I like your style!

Well I did forget to mention,that there was quite a lot of steak and I tried some for lunch in a sarnie,a bit tough I thought,but it was a picture to see O/Hs face when he arrived home from work and saw the dog with the steak

Hi Gill,
Sorry, I've been meaning to post on here for a few days now, but have been a bit busy.

Ailsa is absolutely gorgeous! What a beautiful dog.
I'm glad to see she knows her place........on the bed!!
My O/H has just been away for 3 weeks, and Shiloh (our GSD) was very happy to curl up next to me at night!

It sounds like you're doing all you can to help Ailsa with her arthritis, and hopefully she'll stay comfortable for many years to come.

Shiloh was also a very picky eater when she was younger. However, the BARF diet completely turned her around.
It can seem fiddly and time consuming, but it doesn't have to be.
We used to buy frozen chicken mince from the pet shop; and then I'd do a huge batch of raw vegetables in the food processor - and then freeze it in meal size portions.
Unfortunately, we didn't have enough room to bring the food processor with us (!) so I can't do that at the moment
We haven't really investigated whether there's any pet mince available locally - but somehow I doubt it, as here everyone's dogs seem to be fed on bread!!?
I'm planning to use the food processor to mince up chicken wings, and that will serve just as good a purpose.
The consistency of the mince and veg has to be quite "sloppy" (I was told it had to resemble to texture of the inside of a cow's stomach!?)

Funnily enough, I had an e-mail the other day reagrding the BARF diet.
Here's the website address, if you want to have a look any time?

www.ukbarfclub.co.uk

There are some photos of Shiloh (post number 18 on this thread) if you feel like taking a look
Also, seeing as you love GSDs (!) you might want to have a look at this thread
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...=435123&page=3

Post number 34 is of my friend's 4 GSDs!

Hope everything is going well for you, the family and the dogs in the mountains of Malaga!?

All good wishes,
Sam.

My dog would suffer I'm sure - he has a double coat and loves rolling in the snow.

Oh, he's a handsome boy!
How old is he?

Hmm, are you thinking of moving here then!?
I suppose he'd be OK in the north - especially at the moment!

He is nearly eight years old. I spend about 3 months a year in Spain and my first floor apartment would not be the best place for an Akita weighing 130 pounds.

If I moved to Spain, I wouldnt bring him with me as I know he would not cope with the heat. Fortunately I wont have that dilemma as I am pretty settled in the UK, much as I am drawn to Spain.

What a GORGEOUS dog!!

I do get a lot of comments when I walk him - it's his black mask that makes him distinctive.

Oh he is so nice,really loveley boy,

Hi Sam,
Thanks for the nice comments about Ailsa and I will have a look at the barf diet. I have had a look before, but was a little put off to be honest. However, she is eating better now so maybe will hang fire on changing her diet. Ailsa only comes on the bed when my hubby is away otherwise she is relegated to the dog couch in the sitting room at night. She did start off in the kennel outside, but you know how it is??!!
The pictures were gorgeous - Shiloh is a beauty and your friends' dogs were too. I just love Shepherds. I am hoping to get a puppy this year and bring her over. I am just hoping they all get along. A friend of mine, who is a breeder, back in Warwickshire allows her dogs into the house when they are relaxing and the last time we were there I had 6 v. large GSDs mooching and lying at my feet. I thought I was in doggy heaven. I'm just about to look at the thread you mentioned too. I had a spanish lesson this afternoon so need to chill out, haven't been for 2 months as I've been back in the UK. I think I have forgotten everything.

Hi Gill,
It's good to hear that Ailsa is eating better

I meant to mention previously, that I was recommended to remove Shiloh's food bowl after 10 minutes, if she wasn't eating it/messing about with it.

Anyway, it did work! We're lucky if she takes more than 4 minutes to lick her bowl clean now!
The theory is that this method replicates the dog's natural state - i.e in the wild, they don't have food served up for them, nor is it "on tap" all day (!) so they have to eat when they can, and they often have competition for whatever food is available. Does that make sense?
(I was quite inexperienced when we got her, so forgive me if you already know things like this! )

Thank you for your kind comments about Shiloh, and her friends.
I used to house sit for them, and one of the boys' favourite tricks, was to try and sit on my head!! Not recommended when he weighs as much as he does!

I shall be very jealous if you get a puppy! Do keep me posted if you do (and make sure you put lots of photos on here too!)

Most dogs will get on with puppies, so I shouldn't worry.
Having said that, here's a picture of the "head sitting" boy out for a walk with two of his pack. He has to wear a muzzle when he's out with the youngest (the bitch in the middle) because he's just NEVER taken to her
They have to be kept completely separate from each other (if he's not wearing the muzzle!) but thankfully my friend is a very skilled handler.....and she's got a big house with plenty of land!

How did your Spanish lesson go?
I'm sure lots came back to you, once you got started. I remember panicking that I'd forgotten everything after just 2 weeks in the UK last year!

Well, I suppose I should really get off here as it's quite late now, so buenas noches y un besito a Ailsa x

Sam.

I had been reading this thread and wondering about whether to take my two dogs with me, or leave them at the farm.

Pepe, who is 15 and the quieter one, would probably find it stressful because he has cataracts so he mainly navigates by memory now.

Spot (5 or 6 I think) would hate the journey but probably love to meet all those new people. He spends most of his day laying at the side of the farm drive and challenging vehicles

Pepe has been listless and ill over Easter and I thought he'd got a piece of bone stuck in his tummy. Took him to the vet's today and just got a call to say his blood test shows massive kidney failure and it looks as if he'll have to be put to sleep tomorrow or Saturday, so he won't be coming.

So now I'm wondering whether to get another young pup to be mates with Spot here, and whether its best to leave them here and think about adopting a new dog once I'm settled in.

Any thoughts or experiences of similar situations?

I am so sorry to hear about Pepe,my heart goes out to you ,its also going to be hard for Spot losing his mate,I think if it was me I would take Spot,hes going to lose his friend and then you,however if Spot has someone else at the farm who hes known and could look after him,maybe he may be ok to leave Sorry to hear your sad news.

I'm going to be very practical and suggest you might have enough things to think about without a dog "in tow"
Finding an apartment might be difficult enough without a dog? I've not followed you progress and dont know your plans re Jobs and Accomodation! Leave Spot where he is and send for him when you are ready or if you are ready and it causes you no problems then take him with you. As said before he will be losing one friend, take him with you and start your new adventure together if you can.

Thanks jandy44. I'm not cut-up about it; he's had a good active life and only very recently showed signs of tremors and weakness in his rear-end, and the loss of vision.

Both of them are rescued and both have had fantastic lives full of activity, free to come and go as they please.

I still remember Pepe's 1st morning here. He arrived the night before, from a home where he only had a small back-garden for exercise and was so timid even his collar tinkling against his water-dish made him run and hide.

He stepped out the kitchen door and looked out over the fields and I think it scared him to see so much open space. He tucked his tail and hid in the house for a couple of days!
Once he had made friends with the other two dogs he was soon going off with them around the fields, but he'd always turn back if he got more than 800 yards from the house.
I'm thinking that too, Mr Impish. My original thought was to leave the dogs at the farm and make a decision about moving them once I was settled.

This has made me think that maybe Spot will be better off at the farm. He has 1,000 acres to freely roam, he can come and go whenever and where-ever he wants, and he spends as much time with my father as with me so it would probably be selfish to tear him away from all he's used to.

He's used to me going away for weeks or months at a time so I'm guessing he won't find it too different if I'm only popping back occasionally.

The one downside to having a dog in tow is having to make plans around them and losing mobility. It may be selfish but it might be a good idea for me to leave it for a while - maybe be unofficial dog-walker for new friends in Spain