME ME! VERY INTERESTED (Qld)

Flat collar and halti alternatively. Generally flat at home and for exercises and halti at training.

aww that's lovely. I often feel the presence of my cats who have passed on. Our family has only ever had one dog and he stays with my Dad and stepmum I think. I was a bit dissapointed that he didn't come to visit me like the cats do. I was very close to one in particular, who always comes to cuddle when I'm down. If I'm really upset, I often feel prodding on my legs in bed... like a cat does when they are getting a spot comfortable! I have also smelt the faint smell of cat fur when we didn't have a cat and felt brushes against my ankles.

$136 for 6 weeks??? Is this charged by the RSPCA???????? All I can say is YIKES!!!!!!!!!!!!! There is another place in brisbane that charges $145 for 8 weeks and they have about 10-12 dogs in the class with one instructer and one assistant - what a joke!! You can come train with us for 6 weeks and fork out a whopping $30! (after a $25 membership fee for the whole family and the whole year) and you never pay more than a week in advance so if you can't make it you're not out of pocket.

Aust post is just crap these days, everything is taking a week or more interstate at the moment!! Thankfully I had the KitKat express deliver mine. Might I add that Kaden can bow on cue now ;) :D Still perfecting it because he only does it when he's in the house, but we're getting there!!

Wolves = wolves, dogs = dogs. There's a difference. I would be doing a lot of research into what health risks you would be putting your dog through by switching it to a vegetarian diet - perhaps seek out the advise of a holistic vet???

I wouldn't bother. I know people who have wasted money on this sorts of training only to be handed a choke chain and say "here, train your dog for 10mins a day with this" at the end of it. I personally don't trust anyone that wants to train your dog without owner supervision, they could be doing anything to your dog to make it behave (that could cause problems later) and at the end of the day - if you don't keep up the training at home, it's useless.

My dog also suffers from only child syndrome and is just dog obsessed. It's his #1 priority in life. He's food motivated, but he's a hell of a lot more dog motivated!!! He seems to behave better if he's had a really good play first, so he's tired and had fun with the other doggies. I asked Dr Cam Day about this one when I went to his seminar coz Kaden is a total embarrassment at training (especially since all of my past students are in this class and doing beautifully with what I taught them!). He suggested doing the 'circle of commands' exercise to get focus. Doing it for 5 mins, 3 times a day to get him focused on you. Then move it out to a dog park, but well away from the dogs, and gradually bring him closer to the dogs, still playing this game and trying to keep concentration. If it works he can have a play with the dogs as a reward. I just remembered you're in blue tutor group so you wouldn't have read my outline of the circle of commands. I'll give you a brief description: -Put dog into sit with food in hand (or squeaky toy). Wait for 2-5seconds, depending how good your dog is. -Say "GOOD BOY!" or click to let him know he's done well, then throw the food or toy and say "SEEK" or "FIND IT", whichever you prefer. -The dog goes to get said food or toy and you run away. Then shriek "COME" and make a big fuss when the dog comes back to retrieve more food/toy. Using a toy would be harder because with food, they keep coming back for more. -Keep this up for 5 mins. You can stop running away after a bit but I like to mix it up. It's a good focus game because they leave you for something good then come straight back. Cam Day showed us how this worked with dogs with behaviour issues of all kinds, a simple task keeping them stress free and focused. Kaden absolutely loves this game but I just haven't had the opportunity to do the gradual thing because when I show up at training I have to get straight to class and then take Kaden in his class when mine is finished. Try using really high reward food before breakfast like roast chicken, kabana, cheese or liver bits to get him interested. Those chunkers in the supermarket fridge bit did pretty well with the doggies at Delta, but I wouldn't use them all the time, they look soooo fatty!! Apparently it says "no nutritional value" on the bag. My OH didn't read this and bought them as Kaden's food when I was away! Gave him the whole damn bag, he must have been one happy puppy!!! Let me know how you go with anything you try, Kaden's got this problem baaad!

eeeeeeexcellent

I would have said no??? The pH levels of our skin are totally different to that of a dog so it's not recommended to use human shampoo on dogs. Once in a while would be ok as long as your dog doesn't have sensitive skin. -http://www.lovemypet.com.au/advice/dog/essential-grooming-basics.htm -http://www.kvh.com.au/Washing%20The%20Dog.html (KVH is the vet hospital my mum takes our pets to in Melb. I would call them trustworthy, they have been good in my exp.)

I've read this one too late, but if you're worried about how they will go under anesthetic, a pre-anesthetic blood test is always worth the peace of mind. They look for any health/dehydration issues that could affect the dog in surgery. I got a general health profile (expensive, but I was working at the vets at the time and got it cheap) done for my boy and I knew when he went under that he was 100% healthy. Was great to see the results too so I knew he didnt have any issues.

That stuff gives me the creeps by how THICK it is!!!!! It takes sooooooooo much effort to get that stuff into the needle when you're making it up. I don't want that in my puppy's system no matter what the convenience! My puppy loves the heartworm chews and I'm keen to start on Sentinal Spectrum soon so I wont be touching the needle

I was about to suggest VIP but I see you've found it. I am so keen to check the place out but it costs too much for me. I'd love to do tracking some day, might not be soon though!

I'm still up for 3

hehehehehe

lol....I dont own either of those!!!!!!! I own a golden retriever and my dad had a bichon that passed away last year. I really should remove him from my avatar but I dont know how and haven't gotten around to getting OH to fix it for me. I keep getting asked at meets where my swf is. Even when he was alive he lived in Melbourne.

Thanks for that espinay

Coming from Nth Gold Coast, near the theme parks

I used to feed Full meal portion Chicken mince with veggies Chicken necks/frames (lunch if I was home, otherwise like snacks) Lamb or beef bones (couple a week but sometimes went without if I couldnt get to the butchers) Supercoat puppy was always hanging around but rarely eaten. It was something the breeder started so he always just had a bowl sitting around for lunch time snacks but he rarely ate it and when he did he was like a kid on red cordial!! I now feed Half portion of Chicken mince OR Roo mince OR steak mince with veggies Half portion of Royal Canin Labrador Retriever dry food (I haven't settled on a dry yet, this is an experiment!) A lamb bone OR beef bone OR chicken necks/frame He also gets a tin or two of sardines a week with a meal. Anyone have suggestions on this diet that doesn't include "feed your dog only dry food" or loading him up with a bunch of suppliments?? I know I ask about this a lot lately but I'm toying with his diet a lot. Everytime I get it right someone throws in another rule that I have never heard about! I'm a little concerned about his weight at the moment too. He's not too overweight, but the ribs are starting to dissapear and has a retriever I have to be so careful. I dont want to put him on a strict diet, I just dont want him to gain weight. He needs fat because he's still growing, but he doesn't need stress on his joints. (He is 8months old)