Cazz

Mishka knows to sit when i tell him! He doesn't come and sit on my feet anymore, he sits where he is!! He does get a bit distracted when the cats are around, but it's all good! He knows 'up' when he rolls on his back, helps if he's on his back in front of my wheels.

I think kennel cough is one of those things there's always a risk of in boarding kennels. I don't think it reflects in any way the quality of care. If she's so furious about it, she should've done whatever possible to protect her dog before putting it in the kennels. Or am I completely wrong? I think kennel cough can be caught at home too, it's not so likely to be caught at home, but it does happen.

I saw this in another thread, what's wrong with Supercoat? It's all that Mishka eats, but I'll switch him to something else if it's better for him. It's not like it's the only food he gets, he gets a few carob choccies, pet bones and a little cheese, not to mention what's in the cat poop!

Oh, cool...Mishka rolls over when I go near him, I thought he wanted to play. When I tried to tell him no this morning he stayed on his back and started whining. I put his breakfast bowl down and came in. As soon as the door closed, he got up and sniffed in the bowl. Did I do the wrong thing? I didn't touch him, just said 'NO' when he got ready to roll over, which started the whining so I ignored it.

It must take her a while to do the studs and making those collars so well. Has she been trained in leatherwork?

Does she do the really wide ones like for greyhounds and whippets?

I'd say I got him WAY too young, the breeder'd obviously abused him (I'm still trying to get him to understand that I'm not going to hurt him) and leaving him and his sister on railway tracks to be run over was just disgraceful. It's not whining for me, I think he's missing his littermates. Look at what he does to my cats! I don't think they'll be that patient with him forever. Most of the time it's under his breath, but in his sleep it's loud and at the station I've been told off by people because he whines and whimpers really loudly and they tell me I'm torturing him.

In the morning, usually about 6am, I get up, go to the loo then go back in my bedroom and scoop him out of the crate, and take him out. He does his poops in two lots. Then he's left out with Curly while I go back to bed and snooze (Curly's the dopey cat, she'll sleep curled up with him.) When I get up, I grab an old MX (normally scooped out of a bin at the station the day before) and my hot coffee. I put the stuff on an empty cage and go looking for Mishka, who's normally snoozing with curly in the empty rabbit hutch. I put his harness on while he's whining in his sleep. I let Curly in the house for her brekky (I have no idea why it doesn't bother Curly.) walk Mish to his approved pooping spot then attach the harness to the leash on his 'hitching tree' and park next to the old cage and read my MX. He tries to chase everything in sight. He doesn't even dribble while we're out there, he continues crying to himself. 1 1/2-2hrs later, I take his harness off. He dribbles on the way to his water/foodbowl but, boys will be boys. If it's cold and wet, I put his jumper on him and his harness (he gets stressed if he can't see his 'pink' paw and his harness keeps the jumper where it is until he grows into it) over the top. I put him down, and his whining volume increases until Kink lets Mish chew his ear. He gets the choice of staying out or coming in. He plays with the cat for 2 hours, in which I can do housework. He comes in with Kink, Mish's pretty tired by then so he bullies the cats away from the bowl, and snoozes in the cat bed whining quietly, what the bowl has to do with anything is beyond me. I leave him to snooze for 45mins, then I run him out to his pooping spot for a pee. 1/2 an hour later, if he hasn't peed, I'll walk him for a while, normally we head towards the water bowl for a drink. If he still won't pee, I take the harness off and leave him barking at the dog next door. I'm lucky if he leaves me alone for 1/2 an hour, he comes in and wrestles with Curly and has a snooze while whining quietly. If I catch him before he leaves puddles, (if after, I clean them)I take him for a slow walk to the station (most of the walk he's cuddled on my lap) when we get to the bin, I snatch a few MXs, while Mish's tail goes a mile a minute and his whining volume goes up because I'm careful in case someone steps on him. He's admired by 2 train loads of people, by which time I've had to scoop him up and hold him over the bin to pee twice. When the threat of being stepped on has passed, I walk him around the building(not the platform) to calm him, I pick him up and take him home. After he's slept all the way home, I take his harness off and tell him 'out'. 10 mins later when I go out to fill his bowl, he's sleeping in the hutch whining. He stays out for about an hour, by which time his bowl is empty. He comes in, chases the cats a bit, then finds me parked on my beanbag, climbs me and licks my face (he occasionally nips my nose), and is hugged cuddled and rubbed until he goes back to the cat bed to sleep. He's put out the back for ten minutes, if he chooses to go toilet in the pooping spot, it's like I've hit the jackpot, if not, I just clean it. He's then brought in and goes to sleep in his crate in my bedroom. The choks are at a friend's place, they both pecked at Mish, which made him howl. He has a few bones in various places in the yard to keep him happy.

This is now getting on my nerves. Mishka whines, like all the time. It does vary in the volume though. I've tried the alarm clock under a blanket, I've tried the wheat bag, I've tried both under a blanket, but it just isn't helping, and my sleep pattern's suffering. Any suggestions?

What can I say? Looks like the government's faking a caring stance.

I'm enjoying finding out more about all collars. From descriptions of wearing the prong, it seems you could transfer the training quite easily to a flat collar or a nylon martingale. Check chains are seeming more and more inhumane. I have had halti's, Sam destroyed the 'Black Dog' one, after that, I only even made him wear one for show, to pacify the odd train driver who told me to muzzle him, or we couldn't get on the train. Katrina, it's not just the ban on useful tools, it's the allowing cruel and inhumane collars to be used instead.

You can't imaging how much praise Mishka got when he pooped in the garden this morning. He came in the house tonight (after realising that whining at the door won't bring the magic door opener) was in for hardly 2 minutes and he pooped behind my left wheels(I was scrambling my eggs for dinner), whined quietly, and dashed under my dining table to finish his pooping. When I finally cleaned the doo, I turned the chair around and discovered a puddle under my bench. I don't think it'd be fair to tether him to my waist. Other suggestions?

I taught the collie I had to walk on my right side, the control box was on my left, and all my friends when we went to see them, they'd take the collar off and turn it around then put it back. It didn't bother him, he pulled like a draught horse anyhow. I never thought I needed to be taught how to use chain collars, until I saw a show, with a lady walking a dane on a chain collar. The collar looked like it'd break if you sneezed on it. The dog got distracted, broke the collar and took off. The woman didn't chase the dog, she cried the collar cost $250!

:rofl: :D Mishka went in the garden!! Of course I went and picked it up, but before that I cuddled and shmoozed him and told him 'GOOD TOILET'! After dancing (Think the 'Evan Almighty' dance with the puppy on my chest) around the yard, I got his brekky and a poop scoop bag. Anyone want to declare me insane yet?

NOW I get it! I did think that they were 'permanent attachments', it hit me like a steam train that you should take them off. Check chains are such a bad idea, it makes me wonder why I kept using them. A prong collar might be helpful with Tank, if they hadn't been banned! I'm a bit worried about having a prong collar on anything but the 'dead ring'. From the links with pictures, they look like they're laid out like martingale collar, am I right?

Nice one erny! Still, it's not just little ol' me who wants to research this, or is it? I don't want to only have the vet/trainer's word on this, I wanna look into this on my own. You've woken my curiosity...Any websites worth checking out?

Ok You people are telling us that using a prong collar correctly isn't cruel. Can someone enlighten me how to use one correctly? I'd hate to run out and buy one only to hurt a dog because I have no idea how to use it.

I've never tried a prong collar. One of my ex dogs constantly choked himself and tore his fur out with his collar, I tried Sam with a flat collar and he pulled so I went back to the choker/check chain. Mishka has a harness because he whines if I put a collar on him. Prong colars look just as bad for the fur if you have a longhaired dog?

Ah...time limit for dog munchies...Where can I put the cat bowl (how many different places can I put the fleabag food?)

It makes no difference which bowl I mix the food in. As for picking up the food when they walk away, 2 of the cats are ex strays and the other's a purebred Turkish Van from the RSPCA. They play with the dog and graze with the dog. Is cat food bad for him?

He's driving me insane! I bought him a great big bag of puppy food, but he goes after the cat food. I've tried moving the cat food away and putting the puppy food there, he won't eat, he goes looking for the cat bowl. I've mixed cat food with puppy food, he specifically eats only the cat bikkies. The cats happily eat puppy bikkies, but Mish won't.

Saska, create a specific dog digging patch in the yard and keep his toys and add random treats to doggy dig. He doesn't need a box. I need a condom bed for Mishka...

That's good. I was worried about her.

I've never had a dog who's dog scared, but I'd recommend you do the same as with loud noises, get her to sit until the dog just passes by, no praise or comfort or she'll take it as praise.

If you're willing, Lort Smith desexes male dogs for $90 and I think Mish's 2nd vaccination'll be $35. He only got a C4 last time because he's not going to be boarded anywhere in the forseeable future.