Mags

How wonderful is that - lucky girl to have all you wonderful people watching over her.

Wonderful news - hope all goes well tomorrow.

Fingers crossed for this beautiful girl that this is her forever family.

What a truely lovely dog and Jack looks like a special young man with a very kind heart. Thanks for sharing these 2 very special little ones with us.

We got a 500ml bottle of Ilium Oticlean from the vet for our grey. It is a trigger pack so makes cleaning her ears easy. We do them once a week and it looks like it will last for ages and it cost nothing like that. You can get it on line for less than $20 + postage and the vets price was about the same total cost. Does a good job too.

So very sorry to hear Maggie is losing ground. Diet change as above can help but you really need to know what is going on and whilst Curcumin can be useful it is a blood thinner so not advisable if she needs an op. From the sudden deterioration it does sounds as though things are moving very quickly.

OMG so cute just found this thread so got to see them grow in an instant - thought I had fallen in love with the fawn puppy but now that beautiful puppy sitting with him on the grass - oh my what a cutie she/he is. Puppy's sure can make your heart melt. Hope you and your beautiful dogs and your family have a wonderful Christmas.

Does make you wonder why anyone would choose to live there doesn't it? Absolutely appalling approach and shows a total lack of compassion.

Couldn't disagree more - my kittens are handled from the moment they are born, are well socialised and receive training so they make good companions - and when they get to their forever home (and they don't leave here till they are around 16 weeks old) that training needs to be continued if you want a friendly, well behaved companion. All pets regardless of species take commitment and time and if you don't have it don't bother getting any pet. Edited to add: Apologises for going off topic hope your FIL and his new mate have a terrific first Christmas.

yes, a cat :D Hopefully not a cat either if you don't have the time and patience for a dog you certainly don't have one for a cat and there are already enough idiot cat owners who annoy everyone else by letting their cats wander because they can't be bothered keeping them contained and cared for properly.

Glad to see him looking so settled and happy - he must be a lovely dog. So glad for your FIL what a wonderful Christmas these guys are going to have together. Nothing better than a wonderful ACD companion (bit biased after having ACDs for 25yrs)

Any news on Buster - looking forward to hearing he has finally made it to his forever home.

Lots of us have cats as well as dogs here so certainly OK to say goodbye to a much loved furry feline companion. Sorry to hear your boy has passed, it is never easy even if they have spent a long healthy life with you. Hope your other furries are doing OK with him gone - we lost a much loved oldie recently (our beautiful Quoi a seal point raggie) and the other furries (dogs and cats) are still missing their aunty Quoi.

Totally off topic but how sad is that - I would love to be able to source a retired grey from a caring person like that. His dogs would be perfect for retirement as a pet - well cared for, socialised, no health issues and fit straight into a pet home by the sound of it. Shame on the person who broke his trust.

Definitely agree with this. Most of us know of someone that has been contacted about an animal they bred because the owner hasn't bothered transferring the microchip into their name. I would feel a whole lot better knowing the breeders name was permanently there as a back up person if need be. Unfortunately I had a friend told that once you sell the animal you have no claim on it even if the chip is still registered in your name so she was unable to rescue her boy from the pound. She tracked down the new owner and he signed the dog back to her and she managed to get him out of the pound but it was a very worrying time for her until she had him out and safe.

Totally disagree - got the same crap when I first got a purebred cat. If I hadn't got a purebred cat of my chosen breed I wouldn't have got one at all. Me not getting a purebred would not have saved one cat. And we also have had purebred dogs of a breed we love from rescue - if we had not rescued the breed we wanted we would not have taken a rescue. That is again our choice. Not everyone thinks all dogs/cats are the same - not surprising as they aren't. Not everyone wants a rescue that is their choice - preaching at them, trying to guilt them into taking responsibility for other peoples negligence will only lose people who were perhaps considering rescue.

Seems very reasonable if they have to go hunting for a teste.

Totally agree with this - we have had them move, come out and stop working over the years. Found a chip sitting on the top of the coat of one of our Maine Coons and sure enough it was her chip. Could not see where it had come out but it had. So when we are at the vet we always check the chip to make sure it is where it should be and working. Vet doesn't mind and it only takes a minute.

Totally agree with this but you also need to be concerned about your dog as he can be badly injured by a roaming cat in what should be the safety of his yard. Cat proofing is very hard if there are any trees/large shrubs near fence lines. Hopwfully neighbourhood roamers will very quickly learn your yard is off limits and stay away.

If you suspect your dog has a thyroid issue I would really recommend you read Jean Dodds book: The Canine Thyroid Epidemic - very enlightening.

Many years ago we had a dog get out and spent days looking for her, posters up, had done the rounds of the vets, notified council, checked the pounds repeatedly etc. People had found her just after she got out and took her home. Despite her being microchipped, and having a collar with contact numbers on it. The wife fully intended to keep her as she was good with the kids and was a well trained polite dog. Thankfully the husband came home on RDO's, he worked away from home, and managed to work out something was not right (wife had taken her collar and tags off), saw a poster and rang us. He then brought her back and apologised for his wife's behaviour. It was absolutely devastating to have lost her and it was clear we would not have got her back if the husband had not come home.

I agree with this but if I had to choose (and I would genuinely hate to) then I am afraid I would have to say Maine Coons (not just any cat lol). And long ago pre the raggies and the MCs if someone had asked I would have said we were dog people.

Wonderful news

You should have the right to decide who pats your puppy or dog for that matter however some people just assume they are common property and they and their children have a right to run up to them, pat them and half the time that is more like a robust thump, pull their ears, hit them with toys etc. When we were kids we were not allowed to touch anyone's dogs without permission and we were not encouraged to pat dogs we didn't know anyway because of the risk of hydatids. However common courtesy is not so common anymore it seems and people expect to get what they want when they want it and think they have the right to abuse anyone that implies that their attention is not appreciated especially if it means satisfing a childs demands. And some people just don't get that no means no and you aren't just saying it for fun. Should also be remembered that if a person hurts/scares your pup/dog in this day and age it will be the pup/dog that is held responsible if it snaps not the totally inappropriate behaviour of the human involved.

Maybe they can hear or see something you aren't though good on them for guarding you. Katie, our grey, has a huge scarey sounding bark when she wants and she has a couple of times now told people that she felt shouldn't be wandering around to clear off - I was out walking with her and this very angry man started screaming abuse into his mobile she immediately swung herself across in front of me and gave a loud bark. Guy got into his car and left, I nearly had a heart attack as I wasn't expecting it at all. She then calmly walked on as though there was nothing happening in her world but her walk - she is very focused when we are walking. You put her muzzle on and it seems to act like blinkers as she stops looking around and just focuses on the task at hand. - some guy tried to open our side gate and come into the back yard, my OH heard him at the gate and asked what the hell he was doing, he then appeared to leave but actually went around to the car gate and tried to get it open, OH was still in the yard and yelled out he was ringing the police (which he did) - Katie put herself between OH and the gate and apparently gave a big bark. - she has barked like that only a couple of other times and on both occasions there were loud unpleasant sounding people wandering passed the house. Really not something we expected from a grey and Katie is such a gentle really sweet dog that it is a bit of a shock the first time you hear that bark. The only other time she makes any noise is when she is playing with Bertie and she will occasionally give a really happy its great to be alive woof.