Red Fox

Mine is usually collar free too Of course he wears a collar when he's out and about but it's usually removed as soon as we get in the gate. Occasionally I will leave a flat collar on him during the day, though only if I'm home. I do this for only 2 reasons, first being if I know we will be in and out a lot during the day and it saves me form taking the collar an and off continuously, second if we have visitors and I may need to grab him or leash him quickly. If we go away I tend to leave a soft flat collar on him at all times simply for the fact that we are in a strange area and it has his ID, again he is never left unsupervised so not an issue. I do have a breakaway collar but find it works a little too well - comes of if you grab it and the dog pulls away etc. so I don't tend to use it. However if my dog was ever to go into a boarding situation or needed to be left alone outside and/or with other dogs this is what I would use on him.

The breeder may well be legit, but given the fact that SBT's are not a particularly rare breed and that there are some very good experienced breeders out there it may be better to look elsewhere -to someone who is already registered, experienced, will microchip (depending on the state laws, as this is not expensive and is something that you can always do yourself if need be at puppies next vet visit), health tests and/or can show you copies of the parents papers and health certificates

I also have a dog who goes off his nut when someone lingers aound the gate or comes to the door. (A passer-by normally just gets a couple of woofs) but to be honest I don't mind it - I like having that warning if someone is hanging around without invitation. Is your dog crate trained? Will he go to his crate on command? This is how I manage Kei's behaviour. If a visitor comes to the door I will send him to his crate, then depending on who the visitor is I will do one of 3 things. 1. Let him out to say hello (if he knows the person and is okay with them). 2. Wait until he calms down, open the crate, allow him to check the person out (providing that person is ok with dogs). After which he will go off and do his own thing. or 3. Leave him in his crate until the person leaves. If you are having trouble with school kids walking past then I would either be keeping your dog inside (with the door shut), or crating him during those times. (Say 8:25-8:45am and then again at 3:15-3:45pm) You could give him a Kong or a treat to chew on while he's in there too so that he looks forward to it Is there any reason why he must be in the front yard during the day though?

Things like this should be taught in all schools and it's a shame not all teachers/schools are so pro-active about it. A small amount of education at primary school age really pays off for these kids, and it's amazing how they will then go on to educate their friends and parents too Good on you KHM for adding reponsible pet ownership to your class program. I'm sure the kids will enjoy it

I'd first try sprinkling it over the dry food. If that doesn't work you could try mixing it with either: -Goats milk (as already suggested) You can get it either fresh (not all supermarkets sell fresh though) or long life -Yogurt (natural or even flavoured if he's really fussy) -Chicken (pet) mince (take it out of his RMB allowance) -Fish (canned sardines/tuna/mackeral) -Raw or scrambled egg -Canned food (If you need to use cat food then you could just use a tiny amount each day rather than a whole can) or as a last resort and probably the cheapest option too: -Stock or really weak gravy mix. Mix it in and pour over his dry food :D I suppose you could even try rubbing it onto his bones. Not sure how difficult that would be but I'm pretty sure Jointguard has no smell or taste so it might work.

My dog has shown all of the above behaviours at some point (towards either myself or others) and he is far from dominant I'm not sure how "Eating before you" is a dominant behaviour either. I would think that depends more on when you choose to feed your dog rather than how dominant they are

What raw food are you feeding? If you are set on feeding raw you could try swapping a portion of her meals (or alternate entire meals) for raw pureed veg. Veggies will fill her tummy but not allow her to gain weight. Roo is good too as it's nice and lean. But you would only need tiny, tiny pieces of tail bone.. Ditch the rawhide, it's no good for her, stop the treats too - she doesn't need them. If you want to give treats they need to be coming out of her daily meal allowance. In all honesty Supercoat is not the best brand. If her weight problem is that severe you would probably do best to take her off raw completely and get her onto a more balanced prescription diet as suggested. It would be much easier to moniter and manage. If your local vets don't have it ring around until you find someone who does, it's not that hard to find. I believe that there are internet stockists now of Hill prescription too.

yes we have one due any day now Congrats on the new imports too :D

Oh poor boy, that looks nasty Hope it all heals up quickly, sounds like the outlook is a good one too :D

Sentinal and interceptor cover both intestinal worms and heart worm (Sentinal also covers fleas). Recommendation is to dose every month on the same day though you can leave up to 6 weeks between treatments. If you are using seperate heartworm and intestinal worming treatments then you should be giving heartworm protection monthly (with the majority of treatments) and an intestinal wormer every 3 months (or as required). There are also spot on treatments that cover heartworm, intestinal worms, fleas and mites. As far as I'm aware Advocate is one of them - though it doesn't cover tapeworm so you will need a seperate tablet for that.

I'm pretty sure they can too. Kei has had it happen a couple of times (perhaps 2 or 3 times in the space of 2 years). If it happens too often, doesn't resolve after a a few minutes or your dog seems overly distressed then I'd probably head off to the vets for a check up

I used to mix the kibble with yogurt, seal up both ends with cheese spread and freeze There are a few threads on this already if you do a search. Also have a look at the KONG website - there's a few recipes there too.

At least your Mum is knowledgable and was willing to set her straight. Legally I don't think there is much you can do though - to a point she is right; if the dogs have shelter, food and water then by RSPCA standards it not abuse. Registered breeders have a hell of a lot more restrictions on them than PF's/BYB's unfortunately. This type of thing would probably end a friendship for me...

Do keep in mind though, I'm not a vet, nor do I have a huge amount of knowledge on vaccinations - I would never want to tell another owner what they should or shouldn't do. The above is just my oppinion from the research that I have done and what I believe to be the best for my dog. If you are interested in reading more about vaccinations then have a look at these books: "Shock to the System" or "Vaccine guide for Dogs and Cats" also do a search on Jean Dodds

Just because an animal is vaccinated it does not always mean that the animal is necessarily immune. Vaccinations may lower the risk significantly but it does not always guarantee protection, a vaccinanted dog can still catch Parvo, an unvaccinated puppy can easily catch it too. Just like immunised humans can still catch diseases - uncommon, but it still happens. If there was an outbreak in my area I would certainly be taking my dog in for titre testing and re-vaccinating if his levels were low. If not, then what's the point? If a dog is immune he is immune. Pumping him with a vaccine when he doesn't need it is only going to weaken his immune system, how can that be a good thing? The US has been vaccinating dogs triennually for years with the standard vaccine. As have other countries. Australia is only now catching up. As Crisovar said, the manufacturers are labelling their vaccines as yearly, regardless of what the AVA recommends and the vets are either stuck in their ways or refusing to sign off for any longer than the label states.

No warm towel? The bed will do just fine

On top of my (previously) nicely folded clean towels, warm out of the dryer

The native Africanis dogs (which currently exist in South Africa) and the native Hottentot (from which the Rhodesian Ridgebacks ridge originated from, and which the european hunting dogs were first bred to in the 1500's) are not the same dog. The Hottentot no longer exists. Dermoid sinus more often than not occurs in the neck or tail, not the ridge. Ridgeless dogs can also develop DS, therefore breeding the ridge out would have no effect on DS. The only way to effectively reduce the risk of DS is to cull affected dogs from the breeding program. There have also been studies involving adding folic acid to the dams diet to reduce the incidence of DS occurring: http://www.rrclubsa.com/a_health.htm

There is a history behind that ridge, it is part of the breed and IMO not something that should ever be lost. http://www.macumazahn.com/rrhistory.html *Taken from the above link: "The Rhodesian Ridgeback originated in Southern Africa where the early European settlers mated their sporting breeds with the small, fierce, hunting dogs, owned by the Hottentots, in order to produce a guard/hunting dog ideally suited to the local conditions." In the early days it was found that the ridged dogs were better hunters than the non ridged dogs, thus they were the ones that were bred from. It was not cosmetic at all. The standard for the breed was simply developed to preserve the breed: "During the late 19th Century, the reputation of "Ridgebacks" in the hunting field became established by the exploits of these dogs. Van Rooyen's dogs were very similar to today's Rhodesian Ridgebacks. By the 1920's, when the days of big game hunting on a grand scale were drawing to a close, it became apparent that "Ridgebacks" might disappear if the breeds were not standardized and breeders encouraged to strive to conform.The standard of the breed, which borrowed much from the Dalmatian Standard, was drawn up by a Mr. F.R. Barnes after he called a meeting of "Ridgeback" owners in Bulawayo in 1922. This Standard was accepted by the South African Kennel Union (now the Kennel Union of Southern Africa) in 1924." PDE twisted that information to make it sound like the ridged dogs were unhealthy mutants, and that breeders callously culled any dogs born without the "cosmetic" ridge. The truth is that yes, there are a small percentage of dogs who are born ridgeless, and yes they are "culled" from the lines. But more often than not "culled" means not bred from or shown - or in other words placed in pet homes. It is true that some breeders will still pts, but they are in the minority. Ridgebacks can be born with a condition called Dermoid Sinus. http://www.htmlspinners.com/CalicoRidge/Ri...ack/Dermoid.htm Puppies are checked at birth (and usually weekly thereafter) for this condition. A pup with DS is usually put to sleep, though depending on the severity it can be operated on. DS occurs in both ridges and ridgeless puppies "The D.S. is generally found on the midline of the neck, back, and tail along the spinal column. Although rarely found in the ridge there have been several cases noted. Dermoid sinuses have also been noted on ridgeless puppies." Though the ridge may be cosmetic in a sense it is a major part of the breeds history, and as it does not affect the health of the breed I see no reason why it should ever be bred out.

Good pic Allerzeit. I've found that most of the supermarket ones are cut into several pieces so you tend to get the bony bit (as in the pic below) and a flappy fatty meaty part too. Puppy Kei with a lamb flap

...or you could just pay more Every vet will tell you different, as will breeders and owners. I've had one vet tell me that vaccinations are important in the early years and later years of a dogs life and that the middle ones can be missed. Another tell me that I must vaccinate yearly with a C5 Another tell me that it's up to me, and give the options of titer test, C3 or parvac, yearly or triennually (the vet we stuck with) Another (who was from the UK) tell me that dogs should only be vaccinated every 3 years with a C3 and that we over-vaccinate in Australia... Hmmm... so who's right? The AVA is now recommending 3 yearly vaccinations http://ava.informz.net/ava/data/images/doc...inal-june09.pdf Yet most vets are still telling us that we MUST vaccinate yearly I stopped vaccinating my now 7 year old cat 2 years ago. Up until then he had been given a yearly vaccination; he limped badly, couldn't jump (he has arthritis and we were then in the process of discussing FHR surgery for him- which he didn't have), his coat was terrible and he was develloping constant abcesses and infections. He is now has a healthy full coat, hasn't limped for well over a year, no illness or infections in that time either... I won't be vaccinating him again.

Well they do... sorta. Kei tends to shed a bit in the warmer months but nothing a quick 5 minute brush a couple of times a week with the zoom groom and a scrub up in the bath once a fortnight doesn't fix. In winter he's in a coat most of the time and to be honest I barely notice the hair this time of year (or perhaps I am just immune to it now ). Apart from a rub down with the zoom groom in the bath every 2 weeks I don't think I've "brushed" him for months!

It's a Ridgie Hmmm I need to wake up with some decent handling skills and a million dollars (not likely ) Kei needs to wake up with some extra drive and focus (possible)..

I've tried that, at one point I even tried feeding three times a day. I was going through a LOT of food! Whenever I've asked a butcher about lamb flaps they don't seem to know what I'm talking about. Are they called something else? Try the supermarket for lamb flaps Most have them. Fatty beef or lamb mince added to the food might help as well.

A kilo is a fair amount. My near 40kg Ridge only gets around 900-1200g of food a day - which includes around 350g of meat, the rest being raw meaty bones, veg, extras etc. You may find that it's due to the roo meat being extremely lean. If you start bulking up the diet with other things (fattier meats here and there, bones, veg, eggs, sardines etc) you may find that you are going through less meat. Offal is also an important part of a dogs diet so make sure you add in some things like liver, kidney, heart etc. There are some good threads on raw feeding here if you do a search. Also try and get your hands on the Ian Billinhurst books if you can. Pre-prepared BARF (Dr. B's) is another good balanced option if you don't have the time or desire to prepare it yourself