Aroura

I usually feed roo mince and chicken necks. Roo mince is great, high in protien and iron, low in fat, and cheap. Chicken necks provide the calcium and chewing action... but I also buy big bones for them to chew on. Bk, if you think he's going well on commercial food, try him on BARF for a month, and you'll never look back. Nothing measures up to it, plus you get the added bonus of knowing exactly what goes into thier stomachs.... feeding them commercial food every day is like you eating Macca's every day!!! (Don't know if your a macca's fan, but I know I couldn't do it!) I'll email you a diet when I have some time, right now I have to get ready to go out for dinner!!!! :eating:

Yeah for sure Rowie, sounds like a great idea. Hey, maybe you could meet Lily and Tessa too? :angel: No kangaroos in the main street, but occasionally we get some hopping down our street. Where I lived before there were always kangaroos all over the place. I've never been to the barrier reef myself, but I've heard its one of those places you've gotta go at least once in your life. It doesn't matter where you go, I just know you'll have a great time!!!! So what month do you plan to come?

Smooshie, good points!!! Well, if I didn't know Lily was a boxer before that post, I'd definatly know by now! Yup, she measures up to all those 'bad' points, but they are all very lovable to me, and no matter how mad she makes me by being destructive, whiney, burpy, slobbery, smearing food all over the walls and my clothes when I get changed.... those good points just outweigh the bad times infinity!!!! :rocol: If its true that laughter is the best medicine I'd be pretty sure that Boxer owners would be some of the healthiest people in the world (I don't think its true though, I've got a cold as we speak!) Oh, and when people ask why I chose a boxer.... well I just tell them a pictures worth 1000 words!!!! [img]http://home.austarnet.com.au/creamy_pumkin/Dogs/Lily/LilyBeanBag.jpg[/img]

omg shannon, your back!!!! Where have you been? Its great to see you back!!!! Anyway, in answer to your question guest, Boxers are an excellent breed, even for a new owner. They are very bouncy as pups, and even as adults so you've got to be able to deal with that, but with adequete discipline (not hitting, just showing the boundrys) you'll find you've got the best dog you could ever dream of! I know this, because I have one! Talk to alot of breeders, and once you've chosen a breeder keep in contact. A good breeder can tell you everything you need to know. Good luck with finding your perfect pup!

GREAT NEWS!!!!!! Its great to know that such a nice, happy, friendly, sweet, adorable (etc etc etc) person is coming to visit!!!!!! :angel: Well, Sydney is definatly worth a look. And Melbourne from what I've heard, never been there though. I wouldn't bother with Canberra though, the people tend to keep to themselves alot, and seeing as I'm the type of person to say hi to everyone I don't like it there. But if you want a look around I guess its a pretty good place, they have some nice gardens etc. But whatever you do, you would be absolutly MAD not to visit Brisbane!!!! Its alot more laid back than Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra, plus it has the best beaches.... its so nice. You've got surfers paradise right next to it, which is like party central. Beaches and stuff galore, and you should check out the guys there!!! :crazyeyes: :grab: .... where's the drool icon??? :wink: But its worth while to drop in at Port Maquarie and Coffs Harbour on the way from Sydney to Brisbane... they are both tourist cities, Port Maquarie has nicer scenery... but Coffs has the big banana!!!! Oh, and my sister... so if you stopped in there I could go and eet you! :eating: ... oh sorry, meet you!!!! :lying: If you want to know anything else about this kewl country, give me a yell! :rainbow1:

Thanks guys :D No need to call the vet, FINALLY she's stopped bleeding! Does this mean I have to wait 3 weeks from now until she's safe? The wierd thing is she's not acting like she's on heat or anything, chasing boys etc. Her nipples are a little swollen though, like she's having a phantom pregnancy, but she's still on heat? The reason I didn't call the vet is because they would have asked to make an appointment, and the vets here usually don't tell you anything you don't already know anyway. You guys have more hands on experience etc, I was just wondering if it was normal. Ahh, the joys of a bitch on heat!!!!

Ok, you guys probably all know that Lily is in heat. Its her first season and she's a 10 month old Boxer (for anyone who didn't know...). The thing is, I thought bitches were supposed to bleed for the first 7-10 days of the heat... but its nearly week 4 now and she's still bleeding! Should I be worried? Also, if she's still bleeding now, at week four, does that mean that once she stops I still have to wait 3 weeks until I can walk her? Arghhh!!!! As if being in heat wasn't bad enough... its gonna last 7 bloody weeks!!!!! :microwave: Well, such is life I guess, all we can do is have patience! :puppydogeyes:

Of course I'm working on getting it fixed! I've been working on it for the past year... first she used to jump onto the bbq then straight over from that.... so yes, we ripped out our cement bbq!!! Then she started jumping over the gate part of the fence, because there were kind of foot grips. Well, we put up a wire that she just pushed down as though it wasn't even there. So then we get this huge peice of corregated iron that we put on, that stoped her for a while too, until she started jumping over that and pushed it down a little. So, we have been trying... and trying. Thanks Rowie :wink: At the moment she's inside all day, which is making her fat and lazy. The neighbours have have a roll of wire fencing out the front of their house for ages, they just offered it to us to put over the top of the existing fence (which I remind you, is 5 feet.... its not like we got a dog with a 3 foot fence and just expected it to stick around...) so we will get to work on that this weekend ok? I know all the dangers of her jumping the fence, and although it isn't a busey area here I've still been trying to stop her, I'm not just letting her jump and taking the attitude "she'll be right..." When I said it was cute about her going to the party I just thought it was cute how she just rocked up and joined the party... I'm not saying I would encourage her to do it again. She wasn't harmed, was taken care of and had a good time! Its happend now, and i'll try not to let it happen again, but its over so theres no point in going on about what could have happend, because it didn't, and it wont because I'm fixing the problem!

Yep, she's a cutie alright. You can only imagine what I was thinking when I got that call saying "your dog was at our party last night, would you like to come and pick her up???" Well, for ages she has been jumping the fence just at the gate, so, thinking "this'll stop her!" we added an extention to the top. Now it seems she has moved to another part of the fence, 5 foot with no leg grips, she just runs and jumps! She clears it every time. I do realize we should make the fence higher and at an angle at the top, but we have a BIG yard and it would take a whole day and alot of wire to do it, plus I would have to get dad in the mood for it and that would just be impossible. She's been spending the past few weeks in the sunroom, but she's getting fat from it. :evil:

Does anyone think this guy is actually breeding bob tail boxers or is it all just a con? At first I believed it but then I got thinking about all the cons etc of breeding and how you can put anything on the net and some idiots will believe it. He could sell these pups for 3 or even 4 times the going value for boxers just because he has a good story to say they were born without a tail. How did he manage to cross a dog with a full tail with one that only SOMETIMES is born without a tail, to the extent where he has this dog that looks EXACTLY like a boxer but with a bob tail? Even if he did, he mentiond that he entered one of the offspring in a show... these dogs could NOT be pedigrees, so how did he enter her in a show? It just doesn't quite add up for me... :fadein:

I may renting but I would never go anywhere without my dogs. I wouldn't have bought the dog if I wasn't 100% sure I could keep it!!! I would never dump them on someone else either, my dogs may not have been allowed in the house, but at least they were with me. I still take care of them, pay for their food, vet bills etc. Me and dad will be moving out somewhere soon, so she will be allowed back in the house shortly anyway

Oh, Bobtail Boxers!!! I like that idea!!! I want one! :o

Yes Sasha, she was for a while, but *sniff*, mum changed the rules again :mad: Dad didn't walk Lily today 8) , good thing that because I wouldn't be able to explain anything to him otherwise, I've COMPLETELY lost my voice and can't say a word!!! Which makes meal times for the dogs rather confusing because they just sit there infront of their food looking at me as if to say "well, when are you going to tell me it's ok to eat my meal?" And I just stand there jumping around clapping my hands trying to give them the eat your food command, and they just don't get it! A question though... so far everybody has told me its normal for a bitch to bleed for the first 7 - 10 days of her heat, its day 15 now and she's still bleeding! Lilys learnt how to open the sunroom door and is beggining to try to unlock it when its locked... so I hope I can talk mum around (or at the rate I'm going 'mouth' her around!) :agrue:

Tessa is the biggest party animal, whenever I have a party she's always the centre of the action (takes after her mummy :wink: ) Anyway, I guess you should all know by now that Tessa is a chronic fence jumper, we've raised the fence and all but still, she goes straight over. Anyway, last night I think that she had the attitude "if mums going out, then so am I!". Well, when I called dad at 3am he brought Tessa when he picked me up. Tessa loves it when a car load of drunk people jump in the car and fuss over her! Apparently she'd been missing a few hours before hand. I got woken up this morning by a phone call saying that these people had my dog! She's got Lilys collar on, which has my phone number on it. Apparently she'd been at the party all night, come home for the car ride then gone back to the party!!! They were having a bbq and she was eating all the scraps and drinking all the spilt drinks... hmm, wonder if she had as good a night as I did? I just think its cute that Tessa invited herself to a party! :wink:

No egg, that was someone else. I'm not spaying Lily because I'm going to breed her, otherwise she's be spayed already :wink: Thanks anyway guys, we'll see when the time comes if I can get mum to change her mind. Dad on the other hand, he's so stubborn. He just refuses to think that anything can go wrong and has a 'she'll be right' kind of attitude. I'll have to have a serious chat with him about it... I did the other night but he laughed at me :( lol, it was my own fault, serious chats are best done sober! I was going on how I can't afford it, cuz I'll have to feed the pups, vaccinate them, worm them, microchip them... even have to get them all desexed because they'd be mutts and I wouldn't want to risk them getting pregnant!!! Plus the fact that Lilys still a pup etc. I'll keep on his back about it, if things come to things I'll just tell him she's my dog and I make the rules, if I say don't walk her, don't walk her! But I'd rather talk him round than have to do that :roll:

Well, you all know that Lilys on heat.... Well I wanted to bring her into my room as soon as she stops bleeding to avoid even the slimmest posibility that she could escape from the sunroom and get pregnant. I know how determined some bitches can be, and even though the sunroom has a door I'm afraid dad may forget to lock it one night and she will get out. Then there's a fence about 5foot that she might find out how to jump... or a boy might jump to get in. It's really unlikely but I would still feel alot more at peace if I knew exactly where she was. Also, I've said to dad a million times that he can't walk a dog on heat!!! He insists that theres not many male dogs around and she's safe on a lead... but I don't know if he's aware of what these dogs are capable of!!! I told mum that if Lily got pregnant she would be the one paying for the shot... cauz I can't afford it and I'm not the one insisting she stays in the sunroom!!! :agrue: I know the chances are slim, but why take the risk?

man, that dog it a BEEF CAKE!!!! :o

Yes, I just voted and WE ARE WINNING!!!! :D :D :D That still doesn't change the fact that the poll is there... there is no need for such a poll. They should at least let us give reasons WHY they SHOULD stay. I don't usually vote in things like this, but I feel this is a good cause

[quote name='mag']Not ALL females should be spayed before their first heat for medical reasons. My dog had to go through her first heat (just finished -- whew!) I am, in fact a responsible dog owner and because of my love for her waited for her first heat. Sure, if I took her to the local shelter or if she had been put into a shelter instead of me finding her on the street and keeping her, she would have been spayed before 6 months. But many females with her condition are spayed early and end up back at the shelter or are put on medicine for life or must undergo more surgery because they "dribble" urine. She had a tucked up vulva, and it is now corrected NATURALLY after her first heat.[/quote] It is another myth that some dogs will dribble if desexed BEFORE the first heat, if a dog is going to dribble, its going to dribble. I have this problem with Tessa. I beleived many of the popular myths that it is best to wait until after the first heat, so I waited (although I wish I hadn't, a pit kept on jumping the fence and we couldn't keep the neibourhood dogs out of our yard, so Tessa had to spend the whole time inside, but the real reason I wish I hadn't waited is because now I have put her life at risk by significantly increasing the risk of cancer...). Anyway, Tessa is now a dribbler. It doesn't bother us, she has her own bed inside which can be put in the sun if she does dribble, but she has somewhat learnt to control it. Our other dog, Puddles, was desexed before her first heat. She has never had a problem. A good reason for early desexing, as I have found out over the past few days with Lily (she came into heat yesterday, she is not desexed as she is intended for breeding), is that b+tches in heat are really b+tchy!!! I have broken up at least 4 fights between her and Tessa over the past 3-4 days. They're not just little tiffs either, I was actually afraid to break one up yesterday for fear of my hand being taken off! They have been seperated and will be until Lily settles down. Another reason, that hasn't been stressed, is that dogs should be walked every day, the 4 weeks dogs spend in heat locked inside is enough to send any healthy dog crazy! Thanks for the studys Jacksmom, that is just what we needed to see. I'm wondering if anyone can find any studys in relation to the cancer issue?

I'm writing this following a conversation in another topic about early desexing. Corgilady asked me if I could find out of any studys of the benifits of early desexing. (Sorry about spelling mistakes, I'm really tired...) Anyway, I've been kinda busy and havn't been able to get to the vets to ask them, but I asked about it on another forum. So corgilady, just some suggestions for your article from what other people have said :D *For the average pet owner the first heat can be the first litter. * Re: waiting for the first heat - "many bitches can go through a temperment change just like women at this time(nasty,timid & sooky),some bitches may phamton, and ofcourse she will bleed all through the house (furniture,carpet etc ) so one must be prepared for that . I say fixing is the simpliest less hassle way " *"I have all my rescues desexed shortly after coming into care if they are over 8 weeks. If under that age, then I wait until they are 8 weeks old. I do not know of any vet that will desex younger than 8 weeks of age. Most vets still won't desex at 8 weeks. The reasons I've been given are usually like "It's too fiddly". The thing is that pups at 8 weeks (or 10 or 12 weeks) recover much faster than older pups. I would only ever go to a vet experienced with desexing young pups though. They are under anaesthetic for a shorter time, they wake faster and are up and eating and playing by late afternoon unlike say, a 6 month old who will mope around or just want to curl up and sleep for 2 days... not that this is a bad thing, but they hurt more). Young pups heal much faster. Stitches can usually be taken out after 3 or 4 days rather than 7-10 days. The risk of busting stitches and having everyhting fall out is almost zero. (I have had over 100 pups done at 8 weeks, and this has never happened!). They have less reactions to internal stitches than older dogs and like everyone has said, having rescues being adopted undesexed (even as a wee pup) is just asking for someone to call me in 8 months saying they need to surrender a litter because they just never got around to getting her desexed! " *Someone also wrote about their dog who was a year old when desexed and died at a young age of mammery cancer and has never waited for the first season since because of the traumer the family had to go through by loosing their dog to something that could have so easily been prevented. Hope this helps! :wink:

I accidently hit submit 3 times, it will let me edit the message but not delete it.

how do you delete a message?

Oh, tell me about eczema!!!! Remedies? You name it, I've tried it!!!! All to no avail though... as it turned out I'd developed certain food allergies (yep, you name it, I'm allergic to it :wink: ). This could be a possible cauz for the problem, you might want to ask your vet about this. If it is simply an irritation allergy you can buy oatmeal soaps, oatmeal baths, oatmeal shampoos and conditioners, oatmeal soap free washes, even oatmeal lotions! All of which I find are very good, as they not only help to heal the skin but they also sooth it so you'll have a much less itchy dog! Also try adding a little extra zinc to the diet, which helps heal damaged skin. As well as all that everyone else has mentioned and make sure your dog is always clean, as eczema can harbour bacteria that can flare it up.

They may be hot spots. I can't remember the treatment off the top of my head (and I'm too tired to find info at the moment, had to wake up at 5:30am for a friends champagne breakfast which is over 5 hours earlyer than I'm used to getting up!). Keep them as clean and dry as possible, maybe even clip a little of the hair around it and dab it with a little tea tree oil or something a few times a day to help dry it up. A good diet can also help. On the other hand, if it is something else this could actually create more harm than good, I'd say visit a vet, they'll be able to help you. Then you can write back here and we can let you know if he's ripping you off! :wink: It could also be ringworm... lets hope not because thats a bummer to get rid of! :o

As it is the law to micro chip here, it is also the law that puppys and kittens must be chipped before going to their new home (usually done at first vaccination) and it is the law for all vets and shelters to have a scanner.