Aroura

Ok I think I gave a bit of a wrong impression about Montie, so I might just jump in here and defend him! :lol: Montie doesn't rush after other peoples dogs and attack them, more like he stands near me, wagging his tail, but barking all the same, kicking up the ground like he's a big tough man, I think this is why people think its endearing, he's not being nasty, just saying "hey, look at me, aren't I tough?". There was one or two occasions where he did run after another dog and chase it away, both times when a large dog came up and bowled him over (remember, he's only about 3 and a half pounds!) and he's turned around, quite disgusted at their boisterous behaviour and chased them back to their owner - but his recall is VERY good and he'll stop in mid flight and come zooming back to me any time I call him :wink: He doesn't get away with ANY growly behaviour at home. He's the gentilest little angel :wink: As for other little dogs I've seen - my cousins mini foxi was a terror, he put stitches in about three people. You couldn't go near him without risking being bitten if he was in a bad mood. I've met dozens of maltese like this too, I've only ever met one nice maltese, the rest have been happy, snappy little things that even I was scared of, and it takes a lot to scare me! :o

I can definatly say that my dogs eat better than I do - I do eat very well but I don't think anyone could eat better than my dogs! They're not stuck with the same boring meal each day either, they get as much variety as I can offer, with sardines twice a week and the occasional meal of scrambled eggs. I mix different things in each day to balance their diet over a few days, flax seed oil one day, canola another, cod liver another and extra virgin olive oil on another day so each meal tastes different. They also get varied offal and different veggies in their meals each day. The reason I can say the dogs eat better than I do is firstly that they don't get any junk food, all their food is fresh, and I do their shopping before I do my own so that if I ever run out of money it is me that is going without, not them. Josh said to me the other night "you spoil that dog so much, you never make ME meatballs!" :lol: I told him he could have one of Monties if he wants :wink:

I see where you're coming from, that guy should definatly have his dogs somewhere safe or they could be killed BUT I admit how he saw it as cute... well when Montie goes and "beats up the big dogs" it is kinda cute, not saying I LIKE this behaviour, just that its cute to see you little munchkin being big and tough... I can't really explain it - though Montie usually does get in trouble when he chases off the big dogs (at the dog park, no where near roads or anywhere he shouldn't be off) and I think it is mainly due to fear aggression, I'd be a bit worried too if someone 30 times my size came up and sniffed my butt! :lol: Though I'm definatly with you on that it shouldn't have happend - people get the idea that just because their dog is little it can do what it wants and no one will care, and if they do care than they have a problem. Its wrong, I always make sure my dogs aren't pissing people off by getting in their way and being off lead where they shouldn't be - even at the dog park I'm trying to train Montie out of his behaviour, although I do have to admit, everyone so far who's seen him do it thinks its adorable and usually has a bit of a laugh :oops:

ROFLMAO... you are all just too funny! :lol: :lol: :lol:

This may seem like a silly, out there question, but can she go to a responsible home that understands her needs? I know how it can be owning a wild animal, and if you do you always have to keep that in mind, that they are a WILD animal, but if there is nothing else that can be done with her it could be an option, someone with alot of time and money and a really big yard with no children or other pets. I don't know much about Coyotes, but I know some people keep dingos here, and I've heard of people keeping foxes, even Basenjis are half wild and we used to have a basenji cross. Is it an option? Or am I just being crazy?

There are a lot of Cavaleers around here. Very sweet, gorgeous looking dogs. I've met quite a few and they are a very nice breed, though do have a tendancy to be fat if they are fed too much and aren't walked enough! When I was teaching at dog training there were a few Cavaleirs in my class, they were very friendly and devoted to their owners and so soft!!! Montie is always the smallest at training (one of the smallest in Armidale :o ) but there was a puppy cavaleir that Montie would play with, it was so sweet :wink: They are a great breed, I've actually talked my housemate into getting one if she decides to get a dog - they are the ideal dog for many people :)

Well it does look good - I'm no advocate of comercial food; especially tinned food! But if I could get it here I would probably feed it to my dogs on occasion for something different :wink:

Oh and I forgot to mention I'm getting a whippet puppy soon too!!! He's due to be born tomorrow!!! I just put photos of mum and dad as a sig :D

[b]Two Dogs[/b] Montie - Papillon, will be 2 in July!!! I got him when he was 14 months old from a breeder, he had no fur on his ears and they looked like little bits of leather - his litter mates chewed them off and so the breeder had to keep him for ages, I thought it would never grow back but they are nearly full size now! I don't like to play favourites, but of all the animals I've ever owned he just makes me so happy, he is so cute and cuddly and treats me as though I'm the centre of the universe, if I could have one wish it would be that Montie lives forever :angel: Cassie - Papillon, 4 years old. I've only had her for a little while, she is an ex breeding/show bitch. I found out after I got her that she has been kept in kennels her whole life so is struggling to fit in to indoor living and 100% pure love 24-7. She's an utter sook and loves to snuggle in close to anyone she meets. [b]Three Rats[/b] Enzo - my darling boy, he's a rare mink blazed rat who I had flown down from brisbane. Arwyn - pure white, pink eyes, good lines (show lines), shipped down from the same breeder, was going to breed her and Enzo but have decided to have Enzo desexed instead. Nea - Cute, adorable, attention seeking champagne rat. Very intellegent and extremely demanding! They're all only about 6 or 7 months old now. [b]Three Gold Fish[/b] Mate, Miss Bitch and Nemo. Nemo looks like a clown fish, he's gold with a white stripe down his middle. I'm thinking of getting another one though, I've gone through so many, Miss Bitch is the only original one left and I've had her for over 2 years :wink: [b]One Boyfriend[/b] Josh - 20 years old. Hard to house train, but easy to feed. Not as fluffy as Montie, but just as cuddly. Affectionate, demanding and intellegent, though he does have a personality clash with Montie, they are jealous of each other and are always fighting for my attention :wink:

It looks like great stuff! I've never heard of it before, but would certainly feed it as a BARF substitute if I went away on holidays or something. Its got all the good stuff in it thats hard to track down otherwise :wink:

[quote name='mydogroxy']the guidelines say 2-3% of body weight. this is a good place to start, but always be in tune with coal's body. some dogs, because of any number of reasons, eat more or less than this. if he seems constantly hungry and too thin, add more meat. if he's too fat, cut some out. you'll eventually find a good balance.[/quote] Agreed completely! Can you believe, Montie needs about 6% of his body weight every day, while Tessa only needs about 1% :o

LOL, that is just soooo cute! :lol:

No I've had plenty of dogs before - well I guess I didn't "raise them on my own" as such, except for Lily, but I have been through the joys of puppy hood enough times to know what to expect! :wink:

Well I'd answer all your questions and tell you everthing I know, but it really is too cold right now and my hands aren't working properly so I'll answer a few questions and give you some links! Feed 2-3% of his adult body weight per day, depending on how energetic he is and if he's still growing - if I remember correctly he is about the same age as Donna so he will be pretty much full grown, but still really energetic and filling out - am I right? If this is the case it might be good to start at around 3% and see how he goes. I'm pretty sure he'll eat it all at once, I've never known a dog to let a tasty meal of fresh meat sit for half a day before eating it! :lol: Things to add - well they'll be covered on the links. As a general rule I try to find whole foods that will provide the nutrients, like Kelp and Brewers Yeast, I have a tub of vitamin supplements in the fridge at the moment that I hardly ever touch - using artificial supplements you run the risk of over supplementing. One thing I have taken to doing is to provide a fair amount of fish each week - the Papillons wont eat fish, but two meals a week would be good, oily fish such as salmon or mackeral is the best. Fish contains all sorts of goodies! As do eggs, alfalfa, spirulina, extra virgin olive oil, yoghurt etc. Coal should be fine switching cold turkey, when I get my puppy I will switch him gradually, as with all the stresses of moving and having a puppy tummy and all a cold turkey switch could give him an upset tummy! Coal should be fine, otherwise over three or four days should be ok. Here are a few good links though - [url]http://www.agilityboxer.com/barfpage.htm[/url] [url]http://www.njboxers.com/faqs.htm[/url] [url]http://www.bluegrace.com/barf.html[/url] [url]http://www.rawlearning.com/[/url] [url]http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Flats/6944/diet.html[/url] [url]http://www.gracegift.net/whippets/health.html[/url] Hope that helps :wink:

Oh dear, I feel for you Drjeff :drinking: Kat, I think that that kind of problem can easily be prevented by feeling the area on a regular basis, if other dogs are like Montie they swell up quite a bit, and now that I know what to look for a check the area every night. It seems like everybody has their own oppinions on this, mine is to let nature take its course, but to be aware that problems can arise and know how to fix it if they do. Thanks Cassie, I'll keep an eye out for cheap coffee grinders - its hard to find a bargain here but occasionally you get lucky. I'll have to check out the prices of whole flax seeds - again, things are expensive here - is it usual for 2oomL of flax seed oil to cost $11? :o I'd probably find that I'll still add the oil to their diet on occasion as well :wink: Do dry the pumpkin seeds before you grind them? As for the yoghurt with feild berrys - well I don't think I'll be getting any feild berrys at this time of year, and I rarely eat yoghurt as I'm allergic to dairy BUT I was considering giving the dogs yakult on occasion - would this be good for them? I asked about this in a raw email group, but some people over seas hadn't heard of it - its comes in little bottles and is a probiotic drink, you only need a little bit per day as its very concentrated. Drjeff, bones are broken down quite effectivly in the dogs intestinal tract. Horsefeathers has experienced problems with raw feeding in the past, but on the other hand, so many have not and have seen wonders happen in their dogs from it. Its best to weigh up the pros and cons and do what ever you feel happy with. Personally, my dogs have done nothing but thrive on it, I haven't seen a complication as yet and I do swear by the diet, all of our dogs have had so many benifits, from cysts dissapearing, chronic diareah (sp?) ending, even to dis pigmented browny grey dogs turning black - what they were supposed to be! :lol: I could go on with a full list, but you get the picture :wink:

Its hard with the little ones to add too much veggies etc because they just wont eat it - though I always do push to see how much I can put in before they stop eating it! Cassie is not as fussy as Montie so she isn't as hard to feed, but Montie will just not eat if he doesn't like what he's fed - not to say he's particulary fussy, but he does definatly have his preferences! I'm buying some spirulina and alfalfa to add to their diets also, which could help. How do you do the pumpkin seeds? How benificial is the ground flax seed? I was actually going to buy some, but asked around about ground flax seed vs flax seed oil and everybody seemed to agree the oil was better. [quote]The biggest difference is in the way its processed Flaxseed oil isnt any good if its not "cold pressed' and its temperature is never over about 30 degrees. Its kept in the fridge. Linseed and flaxseed are from exactly the same plant but when they are proceeesed differently you end up with furniture polish etc. The meal is often used for animal feeds but the properties in it are no where near as good as cold pressed flax seed and if its been processed over a certain temp it has the potential to do more harm than good.[/quote] I've never touched his glands before the other day, I've never had the need to, and I wont go making a habit out of it, but when it is swollen like it was, then I don't really have any other option. I will keep in mind to be gentle though :wink:

De shmecking, I'll have to remember that one! It sounds so much better than "sqeezing his anal glands" :lol: 2 and 10 O'Clock - got ya! I was doing more like a 3 and 9 O'Clock :oops: Horsefeathers, I've never heard that one before, but you know, you're probably right :wink: Most little dogs I have heard of will need "de shmecking" every couple of months at least, I've had Montie 8 months now and this is the first time he's needed it - right after he's been eating dog food! We had an RSPCA puppy, who's food he would eat when he could, just a week ago. For a 1.6kg dog he's doing pretty well though 8) As for doing it internally, I don't... oh gosh, how can I put this gracefully? Well I don't think I could fit my finger in there :o Even his poops are tiny! :oops: Cassie, about diet changing - well those are things I was planning to change in the next batch of food! I was going to add some bran to the mix. I also bought some wheat germ yesterday that I added to the kelp/wheat grass mix this morning. Flaxseed oil is already on my shopping list for next time I get paid. Coinsidence? Or do I somehow instinctly know what my dog needs? :lol: Oh, and I was going to buy him digestive enzymes too :wink: Drjeff, that story cracked me up - I couldn't help but laugh out loud! When I first noticed Montie the other night I didn't want anyone knowing because I didn't want my baby to get embarressed and laughed at, so I took him into a quiet room. Well of course my house mate followed me in and talked to me, so I just sat there stroking Montie for a while before disapearing into another room. So I had him, really well behaved (he's such a good boy now, he'll let me do anything to him) on his back and I was squeezing away when my housemate came in and looked suprised and said "what are you doing!!!" so I explained and she ran out of the room disgusted. Then Josh walked in, I was hoping this wouldn't happen because he is always paying out on Montie as it is, so I explained and he laughed and got grossed out and told me I was sleeping on the floor!!! :o :lol: Poor Montie, he doesn't need this extra stress in his life! :lol:

Yes your staffs are absolutly adorable :angel: Look out Rabid, they might bite your arm off!!! :lol:

Rabid is obviously uneducated, closed minded and arrogant - she's not going to be polite, not a chance in hell. I think we are all wasting our time if we think we can educate her, or aim for an apoligy - she is obviously a troll and just here to stir things up. If she wanted to be accepted she would have taken her chance just then and apologised, instead she made some stupid comment on a child fitting in a STAFFYS mouth (by the way Rabid, didn't you say Pitbulls were mean? When did staffys come into the picture or are you just too dumb to see the difference?). Oh and Rabid, if someone told you that you were UGLY and asked how your mum ever loved you, how would you respond? Something for you to think about - get back to me on that one :wink:

Yes I know, I'm counting the minutes!!! I wont know which ones are show quality straight away, so I wont be able to chose one right away. How old are they before you can get a general idea of how good they will be?

For the first time the other night Montie got impacted anal glands. I've read about them before, but never actually seen a case! Well I was just rubbing him all over like I do at least every week to check for lumps etc and he had a swollen bum :drinking: I did what I've read that your supposed to do and squezed all the gunk out. There was still some in there the next morning which I squeezed out (I'm very proud of my baby for behaving so well!). It was still swollen so I thought maybe it was just because it was irrited - by last night it had gone down. I gave him a spoon of brand and a fair bit of olive oil in his breakfast this morning in hopes to clear out any remaining gunk :lol: One worry though, I've heard that the gunk is supposed to be a kind of cleary or browny colour - his was almost black. Should I be conserned? Should I take my baby to the vet or will he be fine?

Rabid, if you come here being rude and inconsiderate don't expect everybody to drop to their knees and praise you - you get what you give and you have been extremely critical and closed minded, so stop acting as though we're the baddies. Until you can give a good and honest apology to all the people you have tried to offend or belittle on here please don't make out as though we are the ones in the wrong. I suggest you go back and read all the responces to what you have asked - there are some decent responces in this thread - READ THEM!!! Until then, stop being so closed minded and stop attacking other peoples dogs, and if thats what you want to do then DONT EXPECT US TO BE NICE TO YOU! :roll:

Nor can I!!! Can't wait for those first pics of mum and her babys. What is the best page for photos? Since my web page has gone down I haven't been able to post any pics, I don't have most of them anymore anyway because I'm on a different computer that can't upload photos from my digi - but I do have a couple I'd like to post on occasion!!!

Its normally a very peacefull place, usually we just ignore the trolls but in this case I think everybody was just up for a bit of fun :wink:

Oh by the way, I think Montie (the dog in my sig) is the absolutly most gorgeous thing in the world - though I would imagine that at least one person out there would think he's ugly - does that make him ugly? Or any less worthy of my love? No, so long as I think he's the ants pants thats all that matters. The world doesn't revolve around you rabid, just because you think one dog is ugly, doesn't mean that everyone else agrees, so get over yourself and get a life - if not for your own good, do it for the rest of the world who have to listen to your idiodic oppinions.