kelpiecuddles

I did use Advance for my first dog after I gave up on Supercoat, it's not bad but can be hard to come by around here so I'll have to see if any of the pet shops have it. Probably no chance of finding the first option though. What are the important characteristics of a food that set a puppy food apart from an adult food? Are they higher in protien, fat, etc?

Can anyone give me an idea of how these two foods compare

Nutrient----------------------------Coprice-------------------Supercoat puppy

Crude Protein minimum----------22.00%------------------------- 28%

Crude Fat minimum---------------12.00%------------------------12%

Crude Fibre maximum------------4.50%--------------------------3%

Metabolizable Energy minimum--380kcal-----------------------342 kcal

Linoleic Acid minimum-------------1.50%-------------------------1.3%

Coprice is a lot lower in protien - would that be an issue for a pup?

her poops are fine although are rather bulky, the smells comes from her skin/fur and she is fine for about 24 hours after bathing but then starts to stink again, she also farts a lot. None of my critters get tinned food. I might compare the vitals of the supercoat puppy to Coprice working dog and consider changing her onto that plus some BARF. She is 4 1/2 months now, I won't put her entirely on to Coprice now but do you think it would be OK as part of a BARF diet.

BTW I have never seen eaglepack or any of those around here, most of the shops just sell the whiskas, pal type brands which I don't like. I had to hunt just to find the Coprice. My cats are on supercoat cat and they look and smell great so maybe the cereal, etc. suggestion is the issue.

When Beau was a pup we fed supercoat and he stank, once he was old enough I changed him on to Coprice and he no longer smells. Now we have Sascha and she also stinks. Has anyone had any problems with supercoat? We can't afford iams, etc. and she is not old enough to go on the Cprice with Beau.

Some info on advocate for you. The company plugs it as being great for mange however my vet has said that the animal dermatoligist she works with says it is not worth the box it's wrapped in. Best treatment for mange is a complete soaking in frontline spray once a week until it's gone (should only take a couple of weeks). Ivermec also works well and my vet uses it in the oral form.

Sascha gets supercoat but she stinks on it as did Beau until we put him on Coprice, we will definately be changing her over when she gets big enough.

Well Beau weighs about 35kg. I buy a bag of Coprice about once a month and then he gets bones, so it probably costs us about $8 a week to feed him and we get comments from strangers on how happy and healthy he looks.

I feed supercoat until my pups are big enough for adult food and then I feed Coprice which is about $25 for 20kg and sseems to work really well.

Sascha is great doing clockwise but not anti-clockwise, she gets confused, goes halfway and hen comes back again. We are having trouble getting her to do it at a distance but we'll get there.

Is that the NSW course? Where exactly is it?

Wow Tess32 you need to move to Nowra. Our class seems to have a very open dialogue and I have not at any time felt that we couldn't interrupt to ask questions. Each dog seems to be catered to on a needs basis.

Anyone know the dates for the two workshops? I might see what I can organise if he is happy to help with raw beginners.

If you ever find one that does theory let me know, I think my OH needs one! His idea of telling our dogs to sit is (in a high pitched silly voice) sit, sit down, oi you sit down, etc, etc. to which they of course jump around his feet. :D Honestly some men have no idea

Also should add Tess32 that last week Sascha refused to drop(she didn't like the wet grass) and when I spoke to the instructor about it the first thing he asked me was,"What do you want out of her? Do you want her to do what she's told when she's told or just have the important basics?" I explained that I wanted her to move on to agility, trials, etc. and therefore this behaviour was an issue, to that he replied that in that case we will work on it and make sure she understands. I really got confidence in him after that, it shows that he sees the differences in expectations that some people have of their dogs.

Sascha is 15 weeks old and last week she went to her first session of formal obedience - I have been very happy. She was placed in the advanced class despite her young age and the instructor was quite happy to recognise the differences in the way I had trained her. But then we train every day for at least 30 minutes and I know many people don't do that. She performed batter than many of the dogs that had been training for over a year. Admittedly she is very trainable but I think it has a lot to do with the method and quantity of training. Most of the other 'trainees' were surprised at how well trained she was and couldn't believe it but I think they just didn't get it(the amount of work we put in).

Well these last couple of threads on food ingredients have made me feel fairly good about the dry food I feed. No preservatives, colours, etc. no by-products and the only thing that was slightly vague was that it didn't specify a type of poultry (says poultry meal). The top ingredient isn't meat but is atleast rice and there isn't any corn at all. I had never really investigated the ingredients to this extent before.

Thanks everyone for all the great info.

It sounds like you are raising picky puppies! I would just give it to them, if they refuse to eat it after say 15 minutes take it away and serve it up again for their next meal. They won't let themselves starve.

Could you explain to the instructor that you normally train with the harness on. They might allow you to leave the harness on but clip the lead to his collar. He obviously thinks that when the harness is on it means business, so this way he might gradually begin to understand that at training he must behave.

My obedience school requires that we train them to walk on both sides on command so that they learn to take commands from both sides in case we move on to agility.

Wow I've decided that Apple Cider Vinegar is the new 'mirical cure'. I have just been told that it works great for babies with nappy rash too. I suggest buying a couple of pots of parsley to put on your window sill. It grows really fast so it should keep you well stocked.

I would only do it if you need to. Personally I found that might big boofer boy is much better on a Halti style as he just pulls on a choker. If you think you might want to get a Halti I suggest buying a cheap one for her to get used to as a pup because if you introduce it to late they tend to hate them.

my dogs love parsley and the mint can also help to keep fleas at bay.

I think a great signal for this would be a sideways flourish of the arm like they do on the price is right when showing a prize. It can then be used as an intro... Welcome everybody I would like to introduce the amazing Beau (arm flourish - dog bows)

The one I found fido666 is two found pouches each with a zip across the top so quite easy to get stuff out of in a hurry.

my dog had a halti on from the time he was a pup, we used to play games and feed him his dinner with it on so he liked it so that probably makes the difference. But he still hates the dog version...