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So counting here (and running out of fingers), 11 dogs inside the house? Looks like we have a winner, ladies and gents! :laugh: See Ma? With six dogs, I'm relatively normal

Hurrah! Someone more "barking mad" than me :laugh: Hmmm, starts to think about dog number seven :D Our four older dogs have free run of the house at all times, the pups sleep in the bedroom adjoining ours (weird house layout, you enter this bedroom through our bedroom) with a gate barrier at night, and are also put in there if I go out (I work from home, so am with the dogs most of the time). Our two minipigs also sleep inside at night (they have a pen in the lounge), but are outside in their yard all day. The cats live in the "cattery" (huge enclosed area) during the day then have free range of the cattery and the house at night. There is constant fur absolutely EVERYWHERE but what outfit is complete without a bit of pet hair?

Yup, yup, getting around to that :D

I'm not sure where you are, but in Qld I'm pretty sure you are not allowed to charge a "pet bond" or extra rent. When we rented between owning properties I offered this but was told it was illegal. I just used some personal references and showed some photos of the house we just sold, along with a reference from the sales agent saying how well it was kept and presented, despite having pets. We got the property.

Oh, I should probably have added that although the house is tiny, we live on 126 acres, so plenty of room for doggie frolicking.

We currently have six dogs and when I tell people how many dogs I have, they look at me as though I have two heads. "How many?!!" We have three senior citizens, a Chihuahua and a Pomeranian (who is smaller than the chi) and a German Shepherd A middle-aged Cattle Dog and two large mixed breed pups (Dobe/Husky and Bull Arab) Actually I guess I could say I have four and a half dogs as the two little girls barely make up one whole dog between them, they are so tiny. :laugh: All our dogs live inside with us, we have recently moved to a teeny tiny little cottage and so I am constantly tripping over slumbering bodies lying in the most inconvenient places (and never make it to a ringing phone in time as a result), but our pack mixes very well and we wouldn't have it any other way. We also have four cats and two minipigs, all of whom sleep inside at night. My mother constantly despairs for my sanity, but hubby and I are happy with our "family". Anyway, what is the largest number of dogs you have ever owned at one time (not including foster dogs or working dogs, but true family pets)? Guess I just want to prove to myself (despite advice to the contrary) that I am not barking mad (sorry, couldn't resist!)

There is a product available called "Dog Rocks", which you add to your dog's water and it stopped the urine killing the lawn. Most online pet shops sell it, but I have found it cheapest on ebay.

Erny, are you able to recommend a product/place to buy it? I'd appreciate it, as my pups are now into the chew everything stage, as well as my older pet minipig!

Thanks JRM, must admit I was so busy yesterday I didn't even register the account, just flinched a little and keyed in my pin number :D

IMO Vets don't learn much about nutrition apart from what dog food reps give them at Uni. If you think he is healthy enough otherwise don't worry about it ! Being lean is a good thing, especially at that age large breeds should not be rolling fat anyway. He might just be in the lanky phase and he'll become more solid when he gets older. My Dobe is 18 months and is just starting to put on muscle mass now that he is not getting any taller. I have to say the diet does sound like it could be improved upon, I reakon cut out the pet loaf and milk and spend that money on raw meaty bones instead, it will keep his teeth clean and his brain occupied (and out of trouble) for a while. How is spuds poos? Does he ever have runny ones? Hi Erin, Spuddy seems super healthy in all other respects, he has plenty of energy for a pup, his coat is nice and glossy, his eyes bright. Just thin. They do get a lot of raw meaty bones, as it keeps them all out of trouble and out from under my feet (otherwise I constantly have a mini entourage following me wherever I go), they get bones (either beef soup bones, chicken/turkey necks/legs) on average every 2-3 days. I don't like to give them to them any more often than that as I find their poos become very hard. Spud's poos are very good looking as far as poos go :laugh: Neither of the pups have had sloppy poos, they're a good colour and firm.

We have always fed our dogs this kind of diet and all of them (although the original four are now elderly; 2 small breeds at 12 years, two large breeds at 8 years), are extremely healthy. (With the exception of the GSD who has hip dysplasia, apart from this his health is excellent and the dysplasia is being managed very well medically.) The only reason we have visited the vet in their respective lifetimes is for vaccinations and of course the GSD's hip dysplasia. I quite honestly can't remember the last time one of them went for an illness (touch wood), so their diet can't be that bad. Actually I tell a lie, we had to take our cattle dog to the vet a couple of years ago when he ran smack bang into the shepherd whilst playing ball and started convulsing. But that was a knock to the head and nothing to do with his diet. And the GSD had to go to the vet for an abscess caused by a foreign body earlier this year, but again, nothing to do with his diet. With six dogs we would have to take out a second mortgage to feed the ridiculously priced food from the vet. They get a lot of raw human grade food; chicken, beef, fish and roo, ocassionally a bit of human grade offal. The scraps from our plate are usually pretty minimal, just a taste. There is never anything left on hubby's plate :laugh: , I can never finish a meal (eyes bigger than my belly) so they get my leftovers - between six dogs it is usually only a mouthful. The milk formula is just to soften the dry food (the adult dogs don't get it), and make sure they're getting a good balance of nutrients. They get half a baby's bottle between them in the morning with the kibble. They won't get this forever, but IMO it gives a good start. Just a suggestion, that's all. The diet your dogs are on may not be suitable for this particular pup....why else would he not be thriving Growing dogs, especially large breed ones need a good diet that supplies them with all their nutritional needs, other wise, they don't grow properly or end up with problems like hip dysplasia. When feeding scraps off your plate do you make sure your dogs never get fed things like onion & other human foods known to be dangerous to dogs health. Onion can kill, either slowly or quickly. You don't need to get the expensive foods from the vet for your dogs & canned food is almost all water. Bonnie which you can get from the produce stores is a good food for most dogs if you can't afford something a little better. Just out of interest, what kibble is this particular pup getting & how much of it makes up his diet. I am just trying to help...you said your pup is not thriving & I suggested it is probably his diet. Hi Sheena, I truly appreciate your ideas and opinions, sorry if my post came off sounding not quite right, absolutely wasn't intended, I wasn't having a go. :) I am very careful not to feed them dangerous foods; onions, grapes, raisins, choccie, etc. Thanks for the Bonnie tip, I will check out the produce stores, we have quite a few around us and I need to get some more chook food over the next couple of days. I was chatting to my neighbour this morning and she gets dog/cat food delivered, says it is much cheaper than pet stores and better quality, so she is going to send the delivery chap down to me to find out about it. Kibble is currently science diet; both pups came with a free sack of it :laugh: But I won't be able to afford to keep that up once these sacks are finished - I would be grateful for a recommendation that isn't going to cost me my next month's mortgage payments.

We have always fed our dogs this kind of diet and all of them (although the original four are now elderly; 2 small breeds at 12 years, two large breeds at 8 years), are extremely healthy. (With the exception of the GSD who has hip dysplasia, apart from this his health is excellent and the dysplasia is being managed very well medically.) The only reason we have visited the vet in their respective lifetimes is for vaccinations and of course the GSD's hip dysplasia. I quite honestly can't remember the last time one of them went for an illness (touch wood), so their diet can't be that bad. Actually I tell a lie, we had to take our cattle dog to the vet a couple of years ago when he ran smack bang into the shepherd whilst playing ball and started convulsing. But that was a knock to the head and nothing to do with his diet. And the GSD had to go to the vet for an abscess caused by a foreign body earlier this year, but again, nothing to do with his diet. With six dogs we would have to take out a second mortgage to feed the ridiculously priced food from the vet. They get a lot of raw human grade food; chicken, beef, fish and roo, ocassionally a bit of human grade offal. The scraps from our plate are usually pretty minimal, just a taste. There is never anything left on hubby's plate :laugh: , I can never finish a meal (eyes bigger than my belly) so they get my leftovers - between six dogs it is usually only a mouthful. The milk formula is just to soften the dry food (the adult dogs don't get it), and make sure they're getting a good balance of nutrients. They get half a baby's bottle between them in the morning with the kibble. They won't get this forever, but IMO it gives a good start.

Just realised that my vet today didn't even charge a consult fee - took two dogs; one had a cartrophen jab ($27.50) and some meds ($77), pup had C5 vacc ($88) Total $192.50 incl GST. Will have to fish out my other vet bills and see if I usually get charged a consult. Maybe no consult today as they were just straight out injections (ie., no "investigative" work) - would that be usual? And what is the average charge for a C5 vacc?

Thanks Christina, I did in fact take him up to the vet today, and the vet says he is a little on the thin side, not too bad, just not as plump as he'd like to see a pup of his age. He didn't suggest any blood work (and I didn't know to ask), but told me to feed him more - "feed him as much as he can eat"!!! (sounds like a recipe for an exploding pup!) I explained my concerns about the hip/elbow dysplasia with regards to over feeding/too fast growing as a pup possibly being a contributing factor, but he seemed to just brush that off, told me you couldn't overfeed a large breed puppy in the first year - however this is not what all my reading about hip dysplasia indicates I'll reworm the little fella over the weekend and up his feeds again, if he's not a bit fatter by this time next week, I think I'll find another vet (not that confident with this vet) and take the new vet a nice pressie from Spuddy's rear end to check and see if the wormer's working and get some blood work done. The vet did check everything else out and said he was as strong as an ox, and he certainly acts and looks like a healthy pup, apart from being thin. Wish I had that dog's metabolism! :D Persephone, not one that shows his ribs and hips, I'll get one of him tomorrow and post it.

For me, it's the fact that he's barking at you and then looking back at the water, he does this repeatedly - "mum, mum, my ball" or "mum, mum, (or dad, dad!) come see what I found."

Depending upon whether he is your dog or not, I tend to agree with the other posters - he looks very much like he's talking to you, either about the fact he's lost (or found) something in the water and wants your help to get it, or he just wants to share with you about the lovely time he's having.

I should also add that he is not being over-exercised, in fact he gets no formal exercise at all apart from puppy play around our property (we're on large acreage, so admittedly there is quite a lot of running around during puppy play). I am so cautious about over-feeding and over exercising as we have a GSD with hip dysplasia and after a lot of reading it appears these may be two large factors in the development of the disease.

Hi RiverStar, In the morning they get dry food with divetelact (an animal milk formula with nutrients) Lunch time they get whatever's lying around; can be anything from scraps from last night's dinner, the rest of my lunch, fruit, chicken, dog biscuits, dog bones (dried and raw meat). It's an informal lunch (i.e., no set time), I tend to give all the dogs something to eat after I've had my own lunch the time of which can vary hugely, depending upon what I'm up to during the day. It's a habit I've always had with our dogs and all of them are a healthy size. Dinner they get a huge variety; leftovers from our plates (which could be anything from fish, chicken, some kind of meat, vegies, pasta, etc), raw meat (beef or roo), dog roll if there's nothing else left in the house. You can't just feel this dog's ribs, you could play them like a piano, you can see them quite clearly defined. His hip bones also jut out. As I said in my previous post, he's not emaciated (and certainly not starved!), but there just doesn't seem to be an inch of spare flesh on him, no matter how much I feed him. The Dobie/Husky gets fed half as much as Spud does, and is the perfect size, but Spuddy just won't fatten up. A friend who visited the other day commented on how skinny he was.

We have one seven month old and one six month old pups. We've had them for about a month now (rescues). They are large breed dogs (one a dobie/husky cross, the other a bull arab/mum was a good sport) and the bull arab I am finding very hard to keep any weight on. I have been upping his meals progressively so he now gets fed twice as much as the dobie/husky, yet he is still legs and bones. I am currently feeding them three good size meals a day, as well as a few treats in between - how old should they be when I cut the meals down to twice a day (all our other dogs get fed twice a day, but it is so long since I had a pup I can't remember what age they need to be feed 3-4 meals a day for). They have both been wormed, so that's not the skinny mini's problem, I wondering if his body is so busy growing up (tall) that it's not having time to grow out. I am worried about overfeeding and growing up too quickly a large breed dog given the genetic propensity for joint problems, but at the same time, you can often see the poor little buggers hip and rib bones. He's being fed a LOT - three times more than our 35kg German Shepherd. His poos are good, so there are no tummy problems, should I just keep up and up and upping his food intake? He's not emaciated, but thinner that I would like to see a pup. And how long should the pups be able to go between toilet breaks? I was taking them out every half an hour, which was going reasonably well (still some accidents), the front door is open all day long, but we are still getting the ocassional accident. We don't punish, but we do scold (just an "uh uh, outside", and then straight outside to "finish").

Noooo, AFAIK we get them way too close to dog/poultry areas ... Oh well, we'll just have to keep thumping around the house then :D

Snakes rely on vibration and temperature/'scent' .They have no ears. Lizards, frogs/toads have ears , and,being quadrupeds , they also do not have the amount of skin area in ground contact that snakes do .... it would be a very desperate snake to spend much time there, I would think :) Persephone, you don't know how happy your replies have made me I have absolutely no problems with snakes, in fact I quite like the non-venomous ones, but I do fear for our dogs getting attacked by one. I have also wondered in the past if the scent of animal urine/faeces discourages snakes? We have lived on acreage before with snakes on the property (as does this property, 120 acres), but I've never - touch wood - had a snake in or near the house.

Is it possible to get the 8yo desexed? Maybe this may make a difference? No idea if it would, just grasping at straws.

I have put snake repellers all around the perimeter of our house. I have some of the solar ones and also some battery operated ones. I got them (both kinds) off ebay. They were much cheaper than other advertised places ($79 each!!!! I paid - from memory - $100 for six solar, can't remember how much the battery op ones were). The way I figured it, it was a very small price to pay if they do work, if they don't well it's only money I've lost. Interestingly, they definately do not affect any other reptile - we have toads, frogs and lizards around the house and they do not appear one bit phased by them. So whether they ONLY work on snakes and the other reptiles are not an indication if they are working or not, who knows? I have never seen a snake close to the house, but hadn't before putting them in either. Mind you, I keep the grass short around the house and no rubbish piles, and with two humans, seven dogs, four cats and two minipigs, there is always a lot of noise and footfall around the house. The house is on short steel piles, so I would imagine all our footsteps would be vibrating down the piles, which would probably also help keep them away. (Hopefully, she says!)

If it's just me that shuffles off this mortal coil, then the hubster will just suck it up and look after everyone. I've told him he can have my share of the house even if he remarries, as long as the dogs/pigs/cats get to stay too and in the fashion to which they are indulgently accustomed. If they don't then I will be -literally- hubby's and new wife's worst nightmare from beyond the grave. :laugh: If he can't manage them all without me (I do the lion's share of the work, as he works full time and I don't) then I want all the older ones PTS. I too, couldn't bear the thought of them going to the wrong home. I would rather they peacefully drifted off to oblivion than suffered fear and abuse. I would also rather they were PTS than had to live the rest of their lives in a kennel (we're talking about animals who sleep on the bed and sit on the couch with us to watch TV - a kennel would be a fate worse than death for them). None of our pets bar two dogs (out of six) and the pigs are under eight years old, the oldest ones around 11-12. Depending on how old they were, the pups may be rehomed but only to a friend or family that he can "keep an eye on" and with the promise they are to come back to him if there is any issues. Should we both croak at the same time, my mother will take my two littlies (chi and pom) and send everyone else to heaven. Unfortunately I have no kids (and never will), so can't will them my animals. I do have a neice who I would trust with any animal, but as she is only 12, I would have to put croaking on hold until she was old enough to take them on. My bestie has willed her dog to me should anything happen to her. She actually went to a solicitor and had it written in - she is one of seven, but it's me she wants her dog to come to.

My Dad's actually quite creative when it comes to naming pets. He'd love a dog, but living circumstances for a good number of years have meant cats only. In the past he's had Mojo MauMau Jumping Jack Flash and recently (which is not quite so creative) Miss Kitty and Mr Kat. Our current lot are: DOGS Pixie LuluBelle Smudge Tango Charlie Spud Moose Phoenix CATS Peanut Henry Willow Kitty Pickles MINI PIGGIES Poppy Porkchops Truffles The geese are collectively known as Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dumber (there are four of them and never in my life have I encountered such stoopid animals!) The chooks are collectively "The Cackleberry Quintet" and our rooster is Mr Frizzle. I also love the name Bruce for a dog or cat, but as my father-in-law's name is Bruce, it may not go down so well :laugh: