kayla1

Yes, it's important. It depends on what the dogs needs. When I ran GAP, each dog went to two carers before it was matched to a new home. Different foster carers have different strengths and weaknesses. There are the ones that walk dogs every day and the ones that don't. Ones that have other pets or kids. Ones that don't have any other pets and where the dog will be left alone. Some carers are good at tidying up a dog's coat, providing aftercare, or teaching it obedience. And some are especially understanding of a dog that might chew on door frames and wee on the dining table leg. After initial assessment I would look at the list of homes waiting for dogs, and place dogs in foster care to best prepare them for that type of home. If people with chickens , cats or toddlers wanted a dog, we would want to give them a dog that had been in foster care with those things. If people want a dog that will be alone 8 hours a day, we needed to be sure the dog could cope with that while in foster care. We had around 40 active carers at any one time, so this meant a lot of coordination had to be done to give the dogs the most appropriate foster care. The aim is to increase the adoptability of the dog. There are always some people that want to foster, but are not able to maintain or increase the adoptability of a dog, and so these carers should be avoided if they can't be trained or trusted to provide the right type of care. That's interesting. So you found that by using two different carers you were able to learn more about the dog's nature and requirements in the different environments, and were better able to match to a permanent home?

I’m interested in what others think about the importance of matching dogs to foster carers. Reputable rescues spend a great deal of time matching dogs to adopters, which of course is for the benefit of both dog and adopter. Do you think the same level of care and scrutiny is required when placing dogs in foster homes? Given of course there won’t be as much known of the dog if the dog has come straight from the pound, which makes matching more difficult. The problem is in the wrong foster home, issues that didn’t exist previously may emerge, or existing issues may worsen. Whereas in the right environment the same dog may thrive. As an example I have an older dog here that didn’t cope in his first foster home – he was incredibly stressed and lost a great deal of weight, but he is thriving here. Different environment, different outcome. What do others think? What level of importance do you place on matching dogs to carers?

Yes supercoat sensitive, if it had to be one of those four.

Other things being equal, I would also suggest a boy to increase the chances of your new addition fitting in.

Not sure about shoulder xrays but I pay around $250 for consult/sedation/spinal xray. I did pay $700 once but that was a general anaesthetic with spine and hip xrays, dental, fluids, consult etc. ETA This was for medium sized dogs.

Ah ok thanks, I was hoping they would be more durable than the isqueaks.

Kong squeezz balls here Has anyone tried them? Just wondering how durable they are and whether they keep their squeak.

Mine will hang out on the couch until I go to bed, then they all come too - two on the bed, and two on their own beds. Then they get up in the morning whenever I do, though this winter the older ones have discovered the joys of sleeping in!

Mine LOVE kangaroo poo, even more than they love horse poo. :laugh:

I got my clean run order today and also got the quack and crack isqueaks. Very disappointed because the rubber is already starting to crack. The small ones are ok but the rubber is very soft on the mediums, this is after only a 10 min play session and you can already see the cracks forming...

Yes, the videos showed were absolutely sickening.

I haven't used them but I've heard good things about Mornington Lodge.

Mine are inside dogs but can go in or out through the doggy door, same for any fosters. They all follow me around - if I'm in the kitchen they'll all sit and watch, if I'm the lounge room they'll all be on the couch/beds, if I go outside they'll all come outside too etc. There are dog beds in nearly every room so they just make themselves comfortable wherever I happen to be. It's great because I love spending time with my dogs, even if it's just listening to their snoring while I'm working at the computer, and I love it when we are all together. :)

That is such a beautiful photo of your girl. I'm very sorry for your loss.

My older boy does this too, but fortunately he doesn't try to eat it straight away so I have time to pick it up.

I'm interested to know what you get. My clean run order took a while to be shipped, waiting on the crackle balls I think, so I haven't got mine yet.

I voted for stop it immediately. My little girl does it occasionally when excited and I distract her when she starts because I don't want it becoming a habit. I did have a foster dog who would frequently spin.

They look great!!

I think they're the ones I ordered from clean run - crackle balls, with no feet. My dogs don't particularly like the balls with feet.

It also affects the person driving the car if the dog is hit. Not that long ago I was trying to convince a woman, who had hit a dog that had bolted from its yard onto the road, that it wasn't her fault. The poor dog was injured, she was just devastated, and her poor young son who was also in car was in tears. All of which could have been prevented if this person had contained their dog.

No grief here... It is interesting given the variance out there of something which you would hope had some level of consistency If nothing else you've scored a new customer as I didn't know about Pets1 until this thread. :) Pets1 are fantastic I did 3 orders in 2 weeks to stock up for my pups birthday which in on Monday, can't see if they like the crackle head cuz's I've also had orders from Pets1 and they were great.

Do you mind if I save a copy of this image to show the powers that be? Also, this image shows the difference in the squeaker (I think previously I called it the nipple... ) lol Also, the older squeaky ones I've got haven't lost any sound at all (they still squeak loudly), but some of the newer ones have already lost their quack.

This is what the difference between the one from Clean Run and the one from Wagsalot look like too, with the one from Clean Run having cracked like your newer one. Where I'm still confused, and I'm not sure if I'm just dense, but I'm being told on one hand that the high pitched squeak is the new iSqueak and the quack-like one is the old iSqueak and in the next breath someone else says the quack-like squeak and rubber that breaks up more easily is the new one and the tougher kind with the high pitched squeak is the old kind. This second version fits with what I have in my hands if the old, square dog-house shaped tag is anything to go by as that is the ball that is tougher and has the high pitch. Sorry if I'm just stupid and have been reading all of this for too long and have just confused myself and everyone else is crystal clear about it all. All of my older ones have the high pitched squeak and last for ages. But the last lot I bought from clean run about seven months ago are the ones that quack and crack.

Do you mind if I save a copy of this image to show the powers that be? Also, this image shows the difference in the squeaker (I think previously I called it the nipple... ) lol Sure no problem. These are the mediums but the same thing has happened with the smalls.

Just for interest, here is a photo of the two different types I have. The one on the left is the older squeaky type (maybe two years old) and the one on the right is the newer one that quacks (purchased about seven mths ago). You can see how the newer one on the right is all cracked and won't last for much longer. Big difference in quality.