Recent content by Snowy

  1. Snowy

    Not a good guard dog

    How awful, hope you can recover quickly from this horrible experience. Very brave girl to run after the ******. But be careful, some junky burglars are not with it, and can be dangerous. But easy to understand your reaction when your home is invaded. Warm and kind thoughts to you. PS Our boy...
  2. Snowy

    Catch-up plan to get Nelson up to standard

    Short update: Nelson has got worse in some areas (has starting growling), although his strong areas have remained very strong. We got to the point where we had no other choice but to bring in a professional dog behaviour specialist. It's not without relief to hear that our dog "does not act...
  3. Snowy

    Release cues - useful or not?

    Me too. I use it mainly when: - I'm letting him run free in the forest. - He's just had his feet cleaned in the utility room, and he is now free to go to the parlour. He seems to manage very well with the instruction, erm, sorry, cue :) In fact he manages so well that I wouldn't want to stop...
  4. Snowy

    Building muscle

    Until you've been icehole swimming, you have not yet felt fully alive. 😀 avanto - Google Search
  5. Snowy

    Building muscle

    Interesting topic and one that I've been working on for the last few weeks. It started when I read an article about exercise needs for a Lab. The article explained that simply walking long distances wasn't quite enough to burn up the energy and build muscle. I knew that already, and we already...
  6. Snowy

    Labradors: demography, mortality and disorders

    I haven't done the calculation, but wouldn't be surprised if, with such a small sample size, the difference in mortality rates are within the margin of error.
  7. Snowy

    For Labrador Lovers Everywhere!

    What? No men's version? I feel discriminated against! Not very progressive! I know my rights! Rant! :cwl:
  8. Snowy

    Water Bowl Dangers

    E Coli, used to be my favourite of the rods. :) For those that stick the dog bowl in the dishwasher, it's best not to use the "eco" wash as it might not be hot enough to kill the bacteria. Even thought E Coli dies immediately at 70 celsius, a full-length wash at 60 celsius should be enough to...
  9. Snowy

    Reward vs reinforcement

    "Behaviour Geeks United " Aghhhhh! I hadn't noticed. I've clearly taken a wrong turn at the "view new posts" link and ended up somewhere where I don't belong. :run:
  10. Snowy

    Reward vs reinforcement

    This morning I may have unexpectedly found a reward/reinforcer (I'm not going to get bogged down analysing which it was). We went out for a couple of hours and I took a shotgun along. I split the walk up between free sniffing and sessions of hunting (in the bits of the forest where I know there...
  11. Snowy

    Reward vs reinforcement

    Gosh I'm envious of those who can multi-task :) I don't manage to ponder anything whilst we are out on a walk. I am 100% focussed on the boy, where he is, what he's doing and remembering to give him a happy acknowledgement every time he gives me a "check-in look", plus always keeping an eye on...
  12. Snowy

    How much raw to feed?

    Me too. We've made a big effort over the last 5 years, and have only needed to throw away a couple of carrots that went black. But if there is ever even a slight chance that food could be contaminated, I would dispose of it straight away. I qualified as a food scientist a long time ago, so...
  13. Snowy

    How much raw to feed?

    That's a pretty good approach, works 99,9% of the time :) Fully agree, and in addition you have to suffer that insurance company-driven, health and safety, risk assessment paranoia that we just don't see here. I remember visiting a trade show in the UK a couple of years ago, and one of the...
  14. Snowy

    How much raw to feed?

    I would avoid that cheap chicken for two reasons: 1. It sounds like the chicken was packed in a "modified atmosphere pack", which can triple the shelf-life of raw chicken. A "normal" shelf life is kill+5 days (before it starts to go off). If the gas has leaked out of the pack, it means the...
  15. Snowy

    How much raw to feed?

    We've been testing pre-prepared frozen raw food, site available in Finnish, Swedish and German: Kotimaista raakaruokaa! - Mush They recommend serving 2-5% of the body weight, per day (depending on activity level). So if (like us), you want to give one raw and one kibble meal per day, you might...
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