RuralPug

Done! We now have a total of three or four volunteers so there is not a great burden on any of them - when people put their hands up to help out like this to help a dog stay in it's own home I regain my faith in humanity!

:thumbsup: Oh that is good news! Let's hope it was just a hiccup then and he will be well again soon!

:thumbsup: Thank you so much!

I'm so sorry Jane. It is so hard with the prems, sometimes they are just that little bit not quite finished. If it is a herniated diaphram, is there any other treatment available except surgery? Is surgery on a tiny one this size even possible? You are a miracle worker to have gotten him this far! I am praying that it is something else, something fixable.

Bump. I have one volunteer who can do two days a week someone else to do the same would be perfect.

This is a plea for help in the Ballarat area. We would like a couple of volunteers twice a week each to exercise and assist in caring for an elderly person's dog for a few months. Tyson is a gorgeous, friendly senior lab X kelpie who is slowly but surely going stir crazy because his owner has become to frail to exercise him and indeed is even finding organising his feeding difficult. Until a month or so ago, his owner's daughter regularly attended and took care of Tyson's needs. She has been waiting for her home to be built (it is enormously behind schedule) when it is built she will be happy to take Tyson into her own home. But now at eight months pregnant she is unable to help Tyson out any more until her new home is completed, as she is not permitted to have him in her rental. If absolutely necessary they will rehome him or allow him to be temporarily cared for in someone's home, but really the very best of solutions would be for him to stay where he is loved and just have some volunteers help out. If you know of anyone who love a dog to play with and walk and love for a couple of evenings a week, or even if you are a couple or family who already walk your own dog and one of you could manage another now and again please message me and I will pass on the contact number for Tyson's owner. I would do this myself if I were a little closer but it would be a 75km round trip for me. Tyson is in the Wendouree area or possibly Lake Wendouree. ETA:The home is in Wendouree very near to Stockland shopping centre.

I've been in Ballarat when it was over 35 C. That was for nearly a hour before it dropped back to about 29.....

Celery is the only veg that all of mine will consistently refuse. I don't think I've had any iceberg lettuce in the house to offer them in last decade but they love most other varietes; not too fond of endive but will eat it to stop the others getting it :laugh: ! They have spinach and garden veg (pulped in the food processor) daily in their meat patties. Some will refuse citrus, others like it. They all love apples and pears and bananas and stonefruit. I have to patrol for windfall plums where they are not fenced off, fortunately the apricots and nectarines are not in any of their yards. Every now and again the blackberries get away from me, and when they are ripe, the dogs fight the wildlife for them but it does make for multicolored poo when they gorge

Anything with those ingredients would be an extremely occasional treat here, if at all. All that sugar and starch would worry me. I also hate it when the composition (which in this case does seem to include water content) only adds up to less than 10% of the total product; but then I never could work out the "rules" for packaging/content information etc. Thank Dog for the one ironclad rule of ingredients always in order from largest quantity to smallest quantity so I can at least have some trustworthy guideline. I do get a quite uptight that a lot of products labelled as "rawhide" are nothing of the sort but are manufactured of grain by-products etc. I hate the term "rawhide" being misused this way, it seems very misleading to me. Plus the damn stuff is a choking hazard with my lot. Ooops, sorry off my soapbox. Mine and passers-though will occasionally get genuine smoked hide ears as treats but very often raw bones (with or without meat attached). Marrow bones I have to scrape most of the marrow out first though, it is too rich for most of my lot (great for making stock though!) I have tried smoked roo vertebrae now and again but prefer fresh roo tailbones when I can get them.

Ok, so it was decades ago, but as a teenager I was live-in kennel maid to a Yorkie breeder and frequently loaned to that breeder's mum who bred Silkies and Yorkies. My own mother had bred both Aussies and Silkies for years but was breeding Pekinese at the time. I found a marked difference in temperaments (bearing in mind that these were kennel dogs, not house dogs - and this was in the 1970's so possibly very different to today.) There are exceptions to every rule of course, but what I noticed at the time was that generally the Silkies had the small terrier temperament I was accustomed to (so active, intelligent, driven at times (aka stubborn) and normally quite gentle and tolerant with small children) where the Yorkies although just as active were less responsive to human interaction that was not on their terms (aka heaps more stubborn as in moody divas) and seemed more prone to snappiness and mild fear aggression with children and larger dogs. They were also generally more yappy and I readily admit that all this may have been restricted to those lines (mind you there was a brought in stud dog of completely different lines who was the worst of the lot). I have since met pet and show Yorkies that are perfectly well-adjusted companions, but nevertheless those were my observations at the time. The other consideration is that some pet Yorkies are as big as Silkies anyway so if you wanted to wait for a show sized one then probably you would have to go onto the waiting list for a Yorkie from a show kennel with good temperament so your youngest child could be of reasoning age ( 8 or so)before one actually became available anyway!

I have once in my life seen a silver - it is totally unmistakeable for anything else. In certain lighting it can look like a very pale fawn but when you see them galloping in the sunshine you knew exactly what SGW said when she said the "colour of moonlight" as the coat is highly reflective and without the faintest trace of apricot that most fawns (even the creamy blondes) have. At one time the allele for this colour was suggested to be from the chinchilla gene on the C locus ( I am not sure if that is still held to be the case today.) The chinchilla gene was described as ensuring the granules of yellow or red pigment are much smaller and sparser. It has no effect on black pigment and therefore the mask, trace etc remain strong and clearly defined. If this theory were correct, then you could just as easily have a smutty silver as a smutty apricot or smutty fawn. The one that I did see, in the 1970's, was not smutty in the least (although not a particularly typey specimen.) In my view we have lost the genes for silver in this country. Whether or not it still exists overseas on specimens of reasonable health, type and soundness I do not know. I am aware that more than one breeder in this country has registered puppies as "silver" when they were simply very smutty fawns, which is a shame and no doubt has added to the confusion. I am not a fan of the designer shenanigans of the Pugs of Colour website however I won't climb on that particular soapbox.

Frequently the name of a rural property is also a kennel name. One nearby DOLer has a sign on her property stating her kennel name and the abbreviated breed name which is actually shared by a breed of feathered beasties. She has said that she gets drop-ins sometimes to see if she has any chicks available!! :laugh:

Esky - I have had some fussy seniors through here (not normally Pugs though!) and usually eventually succeed. Things to try: Offer him a drink of honey syrup (tablespoon of ordinary honey dissoved in a tablespoon of boiling water and allowed to cool), this will help to soothe his throat and will also add a little glucose into his system (not as much as the Nutrigel will though). Not all dogs like this though, so don't panic if he doesn't. Make a large enough pile of treats to serve two or three of your dogs, plus a very small separate pile with his meds concealed.(use Anne's suggestions of only 1/2 or 1/4 tablet in each treat). Gather the two or three dogs and begin offering treats to them all - he will refuse at first, ok fine any treat he refuses offer to another dog - he will see them taking and enjoying them and so hopefully he will soon want in, although it may take a couple of sessions. As soon as he has accepted a couple of non-doctored treats, offer him one with the pill and then quickly offer him another so that he swallows the doctored one in a big hurry to get the next (undoctored) treat before one of the others does. Once I have them quickly taking the treats so that the other dogs don't get them I usually give two undoctored then the pill one then another quick undoctored one. Do be careful that none of the others get the doctored one!!:laugh: The best treats for the purpose are tiny somethings they can swallow right down without chewing.

Quite often one man's trash is another man's treasure, and just so a particular brand that is hopeless for one dog another may thrive on. Why not have a look at the order and type of ingredients in the one you are happily using and compare them with the ingredients on the others (perhaps purchase one of each for a trial?) and provided that you are happy with that then try them out on your dogs just for palatability etc? You could also check out this quite elderly thread Ecopet, Scotty's, Tuckertime or raw?.

Are these this weekend? Will you have your little exchange student with you Ange? I might bring my migrants with me for a bit of socialising. Yes this weekend (this is the pair I was amazed you had missed.) Yes I will have the exchange student plus the new junior boarding student from our own fair state with me. She is entered but he will be there just for socialising so I'll be especially happy if you bring along a few more young 'uns to add to the atmosphere. It is bound to be a positive first experience for him if he has a few victims to pounce on friends to play with LOL!!! :D (Camera is compulsory - Jane is hanging out for pics)

Slightly OT but I was just looking at the Code Of Practice for Shelters and Council Pounds the other day - (minimum standards in that are enforceable by law, best practice is of course only recommendations) The COP is easily accessible to anyone from the DPI website, I can't remember offhand now whether it had yet been updated with the new laws, some COPs had and some hadn't last time I looked. If not, I'm sure it will be soon. We really should all be familiar with at least the COP that fits our own profile (private dog owner, domestic animal business, shelter etc) as minimum standards are enforceable by law, best practice of course is recommended but not compulsory.

Yes, me too! Now just awaiting Sunday numbers.

Both cashed here - the Saturday cheque cashed 12 December, the Sunday cheque cashed yesterday.

Warrnambool double schedule is in the December gazette p.18 it's on Sat 25 and Sun 26 Feb. Not seen a schedule for Noorat at all - prob be in the Jan gazette I suppose. RJ why not let him make the chioce between yabbies and say, tarantulas or stick insects or maybe those giant cockroaches? A little bit of psychology Book me in for a cuddle of your baby, Tenties!

As a rural exhibitor, KCC Park or Bulla twilight shows are out for me because you are travelling in the heat of the day plus return home time is too late. From a committee point of view however, I guess there are more city showies than rural, so I wouldn't campaign actively against them. What would city-based exhibitors think about travelling to a rural show (say 3 hrs drive one way) that commenced at 7.30pm?

I can bring the BBQ lol......the bee's have been removed as well, all the tree's are gone now ! i might bring a trestle table this time if we are going to have a BBQ ?? i can bring a couple of salads too ?? YAY!! LOL about those bees

Tyson's mum has become too frail to care for him. Details are in this thread if you know of anyone who may be able to care for him.

I agree Dellcara. I am entered but won't attend if 33+ on the day. But there is time yet...

I often see heavy panting in fosters for the first day or so - it is usually stress because they are not quite sure why they are not at home or with their own people. I check the body temp, if that is normal I assume stress but if it doesn't settle in a day or so then vet check especially if they are over or under weight.

Whoo-hoo! Warrnambool double show weekend late February I just might get to catch up with you guys!! And I will have the most AMAZING baby to trot round the ring with. :D We have to start organizing a dinner or picnic or something for catching up!