Cazz

What a gorgeous staffy! People around here generally do vaccinate their dogs, but I live in Chadstone. Mishka had to ride the train with me to the vet for his first vaccination, and he'll have to do it again for his desexing op and his amputation. Puppy schools generally require the first vaccination, but there's only a very small risk of anything at all happening.

Mt Waverley Animal Hospital's good in an emergency.

OOhhh, the turn around and ignore would've been done by me, but this wheelchair has a 1 second delay for EVERYTHING, so by the time I could've reacted (1 second to turn it on, one second for it to respond...) the dog would've lost interest. Kids will be kids...I never even left Miranda with my chooks! As for the 'let her eat in peace', I don't do that, even with my pup. I rub his nose and cheeks, to let him know we're not going to take his food, or if we do we'll return it. Sooner or later he'll eat the wrong thing, or Miranda might knock something off the table near him, the last thing we need is an aggressive dog.

'no jumping' is really too long-winded a reply, you want one syllable commands really. 'DOWN' was growled at my boy by me and the jumpee a few times, then he learned that his jumping displeased me. Try to put Molly on leash when she's near the child, for every time she jumps, put Molly in solitary confinement for a few minutes. The short leash is used to stop the chasing, put Molly in solitary instantly, if you wait, she won't understand. That worked for me!

Yep! Try getting her to the point where she doesn't need any treats at all. Sam used to do the bum dance for loud noises, he kept his head in pretty much the same spot, but his butt'd do a great big circle until he was facing the other way...I know where you're coming from. The sitting where she can hear in just tells her that even though it makes noise it won't come and eat her. I think it'll have to be done with other noises too, it won't take so long with other noises.

Good point, I won't try it on the cats then.

I've never heard of the lemon juice and fleas solution, maybe I should try it on the cats too!

A friend of mine's told me to massage Mish's muzzle while he's eating. My daughter's already been taught to be careful with Mishka while he's eating, but it doesn't hurt to be extra careful. When he growls, I tell him 'NO' and keep rubbing his nose. Is it too soon to be trying this?

My Boy Mishka's the same age and he does it too (Normally when he's chasing my cats) Like everyone else says, it's like taking a nappy off a kid and expecting perfection, it doesn't happen! My daughter's only 3 and she still has accidents!

Mishka is wonderful! I ent out the back to feed my rats, Mish came up for a sniff. He was 3 feet away from me, I said 'sit Mish' and he sat! I am so happy! He even sits at my back doorway for me to say 'in', he is so smart! I love my puppy!! ;) And I thought toilet training would be hard!

My Mish was crying whenever I'd scoop him up for a hug, I narrowed it down to him thinking he'd have his rear slapped. Now whenever I scoop him up, I pat his rear end playfully, to stop him from guessing I'm gonna hurt his butt, desensitizing, that's the word!

Don't forget the bones! Mishka adores chewing them, I like watching him having fun too

I have no idea...chum's a waste of time, even for adult dogs, it made me retch. Pick a food, read the label. I add a bit extra onto their guesstimations, I don't want to under feed my dog.

I'd think more lamb bones...Puppies need calcium, it'll keep her occupied and the bits of lamb are yummy for dogs! Mishka's probably varying between 3 and 7...he's a growing boy!

Mishka isn't timid with me around, the cats are playmates too. He's terrified of other dogs though. My old dog Sam would go nuts if we walked under the rail bridge to the park and a train passed overhead. I took him to the bridge once or twice, and got him to sit while the train passed. After I'd praise him heaps for sitting and ignoring it. So, we really should learn to control ourselves and not give in to bad behavior. I'm the first to admit I usually give in to those big brown pleading eyes, but for pups, you've gotta control yourself!

Mishka does walk on his leash (when we're doing our 5am 'bladder jiggle') but he's very easily distracted. A few steps and he sees something move, a few more steps and he stops to admire a wattlebird, then he wanders back the way we came, just in case he smells another dog. Is this happening right?

He was found a little over a week ago, tied to a railway track with his sister. His sister was grazed by a train, but she's doing really well now. Mishka's about 8 weeks old with nearly no bone development in his front left paw, probably because he's had a rubber band tied around his ankle. His leg is extremely bowed, and his elbow is misaligned so badly that he can't move it. He still tried to use that foot, but it ends up throwing him off balance and he usually rolls over. There's a really tiny chance he'll get better, so I'll wait. He's also showing that he's been abused by his behavior. :) :rolleyes: Who on earth could do that crap to any animal and then leave him somewhere to be killed? It's appalling to think that the person who did this can't be found. :rofl:

Forget them Erny. Let them think what they want, you know the truth. You can't be expected to stop all bad rumors, feel confident that you know the truth.

He's 8 weeks old and he's a JRTx. There won't be much trouble with the chooks after Friday. They'll have their chook pen fixed (stray cat stuck his head in and couldn't get it out without help) ATM I don't think he'll bother the chooks, they're twice his size! He's happier bothering the cats :rolleyes:

He keeps secret pooping and leaving trails to big puddles of pee. I put him outside to play and do his 'stuff'. He's inside now, in his open crate, and he's still whining. What am I doing wrong?

How true that is! I've had him for a week, it doesn't matter how much he costs, he'll always be worth it and so much more.

As far as I know, we were talking about puppy expenses (the vaccination and worming only cost me $33) and now mishka's bumping up his expenses by costing me $400...

I've been told $400 for Mishka's op. It's no fun watching him roll because he can't control it's movement. The vet agreed to wait a month, to see if he gets any use in it, but that is VERY unlikely. I'm worried about how he'll handle it, I mean, I'm permanently in a wheelchair and have been for 15 years, and I'm still not 100% adjusted to it. I don't want him to blame me forever.

How will he cope? Will he look at other dogs and be scared of rejection? What sort of accomodations will I have to make for him?

He has everything a dog could want...I thought he'd be sick of the big mean thing that made him stop having fun and took him on a big noisy thing where he wasn't allowed to say hello to everything.