UltimatePup

We are a health insurer's dream. We never make claims and we take obsessively good care of our dog, so really we just donate money to our insurer (PetPlan) each year for nothing more than peace of mind! Unfortunately we are now among the thousands who have received notification of a massive insurance fee increase from PetPlan, despite years of no claims. We found them to be grossly incompetent right at the start of the policy which always left a bad taste in our mouths, so this is the last straw. More than likely we will just drop them entirely and save our money in our own bank account instead of theirs. FYI, they are asking $800/yr for a young, sparklingly healthy no-claims dog. Really stupid of them to turn off the tap from their most profitable customer category. This move also makes me think they may be closing down, or are so stupid that they will put themselves into administration, which won't serve us in the long run either. I've never considered going without insurance before. I don't like it. But I won't pay $800, with gawd knows what further increase to greet us next year and thereafter, if they are still in business. So are there any viable pet insurers left in Australia? Any competition at all? Or still just identical Hollard-backed policies everywhere? Are any other firms jumping in to sweep up PetPlan's mess and grab all their departing customers? Any policies around with worthwhile tick bite cover? Thanks :)

Aussielover, that's very informative and encouraging, thank you. Perhaps we will drop by to watch and chat, as you suggest. Thanks Kavik, though Parramatta is a long and miserable drive away (and the Hills is not much better), so we are really hanging out for somewhere within the green and peaceful limits of the 'insular peninsular'! :D

Hi We would love to try taking our dog to beginner's agility as she seems to have the constitution for it. Are there any clubs you'd recommend on Sydney's Northern Beaches or just slightly inland? We had planned to go to a club at Deep Creek Dog Training Reserve in Narrabeen, but their fee structure is very off-putting to newbies; it works out to $43 just try it out once, without knowing whether we, or our dog, we will even like it. We are keen to find another club that's more welcoming to beginners. Any suggestions please? Thank you

About 6 months ago I had no trouble buying nice juicy Kangaroo tails from http://www.justfood4dogs.com.au/, but they have not had any available now for months. My dog loves the stuff and I like her to have some game meat in her diet, so where else is it available in Sydney? I know there's a supermarket packaged product that says "Roo meat" on the front while the smallprint says "Roo and other meat", i.e. God knows what and that just isn't good enough. I'm looking for roo meat off the bone, or 100% roo mince. Thanks for any help.

Jeepers, scary! They'd better not make any mistakes and go killing someone's beloved furkid! Mind you, from the link they give to the definition of what they classify as a PBT, you'd have to have a fairly immaculately bred animal that meets the breed standard in detail to officially qualify. Many people could be OK, theoretically, as this level of detail makes the ruling tough to enforce: http://new.dpi.vic.gov.au/pets/about-pets/legislation-and-regulation/standard-for-restricted-breed-dogs It's still much better to register your dog though, regardless of breed. As a pet owner, microchipping and council registration is quite reasuring and worth the small cost.

There's a summary here - click once on the picture to bring up the information panel: http://dogbreedguide.whosyadoggy.com/?x=34

Thanks guys. I was worried that I might be looking at a different version of the product.

Hi Quick question to anyone who has bought an Easy Walk harness lately: Are they really dual-colour (belly strap is different) as per the description, or all one colour as per the photos on the packets/in online shops? Thanks

Thanks, we will look into that. I was hoping someone might recognise the smell from the description! Strange, though, that her actual butt and girl bits don't seem to smell. It's more from the muscular area over her hips, as though it's in her fur there. It doesn't make sense, though, that it would appear there suddenly, so anal glands might be what it's about. BTW, she's a 9 month old Golden Retriever. We feed a lot of raw including bone, plus Canidae Salmon, a bit of veg and egg.

Our dog generally doesn't smell. She has almost no doggy odour, so when a smell does appear we really notice it. It's happend a couple of times before, and again today, that a strange smell emerges from the skin on her lower back and hips area. It smells kind of metallic, but more unpleasant than that, sort of sour and 'off'. It can waft quite far. Oddly, it seems to get progressively worse over a few hours or days, then goes away. We initially presumed it was due to playing in the mud (she's half Hippo) in a rather icky dog park after a lot of rain, but it's been raining so much this week that we haven't taken her. She's been fresh as a daisy all day, and we were playing with her and brushing her in the lounge room for quite a while this evening with no issue, then suddenly the unpleasant sour metallic smell emerged again, as if from nowhere. What could it be?! Has anyone come across such a thing? It really seems to be coming from the skin on her rump. We have had a good sniff around (I mean, really, we have!) and it's nowhere else on her. She's healthy, etc.

Thanks, that's really helpful.

She's 8 months old, mostly Golden Retriever. The curls come from elsewhere! She has just started shedding a bit, so maybe it's a coat change coming in? She's a very soft cuddly girl. Re $$$, the ingredients for Cowboy Magic are the same as in some slick silicon-based hair conditioners. I found something in my cupboard very similar so am trying that. She smells lovely . I did end up cutting the worst matt out. The vertical cuts were not enough and she was fed up of us fiddling with her ears. I will also try a slicker brush as a preventative.

This has been really useful, thanks. Here are those ears...

My dog has ultra fine, soft, slightly curly fur behind and under her ears that is very prone to tangling, to the point of matting. I do brush and comb her regularly but have just realised I've been missing a bit. There are soft, dense matts under each ear. We have tried gently working in from the edges but no luck; we are going to have to cut the matts out . Do you have any tips for minimising this type of tangling, other than the obvious combing every two days? e.g. Do human de-tanglers work on dog fur?

Has anyone mentioned fish oil yet? Omega-3 fatty acid-enriched diets can be used to control inflammation associated with dermatologic conditions. Twenty-one dogs with atopy were entered into a blinded, placebo-controlled study lasting eight weeks... The dogs in groups A and B were given borage seed oil and fish oil in combination to provide 176 mg/kg or 88 mg/kg respectively. The dogs in group C were given 204 mg/kg olive oil as a placebo. They were all re-examined after four and eight weeks and scored for pruritus, erythema, oedema, alopecia and self-excoriation. After eight weeks ... the total score for the dogs in group A and group B were significantly reduced (P < 0.05). The dogs in group C showed no significant improvement. Fish oil is also great for joint inflammation, so should probably be a standard inclusion in her diet. Does she also get some organ meats? Vitamin A is essential for immune and skin health; there's a stack of it in liver. Another natural food I love is ZiwiPeak 'treats' - the one made from freeze-dried venison and New Zealand green-lipped mussel - fantastic for joint health. I would also increase the number of raw eggs and chicken carcasses for all of the great skin and joint nutrients in those. Does she get any raw grated vegetables? I am undecided whether dogs need these, but er on the side of 'a little won't hurt and may be a good thing', as dogs do seem to naturally eat small amounts of raw fruit and veg. For mites, fleas and worms Advocate may be worth a try, dosed at 1ml per 10kg body weight, being the minimum effective dose. I hate using chemicals too, but I do use Advocate for control of heartworm, intestinal worms, fleas and various mites. No need to make it a regular thing if you don't want to, but it could be a great experiment to use something very effective like that to ensure she is definitely clear of worms, heartworms and mites. As you are a raw feeder/low chemical user, I expect you have wisely avoided unnecessary annual vaccinations, yes? Aggravating the immune system with annuals seems to have a relationship with skin conditions. There is also a possibility of weakness created by her maternal/in utero problems. I have never heard of a newborn pup with hip displasia! Her mother must have had severe malnutrition of some kind. Do you know what went wrong there? Anyway, it seems that you are very dedicated doggy parent and are doing all sorts of good things to help her. I hope to see updated healthy pictures here soo enough.

Hi Our adorably friendly, wiggly, waggy 7 month old female Golden Retriever can turn into a little monster when given a bone, which is two days out of three. She will growl, lift her lip and even snap if approached or touched, which is very detrimental to our relationship to say the least!!! Has anyone here successfully modified this behaviour? How, exactly? Are there any good videos which showcase effective methods? Initially we tried essentially dominating the situation, which had no positive effect in my view. It just seemed to cause confusion and more stress. Then for the past three months we have tried a wholly positive approach, exchanging treats for being 'allowed' near her bone. e.g. Walking back a forth dropping treats, or approaching her with juicy morsels of dinner and petting her as we give them. This appears to work as she does not react at all, but it really is only appearances because when we are not armed with food she is still as threatening as ever. The behaviour has not changed. As she's getting bigger and now has her adult teeth, this is no fun at all! It's a stark contrast to her usual ultra-friendly, playful, humble self. First and foremost we want her to be safe around people in all situations, which means this behaviour has to stop. We also just want to be able to feed her without tension for all concerned. (BTW, she does not resource guard her regular food - only when it's attached to a bone!!) Please help! Thanks

Found some old rat/mouse snap traps - ultra yuck, but I may use these until I find something better. What's the most effective rat bait you've found?

Is this what you mean? http://www.ratzapper.com.au/ It says both models are no longer available. Are there other brands?

OK, Racumin or rat zappy things. Both of those sound interesting. I would really like to get poison out of the picture altogether, but it's been the only thing that's worked . Please tell me more about the rat zappy thing... (Racumin still sounds dangerous... "Rodents must feed several times in order to ingest a lethal dose. ... Baiting for a least two weeks is necessary to reduce rat and mice numbers. As lethal effect is achieved with Racumin Paste by high palatability, not high toxicity, the risk of secondary poisoning to non-target animals is reduced." I don't quite get the last sentence. Once the rat has ingested enough to kill it, same story for the dog who catches it, no? Also, it requires constant monitoring for several weeks rather than one. I dunno...)

"Maybe read up on rats and where they go to die" Quite a few seem die behind the retaining wall itself (stinky but safe), but I have seen three die out in the open - on the lawn and the footpath.

Hi Rats regularly set up home behind our garden retaining walls. Of everything we've tried, the only successful method of removing them has been, unfortunately, to poison them using Talon wax blocks. Another rat family has just turned up and are very active, building a huge nest. Thing is, we didn't previously have a dog on this property, so now we are wondering how to manage the rat removal safely... There's no problem with keeping the poison blocks out of reach of the dog - that's the easy part. What worries me is that any time from 3 to 7 days later there'll be dead rats around - or worse, rats staggering around in the process of dying. I expect the dog will be attracted to these and attempt to catch and eat them. Yes? No? What is your experience? I am so worried that the dog might eat a poisoned rat. But we can't have rats taking over the way they are right now!! Even if we don't poison them, our neighbour will because they keep chickens, which attracts rats, so there will always be this risk of poisoned rats wandering into our garden. Thanks for your advice.

* I suggest making this a sticky * The below link is to an Australian Government portal where anyone and everyone can - and should - report adverse reactions to veterinary medications and chemicals. I believe this includes vaccines. A very tiny percentage of medication-related adverse events are ever reported by vets themselves, so we, as pet owners, must make sure that we always submit our own reports. This will hopefully help researchers and legislators to monitor and improve the safety and efficacy of our pets' medicines. Report Your Pet's Adverse Reaction Here

I am so very sorry. What an awful thing to happen. A similar thing just happened to my friend's 7 year old dog, who just made it through. My heart goes out to you. I find it truly amazing - really amazing - that so many vets are still giving annual vaccine shots when the guidelines for several years now have been to not to that due to the known health risks and lack of immunological benefit. The official vet guidelines are to do triannual - a happy medium. It's so hard, though, to find a vet who abides by this and does not just ignorantly jab our pets so unnecessarily. BUT - and that is a HUGE BUT - it is your VET's responsibility to know this, not yours!!!!! We should be able to trust our vets, our doctors, but alas their training on vaccination is often from the profit-motivated manufacturers themselves. A crazy situation. Or, like my local vet, they do it for the income; the vet nurse told me that her boss does it only for fear of reduced income . Another 'but' is that your pooch was 13 - quite a vulnerable age where the ice gets very thin. If it wan't that it may well have been the very next minor thing to affect her little old bod - a tummy upset, the sniffles, an injury. It was perhaps her time, too. I know that's little comfort right now. There's no 'right' time ever for these things!!! I am so very sorry. Please don't blame yourself. It sounds like you have been a very caring and thoughtful doggy parent.

Hi I would so very much value your wise input on this dilemma please: My 3 month old pup is gradually sleeping shorter hours through the night instead of longer. She is also training us to respond to her night time and early morning protestations... Initially she slept indoors in her bed, in a pen, near the deck door. She did well there, sleeping 6.5 to 7.5 hrs per night at just 10 weeks of age. In the morning she would gently whimper to be let out to pee. This worked well. We could even put her back in her pen for a few hours without issue. However, my partner wants her to be an outside sleeping dog. I thinks it's much too unnatural and unnecessary to expect a dog to sleep isolated from its pack BUT he is very insistent. For household peace, I am trying to support a transition to outdoor sleeping. If she's happy with it, I don't mind. We had some early success. We put her bed in a kennel, in a pen, on the deck, just 3m from her previous indoor spot. The deck door is open so we can still hear her at night, but inevitably it takes more for her to wake us up in the morning so she upped the ante, barking instead of quietly whining. After about 10 days of this we left her pen door open at night so she could get herself up in the morning. This quickly backfired. As soon as she could get to the deck doors she started to bark to be let in - or let herself in, having learned to open the screen doors. Then when she realised the pen door was not being shut at night she would not go to bed at all and would bark. So we have gone back to keeping the pen door shut at night, which works better. The problems now are... 1. She now will not go back in her pen after her morning pee/poo, but will bark to be let inside the house. We are not in a position to ignore this and ride it out, as it is grossly inconsiderate to neighbours. If I let her inside immediately after pee/poo she is FINE - completely quiet. We can sleep in for another 3 hours if we want. No mess, no chewing, no noise. She doesn't even attempt to come upstairs; she just sleeps in the living room. 2. She is waking earlier and earlier. It used to be 7.30am. Now we're lucky if she goes to 6.30am. We've had 5.30am and 4.30am waking in the past week. I can't get up at 4.30am for the rest of her life! And really, what is the measureable advantage of having a sleeping dog outside for 5 hours, versus having a sleeping dog inside for 5 hours?! 3. We have had some recent nights where she will not go to sleep. Initially she was a wonderful sleeper, putting herself to bed when we went to bed - very cute, and great for us. Now if she's not absolutely exhausted at the time we go to bed, she will protest and bark. To my horror, my partner responds to this repeatedly - he interacts with her to try to get her quiet, and gets very angry at me when I tell him what an intensely bad 'no win' idea this is, expecting me to come up with a better solution. I fear that this has trained her in the first few rounds to bark to bring our attention and presence, and that this can perhaps never be undone. It is true, however, that we simply CANNOT ignore barking that will wake up three sets of neighbours. That is not an option. I would prefer to give up for now and let her be where she is obviously happy - indoors. She is house-trained and we can leave the door open enough for her to self-manage nightly emergencies. It's open anyway when she's outside, so we can hear her. But my partner will not accept this. Can you brilliant doggy people PLEASE guide us with a training protocol that will enable her to learn to become a peaceful outdoor sleeping doggy? Ideally, I'd like her to be flexible eventually - happy indoors or out. (Note: She is a large healthy dog, our climate is mild and the area is very sheltered, so physiologically I see no problem. The garden is fenced. It's just the psychological challenge of getting a very friendly, cuddly dog to be on her own peacefully outside at night.)

Thanks so much for your help everyone. She had her first case of the runs the next morning, so I'm wondering if that was related in some way. We were very careful with her - back to basics for a while on your advice - and she's been perfect ever since. I don't have absolute faith in her as yet - she is, as you say, still only 11 weeks old - but it didn't turn out to be the disaster that it looked like it was going to be that day as we waded through pee... (No sign of a UTI. I would also expect that to be a case of increasing frequency and decreasing quantity, as in humans.)