Staffyluv

I take them to the local pound and hand them over during pound hours. Outside pound hours, they go to the vet.

Some antihistamines work better than others. I used polaramine for Ollie and it was fine but I have given it to Zig a couple of times and it hasn't done anything for him.. I give one dose (4mg tablet) and if another is needed later, I give that - our vet told us we could use it twice a day.

Not that we need aerogard at the moment but that is a good idea for summer/spring time, thanks. Paper towel as well - I always carry that because he gets car sick after about 15-20 minutes in the car. I have tried breaking trips up into 15 minute lots but it makes no difference, he still pukes and it has to be cleaned up. Another question - what does everyone do with their certificates and ribbons? Zig got such a nice certificate and ribbon when he passed the last class and I don't know what to do with it - it has been sitting on the kitchen bench, the hall table and now it is on the dining table

Thanks - I pretty much have that in there now, except for the tie out stake - our grounds have star tall star pickets hammered into the ground all over the place. But it might be a good idea to get one, just in case we go somewhere else and he needs to be tied out. I am really looking forward to going back and I know he will go nuts when he sees his buddies..

Zig goes back to obedience next Sunday and I am really looking forward to it. We go up to intermediate, which is exciting as when we first started (as most know), I wasn't even sure he would be able to do it.. I bought us a K9 Pro training bag and it is awesome. What do you all keep in your training bags? I have a couple of enjo dry towels (those ones that really absorb moisture) because he is always in the buckets, puddles or clam shells. His long line leash. Extra collar and lead (I have always kept these in the car in case I see a stray that needs collecting. Water bottle and bowl. Some dried treats (but I usually prefer to use wet treats like devon - which seems to be his preferred treat to work for) like liver. Do you carry a first aid kit with you? If so, what is the basic first aid stuff you carry? Oh and the small digital camera..

Happy birthday Trixie, still as pretty as ever.. Great shot Ruth.

I agree, the softly approach works. If I was you, I would try to engage her in conversation. Good luck with it - I still think she is nuts taking a muzzled dog into a leash free park. My brother had a BT years ago, gorgeous little thing he was but he was totally manic. Poor little mite got parvo and he lost him at just a few months old. Our family has most experience with Staffords and we have had varied personalities. Mum had an old girl, Ellie, who was a total sloth - all she ever wanted to do was stay with mum. All the others have been relatively normal as far as staffords go.

Maybe you could engage her in a discussion on dog body language and recommend some You Tube videos or books on the subject - use your own dog as an example, say things like 'look how he/she is doing that'.. I am so new to obedience classes with Zig (did basic stuff years ago with Ollie dog but that was 15 years ago or so).. There is a father and son there with two gorgeous stafford pups and I watch them pull the pups back all the time - the kid actually lifted his pup of the ground pulling him back so hard one day. So I just walked past one day with Zig and when he pulled a bit toward the pups (I knew he would), I gave his lead a quick flick sideways and the said 'back to me' and he turned to me. The guy said I can't wait until my dogs do that and I explained how hard it was with Zig being reactive etc, then showed him what I have been doing every single day a couple of times a day, to get him to the point where he will come back to me when I flick the lead and call him. The next week they both turned up with martingale collars on the pups and I was watching them give much lighter tugs, sideways (instead of pulling back).. Just a conversation can change the way people do things.. Some listen to suggestions and others don't - all we can do is offer support and advice.

Great news!

This! I agree with this. Some dogs can go to a dog park without any issues at all. Honestly if I turned up to a dog park with a muzzled dog, I would turn around and leave. The dog can still posture and cause problems but won't be able to defend itself if another dog responds in an unfriendly way. I think the owner is nuts taking a muzzled dog and letting it off in a leash free park.

From the health forum Human anit-histamine use in dogs: 1. NAME 2. FORMULATION 3. DOSAGE 1. POLARAMINE (dexchlorhenrinamine) 2. 2mg and 6mg tablets also 0.4mg/ml elixir 3. dogs <10kg give 2mg dogs 10.1-30kg give 4mg dogs over 30kg give 6mg 1. PHENERGAN (promethazine) 2. 10mg and 25mg tablets 1mg/ml elixir 3. 1mg per 10kg of bodyweight 1. TELFAST (fexofenadine) 2. 60mg, 120mg and 180mg tablets 3. 2mg per kg bodyweight NOTE:TABLET SIZE MAKES DOSING FOR SMALL DOGS IMPOSSIBLE 1. CLARYTYNE (Ioratadine) 2. 10mg tablets (also comes in a elixir now not sure of stregth just yet!) 3. for dogs less then 20kg give 1/2 tablet for dogs over 20kgs give 1 tablet 1. ZYRTEC (Cetirizne) 2. 10mg tablets and 1mg/ml and 10mg/ml elixirs 3. for dogs up tp 20kgs give 5mg for dogs over 20kgs give 10mg

Can't say that has ever happened but I have found dog bones, chicken wings etc buried under my pillow..

RIP Lilly, lots of DOL dogs to see at the bridge.

Best guess based solely on his current responses when someone comes to the door or yard or when we see someone unknown to him. Ziggy is a staffy cross, he looks more like an Amstaff than a Stafford and weighs just shy of 27kg, so he a decent sized boy.. If I was out and someone came in the yard, to date this has happened once and he barked at them causing my neighbour to come out and see what was going on. It was a client dropping stuff off. They couldn't get into the yard but they were trying to put a box of stuff over the gate into the yard. I have padlocks on all gates into my yard. Zig is pretty non-confrontational and chooses to bark from a distance. In all honesty, if someone ran toward him, I think he would run away. If someone unwelcome came into the house? The kid and a mate came home late one night and my bedroom door was open. Zig was off the bed and charging down the hall, barking his head off. Scared the hell out of the boys and the kid said he didn't think Zig was going to stop coming until he put the light and and Zig realised who it was. If he had been a stranger I think Zig would still have made a lot of threaten noise.. But that is all. I am not sure Zig has it in him to 'attack'. I think he is most definitely all bark, but that bark is pretty convincing and he is a decent sized dog.. I would hope that would be enough to deter anyone. In saying that, I keep an aluminium baseball bat very handy and I will protect myself. Zig has been put in his place a few times by other dogs and he rolls over or runs away. People yelling tend to frighten him as well. I can't really know what he would do but his personality is really quite soft for a boof head.

Is the mesh small enough that a toy poodle couldnt stick its nose through. Itd have to be rather small to work in that situation, I dont think chickenwire would work and aviary mesh isnt as cheap. Which brings me back to my point - how far should the average person be expected to go to protect against the really obscure things that could possibly happen? I have really tall solid wood fences with trellis on top but there is a gap under the gate (so that it can open and close) there is no way my dogs could do anything with that unless someone let their little dog stick its nose underneath. Should I really be held accountable if it does happen? Each little square in the wire is about 1.5cm, so most definitely small enough to stop even very little ones from sticking their nose where it shouldn't be. I will take a photo of it tomorrow and post it so you can see. The best part about it is that it was a cheap way of keeping my dogs in and others out. Honestly I don't think we should be held responsible for someone else letting their dog stick their nose in our yard. I am not sure on the law regarding this and if we would be held legally liable, so this is purely my opinion on the matter. Unfortunately though, there are always going to be those less responsible or less informed.. So someone has to step up and protect the dogs. I am big on prevention, if I can do something to prevent something going wrong, then I do it.

I own my own home and I have put a small gap wire (the one used for dog runs, it is thicker and harder than chicken wire) across the gates so that my dogs can't get their head out and others can't put their head in.. I just rolled out the length I needed and used long cable ties to attach it to the gate. If I can do it, I think just about anyone can - it wasn't hard and from memory, the wire and cable ties costs very little. My dog is very friendly and would most likely welcome another dog in the yard with no issues (or even a head through a gap). But I did it to protect them from not so friendly dogs putting their head in. We can't just assume that others know as much as we all do about dogs, their behaviour and reactions - we need to protect our dogs against situations such as the one that has occurred here..

Are you suggesting that - as a dog owner - every time you walk along the road and see a gap in a fence or pool fencing that you should keep your dog away from the gap? With the gap that I've seen on the news, maybe this owner DIDN"T KNOW that there was a dog behind it that would take it's dog's face off. I'm sure if she'd even had the slightest inkling that would be the result that she would have kept her dog well away - perhaps even as far as the next bloody suburb. No, the responsibility lies with the owner of a dog that has gaps in the fencing, so close to a public footpath. They should be fixing their gaps. I walk my dogs along the road each day, footpath is wide enough only for 1 person. My dogs sniff the grass, by fencing. I don't expect them to turn around with half a face left, as a result of that. I'm quite sure they could tell from their side of the fence if their dog was agitated by people/dogs walking on the other side of the fence. It wouldn't be rocket science to figure it out. I do.. I never walk the dog so close to a fence that he could touch another dog behind the fence. And yes, I will walk on the road if I need to. My dog, is my responsibility to keep safe. I wouldn't allow him to sniff grass at a fence either. To me that is just annoying a dog behind a fence for no reason. It is easier to keep walking to the park or a house with no dog and let them sniff there. We have dogs next door that rush us as we walk past and although they are behind a fence, it only just comes up to the bottom of their chest, so they could easily step over it (not to mention the gate in the front yard is never closed, so they can just walk out if they really wanted to). They have on occasion come rushing out at us but a swift kick action or a loud 'get' usually sends them both back into their yard. I still maintain we can't lay blame anywhere as yet because all of the facts are not known - we have one side of a story. I am not saying it wasn't the other dog owners fault, I am just saying we really don't have enough information to lay blame. Hopefully this horror story will make those less responsible owners realise that they need to fix gaps in their fences. Hopefully it will also make others realise that just because there is a fence there, doesn't mean their dog is safe - it is up to us to keep them safe, as best we can.

I guess I was just confirming that they can and do move, in some cases.. But no, I have not had the situation you asked about in your original post.

Awe lovely photos. I have a big boy here (about 27kg) who loves all other dogs, especially puppies and little dogs. He even likes cats when he sees them at the vets or the neighbours cat comes over and eats his dinner (he will sit back and watch it).. In saying that, as a human, I don't like everyone I meet - so why should we expect our dogs to do so? Sadly it is the irresponsible owners who make it hard..

Maree, my old Stafford, Ollie's chip moved. It was originally put in between his shoulders but ended up half way down his left shoulder.. One of my foster dogs was chipped by Queanbeyan pound (I was there and saw them do it) but when he went in for desexing the vet at Karabar rechipped him as he could find no chip at all and he spent ages going over him.. So whether it came out or not I don't know - but the only chip in him was the one the vet put in.

Nope he swims in his every day. I do take it off him when we get home (he is nude at home and only wears them when we go out). So they get time to dry out each day. I do only wipe the cream stuff over them about once a fortnight - at night while I am watching TV (takes 5 minutes or so) and then they are ready to go again the next morning.

Zig goes swimming in the local pond (fresh but manky water) nearly every day and can often be found rolling in mud puddles when the opportunity arises. If he gets in the mud, I wipe the collar over and then use the conditioning cream that Ruthless supplied. But when it just gets wet, I let it dry and only condition about every couple of weeks..

The Z mans Ruthless collars Martingale Zigs new collar 11.12 by Jodie Moore Photos, on Flickr Flat collar Ziggy 26.11.12 by Jodie Moore Photos, on Flickr

I love this.. We use it in our club as well. (After asking if it is OK to say hello).

I third Ruthless collars and leads.. Zig has two of her collars and leads, they are just awesome..