Aroura

I have fed raw for about two months now. Another good book if you're interested is Dr Ian Billinhursts "Give your dog a bone". I do not feed grains. A good basis of ratio's are at least 70% RMBs with 20% Pureed veggies and 10% offal give or take depending on how your dog goes on it, for example, my Boxer gets more RMBs while my Kelpie cross gets a slightly higher ratio of Veggies than the other dogs. I do not supplement with any commercial supplements, just friut, yoghurt, kelp and apple cider vinager. I mostly feed chicken carcass' but think that turkey necks (which are near on impossible to get your hands on) are probably the best rmb's due to their size and bone elasticity, though keep in mind that variety is the spice of life. Good luck, I suggest that you go to Yahoo groups and join a group called "rawdiet" - they are GREAT there! :D

Has she been to dog training? If not just for the training it would be great to get her used to busy situations with other people and dogs around. Lily went through some serious dog aggression issues when I stopped taking her to obedience for a few months as she came into heat then I had to wait for the next session to begin. She would try to attack anything that came within a few metres of us. Since taking her back, desexing her and changing her diet, slowly she has gotten better to the point where she will now play with certain dogs even on the lead and those that she doesn't play with can get right up and sniff her etc and she will just ignore them. I know people aggression is different, but if you find a good club (which I was lucky enough to do) they will work through her problems, and if not fix them, at least you will know you have tried all you can. Unfortunatly a dogs crucial socialisation stage is up to 16 weeks. Even if you madly rushed around socialising her as soon as you got her with everything you could, alot of her problems may have remaind imprinted in her brain. I suggest you report her breeders to authoritys so you can save other maybe less responsible people from the problems you are having, as well as saving the dogs that are already there. Try buying her a halti collar, then she will not be able to rush at people and scare them. Another thing I will STRONGLY recommend is that you switch her to a completely raw diet! People see varying degrees of temperement change in dogs with aggression problems after switching them completly to a BARF diet, I know I have seen a noticable change in Lily, she is a lot calmer now and less likely to attack other dogs. Some people have even had aggression problems completely dissapear after switching their dogs diet. That means a complete switch, even a cup of dry food every now and again may be enough to set her off again if the diet works. As for the kids, perhaps if you could find one mature enough to work with you you could try getting Roxing in a sit position and reward her. Keep giving her treats to distract her attention while the child approaches and meets her. If she even looks like she is going to react badly to the child, stop treating her and walk away, don't let her try to stare down the child. Another thing they reccomend is that on walks, as soon as you see something that would normally set her off, give her a treat, get her attention focused on you and keep treating her until the trigger has passed. I suggest you sign up for yahoo mail, go to "yahoo groups" and do a search on a list called "canineaggression" - its a good one. Also, if you do decide to switch her to raw do a search on "rawdiet", even if you do not plan to switch her diet, go to that one anyway and just ask a few questions and I'm sure you will soon decide that changing her diet would be best not only to help with her issues, but for everything else as well. Good luck, my thoughts are with you.

Yes they are very black aren't they!!! So gorgeous though :angel: Rowie, Donna gets along wonderfully with Lily and Tessa. Tessa mostly just pretends that Donna isn't there, except for when she gets in her occasional playful mood. Lily still thinks she is six months old and just plays and plays all day with Donna, they get into all kinds of mischeif and she is enjoying her new accomplis in evil :evil: :lol:

Grrr, I just finished writing this big long post and bloody explorer quit on me!!!!! :evil: Oh well, basically what it said was, if you can brave the slimey raw meat, then thats great!!! I'm pretty used to it now, got 18kg chicken carcass' in the kitchen waiting to be packed along with a few nice hearts, kidneys and lovely liver!!! You've just got to find a way to make it in to sort of a game and it isn't so disgusting. I'm telling you, after disecting a toad for biology I think I can handle just about anything!!! :lol: Some good links though if you do want to learn more (I suggest you read them all, they are all great) are - [url]http://www.njboxers.com/[/url] [url]http://www.barfers.com/[/url] - The FAQ in this one is GREAT. [url]http://www.pet-grub.com/[/url] Oh, and by the way - the reason some people use the word "raw" is because it isn't so off putting to people who don't know what it is!!! :lol:

Haha, you've got the same problem as me!!! :lol: Lily hasn't picked up the habit, I've seen her do it maybe once or twice, Tessa just can't seem to help herself sometimes though!!! She's five years old now, so didn't loose the habit. My best advice is to just laugh it off, its not harming anyone :wink: :lol:

Have you considered raw feeding? Its suitable for all ages and is SOOO good for them!!! I've heard about all the benefits and had been feeding half raw, half kibble for a while and the dogs were really healthy, I honestly didn't beleive they could get any shinier or healthier, but i was wrong! I decided um, probably close to two months ago to ditch the dry food because with every dish i cringed at what i was letting my dogs eat, all those chemicals etc :-? Anyway, you should see them now!!! I honestly didn't know it was possible for dogs to be so shiney, their eyes are so clear and sparkly, the poodle has lost her allergys, smell, stinky breath, staph infections etc etc etc and her fur is coming through so woolie and lovely, she has a new lease for life, its like she is a puppy again, its amazing! Tessa, the kelpie/pig dog cross has looked more like a kelpie than a pig dog for her five years of life despite endless exercise, now she has just stacks on so much bulk and muscle she looks like a different dog!!! If she wasn't black and tan she would look like a Pit, not a kelpie. She is so shiney its blinding to see her in the sun! Her teeth are clean, she has lost her doggie odour, she has even begun playing again! The reason she didn't play before was because she was too scared all the time that she would get in trouble, probably a side effect of the chemicals in the dog food but now she is so confident and happy all the time, i was on the verge of taking her to the vets for anti depressants before but now its been cured, and without any drugs at all! Oh, and she had this infection on her belly from the scratches she gets jumping the fence, that is gone now as well as a fatty cyst or lump on her shoulder which is pretty amazing to see that disapear from a simple change of diet! Lily, the boxer, has been on a mostly raw diet for most of her life, so naturally she was very healthy before but since cutting out the dry food entirely I have definatly noticed some changes for the better. She was about as shiney as i could imagine a dog could get before, but now she just looks and feels like silk. She is one of the most musclely dogs in town and her eyes are always so bright and clear now, no discharge at all. And probably one of the greatest things, you've probably heard me agonising over Lilys seemingly uncurable aggression problems, well they are basically gone, she is so happy and is all tail wags around other dogs now. She does occasionly get a little angry, possibly out of habit more than anything, but that is a rare occasion in comparrison to before. Anyway, i hope I've given you something to think about! :angel:

Very cute :D Just remember when they are swimming to keep an eye out for catfish!!! :o :lol:

What about fear of damaging your teeth? Is there a word for that? Like "chipaphobia" or something? Because I've always had a fear of that, and often have nighmares where my teeth break and fall out etc. Well last night my worst nightmare came a reality!!! I chipped a tooth :( :-? You can't even see it, its just the tinyest little chip in one of my canines and I can't for the world of me work out how it happend! I was just sitting there and put my tounge on my tooth and it was chipped :( I have an appointment with the dentist next week, I'll have to get him to file it down and you'll never even notice the difference, but still I'm paranoid now that I have week teeth and it may happen again! :(

LOL Daisysmom, good one!!!!! I think i mildly suffer from a couple of those phobias, nothing to serious though - I can't beleive they have words for all those phobias!!! The last thing i would want to hear if i was afraid of long words is people telling me i have "Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia" :o :lol: Speaking of phobias, there is a list of culture related syndromes in my psych book, one that i find interesting is a syndrome only found in Japan called "taijin kyofusho" which is "Intense fear that one's body displeases, embarresses, or is offensive to others". Interesting stuff!!!

OMG that is like exactly the same as these people here! They have this beautiful $900 pedigree lab, 10 months old - honestly she would have to be the most beautiful, show quality lab I've ever seen. Every day she would come and visit, just wait out the front of our house until we saw her there and let her out the back to play with Lily until 6pm when the owners would get home. They live like three blocks away but she just loves us so much she would always come here, we knew where she lived because she was on our dog walking route, so one day dad took her home. The fence had a little hole in it, nothing serious, would take about 5 minutes to fix, but the owners had this "she'll be right attitude". :evil: Yeah well how far did that attitude get them? It got them as far as having to post lost dog signs everywhere and being left without their beautiful dog which they paid a fortune for. I know she's been stolen, I would have stolen her myself if I didn't know better, I have never met a friendlier, more absolutly amazing, stunning dog than Meg, how could anyone not steal her? Well hopefully these ignorant owners have learned their lesson and Meg has found a home that will actually take propper care of her. Another similar case (not similar, but a case of a careless owner) is the dog two doors up. It made me SOOOOO angry!!!! This guy would LEAVE HIS GATE OPEN for a few hours each day (too lazy to walk his dogs) while his dog ran the streets ATTACKING OUR DOGS AND ANYBODY WHO WALKED PAST!!! Dad got a chunk out of his leg one day from this dog, due to its ignorant owner. The counsil had spoken to the owner numberus times and the dog had been declaired as a "nuicance dog". Well, a couple of weeks ago I wrote an annonymouse letter asking that he simply keep his gate closed (not really a big ask, is it?) and explained that his dog has been attacking people and other dogs and I didnt' want to involve the counsil but was afraid that if he didn't stop letting his dog run wild I would have to, for the dogs sake more than anything. Idiot, keeping a border collie in town and not exercising it, he also has a sweet kelpie that he also lets run the neighbourhood but that doesn't attack people, and a cattle dog that steals our cat food. Well guess what? The next day the dogs out attacking people again!!! And the day after that, and the next day and the next, until the other day when we saw a big RSPCA van drive past and stop at their house. Havn't seen any of those dogs since, in the backyard, on the road... I wonder what happend to them? Maybe he realised he couldn't look after them and surrendered them? Or maybe someone rang up about him? I don't know, I just hope the bastard has learned his lesson. :evil:

Malamum, same problem as you... maybe the site doesn't like Aussies? :-? I'll try again later

Yeah, its interesting stuff isn't it? We're learning about some of this sort of stuff in psychology, how they come about and how to get over them. Does anyone have any silly little fears? Don't pay out on me everyone, but I have to say, I'm a little scared of horses :oops:

Lucky BK!! Lily and Tess always get fussed over when I'm out with them, though I don't remember anyone ever buying anything for them!!! Though dad was once given a $20 kong from this guy at a pet shop after mentioning that we have a boxer. If I'm ever sitting at a cafe with the dogs people will say "can I feed it?" and give them little bits of cake and stuff, but nothings ever actually been ordered for them! I was telling someone once about my dogs, showing photos etc and he gave me $50 to buy them something special with! Its funny when you're in the shops and you leave your dogs outside and you come back to find someone going ga ga over them and as soon as they realise you own them they look all embaressed and walk away! :oops: :lol:

Acrophobia - fear of heights Agoraphobia - fear of open spaces Claustrophobia - fear of confined spaces Homophobia - fear (hatred) of homosexuals Necrophobia - fear of dead people Photophobia - fear or aversion to light Xenophobia - dislike of foreigners :wink:

I just showed my sister all the photos and she says that along with Tessa and Puddles, that Kato is just the most adorable little thing ever!!!! (She didn't say Lily :cry: )

LOL, I just love useless facts! Thanks for the laugh :lol:

OMG, I'm in love with Tess :o I've always had a soft spot for chocolate labs, but Tess would have to be the cutest I've seen yet :D

I'm one of those lucky people who gets to see a APBT every sunday at dog training! But guess what? I saw my first Am Staff the other night!!! I'd been wanting to see this guys dog for a while and the other night he had a little gathering at his place so I went and got to see his dog!!! He was the most gorgeous thing, I fell instantly in love! One of his mates has met Lily and said to me the other night "I'm getting myself a Lily" and sure enough, he's got a boxer ordered from a breeder so not only do I have an am staff to play with now, I get another boxer to play with! :angel:

Finally, I have some photos of Donna!!! Here she is :angel: [img]http://home.austarnet.com.au/creamy_pumkin/Dogs/other_dogs/DonnaBed.jpg[/img]

You're back!!! Glad to see you back, was beggining to wonder what had happend to you :o Well, new puppys!!!! For starters, we have a new puppy :angel: . She is a lab cross something, looks like it could be weimaraner :D Her name is Belladonna and we rescued her after a concerned neighbour had brought her in to dog training, all skin and bones, about three months old :cry: Second, Daisysmum has a new pup!!! His name is Jake and he is absolutly gorgous!!!! :bday: Bks friend also got a new puppy, his name is Leo and he is a Lab cross (all these labs :o ) :lol: Hope I havn't missed anyone!!!

She sounds like a lovely mix! A trial is always a good idea, we got Belladonna on trial but instantly fell in love with her and so decided we have no choice but to keep her :D I'm sure you'll do the same with Dizzy :wink: :angel:

Good choice if you do decide to feed her BARF, my sisters mini poodle cross would always turn her nose up at food until we started feeding her BARF. She just loves her chicken wings and looks like a puppy again, its like she's found a new "glow" :lol:

Oh I just realised, Kiger posted a link to a "rawdiet" list, I got muddled up and was thinking about the "rawfeeding" list I'm in... just joined the raw diet list!!! I'm sure it is much better than the raw feeding list, they are very biased there and make you feel very uncomfortable if you don't agree 100% with everything you say. All you have to do is get a yahoo email account, go to "groups" and search for "rawdiet"... or you could just click on kigers link :lol:

More positive thoughts from oz here, I hope she is fine. :(

Aww I bet he's so cute! Yes, Rosebud needs those pics! Funny how puppy fever seems to be going around so seriously at the moment, seems like everyones getting new puppys! :D Nadooshkinz, you are so right about commercial food! I cringe every time my darlings eat a peice of kibble, poor sweethearts, no more of that though, they are getting proper food now! :D