karen15

It's an approx 15kg dog, so not going to end up too big, but yes, the little I've gleaned from DOL discussions on feeding raw is that, unless you know what you're doing, it's best to feed a quality balanced puppy food. TSD, what you've noted is more what I would have expected for a raw diet. My very limited knowledge says there's ratios you need to follow for a raw diet to be balanced. thanks for the input guys, I'll be passing it on

the single protein source was also what I'd said to my friend RuralPug. She plans to transition the pup onto a more balanced diet once it comes home.

not for me, more of a curiosity question. Talking to a friend recently who is getting a new puppy and the breeder recommended diet is chicken (mince, wing or drumstick) three times a day, maybe veges if you have them left over. To me that isn't a balanced diet. Am I wrong thinking that?

so what you're saying moosmum is pedigrees be damned, breed whatever you want irrespective of whether the crosses are compatible or not and expect the ANKC to accept the outcome as a desirable mating just because some random has decided they want to cash in on the trend of designer and boutique breeds? as I said earlier, the whole point of a breed standard is to give confidence in the characteristics etc of the breed. Why encourage random, unthoughtout breeding. There are too many animals thrown away these days, why build facilities to produce more. to my mind, the ANKC would do much better demonstrating why random crosses are a lottery in term of appearance, health, temperament, size, coat etc and using purebreds, which are consistent in all of those traits to show what alternatives are available. Jo Public generally knows very little about breeds, mainly recognising labs, golden retrievers, GSDs and the other common breeds like that. Educate them on the plethora of alternative breeds available that have characteristics the eg oodle crosses profess to hold such as low shedding. There are many low shedding breeds, people just have no idea they exist, so buy an oodle believing it won't shed, when the reality is 50/50 chance of a shedder. I don think new breeds can't or shouldn't be developed. But I do believe that they should be developed using the best specimens possible and i do not believe the boutique breeders do this. when I was looking for my next dog, I googled for breed ideas based on my desirable criteria, then I read the breed standards of the dogs I was interested in. The breed standard allowed me to make an informed and educated choice on the breed I was going to get and the dog is everything I could have asked for. That's why I think breed standards are so important. I think the ANKC could do an excellent campaign on spur of the moment pet shop purchases vs having to wait for something that you value. Animals are too readily thought of as disposable and the public really need a good kick up the arse IMO.

I still don't get what you're saying moosmum. Ruralpug has already said ANKC lets all dogs, regardless of breeding, compete in everything with the exception of breed and confirmation classes. So to me, that says they recognise these dogs do have an intrinsic value. They also permit new breeds to be developed, all be it in a defined process. if there is any resistance to the concept of crossbreds, I think Lhok has succinctly summed up why and that goes back to the initial post and planned mass breeding facility. Mass breeding is never good and I can only see it being driven by profit, not care for the welfare of the animals produced.

Why would purebred associations want to accept crossbreds? Crossbreds can credit a large portion of their current popularity, and associated hefty prices, to very clever marketing including terms such as designer and boutique breeds. They are neither, they are expensive mutts. I'm obviously not concentrating much as I can't get the point you're making about environment? Crossbreds have been around for ever, but the whole point of a pure bred is confidence that the dog will possess certain characteristics - those characteristics are in the breed standards. What characteristics can consistently be applied to crosses?

if the food isn't being digested, ie the same when it comes out to when it goes in, I'd be taking a poo sample and puppy to the vet. what are you feeding and what did the breeder recommend? You could also discuss with the breeder and see what they say.

it just shows people aren't interested in stopping puppy farming. Boutique dogs - give me a break. Expensive mongrels. The subsequent article says the business plans to invite breeders to visit the facility to give them training and show them a benchmark level of care - for want of a better summary. You have to be kidding me.

the breeder of my dog didn't send many emails or puppy pics wasn't very reliable replying. Well when I went to visit the puppies, on top of two litters close together her husband had been in hospital and an enquiry with a real estate agent had seen their house sell within days of being on the market and they were needing to find a new place, so she'd had a lot on!

being the type of person I am, I found a breeder 4 years in advance, when I was told my staffy had a very aggressive type of cancer. I explained his ill health and said I'd only want a puppy once he'd passed. As luck would have it, the first removal of the tumour saw it come back pea sized, but stay that size for four years. Once it took off it took two months to kill him. In the days after his death I contacted the breeder and let her know I'd be ready for a pup in about 9 months time. That ended up working in perfectly with two litters she bred. From the moment I got the puppy home I knew he was exactly what I wanted. He's absolutely perfect.

My council has an increasing number of small dog parks so smaller dogs and puppies can gave fun without being threatened by big dogs. I think knee height is max size. The staffies tend to go to big dog park as they can hold their own, plus mine always preferred big dogs. Now I've got a westie, ie small white fluffy that generally equals dog bait, I'm so thankful we can go to baby park. Some of the dogs I see in the big dog park, well, I wouldn't have taken my staffy there if they were there. A great Dane attacked the bin man one day..... my cocker doesn't really play. She prefers to run around park and sniff. If she does play, I warn other owners that she sounds awful - she growls and carries on. It's how she plays, she came that way unfortunately. She so rarely engages in play that there is no opportunity to train her not to vocalise. All other owners have been happy with her, if they were worried we'd leave. if you want to go to park, I have always found early to be least populated. My experience is the same people go at the same times, so if you can find a nice group park can be fun. It's important that your dog has a nice time. I've always found other owners to be considerate if someone says their dog needs space.

when I had Sam the staffy, there were times the cat and I would look at each other and wish oxygen masks would fall from the ceiling LOL Really don't know why they bother with bullets, if dog farts were weaponised I'm sure they'd be leathal!

feeding raw meat and bones won't cause resource guarding. I've always fed both with no behaviour issues. I'd suggest reading about resource guarding and training so you recognise the triggers and have appropriate responses.

in answer to your initial query I've always fed kibble and raw meat etc together for breakfast, kibble for dinner and regular meaty bones. Been feeding that for around 20 years and never an issue. Dogs very healthy and shiny.

can I also say please don't go around killing "baby" snakes. One day I came home to a small 45-60cm snake in my bathroom. I thought the pets had killed it, but a couple of pokes with the broom made it move, me squeal and run for the door... It had a triangular head, so likely python, so I called a snake catcher to remove it. Expensive, but I like animals. Turns out it was a burtons legless lizard. Looked like a baby brown. The snake dude pointed out its ears - told him next time I'll use the 200x zoom on the video camera to check LOL broke my heart to realise when my neighbour told me he found and killed a nest of browns it was probably a family of these beautiful snake killers....... Also had a midnight python encounter with a python trying to get in the dog door. Westie had gone to the toilet but refused to come back in. Multiple open doors before I put glasses on and saw snakey, about 1m long.... Again, need to remember to close doors before poking snakes with brooms! Bedroom door wide open as I shooed him into the yard.

this lovely fellow was across a single lane road (read huge) where my horse lived. I had to poke him with a stick to get him to move off the road and into the tree. Note for next time, close car door before stick poking incase snakey thinks car is safe refuge.....

Instead of forest you could go to the beach eg Sandgate etc My experience with snakes is they hear you coming and move. That said city people really don't keep their eyes out for snakes and IME are quite likely to step directly on one. Have way too many stories of walking with city people in forest and needing to say watch out for the snake for it to be a coincidence. Also evidence snakes don't necessarily move off path. The ones encountered have been python types which may be why, but watching where you walk is important.

try country park herbs - milk thistle is also known as st Marys thistle and they stock that

the problem with No TSD (IMO) is that people use it for everything. Dog jumping NO, dog barking NO, dog chasing something NO, dog chewing shoe NO, dog pulling on lead NO, dog on couch NO, dog digging NO. In addition, by giving a command the human has to consider what behaviour they actually want in the current situation. It allows them to reward the dog for doing as requested. After No, what is the dog meant to do? It hasn't been given any guidance as to what is expected behaviour and what it picks is likely to be met with another No.

I would be teaching a leave it command. I don't agree with No as it really doesn't mean anything. Leave it means leave whatever you are going towards and return to heel. Really handy to stop them eating something before you get to it, running off after something or in this case, leave little pups alone. You really need to control your dog so it doesn't traumatise other dogs. At this stage I would say it should be on lead.

It said the gate was open and the dog loose in the front yard. I find that difficult to believe as it sounds like the dog was normally double fenced. Given that level of security, it makes no sense that the owner would leave the front gate open and the dog loose while they were not at home. Only witnesses to the open gate were the boys and their mother and her friend. Apparently the boys were cutting through the yard to get home when one was attacked. The statement made no mention of the boys carrying the alleged weapons - knife and arrows. The comments strongly requested definition of trespass, asked why the boys weren't charged for carrying a knife as apparently that's illegal, there were suggestions the statement linked above was inconsistent with police comments released after the initial investigation and statements questioning whether the police should have posted anything at all as the incident is apparently going before the courts.

I struggle to get them to work on the phone, so thought I'd see how resizing went. Significantly faster and easier than my usual messing around...... And, well, there's a dog and a bone LOL so goal achieved :)

Max as a 10week old, 2.5kg baby Bones are great! eta trying out photo resizing app, bit grainy, but no need to use another program

I was going to suggest house sitter as well.

before the raw and barf diets came into existence, I always fed, and still do, a mix of kibble, raw meat and bones. Kibble is an easy way to get a balanced diet for pups (IMO), but dogs evolved to eat meat so I've always fed human quality mince (uncooked) plus meaty bones. I freeze mince so it is eaten in max 3 days. First day, it's still partly frozen. Every morning it's warmed a little in the microwave. Westie has a sensitive tum where fat is concerned, so they only get turkey and chicken mince. A favourite is cooked BBQ chook. That's the one thing that gets the westie vocal about food