We listen to Dog Talk on Podcast in Australia and have since the very first episode when my father in law in Connecticut told us about it.  (Are we your furthest away listeners?)

I was just listening to an episode from a couple of weeks ago about food -- I know this is a big topic for you.  You mentioned feeding the dogs cooked vegetables and meat and topping up with kibble.  We aren't able to get a lot of dog nutrition advice from vets in Australia who say that they barely cover nutrition at vet school.  We have however heard that raw food is better for dogs than cooked, as of course dogs in nature cannot cook!  Since we found that out, we switched our beautiful labradoodle puppy, Pluto (check out her MySpace page here to see her cuteness!), to Dr Bruce's Vets All Natural.  It's a dehydrated raw food enhanced with vitamins and supplements, and we rehydrate it for 12-24 hrs and add fresh kangaroo meat to this (apparently the most organic meat around).  It's a local food, more info here at http://www.vetsallnatural.com.au/.  We would love to hear what you think about this.

Also, I'd really love to get more support behind our dog's breed, the Australian Labradoodle.  Breeders around Australia are working hard to get it to a internationally recognised registered breed, and I know you have been down on designer dogs in general, but I really think its a great breed.  They are smart, friendly, fun and great with people and dogs alike.  It did indeed begin as an experiment of the Australian Guide Dog Association (see info here http://www.laa.org.au/lab -history.htm).   By the way, I'm not associated with the Labradoodle Association or anything, just a doodle lover! I think it would be great to get the breed recognised as this would help to support the health of the breed, and reduce the 'backyard' breeders who are trying to get on the 'designer dog' train and cashing in by simply mating labs and 'oodles of some generation.   After all, every dog breed that we know started out as a cross-breed of some kind.  Labradoodles get great recognition in Australia, however I know they get knocked as 'mutts' a lot in the US as lots of Pluto's doodle friends on MySpace tell us this is the case.  Not so good for the doggies self-esteem!!

Anyway, hope I didn't rant on....keep up the excellent show and thanks for listening!

Regards
Linda
Sydney, Australia

Dear Linda –

Oh My Goodness!!

This is really thrilling, to discover that DOG TALK has found its way down to beautiful Australia, and into the home of such a wonderful dog family.

You are definitely my furthest listeners - well, someone wrote in to say she listens in Japan, so it's a toss up- but I am truly honored to have an Aussie outpost in Sydney. If you could send a jpeg of that gorgeous Labradoodle I could put Pluto's photo up on the website as Dog Talk's Fan Down Under.

You're right, nutrition means a great deal to me since it's an area of such misinformation, and I have to say I salute your vet for admitting that nutrition is the missing piece in veterinary training - your doctor's awareness of this and admission of it makes him or her a really trustworthy practitioner. "I don't know" is a complete sentence and not used frequently enough by any of us!

In answer to your question about your feeding choices for Pluto - WOWIE! - that dog is dining like a king. Great decisions on your part. I am entirely jealous that we don't have an affordable healthy raw meat like kangaroo here in the States but we do have an equivalent to your raw dehydrated food - it's called The Honest Kitchen and I have been telling folks about them (and have a link to them www.thehonestkitchen.com if you want to compare) on my website. The way you are feeding is wonderful but the only caution I would give you is not to give only one protein source, which can lead to nutritional imbalance. You could stick with kangaroo as your main source but then at least twice a week if not more, switch to eggs (raw or scrambled), cottage cheese chicken, beef or lamb (which you have in plentiful quantities and surely must have some pet food grade available). If you feed any kind of oily fish it is a great boon, but whether you do or not, supplementing with Omega-3 fish oils through your dog's life is considered great for health. You should take some, too, they say!

As for getting the Labradoodle recognized, I am with you all the way on this. You're right, in general these mixed-up small breeds of dozens of varieties of "poo's" has gotten entirely out of control and there is no attention to health or genetic mixes. However this is entirely different with your breed and I know there are many Labradoodle clubs in the United States (just look on the internet) and they would probably be delighted to have an Australian help them establish the breed for recognition. They have probably been in touch with the American Kennel Club already and there are guidelines that must be satisfied, but if any cross deserves official recognition it is definitely the Original Doodle (which Labradoodles are, outside of the Cockapoo which existed without any hoopla for decades)

If you have no luck trying to work through US Labradoodle Clubs, please let me help you. I can see why you are so enthusiastic about the breed and their intelligent stability and less-allergenic qualities do give them great appeal.

Thanks again for listening so faithfully to the show - please tell your friends about it. I would just love to have an Australian following!

Best wishes,
Tracie