♪♫LMBC♫♪

Yep, and I had it from the time he was about 10 weeks old, to the time he was 2. What a huge waste of money.

Darcy had a small cut/bite mark on his leg that got infected. He had xrays and antibiotics etc and they wouldn't cover it. I was living with OH's parents at the time and the bite was caused by one of their dogs. So it was determined that since it happened at home, amongst dogs that live together, it was apparently our fault and they wouldn't cover it. To some extent they are right but I found out that they don't actually cover anything if they can claim it is caused by a person, so in other words if Darcy were in a fight with any other dog it would be considered the owners fault and we would be expected to get compensation from them. If he got hit by a car it would be my fault because he wasn't contained. So basically any injury that can be attributed to human error is not covered. So pretty much everything, is not covered. So I figured it was a waste of money. I was paying $42 per month.

I used to have Darcy covered with Petplan. They were crap and didn't want to cover anything (because when he hurt himself apparently it was my fault) so I cancelled the policy. Figured I was better off with savings and an emergency credit card.

Darcy does all of the above and has done since he was a baby. As someone else said, at 5.5 months old I think you would know if he was going to have any issues.

Why do you need to purchase a female to use him as a stud?

I really don't understand why you would even consider this. You will basically be babysitting someone else's dog, and paying a small fortune for the privilege. If you want a pet dog, you are going to be far better off finding a breeder who will sell you the pup outright, in your name.

I'll have to film OH's husky 'talking'...she has so much personalilty. It does get annoying though, when she just keeps 'talking' and won't shut up

I'd love to apply but it looks like you have to use your own dog. I can only imagine what would happen if Darcy was taken into a room full of kids

BYBs are always calling their dogs colours stupid names. I've seen red border collies advertised as "rare wheaten" and blues as "rare charcoal". So these so called "rare chocolate" staffies are probable red or even liver.

Not exactly the same situation, I didn't get a new dog but I moved back to my parents house with my dog, and my parent's dog had to get used to having someone else around. It wasn't that big of a deal because my parents had babysat Darcy plenty of times so they knew each other. Sam is 11 and he seems so much more active and happy when Darcy is around. Darcy is better behaved when he is here, I think because he learns from Sam. Sam taught him how to play fetch and now he is obsessed Neither of them seem to have change in personality.

Darcy loves bones. If its chicken, its gone before you can blink But if its lamb or something that takes effort, he'll usually pull all the meat of, chew on the bone for a few minutes and then trot off into the yard to bury it ;)

Why would you let your dog lick a wound? You're just introducing bacteria and opening yourself up for a possible infection.

That's what I was wondering too. If I left my dog with someone to mind him, and found out that he was acting aggressively towards them or they felt uncomfortable with him for some reason, I would be making alternate arrangements for him, for his own safety if nothing else. I'd be incredibly pissed if the person minding him didn't even bother to let me know there was a problem.

I do see your point, but if you are shopping there, even just for pet supplies, you are supporting a business that sells puppies, by giving them your money. Of course its not going to stop if people keep supporting these businesses. If you don't condone it or support it, why shop there?

I'd love to let Darcy loose in there. He'd have a great time pulling all the insides out of those nice fluffy cushions, and chewing his way through all the furniture.

do you know where the pup came from? My money's on petshop or BYB.

Mine is co-owned so I would imagine he will probably go back to his breeder and she can make the decisions from there. What's really important to me is that he doesn't end up with my sister. She is the kind of person who thinks pedigree dogs = breeding and $$$$$

You seriously think having a human baby is even remotely comparable to buying a dog?

No ethical breeder would ever put their dogs in a pet shop. How could a responsible breeder justify not knowing where their puppies were going? Not to mention knowing that they are most likely going to be bought on impulse by people who might have no idea about the breed and who will most likely never have any contact with the breeder. I would think that responsible breeders would have a plan in place for what they would do in an emergency. Most dog people have lots of contacts and would no doubt be able to find someone to care for a litter if they couldn't.

Darcy is very stubborn. If he gets caught doing something naughty, he gets told off, stops doing it until whoever told him off is not looking, then goes right back to what he was doing So we need to try to distract him from the thing he is doing, otherwise he just won't stop. His other thing is to drop his ball at my feet for me to throw. If I don't, he picks it up and drops it again, or pushes it at me with his nose. He will repeat these things a few times and if that still doesn't work, he tries them again but they are accompanied by little yappy whiny barks. I have to either throw the ball for him, or leave

That makes me mad. We are slowly losing our only native dog due to trapping and cross breeding. They're native for godsake and we don't have many left, we should be protecting them not killing them! But isn't the dog in the article a dingo cross? Its not really 'native' in that case. I agree that we should try to preserve them as a native species, but personally I think that domesticating them is just as bad in terms of removing them from their natural environment. I'm talking about what casowner wrote, about a wildlife park breeding dingoes then putting the pups down because no one else wanted any. Yes, I probably need to learn to read things properly

That makes me mad. We are slowly losing our only native dog due to trapping and cross breeding. They're native for godsake and we don't have many left, we should be protecting them not killing them! But isn't the dog in the article a dingo cross? Its not really 'native' in that case. I agree that we should try to preserve them as a native species, but personally I think that domesticating them is just as bad in terms of removing them from their natural environment.

And... what happened? :D I forgot all about this thread until just now. My bad

Hmm I know of dog friendly beaches but not sure about parks. 14th/15th works for me if someone can organise something. Of course its also possible that I won't remember to check this thread again for the next 3 weeks ;)

It probably should be reported if it is a regular thing, but I agree that it would be best to talk to the owners first or even just drop an anonymous note in their mailbox. They might want to solve the issue but just don't know how, or they might not even realise that it is a problem.