blakkjackal

I do weight pulling with my amstaff x boy, it's good fun an indeed does help build rear end muscle. From what I hear RR are great quality but if I remember correctly their wp harnesses only come in standard sizes (correct me if I'm wrong!). I always recommend a custom sized harness and there are plenty of great harness makers in the US too if you want to explore a bit. My harness is from Hardcore Harness in Sweden though, but I've often collars etc. from the States before and shipping has been reasonable and surprisingly quick.

Incredible craftsmanship, I've been admiring his work for a while now. Maybe some day when I have a molosser. :D

Not blaming you for that.

Persephone mentioned horses above. I've had a couple, one of them still alive and the other one unfortunately gone ad the only reason we didn't make use of the meat was that she was heavily medicated by the time she was pts. I think of it as a massive waste to bury several hundred kilograms of perfectly edible meat that would feed several people and animals for a while. In a way it really is their last favour for us, a way of them being useful even when they go.

No one was forced to watch the slaughtering. I myself would've probably been in the front row had I been there as I'm very interested in things beyond just the furry and cute. I see it as an opportunity for teaching kids (and adults alike) what actually is inside animals and gain understanding about the "circle of life". So many children these days think meat comes from the shops. I'm sure the staff made it as educational and professional as they could, minimising the gore factor. We dissected frogs and pigs' hearts in school, those were always my favorite classes.

So I voted "nothing"... But then last night I remembered one thing when I had this hairy sausage at my feet. He LOVES to lick you! Lick lick lick lick feet legs arms if he gets a chance. He'll stop eventually but it is slightly irritating must admit.

Nothing. Best cuddle buddy ever, will sleep in my arms until he gets hot and then moves to the end of the bed or the floor. Great for everyone as I get an undisturbed sleep but still get puppy cuddles. :D

The guys selling them call them pitbulls Hockz? Yes of course they do. "Pit bull" sells, but it's the pedigree that dictates what breed the dog is and those are 100% bully blood. Also they are registered with the ABKC (an American Bully registry) and UKC, which have just recognized the American Bully.

For fiber I prefer to use flaxseed meal, the starch in sweet potato and pumpkin easily triggers yeast outbreaks in dogs prone to yeast infections. I'm a prey model feeder and follow the 10/10/80 percentages (bone/organ/meat). I don't feed ground meat and don't give bone every day although I do fulfill the dog's calcium needs every day by giving him powdered eggshells. I mix it in a couple of eggs, add the eggshells (2 teaspoons for a dog around 30 kg's) and flaxseed meal (a couple of tablespoons). For extra energy or lean dogs I would use plain fat and add it to the meals. To be honest though I don't think your dog needs to gain much weight, lean is best especially with dogs that suffer from HD.

An ironic feature of this legislation is that extreme pit bulls (at least in the US) would pass the visual test, while many X-breeds with no pit in them would get caught in the net. See, eg,. http://www.hqbullies.com/males/ Those aren't pit bulls, they are American Bullies. They have nothing to do with today's pit bulls. I agree with your point though, but let's not confuse bullies with APBT.

My dog is great at embarrassing me on our walks. He has walked into countless poles and light posts when staring at something behind him...

Weight pulling is actually a good way of strengthening the rear end muscles so yes it would be beneficial for mild cases of HD. But wait has he already got HD or is this just something you've already thought about? He's ultra cute though. Love ambulls.

Have to agree with this & Hockz, I think he has reflux. One of my dogs gets it when fed oily or fatty foods, for instance he can't tolerate lamb. OH also suffers from reflux & frequently feels nausea upon waking but has experienced unwanted side effects from drugs like losec & omeprazole. By trial & error he has found watermelon to be a saviour which we now give to Ringer whenever he rushes around trying to eat grass or exhibits any symptoms such as gulping. It seems to do the trick, though I am not sure exactly what is in watermelon that eases the feeling of nausea & negates the acid. Buttermilk is also a good for a quick relief.

Sounds like heartburn to me.

Yogurt has small-ish amounts of calcium in it so there's no risk of overdoing it with adding calcium sulphate. 2 tablespoons isn't going to make much of a difference in their daily calcium intake. Scottsmum, for most medium to large sized dogs 900 mg's day is nowhere near enough and while you can absolutely overdo it (especially with growing dogs) dogs are able to excrete excess calcium up to a certain point . Unless you feed ridiculous amounts of course.

A dog's GIT is generally too short to contract salmonella, thus it is rarely found in dogs.

Not to mention that the staff aren't professionals with animals unlike with most boarding kennels etc.

I don't have such a problem with the actual flying but moreso with the fact that I have no control over anything once the dog is taken off my hands. :/

We have a long distance flight ahead of us in the near future and I'm already worried sick, this and the recent post about the poor Neo aren't helping at all.

Ok, thanks for that Hockz. Maths isn't my strong point, so I'm glad you calculated it for me. :laugh: He gets a couple of roo tails a week, or goat bones when I can get them. This is mainly to keep his teeth clean, but I figure he gets a bit of calcium from digesting some bone. Yep, roo and goat bones are both good for calcium and he'd get plenty on the days he eats them. Dogs only need a very small amount of bone a day (think 30 odd grams) to fulfill their Ca needs as it's very rich in calcium. I only give my dog ground eggshells on bone-free days.

The recommended minimum calcium intake for an adult dog is about 130mg/MEkg/day so depends how heavy your dog is. :) As an example a 30 kg dog would have a metabolic weight of 12,81 and therefore requires around 1667 mg per day so 1 teaspoon should cover that. It's also better to use raw shells instead of boiled ones as the calcium is more "accessible" to the dog in raw form. /Just realised you mentioned his weight above. My example is quite fitting then. :)

Desensitize? It can take some time and while you're working on his dislike sedating and trimming might be a good idea, but long term it's probably better to teach the dog that getting nails done isn't going to harm him. Get him used to having the clippers, dremel or whatever other tool you choose to use being close to him and work your way closer with lots of praise and treats, trying not to cross threshold. There should be plenty of videos available for this, a clicker can be awfully helpful too.

Try human grade products. :) I buy mine from supermarkets, a bottle of about 50 pills is only around $5-10. No point in spending heaps of cash in pet grade products when you can get the same effect (or even better in some cases) for cheaper. For calcium I use dried & ground egg shells, the absorption rate is supposedly quite good when finely ground and there's up to 2000mg of Ca in a single egg shell.

can you post the info on this please? It would be interesting to see the research . Ah sorry, I've actually phrased that fairly poorly. I meant their nutritional value as the website pointed out the vitamin contents of several herbs.

Dogs do not benefit from herbs and are unable to absorb any nutrients out of them. What works for people doesn't always work for dogs. Nice idea though.