donna frankland (uk)

i thought i would chime in here! with regards to the teeth cleaning aspect of raw, i have found that items like breast of lamb are what tikki can get right to the back of his mouth to chew, thereby scrubbing the back teeth. for the canines and incisors, things like a leg of mutton are held down by the front paws whilst he tears at the meat, sinking the incisors right into it. strangely the big marrow bones i used to give on occasion, didnt do a thing for his teeth. i have come to the conclusion that it is the act of removing the meat from the bone is what really cleans the teeth, not so much the bone itself. the eating of the bone however does send tikki into a state of bliss. i once read somewhere that the massive pressure required of the jaw when consuming a large item releases something in the dogs brain, that sends the dog into this state. chris o, does this make sense to you? love donna

i second the grass seed thing. you might want to get it checked sooner rather than later as most grass seeds have barbs on them so they can work their way in, but not out again. hope he feels better soon! love donna

oh i wish!.... poor tikki hasnt had a bunny fix in months. myxy has reared its ugly head in my neighborhood again, and i just can afford to buy them at the butchers good luck with your rabbits if you do decide to rear them again! if you want to move to the uk near me and breed them, i'll buy some off you! love donna

shewster, i generally dont join in on these heated discussions, but............... tell me, have you done the 3.30 am trips to the pound to save collies from lethal injection, knowing that you HAVE to be there by 8.00 or it will be to late? have you cradled the ones brought to you from a puppy farm to die in your arms of parvo? have you tried to put the pieces back together for a dog who has bitten someone in fear because the owner didnt know what they were getting into? have you had your sheep mauled half to death by someones collie dog because the owner thought it would be fun to let them have a go without asking me if it was ok first?(admitedly it is generally not a bc that does this, but last thursday it was). then tried to stop the owner beating the dog because he thought the dog was in the wrong? have you gone to bed a night sobbing because of the ones you didnt get to in time??? have you? HAVE YOU!!!!????? because i have, so have others, the people on this board are not saying that breeding collies is wrong, they are saying that they should not be bred for breedings sake! they should be bred if and only if they will better the breed! if you take offence to this then tough! the breed doesnt need people like this! (ironhorse, none of this is directly aimed at you, please dont think it is, you came here to learn and i personally really hope you stick around). i will not sit back and let you slag off people who i consider to be my friends, who have dealt with the same stuff that i have had to, who would spend their last breath helping a dog in need, without saying something. GROW UP! if you dont like the way people react to your nasty spiteful comments, then dont post them! to everyone else, please excuse my outburst, i hope you all know me well enough by now to know that this is not how i usually respond to a post, but i wont have you all bitched at after everything you have done for the breed, and the advice you have all given to me personally. isnt it telling that when i lost my beloved molly, THIS was the place i came to first for understanding?...... apologies once again love to you all donna

inu, the poo piccie looks just like what tikki produces if he manages to get hold of anything dairy, it might pay for you to cut out the cottage cheese and yoghurt. tikki cant tolerate ANY dairy, if he gets it he has loose stools and terrible itchies. hope this helps a bit, way to go for switching her to raw! love donna

way to go miz! i havent looked on here for a few days and suddenly the world has gone raw food crazy! hurrah! love donna

miz http://www.petplanet.co.uk/petplanet/news/...?article_id=336 i have no idea if i did this right? have a look love donna

leave it with me, i'll see what i can cock up this time, computer wise! love donna

does the passports for pets thingy not cover the us? i thought it did, unless it only works for us brits visiting you?.... tell you what though, if boyden can catch one of my spawns of satans... sorry, i meant sheep, you can have it!..... so long as i can watch! love donna

duck knapper! wel i guess i shouldnt grumble seeings how tikki still has a whole organic soay sheep in the freezer. ner ner ne ner ner!!!love donna

hi rebecca! i'm not miztiki, but i may be able to help too! tikki generally eats around 1lb per day, or more correctly 7 lb over a week. a gorge meal for tikki might be 3ish lbs. if he had eaten 7lb in 1 sitting even tikki, gut bucket extrodinare, would not be hungry the next day. possibly not even the day after that! way to go with your lad though, sound like he would do well on the old gorge and fast thing! however i think you should in fact send all of those ducks to me for tikki, as i have only once in his 9 years found duck cheap enough to feed to the dog! hope this helps love donna

i'm sorry i'm late sending my sympathy to you, i must have missed your 1st posting! i understand why you feel returning to kibble is the best way to go, but i think raw is the best way to feed. i also think that feeding whole items of food is a safer option than ground meat or smaller items that can be swallowed whole. if you choose to return to kibble, and after your dreadful experience i wont try to persuade you not to, i hope you are able to find one without all the grain in. james wellbeloved is the best of the bunch in the uk, but i dont know if you can get it anywhere else! and please, dont feel guilty! you have done nothing wrong, you have tried to do the best for your girlie, no guilt to be found when tring to do the right thing by your loved ones! love and hugs donna

miz its a shame you dont live near me! at the moment i have a whole soay sheep and half a 50kg ram in my freezer. we still have 4 poll dorsets that need to be culled, (these are some of the rescues that shouldnt be bred again, and they are not going to market to end up as 'cheap' breeding ewes, thats what happened to them last time.) whilst we have plenty of grass, they have a lot of foot problems, and we cant cull them till our freezers are empty! i'm going to have to get another freezer! i hate talking about these ewes as dog food, but if they are going to end up slaughtered i will at least do them the favour of taking them myself

can i ask in what way does it look terrible? could we have a photo? love donna

i'm going to play too! this is (probably) what tikki will have for the next week. tonight; 1/2 a chicken and some omega 3 oil. thurs; a lump of lamb shoulder, probably about 1 1/2 lbs. fri; 1/2 an ox heart. sat; half a duck. sun; some offal (liver, tripe, lungs if there is any left in the freezer) and an egg or two. mon; beef trim and a lambs neck boney thing. tues; fast day. weds; a turkey drumstick. i tend to fill my freezers with a good variety of stuff for tikki and the cats, then work my way through it till its nearly empty, then restock. this way i know i am feeding a good variety over time. love donna

miz, i just remembered, the reason the vet gave the shot, was cos he thought his stomach/intestines might be spasming or something of the like, the passing of the foriegn body was, for tikki, a life saving side affect, this might help your vet work out which shot tikki was given, cos i'm buggered if i can remember what it was! not that you'll need it though, they'll be fine! bless them and their cotton socks. love donna

i'm sure whoever the culprit was will be fine miz. but just to pass on a little advice/what to look for, tikki once swallowed a piece of plastic bag, unbeknown to me, and he kept being sick, white frothy stuff like milk would look if you whipped it. i took him to the vets (still not knowing what was wrong) and they gave him a shot to relax his intestines, next day, voila! if it hasnt passed in a couple of days, i would ask about the shot. hope you dont need it, good luck! love donna

oh honey! i think you should go back to square one, as if you had just brought her home as a puppy. start all over again with the training, using different comands than you use at the moment. perhaps use a long line whilst outside with her until you know that she can be trusted. could you get a trainer or behavioral expert to come to your house, many dogs are very different at home than in class! as for allowing her to go to a farm where she will be able to roam free, i dont think that is a reality. most farmers will already have there own dogs, and most in the uk at least, would not take on a dog with poor recall. please do be carefull if pursuing that course as i think it would be very likely she would end up on a chain or locked in a stable. the complete opposite of what you wish for her. in the meantime whilst waiting for the more helpful replies that you will no doubt get from others on here, do not let her outside with out a lead on, not even for a moment, you/she have been lucky so far, but it cant hold out! have you looked on the web for the NILIF method of training, it may help you. i do hope you get some better advice than i have been able to offer. keep your chin up, and dont give up on this dog! you will be able to make it! love donna ps didnt realise others had posted before i replied! please listen to them!

it is put in with a big scary looking needle type gun thingy. i nearly died when i saw it, but my dogs didnt even look round when they had theirs done! my friends bitch squeaked a bit when hers was put in, but thats the worst thing i saw. i certainly dont think that it would justify an anesthetic just for the chipping. but if she was getting an anesthetic for anything else, like a spaying for example, i would definately get it done then. as for a tattoo, mine hurt like hell when i had it done! i have never seen a dog get its tattoo though, so i dont know how they react. oh, and i am a total wuss when it comes to pain, so my tattoo experience probably doest count!

if molly hadnt have been insured, i would have had a very difficult decision to make. her bill has come to nearly ?2000, and i just cant find that kind of money. granted the poor love didnt pull through, but at least the insurance allowed me to give her every chance. that said, if you are good with money, you may be better off putting the money into a seperate bank account for a doggie emergency fund. certainly if i added up all of my dogs and cats premiums over the years, and subtracted the claim for molly (this was the first time in 7 years i have needed to claim), i would have had a whole lot of money left over. however, i am crap with money, so i have the insurance for my own piece of mind.

can i ask if she was fasted for 24 hours before the bloods were taken? if not this may affect the results as her liver will have been in full swing at the time...... i think, dont quote me on any of this though! love donna

here in sunny somerset, they are called yews, on my holding they are generally called "you little @#*@er get off my bloody foot!" bless them. ewe is one of the few words that dont give any trouble round here, as it does'nt contain any Rrrr's! cheers donna

hi there! although i have always thought along the same lines with protien amount possibly affecting behaviour, i have no facts or figures. would you like me to ask someone on another group? they have always come up trumps regarding research etc. cheers donna

can i play if i'm in the uk? cheers donna