ninaandted

wow! what a great thread! ACV is also great for humans too! if you have digestive complaints it can be great, used under guidance from a homoeopath it can even help with stomach ulcers, but you do need guidance and they are early stage ulcers!! anne - do your towels smell of vinegar if you use it in the rinse or does it neutralise with drying?

I've also been curious about this too. I was once told by a friend who had gone to a dog training lecture (and I don't know if it's true but it's an interesting idea) that different breeds may have been bred for different purposes and this affected the way they related to "obedience" and/or their humans in some respects. My friend kind of explained it like this - terriers for example were bred (according to this lecturer) to think a little bit more independently when following prey and not rely on specific instruction. Gun dogs to stick close and then go off and work alone to retrieve and then return to the human and herding dogs would work much more closely with their human and look for intstruction, rather than making too many assessments of their own. Like I said, I don't know if it's true but it's an interesting idea.

sorry I just had a bit of a giggle because we use a long lead on a harness and Nina did a sudden run and pulled me over and I broke a rib! but better my rib than her neck (we'll keep using the long line and on the harness - I'll just learn to pay more attention!!) not being negative - it just made me laugh. I don't have alot of luck with long leads!! and 100% of the time it's my fault!

Thanks Haven for that advice. We've removed as much as we can - i.e. the dogs are kept inside all day now so our neighbour can't get at them but the nasty moron still has a bit of a go if he thinks he won't get caught by getting the dogs' attention through our bedroom window. We're working on replacing the doorknobs so we can close the doors properly and the dogs won't be able to push them open! (the joys of an old house in need of renovation!). I don't think she needs medication as such, she is just easily wound up and can't calm herself down easily when she gets herself in a state. But she does calm down eventually. she doesn't have separation anxiety, it's really just this neighbour who is the issue. We're working on the diet and exercise angle and I'm trying to teach her to calm down (but I'm working a bit in the dark here as everything I've read of so far depends on us being home all the time) I did have her on vitamin B and should start back on that again. She's on a barf diet and we try and exercise and train her everyday to use up some of her excess beans! I'll certainly investigate the DAP with our vet. Who can we consult in regard to having a bach flower remedy made up to suit? Do normal homeopaths do pets as well or should we try and source a vet who does alternate medicine? That wouldn't be our normal vet!! he's pretty conventional! I had to prove I really knew what I was doing when we started our dogs on barf before he was happy to let us proceed!

I like the sound of the DAP stuff - rescue remedy didn't work for us with Nina. The vitamin B helped a very little bit but not so much that you would notice. Do you think the DAP would work in a situation where our neighbour was causing the stress? (Just his mere presence actually) The dogs are kept inside now because he has been routinely tormenting them and razzing them up and has threatened to kill them (he's a nasty bit of work but that's a whole other story). Nina is easily wound up anyway, she's very sensitive. Ted is more naturally calm. They have adapted to being inside really well and don't destroy anything and don't have separation anxiety but when they sense this neighbour going past our property (they know before he has even left his front door - it's amazing) she barks (that's expected) but I think it quite stresses her out (which is what I want to help with - I don't care about the barking - he deserves it) We are working on training her to feel safe and ignore him. It's slow work but we have been making some progress (yay!) Do you think the DAP would help her generally to assist the training we are working on. Sorry to thread hijack! But excellent question!!!

Alibear, it doesn't have to be hard. I don't try and get the right proportions at each meal - i just balance it out over a week in rough percentages. my dogs with thankfully eat anything so I can give them just vegies and a raw egg for a meal and they'll lap it up. we use lots of chicken necks and wings in their diet because that's what we can get easily around here. then we'll try and get good pet mince to supplement and some other kinds of bones but I find that the bones we can get aren't that "meaty" so hence the chicken necks and wings. my dogs only get kibble as a "snack" the tiniest bit at the bottom of their bowls if they've done a good training session or been well behaved. they don't register how much they are getting (or not getting) because they inhale everything anyway!

on the days when we are feeding chicken wings and/or necks I don't worry so much about additional meat as such, but the quality of the "meaty" bones we can access is pretty poor where we are (i.e. there's not alot of meat on 'em) so I supplement with roo meat or "pet mince" on those days. I wouldn't give just mince day in and day out though. you can get some "pet mince" mixes that have ground up bone in them as someone above has pointed out. The "Uncle Toms" commercial brand definitely has ground bone included in the mix. (not that I've bought any but I've had a long chat with the rep). But in terms of healthy teeth, this doesn't substitute for the action of chewing on the bones, just gets the calcium in. Staffyluv - have you tried giving chicken necks? If your dog refuses those that would have to be a record!!

Thanks Calzen - it would be good to attend that workshop - we're only down at Helensburgh (about an hour from Sydney) and it would be good to get some pointers!! love the pics everyone!! they are lovely, happy, fluffy beasties aren't they? Ted seems to be happy all the time. even when you are telling him off for something!!! :rolleyes: He is the parade king of the house and is actually quite protective - is that normal for the breed? He guards Nina (our lab cross), even though she is older and louder, he'll put himself between her and anything he sees as a threat to her, it's quite interesting to watch the fluffy marshmallow turn into the roaring lion.

Sorry Dru!! ;) I'm not game to shave him now!!! you'll all be pleased to know that my OH is very glad that you all suggested not shaving him. Mind you, even though Ted is in theory "his" dog, I do all the brushing, medicating, feeding, walking, training... he's very keen to go to the shops this weekend and buy the brushes and combs, but I know who'll be using them!!! anyway - I'll do whatever is necessary to look after our smiley boy - here's a photo of him when he was about six months old. he's much more golden know and his fur is much thicker, but this is his experssion pretty much all the time. (except when I'm refusing to feed him AGAIN)

boy am I glad I asked! you are right about the slicker brushes looking like items of torture. I've looked at them in the shop but as I didn't know what they were for or how to use them so I didn't even think about buying them. they looked a bit scary. i promise I won't shave him!! I'll get in touch with the nearest golden club. unfortunately we didn't get him from a real breeder, we actually bought him off a guy who was going to set up his own back yard breeding but had to move and so he sold both the two goldens he was going to use as the breeding pair when they were four months old - or at least that was the story he told us. i know we shouldn't encourage that kind of behaviour but when we saw poor little Ted all frightened, covered in fleas and scabs and underweight we couldn't leave him there. anyway - i'll find the local club and hopefully they will be happy to help. I hadn't thought about the clubs before because we didn't get him from a breeder and we obviously weren't going to show him (otherwise I would probably have a better idea of grooming!) Thanks everyone.

i don't really have anyone who can show me, but I think after reading all these replies it might be worth booking him in for a professional job and asking for some tips. I know nothing about brushes, I just use a big wire one we bought from the pet store and brush him daily. It gets a big hair ball out each day - but there are always more even more golden "tumbleweeds" around the house so we have to vacuum daily. I just thought it was the breed!! I make sure his hair doesn't get matted - it is just so thick at the moment that there doesn't seem to be much space between hairs to see the skin. I'm not sure where he is picking up the fleas but it must be somewhere in the yard - I'm actually allergic to their bite so I'm a good barometer usually if there are fleas in the house or on an animal because they bite me and I start feeling sick! but I'll certainly look into the flea bomb angle. I've never done one before, they kind of freak me out a bit (don't know why... must have some deep seeded issues there!!) Thanks, Naomi

thanks everyone for your replies (I didn't mean to restrict it to just golden retriever experts! sorry about that!!) thanks for the great link. i brush him everyday with a wire brush and he just loves it and loves me checking everywhere for ticks, he's very patient and laps up the attention so I don't have a problem with checking him everyday - i'm just paranoid about missing anything because at the moment I can't see his skin through his fur, I can only feel for things! i just think it would be tick heaven in his mane and he's already a bit of a flea bag - if there is a flea within a kilometre radius he seems to pick it up! and we have to use the advantix fortnightly for the fleas alone!!! Nina on the other hand doesn't get fleas at all!! i didn't really want to have to shave him, he looks so regal with his big mane of fur and his gold curls, but i might just thin it out a bit as suggested. Thanks everyone! Naomi

Ted is my first golden retriever, who is just eleven months old and as we are coming back into tick season here i just wanted to check with any golden experts about shedding and if it is okay to cut back some of his hair. he has a very thick coat at the moment and a very thick kind of mane, which is great for him during the cold, but i wanted to find out if he would shed alot of that before summer, and if he doesn't, is it okay to cut back some of his hair where it is really thick so that i can check better for ticks. we put advantix on both the dogs fortnightly and try and check them daily, just out of habit, but at the moment his coat is so thick i'm not sure if we would necessarily find them. he recently had a couple of sores that i didn't find for a couple of days i suspect and we wouldn't have that kind of timeline with ticks, so i'm a bit concerned. anyone have any experience with this? thanks, naomi edited 'cause i can't type one handed

thanks everyone for the support and ideas, Sparty - we've got Nina on rescue remedy and Vitamin B complex. to be honest I've never noticed a dramatic difference with Nina on the rescue remedy but the Vitamin B does seem to help. she's a stress head and winds herself up about things (just like me really) and is very easily excited by everything and is vocal about it!! she moves all the time until she is (finally) really tired and then naps and is very thin no matter how much we feed her - we haven't tried to give her outrageously huge portions - just more small meals - (the vet doesn't class her as underweight but she is very lean - not like me!!). She can't eat most commercial foods because she has some (as yet not yet fully diagnosed) irritable bowel problem. - so she's what I call our "special needs girl". Nina's idea of heaven is a big field and someone to throw the ball for her for twelve to fourteen hours a day and then she might have a nap. the only thing that really tires her out is obedience work - so when we play ball I now ask her do things for the ball which actually calms her down a bit too. she has a heart and personality that is just so huge and is the most affectionate dog I think I've ever met (but I'm not biased or anything ) and if we have visitors she has an uncanny nack of picking the visitor who is MOST uncomfortable with dogs to bestow all her affection on and try and sit in their laps and lick their faces. she has taught our beautiful Ted to play - our lovely golden retreiver boy who spent the first two days in our house in a little ball, shy and scared of the world. she has taught me patience; that unconditional love is really UNCONDITIONAL; that losing your temper makes no difference in the world except to make you feel bad and that when someone depends on you to help them be the best little citizen they can be - you can't let them down!!

just a funny update. we had the trainer come to our house this weekend (she couldn't make it last weekend). It was just like an episode of supernanny with me as one of the terrible parents with the kids running rings around them!! Ted was on his best behaviour and did NONE of the things I had been talking to the trainer about on the phone - little smarty pants that he is and Nina was on her ABSOLUTE WORST behaviour. we didn't even get out in the yard with her because she had wound herself up so much while we were out with Ted that she was a complete attention seeking monster when we got back inside. anyway - I got the lecture all the parents get! If it hadn't been so true it would have been funny, but yet again I have been outsmarted by a dog and Nina has me trained to throw the ball whenever she wants - to respond whenever she cries (you know, makes that doggie whining sound). so we're on a program of ignoring her crying and presenting the ball and only playing when we want to (which is actually a relief). I HADN'T EVEN NOTICED - it was quite horrifying - I've taught her half these behaviours (and my husband the other half!!). although the trainer thinks there is some genetics involved there isn't nearly enough to get me off the hook!! fun and games!!! anyway it is working nicely so far except that (surprise surprise) my OH is having problems sticking with the program!! I'm just hoping she hasn't hidden any cameras about the place!!

Thanks everyone for your support and I'm very excited about all the training I'm going to be undergoing. Just thought I'd report on a little bit of progress we've had. At the suggestion of the trainer I started walking Nina and Ted separately as an experiment to see if there was any difference in their behaviours. Nina, because we had her before Ted, has obviously been out with me alone before, but Ted has always been with Nina. Well - walk one was a bit of a disaster with Ted! He trotted down our front path quite happily, after a slight anxious pause at the front door when he realised Nina wasn't with us, but as soon as we were out on the road he lay down facing the house and started crying!! Nothing could coax him to turn and face me - not even a bit of roast chicken - and he's a food oriented boy!! so we waited about five minutes and I just let him get a bit relaxed there and we went inside. Walk Two - after fifteen minutes and clicking each time he turned to face me (this is progress) we make it one house up the street! Walk three same start - click and jackpot reward every time he looked around at me or moved in my direction - after fifteen minutes we make it two houses up the street. Walk four - same reaction but I decide to up how exciting I am - manage to get him jogging along side of me, we make it out of our street with a few false starts, lots of crying and tail between his legs - as soon as we go around the corner - tail up in the air trotting along no worries!! Repeat this performace on walk five but taking less time up the street. Phew! Nina on the otherhand - when she is by herself is just herself - but the main difference is me - I can devote the time and attention to her one on one and over the past five walks there is been great improvement. There's still more work to do with both of them, but boy - what a difference a week makes!! Thanks again everyone, Naomi

I posted recently that we had had feedback from our Vet that at the moment the current formulation of Frontline Plus was not working for fleas. I think the manufacturers had advised that they were looking at the problem. Something to do with the two active ingredients for the ticks and the fleas not being compatible, but I heard that from my vet, not the manufacturer. The vet recommended that we change to Advantix if we wanted a similar coverage, including Ticks (we live in a high tick area). We would not have known except that Ted had an outbreak when we admitted him for his desexing - he seems to pick them up when Nina doesn't. Don't know why! So far so good. Advantix is available from Vets. Obviously you'll probably pay the premium price at your vet though, so online is a great option, but it isn't yet available from all online pet supply stores.

just to add to other people's suggestions. try it indoors to start with and with your puppy very close to you, so they can see and smell the lure you might start with, then gradually increase the distance between you and then take it outside. if your puppy associates you in the kitchen as a great thing then you could try calling him into the kitchen to be with you. then you change the room and distance and move eventually outside. the other thing you could try is to start doing it at meal times and then progress from there. he's unlikely to ignore that one! as everyone has said, eventually you have to wean your puppy off the treat/toy reward and have him coming just because you are always good news!

Anything with your Omegas 3, and 6 in it will certainly help with gloss and condition of hair. So all the stuff everyone mentioned here so far, eggs, oily fish and fish oil and apparently chicken necks and wings and the like are also good for Omegas too. just be aware of the size of your dog when considering giving just oil on top of their usual diet though because of risks with their pancreas being able to process oils and fats. so if someone recommends a particular dose - just check for what size dog they are suggesting it for first! like Lily111 has suggested above - it goes on dosage per body weight of the dog.

no worries - I got you next PM. I thought I might have picked the wrong option for replying to you. der brain that I am.

Hi Myszka, just thought I'd let you know that I got your PM and replied. I just hope I didn't stuff up the technology and that you eventually get it! it was a "yes please" - tell me the what I need to do and know answer. Thanks heaps.

Oh KateH your post made me laugh - thanks for that. I know that wasn't the intention of it but I know exactly where you are at. VAH - The trainer that is coming around is going to give me a bit of a program to work with and is clicker savvy so I'm actually quite excited about it. myszka - we're in Helensburgh. south of Sydney. Nina has actually been socialised with other dogs (loves them... that's the problem) and people (loves them and wants to jump all over them) but she's suddenly decided that men approaching us in the dark on our walks are a problem. (men approaching us with dogs however are okay. go figure!) if we invited them into our home or her yard she wouldn't be concerned at all, which is the strange part - it isn't a blanket fear - just in specific situations!! I'm learning alot though - I just hope I'm learning it fast enough to really help her and do the best by her. I'm absolutely positive that at LEAST 80% of the problem is my end of the leash - that's why I feel so bad. thanks again everyone for your support.

thanks for your replies. a group session with a dog behaviouralist is a good idea - I'll put that on the "criteria" for the groups I'm looking at. I was going to try to get back into a group obedience class with Nina - it did help alot before, it's just that the closest one uses methods that I'm not comfortable with and that just plain old don't work for her!! but looking for one with a behaviouralist there is a great idea. I wouldn't have even known that such a thing was possible. thanks so much. we'll hang in there. she is such a sweetie of a dog and on our walk last night she's giving me lightening fast sits and drops and heels. looking up at me as if to say "go on click mum! I did it!" it's just the new anxious behaviours that she comes up with! no one could call her boring!!

Hi there, I'm feeling a bit demoralised at the moment with my training with Nina. We just seem to be breaking through with one behaviour and then she will either revert back to old habits or develop a new behaviour!! she's just twelve months old, lab x bc x boxer. I'm sure there are a variety of causes but at the moment I really feel like I'm letting her down because I just don't know how to train her with some of these!! For example, we had reduced her reactions to passing cars, people, barking dogs behind fences, passing dogs and we were making real progress using the "leave" command. then this week she decides that people approaching are really bad and she is barking in her "I mean business" bark. She is obviously afraid (she hides behind my legs until she winds herself up and then let's go). People approaching with dogs are okay though apparently (sigh). I've booked a trainer to come and work with us at home for a few sessions (the trainer doesn't seem to think we are going to need too many classes - I know we will ) we had stopped going to the group training we were going to because the trainer kept using Nina as the "example" dog for check chain corrections and I'd had enough of it. I'm currently looking around for another group training opportunity near by to us to start back at because she loved it (other than the corrections) and it really reduced her attraction to other dogs - seemd to give her her dose of pooch smells. she's a really lovely dog and very trainable and is responding very well to the new clicker training we have just started - but she is a genius for coming up with new behaviours that I have to work on and I just don't want to let her down, it's not her fault that I'm an inadequate trainer. Should I be doing something else as well? Probably sounds like overkill but I just don't want to let her down.

Kavik, the crate training idea is a very interesting one. was the beagle in a closed crate or could he come and go as he pleased? I'm looking for something to make Nina feel a bit safer in our backyard while we are out at work during the day. she's inside whenever we are home.