SmoothieGirl

I challenge any dog at the dog park to tell him he looks like a sissy. His face is classic, 'so undignified'.

Doesn't bother me either, I got over it years ago training my Dobe, but I've never really held much stock in what other people think. Funny that I saw this thread today though. I was doing some basic heel work on a wide nature strip this morning just after 6am when the owner of the house came out to go to work. I'm sure he was surprised to see me working with Bronte outside his house at that ungodly hour. He looked as though he was trying to go to work and sticky nose on us at the sametime, but we just kept doing our thing. Well I did, Bronte needed a little refocusing.

Its fantastic to see updated photos of the litter. Zara is so pretty, always my fav and I LOVE her tail. I had never seen that photo of Mia when she was tiny, B9 I can see why you feel in love with her - she was so cute she was edible. As for Panda, wow, her eyes have a real old soul look to them. She has really changed since she was a little tacker. Can't wait for the next update after another few months growth.

could it be a grass allergy? If her skin improved whilst contained, and not outside, with no change in diet - might be environmental. kikuyu is a problem for a number of dogs - and often undiagnosed. Good point, I'll have to check what type it is, I don't know myself.

If I'm giving her any form of tablet I nick some of the cats roo mince and use that to make a roo covered tablet ball, but she hasn't ever been on it as a primary food, so roo is a good option too.

Luka!!!!!!! I just love the 3rd and 4th puppy pics of him, he is just so squeezable. As an adult, he has grown into a very handsome man :D Cuddles from Bronte and I.

Great advice, thank you. Its very similar to my vets, which we did embark on until the fractured leg. They suggested chicken though. I like your idea of trying something that she has had no previous exposure to, that makes heaps of sense. Can't feed horse though, I'd feel a turncoat to my own equine charges.

Hi Teekay I'm not going to recommend one or the other as I have heard many 'for' and 'against' arguments. But I was trawling around the Eagle Pack website a little earlier and there was a small amount of literature on this very question. http://www.eaglepack.com.au/Learn/FAQs/tabid/61/Default.aspx Personally I have kept my girl on puppy dry food, she is a Collie, so medium sized dog, maturing at around 20 - 25kg. I'm not such a cynic that I think the premium dog food have got it so wrong that it will do damage to my dog, but if I owned a large/giant breed I would probably be a little more cautious. Sorry, no help to you at all really, but have a little look at that website.

I'm not convinced it is, but it there does seem to be a correlation between the change in her diet and her skin changes. Also a fortnight ago she was being looked after by a professional carer in their house while I was away. Different garden and house, but same diet. In fact more dry food than usual as she wasn't on her chicken wings while she was there and her skin flared up more than normal last week. I'm trying to work out the various angles on the irritant and this is one of them. I did have her on an RC and chicken wing diet ONLY for about three weeks, but had to cut the experiment short as she fractured her leg and had to be splinted and contained. One way to keep her quiet was to entertain her with various chewy food treats. During those three weeks there was no change in her diet. Surprisingly in during the two week containment period her skin was a bit better, but that proabably had more to do with the anti inflammatories she was on. Edit - poor grammar

I'm currently using Royal Canin Medium Junior dry food for my girl and she has been battling skins allergies for a while now. When she came to me as a little tacker her skin was perfect, we all remember those beautiful soft puppy bellies. Now she is often itchy and I'm constantly battling with her skins reaction to the scratching. Something in the back of my mind this morning made me question her dry food and whether this was the cause of it. I changed her diet from Supercoat to RC over a two week period and now that I think back to it I had her at the vet for the first bout of itchy skin about 3 weeks after her full transition to RC. Does anyone have any suggestions for another premium dry food that is also a low allergen food? I also don't want one that is packed with fillers.

Oh poor Charlotte and to think only a couple of months ago she seemed fine and dandy playing with the Kepala gang. Hope you get some good news soon. In addition to a Chiro option, I can recommend a woman that does Bowen and Reiki, she isn't going to be able to fix Charlotte obviously, but she may be able to ease some of the other areas of soreness that may arise as a result of compensating for her primary health issues. I've always been a Reiki skeptic, but I have seen her work on horses and dogs and they give similar physical and emotional reations to the Reiki as well as the Bowen, so maybe there's something going on that I can't see. She saw Bronte a couple of weeks ago and Bronte thought it was all a bit special and she was able to release some tensions that had built up while she was splinted and bandaged. I'm going to get her out a week or so after she goes back to dog club to give her a final go over. We now have to wait for the desexing stitches to come out first though - its always one thing or another isn't it. Hugs to Charlotte and look after yourself too, this is a hard time for both of you.

I'm so keen to get back, it was terrible timing given the day before she was promoted to Class 2. She's being desexed in a week and half and I think we are on track to come back in Oct still.

Slap her round to make her listen????? No one slaps beautiful gentle Charlotte around

I swore I wasn't going to log on until after 8pm, but I'm just so excited by my pup's brillance. Some of you may know that my girl has been recovering from a fractured growth plate (pinned hock bone, splint, confinement the whole kit and kaboodle). Well I was looking for things I could continue to train her that didn't need her to move very much and one of the Collie clan, (thank you NatsuChan) suggested we start on reverse training of retrieve. Well she's back on all four legs now and doing really well, after me having a little freak out the other day thinking she was never going to improve. Most of her retrieve training has also been going well, so lately I have been trying to encourage her to actually 'go' and fetch the object/s we have been training with, rather than just fetch them from my hand. Until now she has looked at me like I'm a nong and I should go and get it myself, because she knows damn well I have her treat in my clicker hand and she wasn't about to leave me in case it disappeared - as if. So I had to think a little smarter and put aside the boring things we have been using and started using two toys that she has stolen off the cat - her favourite toys. Here come's the brag...tonight she started chasing after them and sort of kinda bringing them to me and waiting until I asked for them. Then...drumroll please....I used her toy lion, threw it, told her to fetch - she fetched, told her to come - she came, told her to sit - she sat, told her to hold - she held, then I told her thank you - and she gave me Lion. Click, treat and then much much fussing by me about what a clever and pretty girl she was. Result being one very proud owner (hence you are reading this now). Right...all I have to do is replicate this..........hmmmmm....... Thanks for listening to my excitable rant, bye for now

Any idea how much pineapple juice per feed? I have this problem occasionally too. Dogs, how can a bundle of such love be so digusting all at the same time.

TD, that shot is just STUNNING! Tell me you have that printed and up on a wall somewhere in the house. I'm also very very very very jealous for the view you have too - so unfair. Edit - So jealous I lost the ability to type.

Actually tlc, I quite like the third shot, it enhances the blue of the sky and makes it look like its a little later in the day than it was. Nice!

May be just a little lighter and it would look good. It was a bright day, so the colours probably need a little more depth than the original, but still need the right contrast to keep the detail. Interesting effect though, can't wait to play with this sort of stuff. I have some magical photos of the Isle of Skye that I think will benefit from some 'tweaking'.

Hi tlc, got your PM. sure play with it, the results will be interesting to see. The camera was a Canon IXUS 55 a little digital, it takes beautiful shots though, obviously everything has to be working with you for them to be great shots, but the colours the camera takes are lovely. I recently got a compact digital so I could get a little more advanced with my photograpy, I took the first two beach shots with that - its a learning process though. One day I'd love an SLR, but all in good time.

It does doesn't it. Photoshop is on my list of holiday treats. Bronte is being desexed in few weeks and I'm going to stay home with her, buy Photoshop and learn how to use it. I'm very jealous of all you PShoppers.

My all time fav, taken on a little Canon IXUS - total fluke shot. Mind you its is almost impossible not to take a beautiful shot in England.

Same day further down the beach

Oh, can I play too.

I would also suggest you get your own vet to check the pup very soon after you bring him/her home. It may be some $'s you hadn't factored in and while the pup should be fine, it will provide a baseline of its health going forward, with a vet who will regularly see your pup. Some say overkill (I can hear them all now) but its something I will always do with my new animals, dogs, cats and horses.

Apologise if I'm doubling up but while Bronte will eat anything, her fav is roast chicken breast, which I then cut into tiny cubes. Its a big messy to train with, but soft so it goes down quick and you can get on to the next thing you want them to do. I generally use this at dog club and other treats when I'm just training around home/streets, helps her attention span.