indigirl

Karma - always such a lady - will fart then look at her butt with this suprised look on her face as tho to say 'what was that?' Stupid dog

Great to hear Jed is improving. I hope she can 'feel' all the support she has here. Thanks for the update Toohey.

1 golden retreiver 1 kelpie cross 4 italian greyhounds 1 elderly sheltie Wally the sheltie sleeps most of the time and toddles around the yard when hes in the mood. He lives indoors. The golden and the kelpie cross share a yard, they have a stock watering trough as a swimming pool, a sandpit, loads of toys plus each other to play with while im at work. I walk them or play with them everyday after work. Lots of running, fetching etc. The iggies all share a yard. They dislike being walked on lead so dont get walked as such. They have plenty of toys in their yard, plus different dog beds and places to snooze. They run around and do zoomies for a while then curl up and sleep together, then run around and do more zoomies etc. One thing I try and do is spend individual time with each dog for about 30-60 mins every night. I pat them/brush them/ trim their nails/play with them during this time. They all love this one-on-one time with me. I have toddler gates in the house and i allow one dog into the loungeroom with me at a time. During 'their' time im completely focused on the one dog and they will often fall asleep in my arms. I also rotate which iggy gets to sleep with me at night. Again its one dog at a time but they all get a turn once a week. On weekends I try to take the bigger dogs out for a good run in the creek bed. They love running free and we all enjoy this time.

RIP Leo saying goodbye is so hard Thinking of you at this time Greytmate xx

deelee I was not saying goldens arent great dogs. I jsut wonder whether his missus would cope with a golden pup. I think if he got a golden like yours, already out of the puppy stage it would be a brilliant match. Not all goldens bark like mine does, but some do. Another advantage of an older dog is that it will be obvious by then if the dog is a barker. I love my golden, and the breed, but that doesnt mean they are the breed for everyone, particularly as pups.

Personally I would NOT recommend a golden puppy! They can be very destructive as puppies and while they usually mature into beautiful quiet dogs, as puppies they are a lot of work. My golden is 4 yrs old and still digs like she is possessed. I have to supervise her constantly when shes in the lawned area or she digs massive holes. She dug one last night when i turned my back for 5 mins actually, she dug into the watering system so today my yard flooded *sigh*.. My golden is also a shocking barker. She drives me mad at times. She has to wear a barking collar while im at work or the neighbours complain. Nothing ive tried has reduced her barking, she has been a barker from the day she arrived at 8 weeks of age. Goldens do shed but if you brush their coat regularly its not really an issue. I guess a bit of dog hair on the floor doesnt worry me, it sweeps up very easily. If you want a golden get an older rescue or retired breeding dog. My golden has never been left alone she always has the company of other dogs, yet as a puppy the destruction was not for the faint of heart. They take around 3yrs to mature, so thats a lot of destruction time. Ive no doubt your partner would love the fluffy golden puppy .. until it started to grow and began to destroy things. I dont find them high energy, but then i own a kelpie cross lol. I find if they have a good 30-45 min walk once a day they are happy. I also play with my dogs in the yard every night, i throw balls etc for them and they race around madly. They thrive on human interaction and are very ppl orientated dogs. A short training session every day helps wear them out mentally which helps them be calm and settled when indoors. My dogs all sleep indoors, and are only outside during the day while im at work. They know they arent allowed on furniture etc and are quiet and well behaved inside. All my dogs were crate trained to toilet train them, and to teach them that when indoors they are to lie around quietly not jump around madly. It takes time, consistency and a lot of patience to raise a puppy. If destructive behaviour would drive your missus mad then i suggest you steer clear of any puppies. Understand also that if there is even a small puddle of water a golden pup will be rolling around in it, can your missus cope with a dirty wet smelly dog in the house? Golden pups spend a remarkable amount of their time in a wet muddy state. They work out very quickly how to overturn water bowls and dig in the lawn to make a lovely mud puddle. They have some kind of inbuilt radar for any water or mud lol. A happy golden pup is a wet and muddy golden pup!

As I live 1000km from all the breeders of my dogs and cats its not like we are mates who can meet up for coffee. However my golden's breeder has always been very supportive when i do contact her. My iggie's breeder is Shantiah from DOL, who although we have yet to meet is also very helpful/friendly/supportive. We keep in contact via email, or thru DOL threads etc. One of my cats breeders who lives in QLD I have regular email contact with, the other cat breeder lives in Vic and the only contact with her is when i send her pics of the cats from time to time. Im sure if i lived somewhere that wasn't remote I would have more contact with my animals breeders. Because I choose to live way out in the stix, the ppl i have the most contact with are those involved in dog rescue. I admit i find it a little.. odd .. that a breeder would be invited to a puppy buyers wedding or vice versa. I mean my best friends arent involved with dogs at all, and they are the ppl I would invite to such a personal event. I guess my life is kind of divided into work - and work colleagues, dogs - dog associates, and personal friends. I never associate with work colleagues outside of work even. I cant imagine my closest friends wanting to hang out with my doggy friends and listen to dog talk etc LOL.

LOL me too! How come im not getting any scary emails!!

Gawd its cold here now, maybe youd be wise to sleep for the next few months until it warms up again Jed. Brrrrr. Candle relit.

You are never far from my thoughts Jed, so pleased to hear you are able to communicate with your family. Sending you healing thoughts xxx

I'm sure there will be lots of ups and downs as Jed heals. Thinking of you and your family Jed, stay strong xxx

I changed the shower head to a hand held one which can be hung up when i have a shower. Also got an extra long hose for it. I bath all my dogs in the shower recess using the hand held shower nozzle. Its excellent in winter as there is one of those heater light things in the bathroom. In my last house i switched the bath spout for a hand held shower head, this house doesn't have a bath just a shower. Works really well for both large and small dogs.

Yay! So relieved to hear Jed should make a full recovery Wishing you all the best as you heal Jed xxx

This is something that drives me crazy. With a small house and 7 dogs theres just too much dog stuff at my place. Eventually I want to get another small room built onto the house which will be my dog room. At the moment most of the dog stuff is in the sunroom. I have a small cupboard for blankets, also a large thingy with wire shelves in there is full of dog 'stuff'. The c-crates and puppy pens are out in the back shed. The dog towels are in a pile in the sunroom, the dog leads are all hanging on these cool hooks in the dining room so I can just grab them when needed. The dog dryer currently lives under my bed and the grooming table is folded up when not in use and is in the sunroom. The rest of my grooming stuff is mostly in my dog show bag. There is also a large freezer in the sunroom for all their meat. Am currently trying to work out how to organise all my dog stuff. I think I need to get rid of a lot of it. I recently bought a large laundry hamper thing for all the dog washing, wayy better than having it all on the laundry floor!

Wrapt to hear Jed has improved today. Still thinking of her throughout the day.

I think tinned food is pretty much just slop. Having said that I have fed my puppies on optimum tinned puppy food, dry food plus raw meaty bones. I also add approx a tablespoon or so to my dogs dry food now to make it more appealing. I also add yoghurt/sardines/egg etc, plus they get raw brisket bones. I think dogs who are fed nothing but tinned food have stinky stinky poo and really poor teeth.

LOL @ dirty dam water, I think you need tio go hose out ALL the mud and dirt so the dammw ater is crystal clear TYVM! Love that pic of him btw, very natural and doing what he loves best.

Umm Boxing Kangaroo Staffies? Do they come in green and yellow? They may end up being even more sought after than the 'rare' blue staffords!

No way! The breeder is more trusting than me. I would have refused to let the transport guy take the pup for fear he would put it into the dirty crate further down the road. Also there was no way of knowing if any other dogs had sat in the front with the driver and what thier vacc status was.

I dont remember, but the prices for each panel are on the NFS website. I love it as its strong enough for the biggest dogs, all welded galvanised steel. I looked at tons of runs (online) before settling on an NFS one.

A pic of the NFS run, its the tall run neatest the back fence

Im pretty sure I have a pic of mine on my photo bucket.. which i cant access from work. Will post pics after i get home ETA THe guy is super helpful. He had it shipped out to me at Broken Hill for about $200. I think the run is 2.4m x 3m, and its 1.8m tall. At the moment its pulled apart and leaning agsisnt the fence though LOL. I had a handyman screw a tin roof to the top of it and I had the whole thing under a shadesail. Perfect for a bitch in season as its on concrete. Would also be good for a litter of pups once they are old enough to be outside during the day. Best thing about NFS runs is that you can buy a dividing pnael and hey presto have 2 runs, and I can add on more runs very easily as the new panels will jsut bolt to the old ones. Although mine isnt being used at the moment I will enver part with it as its sjut so easy to put together and so handy.

My dogs get cabin fever if they are cooped up inside for too long. During the heat of sumemr they are indoors 24/7 and are ok with it as they know the aircon is wayy nicer than being out in the heat. This time of year however they go stir crazy if they dont get to go outsode much. Part of the problem is that i am not a morning person and I find it hard enough to get up in time for work - let alone having time to exercise them before work. I have tried to work on this soo many times but I can never stick to getting up early. As a result my dogs get all their exercise and playtime in the evenings. In the mornings im more like"ugh.. outside.. ugh..gooddog... ugh... bye" to them. My dogs all sleep indoors all year round and my golden is a problem indoor barker as well, she simply loves to bark. She will be fed, warm, played with, exercised, and STILL she barks at me. Soemtimes I will be petting her and she will bark in my face, its really frustrating. Im sure she thinks her name is "Shut Up Karma" now lol. Not sure how other non-morning ppl deal with this issue. its easy to say sjut get up earlier, but its far far harder to do it and stick to it. I manage it once or twice then the next day i sleep in .. and the next etc etc.

You dont find the static collars hurt the dog??

NFS runs are very good. They take 10 mins to set up and are very strong.