Mollie&Me

I have a BC/husky mix He's super laid back and extremely sensitive (though he had a rather shaky life before coming into my house). I call him the un-dog lol. One thing I wish someone had told me ahead of time is to provide omega-6 supplements. Fish oil, specifically. Muggs coat and nails were extremely brittle until I started giving him fish oil. And I don't know if it's just him, but of all three of my dogs he has benefited the most from being on a high quality, holistic grain-free diet. Good luck!

I'm hoping to make a day trip up on the 29th (Sat) to watch....oh boy, now that I know Lou is going to be there I might have to get my cat burglar costume out....

Not easily. LOL. I'm OK with two in my Focus (4 door), but three is really pushing and I rarely carry them all. When I have to, I borrow a Suzuki Vitara (same size as the Escape), put the back seats down and all three dogs fit with A Lot of room to spare. But yeah, my next vehicle is definitely going to be an SUV. With 4 x 4 (totally with you on the snow issue KrisK LOL!) and leather interior!

I have an '05 Focus, I love it. Great gas mileage and really peppy for a four-banger. Haven't had to put any money into it (except for winter tires and that was money well spent). I drove a Ford Aspire for eight years, it had 230,000 km's when I traded it in, if I could've afforded it I would've kept it! My Grandpa swears by Ford's - he always gets over 200,000 kms on his (and he likes to go around corners in third gear LOL!) and has been driving them for as long as he's been driving. I will admit, though, I do want a Toyota! Wonder what the mobile groomers think of the Ford Transit.....

Bless you, Mary, for trying so hard. And bless you for giving Pan every bit of your trust, love, and finally, peace. You are to be admired. Rest in peace, Pan.

Ken MacKenzie is holding a clinic at his farm in Drayton Valley (Alberta), for all ability levels and all breeds on April 25 & 26. Cost is as follows: $200.00 per person - includes lunch for both days $25.00 per person, per day to audit Contact Contact Ken Mackenzie at 780-542-7381; or Andrea Bohn at 780-922-5043 I'm going to sign up to audit - really looking forward to watching other people work their dogs! Alberta Stock Dog Association

Mollie blows bubbles in the water bowl. She lays down in front of the bowl, sticks her nose under the water, and blows. Started doing that when she was a few months old.... She also does the shaking-toy-in-mouth thing lol. Her newest obsession is the Wubba - except she gets one of the 'legs' in her mouth and shakes it up, leaving the kong part to smack her in the head. Every once in a while she'll whap me in the leg with it...that sucker hurts!!

I had to buy some boots last year because we had weather around -40C. Tried a cheapo pair that are made for show, they never stayed on. Bought Muttluks for Mollie (her theme song is "Flight of the Bumblebee" as she constantly runs) and they kept falling off until I lost one. Then I found Ruffwear Bark'n Boots at my vet, who let me try them on Mollie and let her walk around for a while. They are really expensive - I paid about $50 for one pair. But they are worth every single penny and I even ended up buying a pair for the other two so that we can walk during the deep freeze. They rarely fall off, the only time that one has is when I forgot to tighten the velcro strap after they'd been walking for about five minutes (that's the trick with these boots). I really like the grip on the soles of these boots too - not as much sliding or pinwheeling legs. I bought the socks for Mollie, but Muggz and Lady go commando. They even work great in the summer - we swim in a river a lot, and the boots help protect pads from all the rocks (I have to wear shoes myself lol).

Steve, To what do you attribute this comment? I am no expert on dog food, but I would have to disagree with this. Obviously, the quality of the protein is most important and should be considered first and foremost. But for a healthy adult dog, I personally would not hesitate to feed a diet with higher than 26% protein, because of a dog's internal process of producing and metabolizing protein. Case in point, I have a 50lb Husky/BC cross who is fed Evo Reduced Fat, which has 52% protein. In spite of his couch-potato-undog ways, he is smokin' hot buff. He also used to suffer from severe IBS and has not had one episode since I switched him to Evo. Isn't raw something like 50% + protein as well?

It's -35C outside right now with the wind chill. Gah. The weather has been like this for the past four weeks, (last weekend was -42C with the windchill) with the addition of snow. Lots of snow. Nothing new for Alberta winters but it's pretty much put a halt on our weekly lessons for the past four weeks. Well, not the cold so much - more the highway driving in the snow which is pretty dangerous right now. But once the roads have cleared, I'd love to get going again! Is there a general guideline with regards to working a dog in cold temperatures? (Which led me to wonder, when is it too cold for the sheep...)

Wow, this is an extremely interesting discussion! While reading this womans blog about freeing Brindi, I formed the opinion that she's a "me, me, me" person. She even makes the following statement during one of her blog posts: "The more some stranger says I can't have Brindi back, the more I am sure I can and will." What I fail to feel from reading her blog is that she is genuinely, unselfishly concerned about the welfare of her dog. Yes, she doesn't want Brindi to be PTS, but she is not willing to put the life of her dog above herself and her own wants. Am I the only one who felt like all she kept saying, over and over, was "I want my dog back, I am not to blame, her getting out was a fluke theresnothingIcould'vedone blahblahblah" instead of "do anything, but just do not kill that dog". Who knows, in the proper environment, Brindi's 'bad' behaviour might never have developed, or could have been addressed appropriately. I do not believe that Brindi should be euthanized; however, I also do not believe that giving this lady another chance in the care and well-being of this dog is best for the dog. But then, that's JMNSHO. I've never met Brindi or her owner, and I don't know the whole story.

A few years ago I bought a bag of the Waggin' Train Chicken Jerky Tenders from Costco, because a friend feeds them to her dogs and they love 'em. I opened up the bag, and inside was one of those little bead pouch thingies that come in the box when you buy a new pair of shoes. The ones that say, right on the little pouch, to throw away and absolutely do not consume. Yes, I thought, here is a product I really want to feed my dogs...and then I noticed that they were made in China. Their Website states that they use facilities and meats from China because: I threw the bag out. They also state on their website that their product is perfectly safe, but I just wasn't willing to take the chance.

I've considered 'training' my dogs to walk on a treadmill. For supplemental purposes, as Mark said. Here in Alberta, we often have extremely cold temperatures that prohibit anyone from going outside in the winter - myself included. Last winter we had about two weeks of -45c weather; it was risky to even let my two BC's outside for 75 seconds to do their business. Even Muggz, a husky/x, couldn't tolerate it for any extended period of time. Our regular daily exercise was completely out of the question for every day of that period of time. We played hide and seek, light fetch, tugging games and a host of others...and frankly, I would've gladly put them on a treadmill for a few minutes each. But I was even happier when it warmed up (to -20c lol) and we were able to resume our regular routine. Archersmom, maybe discuss it with your vet? Personally I wouldn't put a dog on a treadmill every single day (I'd much rather have a big, warm indoor pool for my dogs and myself...ahhh...dreams...) but I wouldn't discount it as a useful tool for occasional use. And please don't leave! I'm not often logged into these boards (I Do Not Have Time!) but I've enjoyed so many of your posts! FWIW, these boards offer some ways that you can better your experience - there is an ignore option if someone specific is bothering you (setting this removes their posts from view, poof they never existed) and a Report button for posts/threads of an inappropriate vein.

Cute!! FWIW, I brought Mollie home at 6 weeks. Her mother had died in an accident with a piece of farming equipment shortly after delivering her litter; the pups had to be hand fed and sold earlier as a result. I was fortunate to have my older BC, Lady, in the house, but I do notice minor behavioural differences in Mollie (such as cleaning herself). She also has slight superficial etching on her corneas as a result of the extremely early weaning from Mom's milk to formula. The longer your pup can stay with Mom, the better! Not only for behavioural reasons, but more importantly for her health.

Muggz, my Husky/x, has the most sensitive gastro-intestinal system that I've ever seen. We have to be extremely careful when introducing new foods to him, of any kind, including treats. He does not tolerate rice at all and even the addition of pumpkin to his food will cause problems (explosive diarrhea, extremely bloody stools - so badly we almost lost him one time). Any milk products are a big no-no. His anal glands were also a big problem until I switched him to Evo. Your dog might be like Muggz - when I switched Muggz to Evo (which is very similar to Orijen) I had to do it Very slowly. It took about two months to fully transition him, but once he was, his bowels settled down and we haven't had a single episode of explosive diarrhea. In fact, Evo has practically cured him (moment of silence, please! ) A quarter portion a day after a week of transitioning really might be too much too soon for your dog; what I'd suggest is, no matter what you are switching Rock over to, start Very slowly with Very small portions (think 1/16th instead of 1/4th of the new food per day) and Don't add any other foods that he does not eat at every meal. Cut out the rice, strictly feed only his current food and the new food. Another thing I would really recommend is adding a probiotic supplement to his food, especially while you are transitioning him (with a sensitive bowel, I wouldn't suggest using yogurt or any other milk product). It really helps to keep the digestive system running smoothly! There are several powdered forms made, you could probably have your vet recommend something or even just do a search on the internet.