Golden Rules

You are spot on!!! You obviously know more than you think you do! Wow, what's this thing with Thornlie Dolers? You guys could hold your own meet!

Aziah, the OP is saying that he never said the breeder overcharged. As others have said, English not being his first language, some of his posts are being misinterpreted because of that.

Seems there's a few Dolers in Thornlie or down that way anyway, you're all in good company! That really sucks about the City of Gosnells not being flexible with the 2 dog rule but yeah, look how they are behaving over the guy in the tree! I'm waiting for their next trick over that one I know of a few people who just have a third dog, don't register it, and no one knows the difference, especially if they are quiet and don't make a nuisance in any way. You going to the BBQ on Saturday Rubystar? You might be ready for a drink after moving house!

Great poll Chewy!! My only real issue is with recall. I have read everything, sought help with excellent well known trainers and practice every day when we are out. The damn dog will recall the first few times, then just seems to get bored and takes off and does his own thing. These days I judge where and when I let him off lead for his sake and the other users of wherever we are. If people have food, then he just can't be let off lead, or I have to watch him like a hawk and get there before he does. So many people have told me that recall with rescue dogs is often difficult (all my dogs have been pound hounds bar one little miss) and none of them have had good recall. I have managed to teach all other manner of tricks and behaviours but recall has been the least successful (and yet probably the easiest to actually teach!) My next dog will be a puppy and will have the pants trained off him from a very early age.

The office at work today was damned hot, heated up over the weekend and due to the high temps today, wouldn't cool down even though we had the aircon turned as low as it would go, so the temp sat on 29 for most of the day Thank doG for aircon at home!

Are you trying to set a record for the number of threads you can create in a short space of time?

I reckon just keep watering your lawn and do a weekly Seasol thing. I feed it to my potted plants when I remember and they seem to be surviving this heat. As for the lemon tree hanging over, that's brilliant!!! Do you drink Gin and Tonic? Otheriwse, make lots of lemon meringue pies! At my old house, I planted Peace Lilys (sorry, don't know the botannical name) and they grew quickly, easily and very lush with the odd white lily flower, very pretty! They do need a bit of water though and only shade, no sun.

My garden bed got so far and then just stopped ;) No, the cannas are not in flower at all (I have had 2 flowers about 6 or 8 weeks ago, that's all) and the rest isn't doing much at all. What are the justicias? Are they the things that are supposed to have red flowers? If so, they are about 80cm tall but no sign of flowers. Most of the agapanthus have settled in well, some of THEM look lush and a couple have flower heads on them but I don't think much else is happy to grow, even though it gets watered often. Maybe it's the tree they are under. I'm tempted to just fill the beds with agapanthus as they seem happy enough Rubystar, my dogs were never interested in eating the berries from the Cocos Palms

Hey you I have a Cocos Palm or two as well and they are dreadful trees, dropping berries all the time (well, the female one does). I have to have the tree trimmed and berry bunches removed every second year or so. I found a great chap in the local newspaper last year who did it for a very reasonable price so I reckon you need to call a few places and get quotes. I got quotes to have my two Cocos Palms removed a couple of years ago and was looking at $800 at least at the time, not cheap I wouldn't remove the apricot tree. The fruit only falls off it when it's overripe so all you'd need to do is pick the fruit before becoming fully ripe, and let it ripen off the tree! If the apricots are anything like the size of those you buy in the shops, the stones would be so small, I reckon they'd pass right through your labs ;) I'll come and pick the fruit for you if you don't want it and will give you apricot jam in return! As for the lawn, I have a small patch of lawn that looked just like yours if not worse, about this time last year. I used Scotts lawn fertilizer on it, plus a wetting agent, and a sprinkler every day for a couple of weeks. The lawn went from brown to green (remember Horty?!). I need to do it again but am waiting for the worst of the summer heat to be over. I have always found lawn to brown off in summer and green up in winter. I removed most of my lawn other than the small 30 odd square metres which was kept only for the dogs to pee and poo on! But you are right, it is much cooler in summer and I know what you mean about it being 'peaceful'

;)

I believe we humans call it "masturbation" and it's a pretty darned hot looking pillow!!! It's a 'feel good' thing. Yup, that's about the short and tall of it My young Goldie (RIP) used to hump his favourite soft toy (that he used to seek out from all the other soft toys) and suck on it - he would take it to bed with him every night! After dinner at night, this same dog would go and hump his bed in the bedroom - every night without fail

The vet I take my dog to for acupuncture gave me some for a trial (a months worth) that she had been given by her visiting american friend who was also a vet. She said everyone was talking about it being the best thing since sliced bread for joint issues etc.... Because most natural supplements take more than a month to be shown to have any effect, I went online to order some more. This was early last year. It wasn't available at the time here in Australia (don't know if it is yet either) so I had to order it from an American website. I bought a lot seeing as postage was expensive. A couple of weeks later, I got a letter from Customs telling me unless I had an import licence or something, they weren't going to let it into the country because the product is made from dried cow's milk. Should have known better before I ordered the stuff to check these things out The website I bought it from were useless with their communications etc so I wasn't even able to end up returning it so it would have been destroyed bu Customs. My vet has since given me more sample packs but none more that a months worth at a time. From memory, I think I did notice an improvement however nothing more than anything else I was using. I guess it's one of those things you might have to try as all dogs being different etc.

spottychick, Curash is a powder you can buy from the chemist or supermarket and is commonly used for babies bums (nappy rash)

Sounds like you have both been put through the wringer! :D Glad to hear Snot's back home in the arms of his loving Mum!

I highly recommend the vet who works from home in Shelley that Ptolomy mentioned, she has done great things with my boy, and she is one of the nicest people you'll ever meet as well!

I have a 32kg Goldie with arthritis and HD. He has been as heavy as 36kg, and as light as 29 kg. The vet wants to see him at 27kg which would be underweight for his size (he's a big Goldie) but would be good for his ailments. When trying to get his weight down, walking would be OK, except after 20 minutes, he would have slowed right down and be limping. Running would last all of a few minutes before he'd collapse for a rest before trying again. After his last cruciate op, (he's had 3 now) the vet suggested putting him on Metacam daily on order he be pain free so he would be more encouraged to exercise and build up the muscles around his knees and hips. Wasn't keen on daily Metacam but honest to goodness, it's been the best thing ever for him. His stamina has improved 100% and he can do so much more these days. I have tried all the natural remedies, and supplements, and I mean ALL of them! What has made the most difference is the Metacam, and this dog now has amazing quality of life, he can't wait to get out there and do stuff! Talk to your vet again hey. Even if you can manage a trial period of some pain relief, see how you go (or the dog goes ) Good luck.

I too would be getting his eyes checked (if that's possible for a dog!) My boy has put the brakes on a few times lately, sat and refused to budge - for no apparent reason. He also suddenly developed a fear of the kitchen and some parts of bare floor which makes me think when he can't see the rugs, he loses his confidence. How old is the dog you are looking after?

I use a plastic jug with the bucket of warm water but a watering can filled with warm water would actually be more effective I would imagine.

I highly doubt that you will get any refund. The way pet insurance in Australia works is that it is an annual policy whereby the annual premium is made monthly (to make it more 'saleable'). If you cancel the policy during the policy year then you have to continue to pay until the end of the policy year (unless you have not claimed at all then there may be a pro rata refund but do not quote me on that). This is the case even if your dog dies - you still need to pay out the policy year. I had a different experience with the RSPCA insurance. When my dog died, I cancelled the policy and they refunded the premium for the part of the year not used (7 months). I had paid the policy in full at the beginning of the year, made one small claim and they refunded in July after my dog died in June. They even sent a lovely letter expressing their condolences, although I'm sure it was a standard letter but was still appreciated.

I would imagine because it is often made from the parts of the animal that humans don't normally eat? Or perhaps because it's not a complete food for humans?

The bolded bit would be enough for me to know he wouldn't fare too well in a new home if he is already confused in his own home. If it were me in this situation, I would spoil him rotten and then PTS right before I had to leave. I think that is such an honorable thing to do, I take my hat off to you.

I was talking to another Doler just in the last few days about her insurance with Pet Plan and the fact they take forever to administer her claims.

I am just loving the stories and photos in this thread! :cry:

Oh Willow, he just lubs you, that's all