Loving my Oldies

Frankly, what is to be gained by taking an average age. Just picking at random three of my dogs: Calypso died at 3.5 from congentital heart failure Nammu died at 8 years from cancer Mufti is still alive at 15.5 years. Taking an average of their ages is a waste time and tells us nothing. Just realised: all are/were Maltese

Some people have the mentality that you owe THEM for actually giving the dog "a good home". I wouldn't mind the article if the newspaper then proceeded to give Ms White and BYB a serve and/or told some home truths about the on going cost of keeping a dog properly vaccinated, housed, fed, exercised, LOVED, etc etc.

And who do you think is going to do it, Lo Pan? Going to come and volunteer? It isn't a job in any case; it is a labour of love by people in the area who have seen the penquin numbers diminishing rapidly over the years, because yet again, the "powers that be" haven't the guts to stand up and be counted, to make and enforce the necessary rules and regulations to protect tiny defenceless birds who some people treasure.

Big changes have happened in a little boy's life. Poor baby. Hopefully he'll be settled in very quickly.

OMG!! This makes me so angry, but at what I don't know. As if your grandmother hasn't suffered enough. Anyway the unfairness of life is not under discussion here. Poodlefan has made some good points as you've noted, doctorjoel. Even if the attack was a little while ago and your grandmother doesn't want to report it, in your situation, I think I'd just be pushy and do it myself. She shouldn't have the little freedom she has left curtailed, but sadly, reality is somewhat different. Can she put a notice for a companion walker in the local newsagent or some place and have you vet all calls received? I used to walk at night when I worked as it was the only time I could walk the dogs and often wondered about taking a can of hairspray. I think if a dog or a person got a good shot of it in their eyes, the would be stymied for a while, but I don't think it is reasonable to expect an 80 year old to be able to manage that as well as try to protect her dog and herself. I think the only answer is a younger and fitter companion.

Sniff, sniff - little tearies here SC. I opened a new folder for my 2011 documents and looked at the ones in 2010 and came across the "diet" you'd sent that you started Tango off on. Copied here for your reminiscences - LOL: he's getting close to a "normal" diet (for my dallys anyway) now I keep an eye on things but he is now getting fed so well the vet reckons he's better fed than she is LOL He still gets rice but it's brown rice cooked in a pressure cooker with miso, a range of veggies, tumeric, herbs and sometimes a bit of chicken for flavour. He also gets a variety of food including tinned Nature's Gift chicken and rice/oats, a smaller amount of minced chicken (compared to Pepper), eggs (soft boiled), yoghurt/keffir, chicken necks/wings/carcasses, cottage/ricotta cheese and the odd treat of cheddar cheese, rye bread/ryvita and even some all natural dried fish treats (tiny bits) - for training and to reward him when I put stuff in his eye etc. I make up the bulk of his meals with the rice/veggie mix and add freshly pulped carrot/cabbage etc and lots of water plus some ACV then add some protein picked from the above choices and yoghurt to help with digestion. He also gets flax or some kind of good oil in his meal and sometimes a couple of fish oil capsules straight from my hand (he loves them and regards them as a treat!!) I've built up the amount of protein he gets slowly and kept a watch on how well he is going with weeing - I look for a good strong stream LOL - and so far he is doing that still - but if I get worried I give him a bowl of water laced with something yummy (eg a bit of milk), as someone in the dally thread suggested, to make sure he's flushing out well. So he's doing pretty darn well in the food department The muscles are possibly developing because he's walked at least once a day whereas before he was walked ...er .... NEVER. I have to also tell you that he's become more and more playful - almost every day now he starts barking at me and grabs something to run outside with so Pepper and I have to chase him. He's very good tho, if he grabs something he shouldn't I just have to gently say 'no' and he drops it immediately and looks around frantically for something he CAN have hee hee It's very cute to watch Then he tears around the yard hurling the toy or whatever in the air and catching it. He is also fine playing "tug-a-war" and doesn't growl at me or snap etc when I grab the other end. But he is not good with Pepper if she grabs it!!! Oh and he's very strong! I tried to move him in my direction when I had hold of the other end of an old slipper and I simply couldn't budge him!!!

Read my post about "sad". Saying it is "an unfortunate incident" is even worse and seems to show a total inability to comprehend or sympathise let alone empathise with what the woman and Joysie went through. I am completely at a loss to understand how some people just downplay Iand even blame) what the victims went through and try by whatever means to excuse the attacks. I totally agree with you, Mum to Emma. Cannot the people who say that "dogs will be dogs" cannot get this ???

A lovely family photo, OSS. The birthday girl looks as though she is tired out from all the celebrations, but I assume she is getting ready to spring to take the sausage off your head Brutus is indeed a grand old man.

Oh, how could you Hamlet is one of the first DOL dogs I came to "know".

I've deliberately avoided this thread for obvious reasons , but clicked on the last post to see if the swan had survived. The injuries sound horrific, but it sounds as those she is in the hands of a very experienced vet. Hopefully she can recover and live a life free of pain. I hope he gets a prison sentence and lands in a cell with someone who was caught fiddling the books for WIRES. Yes, it is scary isn't it and wishing for a prison sentence isn't going to alleviate that. What on earth is the answer. I'd like to see some sort of actions against him and showed him to be a cruel coward, but I wouldn't let him anywhere near animals.

It isn't "sad" . "Sad" is when a loved family pet grows old and dies; "sad" is when your loved pet gets an incurable disease and dies. This is horrific, ghastly, traumatic, life changing, terrifying. Would some of you just think about, and not just say the words, what Joysie and her owner went through. Just think of yourself walking through a park with a little dog and having that dog wrenched out of your arms by two very very large dogs intent on nothing more than killing. Picture the horror, the fear. Don't just type words onto the screen. I totally agree. It doesn't matter who let the dogs out. Unless the owners can guarantee that they will be enclosed 27/4 in the house or in a fully enclosed dog-run and only allowed off the property wearing muzzles, they should be PTS. With this one incident they have proven that they are a danger to other animals and are not suited to an urban environment (and indeed a rural environment where a neighbour would be entitled to shoot the dogs if they threatened livestock). I totally agree too. I don't necessarily agree that all dogs are capable of doing something like this. I was thinking about this thread through last night and being totally honest, if I owned dogs who had done this, I don't think I could live with them or what they had done.

The trouble is with these sorts of news items, someone will invariably come in and say these sorts of things, TSD. So your dog is being ripped to pieces, you are in the middle of it and you are supposed to think cooly and rationally and say to yourself: now I mustn't scream or do anything that will aggravate the attackers further. They are poor dogs who have been unlucky enough to have a bad owner and it isn't their fault they are killing my dogs and biting me. Poor dogs, I must just stay calm, wait for them to kill my dog and then pat them and say, poor doggies, I feel so sorry for you. FFS. Get real. There are bad people, bad dogs, bad cats, bad anything.

Stunning pup. Lots of lovin' going on in your home, AdoubleJ.

Congratulations. It will be quite something to be able to watch him grow and develop and hopefully prove a knock out in the ring

I am sure most people who pass you would continue with a smile on their faces.

With the caption: May your accessories always harmonise with your natural beauty.

Quote is from the original thread: I've re-read the whole original thread through again. We have seen some spectacular transformations on DOL and Mya is one of them. Those two girls are so gorgeous and I reckon by now the emboldened bit is a very distant memory and you are probably deluged with exclamations of delight when you walk Mya and Jenna together, Teekay.

Alyson, that is from hindsight mostly. Although some of the stories people tell of what they have/are doing for their dogs make me want to tell them to stop thinking of themselves and to let the dog go. However, it is a very personal thing. I also don't agree with people who say that you will know when the time is right. Do dogs think about their quality of life? Do they remember when they were young and strong? Do they think it is their time? Is a warm bed and a sated appetite and the love of their humans enough? Who knows. In the final analysis, we just need to try to do the right thing by our beloved pets; how can we do more?

Isn't it a wonderful story? I started to read the old thread earlier today, but had to drag myself away to get ready to go out. I can now get back to it.

What a gorgeous pair of girls you have there. Good choices

:D I clicked onto the Photos Section in the link. The individual suffering is incomprehensible. The photos of the animals swimming or stranded are just heartbreaking.

That is definitely worth a celebration, Spottychick and a truly wonderful rebirthing. Someone on DOL calls it "Gotcha Day". My latest foster goes to her new home today too, so I guess you can call it her rebirthing day as well. Thank god she rehomed quickly - any longer and the Moocher Tribe might have increased. What a wonderful little tribe you now have, SC. Sometimes it seemed impossible that there would be a breakthrough and now look at what you have achieved. Loved the bit where you had to loosen Tango's harness. :D

Cosmolo, that might sound okay, but it is only tinkering at the edges. The only way to start to solve the problem of puppy (and kitten) farming and backyard breeding is to stop their easy access to pet shops. Over the years, asking a mild question here and there, I have always been given the same sort of answer: Oh we know where all our puppies come from, we know the breeders, they are lovely lovely people, they love their dogs, the dogs are brought up in their home, yada yada yada :D . When it is illegal to sell puppies and kittens in pet shops, or from car boots, or at markets, there will be another avenue these ghastly places will pursue and then that will have to be dealt with, but hopefully without this easy access, people will get out of the business. The cruel, greedy and unscrupulous will always be amongst us and it is up to those who care to keep fighting.

I've been out and about and driving home, listening to the radio, the largest earners in the world in the sport of golf were announced. :D. All I could think of was this thread and wonder what one person could do with all the money they make. A golfer I'd never heard of (not that I am interested in Golf but you can't avoid hearing about sports when you listen to the news) earned $14million; Greg Norman who hasn't one a major tournament for years (I think he won something recently) still earned $30million and of course Tiger Woods is doing it really tough and dropped from $110million to $70million. Just a few of them together could revolutionise the education system of a small country. It makes me want to throw up.

Well there are plenty with the money and the time (just hire someone), but it is the big heart for animals that is missing.