shellbyville

I have recently gone back to using Supercoat. I have tried more expensive brands, (Eukenuba, Science Diet) Royal canin sounds great, but it also is quite expensive and not easy to get in some areas, I changed to supercoat because economically it suits me much better having quite a few dogs. I feed my labs 1 cup of supercoat a day and they get mince, chicken wings, meaty bones, once a week they get sardines and an egg. As well as natural yoghurt about 3 times a week. I haven't found any change in coat condition, weight etc with supercoat. When I first started the change, they did poo a bit more, but now that has settled down and they are back to normal. I think if you feed them too much they poo more. I wouldn't recommend Supercoat if it was the only food fed to the dog, but as a top up to the raw diet I don't think it hurts at all. If anything I think it would be beneficial.

I think that when the time comes to sell your puppies, the prospective puppy buyers would want to know that the pups have been vet checked and vaccinated/microchipped by a vet as well. I have bought puppies from breeders in the past and the thing that impressed me most about the breeders that I bought a pup from was that they took great care in planning the litter, obviously took pride in the pups they had produced. I would not buy a pup from someone that I think cut corners (even if the pups were vaccinated correctly) I would think if they cut corners in one area, they may have cut corners in other areas such as the nutrition of the pup, the care given to the pup etc. I do understand it is expensive to raise a litter of pups, but truly you need to make sure that everything is done correctly so that you can sell your puppies with a good conscience that you have done absolutely the best for them, and your puppy buyers can have that assurance as well.

I use one of those vinyl, pin on treat bags, you can buy them at dog show vendors. It is great because it has a velcro seal, sometimes all I have to do is rip the velcro open and I have my dogs full attention.

I have also really struggled with what I feed my dogs and whether I am doing the right thing! Everyone has their opinion of what is the best dry food/diet etc, which is great, I am all for finding out what works for others. However I found I was getting very confused and ended up spending a lot of money on dry food, as well as the raw food I also feed. I have 7 dogs though and just couldn't keep spending over $100 a bag for a dry food that didn't last too long. So I have since decided I will buy a dry food that I can afford (which yes, is a supermarket brand), the dogs get about 1/2 - 1 cup of this a day. There main source of nutrition though, comes from raw mince, raw meaty bones, chicken wings/necks, sardines in vege oil, natural yoghurt/cottage cheese/ eggs once a week. My dogs do not look any different since I stopped feeding the higher quality dry food, I would love to feed a better quality dry food, but it is just not possible. My dogs are happy, healthy, well fed and look pretty darn good in my opinion.

Why would you not want to take the pups to the vet for their first vaccination? Firstly vets know what they are doing, I would not have anyone who wasn't totally qualified vaccinate my pups. Also while the pups are getting their vaccinations the vet usually does a general health check, so you are getting the pups looked over to check there are no major problems and they are all healthy. Vets might cost money, but it is worth it!

I would not have a bitch in season desexed. My understanding is that not only is the uterus larger but also the blood supply is greater and the risk of a bleed is heightened. Also I think hormonally it is best to let the bitch finish her season, give her time for the hormones to settled back to normal and then desex her. I personally think the risk is too high, even though the price might be great!

I have had this problem with my black labs at times, especially after their bath and unfortunately just before a show. Someone told me to put a bit of vinegar in the rinse water and pour that over him and it helps with the dandruff. I actually haven't tried it yet, but am going to give it a go next wash!

I would try a canine chiropractor as well. I had a lab that was intermittently showing signs of pain in a front limb. After many visits to the vet with xrays etc we couldn't really find anything definitive. I took her to a chiropractor and he said it was in her shoulder. With some rest and some ultrasound therapy she came good.

It looks like your pups are labradors, is that right? Just a thought, you really don't want to overexercise lab puppies. I wouldn't walk any longer than 15 minutes before they are 6 months old. 2 puppies would usually get enough exercise playing together and playing with them is usually enough exercise. Also 2 lab puppies playing together can get rough, and you will need to watch they don't hurt each other in play.

I live about 1 & 1/2 hours inland from Byron, and this is a high paralysis tick area. So I imagine Byron would be as well. Check with a vet in the area, they will be able to tell you what the tick infestation is like there. I also use tick collars and find they are effective, but during the tick season from about September through to even as late as May, I manually check the dogs regularly.

I don't think my dogs have ever tasted cooked meat!!! Except for liver treats which are baked or boiled, and the very occasional sausage at one of our bbq's. If I did feed them cooked meat I would make sure they get plenty of raw meaty bones as well. Mine go nuts for their raw mince and bones, and it is so less work and less smell than cooking up their food. The only food I especially prepare is for one of my dogs that is a little underweight and fussy and I am mixing up 'Satin Balls', but that again is raw, it is just a bit messy mixing all the ingrediants. I have now cut down on the Satin Balls and give him half the amount with the other half of raw mince and bones, and he eats his mince now as well, so hopefully in a few more weeks he will off the Satin Balls and eating normally.

I bought a new dog into our family and found he was a very fussy eater as. I have tried just placing the food down, leaving it their for 1 hour or so and then removing it, until the next feed. My boy just refused to eat. He was quite thin and was getting thinner each day. I tried all sort of food, the old owner said he was a little fussy before I got him, but nothing like what I was experiencing. Finally I heard about Satin Balls, googled it and found the recipe. He now eats them, although I put his food down and leave it with him overnight and it is mostly gone by the morning. He has put on a little weight and I am introducing normal mince along with his Satin Balls so he will hopefully go back to eating normally this way. It has been quite a process. I didn't 'spoil' him if that is what people think, he was just totally put out coming to a new home and has taken quite a while to settle. I tried feeding the diet his previous owner had him on, but I truly think he would have starved or gone close to it. I have never experienced this with dogs before. I guess like people you can get the odd, very fussy one!

I have labs, and I feed them Eukenuba. I have tried Bonnie, Supercoat, Advance and a few others as well as Science Diet, but have come back to Eukenuba. I am very happy with it. It is more expensive than Supercoat etc, but I find I don't have to feed them as much. I feed my dogs mainly raw meaty bones, raw mince, sardines in Vege oil, occasionally some veges and an egg twice a week. Then I add about 1 cup of Eukenuba to that for the adult labs. For the puppies I feed large breed puppy Eukenuba, and give them about 1 cup plus the raw foods fed twice a day (so they have approx. 2 cups of Eukenuba). I don't feed them as much as is recommended on the bag (up to 5 cups a day), because of all the other raw food, it doesn't cost me a fortune. My dogs are healthy, have shiny coats, clean teeth and breath, and heaps of energy.

My suggestion would be the same as BC lover's. If possible could the crates be put in the laundry area, with their covers on for extra warmth. So they are inside or 'semi inside' at least. I had a young lab pup once that I bought home at 9 weeks. I put her in our laundry at night, and she howled for 2 nights straight. I then put her outside in her kennel beside my older dog who had his own kennel and run and never heard a sound from her again. I think your two will be fine because they have each other, just make sure they have adequate shelter (warmth) etc. I also agree with spending plenty of time with them each separately.

My suggestion would be maybe try giving him his dinner a little earlier, so he would definitely go before his bedtime. I usually feed mine about 4.30 - 5.00pm. Not sure if it will help though!

Hi, I had a very similar problem with one of my labs. She was chewing all the hair off the backs of her hind legs and was scatching around her tail etc. I took her to the vet who said it could possibly be a flea allergy, we didn't have many fleas, but it didn't take many to get her scratching. I was using frontline on my dogs, but being labs they love the water, so changed to Sentinel Spectrum (Which is a once a month tablet form) Really good for dogs who spend a lot of time in the creek. I also used capstar tablets to kill the fleas on the dogs straight away. I sprayed around their kennels, bedding etc with a insecticide to kill the fleas and kept them from that area for about 2 days. I have been using Sentinel Spectrum for about 6 months now and I have no fleas, and the flea allergy has completely cleared up and her hair has fully grown back on her tail, back and backs of her legs. I completely recommend Sentinel Spectrum. It may take awhile, it was at least 4 months before I could say it definitely worked. But it has been fantastic. It is really convenient because it also does the intestinal worms and heartworm protection as well.

I have lab pups at the moment, and they do have a tendency to like to gnaw on my arm. I have found that when I am around them I have treats in my pocket and do the come, sit and give them a treat. I have to do this pretty much all the time and if they go to mouth me I just do a loud Uh, Uh!!! sound like you would do if a child was going to grab something hot!!! Don't give up, just keep up the basic obedience and use treats to reward good behaviour and ignore bad behaviour and use a loud noise when they go to bite. If you persist they will get better!

I have just read this thread, and read that 'most lab breeders don't recommend Eukenuba as it can cause growth problems.' I am after some more info on this if possible. Is it just opinions or documented proof? I use Eukenuba, so am very interested in this. I was using Optimum with my labs, but they did not do well on it at all. Had soft runny poos and were too thin. I like to keep my labs lean, but not skinny. Since changing to Euk. they seem to do better, are still lean, but not too thin. They also need much less of the Euk. I only give them about 1 & 1/2 cups of Euk and add raw mince, bones, fish etc. Would love more info on this if anyone has it.

I had a real flea problem about 6 months ago. I changed from advantage to using Sentinel Spectrum, which is an oral tablet, that prevents fleas, does intestinal worms and heartworm. (My dogs spend a lot of time in water, so the tablet is much more effective than a spot on treatment.) I also began rinsing my dogs in Fido's flea rinse concentrate about once a week. It took about 4 months to actually fully see the effect, but now I don't have a flea problem at all. It took time, patience and consistency. I also sprayed the kennels, around the yard where the dogs spend a lot of time etc a couple of times as well with an insecticide.

My daughter has a Cocker Spaniel, that she clips during summer, not to keep her cool, but to help prevent ticks and make them easier to find, as we live in a high tick area. Her coat has never been the same since, it is thicker when it does grow and much curlier. However, my daugher has so much more peace of mind with it clipped as she gets fewer ticks and if she does they are found easily. The dog has had tick poisoning twice, which was why she decided to clip her, even though my daugher really didn't want to because she knew her coat would never be the same again. Clipped or not though, her cocker doesn't mind one way or the other, it didn't change her personality!!! She is gorgeous.

I have had puppies come and sleep inside for the first few weeks or even months and then I have adjusted them to outside with no trouble whatsoever. I have also had a puppy that I slept inside in her crate from day 1 of arriving at our home, she whined a lot for what seemed like forever. I got totally over it and put her outside and we never heard a sound from her again, she loved it outside. As long as wherever you sleep them they have their own space (crate, kennel, bed whatever) that is sheltered and they feel safe in. I think whatever you do is fine, and you can change later if you like. My dogs all live and sleep outside, but I allow them in very often. I think they find it a real treat when I open the door and tell them it is ok to come in, they never walk in on their own (except youngsters). I am outside a large percentage of the time with them. I love letting them in at night when we watch a bit of tv, and they love it as well, but are quite happy going outside and being safely locked in their kennels at night.

I also have labs and mine do try to escape often!!! We don't live in town, so it isn't a huge issue, except for the fact they may pick up ticks. I have one that doesn't jump fences, but climbs them. I would definitely build the fence higher if possible and wouldn't leave her out when you are not around. She is a beautiful pup!

I have raised 2 puppies together a few times. They do tend to bark and whine less because they have each other. However I have large breed puppies, so I have to separate them quite young anyway so they don't hurt each other. I keep them in pens close beside each other, so they can see each other through the fence, but initially on separating them they whined a little anyway, and sometimes their playing and play fighting through the fence is quite noisy. I guess if you have a smaller breed that you don't need to separate they would be fine.

The kibble isn't the only source of food my dog have, They get chicken mince, raw bones, each day & veges & sardines a couple of times a week along with other things like egg, yoghurd occasionally. So do you think a super premium kibble is necessary, as these high quality kibbles are designed to be the whole diet, aren't they?

I have been using Hills Science Diet large breed kibble with my pups, however someone recommended Optimum, saying that Hills main ingredient (top of the list) was grain/meal based. Was wondering if anyone used Optimum and opinions on Hills Science Diet.