dee lee

I agree- connecting immediately is easy when you don't have to contend with all the foundation work that needs to be put into a puppy. ;)

7. Install a new sound to recalls, something that surprises her and intrigues her. Give a huge handful of tasty treats when you do this special sound. Weird squealy noises, rolls your lips like a motor car etc. Whatever you like. You will feel funny at first but after 1-2 times of such a huge reward for this noise she will come running. You can practice in the house. Always follow this noise with a huge amount of treats. You can add a command after the noise once she comes running every single time with no hesitation. Clipandcoach, I tried this this morning- it worked BRILLIANTLY!! Thanks!

I agree with you there GR! Honey's recall is a constant work in progress, presumably because she was never taught it as a pup. We have made progress, I work hard at it but it's still not as good as I'd like and I doubt it ever will be. I too dream of having a pup to teach it from day one. But then there's other puppy "stuff" to contend with!!!

LOVE the adult adoptees!! Honey was nearly 3 when we got her and its been nothing but wonderful!! So easy. So calm and yes they do seem to bond so quickly. I'm not sure I could do puppyhood again.

Oh how lovely!!! She is gorgeous!!

You guys don't have a goldie! I will avoid walking/running my dog in the rain, mostly because it's a PITA afterwards to dry her! I walk/run her everyday though, just wait for a dry spell. And always at 6am (unless it's raining ). As well as the dog should be outside comment. I hate the large dogs shouldnt live in the city mentality. Apparently it's "cruel". Havent had anyone dare say it to me recenlyt though. I also get the "wow, your Labrador is skinny!". *sigh* For starters she's a GR & secondly they should be fit looking, not fat.

I love this idea Piper Think I will use this when I get another puppy one day. Me too! Thats great! I think I might even try it now! I don't have a problem with Honey doing it generally, but good recall or not, I dont trust her not to bolt out our accidentally open front door if the little shit of a Maltese who lives next door happens to pass by!

If you are happy with his diet I wouldnt necessarily change it. I had a previous dog on raw mince and bones only and she still got hotspots (it wasnt a BARF diet but she didnt have grains- which seems to be the contentious issue). Unfortunately, being a GR and a puppy he will be more prone to hotspots. With experience and as your dog matures you may find that you will get less of them, but they most likely will crop up from time to time. My GR has had a few, my routine now is to make sure that she is dry next to the skin (particularly on her tummy) after her walk or swimming. She has perfected the roll over to let me do it- she loves it! At the time I check her over to see if there are any red patches on her skin, or anywhere where she has been licking or chewing. If I find even the smallest sign of irritation I will spray it with Betadine. I find that process to work quite well. If somehow a hotspot slips through, I will clean the area with warm water, dry it and put betadine on it several times a day until the spot clears. Aloveen is a good regular shampoo for allergy prone skin, its oatmeal based.

Personally, I'd just say that you want to have a good time and don't feel like you'd be able to relax if you brought your dog. That way it's not placing blame anywhere. I always find it stressful taking my dog to someone's house- I always have to watch her, even if there are no other dogs.

I had a similar thing happen to me when i visited with an old friend. Our new (at the time) dog had not met her 2 dogs & she told me to bring Honey. One of her dogs bullied Honey & we had to lock him away. It was very uncomfortable & I have never taken her back. Social lives & dogs don't need to be compatible, just do what is best for your dog- which in this case is not to take it.

I think when you have little kids and dogs it's basic commonsense to enforce strong regulations with food. Honey can be sitting next to a toddler with a piece of toast and will not touch it (she loves toddlers though cause they usually give it to her anyway ). Same with a plate of food at nose height- she knows to leave it. Even our previous crazy dog had the no stealing of food from people/kids rule down pat. Can you imagine the potential for trouble if you don't drill that into them?

Honey is usually under the table looking for dropped food (courtesy of the kids of course ;) ) but isn't allowed to bother anyone for food. She's pretty good, on the odd occasion she appears at someones elbow hopefully she responds to go away. We don't accept dogs begging or guests hand feeding dogs. I'll admit I have let Honey lick a bowl once or twice but it does gross me out a little. I'm by no means a clean freak but I have never liked dogs licking my face (or in my mouth - MONAHHHHH!!! !), it just makes me want to gag.

Cosmolo, I didn't mean to imply that no rescues will take the training approach, more that there are so many organizations that I can't imagine it becoming standard practice. I do know that the organization I adopted my previous dog from has since committed to improved assessment and training. I would hope that this means that dogs such as mine will be more appropriately assessed and adopted out. I noticed problems immediately with my dog- I find it hard to believe that the fosterer could not. We stressed the need for a calmer dog because we had small children and were told this young dog was very gentle & had previously been with a family. A "sweet quiet baby" does not metamorphise into a hyper unsocialised dog overnight. Yet I was "reassurred" that she was fine & I needed to improve my leadership. Honestly, why not recognize that a mismatch was made and encourage rehoming? Always it's the adopter that is made out to feel guilty and in the wrong. People who adopt rescues do so because they want to help the dogs. It does not help the dog to place it in an unsuitable home- who is to blame ultimately for the difficulties that follow?

I am so relieved for you. Thanks for letting us know. I wholeheartedly agree with those who believe rescue dogs should require more training and assessment before release. I can't see that it will happen though. Especially when I know of certain rescuers who have berated adopters for daring to complain that the angel dog in the description is instead a string willed unsocialised one- or one with extreme SA issues. Just behaving like dogs, they are told. Second time around we went with breed rescue (nsw Golden Retriever Rescue). We decided on Golden Retrievers because we wanted as little risk as possible of aggression after our bad experiences. We were able to outline our needs & went on a waiting list until an appropriate dog was available. The dog and my family were matched- for us it has been a reaffirming experience with rescue.

I actually love going peak summer school holiday season (well, I have no choice really!), we just choose the non patrolled more remote beaches. No problem thus far. I do agree, she was a cow. It frustrates me when these things happen & non dog people are so quick to ignorantly jump in and abuse you when you are doing the right thing. Like the guy who insisted I had not picked up my dogs poo- I saw her only do a wee but he blamed her for what was obviously an old dried out poo. I just rolled my eyes and picked it up. You can't argue, it's better to smile and apologise & move on- I'm more concerned with creating less reasons for people to complain about dogs. Even if they are unjustified complaints. I want to keep what few access privileges we have.

Thats a good idea! The place we recently stayed in is managed by a RE agent. They have a huge amount of holiday listings so I'm planning on looking through them & booking direct next time. I think you do have to book well in advance to get the good places. If they are good, you are competing with returning visitors. I'm going to look to book for next Jan soon- it will allow me to save without pain & get the best place (we will be downsizing to just our family hopefully)

HM- that sounds like good news! Perhaps being young makes it easier for the hormone to work. I hope so!! Labrador- I can't comment on the snail bait but I do know that UTIs cause the urine to really stink & the dog to usually be in discomfort during weeing. Does this sound like your dog? The hormone incontinence in young desexed dogs is quite common apparently. If the wee is odourless it's likely to be that. Get your vet to check her out- the hormone tablets are quite cheap so it's a pretty easy fix if it works.

Honey is only 4 and was sterilized at 2 and a half. Just recently we had been finding her bottom area wet occasionally when she had been resting. The wet patches beneath her have no smell- initially we thought she'd just sat in water. No other symptoms, just leaking.

ML- aah, it always helps to search with the right terms. PF- That's interesting. Shame about Lily, crossing fingers Honey just needs a top up!!! Mind you, it's not too hard to administer the meds so I'm sure I will cope if not.

It seems Honey(4yo GR) is experiencing hormonal incontinence. The vet has prescribed Stilboestrol and says that after taking it for 3 months she should be fine. Googling says she may have to take it for the rest of her life! What have other people's experiences been? Oh, and how long before the drugs kick in?

As expected, lots of very good reasons. Being restricted by the kids (and finances), we only go on short holidays within NSW, so I havent yet had to consider what I'd do with the dog if we were to go interstate or overseas. Obviously we wouldn't take her with us then. So we are similar to most of you. Bub and Meea, we've only been away with friends and kids so the places we have stayed have been 3 beds plus- probably not suitable for your needs? However, I found them easily doing a pet friendly search on Stayz. I discovered a lot more pet friendly places the further north you go from Sydney, availability is better and prices are good. The last place we stayed (in Wallabi Point) allowed pets inside and had a decent sized, very secure courtyard plus a garage. It was fairly reasonably priced too. The area is at the south end of Old Bar Beach (east of Taree). Outside patrolled areas, dogs are allowed offlead from evening to early morning and all day onlead. It was beautiful and fairly deserted. But yeah, an overseas holiday minus dog (and KIDS!!!) would be fantastic! ETA: the recent place we rented, they didnt seem to care about the dog- it was never mentioned again after my first enquiry- all I can think is that in more rural areas everyone has dogs so its not as much of an issue? Might mean its easier for multiple dogs?

Oh Bub! Yes I can see how that might not work. You should do a pet friendly search on Stayz though- No poolside service, but there are some stunning holiday houses on there. Yeah the national park issue is tricky. And I can definitely understand that taking dogs interstate is not an easy option. And wanting a break from them!

I have read many times how people "can't" take their dogs on holidays, so put them in kennels or don't take holidays at all. Personally I have had no trouble finding pet friendly holiday places. The one I stayed at recently was a pet owners dream! Why don't you take your dogs? Is it the cost? Health issues? I'm not judging, I just love taking my dog & feel there must be some good reasons why people wouldn't do it.

The last 2 years we have taken Honey with us on holiday. We go with another family so the houses we have been to probably been too big for you, but the locations were very dog friendly. 1st time we took her to Catherine Hill Bay, just south of Swansea- 90 mins north of Sydney. Gorgeous place, long beach- dogs not allowed near the patrolled area but fine further up. Not too many dogs around at all. Then this year, as our usual CHB house was booked out, I searched further north and we stayed at the south end of Old Bar Beach at a place called Wallabi Point. It's east of Taree- 4 hour drive from Sydney. It's not patrolled & dogs are allowed leashed all day on the beach, offlead evening til early morning. There do seem a lot of residential dogs but I didn't see too many on the beach. It was glorious. We had a lovely time & will return. It's so nice to include Honey. Lauders Real estate at Old Bar have a huge amount of listings- I'm sure you could find something to suit. Many are pet friendly- ours even allowed dogs everywhere inside. eta:the Manning river council area, which the last place was in, is very dog friendly- all non nat park beaches allow dogs.

I live in a small inner-city terrace house with a courtyard. I have a Golden Retriever. Every morning we alternate going for a 7km run or spend about an hour at a nearby offlead park walking & playing fetch. Additionally she comes with me when I walk the kids to school and then to have coffee. After I get home from work we go for a short toilet walk. I would love to have a large yard for her & the kids but it's just not a possibility. She is fit and healthy and seems happiest at my feet.