Big Paws Only Dog Forums

I'm getting a puppy Sunday. Its a female Harl Great Dane. I out of names help. I have a Toester, Hershie, Tank and Nonnie. I had Onyx, Thor, Krazyie, Kahula, Stinky, Dribbles, Max and a black Lab named Smowball. So as you can see I'm not good with names. I was think Tivo cause I love my Tivo box but my boyfriend says NO! So maybe you can help.

Hello everyone I know I haven't been on in awhile bit I been busy with school. I changed shifts so now I work 11 to 7 instead of 3 to 11 which works out better with my school schedule which is from 8 to 3:30. I guess with all my working and school I failed to notice that Miss Toester had come into heat. So now on top of school and work I have a pregnant Great Dane!! I just built her whelping box last night and she's due Like any day now, I don't know the day cause I didn't know she was pregnant until I saw her nipples getting huge but the way she looks now I'm guessing any day now. Anyway enough about that. I have a question. well two actually.
My first question is....What makes a quality dog food? I know you might have had this conversation in the past but I don't have time to go though all the post and find it I have a lot of homework today. Last week I was broke!! I only had $30 and it was like two days until payday. I had no gas and no dog food. I had a tough decision to make. The dog food I usually buy is $40 a bag and I needed gas to get back and forth to school, I asked around and no one had any money either being that close to payday. I went to the store and I walked around and looked at all the different dog foods and looked at all the labels and the question came to me. I've heard people say that the meat in and the amount of corn in the food made it "quality"  some say its the fillers and the vitamins some think its just the price. So what makes a "quality dogs food? I always thought that it was the ingredients list and it meat was the first one it was good cause it didn't have all the fillers and corn. If that's the case the Science Diet is not good cause if you look at the label then the first one listed is corn. I know a lot of people who feed their dogs this food and some vets recommend it. I also saw Wal-mart brand dog food for $8 a bag and the number one ingredients was Lamb or Chicken which ever the flavor was. So does that make Wal-mart brand a "quality" dog food? I also saw pro plan for $18 and it had yogurt and the number one ingredient was meat and it had an lamb and rice formula which I thought was good for dogs.  To make a long story short I ended up getting the pro plan and a little over $10 in gas. If that's a good "quality" dog food then why am I paying over double that for Nurto? Help!!!
        My next question is a lot shorter, for those of you who breed what do you put in the bottom of you whelping box? I'd like something that would keep the smell down since Toester and the pups will be in my bedroom. I was thinking about cedar shavings but that can get messy, someone told me that a blanket might suffocate the pups and someone else said lambs wool blanket but I can't find one.

Here's my pink dog

hello all I had a crazy idea the other day but I wasn't sure it if was going to be safe. I want to dye Toester purple.  (yeah I know I'm crazy) can you imagine a big a** purple and black Great Dane walking down the street. I looked at a few dyes but I'm still not sure, I dont want to hurt her but I want a purple dog  . am I the only weird person on here? Has anyone ever done this or have ever though about it? And I was kinda thinking of doing Thor's white spots blue.

I have no I dea what this is. They just came up one day and they haven't gone away. These are pictures of her belly its also on her back somewhat but not as bad. When she is facing away from you you can see lwhat looks like holes in her fur. She is on front line so its not fleas but I thought that it was something that was bitting her but the other dogs dont have them, they are slightly raised and you can fell them then they go away and leave those spots. I made an appointment with the vet but its not until Monday so I thought maybe you all could help. Is it mange?
On her back it kinda looks like dandruff.

Okay, here's the deal I really wanted to share my pix that we had taken last month but I don't have a scanner and I don't know anybody who has one and actually know how to use it so I did the best I could with my digital camera.
 
The first two were the ones we took last month.
The next one is  of Toester when she'd actually sit for the camera...
you can't see her pretty collar in this one but its a pretty with rhinestones..T his was after the second taping.
These last two were taken right after we took the first tape off her ears..they fell
Look at the pretty collar in these...I made it myself.

Sorry I don't have a scanner but I just couldn't wait to share.

how do you keep your dogs from getting those callus on the their elbows? I have dog beds and pillows and blankets everywhere but most of the time Hershie and Thor prefer to sleep on the floor or under the porch. Is there something I can do to make them go away?