Willem

...the dog was older, but in a good shape, wasn't distressed in any way, showed no aggression nor any signs of anxiety, was playful and active despite his age, with an impeccable social behaviour...for me it seems he has / had a pretty good live and who ever raised him must have done something right. ...if our dog would run away one day (I hope it never happens so) I hope she shows a similar impeccable behaviour, but I also hope that the person who finds her would call us ASAP and doesn't spend a nice day with her before letting us know where our dog is.

Ah - come on. Discount the salads, now tell me you'd happily let your kids eat from the standard maccas menu 3 times a day, 7 days a week for a full year. ...I wouldn't be able to afford it :) !...and it is the dosage (as said before) that makes maccas a good food source or evil ...you can even kill yourself with pure healthy water if you drink too much. ETA:...a little bit off topic - sorry...

It's an interesting post! You know that eating Maccas or 2 minute noodles everyday is not healthy and certainly not appropriate for long term health 5-10 years down the track so you'd also concur that this is true for dogs? Low quality foods do impact long term health. Although I appreciate your dog was 16 which is a fab innings it's unlikley your dog was on either Supecoat or Bonnie for that entire 16 years. I can also argue there are exceptions similar to how some smokers live long lives. I think it can be quite damaging to novice dog owners to have them believe 2 minute noodles or maccas is a suitable long term diet for their dog that will create great long term health. it is a little bit tricky comparing healthy diets for real omnivores (humans) with healthy diets for 'omnivores' like dogs. While they are indeed capable of digesting starch / grains etc. which classifies them as omnivores (plus the fact that they can digest fruits etc.), their metabolism / digesting system is clearly more designed for meat hence they are more carnivores than omnivores. Most dog owners also overlook the correlation between exercise / work and food needs....e.g. not much merit in feeding a 'couch potato' with 'energy boosters'. IMO it is not a good idea to get a dog to depend on just one food source / kibble, also it might be the 'best kibble ever', because I can't see that this food would be the right one for every scenario. That's why I feed a variety of kibble - also cheaper kibble - and 'balance' it with turkey necks, briskets etc. And nothing wrong with Maccas ...from a nutrient point of view it is actually pretty good - it is the 'dosage' that makes it 'toxic', but that's the case with every food!

Google pays Apple $ 1 bill per year to ensure Apple uses Google search software, which allows Google access to Apple user data....Big Brother is watching you!!!

IMO the impact of 'quality dog food' on a healthy diet is overestimated - you can feed the best and most expensive food and ruin the whole healthy diet by feeding too much, too many treats, unhealthy treats, food not meant for a dog, sweats...sugar...etc....etc. I feed a variety of kibble with and average to good rated quality as a basis, 2-3 turkey neck a week and brisket bones...sometimes rice with lam and / or egg...plus meat balls as treats for training, sometimes I use her favorite kibble as treats. Feeding in training (treats) can count for 50% of the food ratio.

https://vimeo.com/151448380 ...Warning!!!! very disturbing footage!!! ...so much about moral high ground!

...some thoughts here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lychee_and_Dog_Meat_Festival ...the comments from Julian Baggini expresses pretty much my own thoughts about this: quote: "In The Guardian, the philosopher Julian Baggini considered the hypocrisy of western meat-eaters being outraged by the Chinese eating "cute animals", commenting that "the double standards at play here are numerous, complicated, and not always obvious", and that "vegans are the only group who can oppose the festival without any fear of hypocrisy." I don't like what happens in Yulin, but I eat meat too; not much, but from time to time. I prefer fish, but there are intelligent fish / sea food species too. We have ham festivals and pork festivals here while pigs somewhere else are companions and used as truffle pigs ... I don't believe that I have the high moral ground to tell people in another culture and country what they have to do regards eating, also if I don't like it. ETA ...wrt vegans: ...and even they could only oppose the festival IMO without hypocrisy if they don't own a dog, cat or other carnivore they have to feed with meat.

ah, yes ...I forgot Advocate in my list :) ....if it worked so long (collar against ticks plus Advocate) for you and your dog without side effects: why changing it?...there might be an option for a combo in the future: Nexgard Spectra - that's a modified Nexgard that works against heartworms and ticks; they sell it already in NZ and Europe, but not here in AU.

...rehome the puppy before it's too late and it becomes a problem dog too...

...be aware that if you intend to start with drugs for heartworm prevention it is recommended to test the dog's blood first - your dog might have already heartworms and in this case an anti-heartworm drug can have nasty side effects or even kill your dog. ETA: ...to answer your question: no, 'canine all wormer' tabs doesn't protect against heartworms - you need a drug that is explicit for heartworm (e.g. Interceptor, Sentinel, Heartworm Plus, Revolution etc....)...we use Advantix (flees, ticks) in combination with Interceptor.

...DEET is toxic when ingested!!!!

Thanks for the heads-up! I use different kind of kibbles and fill them into transparent plastic containers - did this with Applaws approx. 10 days ago after buying it from WW...didn't notice any plastic parts but will check again.

...that must have been one of these turbo-studs designer breeds :laugh: ...I guess a lot of breeders would be interested in this trait :D ...

a good recall is pretty easy to train and works as long as the dog is not high aroused or focusing on something else - if they switch into this state they choose 'not to hear' the recall...and a lot of owners let them get away with this 'selective hearing' because a recall for an aroused dog is harder to train....if the owner ignores it the dog gets rewarded for the 'selective hearing' and it will be even harder to change this now reinforced behaviour. However, positive reinforcement works also at an aroused level...it is just training & reinforcement at this level where the dog is full of Adrenalin and Dopamine. A persistent training based on positive reinforcement and the dog 'get used' to the recall also if in this state. Here an article from Susan G. about this: http://susangarrettdogagility.com/2010/06/recall-collapse/ Our dog gets excited when she sees our budgies (and other birds), so I trained her in front of the budgie cage...she gets the 'stare' when she sees our Guinea pigs, so I trained her recall when she starred at the Guinea pigs...and she likes to chase the rag from a flick pole, so I used this to get her in a state of high arousal and trained leave-it-take-it. And she gets very, very excited when she sees other dogs - she doesn't want to herd them, just to play with them, however, due to the training with birds, Guinea pigs and flick pole she has now an excellent recall.

@OP: if you know where the dogs live you can take photos from the dog off-leash, print it as a postcard and write your concerns down and also the possible consequences for the dog owner (without offending him / her)...try to keep it nice and throw it in the letter box. Some of the owners might be 'responsive', starting using common sense and showing some good will. Worth a try before things start escalating...

some info here about the legal site respectively leash laws - I would assume that the leash laws in Vic are similar to NSW. @OP: considering the hefty fines for a dog off leash a friendly reminder might be the better approach before getting into a fight. Where I live most dog owners know each other (from the dog walks :)) and I never had an intimidating experience when walking the dog, shyer or reactive dogs are left alone, only a few owners walk their dog off leash and these ones are really well trained and behaved and don't get distracted by other dogs or people...I guess we are lucky here :D .

well, that's what we did...and no male dog in front of our house and howling...30 years ago neutering was pretty rare, and none of our neighbours had any issues with their bitches (nor did we)...I think we used something called 'common sense' in this times :)

Thanks for this. That's how I am approaching it now. Will hold it off for as long as I can. The breeder said that they tend to get to their full height at around 8 months, so will wait till that age. If she happens to have her first season by then, we will just manage it as best as we can. Thanks to everyone for sharing your experiences/thoughts. don't worry, it is not a disease...and hell won't freeze over and there won't be male dogs queuing in front of the house. We walked our dog when she was in season and had no problems at all when meeting other dogs. (Most of the dogs we know anyway and strangers which male dogs were informed with a short 'she's on heat' and passed in a distance). Obviously it is not recommended to allow her access to rooms with carpet (or you have to use some kind of nappies) and you can't let her run outside without a leash.

???...why is this the 'major point' if he is desexed?...there is no guaranty that neutering will change any behaviour...how does he behaves regarding other females?

another interesting article about a study disclosing adverse health effects of spaying / neutering: https://www.avma.org/News/JAVMANews/Pages/131101a.aspx Critics say that the study is breed specific (Golden Retrievers) hence the results might not be valid for other breeds. However, other studies for Rottweilers and Vizslas show similar adverse health effects: http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2014/06/13/neutering-spaying-cancer-risk.aspx The results of the Vizsla study (from 2014) are pretty shocking, quote from the later link: The Vizsla study involved 2,505 dogs, and reported these results: Dogs neutered or spayed at any age were at significantly increased risk for developing mast cell cancer, lymphoma, all other cancers, all cancers combined, and fear of storms, compared with intact dogs. Females spayed at 12 months or younger, and both genders neutered or spayed at over 12 months had significantly increased odds of developing hemangiosarcoma, compared with intact dogs. Dogs of both genders neutered or spayed at 6 months or younger had significantly increased odds of developing a behavioral disorder, including separation anxiety, noise phobia, timidity, excitability, submissive urination, aggression, hyperactivity, and/or fear biting. When it came to thunderstorm phobia, all neutered or spayed Vizslas were at greater risk than intact Vizslas, regardless of age at neutering. The younger the age at neutering, the earlier the age at diagnosis with mast cell cancer, cancers other than mast cell, hemangiosarcoma, lymphoma, all cancers combined, a behavioral disorder, or fear of storms. Compared to intact dogs, neutered and spayed dogs had a 3.5 times higher risk of developing mast cell cancer, regardless of what age they were neutered. Spayed females had nine times higher incidence of hemangiosarcoma compared to intact females, regardless of when spaying was performed, however, no difference in incidence of this type of cancer was found for neutered vs. intact males. Neutered and spayed dogs had 4.3 times higher incidence of lymphoma (lymphosarcoma), regardless of age at time of neutering. Neutered and spayed dogs had five times higher incidence of other types of cancer, regardless of age of neutering. Spayed females had 6.5 times higher incidence of all cancers combined compared to intact females, and neutered males had 3.6 times higher incidence than intact males.

you can teach your dog what items (ore areas) are 'NO' and what items are allowed to be taken. The easiest way (IMO) is with a treat (works only if the dog likes treats): put it in front of the dog, say 'NO' (you can also use a specific noise, rattle etc. but for me 'NO' is the easiest way) and hold the dog back (e.g. via leash) when he goes for it. After a while - and only if the dog stops trying to take it - you can allow the dog to eat the treat, but you have to give a release command now, e.g. 'EAT'. Once the dog responds to 'NO' you can declare other items 'NO'. Leave a nappy close to the dog, if he approaches it say 'NO' (use the leash to hold the dog back if required)...now give the dog the chance to earn a treat by commanding 'sit', 'drop' ...'come' etc. to turn the disappointment of the 'NO' into something positive.

I just watched a dog with one of its rear legs missing passing my house; he was actually pretty quick and from the distance it was even hard to recognize that a leg was missing as his running and walking seemed to be pretty natural. The tail was wagging, the dog was sniffing the trees and the owner had to make some effort to keep up with her dog... definitely a happy dog enjoying life. I watched them for quite a while and was surprised how little impact this missing leg had for the dog...might be different if it is a front leg so.

I read somewhere that this drug is very difficult to dose precisely for dogs with less than 6 kg and is therefore not recommended for smaller dogs due to the risk of overdosing. ETA:...quotes from https://www.vetdepot.com/product-labels/previcox-chewable-tablets.pdf 'For oral use in dogs only. Use of this product at doses above the recommended 2.27 mg/lb (5.0 mg/kg) in puppies less than seven months of age has been associated with serious adverse reactions, including death (see Animal Safety). Due to tablet sizes and scoring, dogs weighing less than 12.5 lb (5.7 kg) cannot be accurately dosed.' and ...'Precautions: This product cannot be dosed accurately in dogs less than 12.5 pounds in body weight.'

maybe a little bit stress for the dog to learn (should only be fun for the dog with the right approach), but more quality of life for the owner as he has to stress less when walking the dog, or visiting the vet etc.?...I feel much more relaxed when I know my dog drops, sits and stands on command and when I know I can call her off from chasing birds and cats while walking her. It might not be important for everyone, but for some dog owners it is.

'hm, I thought the name refers to the German word for moustache which is 'Schnurbart' or 'Schnauzbart' or 'Schnauzer' because of the dog's distinctively bearded snout?... That is probably why "schnauzer" was called "Schnauzer", he had one!! Nope, it was the name of a top winning dog of it's day. similar to why the Kelpie has that name....The name was given the coated pinscher because of the beard, like calling a white footed dog "boots" yep, I found in the meanwhile some sources that also mention this famous ancestor that has his own 'Schnauzer' statue (from 1620!!!) in Mecklenburg (Germany)... learning never ends...so the breed was named 'Schnauzer' because of a dog with a 'Schnauzer' called 'Schnauzer' ... :D