noisymina

My Dobe seriously give me the cold shoulder. She lies down with her back to us when she's not happy with us. The rest of the time, she lies down facing us and watching like a hawk!

If children are being neglected ...................... Umm.......... there are other avenues, if necessary.

I can relate to that. I only had three kids, but I did get a bit insulted when a vet suggested my dog needed 6 monthly blood tests etc etc etc ..because I would not know if she was not well. I now have another vet who has kids herself and trusts my judgement a bit better than that. My girl is getting on in years and does need more attention now - so she is going to the vet more often. In the past, I've had them not go near a vet for years on end if they have not needed it.

Yep - cute. That cat sure has taken posession of that dog! Next step - chase her all around the yard.

Mars, I have a Dobe. Girl who is 12 and still going strong and we expect ours to live to 14 on past experience. My 1st dog,a collie cross lived to 18 years.He saw me through my childhood and the birth of my children.Very sadly missed to this day. Kaisie (in my avatar) turned 11 early this year. Not bad for a Dobe. She has a bit of arthritis - will probably go back for more injections soon - some spey incontinance, and a few fatty lumpy things, but otherwise quite healthy. Our Weimaraner was about 16 when we made the decision to let her go.

Oh my goodness. What a week - on top of moving! The possums will keep pretty safe now they know what happens if they go to ground. Umm................. just as well, by the sound of it.

Awe.......... .......

I understand your frustrations. I look at things from another viewpoint. Possums don't ask to be born (I suppose that applies to any life form) and they have to survive albeit at your loss. Imagine for one second if you were born a possum instead of a human. If I was living around here, I'd be in paradise. Can't say the human condition impresses me a great deal. Oh - and the chooks, steers, lambs etc do ask to be born do they?

We've never been faced with an absolutely huge vet bill. This question is a bit hard to answer becasue the decision to spend on an animal has a lot more to it than just the cost. One has to weigh up the age of the animal, the type of condition, the chances of successful treatment, what will happen if it is/is not treated, how much discomfort/pain the animal will go through, whether it is kind or not to do that to them, maybe a couple of different treatment options etc etc. Often the answer comes without consideration of cost. I don't think I've ever had to make a decsion based on the cost - it has always been the other factors that have answered the question as to what to do. Having said that, we have never taken on an animal without having some resources available to meet at least moderate vet costs if they were to be needed.

Yes, I am not being very reverent. I lost sympathy for possums a long time ago, We have planted numerous fruit and nut trees on our 5 acres ...80 all up. And the possums eat EVERYTHING! What they don't eat, the Cockatoos demolish. We are not allowed to trap and relocte (and if we did, another would take their place anyway) We are not allowed to hurt or dispose of them in any other way. No, none of our dogs have ever eaten a possum - that I am aware of BUT if they have, sorry, no tears here. Our dogs are fed food from beef, lamb, chicken, roo. They are ALL "living creatures" that are being used for dog food. So why so sensitive about the suggestion that possums might be a viable source of dog food? It is no different.

Yeh - unfortunately, it was brain typo. I was dreaming about it last night after I went to bed - but forgot to come back and check to see if that was ACTUALLY what I posted! Sorry guys. At least someone was reading - which I find rather delightful, actually. :rolleyes: No I was not implying she was a totally dumb dog at all. Just in some situations thay appear to be so - if you don't realise the motivation they work on. Same could be said of most dogs at times.

Hehehe............. There are many different aspects to "intelligence". When the dog exhausts herself running up and down the fence she just got out of because she can't work out how to get back, that is dumb. From one perspective. Many of the things we laugh at, we do so becasue it is, well, silly. BUT she was also an obedience champion. I suspect that they are a bit like the Beagles I have read about - when the brain focuses on a scent, everything elso gets forgotten. Including recall - or how they got through the fence in pursuit of that scent. For a tracking dog, brilliant. In other situations - not so clever. :D Dobes are very intelligent - up there with the best of them in formal studies - but I was recenlty laughing at a u-tube video of a Dobe repeatedly trying to get a big bone through his doggy door - even tho there was no way that huge bone was going to go through there! BUT let him loose on an intruder, even without training, and he would be awesome! I'd not for one minute suggest you get a young Dobe on a suburban block. But an older one.......possibly.

Unfortunately, you will never get rid of them. As soon as one bites the dust, another takes its place. The one on the ground may well have missed the mark when it jumped from one spot to another and fallen. They do that. I remember possums falling through an open manhole in the ceilng one night when I was lying awake listening to them thumping around up there - at boarding school. :D I don't know how come thay left the cover off the manhole. They then proceeded to run circles around the dormitory before taking off down the passage way. It does get a bit disturbing when one jumps on your bed and wakes you up. Just think of the profits the pet food industry could make if they were allowed to harvest the possums?

Wanted - possum eating dogs. Full menu available - stocks overflowing. Lend us you dogs and save on dog food. I'm sure you would feel a bit lethgargic after a big meal too!

Just a bit on the Wei we had. We took her on as 13 month old dog. Her previous owner had her titled in obedience! She settled in like a Gem. Never a problem. Not particularly needy. Very easy to train - but then she had been trained from the word go and needed very little to make her fit into our life. She was an outside dog. Although we do have a slab on ground house and she was always only a matter of a couple of metres from us just outside the kitchen door. Always close, but not under foot. BUT - being sighthound, her recall was a bit less than I was (and am) used to with say Poodles or Dobes. As a guard dog - totally useless. But she did do her job of keeping the birds away from our windows. She was also an escape artist. Fortunately, being on a rural residential property, the electric fence fixed that. She was also dumb. She would get out through the fence and not be able to work out how to get back in again. Idiot. Fortunately, our neighbour on that side would call us and help put her back on HER side of the fence. Pre-electric fence days, that is. She did like to dig a cool bed in the garden to settle into when we were out. This had to be out the front where she waited quietly for us. The full brick kennel was just not good enough. But not much other damage. After re-homing dogs as well as bringing them up from pups, I'm totally taken with re-homing them. Our last one (Kaisie the Dobe) was quite a challenge as she did not have the level of training the Wei did - but it has its own rewards. Anyone seeing her with me these would have no idea she was a re-home job at FOUR years of age. She is more "velcro dog" than the Wei ever was. My first dog ever was a pure bred Poodle, totally neglected, with bad canker in the ears. It took her less than a week to win over my dog averse father. There are many, many advantages to taking home an adult dog as opposed to going through the puppy thing.

Our Wei used to do that. I'd throw a stick onto a huge pile (we have lots of sticks here) and she'd go in and bring back the exact stick. As you say - "THE stick". It must be a scent challenge for them. And how can you NOT be proud and encourage it? Except we were trying to clear up the sticks and she would just keep bringing them back off the piles to us! She would always have a collection of sticks at the door waiting for us to go out and play. Can't say I was too worried about the pointy bits etc - she managed ok. After all, if she could deal with husking AND shelling Macadamia nuts a stick is nothing.

The Weimaraner we had did not bark much. Actually, she welcomed the burglars one night. I think they may have fed her before ransacking our rumpus room and garage. NOT a watch dog recommendation there. I guarantee a minitaure Poodle would be on your other half's lap within a week. What don't you like about them? They can be clipped to any style, don't smell, don't shed and are incredibly intelligent. Toys can be a bit yappy and hyperactive. Minis not so much. They do, however, take a bit of grooming - a good brush through at least twice a week and regular clipping/washing. I have no experience with the other breeds - other than a neighbourhood staffy that was feral and aggressive here, and a Lab that was the same when I was a child. Both of those I put down to negligent owners.

Kaisie showed us a new trick this morning. Her old squeaky toy - which is over 5 years old now since she has taken such care with it after "kiling" the first one - was getting very hard and was losing the squeak. I'm so proud of the way she learned in one go that biting a squeak kills the squeak! So I figured she had earned a new one and got the spare out of the cupboard this morning. She was delighted! She squeaked it a bit and was happily walking circles around the kitchen/family room with it. DH said "squeak" and she squeaked it once and stopped, but kept walking. So he said "squak" again and she did it again. And it just kept going..over and over. She actually knew what "squeak" meant and was playing along.

I asked someone recently a similar question when they said they had a poodle cross ... They said they were a bit disappointed bcecause iot was growing bigger than they thought it would. I asked what the cross was again........and then "What sort of Poodle?" "What do you mean?" "Well was it a Toy Poodles, a Miniature Poodle or a Standard Poodle?" They did not know one could get different sized Poodles.

:laugh:

Yep - Kaisie will help round up any animal we need - including the cats. Our Black and white cat used to run DH in circles every night - until I suggested he ask Kaisie to help. It only took a few nigths for pussy to get the idea. ;) Any day we are going out, Kaisie knows and lines up at the door wating to go out of the house. She just KNOWS when we are leaving - not a word has to be said. Although one day she stayed quietly on her mat - and we forgot to put her out. It was all quiet until the Jehovah's Witmesses knocked on the door, she got up and let loose and set off the burglar alarm at the same time. We still laugh with the neighbours ove that one. And the JWs know better than to knock on our door.

I can't comment on this in particular - specially since most of the dogs I've had ahve been females. But just to comment on that one......... I took Kaisie in at 4 years of age. Mature, right? Desexed sometime in her first year. And a total nut case when she arrived. Into everyting -running around like a lunatic, including head on INTO trees. And taking off in fright if I picked up a broom or hose - let alone the vacuum. Nearly 2 years ago - she is 11 now - our wonderful NEW vet commented on how relaxed and laid back she is! Same dog - same hormones - different owner. She certainly breaks the sterotype of the Dobermann.

Noisy, you just start another one Oh yes, I do. Sometimes more than one 'cause I can't find the one I just lit. The more the better! Sending lots a cyber- hugs :) ;) to you Jed.

Plenty of candles to be lit It's a nice place to visit ..and just down the hall from the waiting room .C'mon in, pause and reflect , and light jed a candle Here, I'll show you the way there. 186 5 countries :laugh: 199 now. I never can find mine to re-light. ;) That's wonderful news!!! *reaches for a box of tissues* Thank you for all of the updates Toohey, it's been greatly appreciated. I'm sure we're all looking forward to the day when Jed is well enough to give us an update of her own. ;) I second that. Thank you. Didn't anyone here think to bring the tissues? ;)

*Digs out the old cribbage board and a pack of cards* They say time heals - but why the heck does it take so long? *Sends vibes of hope and patience to all in the waiting room*