Red Fox

8 per day is a LOT even for a puppy! What are you feeding him? Perhaps you could look at reducing the amount of grains (if any) in his diet? I know when my boy was on dry (as a young pup) his poops were much bigger and more frequent then they are now on raw.

Well if Steve can teach me he can teach anyone As far as the harnesses go I see no problems with them. If it means that an owner can walk their dog then that can only be a good thing. But my concern with a harness is how do you correct the dog or get their attention if need be? I'm sure I could put Kei on a Sporn/no pull harness and he would find it aversive enough to walk on a loose leash BUT when he sees another dog he goes into complete overdrive. At the moment I can give him a couple of light pops to bring his attention back well before he gets to the screaming, lunging stage (and believe me, if he gets to that stage he will pull through anything -including a prong collar). But how could you do this with a harness? In Kei's case I think he would break it if I couldn't bring his attention back and he got too worked up!

Also with PIA We have the full accident and illness cover with a $100 excess (and 100% claim back after excess). It cost me $35 per month. I'm very happy with them. The first claim I made (around a year ago) was in my account within 3 days! The second one I lodged mid Feb but received a letter to say they had a backlog of claims over the Christmas period and allow 3 weeks for processing. I rang last Tuesday to check up on it and was told -No, my claim had not been processed yet but would I like them to push it ahead for me? I said yes and money was in my account by Friday morning

Kei stands with 2 paws on the cement under the veranda (one front, one back) and cocks his leg onto the grass from there If he needs to do number 2's he holds it until he's busting then bolts out, does his business and runs inside again! Yes, he HATES the rain.

Lots of other benefits to crates besides housetraining. Here's why I like mine: Toilet training, a safe place to put your dog when you can't supervise (particularly when they are young and stupid or still toilet training ) or when you are sleeping and dont want them to wander in the night, easy to confine the dog when you have visitors that dont like dogs (or dog doesn't like them), can put dog in there when you need to keep them safe or away from something (mopping the floor, trademen coming in and out etc), you can take it with you if you go away/to obedience traning, or even out to a family picnic if you wanted to. If your dog ever needs to be confined for any reason -vets or injury- it will be able to relax and settle in the crate without an issue (more useful than you think). ...and probably many more reasons that I can't think of at the moment lol. and why my dog likes his: It's a safe, secure place of his own where he can go to relax, eat or just get away from it all when he needs to.

Yeah, it worked with the tablets but as dancinbcs said, those chews are BIG. And slippery too! Plus it's doubly hard when the said dog has taken the chew, chomped on it for a second, spat out a mushy mess and run off to his crate. Then me (also in the crate by this time) trying to lever his mouth open with one hand and jam the mushy mess in with the other, then attempt to hold his mouth closed, nose up and stroke his throat all the while smacking my head on the roof of the crate I think we might plan it better next time and try crushing it and hiding it in his food.

Kei hates the new chews too. No probs with the old tablets, just used to smear a bit of cream cheese on them and he would eat them as a treat or if not break them up and pop them in his food. But these new ones... Pretty big to jam down the throat too - with the last one resulting in a big sticky mess as he kept on regurgitating it, took me about 10 mins to get it all down I've got 2 left from the pack so the next one I'll try crushing and mixing with his food but if that doesn't work we might have to change to something else...

You know I've often wondered about this - most of the harnesses around (including those marketed as travel harnesses) do have plastic buckles. I actually have the (safety tested) Petbuckle harness but due to the fact that it slips around a bit I barely use it. Most times I just use a Webmaster harness for quick trips around as my dog loves it and is comfortable in it (he's not so keen on the Petbuckle). But for longer trips or driving on the highway I am a little dubious about how much protection it would offer in an accident... Then last week browsing the products on offer at my local vets I saw that ALL of the car harnesses that they were selling had plastic buckles anyway

Ha, ha that was me I was going to put Sandi Ptolomy in there but I thought I'd better not Not sure it really matters with net banking though... but might if you want to do an over the counter deposit ooops I was posting at the same time as Ness, maybe it does matter then.

I think he's just hit the feral stage It WILL pass ...eventually. In the meantime give him plenty to do. Lots of training to tire him out mentally, games eg hidden Kongs and biscuits balls to find and empty when you're out. Step up your leadership if need be and make sure you are consistant. NILIF is a good place to start. Good luck

Staffordshire Bull Terrier? Thought they probably would lick a burglar to death :D

He he, took me a while to find this.... http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?show...c=165619&hl= Last years PJ thread :D

Hehehe .... that's part of Mandela's staple diet - although ours 'on special' here is in the vicinity of $16 per kg. I love it when he has a period of being 'into' minced chicken frames. $2 for 2kgs - that's easy street!! :D Lol, isn't it terrible when the dogs eats better than the owner :D When Kei was on his 'bland' diet of boiled chicken and pumpkin mash we ended up sharing it some nights as I was just too tired and too broke to bother cooking anything else It actually tastes pretty good though. I made up a small batch a few days back when Kei had a minor belly upset and my 10 year said to me "Well if you're cooking that up I'll have it for tea too." At least I know he's eating his veggies

Kickatinalong: http://www.kickatinalong.com.au/ and their eBay link for Boxer PJ's http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Boxer-Dog-coat-Pjs_...=item5632eec437 There is someone on DOL that makes them but I can't remember who? Maybe try a search in the member commercial marketplace forum..

I like the stuff from Great Rugs. They custom make too http://www.greatrugs.com.au./store/index.htm I've bought from here also and found them to be very reliable: http://www.cloudk9.com.au/index1.html

Hi T&S, Could well be something going around. Not sure where you are in SA though? (We are rural). In Kei's case it started out with mad grass eating, gurgling tummy and diarhea. No vomiting though. I didnt find any blood in his poop but the vet did find a little when she examined him. The worst seemed to be over within a week but then he kind of relapsed so it ended up being around 2 weeks before it passed completely. Scourban helped a lot during the first few days but it smells terrible! I mixed it with a little Manuka honey to get it into him. Adding a little bit of ground ginger to his food and keeping a bland diet during that time also helped. Our vet also thought it may have been something that Kei had eaten, though we couldn't work out what as he's an inside dog and supervised outside - no way he could have eaten anything without me noticing... Re the IHP, I think it was around $27 for the bottle which should last a while so not too bad. Cheaper than the $12 of boiled free range chicken breast he was eating per day when he was sick anyway!

Lol, I bought Kei some of the stripey Kickatinalong PJ's last year. He was terrified of them Don't know why but he wouldn't come within 6ft of them. They got put in the spare room for the week before I resold them and Kei would shoot past the door everytime he had to walk past that room until they were gone! I bought mine of eBay though (not from the original seller). That said, they were pretty cute I use the Chilly Dog sweaters for PJ's now http://www.twosmallpuppies.com.au/index.ph...products_id=174. Love them! As for coats I like the Weatherbeeta Deluxe styles. They go right around to protect the belly and chest area, are waterproof and less bulky than the oilskins http://www.weatherbeeta.com/aust/proof/ran...LandaDeluxe.asp

Oh - I beg your pardon .... I did misunderstand. Then I don't know - but perhaps it could be that Kei's system just wasn't running as well as it could or should have been and potentially may have wound down to the point of a tummy upset. And maybe the probiotics have helped right what was wrong, with Kei running on all pistons now ?? Either way, coincidental or not, I'm really glad that Kei is over the tummy bug and things are looking good Thanks Erny, me too :D Yep, we feed a raw diet and also use organic ACV It's good stuff!

RL, just thinking... Why dont you be flat honest with your neighbours? Tell them that you feel embarrassed as you weren't expecting the bill to be so high and that you just can't afford to contribute a huge amount of money to it especially after you have already spent so much on fencing your property already and making sure that your dogs are safely contained. Instead of giving them money offer to come over and help them patch up the fence from their side so that this can NEVER happen again. If it makes you feel better tell them that you will pay for the materials and do the work for them. I know I'd much prefer a neighbour who was honest and wanted to be part of the solution rather than one who threw a bit of money over the fence and said "well now it's not my problem". The crate is a nice idea but I wouldn't rush out and buy them something like that without asking what they think of the idea first. Crates can be expensive and for someone that just wont use it well I'm sure they would rather just have the $200. As I said earlier, if you are desperately wanting to pay part of the vet bill I would ONLY be offereing to pay for the x-rays and ONLY pay it directly to the vet.

IMO the 'goop' in the eyes was because Kei's system was 'down' - obviously fighting off the effects of the tummy bug. When she came good (which was potentially aided by the probiotics) her system returned to a better state of wellness, and hence no goop. That's how I figure it, anyway. Erny, the goop was there long before the tummy bug. Otherwise yes, tummy bug = low immune system = goopy eyes. But in Kei's case he had, had it for as long as I can remember, not just in the lead up to and the time in which he was ill. That's why I'm wondering if there was a problem from very early on that has now been eased by the probiotics Human type. It comes in a powder form as well as capsules - I bought the powder form in 'dairy free' and just sprinkle 1/2 a teaspoon into his food on a night. There are however Probiotics which are made specifically for dogs too (I think Pet Pep-up is one?? but there are a few around). The reason I went for the IHP was that it was available to me locally and quickly when I needed it. That said it has worked just fine for us and the bonus is that I can take it too

If it was me I would consider offering to pay for the pups x-rays only. Pay direct to the vets though and make it clear that it is a 'goodwill gesture' not an admission of fault. Even if you have to put it in a nice letter and keep a record of it Surely that wouldn't be more than $200. Paying someone elses vet bill when you weren't the one at fault is unfair.

Thanks for that Erny. I've never used salted water on Kei (but have on myself). I currently have some Berigora Farm eye wash for pets here. I haven't used it often but it is very gentle and safe ingredients are distilled water, colloidal silver, tinctures of golden seal and eyebright. Wow, it's amazing how these things can affect dogs (and us for that matter!). The interesting thing in Kei's case is that nothing in his diet has changed apart from the addition of probiotics so I can only out it down to that.

Thank you Erny. Wishing the best for Mandella too

Thanks Erny, that's what I thought. It is odd though as he didn't seem to be showing any signs of ill health up until the tummy bug Maybe a slightly decreased appetite from time to time and we had some dandruff issues a while back but other than that there was no sign of anything else wrong. But obviously there was something there so this improvement can only be a good thing There are some other areas that I'm waiting for improvement in with fingers crossed though. At the moment I am having terrible problems with his energy levels He seems tire way too easily and just wants to lay around all day, hyped one minute and exhausted the next Thyroid/bloods came back clear so I'm hoping he will improve as the weather cools down... *sp

I caved in yesterday morning (when I see 20% discount I feel it's my duty to buy ) :D Me too. They are awesome aren't they I want the same type in the 6ft leash now but I already have 2 leather ones ;)