Red Fox

It does a bit - re the happy to please bit. Ridgies are happy to please ....only one person though - THEMSELVES

Some breeds that might suit (going on the fact that you said you wanted a larger dog and looking at the shorter coated breeds): higher energy breeds (would need lots of training sessions + excercise) GSP Vizsla Dobermann Pharaoh Hound lower energy breeds (need less excercise and happy with general obedience type training) Greyhound Great Dane Happy medium? (needs a reasonable amount of training and excercise) Dalmation Amstaff Labrador Whippet Ridgeback Bloodhound English Pointer Rottweiler A bit smaller but perhaps suitable: Beagle SBT *Keeping in mind though that depending on the lines you could just as easily end up with a laid back Dobe, as a through the roof energy, needs constant stimulation dally or even dane :D

I'd leave the raw for a bit and start him on a good quality puppy food (Nutro is fine), 4 small meals per day then gradually introduce raw after a few weeks, perhaps starting with some minced chicken frames if thats what you want to do. If the puppy has never been on anything besides Pal puppy milk you don't want to overload his system with too much too soon. I agree with oakway though. Do you really want to take this puppy? Are you prepared to deal with possible health and temperament issues if they arise and deal with them for the next 10+ years? If you really feel that you need/want to take him do it now. Trip to the local pet suplies store and vet - bowl, bed, bag of food, wormers, flea treatment, book an appointment for vaccs and health check and you're set for now

Kate_Summer, it might help if you post EXACTLY how much time you want to spend on: excercise grooming coat preference (long/medium/short/very short) training and what you want to do with the dog - do you want to compete in agility or obedience at all? Or tracking or herding? Or are you not interested in dog sport and just want a well behaved companion? How big your yard is and will the dog be inside? How old will your kids be when you get it? What kind of temperament you want in a dog - do you want a snuggly velcro dog, a happy to please dog or a more independant type breed (a lot of that is personality too but breed does play a part I think). Anything else that you are particular about? There are heaps of short coated, intelligent breeds out there but they all suit different owners with different interests and requirements. eg, a Dane would make a great companion, but might not be the best choice if you are wishing to trial competitively in agility. A Malinois is extremely intelligent and loves to work but wont be happy with only a 30 minute walk and sitting around the house, same goes for any working breed. A Lab might be a great family dog and has a short coat - but my God do they shed Those breed selector things can be a good start too

Or children The 102cm size would be fine for Luuka http://www.topbuy.com.au/tbcart/pc/Lightwe...y-161p14748.htm My K9+ crate (the good one ) is that size and my Ridgie can fit in there. A friend has this size for her BC's too

Hugs to you and Boss today too xx

Me either, well not unless the crate was pegged down. I can just see my dog flying along with crate in tow I wouldn't. Unless you could secure it down somehow it could easily tip over with the dog inside and it wouldn't offer much protection in an accident either. Better off with a car harness attached to a child restraint bolt (or seatbelt)

Wow, the first to suggest Greyhound, I don't know much about them beside many usually suggesting the breed Mot Not sure what they are like as most come from the adoption program?? Love Ridgie look but know nothing about them What do you want to know? From my experience; they are lazy - happy with 30-60 minutes of exercise per day but also just as happy (if not more) to lay on the couch all day. They are smart, but not necessarily easy to train. I find it very easy to teach my dog to do things but not so easy to get him to WANT to do it, there really has to be something in it for them - they won't work for the love of it (so prob not the best dog for obedience unless you're willing to put in a LOT of work). They get bored quickly too and don't do well with repetition or "drill" type obedience training. They are independant and strong minded, you need to show good leadership from day one. They are also big and strong and can easily knock kids over when they are running around. Also pays to teach good leash manners because of their size. They don't tend to jump, but the ones that do can clear a 6ft fence easy (see the pic below of the amazing flying Kei ) I've found that most ridgies are wary of strangers, more a one person/family dog than a love everyone type dog. They are not big barkers, they tend to bark for a reason - not because they like the sound of their own voice. They do shed (especially comming into summer) but not a great deal, they don't require much grooming beyond a bath every now and then, ears cleaned and nails clipped. They are generally food motivated (though some are a bit more fussy). They are BIG sooky-la-la's and don't like to be left alone for long periods of time.

I bag my meat and bones in the right portion sizes and freeze, do my veggie slops once every 4-6 weeks and freeze in ice-cube trays, then just pull things out and defrost as I need them. It only takes a few minutes on a night to mix it all together on a night and I find it gives me more choice in what I want to feed that day.

Do you mean the black webbing type strap? It's a leash attachment - you loop the velcro bit around the top bar of the internal frame and clip it to the dogs collar.

For a 36kg Ridgeback I feed: Breakfast- 300-500g of raw meaty bones; Roo spine/tail, chicken wings/thighs/drumsticks (occasionally a whole small chicken), lamb flaps/shanks. Dinner- 350g meat (usually roo) PLUS, *veggie slops, a scoop of natural yogurt and a few supps (vit C, ACV, green lipped mussel powder, probiotics). To that I add one of the following most nights: offal (liver/brains/heart), tin of sardines or mackeral, an egg, very occasionally I'll add a bit of left over rice or pasta. He also gets a small amount of goats milk after his dinner and usually a 4x2 biscuit or a small bone (chicken wing or drumstick, small lamb flap or roo tail piece, etc) as well. *My veggie slops has fruit, veg, omega pet oil, eggs, kelp, garlic and parsley in it. I have a diet sheet which I'd be happy to email to you if that helps

Possible.. but if you're healthy and use common sense it's extremely unlikely. Wash your hands, and make sure the kids wash their hands before eating and after playing with the dogs and you'll be fine. You're more likely to pick it up from supermarkets, public transport, playgrounds... My dog is fed raw, we're not dead yet

:D There seems to be a small child hogging the camera from the Ridgeback ... Yeah he kind of got lost in the shadows (the dog that is!). The blue PJ's don't help with that too much either

Here you go

I got the biggest one and found that it easily fits a male Ridgeback and and an 11 year old child quite comfortably :D Should be great for carting around in the back of the car this summer - for both of them naawwwww Elbie is so cute

An agility trainer?! For behavioural problems? Are you friggin insane? So if your child had severe anxiety issues would you bring in the local basketball coach too? Same thing. I agree. In the vast majority of cases a good breeder will have orders placed on the litter before they are even on the ground. They don't need a middle man (pet shop) to do that for them, just reputation and word of mouth. Actually, my dogs litter (like many others) was never even publically advertised, it simply wasn't necessary. So were all puppies sold by your shop desexed? Or sold with a desexing contract in place? And if not how can you be so sure that the new owners didn't go on to "breed completely indiscriminately, and flog off the pups cheaply" What makes a badly bred Poodle or Maltese or Lab or Cav any more 'pleasant' than a GSD x Ridgeback x Mastif x Staffy? Or a Cav x Beagle bred with a poodle x spaniel (I know of someone who bred this exact combo from their 2 pet shop puppies not that long ago). Microchipping and vaccinating a pup wont improve bad breeding. And I'll bet "Fred" is not trying to flog off his pups for $350-$500 each as "vet checked designer mixes".

Good news. I hope he continues to improve I know that squeal.

Try here: http://www.petsprovidore.com.au/Herm-Spren...ort=&page=2 They have pretty much every type of Spenger chain, in every size, thickness and finish that you could ask for

Of course some BYB are going to be better than others, but if the "breeder" is already going to all that effort then why not just apply for a prefix and do it properly

You can buy a brush specifically designed for cleaning Kongs. I've never had a problem getting them completely clean with one of these http://www.amazon.com/Bamboo-Cleaning-Brus...m/dp/B000OSG2WI

OH works nights, I get cold. Nothing better than a Ridgie sized water bottle to warm you up Seriously though, I wouldn't let a puppy sleep on my bed if I didn't want it to do so as an adult. My dog is crate trained. If I want him off the bed he gets booted off and told to go to his crate instead. Doesn't bother him in the slightest.

I have a dog who hates having his nails done (bad experience at puppy class I think wont go there...) I tried desensitising him to it, treating him, handling his paws etc and it never worked, so now I do one of 2 things- Cut his claws (with manual scissor style clippers) in the bath. It's still stressful for him but it's very quick, there is less fiddling around, and he can't take off. If we only get through one paw we just do the others at another time. At the very least I can get the dew claws done. Or, use a normal, coarse nail file and file them down manually when he is already relaxed. This hardly bothers him at all. The downside is that it takes a while but you do end up with nice blunt claws If he's burying it then he's not hungry. Feed him less on a night and he might eat the bone in the morning.

I got mine today too. It's HUGE

Plenty of dogs have (and use) their dew claws As long as they are well attached and you keep them short they are nothing to worry about at all.

What about boarding the dog (with it's breeder if possible) until things have settled down? If thats not an option she should contact the breeder in regards to rehoming. If the dog is rehomed locally then perhaps the kids could have a visit at some point, or even have the new owner send some pics and an update every now and then. But expecting to be able to rehome it and still see it whenever they please is a bit much..