joey13

Hey guys, Picked up 8 week old Bull Terrier (Miniature) yesterday. How old until they can have a crack at raw chicken wings. I jtried giving her one last night and freaked out. Tried to get it out of her mouth which she didn't like and growled and bit down on my hand. She ate the wing tip no problem but I wasn't game enough to let her try the bigger bone?! Thanks guys!

I don't believe the breeder had any more small puppies and the bag of puppy super coat I saw was small. Hopefully I can convince her to provide it to me so that I can wean pup off the kibbles. I like the sound of last meal in a week, two second last meals etc etc. I am led to believe her entire stud is fed a RAW diet so I am not sure why this particular pup is on the super coat. I think she might give them a small amount as a filler here and there but I'm certain that pup has had some raw food. I will clarify on Friday. Will keep everyone posted on the progress!

Thanks for the kind words Mon. Much appreciated. The chart sounds great. I have sent you a PM. Many thanks to all.

Thanks again for all the advice. Very helpful. I am continuing to do research and I am starting to think that maybe I could give the Raw feeding a go myself rather than buying the commercially prepared products. The information available is overwhelming and can be somewhat confronting. I've even started making my own little Excel calculator to try and keep the balance between meet and bone correct if I am to go this route. It is however all based on approximations. I might have to be a little pedantic and weigh everything first and keep a diary for the first few months until I am used to seeing what amount of each food actually looks like and the correct balances and then I should be able to go by my eye. Very nervous! I only want the very best for my new pup! I am copping a fair amount of criticism from friends and family about my approach to feeding (with respect to raw) however I am not going to let this persuade me! I'm confident in the research of done and confident in my decision which is a educated and informed one.

Thanks for all the advice guys. From the research I have done, there is indeed a lot of contradictory info. Some suggest to wean pups off slowly from dry/kibble fed - BARF gradually increasing the BARF percentage over time. However some suggest that this can be dangerous and detrimental to the dog as the two types of different food digest at different rates and will be competing. This can make the dog susceptible to salmonela posiing as the dry/kibble food keeps the BARF/Raw food in the system longer than it usually would be. The advice is to swap from one food 100% to the next leaving at least 12 hours between. The following is quoted from The Dog's Dinner "...the best way to start a dog off on raw is to ditch the commercial food and dive straight in to a raw method. This allows the dog to start de-toxing immediately and it will take your dog approximately 4-8 weeks to get to the stage where his diet is varied and balanced. Mixing raw and commercial food together This is a very undesirable practice and could be very detrimental to your dog's health - you will hear people telling you that they cannot be served together in the same bowl as they are digested at different rates........ .......But what about serving raw and kibble in two clearly separate meals and what does this actually mean for your dog? Well, if you do choose to take this route and decide to gradually swap your dog over - you put him at risk of disease caused by the pathogens contained in raw meat - eg Salmonella, E-coli etc. Dogs are naturally designed to cope with these when fed a raw diet - as his system has an acidic stomach and short digestive tract that process the raw food very efficiently, the pathogens do not get chance to lie in the stomach or gut with the opportunity of multiplying. However.....When you add carbohydrate based food (commercial kibble) to this you can slow down the normal digestion of the raw food, as it competes with the commercial food to be digested - this means that the raw food is remaining longer in your dog's system thus giving more time for the pathogens in the raw meat to increase and potentially cause harm to your dog - This is one reason why the newly swapped dog can go on to develop Salmonella etc IF HIS owners still insist on feeding commercial food alongside the addition of raw... Here is a great link to give you the scientific reasoning behind this, and includes a tour of the dog's digestive system and a study done on testing how well a dog's system can cope with kibble and raw, it really is fascinating [big grin] HERE Ditch the commercial and embrace the raw !!! Finish feeding your commercial food one day and begin with a raw diet the next, leaving at least 12 hours between..."

Im led to believe a combination of supercoat and other raw foods.

Hi guys, Picking up puppy (Mini English Bull Terrier) this Friday! The excitement too much! We plan to feed her a balanced diet (50/50) of a commercially bought BARF Food (Canine Country or similar) and Raw Meaty Bones. Just trying to figure out how much she will actually eat per day? Most sites say to feed puppies 3-5% (Lets average it to 4%) of body weight. Now is that of her ideal ADULT weight or her ACTUAL weight? Adult dogs should be fed 2-3% of their body weight there after. What is a Mini Bull's ideal/average final weight? Most sites are giving me an indication of 10kg based on the fact she weighed 2.2kg at 6 weeks of age. Help is much appreciated. Have also found this guideline...thoughts? 7-10 weeks 8 - 10% of bodyweight 10-16 weeks 7.5 - 8.5% of bodyweight 16-20 weeks 6.5 - 7.5% of bodyweight 20-24 weeks 5.5 - 6.5% of bodyweight 24-36 weeks 4.5 - 5.5% of bodyweight 36-56 weeks 3.5 - 4.5% of bodyweight 56-68 weeks 3.5% 68 weeks plus is adult maintenence at 2-3%

Thanks for all the advice guys...much appreciated. Pup is coming from Yanina Brown (Bulltacho). What do you guys think about crate size for indoors? Decided on the Midwest LifeStages but can't decide on a size. 30" (75cm) - Dimensions: 78 L x 50 W x 54.6 H cm 36" (90cm) - Dimensions: 93 L x 57.78 W x 62.8 H cm Both come with a divider.

Haha. My thoughts exactly. We are all very excited to pick her up. My partner is also excited which is a first because she has always been a little scared to have a dog having never have grown up with one...unlike me. My 5yo hasn't stopped talking about her! As I said, I've been browsing through the forums a bit lately and noticed that seem to be the number one rule so thought I would get off to a good start! So you guys think that if we want her to be outside when we are not home and eventually sleeping outside then we should start her off that way from day one? I know my partner wants her inside overnight initially that's for sure. If pup sleeps inside over night permanently do you think it will be an issue putting her outside with her own kennel when we are not home is an issue? With regards to training that is? So we would basically house train her using a crate...she is inside when someone is home...sleeps inside at night...but is outside with her own kennel and toys when we are away from home?

G'day guys, First time poster on the forum. My family and I are anticipating our first family dog in 2 1/2 weeks time. A Red/White Smut female Miniature English Bull Terrier named Buffy! She will be 8 weeks old when she comes home. Have been doing a fair amount of research including browsing these forums. This forum is full of useful info! I work full time and am a shift worker. My partner works 3 days a week (Mon, Wed, Thur). At most puppy is going to be on her own for up to 8 hours, 3 times a week. This however is unlikely as there is usually some overlap with my shift work (eg I might be home during the day and leave at 2pm and my partner comes home about 6pm). We have decided that we would like her to be an inside dog (with restricted access to certain areas) when we are home but would like for her to be able to comfortably and happily be outside when we are not home. This will not only ease the pressure off us having to be back home with 2-3 hours of leaving (which is unrealistic) and still raise a happy and healthy puppy. Looking for some training advice as to the best way to approach this. I was planning to use a crate to train her for indoors teaching her to go to the same spot in the backyard every time. I was considering buying an identical crate to sit outside on the deck which is well covered and putting her into the crate outside (door open) when we leave. If I am able to establish a positive experience when she is in the crate, she will not be that fussed when going into an identical one which is outside and in turn she will still be able to use the same toilet spot we have taught her to use. Initially I was planning on training her strictly indoors and gradually adding the outdoor Kennel / crate but I think it makes more sense to train her from a young age for how she will live in adult life. If she is used to both right from the start then there won't be an issue. I also realise that it is unrealistic nor can I guarantee that one of us will not be away from home for more than 3 hours at a time and this puts undue pressure and stress on us and the puppy and is not setting her up for success. Given her young age and the very cold weather in Melbourne at the moment, we are planning on initially having the indoor crate in our bedroom for the initial couple of weeks over night time and gradually ease her into sleeping outside over night. Once she is old enough and well established, we will replace the outdoor crate for a proper kennel. What do you guys think? Has anyone else been successful in training a new puppy both indoor and outdoors and what worked and what didn't? Look forward to hearing from you all. Many thanks in advance. Joey.