Yonjuro

I went to a dog cafe today - lovely place run by lovely people and I go there a lot, so my gripe has nothing to do with the establishment :) but... I am sitting quietly with Ronin my 16 month old Husky, all 27kg of him, and a person comes up with a yapping JR which jumps on Ronins face and paws him... a bit later a Frenchy does the same and even leaving another small breed of unknown origin also did . One of them was also allowed to harass my dog while he was eating a frozen chicken neck Now I like both of these breeds I could identify and don't have any issues with SWFs, but come on... my boy seemed slightly amused by their antics, but really... what if my dog had taken a dislike to this extreme in-your-face interaction. I have worked very hard with my boy, but not everyone does the same, it would take very little for Ronin to crush such a dog between his jaws. I have even been at the park when a trainer was there with little dogs and they were doing the same to Ronin, and the trainer said to the worried owners - don't worry this Husky is non-reactive! Suffice to say I left. Owners think it is hilarious how brave their little dogs are with a big wolflike dog - sheesh I know who will get the blame if there is ever a nasty incident. Rant over :D

Thanks Westiemum :) The no dogs on the furniture rule lasted about 5 minutes in my place :laugh:

Thanks Shirra :) :D Thanks DDD :)

Hoping to get ore of Ronin and Tigger soon but here is a small update :) After a tiring morning playing at the park...

While the bad ones most certainly exist and they should banned for life and be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, there are many others that get no recognition. A friend of mine who is very well informed about the industry in WA was telling me of some kennels she knows, that have heating, air-conditioning and even TVs so the sound soothes them. She is of the opinion that happy and well cared for dogs race the best. She also was telling me how much the dogs absolutely love to race and it would be sad to lose this outlet for them based on the actions of the few. She also thinks that the people exposed in the program should be not only banned for life but should also do jail time. I personally prefer to focus on the positive. I see a clean up of the industry as positive and I see the exposure of how wonderful greyhounds are as pets as positive and I hope that they are not mutually exclusive.

That is a great idea, if they do one in Perth I will see if I can bring Ronin along Of course! all dogs welcome, it just shows how many people support greyhounds. Hmmmm I'm going to put some serious thought into this and contact some media outlets, radio, papers, TV. Social media will be the one to spread the word I'm sure Every Greyhound on Facebook will promote it for me. I'm gunna need some help! You can count me in to help promote and I am pretty sure Tigger's mum would be interested

ahhhh, thanks I feel better now :D My wife is from Russia and it is very popular there, we make kefir all the time, I love it with some sea salt sprinkled on the top Haven't given it to Ronin as yet. I wasn't aware of it eating up the lactose

That is a great idea, if they do one in Perth I will see if I can bring Ronin along

I have asked my friend who is close with GAP WA and will find out if anything like this is happening and report back. :) BTW - Awesome pics and vids being shared on this thread :thumbsup:

Apart from the dramas at the vets, things seem to be going quite well and you sound like you are coping quite well with the regimes. Well done, and keep up the good work, Give Danny a snog from me :)

:D Oh yeah, I know the stinky Schnauzer beard very well. My 14 year old Schnauzer passed away almost three years ago so I have some experience there. Frozen sardines should be less stinky than fish oil :D It should be no worse than with the other raw food you are feeding. I think fresh/frozen whole is much better than tinned ones.

Wow. I don't feed grains but even I think that is very dumb. I would not hesitate to coax my dog out with some vegemite on toast if there was ever such a problem. I also don't think that most dogs need grain free either, I just choose Ronin's diet on what I think is the very best for him. :)

You need to keep the bone content around 10% - remember that chicken necks are around 80% bone and I think wings are around 50% bone. Make sure there is sufficient food that is high in phosphorus to balance out the calcium from the bones. I recommend some red meat. I prefer big meat on the bone but for a puppy you might want to try some mince, regular butchers mince will have more fat than the premium one, so the cheaper may be better for a puppy. Whole frozen sardines are also excellent and completely balanced so you may want to substitute the odd chicken wing for this on occasion. You could get 1kg of human grade roo mince, 1 kg of regular beef mince, 100g of liver and 100g of kidneys and mix it all up - add you pureed or mashed veggies if you want to and freeze into meal portions. I flatten them so the stack in the freezer and they will thaw out quicker. I used to feed it frozen as then they need to chew it off the patty. Then all you need to do is add the edible bone to balance out the meal...simples :D Also you don't need to balance out every meal, just try and get your rough ratios okay over the course of a week. Make you quantities up based on what is required for the weight of the adult dog and divide between the 3 or 4 meals you intend feeding per day - taking into account the meaty bones. You shouldn't really need the fish oil for a puppy, especially if you can add some fish to the diet. My unfounded philosophy on feeding a puppy is to introduce small amounts of every type of meat and organs you can find as soon as possible. My belief is that early exposure to a wide variety can reduce the likelihood of the dog developing intolerances to various proteins later on. I also don't mind the odd loose stool that may come from a different food. I believe that some minor upsets may in fact build a dog with a greater ability to self regulate. Having said that you need to make sure the food is from a clean source and generally frozen for a week or two beforehand and never let chronic diarrhea go unchecked. Anyway, that is a snapshot of what I did for a while. Each dog is different and no doubt people will disagree with my ideas :)

...an Adaptil collar uses the pheromones of a lactating bitch that is supposed to create a calming effect. Most people report that it helps bring down anxiety a notch. So lets say 10% as a conservative estimate, it may work better in some instances but at around $45 for 4 weeks you would need to weigh up the gamble. Just google Adaptil collar and you will get a heap of stores selling them.

All I can think of is letting your staffy inside while your lab recovers. Other alternatives I suppose are, bones to chew on, treat balls or something like an Adaptil collar. I hope things improve soon :)

Wishing you all the best, please keep us informed on how it all goes :)

Great pics Hazy, Stan and Maddie are so lovely with buckets of personality. Maddie is doing a good husky impersonation of the sleeping position... one that I affectionately call the slutky :D

Thanks Hazy, I really wanted to start this for people like yourself who do so much for this magnificent breed :) My hope was that people would share their stories and pics and keep this completely separate from what is going on in the news room :) I think it is pretty safe to say that without the wonderful work done by some rescues I wouldn't have a little place in mine and Ronin's heart filled with greyhound love :)

Ronin has been remarkable good except for... my icebreaker marino undies :laugh:

:laugh:

:rofl: That is brilliant, and one of the funniest things I have read on the forum. Your description was so visual I'll bet kisses were off the menu for a short period of time

I met Tigger while he was still recovering from the incident. It is a testament to the breed that despite this horrific mauling he showed no emotional scarring afterwards and not even to other beagles. Did Tigger do his schmoozing habit of walking between your legs?? :D

Thanks DDD, but I am not sure if the general public would completely understand their general rough play :laugh: At some point I will try and compile a vid of the gentle times - but with these clowns they are pretty rare :laugh: The little Shiba Inu is funny, I don't see many but I do enjoy their character. I have put on Facebook the same stuff from this original post but mine is not public so dunno how it works if it is shared or get out in the public arena. If is does there will no doubt be trolls, but I am big and ugly enough for that :D PS. This is not intended to be another Ronin Tigger thread, but just to inject a bit positivity into what has been a pretty hard time for many people of late.

As the title says, I really love greyhounds :) Rewind 12 months and I thought they had no value as pets. My ignorance led me to believe that these dogs were bred to be aggressive, untrustworthy, chase down animals and needed to be muzzled at all times. I would see unmuzzled ones at my local dog park and I didn't know about green collars at that time. Even muzzled ones would cause me concern as my dog was only 6 months old at that time. My daughter who was 6 at that time would often be with me so again I was always concerned. Shortly after this time I met one, and had a nice chat to the owner, then I met two, then three and then more and more. I can say now that they are favourite breed apart from my own love of huskies. In fact I prefer his play with greys more than his play with other huskies :) I have seen many incidents at the fenced in off lead park over the last 12 or so months, but never have I seen any issues resulting from or involving a grey. I have however experienced the trauma of my best bud Tigger having is stomach ripped open by a pair of beagles ... but anyway he is fine now and this is not what this post is about. So, anyway here are a few pics of my good buddy Tigger - the goofy clown prince of the park :D Tigger was from GAP WA and is not owned by me, but I see him so often that he feels like family and I love him to bits :)