Maddy

It was Gumtree and I think the idea is to encourage consumers to buy responsibly by telling them when puppies can be removed from their mothers, rather than leaving them to work it out for themselves. Obviously though.. this only works when the consumer is actually concerned about such things (and if they're buying a cheap oodle from Gumtree, I can't imagine they've done too much research).

From the article.. VIP Pet Foods Supreme Steak Mince for Dogs Paws Fresh Roo Mince for dogs and cats - part of the VIP group Pet Cafe Fresh Meal for cats, manufactured by Sydney Pet Foods Coles brand Woolworths brand Five others either not mentioned or cat versions of the above brands. I've seen the result of greyhounds fed on processed food so I'd never feed it to any of my dogs as anything other than an emergency food if for some reason, we ran out of fresh meat. Dental problems caused by canned food might not become apparent until it's too late to really do anything about it and poor condition may simply be considered "normal" if the owner has nothing else to compare it to. Fresh meat may require a bit more effort from the owner but I've seen a huge improvement in my dogs after switching from a "super premium" dry food to a combination of fresh lamb, chicken and roo. It all comes down to what your dog does best on but if you've never tried anything other than canned, you're not really giving your dog a chance to find out what it does do best on.

Thread about this already- http://www.dolforums.com.au/topic/223705-dog-food-damage/

We've had a blue foster with brown eyes, picture is here.. http://greyhound-adoption.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoid=126080166 They might be genetically amber but the colour was very much brown (although that photo doesn't demonstrate it very well, it's just one of the few I still have of the dog in question). Edited to add.. For comparison, regarding blues.. The light, washed out blue- http://www.greyhound-data.com/greyhound/1701042/466/Greyhound_Boscos_Choice-big.jpg A darker blue- http://www3.greyhound-data.com/greyhound/1344156/690/Greyhound_Tas_Blue_Ox-big.jpg and another.. http://www.greyhound-data.com/greyhound/1554497/324/Greyhound_Aero_Blue-big.jpg

Never said you did ;) Preferences are usually based on experiences. Most blue dogs I've seen do look washed out and so it's not a colour I'd choose. I have no doubt there are some nice blues out there, it's just not for me. I also really dislike greyhounds with amber eyes but again, it's just a personal preference and not an attack on anyone whose dog happens to have amber eyes. Edited to add.. an example of the sort of thing I don't like- washed out colour and amber eyes. http://www.greyhound-data.com/greyhound/1701042/466/Greyhound_Boscos_Choice-big.jpg

Black greyhounds can look really good if their coats are cared for properly (as opposed to the grotty brown colour they can go) but in foster dogs, I dread black greys because they take so long to rehome. Both of my current dogs are fawn parti and I've noticed that not only do they seem to drop more hair than the black dogs, their ears attract flies in the summer- they look okay but it's not a colour I'd choose if I had a choice. Of all the colours available (black, blue, brindle, fawn and dun), I'd pick a good black or a dun (if I could ever find one). Fawn would be last on my list (I've seen some really unattractive fawn dogs, especially the ones with what looks like a bit of a mask) and that'd be followed by blue (I've seen a few nice blues but mostly they just look washed-out). Brindle would really depend on the colour. Fawn brindle can look nice but the darker brindles really don't appeal to me. That said.. I'd pick a greyhound with a solid, friendly temperament over one with a colour I prefered but a dubious temperament. I've fostered some really stunning dogs who've had terrible temperaments and as far as I'm concerned, a dog you can live with is far more important than just a pretty dog.

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding you but it reads as if you're refering to the other posters in this thread. Generally I like to give people the benefit of the doubt but what you're implying is that the few people who have already posted (posts which offered good suggestions) are posting only to "feed their own egos", presumably through attacking the OP (which no one has actually done). Again, I may be misreading you somehow and if I am, I apologise but it does sound very much as if you're jumping on the (very whiney, ironically) "Don't bash the noobs" wagon just a tad early (you know, before it's even happened). Back on topic.. I'd also suggest kennels. There may be some foster carers who'd take on dogs indefinitely (without surrender forms signed) but frankly, it's a very risky thing to do in the event something goes wrong or the carer ends up with the dogs longer than they believed they would. Most kennels around here offer a pick-up service so perhaps your friend could call a few in his own area and enquire? Or, failing that, there are plenty of pet transport companies that could be used to transport the dogs from home to kennels. Typo

I wouldn't consider commercially produced dog food to be "raw" anyway. I've bought the chunks of meat (VIP, from memory) for Kiff and the meat was bright pink-purple and very obviously dyed. We buy our dog meat from a local pet meat supplier and the processing is absolutely minimal- kill it, gut it, remove offal (as it's illegal to feed offal to dogs down here), cut it into ~1kg pieces and bag it. Nothing else is added and nothing else needs to be added. I think the RSPCA needs to perhaps clarify their position and provide a better definition of "raw". Raw food should always be safe for human consumption anyway, fresh meat should be just that- fresh meat. Things like the VIP pet food are the furthest thing imaginable from fresh meat and really shouldn't be included in the definition of raw.

You can actually buy moulded plastics muzzles for that sort of thing and having used both types, I much prefer the plastic ones. The dog can still pant freely but even if it tries to nip, you're protected. The problem with the nylon muzzles is that a dog can still actually nip with those on. I got mine from VetnPet (this one http://www.vetnpetdirect.com.au/MUZSH ) and it's so much better than the nylon muzzles I have.

We've used Capstar on ours and never had any problems. I'd definitely recommend Advocate though (you'll need to treat for ticks with something else- we use Permoxin for that), unless there's some reason they can't have it. From what I could find, the active ingredients are different for Capstar and Comfortis. The product information sheets are here- http://elms.xh1.lilly.com/comfortis-product-label.pdf and http://www.capstar.novartis.us/pdf/Capstar-product-info.pdf It might be worth Googling the active ingredient of Comfortis and see if anyone on any of the greyhound forums (like GreyTalk) have reported problems.

Probably doesn't really apply to most breeds of dog but for the greys, we have the thermal blankets (can't think of the proper name- the silver, reflective stuff), instant heat packs and instant cool packs. Injectable vitamin C for snake bites is maybe also something to consider.

maybe your auntie has spent more time with your dog than you? as i said earlier, chihuahuas will pick their human and bond straight away with that human. it happens in our family, i share my dogs with my elderly parents. so sometimes a puppy will choose my mother or father over me. but usually it is because they feed the dog spend alot of time with the dog.....how old is rascal? it sounds like his temperament is fear over stangers and other dogs, and yes once its set in its pretty hard to reverse - my experience has been you can't really reverse it, it requires alot of training to what i call "mask" which means they will get use to it all and not be so fazed by it but still be the same dog. i.e. still fearful of other dogs and people. you cant really change a dogs temperament they are what they are through the dogs genes or it could be through the way it was reared. Rascal is 6 years old, He never use to be scared of other dogs he would walk past them and even sometimes go up to them. So scared of other dogs is a new thing, Strange people isn't new his always been like that but again somepeople he will go up to and allow them to pat him. I do spend alot of time with Rascal he is always with me well that was till my auntie showed up. Since she was here Rascal wouldn't come to me when I called him,wouldn't listen to me. The difference between my auntie and I is I treat my dogs like there dogs not like humans. I do not let them do things that I consider is wrong or bad. I allow my dogs to bark but when told they quieten down, My auntie always lays on the floor at the dogs level. Since she has been out of town Rascal has been all over me again,following me,listening to me, He hasn't barked much at all. See, you've answered your own question there (with the answer you actually wanted, rather than the factual answer from someone experienced) - it's all your aunty's fault. Now we've confirmed it's all her fault, I guess we won't be seeing any more threads?

It's actually the 6th :p

I don't think anyone is saying that her animals are suffering. Animals do not have to suffer for an amount of animals in care to be inappropriate.

We had a similar problem with both our back and our front yard (two different neighbours). The front yard problem we could do nothing about- the fence in question runs directly along our driveway and there's not enough room to run a second fence or plant anything to block. The annoying thing for us is.. the neighbour only seems to let their dog out when they see me in the front yard with ours. I can only assume the neighbour thinks they're letting the dog out to play with its friends (either that or they enjoy watching they dog get worked up and aggressive). Only solution I've found was to take out only one or two dogs at a time (so I can control their behaviour more effectively near the fence) or wait until the neighbour is out. For the backyard, it was one corner with two dogs that live entirely outside. Our greys don't bark at the fence until the neighbour's dogs hear them, charge the fence and start yapping. Although it's not entirely fair that we have to give up a chunk of our yard to keep their dogs quiet, that's what we did- one of the better parts of the yard (nicer grass and a tree for shade) is now fenced off permanently (or at least until those neighbours move out). We tried a lot of other things to address the problem first but it just got too stressful in the end and the fence went up.

Personally, I really dislike seeing dogs in places serving food or places with a lot of children around. There are certain places that clearly aren't appropriate places to walk dogs- just like there's places you wouldn't take children. It's not discrimination, just common sense. Lovely. In the mean time, it gets stepped in or someone's child touches it. I can see why most councils choose to restrict dog access on beaches and other public land. Well duh I meant clean it up on a city beach where there are other beach goers. The beaches we usually go on there are no other people How does that make it any better? You're polluting an area with dog excrement, you'll have to excuse me if I find that disgusting and completely unacceptable- obviously it should be totally okay to do, duh!

Already been suggested and then completely ignored- as is any post suggesting that she needs to take some responsibility for her own situation (as she is, as you've pointed out, an adult- the same age as me and several other Dolers- so clearly it's not an age thing)

Or move out of home. I've had to edit a response to this several times because I'm having trouble nicely expressing how the quoted material above sounds to me. So, apologies in advance if this offends- You're blaming everything on your aunt's presence and not taking any responsibility for your own contributions to the mess. You blame, play the victim (and post threads asking people to take one of your dogs) and paint your aunt as being an unthinking, uncaring monster who is ruining the lives of everyone around her (and ruining your dogs too, apparently). If your aunt is there to stay (and you, for whatever reason, can't move out of home at the age of 26), you need to suck it up and start thinking constructively, rather than just posting constant whinge threads where you reject all advice offered to you, just so you can go on playing the victim. If you want things to change, post factual descriptions of your problems and then actually employ the advice offered. Otherwise, you're wasting our time and your own. Again, sorry if this comes across as nasty or whatever but after following your threads this closely, this is how I see it.

http://www.dogbedsgalore.com.au/ Never bought from them (the curse of having large dogs- shipping on the extra-large stuff they need is always terrible, moreso for beds) but they have a pretty decent range.

That is truly disgusting. That poor dog was already completely distressed at being thrown outside and you go and throw water on it. You should be ashamed to call yourself a dog owner. That was my first thought when I read that, too. Seems to me more like someone's fueling the drama to get their own way Also, given the OP never replied again in that other thread after I posted a suggestion.. http://www.dolforums.com.au/topic/222949-vent-about-family/page__view__findpost__p__5385499 here it is again ;)

A little hypocritical to complain about assistance being sought for individual dogs when you've done it yourself. http://www.dolforums.com.au/topic/221020-urgent-foster-care-needed-in-melbourne-for-beautiful-gsd/page__p__5327094__fromsearch__1#entry5327094

Is it fair though to allow certain people to break laws based on just their age or the size of their dogs? My dogs may be large but they bark far less frequently than other dogs in the neighbourhood (most of which are little dogs), size doesn't have much to do with how a dog affects the people in the surrounding area, it's the management of the dogs. That aside.. she's only 55, hardly ancient ;) I'm assuming the money is for boarding but that brings up another point- what kind of life is she offering these dogs if they're spending upwards of 50% of their time in a kennel, away from her? To me, it reads more like she's stubborn and selfish, not that she's a caring pet owner who just wants to keep her pets with her Edit, typo

Move the foster on before he decides he has had enough of this behaviour and retaliates or your dog ups the ante. The result won't be pretty. Sounds to me like your dog is not an ideal candidate to share a home with large foster dogs. I'd be sticking to the littlies from now on. Yes we are moving the foster on as soon as a placement becomes available (wtithin days). As I said more just curious as its out of character for our dog. Also they are physically seperated so there is no imminent danger to either animal. We've had this sort of thing happen before (even currently, with our foster girl, Grace, hating our new foster boy, Chops) and as far as I can see, there's no discernable reason for it. Two dogs like the new foster (one is actually really good with the new boy) and one dog who hated him the moment she laid eyes on him We've been keeping them well away from each other because in my experience of this hate-at-first-sight business, they'll take whatever opportunity they can get and it can end with considerable damage done. I wouldn't say it's necessarily just because your foster is a larger dog though- it may be but if I were you, I'd be checking it out thoroughly, for the sake of your own dog and any future fosters.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1976-ROVALLEY-Miss-Perlita-Greyhound-Port-ISLE-WINE-/190550495632?pt=AU_Food&hash=item2c5db1d190 Is port though Edited to add.. post number 6,000

Melbourne woman Jennifer Martin defies council orders to give up 11 of her 23 pets http://www.news.com.au/weird-true-freaky/jennifer-martin-is-11-pets-over-the-pet-limit-but-shes-not-giving-them-up/story-e6frflri-1226072155444 It's not an especially interesting story or anything but this bit did stand out to me..