After many years of grooming, breeding and exhibiting dogs we have seen just about everything and been asked just about every question about dogs. We have compiled this page from personal experiences, we are not vets and please use this advice as it is intended do not hesitate to contact your vet if unsure.

Fleas

Most dogs will get fleas from time to time but it is avoidable, firstly if your dog has come to us we will flea rinse and kill the fleas on your dog, but this does not always get all of them, fleas can hide on your dog in their ears and other orifices, while your dog is with us you need to treat their bedding by washing it, spray the yard with a product called Coopex and flea bomb your house at the same time (or alternatively get professional pest control in to do it for you). When you get your dog home you need to put Advantix on the back of his/her neck and treat them for tapeworm with Drontal allwormer and give it a product called Capstar. It is also not a bad idea to worm the whole family as tapeworm can be passed on to humans.  All the above products can be purchased at Petbarn.

Scratching/Bad Skin

Scratching and bad skin can be caused by a number of things the most common is fleas, and next most common is a bad diet.  A dog should not be feed on a diet based wholly on canned or dry food, like us they need a balanced diet to stay healthy. The  balanced diet that we use on our own dogs is very easy and inexpensive we have set it out below for you.

Royal Canin Dry Food

Raw Lamb Mince

Vegetables such as broccoli, carrot, spinach, parsley, pumpkin feed raw but mashed through a food processor

cooked pasta or rice, grated cheese, raw chicken wings, sardines in oil.

If your dog is over weight increase the vegetables in it's diet especially pumpkin they will feel full and loose weight at the same time, a fat dog is not a happy or spoilt dog it is a medical time bomb. Over weight dogs suffer with more back, knee, heart and leg problems which are all very expensive to treat but also avoidable.

Environment

Some dogs can be allergic to some grasses and plants also if your dog is a house dog be careful what you wash your floors with or sprinkle on your carpets as this can make them itch, also do a final rinse of white vinegar in warm water when washing your floor as this helps neutralise any bleach products which can burn a dogs skin. If unsure please contact your vet.

Training

An easy dog to live with is a trained dog who has boundaries, we attend puppy classes with our babies at Austral with a lady by the name of Luci Ellem and cannot recommend her highly enough she will help you get the most out of your dog, and no dog is too old to learn new tricks, contact Luci or her husband John on 9606 9454 you won't be sorry.

Vet

Everyone has their own personal taste when it comes to which vet they should use, we use and recommend The Valley Vet Clinic at Leppington on 9606 2200 or for after hours Caring Vets at Narellan on 4647 6321.

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