Christina77

Bella had the Nasal Spray vaccination

She's boarded in Kennels for 2 days, once a month for the last 5 months, no problems with Kennel cough (crossing fingers, legs )

I am so lucky to have a drip dry dog (sick of washing long haired cats )

1. A swim in the ocean

2. non-soap shampoo on a sponge , rub vigorusly all over :p

3. Turn on sprinkler and rinse (no water restrictions here)

4. 10 minutes of zoomies around the yard and a quick towel dry

most days its a rinse under the sprinkler as she swims everyday so I don't use shampoos all the time.

no fleas , no itchies

MOST salmonella poisonings result from chicken faeces - not the actual flesh.

Thanks aatainc

That must be why eggs with broken shells can be so dangerous when used uncooked , a while ago one of the restaurants in Cairns had a major outbreak of salmonella poisonings due to a desert made with raw eggs, which were seconds and had cracks , now restaurants I "believe" can no longer purchased eggs classed as seconds

don't quote me on the complete accuracy of the above, but I do remember reading about it.

Chicken that is going 'off' has a sour smell , it should smell fresh and the bones should be pink

where the knuckles / joints are , the marrow in there should be pink not going brown, then the chicken is fresh

having had some off chicken from Woolworths up here several times, and having complaint several times , they still sell chicken on tuesdays as "specials"

you can bet it's on the way out

Just be carefull with any meat especially in this hot weather , but you have to wonder how come dogs can bury a bone for 4 days, dig it up and enjoy it with no problems

Hi Jeanne,

a yes the avator pic, I'm just about to install Linux as well, 2 hard drives now so I'll see how it goes, I have XP pro , but W98 used to give me hell

I know what you mean about the soap going gluggy, Dove soap does that and I have to keep telling the boys to LEAVE my soap alone in its dish, I'm sick of them using it and putting it back on the shower tray for it to get all sloppy.

I didn't get a chance to find any Emu oil products , we ended up having to wait hours for our Dr. appointments so we just went home after , all that driving and no shopping ! It's a sin !

Never mind the above, I just checked the website and the prices are somewhat high

Oh well , maybe I can buy the soap and see how that goes :D

Could I please have the makes of the brands you guys use , and how much does it cost and where can I get it ?

I get terribly itchy skin , borderline eczema curtesy of childhood eczema but it drives me nuts , feels like pin pricks and if you scratch it it gets a 100 times worse,

I've tried lots of creams , non soap products etc but most only help a little , I'd like to try this Emu oil if it's not to expensive

I'm off to Cairns so I'll have a chance to shop for it , but if I have a brand name it will help

Ta

Do you mean the Brisbane MEat Market at Rocklea?

yep

The butchers at the Rocklea markets have the wings and most Woolworth supermarkets are doing the necks now, but they are prepacked at both places.

Kit

That's my brothers shop, tell him Ina send you and you want a discount ! Ask for John

:D ;)

Coles now have their own version of Natures Gift........ Natures Choice. Looks and smells and reads to be exactly the same ingredients...roughly the same price too. The dogs love it too.

:rolleyes: Thanks, I'll be checking that out

After having Bella on several different dry foods and her climbing the walls at 11.30pm and being a hyperactive terror :rolleyes: ;

I returned my last unopend bag of Pedigree to Coles , got a refund and purchased the 'new look' Optimum,

had to remind hubbie NOT to give her 3 cups a day of the stuff

she's settled down considerable, still playfull at night but nowhere near as a loon

actually she's asleep behind me whereas last week she was bouncing off the wall.

Her poos are also small and wayyyyyyy less smelly !

It's more expensive but it seems to be the best thing for her, that and Nature's gift cans, vegies , some pasta/rice , fruit , bones, chicken necks and cuttle fish bones (gosh I hope they are ok to eat as she nibbles on them sometimes when she finds them on the beach)

Optimum is working well for us !

Christina77, I've ditched the head halter completely in my training of Chelsea... she hated so much (even after proper introduction) that I couldn't get her to focus and the moment she did stop trying to get it off her face, her drives were so low she honestly looked like she'd been beaten

She also learnt to overcome the head halter and after a while, she still pulled like a train even with it on (just with her head turned sideways, which can't be good)

K9's advice is pretty much spot on in my opinion regarding these halters.

Still, that been said, if you do wish to try one and see how you go, you are more than welcome to use my BlackDog one, just PM me and I'll post it over to you. It should fit your pup/dog as it's very adjustable. The blackdog one looks less like a muzzle than the others and I have never had it come off (they are a very snug fit).

Thanks you so much , that's very kind of you , but I've decided against one,

my main concern was the whiplash effect it could have on her as she lunges towards passing cars or unexpectedly at lizards in the rainforest groundcover ,

as it could do serious damage to her neck.

now that hubbie has finally listened to me and is prepared to help I think I will manage her training better .

Danni , there's no way a spray bottle would work on her, she's loves water and initiallyit would get her attention but then it becomes a game

A strong firm hand and voice is what's needed I think, Superman Hubbie will succeed

As for the muzzle question, obviously the people asking you have never seen a muzzle!! Most daogs have their mouths open while walking, I would say to them "Can you not see that the dog's mouth is open?" or, if I was in a nasty mood, "Yes, dog does bite, please go away before it humps your leg as well!"

:D :p

Problem with this small community is that one person mentions so and so's dog has a muzzle ( :D ) and it's around the neighbourhood in seconds.......and what they don't know they'll make up

Had a good chat with hubbie last night who until now has left the training to me , he can see I'm serious about correcting her behaviour before it gets worse and has started training her, took her last night and this morning and was very strict with her followed the same training methods ,used his powerfull voice (lol his words) and she listend like an angel

anyway its better then what he was doing before

Thanks everyone for all the info, it sure helps to read about people's opinions and experiences , as a matter of fact what Tim's mum said about the Halti being capable of coming off , not good near traffic has made up my mind not to get one.

Bella thinks cars are fair game at the moment (only utes, go figure :D ) so I couldn't take the risk of the Halti coming off.

I also can't take her in for a fitting , no pet shops here which is why I was asking if anyone could tell me if a size 3 would be ok, the joys of living out in the sticks

Just read K9's article

http://www.k9force.net/halter.html

I think I will keep training her on the normal lead or harness, I used her harness today and she was quite good , not sure what to do now ! ;)

I've come to the decision to get Bella a Halti Collar as her pulling on the lead has gone from bad to extreme.

She was behaving really well until a few weeks ago but has reverted in her training ;) , I'm putting it down to her age etc but today I saw a Mallie with a Halter and had a chat with the owner.

His 6 month old Mall pup had a size 3 on, I was just wondering if any of you have one and what size etc as I need to order it online and can't just take it back to exchange etc

Bella is a medium sized Red Cattle dog , would a size 3 be ok ?

I was annoyed at the comments people were making to the guy with the Mal, they said "oh it has a muzzle does it bite ?"

Groannnnnnn this is why I have put off getting one because of the small community mentality here (oh so and so's dog has a muzzle :D ) but I need to get her walking under control as I do a lot of walking with her and it frightens me in case she pulls me over as I'm one of those people who can trip over "nothing " :D

Gosh it is confusing........

But I'm convinced that our dog is sensitive to Pedigree dry, she was off it for several days and quite good and displayed good and normal active puppy behaviour.

Hubbie gave her Pedigree bisquits last night and the little bugger was still going strong at 11.30 pm ;)

I have one bag of the stuff left and it's going back to Coles for a refund !

Then I'll scour the town and see if I can get anything at a Stock supplier , if not I'll go for the no preservatives, no colouring dry food (new brand name slips my mind, hey it's early )

better take her for a swim , I've got pleading eyes looking at me

Peanut Butter !

A while back someone suggested smearing some peanut butter on the fridge door to keep the dog occupied,

it works !

It sounds yuk, but just smear a good large area with peanut butter (not thick) and have someone hold the rear end of the dog and quickly clip the area,

I have a long haired cat that forever needs a trim , I just put margarine on a plate for him and quickly snip the area.

Edited to add, don't forget to clean the door afterwards

Brushing with a toothbrush after food should be enough , no need for paste .

My Dad brushed our dogs teeth , I have continued to do the same, just buy cheap ones and start from puppy stage , my dog is often seen walking around with her toothbrush

The cat is a different story , he gets his scaled as he has an odd shaped mouth and his teeth dont align, he never chews anything , just swallows , so much for dry food that helps tartar control

Tina will gobble up any droppings she finds though - Toby is pretty good with the "leave" command and will spit anything out in return for a treat, but Tina will just swallow whatever it is.

Everything goes into the mouth doesn't it, my Bella is terrible with this as on the beach there are just wayyyyy to many yummy things to eat, or so she thinks.

Honestly you will need to watch out for droppings and baits, if your in an area where Dingo baits are places you'll know about them as they should be signed but you can't be too carefull etc.

I'm even considerening getting a muzzle for Bella if she keeps it up, although hubbie said this morning she did respond to 'leave it' and dropped a fish carcass (gross) someone had carelessly discarded on the beach........great for attracting crocs

sorry triple post, having pc and isp trouble

Sorry double post , having pc issues :D

K9's advice on using a long line works well with our Bella a 5 1/2 month old ACD .

She has an instant recall with hubbie, but with me it's "like, in a minute ok!"

So I have been using a long line (washing line) on the beach with her, but instead of words I use whistle commands , just a short one for "come" and a high long one if she doesn't hurry up.

I should add that I did use words to go along with the whistles until she got the idea then withdrew the voice commands.

I'm still not confident enough to let her off lead , but she responds very well ,so it won't be long .

Having said that I just recalled that a while back there was a topic on how your voice affects commands etc, I have lowered my voice and slowed down my commands and it works !

2 tones , 1 for commands, 1 for praise etc. Don't know if that is correct but it's working so far

It's worth a try , and it's fun standing there trying to roll up 30 meters of washing line , not :D

I saw the Optimum for cats yesterday and purchased some for my adult cat who seems to like it .

He tends to chop and change his dry food

It's was $3.69 for 500g

Dog likes it tooo just scoffed the cats Tuna and dry food off the table , ooops

From what I know it's ok for dogs to eat cat food, but not for cats to eat dog food.

Perhaps they got a large amount of cat food on the cheap ?

If I was boarding my dog I'd also have a few questions. Large breeds would need a few cans of cat food etc, can't imaging that it would be economical this way.

cat food fed this way would be more expensive but perhaps it fattens up the dogs so they look well when they go home? Maybe dogs eat better when they are presented with something new and tasty ?

One of out dogs used to eat cat food only, he was fine but he was only a small breed .

Seems odd though.