imported_Matty

Thank TDG, you are full of information. :wink: I didn't really pick the article apart, Dr Fosters and Smith are my hero's so I usually don't try to disagree with them :lol: :wink: I give garlic to my dogs as an antibacterial and immune booster. I guess you just have to be open minded and do research. I also feed raw bones and I feed eggs and yogurt. TDG My only concern is raw fish. You mentioned fish is fine, I "heard" that some fish for example Salmon may have a parasite called the fluke worm. I also heard or read some where that fresh water fish may contain high levels of mercury. Which fish would you consider safe? those have been my main concerns about feeding raw fish. I always buy canned wild pacific salmon or canned sardines already cooked and canned. I always thought this was "safer" than raw. Of course I know of some people up north from me who feed their huskies raw makerel and herring, is that safe? there dogs seem healthy enough.

[url]http://forum.dogomania.com/viewtopic.php?p=181818&highlight=#181818[/url] Heres your thread too where you lied to every one here. The poster on this particular thread sounds young. [quote]It irks me that someone who supposedly loves dogs, she doesn't even use the dogs name.. Why call him an "it", use the name you gave him Nookie..[/quote] Theres a lot of things which irk people. I LOVE my dogs and I have been known to refer to them as "it". Look, its going to run right up to the fence. Blah blah. You know, some people get annoyed when others refer to children as kids as well. It doesnt really matter in my books. :wink:

:roll: [quote]Why do you keep calling the dog it??? Use it's name for pete's sake!! Or are you going to abandon this one like you did the other Cookie?? [/quote] :roll: [b]said by Sharpeigirl[/b] The poster was asking a question, no sense getting nasty. :evil: Don't I recall reading about you in NDR where you lied about every thing you posted on this website???? and people were quite mad at you. I will find that thread and post it here just to be sure this is you.

Doesnt sound like he has much for a prey drive. Not such a bad thing, just continue doing things puppy likes. I have met many puppy breeds with no prey drive who do not chase any thing, they are bred specifically not to chase. These pups still chased after their human masters as they were more human orientated than toy orientated.

Good idea to check out things like this early. Any thing abnormal is worth getting looked at for your own peice of mind. I have seen dogs with ruptured anterier legiments walk fine and only once in awhile show signs of favoring. With HD, the lazy sit and funny bunny run can be the first signs.

Oh yeah, I meant to mention another item ascorbic acid vitamin C in vitamin form which is not really serious but, in large quanities over an extended period can deplete copper levels in the dogs body. It is really quite interesting that vitamin C absorbed naturally from food does not cause this deficiency. I guess you would need to give a multi vitamin if giving vitamin C in vitamin pill form. Another thing too. The list that I gave you on Pet education lists foods which are best to avoid and foods not to give in large quanities. For example garlic is good for a dog in small quanities. Cat food can be fed once in a blue moon, I have fed it to my dogs when I have run out of dog food :D just don't feed it for any length of time. Raw eggs, I have fed to my dogs every once in a blue moon, my dogs have never suffered from biotin deficiency, its just not some thing you would want to make a regular part of the dogs diet. I have also read that you should never feed your dog cod liver oil if the dog is eating a kibble diet. The dog can have over doses of vitamin A as this vitamin is already included in commercial dog foods.

There are some kinds of mushrooms which are really good for our dogs. There are some which are known to boost the immune systems and are especially good for dogs with cancer etc. The mushrooms that are good for dogs are Cordyceps, Reishi, Maitake, Shiitake, and Turkey Tail. [quote]" Several types of mushrooms also have potent immune system enhancing effects. The most important of these is "hen of the woods," also known by its Japanese name, maitake. You can buy the dried form or extracts in tablet form in some health food stores while some gourmet groceries even carry the fresh mushrooms. Several studies out of Japan have shown some other mushrooms including shiitake, reishi, wood ear and oyster mushrooms to be surprisingly effective at stimulating the immune system while simultaneously limiting or stopping the growth of cancer cells. All of these mushrooms are available in the U.S. these days, in either dried, fresh or capsule form. "[/quote]

Here is a link for you with all the information you require. [url]http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=0&cat=1276&articleid=1030[/url]

[quote]I have read many places that cheese is NOT good for dogs[/quote]As far as cheese goes, most animals like cats and dogs are lactose intolerant. In "some" animals milk products may cause diarrhea. Even with humans milk products are the #1 reason behind allergies and other such problems (ie ear aches etc.). Some people cannot tolerate lactose either. Most animals when they are weaned never drink or have a need for milk again in their adult life. :wink: I give my dogs cheese and milk (left over from cereal in morning) my dogs seem to do AOK with lactose in small quanities. Of course, milk products like yogurts is really good for dogs with all that live bacterial cultures in it.

I find liver so cheap I just boil liver and slice it up in small peices for training treats.

Yeah, he probably is allergic. It just scared me.

Oh I meant to mention desertlady when it comes to horses. People are not as picky as dog breeders. I have a horse and it is not a purebred just a regular horse which has been a mongrel since time began :D yet, my horse is stable on the trails, I can compete in almost any thing. Some of my friends who have purebred horses have high strung, fearful horses which can't be taken on the trails unless really worked with. I also will never be looked down apon by other horse people when I breed her. This is what is sooooo refreshing about horse people, they look for stable horses not just looks. Its also nice that I can compete in just about any thing with my mongrel horse and I can also enter her in conformation shows. most horse people have a sensible head on their shoulders and realize that by too close of breeding or too small of a gene pool can cause problems. Can you imagine if our horses started suffering from problems such as hip dysplasia and other inherited diseases like our purebred dogs do :o and yes, I know every one knows of a mixed breed that has HD, but, you have to admit that purebred breeding programs started these horrible genetic disease in the first place. I also never thought of purebred dog breeders as ever being "reputable". That makes me laugh. Sure they throw alot of money into their dogs, the reason being is that they are addicted to dog shows and winning. Its like being a gambler or and alchohlic. They are no more bettering breeds than I am ending world hunger. We are supporting their addiction which is dog shows.

Courtnek, wouldn't it be safe to say that in some areas of the world there were natural dogs. Like perhaps in Newfoundland with the dogs there they may have natural dogs that adapted to the watery environment. Some thing like we people developed to suit our continents like with eskimos they have eyes which can reflect the glare of the snow. They developed naturally and did need any one to help them breed to develop the eyes to reflect the glare off the snow. Now with dogs I have no doubt that there were different mutts all over the world that developed to suit their environment. Northern dogs with special coats to live in northern climates and developed naturally. Not the specialized purebreds we have today. Its also safe to say that through out history man has always mixed dogs up and was breeding dogs that would do a job. They were not purebreds, just mutts. The old time breeders were not concerned about looks and conformation they just cared if they would do a job. I think we could still continue breeding dogs for the jobs we wanted by crossbreeding and making the gene pools bigger to create healthy dogs. Look at the alaskan Husky for example, mushers still cross breed them all the time to keep top racing dogs. Its simple good genetics. To me, dogs are like people. I was reading up on people who still breed real working dogs. Most old time breeders do not keep their herding dogs or guardian dogs in purebreds. So there fore you can still keep really good working dogs by cross breeding (and most good breeders do still cross breed all the time). It only makes sense even to a genetics dummy like myself.

I always just use advantage on one of my cats, the fleas jump and feed on my cat and kills all the adult fleas in the house :D When the larvae hatches they will eventually feed on my cat too. I hate like heck to use all these pesticides on my dogs. (not that I don't love my cat :o ). I know they all say they are safe to use, but, I am still not crazy about them since one of my dogs broke out last time I put a topical treatment on (once I used advantage, I also used frontline and revolution) it didn't sit well with one of my dogs so it scared me. The cat doesnt seem to have any problems. :wink:

In reality arent all of our purebreds actually mutts too? I mean really all they really are are mixed breeds which are inbred. I would think that to keep mixing them up would be healthier than to keep inbreeding and line breeding and all that. It got me thinking about this topic on another post. I did some reading on genetics in cattle farms. They said that they keep mixing cow breeds to keep healthy cattle for example breeding a beef bull to a dairy cow. Since cows are man made like dogs and they are not really a natural breed by nature then it only makes sense to keep mixing them. When you think about it, a Doberman is not a purebred in the sense that a Red Fox would be. A Doberman (or other purebred) would be like me mixing a Red Fox with a Grey fox then keep inbreding to keep a true look then keep line breeding etc to keep the dog in the new man made bred. In other words purebred dogs are not natural and its no wonder we are killing our dogs slowly with bad health death certificates. I really don't know a whole lot about genetics, but, to me its common sense that our purebred dogs are not pure in the sense that say a timber wolf or other wild animals are. Purebred dogs are man made to be pure, not natural like the wild pure species. I have always just thought the purebred dog world to be a little screwy and silly.

Thank you Kat. I had seen dogs with thyroid problems which loose their coat on the sides and get a brittle coat. I hope my friend finds an answer.

Thank you Papillons. My goodness, I hope its not Cushing's! :o I'm sure it will all come out in the blood work Thank you for the infomation, that was great. I will tell my friend just to prepare her. Just in case :(

[b]Horsefeathers wrote[/b] [quote]How many of these hunting dogs get split pads? Still, I never hear a push to cut off their feet, or make them work in boots.[/quote] I almost peed myself laughing :lol: :lol: :lol: As for bleeding to death, one of my huskies cut his pad the other week and I thought he was going to bleed to death :o The vet assured me it was quite normal for the pad to bleed like that. :niewiem:

OK, a person I know owns a Black Lab, the dog is 10 years old and has just recently started getting a funny coat. To explain, the dog has always had a lovely black shiny coat, lately it has become kinda dull and more like under coat on the sides with no guard hairs. It feels kinda soft and downy and discolored. The dog has never looked like this before and the owner has taken the dog to the vet. They advised the owner to change the dogs food. My friend has been feeding the same food since day one of the dogs life, I think its nutrience dog food. She also substitutes the dogs diet with fruit and veggies daily and some left overs so its not like the dog hasn't gotten a variety. Any way, I told her she should get a CBC done just in case of thyroid problems. She will do this, but, do you think that the discoloration could be caused from feeding the same food all of the dogs life?? she said she is going to pick up another food called holistic blend and change the dogs food. What do you think? can a food change a dogs coat in latter years to a dull downy look? or do you think it sounds like the beginning of a health problem?

Yep, I keep my litter box well out of reach of my pooches. The temptation is too great :lol: also, I would NEVER punish a dog for doing some thing which is natural to do like eating poop. I just make sure its out of the way, if the dogs get into it, then its my fault, not my dogs. :wink: Sasha looks sweet all wet and proud looking.

[quote]Anyone who hunts with a bird dogs knows how high their risk of injury is. Briars, barbed fences, etc can all injure a dog that is running at top speed through them. In a home setting there is of course the slight risk of injury to a tail, but it isn't NEAR as high as a dog in the field. A working bird dog is almost guaranteed to suffer injury at some point while working. Tail and ear injuries are the most frequent. My dogs have nearly bled to death before because of simple ear cuts or a small cut on the chest from a fenceI[/quote] I was just wundering, are Golden's and Lab's not used for bird hunting???? :o I know of a few people in my area who bred and hunt working bird dogs in the feild. They have good hunting Goldens and Lab's and I have not once seen a docked tail nor an injury from one of those dogs. And believe me these dogs go bird hunting often (during bird season of course :lol: ). There are also alot of bird hunters (real manly types :lol: ) who hunt their Goldens and Labs in real bird hunting trips and they never have any problems with injury. The only problem I have heard from the Golden owners are the darn burdocks which get tangled in the long coat. Now that is a pain and a trip to the groomer. Sejun, I know that these people hunt their dogs and they do not have torn ears or broken tails. I imagine they are careful that their are no barbed wire fences where they are hunting. I guess it just depends on the area :-? but any how, these men have been hunting for many years (over 40 for some of them) and not one of them has had a horrible injury happen to their dogs. One thing I have noticed in my area any ways, that Rotties with docked tails are avoided by people. The ones left with their tails are approached by people in a relaxed manner. People don't seem to associate the long tailed Rotties as being aggressive, or even being Rotties for that matter :lol: In my experience most dog to human aggression situations result from a learned behavior. Basically every time a human avoids a dog it makes the dog just a little bit more dominant in the manner that it has caused some fear in the person. I have noticed that dogs with their tails can show how they are feeling much better and easier than dogs with their tails docked. A friend of mine also mentioned that with her Rottie with docked tail seems to provoke more aggressiveness from other dogs than her Rottie with the whole tail. So for myself, I don't think it is nessessary to have a dogs tail or ears done even for feild work I don't think its nessessary. IMO I think its all just a "looks" thing which makes the owner look distinctive. A Rottie, Dobie, Boxer looks distinctive with their tails docks. Without them done they look just look like any other dog and many people dont recognize them. So for me personally I think its all just a status symbol to have the tail and ears done.

Aussies have docked tails or some people leave them naturally bobbed. As for GSD, they "should" always have prick ears, but, I have seen quite a few which had ears that never stood up. Thats the chance you take. I have seen breeders put popsicle sticks in the ears of their show pups to help them stand up.

I was horribly bitten by a friends APBT, I still have the scars today and received many stitches in my hand and lower arm. The Pit was sweet and loving when it wanted to be :roll: It attacked me as we were walking with the dog and I went to tap my buddy on the arm to get his attention for a cool looking car driving by. The dog lunged and grabbed my arm, it was horrible and took quite a bit to get the dog to calm down. The dog was not put down and lived with my buddy for many years after that. You had to be very careful around this dog. My buddy had socialized the dog well but, he spoiled it too much. :roll:

I LOVE the NIFIL policy! :D I used it in the past with 2 dominant males I had, worked like a charm :wink:

This reminds me of a guy I know, he was petrified of dogs. He was attacked when he was a child (which left scars) and has held a fear throughout his life. Well, his son in his teenage years broke up with his girlfriend and pleaded his dad for a dog. His dad frigtened to death of dogs flat out said no. His son ended up going out and buying a Lab pup on his own (his son was in his teens). The son found a new girlfriend and his dad ended up with the dog and fell in love with the dopy Lab :lol: He now is a "dog" person and joins other dog walkers (including myself) for long hikes with "his" dog. He loves the dog to death and the dog helped him get over his fear of dogs. He told me that before getting this lovable Lab that if he saw a dog being walked down the road he would cross to the other side to avoid having to walk past it. This of course does not happen in every situation, but, in this situation it had a wonderful and happy ending. The Lab is treasured by his owner and his owners wife. [quote]I think humans tend to be afraid of things smaller than themselves. Harmless insects are greeted with terror. As are toads and frogs, who wouldn't dream of hurting a person, just hopping away. Rodents such as hamsters, gerbils, and rats are "icky," even pets who are disease free and actually very friendly. Even I am a little bit afraid of birds. Why are all these things scary? We could literally crush most of them with our own hands or feet (not that I promote that kind of thing). [/quote] I think part of our fear of small insects and creepy crawlers is the thought that they could easiely crawl into parts of our body that we don't wish any creature to be. My brother had a spider borrow into his ear one night as he slept. Mice can be dirty and perhaps our age old instinct of avoiding disease infested animals still lays hidden in a primal part of our brain. I hate and dispise most insects, especially after I had an infestation of flying ants in my home. It was disgusting. I think another thing about bugs which bugs us, is when we have them in our home we feel dirty and perhaps feel others will think of us as being dirty.