Alyra

If you want secluded - http://www.parkvaleholidaycabins.com.au near bairnsdale. Countrywide are good.

I'd agree - stay away from modern townhouses etc. - anything with nice new carpet is going to be less likely to be pet friendly. - we've always gone for houses with floorboards or tiles, and it's always been approved applications. :)

Ditto on pet resume. We also let them know dog only ever allowed inside supervised . We've applied for properties not advertised per friendly and got them. Try ypa real estate Altona or Sweeney Altona if looking west - have rented through both with dog and foster dogs and cats .

Shar Pei Rescue - http://www.sharpeirescue.com.au if you still need any links. (NSW/VIC)

I think there are always going to be off lead dogs everywhere. I walk my dogs at quieter times now - don't have to worry about dogs running up yapping their head off at mine as much. Wish people would obey council laws etc. but it appears people think they are immune because their dog is so "well trained".

Dr Rod Sharpin is a vet at Altona Veterinary Clinic (have had animals treated by him)

There was probably more free stuff and good deals at the pet expo than this one if comparing

I wouldn't take your dog in the car if it was me - too close when they don't know each other but that's just my personal take (Unless they have been able to be calmly introduced off lead in a neutral area already) Each time we get a foster our routine changes a little more - tweaked a bit more! Our own dog is over excitable and gets a bit upset, so a long walk together is the key for him in neutral territory then supervision and calm for the first few hours especially. And we always have a water spray bottle handy to tell off any bad behaviour there may be between the two.

Was there on Friday with our foster dog in the rescue dog zone - seemed a busy show which was good :-) Was well set out at least - not jammed in and I liked that they used the 2nd floor for space. We had lots of people come and say hello to our dogs (We had a puppy there as well) :) Been a good weekend by the sounds of it.

I feed the dogs sardines sometimes - they love them. Every day though they get Omega oil (Natural animal solutions make it, pretty sure there'd be other ones too) which is easy to squirt on their dinner. Makes their coats soo nice.

Great news that you've found a place :) :)

Never had a problem finding pet friendly rental in Melbourne. What we do - look at older houses. Ones with floorboards (landlords may not want to risk their carpet). Older houses landlords won't be as worried about. The one we're in now is a partially renovated older style one and it wasn't advertised as pet friendly, but we did what Esky does - went to the inspection with the application form pre-filled along with the blurb about the dog and that he's does obedience etc. and we were upfront that we foster rescue dogs too. (And have 2 cats). We were approved for two this time around hunting - and the last people were great. We're in the western suburbs. If you want to PM me I can tell you some agents that are good about dogs in my experience.

Always have had a clam shell over summer months - not just as a cooling off point but as a back up water source if we are out (obviously water is changed regularly) if they were to tip their other bowls etc. - they don't use it much, but at least the opportunity is there if they need to cool off. Can't see why it would be dangerous, but then my dogs are a medium size breed - maybe with little'uns?

When we got the ashes back for our Alfred, I couldn't really get the thought of having him sitting in a box so to speak - so we scattered his ashes in the scrub on my brother's country property - it was his favourite place and he always had a ball there - and we can visit often. We still have some of his hair that the vet got for us (he was a bear coat shar pei) that we keep.

When we have applied for rentals we have applied for ones that don't say specifically no pets, and have never had a problem being accepted - this time around I added a little bio/info since we also foster care for dogs to make it clear what we do etc.. I think as long as you aren't looking at newer houses with fancy carpet etc. pet friendly rentals are more common than we think :)