Loving my Oldies

Oh! Great age, PM.

Absolutely my experience with the oldies.

IMHO, it is more not knowing what is the right thing to do for some people, rather than just being led by their emotions. If you have had one dog from the time it was a puppy to when it was frail, elderly, sick, well you don’t have any experience with treatment and management apart from what a vet tells you - and some of them are not very good as in any profession. I was incredibly unlucky with my first dogs - two little Maltese - as were they in their genes. Both died young, the girl (3 and a half) from a malformed heart and the boy (8 and a half) of cancer. I used to be amazed when I encountered dog owners who went the the vet once of twice a year for worming and other tablets. What sort of experience do those people have to draw on when their dogs get old. You can’t expect people to know it all. So how can you know what is the right thing to do when you have never lived with any other dog? Yes, of course there are people who allow their dogs to suffer because they allow their own feelings to govern their actions instead of recognising or understanding the needs of the dog. I think it is a bit of a stretch to call them broken. All about education and as someone famously once said something along the lines of: there are things we don’t know that we don’t know.

OMG!! I don’t think we’ve seen the bottle before, WM. Shocked that you are trying to cover up for Mac’s tipple habits.

Beautiful, moosmum.

As this behaviour has only just presented itself and as other have said, a vet visit is imperative. On the other hand, most dogs have very high pain and sickness threshold. They are usually quite advanced in ill health before they show it. I had a little dog who was always out the front of pack, leading the way, setting a great pace. One evening she was just walking back and sniffing with the rest of them. I asked her why she'd changed her habits, but didn't get any response. During the following morning's (a Friday) walk she was the same in as much as she wasn't leading and telling me to to hurry up, but she was also lethargic. Took her immediately to the vet who sent me speeding down to SASH thinking she was in heart failure. Sadly, my darling little Myrtie (long time DOLers might remember my Madam Lash thread about her) did not pull through and she was sent to god on the Monday. Please don't start imagining the worst for your precious girl, but I do believe that the distance you are covering is probably too much for a dog of her age.

That seems to be a long walk for an older dog, although Staffies can be very active. Older dogs don't so much need the exercise, rather they need and enjoy the stimulation. She probably would be happy going half as far in the same time. Dogs aim to please and she is probably trying very hard to keep up with you. I've heard people say when their dog is obviously struggling .... oh, but she/he loves to walk, races to door, etc etc. Dogs who are old and/or sick still do the excitement excitement bit because it is habit. But once they get started, it is too much for them. I went through a short period with one of mine recently whereby he would turn himself inside out, hurtle to the side gate, get 50 metres up the footpath and want to come home. To be sure of what he wanted, I would let him off the lead and he would go faster than he'd ever walked and race down the driveway. I would let him in the gate and then continue with the others. It lasted a couple of weeks and then he was back to normal. I am down to three elderlies and we have two walks a day around the block a distance which walked at a normal pace would probably take 10 minutes or less. Depending on the amount of sniffing or standing staring into space, it can take 30-40 minutes LOL.

FFS Teebs, I am speaking generally.

That little girl has probably been taught to respect dogs in general. We can be pretty sure from that video that the parents know their dog and their child. You have to know how to tread the line between teaching respect and teaching fear. Teaching fear is just about the worst thing you can do to a child. Human beings do terrible terrible things to children (many of these human beings are in their own family). Do we teach our children to be frightened of all human beings?

Well said, Woof. I haven’t read all the posts, but I do feel that some people make their dogs do it tough simply because they can’t make the decision, it is just too hard and frightening for them. Sometimes it can be very hard to recognise/understand that the time has come. And, of course, some times, it is very very clear. Even in the latter cases, it can be hard and just so gut wrenching. For sure you are letting your pet go and you are ending their suffering, but you are also “killing” them, that there is no turning back. That is so scary. For people who have not been through this, it can be an enormous and difficult decision to make. And even when you’ve been through it many times, as I have, it is still difficult even when you know it is absolutely and 100% the right thing to do. Having the power of life or death does not rest lightly on some shoulders.

Agree

Well, I finally decided to watch it. I honestly think people can be a bit precious. Of course we have to teach children to have respect and care for animals generally and the pets in their lives in particular. However, the dog was singularly unconcerned. It might have indicated a couple of times, “Jeez what I go through for this little one,” but I don’t think it exhibited anything more than that. If it was a human, it would have shrugged its shoulders and continued reading his book. As for the little girl not being smart. I thought she was very smart and she tried a couple of times to drag the paint box over and eventually succeeded. The dog was not being “used” or “abused” (rolly eyes ) , the little girl was enjoying herself immensely and showing imagination and lateral thinking.

LOL. Knowing my luck with Tamar, I’d get that and she would refuse it. I’ll try the coffee grinder, but will keep this in mind. Thank you.

At $13 ..... nothing to lose. Thanks.

That is how I squished Amber's kibble when I wanted to make it into a powder. It is errr good therapy too! I'm sure it would be :) LOL. I am not one for bashing things when I need therapy. I’m more go out and water the lawn

Thank goodness I am not alone . I do have a blender, but the food gets caught all around the blades. I thought a coffee blender (I’ve never used one) would be an easier solution. Oh thanks, Starkehre. Any left overs get put back into the container and so they do become mushy; she just seems to prefer it ground up and sprinkled over the mince. What we do for them.

Yes, you read it correctly Tamar likes the kibble I buy (Delicate Care recommended when I was desperate to find something Danny liked). I fact they all like it, having tried so many different brands. However Tamar (like so many of her breed) no longer has a tooth in her much loved little head and I have been grinding up the kibble and dried chicken pices to sprinkle on the usual raw beef in a pestle and mortar. It takes me ages and I regularly just have a bowl of it grinding away while watching television or reading. It occurred to me that a coffee grinder might be easier and obviously that brings me to the Brains Trust to ask if anyone else has done this and if anyone has recommendations for what brand to buy. TIA.

Oh lordy. Zelda is so lovely. Does “Clown Dog” suit her, Juice. Sure looks it. :laugh: :laugh:

Send a PM to DOLer called Jed. She will have a huge wealth of information.

I take all my photos in landscape and have no issues with uploading I have a vague feeling that I might have pressed the “square” option for those pix of the succulents. I wonder if that had something to do with it.

Yes, but the breeder wasn’t the poster. I felt sorry for the poster. The poster had two other threads which indicated her commitment to being a good puppy owner. As for reacting with heart first ...... we ARE talking about living breathing creatures we are planning to adopt. If the heart isn’t engaged, I can’t see how a loving relationship would develop. Anyway, it would be interesting to know what the outcome was. :)

I’m not really surprised the poster didn’t come back. Some of the “advice” was akin to being hit over the head with a blunt instrument :( The poster was obviously a committed owner despite where the dog might have been coming from and, from how I read it, she would have done everything to assure this puppy had a good upbringing to ameliorate its separation from its mother and siblings at such an early age. And the puppy did have a good first six weeks, which would have helped. Sad really.

Not on my computer. :mad I have discovered (slow learner :o ) that when I email the photographs to myself, I can transport them to photos. From there to photobucket which takes an eternity.

Thanks Roova. No, took them upright and in the email and on Downloada they are the right way up. I have an iPhone. Just point and click. And if there is a way to change the orientation in Downloads, I haven't been able to,work it out

I do the same with Flikr - send photos from my phone to my flickr account them grab the link (they give you a bbs option to post here) and put photos up that way :) I’ve been using Photobucket for years, but it is so slow . However because of Avanti’s suggestion, I emailed a couple of photographs from my phone to myself and then saved them in downloads and then did a test in the Test Forum. It worked except the photos appear sideways :laugh: :laugh: Any suggestions? http://www.dolforums.com.au/topic/268210-testing-photo/