Red Fox

Yes - he's a thspethal dog . And I promise you, he is no where near fat (not that you suggested he might be, but just to reassure). I am actually quite happy with his weight at the moment. He can't afford to lose any, but I think it is almost on perfect. Other people (perhaps more used to seeing dogs with fat on them) have a tendency to think he is skinny but I don't think he is. More like lean. But yes - that's on 2000g per day at the moment. Plus roo tail bones, although I have run out of those and need to get some more in. Oh - and plus his special medi-treats, which in themselves wouldn't count for much in the 'putting on weight' department. Plus additives. Apologies for the OT. I'm glad to hear he's doing well. A skinny Ridgie is MUCH better than a fat one (well not too skinny but you know what I mean )

!! I want your butcher down here!! My local butchers used to supply roo mince which I fed to my previous girl, but now they only stock the premium roo. I ran out for a couple of days and had to buy that. At $15 or $16 per kilogram and with my boy eating 2 kilograms a day it proved to be an expensive weekend meals-wise. But not to worry. I made up for that by having toast. Wow Erny, thats expensive! Your boy eats a lot more than mine too, any more than 1200g of food per day and Kei gets fat Have to say though I was blown away by the price too. I gave hubby $50 and told him to get 3 or 4 kg and a couple of bones just to see how we go, when he told me it had only cost $12 for the lot I almost fell over!

Thanks Oakway. He's become a bit of a chuma-wumba over winter so maybe it will lean him out a bit.

Hmm. I thought about that so plan is to introduce it in small amounts and see what happens. Last night 1/2 a cup, a leg bone this-morning and half a cup tonight. So far poop is looking good He has had roo before but only on dried form.

I've always fed Kei beef (mince and/or chunks of rump, topside etc.) as part of his diet and he has done well on it. We have a local butcher here who specialises in roo products (for both humans and animals) that a lot of people around here use and seem happy with so I decided to give them a go and sent OH down there yesterday to buy a few kilo's of mince and some nice big bones (all for the bargain price of $12!). Last night I gave Kei half a cup of the mince mixed with his normal dinner and this morning a nice big leg bone, both of which he thourouly enjoyed Now my question is apart from the price ($3 per kg for roo compared to $12 for beef) is there any advantages/disadvantages to using roo meat over beef? I have in the past read that roo has a higher calcium content and is also leaner and therefore a better choice, but then I've also read that it can contain hydatids (though I'm presuming that meat from a butcher would be pretty clean, especially as they also sell human grade) My only experience with roo is when I had the cat on it a few years ago and he did not do well at all. BUT I had him on the pre-packaged preservative filled supermarket crap. The meat from this butcher is fresh minced and preservative free. And before I get flamed for not using bone in pet mince... :D Mince only makes up around 20-30% of Kei's diet. The rest being RMB's(around 50-60%) veggie slops/fish/dairy/offal/eggs etc. So yes he is getting plenty of bone in his diet already Can anyone offer any pros/cons on the subject? Thanks

Kitty, have you read the book 'So your dog's not Lassie'? It's got some really good tips in there for focus and loose lead walking. Of all the books I have read I found this one really helpful. One of the things I did (and still do) with Kei was to take him out to the local oval on a long line (33ft), tie the leash to my waist and let him sniff around doing as he pleases. Then every time he came to me (without being called) praise and treat. PRAISE like your dog has just done the best thing in the world too, really make a big deal out of it. After a few sessions of that you can try running in the other direction all of a sudden and then if your dog follows you again praise and treat. Eventually they just want to follow you every time you walk off and from there you can teach the heel command ie, one step with me and then treat, two steps with me and treat working your way up. No substitute for a few sessions with a good trainer but maybe worth a shot

Hi Natamalie. He's a cutie Where's he from?? At 4 months old you shouldn't really be walking him more than half a kilometre per day. If he has lots of energy burn it up with training, problem solving (Kongs, biscuit balls etc) and short play sessions in the backyard. For a large breed dog you really want to err on the side of caution with exercise whilst they are growing. Definitely not 2 walks a day! Check out this link: http://www.ridgebacks.com.au/Bringing_Up_A_Puppy.htm Lots of info on Ridgie health and training. Your breeder will be able to give you advice on exercise too, it's often somewhere in your puppy pack but if not give them a call From the Hodarirafiki Ridgebacks site:

It seems that everyone has a different oppinion when it comes to desexing. Our contract suggests that we should desex our (large breed) dog between the ages of 9-15 months. His breeder prefers that males are allowed to grow and develop before they are desexed. Her contract for the girls asks for desexing between 5 and 9 months of age. Her vet (whom I was speaking to today) thinks the the optimal age for desexing is before 6 months. My vet here prefers to wait until the dogs are minimum 4-6 months before desexing. Many other breeders will desex their pet puppies before they leave for their new homes. There are as many answers to the question as there are people that you ask! My personal choice is to wait until my boy is around 2 years old before we desex him. Luckily (for me) his breeder is more than happy for me to do this eta: Retained testicles are a whole other issue though so probably best to follow the advice of your vet and breeder. Hopefully they will come down in their own sweet time If not they will definitely need removing.

I bought a half a dozen cans of Hills Science Diet a few weeks ago for frozen Kong stuffing (Big W had them out cheap). The ingredients are not too bad, much better than what they put in their dry food anyway . I'm not overly keen on the salt content but as we only go through one or two small cans per fortnight (if we're lucky) I don't think it really matters all that much. Can't say Kei's gone crazy for it though... I think I'll be giving Natures gift a go next time If I *had* to feed canned food as a main diet I'd probably try Eagle Pack or Ziwi Peak.

Actually, Entropion is a completely and separate condition. Entropion is a condition where the eyelid itself actually folds or rolls inwards. Distichiasis is where eyelashes grow independently inside the eyelid. It is however possible to have both and if I had a dog with both, it would NEVER be bred from. Two strikes is way too close for me! What normally happens as a result of untreated severe distichiasis (or entropion) is corneal ulceration which is painful and can be blinding. It can also cause another condition where constant irritation causes pigmentation to grow over the surface of the eye. And for those who are interested, the "opposite" of entropion (eyelids folding/rolling inwards) is ECtropion (eyelids folding/rolling outwards). Thanks Ellz I probably didn't explain it too well What we were told is that the contant irritation of the lashes on the eye had caused the eyelid to roll in. But when the vet put a few drops of anesthetic in the eye the lid would instantly flip back out and stay that way for a few hours. So I guess it was not *true* entropian? When the vet did the surgery he took measurements and said that there was no other reason for it. Since the lashes were removed we've had no more problems with the lid rolling in again

Hi Kokoro My boy had/has exactly the same thing. It can happen in lots of breeds. Not sure if it's *always* hereditary but it's a good idea to let the breeder know just in case. It can be easily missed by the vet too. In our case it developed into entropian (from the irritation of the eyelashes rubbing agaist the eye) but the extra lashes were missed by 3 vets before being diagnosed. When they were finally found the extra lashes it was under anesthetic, by the breeders vet, and they were quite short and deep in the lower rim, so not easily visable otherwise. The surgery to correct it can involve removing the extra lashes and sometime if it has developed into entropian the dog might need a few temporary stitches as well. Just be aware that even if the lashes have been removed there is still a good chance that they will grow back, often in a different place.

Excellent, thats just what I want! A dishwashing BC pup If I PM you with my address do you think you could post one out before the weekend?? I will send you a very lazy Ridgie in return. Thank you :D ;)

Yes, me too! And if my pup can be trained to do the dishes occasionally and help out with the housework that would be much appreciated too. Can anyone recommend a breeder

Apart from the standard general puppy pack info, vaccination card, registation papers, etc: -a toy or blanket that smells like 'home' -a bag of food which the puppy has been eating (and a scedule of puppy's normal feeding times -A book on training and some info on how to select an appropriate puppy pre-school/obedience club -Next dose of worming tablets, or if the puppy has been treated with a monthly treatment before leaving some info on when next treatment is due and where to buy it from. -CD with pics of litter-mates and parents would be nice too. Kei's breeder gave us a big folder with information on everything from breed standard to toilet training, feeding times, info and amounts, worming scedule, photo's of parents and litter mates, plus lots of other stuff that I can't think of right now lol. It was, and has continued to be, a great reference. The folder also contained contact info for the breeder and our contract, plus a slip for his ANKC papers when they arrived few weeks later. The other thing we recieved were: -A copy of the Ian Dunbar book 'After you get your puppy' (we also were given 'Before you get your puppy' before Kei was born) -A 20kg bag of food that the breeder organised for us as she knew we couldn't buy it where we lived -A toy that had been with the litter for the past few weeks

I honestly prefer softer high value treats for proper training sessions too, and tend to use a rotation of roo sausages, hotdogs, cheese, chunkers, cut up dog roll etc so that he doesn't get sick of one thing. I dont think Kei would ever work for cat biscuits or dried liver under distraction either But I do like harder the dry treats for those times I need to grab something in a hurry, also means I can keep a few in my pocket, next to the front door and on the computer desk without them going off or getting stinky. Todays reason for grabbing a handful of cat biscuit was that someone unfamiliar came to the door and I wanted him to sit quietly next to me while I spoke to them without barking. I just happened to be in the laundry when the doorbell rang and cat food was the first thing I saw As far as commercial treats go I tend to steer right away from them, apart from a bit of dried liver, roo jerky and a few of the Polar Paws treats. The Happy Paws treats are fantastic too. I actually have a big bag here but my silly dog got sick of them halfway through So until he changes his mind cat biscuits it is!

I think anything with fish in it would be pretty smelly and tempting I think Eagle Pack and Ziwi-Peak both have fish varieties.

Are there any problems with using cat biscuits as dog treats? Obviously they are much higher protein than your average dog food, but surely a small handful here and there as training treats would be okay? Reason for asking is that my boy gets bored very easily so to keep the treats high value I swap them around a lot. This morning I grabbed a small handful of cat biscuits (Eagle Pack) and he went nuts for them Not something that I plan on using too often, however they are perfect size for clicker training and non-messy. Would be handy to throw a few in my pocket on walks every now and then too, and of course they are something that I always have on hand. (As I feed Kei raw I don't tend to buy dry dog food at all). I'd love to hear others oppinions on this, does anyone else do it? Thanks

Thanks TSD, I hope you're right Neats, I have actually just started reading Control Unleashed but am only about 1 chapter in. I would love to start agility work with Kei when he is a little older so hopefully there will be some useful info on there for us. Of all the books I've read lately (and there's been a few!) I have found 'So your Dog's Not Lassie' to be excellent. I actually think I might go back and re-read it when I finish CU. TerraNik, thanks for the tips. It sounds similar to the things we have been doing so I guess that we will just have to keep on working at it and trust that all this training will eventually pay off!

Thanks Kavik, I will take that into consideration Do you have any suggestions on what I could do when another dog all of a sudden appears very close to us? ie, come around a corner or is let of lead by their owners and comes running towards/around us.

Thanks Kavik. I've done a little focus work with him and already do some of the things that you have suggested- I started off by by clicking and treating at home whenever he looked at me then progressed outside into the yard/front of the house and now to taking him out to the park or local primary school oval (lots of distracting smells and after school care kids running around the playground). At the oval I put him on a 10m long line (tied around my waist) and let him sniff around. Every time he comes to me I click and treat (or play a short game of tug) then send him of to sniff again. Occasionall I'll run in the other direction when he is distracted with something and then click and reward when he catches up to me. I try to take him about 3-4 times a week when I can. He enjoys it, and it has helped with his focus. I also take the clicker on walks with me. Kei is allowed to look at anything that interests him -ducks, cats, kids, bikes etc, and then I will click and treat him for looking back at me. I also reward him if he looks at me when I say his name or 'look'. The other thing I do is to take him to the playground during school holidays when there are lots of kids around jumping and screaming and the occasional dog. We sit outside on the grass where he is allowed to look at whatever he likes and I reward him for laying down quietly. Are they the kind of things you mean or am I missing something? I do try to do this when there are other dogs around but find it very hard to get his focus back when he is so determined to get to them. If there is a dog walking in front of us (same direction) I will stop as soon as the lead goes tight and then reward when he turns back to me and the lead slackens before I take another step. However if there is a dog coming towards us or running around off lead it is much harder. In this case I normally either distract with food as we walk (doesn't always work) or put him in a sit and wait for the other dog to pass. Lately I have been carrying a tug with me and using that to distract him sometimes too. Sorry for the long winded explanation, hope this clarifies what I'm actually doing with him YES! It's actually something that i have been doing for a while now without realising it Right now I am working on building his drive under distraction (ie short 2 min bursts with the tug out in the park) and it's working quite well. He gets very excited to hear the word 'ready' as he knows the tug is coming out. If I am training him in drive at the oval I use a favourite toy that only comes out during these sessions. I have noticed that when he is focussed like this I can put him in a down stay at a distance from me while another dog crosses the oval (happens quite often) and he will remain completely focused on me and the toy. I just need to work out how to translate that into walks and obedience (club) training. Hopefully the work with the tug will help? I'd love to do a proper course in drive training when i have the time and the money, I think it's a fantastic way to train!

:D Yes, I do this. I swear some of the passers by look at me like I'm mad too lol. The problem starts when he decides that the passing dog is of more value than the treat I have. Sometimes all is going well until the dog we are passing decides to show an interest in him, or an off-lead dog comes running into our space. I those cases I can have a handful of roast chicken and it means nothing to him ;) But then other times he will trot along beside me with no problems at all Obedience classes are another issue all-together as he just sees it as a big doggie playground, very hard to get much out of him at all in that environment which I would very much like to change

I'd like some tips on how to keep my dogs focus on me when there are other dogs around. While he is generally well behaved, our puppy classes and early obedience classes focussed heavily on socialisation between the dogs and now he seems to see 'play' as the highest reward. Obviously this becomes an issue when we encounter other dogs either at training or out on a walk. At the moment I use a high value treat -either food or toy- to gain his attention before he has a chance to become fixated on the other dog. While this does work I am not always quick enough and then the struggle begins At 11 months old he is still a puppy (although a BIG one!). Is focus something that will come with age if we keep at it? What else can I do? Thanks :D

I had the opposite response from my vet when I took Kei in for his 12 week vaccination. At that stage I was only feeding him 1-2 necks every 2nd day and my vet told me I should up it to 3-4 a day as the calcium was good for him. So I guess it depends on who your vet is Now, at 11 months I feed him around 500-700g of chicken necks or frames most days (alomg with other things of course) and have not had a problem.

I haven't We went from 3 meals down to 2 at around 6 months old and will continue to feed two small meals for life. What breed is Momo? At 6 months old she is still a puppy and should probably stay on 2 meals per day If she's overweight you should try cutting down her meal sizes first, then go to 1 meal a day later on if you prefer.

Not all human grade meat is full of preservatives. It depends a lot on where you buy it from. Butchers who keep their mince on display will almost always spray it with preservatives to stop the meat from going brown, however supermarkets who mince fresh daily in store and then pack in trays often have preservative free mince. I would not buy mince with preservatives for either my dog or my family -ever. IGA sells preservative free mince, I think Coles and Wollies/Safeway may do so also, if it doesn't say preservative free on the pack I suggest you shop elsewhere! Now back on topic I do feed my dog beef mince meat mixed with his BARF slops on a night but plain muscle meat only makes up around 25% of his diet. The rest is RMB's and small amounts of offal, dairy and fish. A typical day might be 600g of chicken frames for brekkie and then 200g of beef mince mixed with a little liver, 1/3 cup of vegie slops and plain yogurt plus 200-300g of chicken wings or necks for dinner. Another night I might add a can of sardines instead of the liver or an egg instead. So plain mince isn't necessarily bad as such, it just depends on the amount you feed it in and what else you are feeding it. If you are only feeding mince as an occasional addition to dry/commercial food every now and then it's not really going to matter all that much. However if you are feeding it in large amounts every day or your plan is to stick simply with mince and veg (without including sufficient amounts of RMB's to balance it out) then ALWAYS use the pet mince. Also remember that there is a HUGE difference between the pre-packed pet mince you will find in your supermarket -usually contains just beef or roo and offal with some supplements- and the minced chicken frames (pet mince) you can buy from Leonards. If in doubt then ask your butcher to mince up some fresh wings and frames on the spot so you KNOW what you are getting Grains are a whole other debate. Some people feed them some don't. Most commercial foods contain grain but dogs don't need it to survive. Everyone here will have their own oppinions of whether you should or shouldn't feed grains. Personally I do feed rice, oats or pasta very occasionally, normally when there is a bit left over from tea and no more than once or twice a fortnight. I sometimes feed my dog soaked oats mixed with yogurt too. I feed these things because I know my dog enjoys them, not because I think he needs them. The thing is though that there are better things for your dog to fill up on and gain his energy from than rice or pasta *forgot to add- Puggy Puggy's recipe^^IS EXCELLENT!