Trisven13

I think it depends on the dog - I know with Bart that if I give an inch he will take a mile and reading all the things Squeak does, made me realise how slack I've got with him lately. We don't let him sleep on the lounge because he is a dominant personality - when he was a pup he would growl occasionally when you touched him on the lounge so we stopped letting him on. He calmed down a lot and so when he was about 12 months old we would "invite" him on when it suited us - he growled at OH one night, was sent outside for half an hour as a punishment and hasn't been allowed on again. We are incredibly consistent with it - he is not allowed paws up for a pat - all four feet on the ground at all times. What I haven't done though is keep up the training with him so did five minutes with him tonight and will get back to it again as a nightly ritual.

He is food aggresive with other dogs so is fed separately - he must sit and look at us and wait for the release signal before can eat, he must sit before he leaves the room where he eats, he must sit before he gets his lead on, before he walks out the door etc. I honestly believe that if I didn't do all those things with Bart he would be a very difficult dog to live with. He is a very nice dog when he knows his boundaries but he will push them if given the opportunity.

My dogs don't heel, terrible I know but as I've always owned multiple dogs I've never figured out how to get them to heel at the same time. Bart must sit and wait until I walk out the gate before he can and he has to sit at the edge of the road etc as do my other dogs, but they all walk out in front. After about 15 minutes Bart is getting tired so he walks next to me or behind me then. Despite the fact that they don't heel I don't let them stop and sniff as I was also told that the dog must learn to go where I want to go, when I want to go. I just keep on walking and they quickly figure out they need to be with me.

Oh Feher - I know EXACTLY how you feel!! And I'm feeling it right alongside you this week. As you may have read my guys had an altercation this week and Bart, my baby, my heart-dog, the best dog I've ever owned, was too rough with my 8 year old Min Pin and he has now lost an eye. I'm sure Bart isn't a nasty dog, Tigger doesn't have another mark on him, but I too can't look at him the same way I did on Tuesday night..... I'm now constantly worried about every little sound I hear in the backyard, every minor "pack" noise, in case Bart is being too rough, or dominant or just plain mean. Its a horrible feeling and one I hope we both get past very very soon.

Thinking of you.

I would pick "B" because I think I read somewhere that meat meal should be avoided.... Also too many rices.

With a large number of rescue dogs in our household and a very significant amount of our income committed to it our rescue dogs eat whatever we have the funds for or was donated so for me price is a big issue. That doesn't mean I buy the no name cheap and nasty from the supermarket but a large number of our rescue dogs eat Coprice - it is affordable.

Imy, unless you're brutal like me, you will slowly see results. For fast results you need to be brutal and there is no way you will do that :cool: .

We had a very overweight dog come into care down here, a beagle X ACD. The foster carer always left dry food out for their dogs so, even though they reduced her servings, she still didn't lose any weight. After a few months she came here and I was SAVAGE. She was fed once a day and fed the same amount as my terriers - within a month she looked like a different dog and was MUCH happier. Her new owners met her for the first time and commented on how fat she was I couldn't help but laugh as she had been so much fatter to start with. When she first came out of the pound I called her Jenny Craig . She is now a lean mean fighting machine who walks for an hour plus every day and swims in the lake at Yarrawonga. She was much fatter (even taking breed differences into consideration) than your dogs though Imy!!!

I'm going to be the party pooper here.... To me, with the greyhounds I have met, I would say that they look like they are carrying a bit too much weight as they don't look to have a waist. I know a lot of people don't like the thin greyhound look but realistically that is their body shape and the shape they should have to be healthy - Imy's dogs, lovely as they are, don't have a waist when looked at from above. They're not obese, but they are overweight for their breed.

In saying that, as I mentioned in the other thread, so are my little dogs at the moment and I'm working to reduce their weights.

:cool: Yes but I've met them in the flesh remember....

Sorry Imy... I voted yes without even looking at the photos :cool: . But they are still beautiful!!

oh Imy you make me laugh!!!!

We are currently feeding 6 dogs at our place, a Maltese, a JRT, a Min Pin X, a wolfhound X pup and two greyhounds. We have plenty of food for them by feeding (once a day only for adults ) on a variety that is made up as follows....

If it is chicken carcass night they get the appropriate amount for them, ie Bart gets 4, the JRT gets 1, same with other RMBs.

When it is the raw mix we use 2kg of chicken (pet) mince from Lenards, 3 small bunches of Bok Choy (or similar), 3 carrots, 2 apples (all smooshed through the food processor), 2 eggs and 2 tins of sardines - alternate eggs with heart/liver/kidney type meat. This delightful combination is all mixed together and dished out into their bowls with Bart getting the most and the little dogs the least - there is always enough left over for the cats as well.

They are all looking fantastic, in fact we've just decided to cut down on the small dogs amounts as they are getting fat. I think it is all down to the amounts Imy - sorry!!!

I have owned a couple of JRT's and they have escaped every bloody chance they got. It wasn't until I concreted under the fence line that they stopped. My greyhound, on the other hand, would need a written invitation and a bloody big bone to entice him before he would ever leave.

Just for fun and because I had a bag donated.... Pedigree Puppy - 54 F :rolleyes:

Am not an NDTF student but was privileged enough to have done 12 months plus of training with my dogs under Steve Austin - he is a great trainer, helpful, authoritive, knowledgeable and noticed the improvements we had made. Loved him!!

But for every one of you there are probably three or more who won't and that is the problem. If the world was full of responsible dog owners then rescuers and breeders would not have to carefully screen who they adopt to but its not and desexing at 8 weeks means that we don't get fooled and add to the population of dogs we need to help.

It doesn't stop me recommending people who want a purebred dog to a registered breeder Nadia, don't worry . I just hope that there are more good than bad. I suppose my point is that if you are a responsible registered breeder you can rehome an 8 week old pup undesexed with a desexing contract that you enforce as much as you possibly can BUT too many registered breeders don't seem to care about whether a dog is desexed or not once it leaves them and that is what leads to so many backyard purebred dogs who require rescue.

I have had many good experiences with registered breeders as well, just wish that rescue of their breed was as important to them as other parts of owning their breed. I love that saying "I breed therefore I rescue" .

Nadia I REGULARLY recommend people go to registered breeders to get a dog. I have looked up breeders on DOL for many many enquiries I have had, passed on details, told them things to ask about, what to expect from a good breeder etc etc. I very rarely bag a registered breeder but come on, even you must admit that giving an entire pup away for free is not responsible, nor is selling one to a person you haven't done anymore than say hello to. As I have witnessed this happen twice in three visits to dog shows it must happen more often. It is things like that that lead me to say that there are definitely breeders out there who don't screen as carefully as rescue.

And yes, of course our dogs bounce back at times but that is another point, we always take them back. I had one breeder in Albury recently tell me that it was unreasonable to expect a breeder to always take back a dog they bred.

Edited to add... My recommendations to people to see a registered breeder have come from the reading I have made on this site of the Breeder's Forum which led me to believe that registered breeders honestly cared about their pups and what happened to them over the course of their life. Things I have discovered through my personal visits to dog shows and phone calls to breeders of dogs and Breed Clubs has led me to realise that not all breeders are as responsible as those on the Breeders Forum here. The breeder of the pup by the OP was, IMO, trying to be responsible.

Double post

Just thought I'd add my two cents about why all dogs not intended for responsible breeding/showing in the future should be desexed.

My close friend was recently "given" (yes for free) an entire purebred puppy at a dog show. Yes this dog will have a wonderful new home and be loved, well trained, exercised, socialised etc etc etc. But he will also be used to breed from..... She has already planned it. If only he had been desexed first (and he was over 8 weeks) then it wouldn't be happening. I've tried my darnedest to talk her into desexing but it ain't working.

If all registered breeders were like those on DOL who vet their new owners as carefully as we do our rescue dogs, then there would be less backyard bred "purebred" dogs. Unfortunately being a registered breeder doesn't make you responsible and many of them are just happy to get rid of a pup and/or get some money out of it. I myself have bought a pup with papers from a dog show from a person who had never met me or spoken to me before. Having bought a pedigreed dog myself so easily I know that anyone else can - I even got told if I wanted to use him for breeding I needed to make sure I didn't get a bitch too closely related to him .

I'm really sorry that this responsible owner has a dog with a problem from early desexing but if she was so anti early desexing she could have got one from a different breeder, who didn't desex early.

All I know is that if more people desexed pups early I would have far less to rescue.

I've never known one . Every dog I have would win a few points but none of them the whole lot!!! I have a 6 1/2 year old dog who still chews everything he can get his teeth on .

I may have to amend this soon though as Mazuma the rescue greyhound is being very very good so far.

Hey guys - heard you on the radio this morning!! Great interview! I was coming home from picking up our newest rescue dog from GTE and suddenly thought...... that voice sounds very very familiar!!! Yes M-J - it was you!!

Steve is still shattered he missed out on the opportunity to spend the day with you all but unfortunately sick toddlers a week earlier infected him. I haven't dared show him the photos, he's upset enough as it is.

Trish

I'm all for early desexing and can only say good on the breeder for being responsible. Yes it is a damn shame for the owner of this particular dog that she has health issues but I still stand by early desexing. If more breeders were as responsible as those on this site maybe it wouldn't be such an issue but we all know that they're not.

Had 50kg of chicken carcasses donated today with more to come tomorrow so will chicken carcasses be okay instead of chicken wings??? I can get some minced chicken carcasses and what I have done previously is, using my food processer, I've minced up carrots, apples & bok choy and then mixed in sardines, yoghurt, eggs etc. Is that the sort of food you're talking about? He had some lamp flaps yesterday. I can easily get him pet chicken mince, lamb flaps and, obviously, chicken carcasses. What else, if anything, should I be including?

Thanks Steve - will have a go at working some food out and see what you think of what I'm feeding.

Trish

Wouldn't let me fit in the matted shot.

Steve - this is really fascinating and I would really love to use Tucker a Maltese X I have at home as a "guinea pig". I have attached a photo of him. Could you give me a diet plan for him (being as busy as I am I really need someone to just tell me ) so that I can see if I can improve it in him. Once I've improved his legs I'll start on his personality - only joking, he's not THAT bad!

I've also attached a picture of him when he came to us so you can see he has never been well cared for, and he was terribly, terribly thin.

Oh God, why can't the idiot who begged me today to rehome a puppy to him undesexed (as if!!) have read threads like this and all the others. And why Muttly, is it people like you (and me), who work so bloody hard to save them who are so terribly affected when we can't. There are so many dogs I wish I'd been able to help and I've only been doing this for 18 months to 2 years.....

I feel for you Muttly and for that poor boy!

Hi to all the people I met serving food!!! We had a great day but are still completely knackered!!!

The biggest disappointment for us was not getting to watch much of it, but I really enjoyed watching XFactor's Division 1 team. Wish I knew who some of you were when I was serving you - should have had DOLer badges on or something ;) .

And it was pretty cold yesterday morning in Albury but didn't it turn out to be a beautiful day??? :rolleyes:

Trish

Forgot to mention - a very big big big thank you to all the winning teams who donated their food prizes to us. It is very much appreciated and will be put to very good use - we currently have 14 pups under 6 months in care so for it to be puppy food was a godsend!