Tilly

Yes - it seems the pups have been found http://www.themorningbulletin.com.au/story/2012/05/15/stolen-staffies-found-in-stairwell/. Thank goodness for that ... but sad they were even in the pet store rather then with their mum

I don't board my boys either ... but if I had too (looked into it for emergencies) they would need to be kennelled side by side and definately not allowed to mix with other dogs. My older boy is food agressive (sometimes) and while both dogs get on well 90% of the time ... they require firm handling otherwise a fight can break out. They do need their space as the older boy gets grumpy occassionally and needs the younger one to give him some space. Old age is setting in ...

We also feed in the morning with the occassional snack at night. You might find for a day or two he may not eat his breakfast and then come looking for food at night (since he has already stopped having breakfast) but you do have to be a bit tough and not give in until he works out breakfast is the main meal ...

My boy is ball crazy ... so I have two balls. I started by throwing the ball, he races out to get it and once he picked it up I call him and show him the ball I had in my hand ... he would see the ball and come racing back to me forgetting about the ball already in his mouth and would skid to a stop at my feet and drop the ball between my feet while looking at the other ball waiting for me to throw it. He is clearly not bright enough to realise if he really wants the ball - he already has it in his mouth :laugh:

We use Obedience Leads from The Real Dog Equipment Company. They are a flat tube which is super strong and hold up even with an accidential tooth through the leash ... we used them with our security dogs ...

Our boys are also fed straight from the freezer. We rarely feed anything defrosted these days.

I have two dogs. One crate trained and the other isn't. Non-crate trained dog was in and out of hospital (seriously ill). Hospitalisation and confinement was very upsetting for him and he became very aggressive and stressed during the hospitalisation. Crate trained dog injured his foot and was crated for a period of time ... he was very relaxed and wasn't the slightest bit anxious about being confined ... and he is normally a very high drive dog that hadly ever sits still. Highly recommend crate training ... :)

Another for Comfortis ... my guys were itching but nothing was working until we used comfortis.

I talk "normally" holding conversations with them ... but then I do the same with babies.

When I was still as school ... we lost our dog. He had been gone a couple of weeks when I would swear I could heard the jingle of his dog tags and the tap, tap of his nails on the polished floors. A couple of times I would wake up to this weight at the bottom of my bed just like when he used to sleep at the end of my bed.

Double post

I found this rather interesting ... http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/breaking-news/warren-council-wins-fatal-dog-attack-appeal/story-e6freonf-1226327751637

With the puppy being outside during the day ... she is probably playing and toileting before continuing playing again. She is treating inside the same as outside. As this stage she doesn't know any different. From day one I took my boy outside from being in his crate ... and he would immediately toilet so I would praise him with "good toilet". If we were outside and he toileted then he also got praised for "good toilet". I crated him inside day and night and would take him out roughly ever 4 hours to toilet ... he would have outside play time and inside play time but only when I could keep him under close supervision. Thankfully he only had one accident inside the house ... and that was when a friend came over and let him out of the crate to play with hiim without him being taken outside to toilet first.

I have had something similar with the rubber handle on a garden nozzle (dogs use it like a chew toy) ... it was because the rubber was breaking down. Can you take it back? I wouldn't continue using it ...

There is also this place ... http://www.dogids.com/designerdogtags.html

I use Blackdog ... love the fact they have a removable liner :)

Can you change the recall from name/come to something else that doesn't have the same associations? Do you have an affectionate name for her? I am lucky my boys think "grumpy bum" and "fluffy butt" are words of love .... I don't tend to call the dogs name first (only because I often get them mixed up ) ... I whistle or call "oye" and then the recall.

I think I may have found the solution ... I raised the height of the food bowl inside to saucer by sitting it on top of a round plastic container (sprayed with cooking oil) ... this increased the distance of water the ants needed to cross before they get into the food. I also added a drop of dishwashing detergent to the water ... seems to break the surface tension so cat hair doesn't sit on the surface of the water. So far so good ... I am hesitant to use chemicals because the dogs also have access to the area (under supervision at the moment until they learn the cats ... and later my birds ...are not for playing with)

Some people just have no idea ... I had my 7 month old GSD boy at small local off leash park. Car pulled up beside park so I head over to my boy (he was going through selective hearing stage) ready to clip lead on ... when the guy gets out of the car and drops the tinest little pup over the fence and continues his conversation on the mobile with his back to the park. Thankfully my boy decided he would listen to me and came running when I called his name ... and when I tried to explain to the guy that is was not a good idea to drop such a small pup into the park when a large unknown dog was there ... I got abused and told my dog shouldn't be there if he wasn't friendly. Couldn't get him to understand ... my dog is friendly but he was a 35+kg puppy who had no idea on his size or strength ... and could have easierly hurt the puppy.

I have my mums two cats currently staying in my new avairy for a couple of weeks ... and I am having major issue with ants. I had their bowl sitting in a saucer of water but within minutes ants appear from no where and swarm over the food. I switched the water to vinager ... same thing. I have sprinkled talc powder ... no difference. I am reluctant to use any chemicals ...but I need some ideas as the cats can't get near their food.

Wow ... they look great :D

Alternatively ... a secure run with a roof.

That is the one trinabean ... not sure why the link I added isn't working as it seems fine on my computer ...

This is so cute ... I just had to share http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DP08iadDzgn0%26feature%3Dyoutu.be&feature=youtu.be&v=P08iadDzgn0&gl=AU

My guys love Canidae PureSea ... youngest is sensitive to beef and grains.