Scottsmum

You got a really similar mix to me & I said small to medium & left at home 20-40 hrs pw

I often get corgis when i do this. And did this time too. Its a bit worrying that i honestly a said short coat & no grooming per week & still got westies & Scottys in the mix

Yuck. How annoying

How will you check the foxes? (That is you isnt it?)

So good to hear WM. I must get Scottie some.

I'm not surprised by that. I've seen Steves videos, cant image there'd be too many better places to leave your dog.

It sucks. I was assured he'd be pampered & well looked after. I was quite explicit in my concerns re: SA, Dementia & deafness.... I even paid more for a last wee & stuff at 8pm.

Not trying to belittle your experience PK - but I think that's more to do with the wrong homesitter than home sitting in itself. We had a similar shitty experience with Scottie while I was home in October. He was in a registered kennel / commercial place as I couldnt find a sitter I was happy with & woofintons was too far away and clashed with my flight plans. I had paid more for the "deluxe" kennel and I was very unhappy. He there for 10 days was sent with exactly 20 serves of food - all clearly marked, all labeled + some "emergency" cans if he went off his mince/raw combo. He was also sent with enough xanax for 10 days. He came home stinking, he had a new rub mark on his nose where he'd obviously been trying to escape, he had a huge amount of food left over as well as the canned stuff - so F knows what they'd been feeding him and they didn't give him his xanax once. To top it all off - they treated an "infected eye" without even trying to contact me or hubby - and they knew hub was in the country (on reflection - considering he'd obviously not been eating his own food it would have been grain related) and they gave me the standard spiel about "how wonderful and happy he'd been" By comparison when he was at Woofingtons they told me he hadn't been eating - so hand fed him for me & also said he'd been a big glum & that they'd let him do his own thing and spend longer in the exercise yard at in the morning because he was happy there. I still do the odd home sit & walk. I find the bulk of my bookings come from my no-off leash policy for walks (dogs), my location (we live in the army camp so I get some army inquiries - I've been told they figure I'm safe & reliable to have in their home) and I get lots of cats where people don't want the stress of bundling a cat or two up off to the cattery when "all they need is some jellymeat spooned into their bowls and the litter changed". I have a lot of competition, but I'm pretty frank and very fussy with who I take on as a client and I do what I say I do - and that is reflected in my reviews. If I get stuffed around too much - gone. Don't agree with something I consider major - gone. Unsafe practices - gone. I wouldnt accept a booking I was uneasy with either - I wouldn't leave a young pup or a single dog on its own in it's own home. We do not bring dogs back here. To be honest - under my current set up I would be hesitant to take Mal as I could not have him here and he'd have to be home on his own for extended periods of time (not that you'd agree to that either - but as an example). I never take Scottie with me house visits. He only comes on walks in under very specific circumstances. I also stress that I provide a service I would use for my own dog/pets - that means I follow the instructions to the letter & I do check in with photos etc. To answer the OP - I'm low to moderately busy. I have three bookings around xmas and that's enough for me as it's not a primary source of income.

Ba ha ha - You're a keeper. Hope you hand around. That's awesome. Good on you for doing your research. Have a look through the links Persphone posted & yes - your breeder will be your best mentor here. Um - to answer one of your new questions - No - not just because it's premium doesn't give it an automatic tick of good. Just that you can fairly easily rule out some of the real crap - it gets harder as the price and marketing goes up to really understand if it is good or just a well polished turd. Other than that - as I said - you'll get answers here - have a read through the nutrition threads, particularly the raw threads & Akita threads as Perse suggested. Poke around on facebook (warning - facebook pet groups are savage places if you don't already know that) & one of my face tricks - go into pet shops/supplys waht ever you want to call them and ask lots of questions. You don't have to purchase but it's always good to ask. I once went in - had the sales person read the packet to me & then said something like "and this is a picture of a heart - so its good for them" - that was the deciding factor to never purchase anything from that shop ever. ;)

Ekk. Hi Liquidice, You sure have asked a lot of complex questions there. I expect you'll get a lot of answers. My initial thoughts on your questions: There isn't one, or three, or even ten "accepted" brands of food. You'll have a lot of people say the best food for your dog is one they do well on - and I'd stand by that to a certain degree. As a very general rule there are better brands and types / brands you want to avoid - any of the no-name brands (I mean no name or black and gold kinds) from the supermarket would be a safe bet to avoid. This is a good, Aussie site to have a look at. http://www.petfoodreviews.com.au/ I'm not qualified to answer that - but I don't think they have any requirements which set them apart from any other big dog. Nope. No real need to alternate. You might find feeding a dog that size only on canned food would be over the top expensive. Plus their poos would be huge and really gross. I personally wouldn't feed any canned. Well... That depends on what you're feeding. If you're feeding canned - No. No need to swap between a can of "beef" flavoured food and lamb and gravy. If you decided to feed a raw diet - then yes. Again - depends on what kind of diet you want to feed. There is raw and home made. There are two basic kinds of raw - Prey model (basically whole animals or as close to "natural" as possible) and BARF (Bones and raw food or Biologically appropriate raw food) BARF tends to split into 2 more kinds - with vegies and without - lots and lots of reading there but the most basic "recipe" is a 80% muscle meat, 10% bone 10% organ Another great resource for you here: http://www.balanced-canine.com/raw-feeding Lots. Sounds like you've got lots of reading in front of you. A lot of this will depend on if you're just researching or if you have a dog at home already. If you have the dog - is it a new pup or is it an adult? Senior? If it's a pup - go back to your breeder and speak to them about feeding it (or ask if you're yet to collect it) Large breeds (and I'd consider an Akita a large breed) have specific growth needs - so hopefully you have them behind you to support you as your puppy grows. Take their advice to start with. As I said, you'll get lots of answers here - so grab a cup of tea & settle in. Also - it's an unofficial rule on the board that you "must" share photos & welcome. :)

Lol. Really? Im quite good at it & akways feel like an origami ninja when i put mine up or down :)

I have quite a large one from petbarn (700 series I think) for Scott & I find it incredibly easy to fold up

I went on the side of caution as Scottie is quite long when he sits in his preferred way so sized up ...

Well, I broke and got the boy a gift. I blame hubby for asking me / allowing me to go to mitre 10 unsupervised. xmas2 by Superspanger, on Flickr xmas1 by Superspanger, on Flickr

I saw "non-shedding" westie ×Jack russells (listed as a parson terrier) x malts on a local buy swap sell ladt night. $1000 each. My head hurts

Thanks everyone :)

Crikey Moses - I really want an Orvis bed now. I've resisted so far but its calling my name. Cause, you know ... one dog can never have too many sleeping spaces.

It's very sad you came into our lives just a smidgen too late for a real meeting. I'm so lucky I've met Mal. and I couldn't agree more - We're sooooo lucky & very glad he came into our lives!

And this: crop_12672171_1702303143374376_7654451442165084282_o by Superspanger, on Flickr I have a few of these types of photos and love all of them

Oh. Just realised I never posted photos last year (due to having no internet & no furniture - we'd been in NZ about 5 days at that point). So I will have to totally make up for it here. A few of these you'll have probably seen but I will try to add a few in that never made it here. All tired out (not sure what the occasion was - but this was at Dad's - so before we left) 116 by Superspanger, on Flickr Waiting for the furniture to arrive 114 by Superspanger, on Flickr Looking like a gummy old man 111 by Superspanger, on Flickr Most precious of toys 940826_10154012100004603_8777164408061011987_n by Superspanger, on Flickr

It's that time again! Another 12 months have rolled past, making it a total of just 3 years - but it feels like forever. A big 12 months and lots of challenges - Separation Anxiety is a bitch! It makes early onset Doggy dementia look like a walk in the park. But ... ya know, wouldnt change a thing... well... maybe the SA but otherwise. Photos to follow - but here's to another gotcha day with my heart dog. I'm so lucky I got to have him in my life.

Stunning Canetoad.. ***almost*** makes me want to go camping ;)

Same here. I missed it too. He's very cute

Pk / Skip - does Rosie have a setter called Buddy?

I think it depends on the state re: law. Otherwise, personally, yeah they're a must: 10-30 kilos of airborne dog can do a lot of harm to other passengers and themselves in an accident. Admittedly i use a very simple clip which goes in the seatbelt & other end attaches to a collar or harness. (I don't use the collar in case my dog is flung off the seat & kinda hangs )