benny123

Also wanted to say have a happy easter, and that you last dog was beautiful too. PS. here's a pic of our last boy, Benny taken about 6 months before he passed away.

...and this is Beanie also 7 months and 35 kilos. Please ignore my gardening clothes.

This is Spud, taken last Sunday 7 months old now and 37 kgs.

Yes I did, but my keyboard packed it in and I couldn't reply. Have a new one now. Hope you don't mind but I gave the link to Lynne so that could see how lovely they are too. Cheers

Hi Norsgra, I've been paying attention to our dogs' coats (since seeing your pics of Brock and HH's pics of the others). Since we started including sardines, tuna, yoghurt and raw eggs (about 6 weeks ago) our pound puppies coats just shimmer and shine and feel so soft. Now the thing is, I also eat sardines, tuna, yoghurt and soft boiled eggs and my hair is nowhere as shiny as theirs - I'm thinking of swapping my Weet-Bix for Nutro . I'm not sure what is causing their coats to look and feel so spectacular so I guess it's just the combination of the above . Just keep doing what you are doing as Brock looks fabulous .

We thought the same about our little girl but a vet check showd a mild urinary tract infection. Two weeks on antibiotics fixed the problem. Poor little girl couldn't help it. I feel bad for getting angry when she had an infection that I didn't know about. Sugggest you see a vet and take a urine sample (in a totally clean container - as it can affect the result). Good luck.

Oooh, I wish you could post pics of them now - I'd love to see them. I saw Rori when she was about 7 weeks old (when we were picking up or pups) and have never seen carter in the flesh.

I read somewhere (probably on DOL), but can't find it now, not to feed too much fish (presumably not every day) not sure why. We give ours Nutro kibble morning and evening (they're 6 months old) and sardines once a week (Tuesday), a small tin of tuna (Saturday) in oil once a week and an egg once a week (Thursday) mixed with the kibble. For the meals that we don't feed fish or eggs they have pets chicken mince mixed with the kibble. We get it from Leonards - it's basically minced chicken frames and quite lean. They also have turkey necks or chicken wings for their teeth. Their coats are extremely shiny and healthy, but I think Nutro has a lot to do with it as well. They don't like eating just kibble which is why we use the chciken mince. When they were babies they were easy to please then when they were Brock's age (3 months) they became extremely fussy and wouldn't touch plain kibble (but still loved sardines and tuna) so I was glad to find the Leonards pet grade chicken mince. It's very finely minced and spreads easily through the kibble so you don't need much and perhaps with the fish oil mixed in he'll think he's having fish.

As mentioned in my last post - we used it on Saturday and no one died I'm not home at present (away on a buiness trip), however, OH tells me that the dogs are now scratching like crazy and thinks that this shampoo has irritated their skin. He can't see any fleas (on the dogs or in the house etc). Has anyone had this type of reaction from this (or any other flea) shampoo and have any advice on what should be done now? Should he bathe them again in an oatmeal shampoo to soothe their skin or just leave it and hope it settles down? I'll be in the doghouse when I get home as I was the one who purchased that shampoo.

They're actually brother & sister. Mother was a golden retriever x German shepherd and dad was a black labrador. If you look at the SAR website under Sophie and her bubs, it's two of those babies. However, I've a feeling that mum (Sophie) may have also had a one night stand with a ridgeback or mastiff. They're 6 months old next week and Spud (brown dog) is already 34 kgs.

We lost beautiful Benny (big boy in the pic and in my avatar) in September also at age 11. It's very hard, I still cry over him - poor baby had cancer which is why he looks so big (fat) in that pic - it was swelling and fluid retention (there's a medical name for it but I can't remember what it is). I'll love him till the day I die, beautiful gentle giant. He was 4 when we got him through a friend of ours who is a vet. His previous owner decided that Ben no longer suited his lifestyle ambitions!! So we had him in our life for only 7 years - nowhere near long enough. This time we decided to get two pups so they wouldn't be lonely when we went out as we always worried about Ben and took him everywhere possible so he wasn't home alone. These are our two through SAR:

A similar thing happened to us. We took ours out for their daily walk and had just gone out of our front gate when the female kelpie x over the road jumped the fence and attacked our girl. Pinned her down and had her by the throat, shaking her (no blood, thankfully). Our little girl was very shaken and didn't want to go out of the gate after that (can't say I blame her, she was only 4 and half months old at the time), but we persisted and used treats to get her out again. She's nearly 6 months now, very confident and way bigger than that nasty kelpie. We still do the daily walks but I now growl at the kelpie if she so much looks at Beanie. We've also come across the kelpie several times when ours have been on lead in the street but the kelpie is just roaming. Dear Beanie seems to have forgotten the incident and tries to go up and say hello to the kelpie (like she does with most dogs), but I think the kelpie remembers me and gives us a wide berth. The thing is, I think you've got to be normal and just do everything you would normally do, don't make any changes or concessions, dogs thrive on consistency. Just be a little way/mindfull of that particular dog and perhaps the owner will also. Carter & Rori will get over it if it's situation normal and I'm sure their are nice friendly dogs at obedience class. Which one do you go to? PS. I've known the kelpie since she was 8 weeks old and she had no problem with our last dog (RIP my darling). Here's a picture of the bitch from hell kelpie x and my last dog. Needless to say, she's no longer invited over for play dates.

Thanks everyone, Gave them a bath and wore surgical gloves (only type I have - I use them for crumbing schnitzel etc) and I probably shouldn't have bothered. With all the shennanigans going on in the bath I had as much on me as they did Anyway, we all survived and they smell lovely - which is nice for a flea shampoo. Cheers

Bought a bottle of Fidos Fre-Itch Flea shampoo today and reading the safety directions it says to wear elbow length gloves, do not let it contact skin, do not breathe vapours....yikes. I don't have elbow length gloves or a mask. Does anyone use it and do you follow these safety directions when washing a dog? If it's that bad for people is it really OK for dogs?

Oooh, careful with the shoes. I once gave my cocker spaniel pup an old shoe of mine - the left one, which she loved. But, for the rest of her life she chewed every left shoe I ever owned. Sometimes when my foot was still in it !

We live in a village in the Royal National Park (Sydney) where even the people get ticks. We now use Pro-Ban tablets every 2nd day for tick protection as most of the spot ons don't seem to work here. You still have to check the dog every day but what we find are usually small dead ticks. Big old Benny, the boy in my Avatar almost died from tick poisioning when we were using Frontline (every 2 weeks). Someone told me recently that ticks become immune to the various tick preparations over time, so if that's the case perhaps Frontline has had its day in terms of ticks. I also hate putting all these chemicals into the dogs, but I'd rather have a live dog than a dead one. May have to give some Pro-Ban to the OH as he seems to have developed an allergy to ticks!

Well, we went to Sutherland Shire Dog Training this morning (kindergarten) as it was great. The pups (ours) were a bit all over the place but, we've been putting into practice what we learned this morning, and there's improvement already. Looking very forward to next week - who says you can't teach old dogs (being hubby & me) new tricks? And the pups are learning too!

Our old GSD x Newfoundland had arthritis for the last three years of his life. He had the cartrophen injections twice yearly (i.e. 4 injections x twice a year) which really seemed to help. We also gave him Sasha's Blend on his food every day. I didn't really think the Sasha's Blend would work, but, we went away for a week and forgot to pack the Sasha's and we really noticed the difference after not having it for a week. Poor boy could hardly walk. He was also on cortisone (low maintenance dose 5 - 10mg per day, he was 67kgs) every day until he died, which helped his hot-spots as well as his arthritis. We weighed up the dangers of the cortisone used long term and decided if it provided quality of life it was worth it. It's very hard seeing our babies in pain. I highly recommend the cartrophen injections and Sasha's Blend.

May take some miniscule pieces of sausage of some type (something different) as they only get recommended dog food like - Nutro kibble, chicken mince, pet mince, meaty bones etc., so sausgae is a real treat. As you can imagine, when we took rescue siblings we knew they'd be more difficult to train than a single dog or non related dogs as they are so into each other. A friend, who is also a dog trainer, warned us against getting two but we did it anyway as they needed homes. Hopefully they'll do well. BTW, your dog is stunning. I've always loved hounds, wolfie x scruffies in particular. Talked to a wolfhound breeder at length last year while researching the breed as a future family member, before discovering all the dogs in rescue in need of homes.

Thanks again Squeak. I looked at the website so perhaps I can download the form and have that completed when we arrive. I'll read a bit more and see what we need to take in terms of collars/leads/treats etc. Here are the pups, Spud (reddish brown boy) and Beanie (blonde girl):

Many thanks Squeak, that's great. So I guess we should plan to be there around 7.30ish.

Oooh how do we join the Sutherland Shire Dog Training Club? We're in Bundeena and have two 5 month old (siblings - hard, I know) x breed Rescue pups, golden retreiver x lab x something else. The pups are really quite smart it's OH & I that need training. Actually, our Vet recommened that we contact a lady called Karen for in home training - wonder if the same lady. ETA: the vet recommended in home training as the pups get car sick, but I think they're be a bit better now as they've grown and can see out of the windows.

Another plug for Nutro here. It is hard to find but the following website lists suppliers in Australia, however, it seems to be only the Eastern States. http://www.nutro.com.au/

Congratulations on your to rescue puppies ...they look like Rory( formerly Bindi) and Carter to me, from the lovely Lynne at Sydney Animal Rescue. We also have two pups from SAR, we got ours at 8 weeks. I think patience is the key here. I think poor little Carter was rescued at a somewhat older age than Rory and doesn't yet have the social graces or confidence that she acquired from an early age by being with the other pups and dogs in rescue. One of ours was pretty gung-ho and was up for anything whereas the other was frightened of her own shadow for a while and was terrified of a collar and lead and refused to walk. We started with lots of treats and just walking around the house where she felt safe. Then we went out to the garden on the lead and she was terrified again and refused to walk. In our case we knew shw loved things like leaves & sticks and fallen bark. So we let the lead loose and waggled a piece of bark at her. She came running for that so we did that a few times and then one of us would hold the lead while we ran for the bark or stick. She soon felt comfortable with that so then it was the big day out the front gate...only a short one and we had some bark with us (plus her brother). She was a bit spooked, but we kept it short and came back home. We increased the distance every day and initially kept to the same street area. Now she'll go anywhere...and loves it. They are now 5 months old and love their walks and meeting people and other dogs, they still find some car noises a bit spooky, but then so do I. I did, however, ensure that they met heaps of people and other fully vaccinated dogs in our home prior to their final vaccs. I do think that training school would be good for them, they are young and will learn. Again, well done for saving two pupies.

So sorry for your loss, Frank. My beautiful Ben went to the bridge last September and I still cry. I hope Jessy and Ben are playing together and watching over us. Ben 2.2.96 - 14.9.06