Yonjuro

Hi all, I am progressing Ronin onto full prey model raw and looking for bone suggestions and ideas. His evening meal is fully PMRD. Morning he gets a couple of chicken necks and Sunday Pets dry food. The chicken necks are really more of a treat as he goes nuts for them. He is doing so well on raw and I now have the freezer space for him that I will probably finish off the big bag of Sunday Pets and stop buying kibble. I know that we are meant to avoid weight bearing bones and this makes it more challenging to find suitable bones for chewing. He just won't go the flavoured nylon jobbies or kongs - can't say I really blame him though :D I am more looking for bones that he can chew for a while without breaking teeth. Following are my findings thus far. Beef necks - great, keeps him occupied for a good while, he can't eat the whole thing which is kind of what I am after. I get them from the butcher cut in 4 pieces (approx 12cm squares) Beef shoulder blades, pretty good, the soft parts get eaten and he can chew on the harder parts. Lamb flaps - cut in strips around 5cm x 20cm last around 2 minutes They also seem to be very fatty. Marrow bones - too hard, marrow is too fatty (gave him the runs) when cut in half (lengthways - exposing inside) Snapper head - loves this, obviously we can only feed outside, and he crunches it down pretty quickly :D I am pretty okay with the easily edible bones as part of the diet ratio but more looking for the longer lasting ones to keep him happy and occupied for a little while in the evenings. His teeth are currently colgate clean and white. So anyway, I would love to hear what you use. For those that don't know - Ronin is a Siberian Husky and a very strong chewer :)

I can thoroughly recommend the non-stop semi check collars. They are brilliant and come in red, blue and black. There is also an orange and camo versions of the safety version. We have used it in river and surf. http://www.non-stopdogwear.no/eng/Our-products/Dog-collars They come from Norway but there is an Aussie distributor who sells them to the public. http://www.malusky.com.au

My old mini schnauzer had them a lot in her life. There is a Hills diet they recommend but pretty sure it was only the tin version that was the go. It may have been w/d but you would need to check on this. I am not a big fan, but if you run out of options please look into it. I was told to cut out bones from her diet as the calcium can be a cause. In the end we just fed her normally and she would pass them, on occasions she had UTIs which were pretty easy to clear up. We would do a dentals and expressing on the crystals/stones at the same time in the mid to latter years At the time with my old girl, I wasn't on the internet and there are probably some great recipes available to make your own food up.

Oh no, I am so sorry to read this. I am a grown man and have a tear in my eye typing this. You have done everything possible for her and I am so sorry for your loss. Run free Myrtie.

Agreed! Unfortunately the dog continues to suffer as the woman wants to appeal and I suppose the dog can't go to a new home yet!?

Based on the tele news it has!?? Footage showed what I presume to be a staff member running around a park with the dog. It was a beautiful looking dog.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/latest/a/24284346/breeder-convicted-over-hot-dog/ A WA woman who left a dog in a car on a 38C day has been found guilty of animal cruelty. Adele Culverwell, 65, a dog breeder of Muckenburra near Gingin, was convicted in Perth Magistrates Court on Friday. Her dog Roxy, a two-and-a-half year old Borzoi, has been cared for by the RSPCA since the offence in December 2012. Members of the public had seen the dog locked in a panel van in the car park of the Carousel Shopping Centre in Cannington and complained to the RSPCA. An RSPCA inspector took the dog to a veterinary clinic, where it was diagnosed with heat stroke and had to be treated with cooling techniques and given fluid intravenously. Culverwell was charged after refusing to accept that her actions had caused Roxy considerable suffering and harm, the animal welfare agency said. The case is believed to be the first of its kind in the state. "We welcome the decision of the court today because it sends a clear message to the public - don't leave your dog in a car in warm weather," RSPCA chief inspector Amanda Swift said. "This message has been out there in the public domain for many years and some people are still putting their dogs at risk of serious long-term health problems and even death by cooking them." Last summer, the RSPCA received almost 600 calls about dogs in hot cars. In the vast majority of cases, the people concerned were horrified to learn that they could have seriously harmed or even killed their dog, she said. Ms Swift said Culverwell had refused to rule out doing the same thing again. She will be sentenced on August 8.

Based on what you have said Aliwake, I would say you are already on the road to sorting this out. The more controlled exposure the better. If there are any big fluffys that walk on-lead it would be great if you can do the same - side by side but a couple of metres apart, then bring in to a metre and eventually allow them to be as close as they want. Obviously this takes co-operation from the other owner, but in my limited experience many spitz owner are only too happy to help with this sort of socialisation as it is mutually beneficial. I had to laugh when speaking Russian was mentioned earlier as we use Russian for lots of commands, my wife is Russian and my daughter speaks the language too, so I suppose Ronin literally understands Russian :D errm, but being a Husky he is quite multicultural in ignoring both languages when he wants to :laugh:

I can relate to this being a Husky owner, some dogs seem to get a bit nervous around my boy, luckily Ronin is very playful despite being attacked at a dog park twice when he was on-lead. Luckily we have a fence in area at a park where they can run around and they quickly sort themselves out. In my experience it is a few owners (not the OP or others here) that freak out more at dogs like mine than the actual dogs, as huskies display many of the signs that others would read as aggressive - ears, tails and quite a lot of vocalisation and energy. My apologies for this ramble as it doesn't really help with the actual topic. If Aliwake was in my region, Ronin and I would love to meet up with you both :)

Well done Takoda!

Have a look at this page, it is run by an Aussie, there is a contact form and the owner should be able to put you in contact with an accommodating vet. http://www.rawlearning.com/contact.html

If you see a bald headed bloke with a husky please say hello :D What breed of dog/s do you have?

I think it would be fine, just make sure all of the raw food (even fresh stuff) has been frozen before feeding.

Are you moving to WA?? There is an awesome dog park that has opened up in Mt Lawley/Inglewood. It is fenced in for off lead dogs and has logs for agility and a good drinking bowl with tap. There seems to be a group of very dog savvy people who frequent it and I have had awesome times there with Ronin. I was thinking of organising a meet up with WA DoLers sometime soon. I am not sure if I would recommend it for nervous or toy breeds though as there are mostly mid to larger dogs that go there. Having said that, I have seen some very small dogs there, but most of us will then put a lead on and leave so as to avoid any potential problems. I was worried the other day when a couple of toy poodles and a trio of mini-schanusers arrived. But there was a bunch of mid sized dogs so they mainly played together. I was a bit worried when a bite-sized white fluffy ran up and barked at my 24kg Husky puppy - luckily he behaved well, but I grabbed hold of his collar just in case. There are lots of cafes where you can take your dog as well as designated beach and river areas for dogs. Where is this dog park? "The City has also unveiled it's first dedicated dog exercise area at Inglewood Oval (corner of Central Avenue / Stancliffe Street, Mount Lawley). The facility has a fenced-off area which includes natural elements such as a mix of sand and turf, agility logs,dog drinking bowl, gazebo and bench seating. "

Are you moving to WA?? There is an awesome dog park that has opened up in Mt Lawley/Inglewood. It is fenced in for off lead dogs and has logs for agility and a good drinking bowl with tap. There seems to be a group of very dog savvy people who frequent it and I have had awesome times there with Ronin. I was thinking of organising a meet up with WA DoLers sometime soon. I am not sure if I would recommend it for nervous or toy breeds though as there are mostly mid to larger dogs that go there. Having said that, I have seen some very small dogs there, but most of us will then put a lead on and leave so as to avoid any potential problems. I was worried the other day when a couple of toy poodles and a trio of mini-schanusers arrived. But there was a bunch of mid sized dogs so they mainly played together. I was a bit worried when a bite-sized white fluffy ran up and barked at my 24kg Husky puppy - luckily he behaved well, but I grabbed hold of his collar just in case. There are lots of cafes where you can take your dog as well as designated beach and river areas for dogs.

Thanks for all of the suggestion, I think I am going to go with a soft crate for 3 reasons, first being to create more of a den to try and make him more comfortable, second I can use it when we go camping and third is that I hear the wire ones rattle a fair bit in the car and it would probably drive me bonkers. I am looking at K9+ Royal, Animates and Bono Fido. I would probably choose k9+ but they are out of stock in the size I want until end of July

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The best thing we bought that will never wear out and the most valuable of all is a Personal Trainer :) Of course we bought all the usual stuff as mentioned above, but when putting your budget together please consider adding training to your shopping list. Knowledgeable people here will help you select someone good and appropriate to your breed and wants. Have fun and please post some photos.

Yep, he is fully crate trained, he jumps into the car like he is looking forward to it but then gets really whiney once we get going :) He is never sick and he gets treats as we go but he is clearly trying to get close to me in the drivers seat. he has a wire one at home, so i assume he is ok in a crate :) I have a soft crate, and it has a door in the long side, so its possible to get one :) A lot of people at agility have these:http://www.k9softdogcrates.com.au/I have had an animates one (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Animates-Dog-Collapsible-Soft-Crate-/301127354680)and a bono fido one, http://d1y8akoq438vzy.cloudfront.net/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/750x/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/1/1/119891_1_n_bono-fido-soft-kennel_2.jpg.Both have lasted a long time, but i only have a small dog, and he doesnt try and escape the crate at all. So very little pressure is placed on either. Great, many thanks for those links, much appreciated.

Savic make those. The Savic one in the wide format might fit the bill. Thanks for the heads-up. So far I can only find one seller on ebay that sell them but not the wide. If anyone knows of any retailers please let me know.

Many thanks for all of the replies :) ...unfortunately I don't think the sloped one in a size big enough for my boy will fit longways into my car (I have only seen the Vebo one though) I will have to double check though. Are there any other makers in Oz that have sloped ones? Also who makes or sells decent soft crates?

Hi all I am hoping to get some advice on a crate for my husky to go in the back/ boot of my Landrover Freelander 2. (not as big as a normal 4WD) I was thinking of a soft crate, he has a wire one at home. The main thing is I just want simplicity, I don't want to lug out his home crate every time I want to take him for a quick outing. As it stands now he has a seatbelt and a mat but he yelps and whines for all of out trips. He jumps into the boot with no hesitation and our trainer thinks a crate make settle him better. One of the issues is that he is a pretty big boy at 24kg and takes a run up to jump into the boot, I would think the crate would need to sit in the car with the wide side facing the opening(back window) - basically so he can jump into the crate. Most seem to have the door on the end. I am going to try some adaptil spray and other training techniques, no chance of getting him to wear a thunder shirt LOL Any advice on a crate would be great.

Great, I will really look forward to hearing how you go with it and I really hope it works well.