dee lee

Aww, the poor baby!! :D Honey suffered a contact allergy a few months back- her snout looked exactly like your dog's! Unfortunately she also had it on her tummy too. Calendula tea was great at soothing the rawness but it didnt make it go away. I had to get antihistamines for her before it got better- apparently you can use human ones, just call your vet to find out what dosage.

I was thinking of making my dog into a DD after her roll in mud yesterday- I am sorely tempted to shave her fur off and turn her into a smooth coated Golden retriever!! :D The dirt does fall off when dry, but its how loooooooooooong it takes to dry that is the problem- hours!! I am very careful where I take her walking...

I asked a similar question in the health forum a couple of months ago- I'm sure the answer is in there somewhere. link here

Sounds a bit like Honey!! :D She always does what I ask of her- except when she gets a better "offer" (ie something she loves to chase), it happens so infrequently though. :D

My gorgeous Honey is a very good girl. However, there have been times when it becomes clear that despite her good behaviour she is perhaps not as well trained as I think. :D I believe the problem stems from the fact that she is so biddable, so she has less of a conditioned response to training cues. Yeah, I know I need to keep up the training, but like I said, she is so well behaved that often I forget she isn't well trained as well!! Anyone else have this "terrible" problem? :rolleyes: Is your dog well trained or just well behaved?

The whole storm thing excites them and many will race around trying to "catch" the thunder if allowed to do so. As it isn't a fear reaction it is pretty easy to train them to concentrate on something else. Just treat it as you would any other training distraction. This is really interesting to read. My GR reacts like this to storms too- she does pant a lot so I thought it was fear, but on the whole she is in a state of extreme excitement and agitation. I took her out to toilet before bed, during the thunder last night and she went nuts- chasing the sky and barking (Similar to how she reacts to seeing skywriting- which makes me wonder if there is a relationship?)- not really scared behaviour. Training sessions do work, but at bedtime that's not really what I wanted to be doing!

Oh I agree, I thought the same as you at first, then saw the other thread.

The OP has another thread about this friend having "a long standing fear of GSDs". As a jogger, I generally cross the road to avoid people walking their dogs- though its mostly because I take my dog with me and I don't fancy dealing with another dog while running. Got an even better reason now!

Honey has had this happen on a couple of occasions. I cleaned her fur and left her alone- I don't know why it occurred, it didn't bother her and it seemed to correct itself on its own. I dont think its a good idea to be mucking about with their anal glands unless it is an ongoing problem and you are advised to by a vet.

Honey is a princess too! I do have to make sure there is nothing tantalising within reach (hair combs and cds are delish apparently!) and block off the stairs (the kids room with LOTS of temptation), but we have yet to have any trouble. I do it because I feel better knowing she is safe and quietly sleeping most of the day. My previous dog (staffy x) was made of different stuff - safest place for her was outside amongst her landscaping!

I would think that if they are used to being 6 hours inside, they should be fine for 8. Put them outside as soon as you get up (lock them out for a bit if you have to) so that you can be sure that they have gone. If you continually find it hard to get them to toilet before you leave and that you subsequently get accidents, can you book a dog walker (or pay a friend) to take them out mid morning? My dog regularly is left home, inside, for a minimum of 6 hours- up to 8 hours, and we only have problems if she has a dodgy tummy (I will leave her outside then as she cant hold on). I just make sure she gets exercised and has toileted before I go (I dont leave for work til 10am, so its a bit easier for me).

It sounds very scary, Hugs to you!! But... assuming you live in a housed area and considering you walk in broad daylight, I wouldn't give up your walks. It sounds like he had ample opportunity to do something, but didnt and you cant live your life being afraid of creeps like that. Dont let them win!!! In future have a plan for if something happens, ie- if there are houses around, keep an eye out for ones that look like someone is home. Have safe "stations" like the milkbar. Like MM said, always have your phone ready to call the police. You havent see this guy before, you may never again, but being proactive will help you get over your experience. I have lived in "risky" areas for some years now and I always make sure I am completely aware of my surroundings. Being confident and aware is a deterrent in itself- predators always look for weak targets. Plus you have Shyla, no-one else knows whether or not she will attack, why would they take the risk? It cant be guaranteed that nothing will ever happen to you, no matter the precautions you take, but it is very sad to have to live scared.

where does your dog live? Mostly inside. She sleeps inside, and barely goes outside when we are home and 90% of the time when we are out she stays inside. Recently if the weather is nice and we are going out, occasionally she has been left outside with a bone. How often do you walk your dog? We jog or go to the offlead park for a walk/fetch at 6am every day. Its a pretty strenuous workout for her. On the weekends when I am home a lot we are a little bit slacker because I like to be able to have a little lie in, she will still get a walk though. Yesterday it rained most of the day and we didnt get a chance for a walk, so I just took her with me on my chores with a brief leg stretch and toilet break at a park. Better than leaving her home and bored. Do you walk your dog rain, hail or shine? Hmm. I hate walking in the rain with her- too much wet fur!!! I'll avoid it if I can. I will wait for a break in the weather in the morning, if it doesn't happen she can skip a day or two- after that she gets a bit hyper and we need to go no matter what. This morning we got caught running in the rain . It was foul, but we were already wet and she needed the run, so we continued. Crossing fingers tomorrow is better.

Good job Ruthie!!!! :p

There are doggie doors big enough for Golden Retrievers - I know a large male squeezed through mine once. :p Most dogs don't do a full 12 hours overnight. IF you toilet your dog before bed at 10.00 and get up at 7.00, that's only 9 hours. IF my doofus dog would bloody well GO at 10pm I'd be very happy. Every night we play the same damn game- I give her ample opportunity and its 50-50 as to whether she goes. If she doesn't, she still hangs on until 6am when I get up. It can be 12 hours and still she wont go in our yard, she waits the 10 minutes til we get to the park! Yes, I do know how to toilet train on command- but she just wont go unless she wants to! As for the dog door, any dog door she can get through a skinny junkie can too. We have lots of the opportunistic buggers round my way. ;) Plus we have a iron grill outside the door which makes things even trickier.

I have read on DOL before that dogs can hold on for over 12 hours during the night. Not so much during the day, but due to natural bio-rythms, its easier for them overnight. My dog can easily hang on overnight (unless she has the squirts from something she has eaten or is on antihistamines). She is too big for a doggie door and I dont intend to lock her outside overnight just so she can wee. I cant see that the OP's situation is any different?

Can you tell if they have had any litters? I was told that Honey may have had a litter- I assumed it was because her teats were droopy. No?

Oh wow, he IS very handsome!! I have a soft spot for Australian terriers, my elderly neighbour's one and I were inseparable when I was a little kid. He was my best mate and would even come to school with me- back in the old days when there were no fences or leads. Big personalities in little bodies!

I was told to start using Proban at least 48 hours before heading to a tick area and continue for 48 hours after leaving the area. I'm not experienced with ticks either and we go once a year to tick areas, it always scares the crap out of me! Even when using the Proban.

Oh my god, hysterical!!! Took me a bit to work out what they were, D'oh! Don't think I could stomach getting some. I'll stick to pigs ears. Let us now how they like them Bub.

Hi mgeyer, you have done a wonderful thing. ;) I'm assuming you are in NSW? Why dont you give the Golden Retriever Rescue Organisation a call, website here, and ask them if they have any advice. I know they deal with dogs such as Jackson from time to time. I have a rescue Golden Retriever (from GRR) and prior to coming to us, I'm told she was trained through beatings and lived a life outside with no love or walks. When first taken in by GRR she would hit the deck and get as flat as possible when you called her, anticipating being hit. She still exhibited some of this when we took her home. Within weeks of consistent training, no mollycoddling and LOTS and LOTS of love and cuddles, she blossomed into a happy, relaxed, affectionate dog. We have had her for nearly a year now and she is the light of my life . Oh yeah, the kids love her too . I agree with what others have said, clear boundaries, NO spoiling (tough when you feel so sad for them ), as well as lots of love and you will be rewarded with a wonderful mate. Goldens have such wonderful enduring temperaments!

because there are many that don't. Many people do the old "turn away and pretend I haven't seen what is happening" trick. That is when I smile, present them with a bag and say " you obviously didn't see him doing his business, here's a bag". I once copped the other end of it (so to speak ) - I ALWAYS pick up my dog's poo but once I was walking her in my local park, she stopped, I saw she did a wee, and kept walking... Some guy pushing his kid in a pram abused me for not picking up her poo!!! :D I walked over and explained I could tell she hadn't done one, then he pointed to an old one someone else hadnt picked up! To me it was very obvious it wasn't her poo (aside from seeing her weeing, it was old and dark brown- Honey's are never like that) but I shut up and picked it up anyway, what else could I do? ;) I quite often pick up other poos that have been left behind (I'd hate a dog hater to punish all of us for one wrong deed), so I was MORTIFIED this guy thought I'd left it behind... Actually, a little OT but on the subject of pooing- I just assume everyone knows the different postures of dogs pooing (back humped right over, bum tucked under) and weeing (front bum low to ground, tail up, back straight, chest up). Makes sense a non dog owner wouldnt, but do all of you?

My GR is like Kavik's GSD, very non confrontational, infact she is pretty antisocial and actively avoids other dogs. My regular park is large and there are usually only the same dogs at the early time we go, so I feel pretty comfortable taking Honey there to play fetch. However, every now and then there is a strange dog there and no matter what you do, you cant control what others do with their dogs... ;) Yesterday a BIG amstaff came into the park as I was about to leave, not knowing the dog I moved in the opposite direction, but it still came bolting full pelt to Honey! Luckily, it was a beautiful dog- a bit unruly, and the owner had little control but it was nice tempered. I wasnt happy with it bolting over but there was no harm done as Honey was bigger than it, however if it had run at an iggy x like that I have no doubt it could have hurt it unintentionally. For that reason, I dont think you are needlessly worrying. Ithink you need to either find a place to take your dogs where there are only small dogs, or just walk them onlead. Its not mean or cruel, I had a high energy DA dog that I had to do that with and she was perfectly healthy.

Ta for that!

Are you sure you arent talking about the Ospure (Artemis' high performance food)? I have tried that also, as my very active dog wasnt putting on weight, and didn't have the same problem with poos. Though I found she became "heavier" so I stopped using that too. The Maximal is only promoted as Grain Free isnt it?