dee lee

Every couple of months I take my goldie to a guy in centennial park to wash and BLOW DRY! Best 25 bucks I have ever spent. His shampoo etc is apparently all natural and she smells lovely. Plus, did I mention he BLOW DRIES her? That blow drying saves my sanity. If I am desperate and cant get to him I use Aloveen.

No, never. I have kids so I would find it weird. The guy who washes Honey calls me her mum and it always creeps me out.

I once fell badly while running with my last dog. It was a popular park, 2 men were walking their dog close by & NO-ONE stopped to see if I was ok. I was down for a few minutes & was bleeding. All I got was a big kiss from my dog, then I hobbled home. Some people suck. However, while running our dog in the same park my OH saw some idiot let his Newfie rush an old lady, he stopped to check if she was ok & give the owner a piece of his mind. Over the years we have assisted quite a few people who are having trouble in some way. So not everyone sucks.

OMG!!! He is so divine!!!! Lucky you, lucky Sid!!!

I've done extensive internet searches about this and all I could find is that "animals are not allowed in food preparation areas". So a dog sitting in the eating area - is not breaking this rule. And in fact, guide dogs (for blind people) are not allowed to be refused. And I think the rules are beginning to include disability help dogs besides just dogs that assist blind people. Same with hotels. While a hotel might choose to ban dogs, it isn't for "health reasons". Really, we're much more likely to get "health problems" from other humans than our dogs. I couldn't agree more. Yet I did see a news story last year about certain councils fining Sidewalk Cafes despite those Cafes trying to be "dog friendly". It was on ACA so who knows. Perhaps it was "Local Council Bylaws???" I remember reading about Mosman council enforcing the no dogs within x metres regulations. After a local uproar about it they backed down. City of Sydney council is known to be pretty dog friendly. Clover Moore, the mayor of Sydney, is a passionate dog lover who has done much for making Sydney more dog friendly. Presumably why my local cafes & pubs have no issues with letting people sit outside with their dogs.

I understand the frustration with public transport, but I also think the only appropriate public transport would be a train due to space issues- not everyone wants a dog that close to them. Aside from that I dont find Australia too non dog friendly. Not picking on you Oakway and Christina , but I do want to point out again that there are hotel and pub establishments that allow dogs. At least in Sydney and Melbourne anyway. In Sydney two examples I can put forth are the London Hotel in Balmain and the Norfolk Hotel in Redfern. Both welcome dogs. In Melbourne, I understand the Botanic Hotel (?) in South Yarra is also dog friendly- they even used to have a night specifically for dogs and their owners. There also several hotels in the eastern suburbs of Sydney that are dog friendly such as the Hughenden in Woollahra and the Medusa in Darlinghurst. These are just examples I have personally come across, I know there are more. So whilst I understand the romantic nostalgia, we do also have some of our own lovely friendly dog stories here too.

Lol, that wasnt all in response to your post!

There are no laws against Hotels having dogs stay- The reason why dogs are unwelcome at the majority of good hotels is because the owners of the hotels do not want them there. Presumably because they feel that it would be to the detriment of their business. Probably justified considering some stories I have read on here re dog friendly hotels. Anyway, there are some hotels that do allow dogs here in Sydney. I would think that there would be others all over Australia? I think it is sensible that dogs are not allowed everywhere here. For example, I would love to bring my dog to work at my city office. But as Steve said, that while my dog might sit calmly at my feet you can bet that there would be several that wouldnt. There would invariably be a mess, or a fight. Same goes for many other places. And dogs are allowed in some places on public transport- in Victoria they are allowed on trains. The other day I got onto a Sydney bus and saw a man with a papillion on his lap!! As for cafes/restaurants- I take my dog everyday for coffee. There are usually several other dogs happily lying on their owners feet there too. I'm happy to sit outside if it means she can come too. Also I do question that all european dogs are well behaved and walk perfectly offlead everywhere. I haven't ever noticed that and I find it hard to believe. I certainly hope that never happens here. Just yesterday I noticed one of the mums at my kids school walking her young bullmastiff offlead to school. This young dog has tried to jump on my dog when onlead previously and the woman has little control over her. I crossed the road- I certainly wasn't going to take a risk on an offlead 50kg dog. PLUS there is the risk to the dog- its russian roulette near busy roads. :D As for Paris- I havent seen much poo on the streets but god I have smelt the urine everywhere... And I know there are just as many non-sophisticate bogans in France as here (its just pronounced differently).

Honey has changed my enjoyment of dog ownership- she has shown me how joyous it can be. But generally dog ownership has made me get fitter and more of a morning person. I get up early every morning by necessity and take the dog for a walk or a jog. My time management has gotten better too. Unfortunately not all changes are good- I can now detect the smell of a poo on the kitchen floor, 3 floors below, at 3am while in a deep sleep...

Oh I never thought of doing that!! I like using devon but it always goes so manky!

That's a great price- wish I could find them that cheap. They are the bone of choice for my dog. She's at home with one now.

OMG, how many I would like- but not all are suitable. Those that I would realistically consider are: Dalmatian Norwegian Elkhound Viszla Rough Collie Pointer Flatcoat Retriever Giant Schnauzer Tibetan Terrier Rodesian Ridgeback English Setter Oops, I've gone on a bit!

Good idea. We used to do that for our dog during bad weather or if we went out in the evening. Bed and a kong & it's a safe & cozy place. Of course our bathroom door frame was never the same but hey, the damage was contained.

Yep, more exercise usually helps. Can you leave her outside with a bone? I had a destructive dog, we eventually learned to allow her no access to the things we didn't want her to destroy. This meant she was locked in the yard with toys, kongs & bones when we weren't able to supervise her. Do you do any training with her? She sounds like she is running the house, not you. I'd pop into the training forum and have a look at the pinned threads: Triangle of Temptation (TOT) & Nothing In Life Is Free (NILF). Both give great advice to help with training your dog to be better behaved.

Yeah I have a big fluffy butt goldie who when invited onto any bed/chair must be ON you. And also needs to wiggle and roll on top of you. No personal space for her, lots of bruises for us. Its why she usually gets booted off again pretty quick smart!

Wow a year!! Go Ruth and Dave!!!

Exactly.

I would suggest you keep your aunt's dog away from yours. If your aunt wont do anything about what is obviously bullying behaviour, It's up to you to protect your dog.

I agree with PF. My goldie generally could not give a stuff about other dogs and has a low tolerance for pups jumping at her. I am fine with this and when we walk at the offlead park we walk our own path. There are other regular dogs there playing but aside from the occasional sniff, she will run away from them if they run over to us. If a dog is particular insistent she will grumble and snap a go-away warning. Onlead, I will only allow another dog to sniff her if she seems to want to. Actually, now I think about it, just before she was 3 she was her most grumpy with young dogs. She is much more tolerant now and has less issue with jumpy pups. I dont see it as aggression though, I have had a DA dog and its very different.

This was my experience with my previous Staffy x too. It was not good for correction- but then, she had an EXTREMELY high threshold. It was pretty flimsy, but then you'd likely need a larger one for a RR and maybe they are tougher? I did like that I could pull it over her heard without undoing it completely.

I've been thinking a lot about this as Honey developed some hormonal incontinence recently. I am loathe to restrict her water but in the hope of less accidents, I have started not filling her bowl as often. That is, if its not empty I don't fill it. However I would not leave her without any water at all.

I'd do it, if a meeting and then a trial period worked out well. He sounds like a lovely dog and I'm sure you know your dog well enough to judge if it will work.

My Goldie loves to bring things to us in her mouth. Shoes in particular can be found in far flung areas in the house. Never chews them and rarely drops them, just must have something to carry. She loves water and birds & does jog with me, but would rather not go so far if she had a choice! And she is a snuggle bum.

That's odd- I find my GR gets the exact opposite response! I would have thought they are generally considered nice family dogs? (my friend calls them posh dogs-she means they attract a certain middle class family demographic ) Why are they worried do you think?

I could not agree more. And it saddens me the time and money that is spent on retraining difficult cases that could be redirected towards saving more dogs with no problems. I hate to take a hard line, but with all the thousands of dogs in the pounds, I feel the ones with no issues should come first. I agree not all dogs should be rehomed. BUT Personally I'm not fussed about turnover numbers and prefer to focus on the dogs at hand. I cannot take the burden of the thousands of impounded dogs I cannot help. It's sad but thinking about all the others you 'could' rescue will see you broke and in over your head.... take too many dogs and they end up getting rushed through unassessed, stuck in boarding or left with a carer and forgotten. I disagree only on the one point re time and money. Many just deserve a decent chance. Some dogs rescued will naturally take more resources to get up to an appropriate standard for rehoming. For example the seniors, injured, ill, lame, mangey etc often come in with treatable health issues that need addressing. Just my experience but the homes for rehabbed dogs are out there: if the group is responsible, has the funds and can take difficult cases then that's all the better. However deelee I know you're talking about behavioural/aggression issues here and I'm so sorry. When issues appear after the dog is in care, that's the point where a rescue has to make a decision. And again, if they have not the time, resources or inclination to help that dog: it's not rehomeable. Actually yeah I was. Sorry, I do tend to get a little tunnel vision sometimes.