noisymina

My Mother-in-law came from a similar cultural background. She never "got it". When her old dog was in pain and was ready to go to the bridge, the vet even came to the house to try to convince her to let him do it! THAT is how bad it was! In exasperation I asked her "WHY?" "Why won't you let the vet do the kind thing for your dog" "He's even left his busy practice to help you out here and not many will do that. Why?" Her answer? "I love him too much." Yes- everyone in the family was saying how the loving thing was to put him put of his misery - they had said it before I even got to that point. But she still insisted it was because she "loved him". Kindest thing seems to be the council option.

I never had the animals in the house when the kids were little - for many reasons. But they are in now - in a limited area for limited times. There are no crapets, they don't bench surf, get on couches and definitely not on beds. They are generally kept in their place - on the floor. No carpet. Regular vacuuming keeps the mess at bay - total mess = a few dog and cat hairs - that is all as they are fed outside. They also sleep outside (dog) or in the shed (cat) as a rule. But this year I have relented and put Kaisie inside at night due to her advancing age and arthritis issues. She is SOOO good! Stays on her mat/bed all night - never moves off it until someone calls her to go out and wee! She deserves the comfort in her old age, I reckon.

My neighbour told me this morning (as I was taking her dog back to her place for her, from my place) that she is surrendeing her to the RSPCA today. I can't tkae her - would not be able to do what a bored, 6 month old, badly trained working dog cross breed needs. I suspect the poor thing will be PTS. The neighbour is elderly (older than I am, that is), the dog she "tried really hard" with - yeh I saw how she was hitting it - is "too strong for her". Well, yeh. She threw me the lead and it took me (no dog expert, mind you) 15 mins to walk it back to her door. Mainly becasue it was lunging on the lead and I don't do lunges. She had changed from lunging to lying down instead by the time I got her back. Stubborn, dominant type of dog, I suspect. While the neighbour says "Gee,I don't have that sort of patience." I would love to take her on and work with all the stuff I've been learning here - but don't have what it takes right now. Our fences are pretty good, but I'm worried she would be too much for them - I'd have to give her a lot more work and stimualtion than I think I can. Oh - and she knows the "Mum" but they have no idea what the father is. Her son bred the dog and gave it to her. So, I assume son still has undesexed bitch roaming around making puppies. Wasn't game to go there - neighbourly relations and all. Idiot dog owners.

Then there is the theory that a bit of dirt is good for building resistance. (I'm pretty strong on hygiene here, by the way).

Has the OP ever come back to this thread?

My mother-in-law always used to get the dog to lick any cuts etc she had. Didn't seem to do any harm. I've never felt the need to copy that activity, however.

Sounds like it. :D

When we were buliding our house, my DH hired a subbie carpenter to help him with it. Big, tough bloke. Every lunch time, we would sit down in the middle of the timber and tools etc and our first Dobe, Tessa would sit down with us and the carpenter would peel his ORANGE and start feeding it to the dog, piece by piece. I suggested HE might like to have some of his lunch instead of feeding our dog. He said it was much more fun watching the dog eat it. He was amazed at a dog eating orange ...and was wondering exactly how much it would take before she stopped. Inevitably he would lose the whole orange.

I hope so. DH shares his with Kaisie every morniong. She catches the bits mid-air when he throws them to her. .

Sorry - I've never HAD a litter. I have "had" three kids, tho. Actually, I've never bred a litter of pups either. Which is probably why I see the funny side.

Yeh - wrong list! Poodles don't care how they are clipped - the clipping/primping is for humans :p poodles treated like dogs, puppy clipped or whatever, are great dogs!They are very resilient and can adapt . I have known several who lived in the country- chased rabbits, pretended to be sheepdogs in the sheepyards, rode on tractors/motorbikes ... terrific with kids and other animals and they didn't care what sort of job the groomer did My Dobe, I was told, was herding cattle before she came here. When I had the poodle (a miniature) she was clipped 3-4 times a year. Brushed thoroughly 2-3 tims a week and shampooed every 2-3 weks. Kate_Summer - mature dogs don't need anywhere near the exercise etc that a pup requires. Dobes, for example, take 2-3 years to mature. Some say 4. Our current one was re-homed with us at 4 years of age. The Poodle I had was a rescue. About 2 when I got her. Maybe you could consider an older dog as a possible way to meet your requirements?

What is that supposed to mean? I reckon they are smarter than the ones you mentioned. In fact, they are up with the Poodles in the smart range, but they don't have the grooming needs. Short hair and very easy to care for in that respect.

Our Dobe is good with the cats. She had to be taught when we first got her (as a 4 year old) but she knows the words "gentle" and "enough" and we can safely leave her alone with the cat without any problems. On the other hand - any feral cat is chased off like any intruder would be.

I guess a Dobermann would be a bit too intelligent for you? But they do need space to run. If they have that, it is better than walking on lead for most of their exercise. You would have to look at the pedigree and the temp of the parents. Not all Dobes are "full on", specially with the right handling. You just have to know how to teach the calm thing.

Damn. OH well, at least I have 2 years to run on this one. Something else to annoy Pam about. Poor lady.

Mine has 3 year rego with Logan. Beaudesert canned the 3 year deal - but Logan brought it back in.

Definitely Dettol here. There would not be enough room in the fridge for the numbers we get here, even if I was interested in putting them in with our food. The dog is not terribly interested in the big ones, but she sometimes plays with the smaller ones. Once they are dead, she's not interested. Partly because they don't run and excite her and partly because she doesn't like the Dettol smell anyway. We are near the coast and no ticks here. None that we've seen, at least. When I got my first dog (a rescue Poodle in not-so-good condition) she had a number of ticks - up to five in a week, but after a while she just stopped getting them. I'm sure there is such a thing as tick resistance - just not sure how it works in dogs.

Spray bottle with Dettol. 40-50% Regular patrols. If dog chews in toad, get hose and wash out the mouth for as long as you can. From the side so most of the water goes back out, not down the poor dogs throat. Mine knows she's in for a hosing if she picks on toads, so that is a bit of a deterrant in itsalf. You can tell if they've been toad playing by the large amount of thickish saliva dripping from their mouth. As for ticks, it depends whether or not you are in a tick area and if so, what sort of ticks are around. A local vet should be able to give you information on your locality.

Filtabac:

We primarily put in the electric fence to keep our dog in. The Wei, that was. BUT we soon realised just how many dogs it was keeping out. The first week or so we were woken on numerous occasions by noises made by dogs getting zapped. They stay away from it these days - but I know when they are around because Kaisie barks at them through the night. The fellows down the road had a Rottie - it took full power to keep him out. But he was an OK dog really. Just stooopid.

Mine's a woos. I shot the kitten with the water spary this morning and Kaisie sooked up to DH and would not come near me. I'm a huge bully, I am. She was OK when I got her breakfast out, tho.

Ok. He should know. Maybe dogs work different to humans.

When did yoiu start the ABs? What amount of time between the ABs starting and the urine sample taken?

We got Kaisie at 4 years of age. She feared anything I picked up - from the hose to the vacuum, the mop..........anything would send her way back down to the back corner of the yard. After spending all morning getting her back to the house the first time, I realised I did not have THAT much time on my hands to do that every time she freaked out. ;) So it was ignored. And she got over it. She will even choose to stay in the house with the vacuum actually ON now. I will admit to a little de-sensitising re the vacuum. It was fun watching her fight fear over treats placed next to the vauum hose down the hallway. Actually stepping over it was another major achievement. These days she will even walk over the vacuum hose while it's ON to be with me. She also had a distinct dislike of any young men. Mid teens to early 20s. She would REALLY go off at them. Some she would eventually warm up to and it did get better as she realised none of the ones here actually did her any harm. Including our two sons in that category. She lived with them, but the others were still a threat. BUT there were a couple that she NEVER would go near. Clearly some young male has been mean to her in her past life. I assume it also had something to do with her being hit with something. Byron may well associate the black jacket with something. The fact he is ok with YOU in one doesn't mean he's ok with a stranger in one. If the experience with Kaisie is anything to go by, the ignore and distract idea is probably the way to go.