Oscar (AmBull)

Oh wow thanks for the tip, will do tomorrow!

As I have said I have already contacted a behaviourist and have organised a time next week to evaluate the situation.

I live in the adelaide hills and I am trying to source raw mince and offal. I can get chicken and kangaroo mince but that is all. Around the Mount Barker area preferably? I have asked a few butchers but no luck. Also where do people buy the fish that they feed? What kind of fish? Is it expensive? I am looking to introduce some RAW into his diet, with offal as well. Thanks

I do believe he is to well fed , he doesn't eat as much as I thought he would. He seems to leave the carcasses and go back to them when a bit peckish, lol, it is most often in his little pile of things outside . I went and bought the RC large breed puppy (in the blue and white bag with the GSD on it), just before, so will see how he goes. It is quite a large kibble isn't it. Will see what he thinks of it for dinner, lol. Thanks for the help!

I am not scared of him, he is a big sook. I am scared of owning an aggressive dog and therefore probably a bit paranoid about it. My dad had one, who was attckaed by another dog when he was a young pup, completely out of the blue. My dad had to have him pts when he actually turned on him, he hated other dogs and turned that way to people. He would fight to the death if given the chance. I think he had fear aggression and nothing could snap him out of it. Like I said, I think my frustration made it much worse than it is and I am really sorry for that. He isn't a naturally aggressive puppy, just this barking and nipping behaviour has poped up the last few days. I am quite strict on him, and have quite good control over him most of the time. He listens extremely well and has responded great to training. I have him enrolled in obediance which starts in a couple of weeks, he is currently in puppy school. I have also contacted the behaviourist and am organising a private session. She is a registered and accredited trainer, however if I am unhappy with her evaluation or classes I will pm you for another if that is ok. But thanks so much for the advice, it really is appreciated.

Sorry I didn't put that in my first post. He seems to do it in the middle or after i try and finish a play session. Like if I stop the session or if i get distracted mid play session, then he starts the behaviour. I think I will get the behaviourist out and see what they say, at least then we know for sure where we are at. Either there is a problem or there isn't. So sorry on all the confusion, I am new to DOL and owning a dog myself, and thanks so much for everyones help, opinions, and advice.

I am so sorry, it isn't severe aggression. I think I was just frustrated and at a loss of what to do. I can get a private lesson with the behaviouist, however like I said I can't see him doing it in front of her. It has only happened 2 or 3 times so far and the likelihood of him doing it in that hour is probably slim.

I am scared because more than anything I don't want an aggressive dog, had several as a child and not pretty. I think I need someone else to assess this behaviour, but like I said he hardly ever does it, and it is mainly mid play session so don't think he would do it in front of a behaviourist. I think because he is my first dog alone and I don't know what to expect I am more nervous and scared of things going terribly wrong.

I have just re read my post and it isnt as severe as it actually sounds, really sorry. I posted while I was frustrated by his behaviour. I can't think of any triggers, other than the weather conditions nothing has changed and we haven't had visitors the past couple of days. How do I tell if I am overreacting to this behaviour? Like when it goes from play to agressive? He doesn't have any other dogs here so he doesn't know what is accpetable and what isn't? It is hard to get someone to see him as he has only done it a handful of times and 23.5 hours of the day he is absolutely fine.

I don't think it is actually trying to harm us as much as hey listen to me pay attention to me I tell you what to do. Like it doesn't hurt. We have never smacked him or anything like that, we use positive reinforcement and are currently attempting to enrol in a obediance class with a trained behaviouist. I think I may have made it sound worse than it is, possibly because he had just done it when I wrote the thread, sorry if this is the case. He has done it approximately 3 or 4 times now. He also hasn't been able to go outside due to rain, could it be that he is bored, annoyed or frusterated? How do I tell if it is him just a new form of playing? He gets low to the ground and kind of pounces and leaps at us, whilst barking. That I know of he hasn't been scared. He is actually a really confident pup normally, he mainly will jump from behind as I turn my back to him. We have had a lot of rain and some thunder storms the last few days? Thanks again

The above listed ingrediants seems to be from the australian royal canin site. Completely different on the united states site? Same brand but are different products? So does that mean people are talking about the us version of RC rather than the Australia?

I just had a look at the ingrediamts for Royal Canin. This is the first 5: Maize, dehydrated poultry meat, L.I.P* vegetable protein isolate, maize gluten, animal fats, L.I.P* animal proteins, maize flour. To me this doesn't seem good for a puppy and from what I have read about ingrediamts on DOL?

Just a quick question. Anyone know of where to buy RAW in the Adelaide Hills? Around the Mount Barker area? I have asked a few butchers but no luck. I can get chicken and kangaroo mince, however am looking for lamb mince and offal. Also where do people buy fish? What kind of fish? Is it expensive?

My Amstaff Oscar has in the past two days become rather aggressive. Out of nowhere he will start barking at us and actually lunging to bite us. I have seen him in his play mode and this is not it. I am rather concerned. What should we do to prevent this? We try ignoring him but he continues to lunge at us (normally sitting). We stand and ignore him and he normally stops, until you sit down again. Removing him from the room, as soon as he enters again he starts up, even worse though because he actually tries to bite the back of our legs. Is this just a stage of dominance? What should we be doing? ETA: I was extremely frustrated when I wrote this and it is no where as bad as it actually sounds. Thanks to everyone who has replied and I apologise again for me not making it clearer. For piece of mind I have organised a home visit from a trained behaviourist to evaluate this behaviour and see what this behaviour is. I have had a private message from someone in a similar situation to me and it was put down to 'tantrums' by a professioonal, they described the same sort of things and therefore I think it is more likely to be this. I will let you all know the evaluation made by the behaviourist. I apologise again and thank you all for your help.

I am a bit unsure of what you mean here? I agree though with the "brain catch up" and he most definitely takes a lot longer on a carcass, usually the whole day .

Which formula do you have him on? I think we will change as I do want to lower his grain intake.

So I have had a few diet worries in my venture as a new dog owner. Oscar is now 14 weeks old and boy does time fly! He currently eats: Proplan puppy for breakfast, which he doesn’t love Normally Wings or a carcass for lunch Some kind of wet mixed with dry for dinner, mince meatloaf etc I want to know is Royal Canine better than Proplan? I am unsure of whether it is best for his breed, and doesn’t appear to have a sensitive skin formula, which is what we want to put him on when he is an adult. Also how many wings should I be giving him for lunch? I am pretty sure a whole carcass is plenty, but how many wings should he have? I gave him 3 today and he was looking for more? I also normally give him frozen carcasses, is this ok or not? I have cut out necks all together as they are gone too fast. Any advice or help is much appreciated.

I know the 'zoomies' you are refering to. My dad has a 3 year old lab retriever and he is a very big boy, who is still a puppy at heart and loves his zoomies. Oscar is the only dog we have so I take him down to my Dads to play with the lab, Oscar knows when Zoomies is happening and more often than not gets out the way himself. I think it is extremely important that if your older dog does do 'zoomies' to either watch closely or remove the pup, as like sandra said they often don't look or even realise where they are at, so an accident may occur without them even realising. They work themselves up into such an excited state that they could simply nudge the pup and it would be enough to hurt it.

We are new to the dog world so still learning and have been thinking of changing vets as the local one doesn't seem to know a lot about the breed. Now you have informed me of this he will not be going back to that vets again and we will most definitely be changing ASAP. Thanks so much for the great info, I would never do anything intentionally to harm my puppy and it is good people on DOL have the right answers to many questions.

We have had him since he was 6 weeks. And the flea treatment I bought from the vets, first time asked vet nurse to apply, second time was when he had his shots done by the vet so vet put on the treatment. He doesn't have fleas, have checked several times. I will limit the chemicals we have and just start watching him extremely closely in the yard. Thanks again.

Thanks poodlefan, I will stay away from the lamb's wool. The issue with dry is that I have yet to find a sensitive puppy formula in any brand? And where we live we do not have much variety. We can get Hill science, royal canin, nutrience, proplan, advance, eukubra.

Nichole: be great if you could let me know how your pup goes on Royal Canin, thanks. all the fun stuff: We did mix the yoghurt through but that was when we first got him and with a different kind of dry, will give it another go. Also he has only ever had the one egg, so no eggs are not a regular part in his diet. Sandra777: When I said several times it has felt like a lot more than it has actually been twice. He is 14 Weeks and he has been flead twice, once with frontline once with revolution both applied by the vet. I was sure it had been fleas but it can't be. What blankets do you recommend? We are looking at getting him like a lambs wool soon for his new bed, is that appropriate? We just use a standard floor cleaner, mostly carpet in the house sometimes we sprinkle the powder stuff down before we vaccuum. And a normal like pino clean on the kitchen floors and bathroom. I think we will just stick to the chicken mince then for now. Just where we live it is hard to source things and I am not sure where to get other mince types, I may phone around. He is currently on Purina Pro Plan which is meant to be premium but we are pretty sure we will change. Thanks so much for all the responses.

The place that sells the meatloaf sells kangaroo mince and chicken mince. I thought to much grain may be the case. He doesn't really seem to enjoy anything he eats, except the chicken necks, wings etc. I think he just has sensitive skin, he seems to bite and scratch a fair bit and he doesn't have fleas. I was told it could be beef so have cut out all beef yet he does still seems to scratch a little. Not a terrible amont just as much as if he had fleas but have had him flead several times and had the vet check. We are considering changing dry food. Possibly Royal Canin?

Oh and the meatloaf is chicken based with vegies and pasta. It is made by Hills Pet Cuisine, they are a wholesaler in dog food.