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Lotsa Pet Food in Woodridge sell 5kg Kangaroo Mince, among other minces, and a locally made BARF

Lotsa Pet Food in Woodridge sells Chicken Necks and Turkey Necks by the box frozen. Chicken Necks are $30 and Turkey Necks are $47. Always seem to have them in stock. They also sell them in 1kg bags. You can get boxes of fresh Chicken Necks as well, but they have to be ordered in advance as they are not as easy to get.

I think Fancy Feast do one that is shredded Chicken or Turkey. You could of course, give them raw Roo mince. My cats love it, as long as it isnt one of the supermarket ones as they have too much preservative in it. Your local Pet Food shop should have it.

Many dogs are allergic to Beef, so it could be that causing the itchys

Glad to hear you prefer the obedience club. As a trainer I recommend people attend puppy groups at a club or a trainers - most welcome you from 8-10 weeks. - vet clinics dont cover enough and dont have any follow on. Many often spend a great deal of your time on selling you stuff. The other problem with vets is that lots of sick dogs go to the vets and unless the vet has removed everything from the room (chairs, tables, magazines, noticeboards) and done a complete sterilising floor to ceiling including equipment- then there is a greater risk of infections there than at most other locations. Sorry vets, but stick to what your good at and let the trainers do their stuff. Too right Alpha bet. Totally agree with the vets/sick dogs thing and also let the trainers do their stuff. When I did my Cert III with NDTF, I specifically asked about the age to go to puppy class, and they said, its worth the risk. I have also found, that at 8 weeks, they are bang on their fear and socialisation phase. What better way to cover all the bases? Remember that fear period though, as they can be affected for life, which is why the instructor should never allow a puppy to be swamped by others when they are unsure. Another thing is, their brains seem like little sponges at this age, and they seem to learn so much faster. I took my puppy along to puppy classes, and afterwards, he slept for the rest of the day! Good luck with your Staffy, and yes, he will be the most boisterous in the class, but thats what makes them lovable.

Good thinking!

I supplemented my bitch with Supercoat puppy while she was pregnant, and until soon after she had finished feeding. I didn't have any problems with it. I also put the puppies on it, without any problems. We have now bought our own male puppy, and he too is on Supercoat puppy. When we first got him, I mixed Nutro Large Breed puppy in with it, but now he is on straight Supercoat. After all this discussion, I may mix some more Nutro in with it. For my cats, I have always bought high end Supermarket brands, such as Optimum. I cant see anything wrong with people buying high end Supermarket products for their animals. They are doing the best they can with limited finances. I must say though, I have heard bad stories about Science Diet, and would not feed this to my dogs. Apart from the dry they get, they are on a raw diet. I wouldn't feed dry food as their main diet, it is more as a supplement.

I can't emphasise that bit enough! think of it this way: if you let the dog go forward while it is pulling you are rewarding it for pulling! Now about the issue of feeling embarrassed when you are basically going around in circles - think of it this way: A bit of effort now will mean that for years you and your dog will look fabulous together as you walk down the street, your dog walking calmly and attentively by your side isn't that worth a bit of short term embarrassment? Oh yes and something you said in your post Flux: changing direction is an excellent way of teaching your dog to walk nicely on lead. the moment your dog's shoulder moves in front of your leg, spin them around in the opposite direction. then when they do it again, spin them around in the opposite direction. In the early stages you will only get a few metres before you have to turn around. So you probably won't go much past your frontage ;) as your dog gets better you may just do a 360 turn so that you end up heading in the same direction. So no need to worry about getting lost in your suburb and ending up in a different location to where you are going. and most importantly: reward them for the right behaviour. Often if you always reward the correct behaviour, you can get away with ignoring the behaviours you don't want good luck Totally agree with this. It teaches lead respect. And just as you have to catch your dog being bad, you have to catch it being good. I havent read all the posts on this, but I strongly suggest going to dog obedience. Books are great, but there is nothing like having someone show you how to do something, and pick up on the the things you are not doing quite so right. Good luck

I would never leave a pup unattended in an open top pen. I know someone who came home to find their pup suspended from the top of the pen with its badly broken leg caught in the top. Don't do it. Is there anyone who can do a lunchtime visit and feed for the first few weeks? I'd suggest you put gates or close doors to close off part of the house and tie the dog door open so puppy can go in and out. Most of mine mastered the dog door in a couple of days anyway. You will really set toilet training back if the pup has to toilet inside while you're away. If the yard safe or can you section off a bit near the house? I agree with this. My neighbours used mesh to fence off part of their verandah while they were at work for their puppy. Its screaming had me scaling the 6 foot fence! It had tried to get over the mesh and had caught its hind leg on the inside and was hanging on outside. Luckily no damage caused, but that could have been due to someone getting there quick enough to release it.

Will work this out some how lol

Having probs posting this

Make sure you feed high fat foods, such as chicken mince or a high fat Barf, and good quality puppy biscuits of course. You dont want a fat puppy, but not too thin either. Remember too that they go through growth spurts and lose weight while this is happening cos they are using what that have to put into height. They need enough condition on them to help with the growth spurt or they will end up weedy.

I have mentioned this in a couple of other posts under different subjects. Try some Yakult or Natural Yoghurt to get some good bacteria in his tummy

One more thing that I have done with our puppy, is give him some Yakult. He was appearing very quiet, but 30 hours after having Yakult - we had our puppy back! Natural yoghurt would do the same thing. It puts the good bacteria back in their tummies. Other than that, he has Beef mince, puppy milk with an egg in it and his yakult. He is also on a mix of Supercoat and Nutro Puppy. He is doing well. We make up enough puppy milk to last about 2-3 days, and the egg and the yakult gets mixed in with this. Initially though, we gave him a full yakult in one hit. Then 12 hours later gave him another one. His coat is very shiny and he is a happy lively little guy.