Yonjuro

Thanks Anne, Yeah, he is a bugger with getting stuff too, thankfully I have avoided most up until now.

Oh, that is reassuring to hear. I am pretty paranoid with keeping things like this away from him so this is a bit distressing for me as his carer. I will defo be keeping a close eye on him.

I think my 6 month old Husky has swallowed a bit of plastic! I can't find this piece which came off a removable wall hook. I found him with the larger bit but cannot find the smaller bit! It is a flat rectangle that measures around 10mm wide x 20mm long and is around 2mm thick. I have given him half a piece of bread and I have made up a batch of Slippery elm. As this only happened an hour ago, he is showing no signs that anything is wrong. He is quite a large boy and weighs just over 21kg. Any advice on course of action. I am not sure I want to rush him to emergency and have him sedated and x-rayed and then find the missing bit of plastic. Having said that I don't want to do the wrong thing either.

... at the other end of the scale, I went to a fenced in dog park on the weekend, the 4 dogs initially there were Husky (mine) an Aussie, Akita and a Pinscher - how diverse is that? :) Walking around my block I regularly see a guy with a Malamute and a Husky and a lovely dog wise couple with a pair a Basenjis.

For me, it simply shows the ignorance of people when I hear of any issues to do with Guide Dogs or Assistance dogs. Lack of tolerance exists. Yet if those same people were in the same position, I imagine they would demand their rights. Yes, this is true. I just don't understand how people can be intolerant of a person with a disability and their helper?? Apologies that I have used the term disability, as I am not up with the correct term these days

This is so sad and frustrating on so many levels. Poor lady, poor dog, it is simply not fair that they have to be put through this trauma by ignorant people. As if life wasn't challenging enough.

oh bugger, I lied... I also add Augustines Approved Super Boost to his meals at a slightly lower dose than recommended as I reckon he eats very well. ...and as far as the eggshells go, I have no real basis for adding this, it is just my logic which may indeed be flawed :D Hopefully others can advise you better than I.

This is quite interesting as I feed my Husky pup very very similar to tesla as advised by the breeder. However the Vet told me that the addition of mince to the meal has a negating effect on the calcium. I don't fully understand it, but I suppose if you have a handful of mince in one hand, and a handful of kibble in the other, the kibble is balanced but the mince isn't. So 2 hand fulls of the mixed food is not balanced - according to the vet?? I would think that the chicken necks would balance out the calcium over the day? I also keep crushed eggshells and add a pinch or two to the mince. I really can't say if this balances things better, but I really can't see it doing and harm. I would imagine that some pet mince probably has bone/calcium content, but it is more convenient for us to buy high grade lean mince for humans from our butcher, so this is why I add the pinch of ground shells. I feed the chicken necks frozen and stuck together, Ronin needs to chew them this way(well a bit anyway :) ). I would have one p'd off Husky if I removed them from his diet - he goes nuts for them and has had them fro 8 weeks to now 6 month :D Anyway, the vet said at last visit to not change a thing with his diet as he looks super.

Bloody hell, I'd be tempted with that dish LOL Yep Yep. Venison and Fish Ziwi served with a side of warm, soft fried egg and if Mummy is being generous some bacon. Life is good when you're a fox terrier. I use the same Ziwi as training treats for my husky, and it really does smell good enough for me to eat :laugh: Your combo would push me over the edge of temptation :laugh: Ronin loves raw eggs in shell, I gave him a couple of quail eggs the other day - that I stole from the fridge so the Mrs didn't catch me :laugh: boy-oh-boy, they went down a treat. I am led to believe that quail eggs have loads more of the good stuff within. I often bring up shells and keep handy to add a pinch or two to mince when he gets that. Our vet made a commend that mince can have a negating effect on calcium levels. I haven't researched this though and I am sure that the small amount of added shells cannot be a bad thing when added to lean best quality human grade mince. I would be interested to hear if anyone has heard this about mince.

...If the neighbour has bothered to do a letter drop apologising , enlisted the help of a trainer and tried citronella collars then they sound like they care enough to try and remedy the problems. I am not suggesting that the owners are doing a great job LOL, but I would just let them be for a while. Along the lines of what HW said, they can't be too serious in their fighting or there would be seriously wounded dogs. I am pretty sure the owner would be aware of any blood or puncture wounds. If there is a wounded dog, then they will know that there is a problem and therefore no need to add to their stress by putting a note in their box or even approaching them about it. Anyway, good on the OP for caring about other dogs in the neighbourhood.

... I ended up returning it, I think the fat is too much for a puppy limited by 30min walks due to young age and growth plates. I imagine it would be great for high energy requirements.

Bloody hell, I'd be tempted with that dish LOL

Hi all, Was in a pet shop today and they had a special on the K9 Naturals Frozen Raw food. I bought 3kg of the "Beef Feast" which worked out to around $29 This is not the freeze dried. Upon getting home and reading the back I see the following which causes me some concern Guaranteed Analysis Min Crude Protein 11.7% Min Crude fat 24%!!!!! Min Crude Fibre 0.5% Max moisture 58% This seems to be very fatty or am I reading this wrong by comparing it to dry kibble ratios and moisture levels??? The ingredients seem to be very good and not what I would have thought to be overly fatty! I am thinking I will return it tomorrow as I don't think my 6 month old Husky needs this much fat with 2x30 min walks a day? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

What a great post, I would highlight/bold pretty well everything you have said. So much of it rings true in my recent and quite extensive research before I got my pup.

A happy update I took Ronin to an open day at the Western Australian Sled dog association, for a chance to meet some dogs in public. It went really well, Ronin got told off my a larger dog which was perfect. He settled down and I stayed wi the group for an hour or so. Ronin was relaxed and laid down reasonably close to the dog that told him off. All went great, I gave Ronin plenty of small treats to keep him calm and in a settled position. So stage 2. I took a drive by a new purpose built, fenced in off leash dog park yesterday, that TT put me onto. and there was no one there, so this afternoon we decided to take Ronin tree for a gallop around. There was a lady there with an Aussie and I think a pinscher??, We were deciding whether to risk taking Ronin in and up came a nice couple with a 10 month old Akita. I talked to them for a bit about my concerns after the previous incident, and the two dogs seemed good together. She said that it was a really good place and she knew the other dogs there so we decided to give it a go.... I had Ronin on leash for a few seconds so I could quickly get him out of there if needed. All the dogs came up to him so I dropped the lead so he could get away if needed. Anyway, all I can say it went brilliantly, Ronin had a ball chasing and being chased. The next thing I know another 8 dogs roll up, some labs, and other medium sized mixes including a labradoodle. I was a bit worried but I had no need. Everyone got on really well. The couple with the Akita decided their dog was getting pretty excited so they put her on leash ready to go. We also decided to take the opportunity to leave on a really positive note. I cannot tell you how happy and relieved I was with the afternoon, we all had a ball and I have one tired Husky! Man it is beautiful to see him run at full stride.

Yeah, they are really comfortable and when you have 20kg of 6month old husky power on the end ( still getting the hang of loose leash walking), you quickly find out what is a strong leash and one that is really nice on your hands from the get-go.

I use the K9 pro leather leash and they are sooooo nice, our trainer had leash envy when she saw and handled ours :laugh: We attach an ezydog poop bag holder to the d-ring on the handle of the leash. It is a combo I am very happy with http://waggle.com.au/ezydog-b2/doo-bag-p82 http://www.k9pro.com.au/premium-leather-leash-3-4-heavy-duty-leash.html edit the light one might be better for a small dog http://www.k9pro.com.au/premium-leather-leash-1-2-light-duty-or-puppy-leash.html

Hmm, Rice is the first ingredient by weight/volume and it contains corn meal as the 4th ingredient so, it doesn't seem like one I will try. It is a shame as I am a proud West Aussie and would love to support them I will keep an eye on them to see if they change their formulas to something that suits me more. Thanks for the heads-up on the product though :)

you will be able to get most of the information you need from this site, it may not have all of the varieties available in Australia but it certainly has heaps of foods. http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/brand/

This is not a hijack, simply good and relevant questions that are on topic :)

No hijack at all, this is all part of the discussion that helps me considerably, please add as much as you like to this thread, it is all appreciated by me

Great, many thanks for the tips!

I am pretty sure that irradiation of pet foods no longer happens due to illnesses reported (especially in cats). I believe that foods that were not brought to a certain temperature in manufacture were previously required to be treated for potential pathogens. I think that foods like this i.e. Origen, are no longer brought into the country. I could be wrong though :) Edit - I posted this in response to a person claiming that all food imported into Oz get irradiated and fumigated. Looks like the post and/or person making the claims has been deleted, I wonder if it was a company respesentative spruiking their products???

THanks!

Thanks for the advice HW, much appreciated! Thanks again Nekhbet!